And do we have some BIG GAMES this week! Lots of Elimination Games and Coaches on the
Hot Seat Battles that will be eye-candy, pop-corn time for the college football
junky! I think anyone that doesn’t
follow the sport of college football is truly missing out. Every game matters….every
snap…everything. There’s no weeks off
and if you lose, while it’s not over, in certain cases and certain fan-bases,
it might as well be.
Idle
Thought of the Week
Reflecting on Michigan’s first two games of the season got
me to thinking about what I would have thought about those games 30 years ago
vs. today. (CORRECTION from Monday:
Michigan’s 114 Point total in two games dates back to 1914 and the
Fielding H. Yost Point a Minute Teams! I
don’t know where I got the other date from and I apologize to anyone that was
using it in conversation!) IF I hadn’t
seen the games, I would have told you 30 years ago that Michigan probably
controlled the line of scrimmage, had more rushing than passing yards and won
the TOP in both games. And 30 years ago
I probably would have been right.
How times change.
Michigan aired it out over UCF and was a little more balanced against
way overmatched Hawaii. And passing the
ball to control the game is okay. In
fact, I prefer to be able to have a controlled passing attack as the ability to
score from anywhere seems more possible with a passing attack unless you’re running
a full spread with a scary fast QB (think D-Rob and his ability to seemingly
score at will when the defense guessed wrong).
So where am I going with all this? College Football has evolved and it’s still a
great sport – maybe even better. The
big, head banging, snowplow offenses you used to see just aren’t that scary
anymore. The Spread Offense, Tempo, and
Speed have changed the game. Teams aren’t
afraid to go up against bigger opponents.
See Georgia and Nicholls State for the latest example.
Controversy
of the Week!
So
it would seem that last week’s COTW is more or less spilling over into this
week regarding officiating, replay officials, and simply KNOWING THE RULES of the Game. The talking heads have been giving their two
cents on all of this, and here’s mine. I
know the game and the rules of women’s softball pretty well. I coached it for 9 years and now I’m umping
it. I’ve been doing that for about 4
years. I peruse the rule book (or I
glance at it and review some stuff) every season just to stay on top of
things. But there are TIMES in the heat
of the moment when even the BEST UMPIRE or OFFICIAL can screw up. Make no mistake: I’m not excusing the referees in the CMU-OSU
Disaster.
I’m just sayin’:
Excrement (Family Blog!) HAPPENS! 
I
could leave it at that, but that’s not what this little entry on Friday’s is
all about. So knowing that feces
occurs and armed with the challenge of “Officiate every game without
a mistake” mantra, what do we do?
And I do think there’s an easy “fix” for this problem. And believe it or not, it has to do with
social media. I know, right? Like, the FMQ is up to speed on stuff like
that.
When
the on field referees made the grounding call, the rule that you can’t end the
game on a penalty was at the forefront of their minds because, frankly, I’ve
always known that to be the case as well.
However, everyone kind of blew it in that group as Group Think took over and
they were all thinking the same thing and thought they were getting it right. But there’s an exception to the penalty rule
for intentional grounding.
My GUESS is that there
were officials somewhere who were watching from the bar or at home knew what
was going on and the play being called on the field was WRONG!
So
how do we solve it?
First: I’ve
never understood why there’s only 2 officials in the replay booth. It seemed to me that you should either have 1
or 3, just so there were no disputes. IF two people are seeing things one way
and the other guy is seeing the other way, he’s over ruled. There should be 3, plain and simple.
Second: In addition to the third guy in the booth,
there needs to be a twitter feed for each game that is restricted to other
officials that can sign on and watch the game and tweet about stuff as its
happening. The newly added 3rd
replay official can be the guy that receives input from that feed and figure
out if the referees are doing something wrong as his phone or computer will
start going ape-shit as soon as everyone sees someone else making a
mistake. Trust me – I can tell you that people
will let you know when you’re making a mistake as an official, referee or
umpire.
Logical? Sure. Simple? Not so much.
But the officials really shouldn’t be screwing things up that bad in a standard
game and a simple rule where no subjectivity is involved. And this has happened enough in recent years
to start thinking about what can be done to fix it.
Controversy
of the Week #2
This one is a little less sports rule oriented and more
NCAA meddling in stuff that I, frankly, think it shouldn’t be meddling in – and
it’s really starting to piss me off. In
case you didn’t here, the NCAA pulled all championship events from the state of
North Carolina due to the passing of their controversial HB2 (which stands for Health Bill
#2) gender law that has supposedly insulted and discriminates against
the rights of the LGBT(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Community,
stating that Universities that embrace diversity cannot be forced to
participate in a state that condemns it.
For clarification: All the law
states is that you have to use the bathroom based on the classification of your
plumbing. In other words: boys with boys and girls with girls. Of course, the ACC has now pulled the 2016 ACC Football Championship Game from North Carolina
as well, where it’s been played since 2009.
My
Take: NCAA
and ACC – MYOB and stay out of politics! I heard Title IX being referenced as part of
the reason for this and THAT REALLY PISSED ME OFF. The NCAA has one Mission Statement: Protect and support the welfare and safety
of the student athlete. PERIOD!!!!
The State of North Carolina can do
whatever it wants and Universities in NC are part of and subject to the laws of
North Carolina. I think it’s wrong for
the NCAA and the ACC to now put a financial penalty and hardship on the cities
and towns that were planning on those events.
Where does this all end?
Are the University of North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke also
planning to pick up their respective campuses and move out of the state because
they’re unhappy with HB2???
Why just sporting events?
Can someone please answer that?
The
FMQ
So, Week #2 is in the books and we’re still in the
green. Dammit Akron, it would have been
a really good week if you would have delivered.
And if VaTech would have just held onto the damn football….Anyway,
here’s the summary of where the FMQ is at and how we’ll be betting this week.
Weekly
Lessons Learned:
Wisconsin IS better than advertised. Watch them for future opportunities. And pay attention and adhere to what you
learned!
I won money everywhere I laid points and only had one game
come through when I took points. (This
might turn me into a point laying fool this week.)
Seasonal
Lessons Learned:
Week #2 had plenty of underachievers, I just didn’t think
Georgia and Clemson would struggle with FCS opponents. Go figure.
Week #3 has plenty of elimination games where teams will be playing for
their entire season and scores are going to tighten up.
So, without further ado, let’s make some bets!
THURSDAY
NIGHT LIGHTS!!!
Houston
@ Cincinnati (+7.5)
Houston has spanked Oklahoma and a compass point cupcake
and they only have to lay 7.5 on Thursday night to the Bearcats that had
trouble with Purdon’t? I know, I know…it
is in Cincinnati, but that seems like a gift.
I’ll
take Hermann’s Cougars and lay the 7.5 for $25
SATURDAY!!!
Texas
A&M @ Auburn (-3)
In what could be billed as the “First SEC School that will
Interview Hermann If They Lose” Bowl, that’s a surprising spread. Auburn has done nothing to impress on the
offensive side of the ball and my head is screaming “TAKE THE AGGIES!!!” What am I missing? When I don’t know what to do, it’s better to PASS.
Georgia
State @ Wiscy (-34)
I’m a Cheesehead believer at this point, the Big ‘Ole Grater
in Madison is working fine and based on what I saw on the power ratings for
GSU, this is going to turn into a long afternoon for the Panthers….
Take Wiscy
and lay the 34 for $50
The
Quack Attack @ the Cornsuckers (-3)
B1G
or PAC Semi-Elimination Bowl. If you lose this game, there’s no margin for
error in conference. Here’s yet another
spread that kind of had me scratchin’ the ‘ole cranium. I think the Cornsuckers have been doing a
pretty good job beating some people up and Oregon’s Quack Attack doesn’t have
as much “Quack-Quack” as they used to.
They’ve been “getting the job done”, but I think the Cornsuckers are
looking for respect and want a pelt for the wall. Let’s not forget that Riley
has seen “Basketball on Turf” 7 times while at Oregon State and may know a
thing or two about slowing it down. I know Armstrong isn’t the greatest QB, but I
can’t take the Ducks….
Take Nebraska
and lay the 3 for $25
BC @
Va Tech (-6)
I felt like this was ANOTHER gift from the betting
gods. If Va Tech can just stop dropping
the damn ball, they should be able to beat the Boston Catholics fairly easy….
Take Va
Tech and lay the 6 for $50
Bama @
Ole Miss (-10.5)
Ole
Miss Elimination Game. Hmmmmmm….the
only team to have beaten Bama in the last two years is getting 10.5 at
home. And Ole Miss has a defense (I know
– couldn’t stop a hot FSU QB from coming back from a 22 point deficit). Still, that defense got a chance to improve
over the last week. I’m not sayin’ the
Rebels will win, but I’ll take the points here because, well, it’s the SEC and
Bama.
Take Ole
Miss and the 10.5 points for $25
SPARTY
@ THE DOMERS (-7.5)
Domer
Elimination Game. That’s how Domers have to be
looking at this game. Of course, Sparty
has only beat the Domers once in the last 5 tries with Sparty’s last victory being
the Little
Giant’s Game of 2010. Part of me
is thinking Vegas is just being nice to Marcus Antonio with this spread. Watched the Furman Game on the BTN (again)
and also saw a replay of the Domers abusing Nevada. I’m not sure the bye helped or hurt Sparty…another
game sandwiched in there might, MIGHT have been better. BK
has lots of tools to work with in that Domer offense and I just don’t know if
Sparty’s O’Connor can take advantage of the Domer secondary, which is still
suspect.
Take the
Domers and lay the 7.5 for $25
FSU @
Louisville (+2)
Or
the “One Foot In the ACC Grave Game”. Man-oh-man-oh-man. Line has moved from 3 to 2 on this game. I
really don’t know who I like in this game.
I mean, I like Louisville getting points and if you saw the Syracuse
game, you know what I’m talking about.
But that was Syracuse – this is the Seminole D this week - but the Seminoles
did lose their superstar Safety James….
I’m thinking one way, but leaning another….Does that make sense?
Take the
Seminoles and lay the 2 for $25
The
Suckeyes @ the Laters (PK)
Boomer
Sooner
elimination game. This
spread opened Monday at Laters (+3) and has been bet down,
meaning that somebody somewhere likes Bob Stoops getting points at home (Stoops
is something like 42-2 when playing in Norman).
Still, I’m nervous that even when they’re home, Stoops and Oklahoma
could struggle in the 2nd half.
I saw a game replay of the Houston game and for the life of me, I can’t figure
out why Oklahoma just didn’t keep on running the ball like they were doing on
the opening drive. It was almost as if
they were allergic to the run or something…Anyway, for selfish reasons (and the
fact that Hermann is telling Urban Legend EVERYTHING HE’LL NEED TO KNOW about
Houston) I would like the suckeyes undefeated in November when Michigan comes
calling. Of course, this is usually when
Oklahoma really screws me….Of course, the MMQ in the Preseason Spectacular
had the Suckeyes losing this game….What to do?????
Take the
suckeyes for $25
Colorado
@ Michigan (-20)
Finally - a Power 5 School comes to town. Unfortunately, it’s a Power 5 School that is
running a brand spankin’ new Spread Offense with a semi-mobile QB (new OC comes
straight from Texas Tech). I hate having
to defend the spread, but hopefully Donny Brown’s troops are up to the task. The Colorado “D” should be no match for
Michigan’s ground and passing attack, so I’m not worried too much about that. Michigan is a perfect 2-0 ATS this season as
are the Buffalos. I know that the
Buffalos are better and have demolished similar, overwhelmed competition, but
they haven’t played anyone decent or as fast defensively as Michigan, yet. Pending a total disaster on both sides of the
ball, I don’t see the Michigan ATS number being tarnished this weekend.
Take Michigan
and lay the 20 for $50
Joke
Spread of the Week: B1G Team Illinois
getting POINTS AT HOME Vs. Western Michigan (-3.5). I’m
not making that up!
Parlay!
3 team parlay pays 6-1
Michigan
– Wiscy - VaTech for $50
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