It's finally HERE! Real games begin tonight!!!
Oh NOOOOO….I Think These Are Gonna’ Suck….
Scratch that – They Do
Suck….
Michigan, USC, domers,
PSU, and maybe Bama. Those
teams NEVER, EVER have to wear a one-off uniform for a game as they
easily have some of the classiest uniforms ever designed and color coordinated. The Maize and Blue is a great look is
incredible and the winged helmet is the most recognizable in ALL of football –
College or Pro. I have to admit
that I LIKE the Hoopsters wearing all Maize, but the football team wearing all
Maize…including shoes? I dunno’,
man. I just don’t know. Everyone says I’m becoming a grumpy old man,
but I take this as kind of a “Let’s give in the alternate uni-craze….” Of course, I’ve never really cared for the
Road Whites, either.
But they’re here and you’re
going to be watching them Saturday….
A Deeper Dive Into the B1G
Again, I was informed that
maybe – MAYBE – the PSS was a little light on the B1G teams and my take
as to how the B1G would end up this season.
I blew it last season (but not by much for either division) when I had
Michigan and Nebraska somehow winning it all.
Nebraska lost a close game in Wiscy in OT and was then embarrassed at
osu the following week, but if they beat Wiscy, I think they still would have
had a shot at the top of the division. I
can’t explain the Iowa loss, either…Wiscy wasn’t on anyone’s radar and frankly,
PSU was an anomaly of what’s more commonly known as “regression to the
mean”.
Meaning, for as unlucky
as Michigan was in close games last season (0-3 in 2 OT games and
games decided by 3 points or less), PSU was just AS lucky to beat the
Suckeyes and come back from a 3 score deficit in the 2nd half of the
B1G Championship to nip Wiscy….
So, what’s the West going
to look like at the finish this season?
1.
Wiscy
2.
Northwestern
3.
Nebraska
4.
Minnesota
5.
Iowa
6.
Purdue
7.
Illinois
That looks about right
based on everything I’ve read and seen, but the entire top 5 could get shuffled
and re-stacked along the way. In fact,
the only one I really can’t make a whole hearted argument with respect to
winning the West is Iowa, but they could still pull it off. There’s just too many missing pieces right
now for Ferentz….. Wiscy has suddenly gone
from being (within a season) a team that people were writing off with Chryst at
the helm to the unanimous favorite to win the West (no OSU or PSU on the
schedule and Michigan HOME) and maybe have a shot at whoever comes out of the
East.
I did say in the PSS that Northwestern
will give people fits this season and they have an incredibly favorable
schedule. If they can knock
off the Cheeseheads, they could sneak into the B1G Championship game,
easy.
Two seasons ago, Nebraska
looked poised to make a return to the ranks of “Programs that Matter”. Right now, Riley might be coaching for his
job if he can’t get to 9 wins. He really needs a breakthrough season or
Nebraska will go shopping for another head coach…
Fleck could also be the fly in
the ointment that manages to upset his way into the title game…but we need
to see a couple of games to really get a feel for what he’s going to be able to
do with the current crop of gophers.
What about the East?
Well, Everyone KNOWS that I
have Michigan winning the whole thing, so might as well start there.
1.
Michigan
2.
Suckeyes
3.
Maryland
4.
Sparty
5.
Penn State
6.
Indiana
7.
Rutgers
I’ve decided, for no
really good reasons, that the Nittany Lion’s were incredibly fortunate in
several games last season. And
while they have the potential to be as good as advertised, I just don’t think
they’re going to be the team a lot of the talking heads are making them out to
be. AND they’re going to be playing with
the target on their backs, which always presents a different challenge. So the East is a 2 Team race with Michigan and the
suckeyes vying for the right to be in Indy.
Osu will be good, but I am
still very seriously doubting whether or not they can get by the Wolverines
this season in Ann Arbor.
I’m calling Maryland the Dark Horse
of the East that’s going to spoil some undefeated parties. In fact, I circled October 7th on
the calendar as a potential “trap” game for Maryland. Only they’re the trappers when they go to
osu. Osu will probably be peeking ahead
to Nebraska, PSU and to a lesser extent, Iowa, and may overlook Derkins Terps. They also get Sparty and PSU late in the
season when both those teams could already be sitting on 4 and 2 losses,
respectively…And Sparty stadium will be empty and PSU is at Maryland.
I’ll state right now that
sparty won’t go 4-8 again, but 5 losses is very realistic and frankly, probable
given the schedule and where they have to play their toughest games. @ Michigan, @ osu and @ Northwestern….
Little known fact: Michigan didn’t even get to play against Coach
Hazell while he was at Purdue.
The last coach Michigan faced was in fact Danny Hope who was the head coach
immediately following Tiller…
So that’s not a good
thing. Something has to happen so that
there’s no more than 4 years between cross over games. Go to 9 game conference schedules and figure
out how to get a home and home with all the crossovers within 4 years of each
other….When was the last time Nebraska was in town???
This is Cool…
And I’ve maybe seen the
website before, but it is interesting to go through and put some different
teams into the search. In short:
Michigan (with the most
wins and highest winning percentage in all of CF) has a winning record over
every conference in existence. I didn’t
go through by team, but there’s a couple of teams that have an edge on Michigan
that will be impossible to fix as they don’t exist or Michigan would never
consider scheduling them again…
The link to the site:
Irish Eyes Are Crying….
I don’t get over to
NDNation and the Message Board “Rock’s House” as often as I’d like to, because
I do enjoy schandenfreude (Websters: pleasure derived by someone from
another person’s misery or misfortune), but I did get over there just recently. The fan apathy and angst has to be at a new
low/high. Apparently you can now:
1.
Pay to “walk with the players” from the grotto to
the stadium. This was free for decades
and now costs $10.
2.
Pay $20
to touch the PLACT sign coming out of the locker room. (Play Like a Champion Today!)
3.
Pay more for season tickets than ANY OTHER TEAM IN THE
NCAA! The domer game against Wake Forest is going to cost a domer fan
$130. Clemson vs WF at Clemson is
only $60….Other base ticket prices for the cheap seats are as high as $150/game
4.
If you’d like to have a nice
polo shirt from the officially recognized ND supplier, it’ll cost you over $100…
I could go on, but I hope
you’re getting the picture. The fan base
is fast
approaching where Michigan fans were in late 2014. Apathy was thick and fans were simply
pissed. They were pissed at the AD for trying to
make a buck on every aspect of the game and using every angle. And they were pissed with the product on the
field.
Methinks the domers might
be turning a page in the book this season, regardless of the record. That kind of emotional combination is a bad
brew and something has to give…But I oh so enjoy watching the domers and their
fans roam the destitute wasteland in utter despair!!!
THE FMQ
Quick refresher – we start
with a cool $1,000 clams and try to double up over the course of a season. Betting Spreads, over unders, and a parlay or
two. Trying a different format this
season with respect to reporting wins and losses….
Buffalo @ The Golden Gophers (-24.5 O/U:
50): Fleck the Mighty Rower
gets rolling early on a Thursday night kick-off before the big Labor Day
Weekend Smorgasbord of games. I like
the Gophers in a rout in this game as Buffalo hasn’t fielded anything close to a
decent team in years. The Over is a hard
bet and I’ll lay off that one…
Take the Gophers and lay the 24.5 for $30
Ohio State @ Indiana (+20.5
O/U: 58): It’s hard to get a read on this game. Wilson will be returning for the first time to
the place where he was a pretty successful coach. The sukeyes notoriously start out the season
a little slow, and I’m not expecting a difference this season. However, if Wilson has been given the reins
to open up the offense, well, it might not bode well for the Hoosiers if Kevin
is seeing this as revenge…But the Moneyline here is so intriguing…Indiana wins
and the bettor would receive $1,285 on a $100 bet!!! Still, can’t do 12:1
Take the Suckeyes and lay the 20.5 for $40
Maryland @ Texas (-18):
This spread surprises me a little.
Maryland isn’t a pushover and Texas has a new coach, albeit with a whole
lot of returning starters. Granted they
weren’t that good last year. I have a
feeling that Maryland might be able to keep this game closer than 18 points. And here’s another interesting tidbit: the moneyline for the Texas: -$1,100.
For Maryland: $775. I gotta put a little scratch on that!
Take the Terps and the 18 points for $30
Take the MONEYLINE for the Terps for $30
Temple @ the Domers (-17.5):
The teasers are always fun, aren’t they? Temple played the domers close a couple of
years ago losing by less than a TD and more or less getting now Baylor Coach
Matt Ruhle several job interviews. There
still may be some holdovers from that game on Temple’s roster and they are
convincing everyone else that the domers are beatable. I’ll take a fired up road team and the fact
that Kelly might not have everything on his offense figured out yet.
Take Temple and the 17.5 for $30
FSU vs. Alabama (-7):
I would have thought this was more of a 3-point game, but Vegas is
smarter than me. FSU played Clemson
close last year and you can bet they were watching the National Championship
game thinking, “We almost beat the team that beat Bama to win the National
Title!” I think FSU has been looking forward
to this game for a LONG TIME. Jimbo
Fisher may unleash the dogs early and if Bama stumbles early…Chaos!
Take FSU and the 7 for $30
Florida vs. Michigan (-3.5): This line has moved around a little and with
the 7 suspensions at Florida due to ATM CardGate, McElwain has had some time to
re-group and figure out what he’s going to do on the offensive line. But I don’t think it’ll be enough and I think
Michigan goes into Dallas in the Maize Unis and gives the SEC a lesson in “B1G
Football…”
Take Michigan and lay the 3.5 for $40
PARLAY!
3 Team Parlay: 6-1
Michigan – FSU – OSU:
$20
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