Take the Double Extra Points

Season: 41-33-1 ATS (55%)
Double Extra Lock: 6-2 ATS (75%)

With T. Rose locked down for the rest of the week, he kindly asked me to step back in this week. In fact, T. Rose welcomed in a new offensive lineman to his family on October 28th at 9 pounds 6 ounces. At 0-0, T. Rose Jr. already boasts a more lucrative gambling resume than his dad.


Future odds for T. Rose Jr. :

First word is 'moneyline': 3:1
Name of his first doll is 'Phil Steele': 4:1
First birthday party is at 'Babes' and not 'Chuck E. Cheezes': 5:1
Over/under at what age he will first have to drive his dad home from the bar: 12
Over/under at what grade he first brings his dad's winning gambling sheet in for show and tell: 2nd

STANFORD (-29) over Washington State - Next time you have a conversation with your buddies about the worst BCS team ever, you might want to mention the 2008 WSU Cougars. Washington State has ALLOWED 63 or more points in 4 of 5 conference games. In those 5 conference games, the Cougars have scored a TOTAL of 33 points. Stanford is back at home after a last second 1 point loss to UCLA and should be hungry for a rare blowout win here. Stanford is averaging 192 yards/game on the ground this year while WSU is allowing 6.7 yards/carry.

ARKANSAS (+7.5) over Tulsa - That's correct - #18 ranked Tulsa comes into Fayetteville as over a touchdown favorite against the Razorbacks. Tulsa lays claim to the #1 total offense (602 yards/game) and the #1 scoring offense (56 points/game) in NCAA D1. After losing to Alabama, Texas, and Florida in back to back to back weeks, Arkansas won at Auburn and then was in some tough losses including a 2 point loss to Ole Miss and 1 point loss at Kentucky. Tulsa has played in ONE road game since early September - a 6 point win at SMU - and will be tested here against veterans QB Casey Dick and RB Michael Smith in front of the Razorback faithful.

NAVY (-7) over Temple - Last week vs. SMU, Navy attempted ZERO passes in a 34-7 victory. On the season, Navy is throwing up 310 rushing yards/game with the same triple option that Paul Johnson left behind and low and behold, it still can't be stopped. In Temple's last 3 games vs. Navy, the Owls have allowed almost 1,200 rushing yards at almost 7 yards/carry. Temple has had almost 10 days to prepare for this one after they needed 2 fourth quarter scoring drives to beat Frank Solich's Ohio Bobcats at home. Temple allowed 210 rushing yards to Army's option earlier this year and this is no Army option. Navy runs to their 6th straight bowl game after a win here.

OKLAHOMA STATE (-29.5) over Iowa State - After watching Nebraska dismantle Iowa State, I not so boldly predicted that Iowa State would not win another game this year. The Cyclone defense is giving up 423 yards and 32 points per game - both which rank 102nd in the country. After giving #1 Texas all they wanted last week, OSU finds itself in a sandwich game here with Texas Tech on deck. However, the Cowboys are playing in front of their home crowd and boast a rushing game with Kendall Hunter that lit Texas up for 217 yards last week (Texas was allowing 48 rushing yards/game). Oklahoma State's offense ranks 7th in scoring offense and 8th in total offense and should take out their anger on the struggling Cyclones (losers of 6 straight). Against common opponents (Baylor and A&M), OSU is 2-0 ATS while they Cyclones lost both straight up by a combined 42 points.

SOUTH CAROLINA (-5.5) over Tennessee - The seat is starting to get really warm for Phil Fulmer at UT. The Vols are off to a dismal 3-5 start and are probably better off playing away from the angry home crowd this week. South Carolina's 3 losses this year have all come by 7 points including last week's loss at LSU. With 2 quality QB's playing for time, look for the South Carolina offense to score points and be lead by a defense who will continue to make things miserable for Fulmer whose Vols are averaging only 78 rushing yards/game the last 6.

DOUBLE EXTRA LOCK

"The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"


Florida (-5.5) over Georgia - The two best QBs in the SEC - Tim Tebow and Matthew Stafford - will face off in what is a National Championship eliminator game. The taunting Georgia did in the endzone last year after their first touchdown in a 42-30 win will certainly be in the back of the Gator's minds. In the back of Georgia's minds will be having to deal with Florida's defense which is allowing 11.9 points/game. In fact, since Florida lost to Ole Miss, the Gators have outscored their opponents 152-33. Georgia is plagued with injuries right now with 3 offensive lineman and 2 defensive lineman (and another questionable for this game) out for the year. If you are thinking that 5.5 points is too many, ask yourself what team in the country right now you would take over Florida on a neutral site. If you say Texas, I'll happily take your money.

Here is a quick Florida/Georgia preview:



I think I love her.

Poon-per Bowl Championship Series: Girls of Conference USA

Part of me feels bad for having to send out Conference USA to take on the Pac-10. It's like sending out Mt. St. Mary's to play North Carolina in the first round of the NCAAs. It's really not fair, but if you want to play with the big girls, then you better be ready when you get the chance. And besides, anytime you have five star recruits from Central Florida on your team, there's always a chance.

ROUND 1

Game 1: Big XII (Winner) vs. Big East
Game 2: SEC (Winner) vs. Big Ten
Game 3: Pac-10 vs. Conference USA
Game 4: ACC vs. The Field (best of the rest)

Click here for the Girls of the Big XII.
Click here for the Girls of the Big East.
Click here for the Girls of the SEC.
Click here for the Girls of the Big Ten.
Click here for the Girls of the Pac-10.


Girls of Conference USA

EAST CAROLINA

HOUSTON

MARSHALL

MEMPHIS

RICE

SOUTHERN METHODIST

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

TULANE

TULSA

UAB

UCF

UTEP

At this point, we normally ask you to leave your comments about who you think won the Pac-10 vs. Conference USA game here. With this week's domination, there is not much need but feel free anyways. Nonetheless, it was a good effort from Conference USA even if they were clearly overmatched. Coming next week is the ACC vs. The Field (best of the rest) contest in which oddsmakers in Vegas already have at even odds as of right now and should no doubt be every much as exciting as the SEC vs. Big Ten first round grudge match.

Dancing With The Sooners

If this guy has any part of the festivities this weekend in Norman for the 1971 Game of the Century reunion, then ESPN can thank YouTube for its spike in ratings.



Feel like doing a little reminiscing about the Nebraska/Oklahoma games of the past?

Click here for ESPN Classic's flashback on five of the more memorable Nebraska/Oklahoma games.

Houston, We Have A Problem

In case you didn't watch Marshall's 37-23 win over Houston last night on ESPN, you probably missed this little accident. Houston freshman WR Patrick Edwards (634 yards, 4 TDs) was running for a ball from QB Blake Joseph in the third quarter when this happened (from espn):

Edwards, running deep for a pass from Blake Joseph, ran out of the back of the end zone into a band equipment cart parked just beyond the out-of-bounds line. The impact, captured by ESPN's cameras, caused a compound fracture of Edwards' right leg according to the Houston Chronicle.

Cougars coach Kevin Sumlin told the Chronicle that while he had "his opinions" on the subject, he would offer no comment on such a dangerous situation. Houston athletics director Dave Maggard said he will pursue the subject with Marshall officials.

Since Cougars' coach Sumlin wouldn't offer any specifics on "his opinions", I'll help him out. I'm not going to hold it against Marshall that they can't afford a bigger stadium with more room. However, the least you can do is have the marching band move their shitty metal machinery more than five feet from the out of bounds line. I'm sure some band equipment manager has been told a thousand times not to leave the cart behind the endzone because a football player is going to run full speed into it and break his leg, and I'm sure the band dude always tells himself "the chances of that happening are slim to none" and sits his ass back down. Well, your luck ran out buddy and now a potential freshman All-American wide receiver may have lost his football career. If you think this kid will ever be the same, give Matt Herian a call. Heads will roll and I'll be interested to see how far.

Poon-per Bowl Championship Series: Girls of the Pac-10

Last round, the Big Ten almost pulled off a first round shocker which surely would have gone down as one of the biggest upsets in the modern sports era. I am doubting the early favorites from the SEC will be caught sleepwalking through anymore rounds again, especially when they see what the Pac-10 is bringing for their first round battle with Conference USA (coming Thursday).

ROUND 1

Game 1: Big XII (Winner) vs. Big East
Game 2: SEC (Winner) vs. Big Ten
Game 3: Pac-10 vs. Conference USA
Game 4: ACC vs. The Field (best of the rest)

Click here for the Girls of the Big 10.
Click here for the Girls of the SEC.
Click here for the Girls of the Big East.
Click here for the Girls of the Big XII.

The Pac-10 girls are competitive. In fact, the territorial marking that goes on at games between their girls is unseen anywhere else in college. If you don't think the Pac-10 is here to win, then check out these two queen bees from Arizona and Oregon.



Girls of the Pac-10

ARIZONA

ARIZONA STATE

CALIFORNIA

OREGON

OREGON STATE

STANFORD

UCLA

USC

WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON STATE

There might be a new favorite in Poon-per Bowl land.

The Brandon Rigoni vs. Mark Manning Duel

This is great. Former Husker special teams standout Brandon Rigoni and current Husker wrestling coach Mark Manning had a battle for the ages yesterday at practice. The bet was that Manning could not stop Rigoni from scoring five times in five attempts from the three yard line.



I don't know about you, but I didn't think it was remotely possible that Manning was going to stop that missile coming at him full speed. I clearly remember when all 180 pounds of Rigoni used to single handily blow up opponent's wedges on kickoffs in his sleep. Although Rigoni put together three highlights in his first three attempts including a four yard front flip, he clearly forgot the objective of his mission on the fourth attempt: don't get clowned by the wrestling coach in front of the entire football team. You got to love how Doc Sadler was there in attendance with his suit and tie showing his support. You also got to love how Tom Osborne was not only there, but there to hand out the trophy. Amazing how much the atmosphere has changed in and around the football program in less than an year.

Well done Mark Manning.

Take the Double Extra Points

Season: 36-31-1 ATS (54%)

Double Extra Lock: 5-2 ATS (71%)

Just like the Huskers, it was good to get back on the winning track last week capped by UCLA's upset of Stanford as a home dog. Hopefully you loaded up on the Bruins and your bookie isn't dodging more phone calls than Matthew Broderick in The Cable Guy. There are many sites out there that not only give you weekend picks against the spread, but also predict the final score of the game. With games on almost every night, we are clearly much too lazy to offer up predicted scores. And really, why would we give you a final score prediction when Vegas already provides it? Combining the over/under with the point spread allows you to get the exact final score that Vegas degenerates are betting will show up on oversized scoreboards when the 4th quarter clock hits 0:00. Here are projected final scores for this weekend's AP Top 10: Ask yourself is any of these appear to be off.

1. Texas 41 Oklahoma St 28
2. Alabama 24 Tennessee 17
   
3. Penn St 24 Ohio St 21
   
4. Oklahoma 45 Kansas St 25
   
5. Florida 37 Kentucky 11
6. USC 36 Arizona 19
7. Oklahoma St (above)
8. Texas Tech 32 Kansas 34
9. Georgia 23 LSU 25
   
10. Ohio St (above)

The first game that jumps out to us is the 46 point over/under in the Penn St-Ohio St game. We don't see that much scoring in a game that will feature two strong running games and solid defense. Texas Tech is also flying under the radar this week as an underdog playing a Kansas defense giving up over 250 passing yards per game and over 30 points in 3 or their last 4 vs I-A teams. That 66 point over could be in trouble as well with two solid offenses that don't use much clock to score. Looking beyond the Top 10 provides some solid over/under picks for this week.

T. Rose

N'Western @ Indiana OVER (51) - We took N'Western last week in a romp over a fading Purdue team. Northwestern hasn't scored more than 24 points on the road this year, but face an Indiana team that has given up 100 points over the past two weeks. Indiana should have QB Kellen Lewis available this week and he will be the difference in the offense. Indiana has scored just 29 points over the past 3 games, but should be able to get enough big plays to score 20 points against the Wildcat D. We like N'Western giving 8.5 in this one as well.

Colorado @ Missouri UNDER (63) - The Buffaloes have not scored more than 14 points in a game since September and have one of the worst offenses in the Big XII. Dan Hawkins benched his son in last week's ugly 14-13 win over Kansas St and it's unclear who will get the start in Columbia. Missouri's offense has not looked good since the huge win in Lincoln and they get an underrated Colorado defense at home this week. Add in the fact that Chase Daniels has been gorging himself on Halloween candy since Monday and it's likely that the Mizzou offense will be a step or 3 slow this week.

Boise St (-7) over SAN JOSE ST - This Friday night game features two of the best defenses in the country and the over/under is a meager (by WAC standards) 43 points. San Jose St is giving up just 270 yards per game and 16.6 point per game. Boise St has only allowed 1 team (Oregon) to score more than 7 points all season and is second in the country in scoring defense. While some will tell you this is a 'trap' game for Boise St as they needed 11 4th quarter points, including a FG as time expired, to pull out a 23-20 win the last time they visited San Jose, we don't see any way San Jose St can generate enough offense to stay within the touchdown spread. The Spartans put up 31 points with just 201 yards of total offense against a terrible New Mexico St defense last week and they will have trouble moving the ball all night against the Broncos. You may want to look at the UNDER as well as a 24-7 type of game looks likely.

Sammy Vegas

FLORIDA (-24) over Kentucky - Last week, it took two passing touchdowns from Kentucky to defeat Arkansas 21-20 at home. This week, Kentucky and their #88 ranked offense get to travel to Gainesville to take on Florida and their #4 ranked defense. The Wildcats started the season 4-0 but now have lost 3 straight and face a Florida team that is playing angry. Even though Florida has Georgia on deck and will play conservatively on offense, look for Urban Meyer to build on that 30 point LSU win and have the Gators ready to go for next week.

PITTSBURGH (-9.5) over Rutgers - Last year Pittsburgh lost at Rutgers by 4 points in which they had a touchdown called back in the final minute of the game for offensive pass interference. Since a week 1 loss to Bowling Green, the Panthers have quietly rolled off 6 straight including wins over Iowa, @ South Florida, and @ Navy. Rutgers has scored over 21 points once all season (vs. Morgan State) and continues to be one of the most disappointing teams in college football. At home for the first time in 3 weeks, look for Pittsburgh to keep their focus here as they continue to close in on Dave Wannstedt's first Big East title.

Notre Dame (-11) over WASHINGTON - I've been scratching my empty head over this one for days. Washington is 0-6, has a lame duck coach, and has a defense giving up 482 yards. Jimmy Clausen continues to show his improvement from a year ago as he has 1633 yards, 14 touchdowns (8 Int), and a 62% completion percentage. Notre Dame has had two weeks now to shake off the loss at North Carolina where they outplayed the Tar Heels (outgained them by 150 yards) and realistically should be sitting 5-1 instead of 4-2. Look for a high scoring game which should inch Washington ever so closer to a winless season.

Double Extra Lock


HAWAII (+3.5) over Nevada - For the second week in a row, we'll take a home underdog going up against a team they have beaten soundly at home since 2004. The Wolfpack have scored at will over the last 4 weeks, averaging over 46 points per game. They make the long trip to Honolulu this week to face a vastly improved Warrior defense that hasn't given up 30 points in a game since an early season trip to Corvallis (another DXP winner). We'll take the better defense getting more than a FG at home in a game that will win back all of your losses from the early games.