New Year's Eve 5 Spot

Meineke : Northwestern vs Texas A&M
The 'Cats are a 10 point dog against A&M.  I don't have enought faith to take 'em straight up, but I'll take 'em with the points and hope they snap the bowl losing streak with a surprise and a big game from Kain Colter.
NU +10
UPDATE I: I can't even watch my own team.  Angst...and they're about to blow my cover.   AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!
UPDATE II: GOD
UPDATE III: DAMN
UPDATE IV: IT
UPDATE V: i am spent...a fu$%#ing field goal with 30 seconds left...

Sun : Georgia Tech vs Utah
GT is 7-5, Utah is 8-4.  Utah is getting 2 1/2, and I'm taking it.
Utah +2 1/2
UPDATE : Utah comes from behind to win OT.

Liberty Bowl : Cincinatti vs Vanderbilt
Cincinatti gets no respect.  They're 9-3, Vandy is 6-6.  I think that's a good deal.
Cincinatti +1 1/2
UPDATE I : more excitement in five minutes here than all afternoon with IL:UCLA
UPDATE II : Munchie Legaux is warming up!
UPDATE III : Cincinnatti 31, Vanderbilt 24

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Illinois and UCLA
This is the "We Fired Our Coaches Bowl".  Wonder if this has ever happened before, both teams in a bowl game without their head coaches.  The Illini won their first six, lost their next six, that cooked the Zook.  UCLA was 6-6 and defaulted into the PAC 12 championship game because USC is in jail.  Oregon beat 'em, so UCLA comes in with a 6-7 mark.  Illinois lost their lead running back for this game, ack.  I think the two teams are going to go wild on offense.
OVER 47
UPDATE : going wild for these two teams means getting 2 consecutive first downs.  This game stinks.
UPDATE : 34 points, silly me, thinking these two would be interesting.

Chick Fil A : Virginia and Auburn
I'm tired.  I'll take a position before kickoff.
UPDATE I: Auburn is the defending national champion.  Their coach is 8-0 in bowl games. They're a 3 point favorite.  Tonight, I am going with Virginia to upset them. BTW, did you know that this used to the Peach Bowl?  Now it's the Deep Fried Love Affair Bowl , yes, Doc?
VA +3
UPDATE I : I am going to need therapy.  Auburn is destroying Virginia. 
UPDATE II : Disaster, 43-24.  I'm taking tomorrow off : )

4 More

11 a.m. Armed Forces Bowl from Dallas, Tulsa and BYU
Tulsa is a 1 point favorite.  I can't tell the two apart, so I've gone OVER 56.

UPDATE I: Call this the Boring Bowl.  I've been watching American Pickers on TNT instead of this snoozer.  It's going to be a loser for us, too, with two offenses that are mind numbing slow..

2:30 p.m. Rutgers and Iowa State @ Yankee Stadium, the Pinstripe Bowl
Rutgers is 8-4, Iowa State 6-6.  I like Iowa State (they beat Iowa, that makes them likable for the season), but this is a home game for Rutgers. Rutgers -1.

UPDATE: We went to the movies and saw Hugo (very good, btw) while Rutgers paid off.

5:30 p.m. Music City Bowl in Nashville, Mississippi State v Wake Forest
I got cross-eyed studying stats.  I don't know.  They both have messed up offensive units, so I'm giving it a go with UNDER 48.

UPDATE: Total 40, winner.  Ever been to Nashville?  Great place to spend a couple days.

Late game, the Insight Bowl, Iowa and Oklahoma
Oklahoma has been sliding throughout the season, their great expectations cascading to a smoldering heap.  Iowa has had its typical roller coaster season, with the cherry on top being the annual "who's the character casualty" contest.  This year's winner: star running back Marcus Coker, booted from the team for the bowl game for an undisclosed sin.  I'm not going to even attempt a witty, speculative insult. Coach Ferentz leads the civilized world in bust-out, screwed-up, kicked off the team and/or sent to jail young men parading as student athletes, and it's not funny.  Of course, I'm not an Iowa alum, so other than righteous indignation, I don't really give a rat's arse.

Enough from the pulpit.  The spread is 13 1/2.  I think Iowa will get inside the spread.  Iowa +13 1/2.

UPADATE: after 58 3/4 minutes, we were covered.  At the end, we were not.

13, 14 : Champs, Alamo

Champs : FSU   v   USB under 46
                                UPDATE -------> 32 Total, Winner!


Alamo: Washington v Baylor -9 1/2

UPDATE I: Baylor has no defense, we're going to lose what I thought
                    to be a sure thing.
UPDATE II: 67-56, we get a win from a game that looked like a
                     touch football contest--after I'd written this one off
UPDATE III: I parlayed the two games today, so I made back some money


No long write ups. 

No big analysis. 

Five minutes with the numbers, those are my picks.  Can't do much worse than I've done so far.

#11 Military, #12 Holiday

Game #11, The Military Bowl in DC has Toledo meeting the Air Force Academy.  Short and sweet, here, I'm being a contrarian.  Both teams score a lot, both teams have unimpressive defensive stats and the O/U has therefore been set at 70 1/2. 

Big numbers like that mean that both teams have to keep throwing haymakers for sixty minutes...and landing their punches, i.e. there's gotta be a contest the whole time.  If one team pulls away, the totals shrink. 

I bought the under.

UPDATE
83.  So much for that.  Man the lifeboats.

Bevo XIV, the mascot of the University
of Texas.  The next time you look scornfully
at the cartoon figure running around on the
sidelines for the U. of Anybody Else, you
may wish to pause to recall that none of
those brightly colored, cartoon faced
pillows stuffed full with a spirited
undergraduate student requires
an entourage armed with shovels to walk
behind him.  Bevo is not housebroken, nor
is he diapered, hence...
I do not know if Bevo is going to the bowl
game.  I would guess yes, otherwise how
can ESPN do the gratuitous close up of
the cow while the announcers
yabble some humorous and pithy
cow joke intended to endear the cow
to otherwise right minded viewers. I
think Cal ought to psych out Bevo by
having its mascot manning a Weber
grill, cooking Bevo's relatives. 

Game #12 is the Holiday Bowl in Sandy Aygo.  Cal going against Texas.  Texas gave me fits this year.  BTW, this game is the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, properly.  Bridgepoint Education is a publicly traded company that operates Ashford University and University of the Rockies.  That last sentence is a bit of information that leaves you no wiser for having read it, sorry.  At this point in Capital One Bowl Week (I have been hypnotically programmed to refer to it as such, lest the omnipotent take away my football) they might call this the Who Really Gives a S%&t Bowl and it would not really matter to me.

Back at the game, Texas is a 4 point favorite.  This is yet another pairing of 7-5 teams whose exploits throughout the season have been chronicled in mind numbing detail, hundreds of thousands of words heavily dosed with delusions of grandeur seasoning the storylines as the proprietors of the new fourth estate (click here) have attempted to justify our collective preoccupation with this pap. 

I studied this match up a whole bunch, my record so far this bowl season sucks, and it came down to : I think that success in this game is more important to Texas than it is to Cal, so that's where I put the money. 

UPDATE
21-10 winner winner chicken dinner!

#9 and #10, Pizza and Belk?

#9 of Bowl season is the Pizza Bowl in Dee-troit, pitting Western Michigan against Purdue. This is the game that teams treat as a consolation prize, the game you get if you don't get a better invitation.  That's not the case with Western Michigan.  They've sold half again as many tickets to their fans for this game as has Purdue. 

As for the match up, Purdue was 6-6 for the season against superior competition.  They have also lost their big runner, Ralph Bolden, to a knee injury and lost a bunch of other players to academics, disciplinary action and legal infractions.  This group is frayed around the edges, character-wise.

WMichigan (7-5) has a prolific passer and should have all hands on deck, happy, healthy and not in need of a public defender.  They haven't generally fared well in upgraded competition, but I'm going with the underdog +2 1/2 here to carry the day.

Capt. Edward Smith.  His boat sank.
Mine is taking on water like a mofo.

UPDATE 1
Geeeeze...WMU has allowed Purdue to recover 2 onside kicks and Purdue has run back a kickoff for a TD.   There's still 5 minutes to go in the first half!  These guys have their heads up their heinies far enough?  Aaaand we have the worst announcing team on TV, Beth Mowins and Mike Belloti, to make this experience even worse.   She sounds like Rocky the Flying Squirrel and he is making the most obtuse and incomprehensible references imaginable. 
UPDATE 1.1
WMU's quarterback stinks.  Their whole team stinks.  Big Mike, I know that Purdue is your team, but they're not really so good, they're just playing a really sh*&ty team.  Give 'em credit, they've taken advantage of the opportunities, and WMU has given them plenty of opportunities, 21 points worth so far.
UPDATE 1.2
I put the blame for this mess on the WMU coach.  The kids committed a boatload of turnovers because they had to play mad catch up for nearly the whole game, way, way beyond what they were capable of doing.  Why? 'Cause of the 2 onside kicks that Purdue recovered.  Regardless, it's another loser for us, and so far this bowl season I'm feeling like the captain of the Titanic.

Game #10 is the Belk Bowl in Charlotte.  It's Louisville (7-5) v NC State (7-5). If you are unfamiliar with the Belk Bowl, you may stand at ease because this is the first one.  This game was christened as the Queen City Bowl and morphed into the Continental Tire Bowl when it was played, and so it was for 3 seasons.  Then it became the Meineke Bowl for 6 iterations.  Now, for 2011, North Carolina department store chain Belk's is the title sponsor. 

Now you know.

As for the game, it's a NC State squad that's been a bit erratic against a Louisville team that started poorly but righted the ship.  Read up on all the stats and evaluate 'till your head hurts, or take advantage my already having done so : I'm invoking a specific facet of the jewel of sagacity of the ages, passed to me by none other than Mr. GunN.  How are they playing lately? 

Louisville +1 1/2

UPDATE 1
Halftime.  Glug, glug, glug...

#8 : Independence Bowl from Shreveport, LA

Quaint, that whole tar heel
name thing.

It will be a pair of 7-5 teams this evening from Shreveport, when the Missouri Tigers meet the North Carolina Tar Heels.  Shreveport is up in northwestern Louisiana where the state borders Arkansas and Texas.  Before I looked that up, I didn't  know that Louisiana bordered Arkansas and Texas, and I'll bet that you didn't either.  You just get so much more than degenerate gambling here.  That may become our new motto. 

Or "beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick".  I'll get back to you on that.

If the story that the numbers tell holds true, this will be a very fine match up.  Both of the teams were 6-6 ATS for the season.  Each had a 6-1 home record and was 1-4 on the road.  They're matched categorically as well.

My pick is NC +5 1/2.

UPDATE
My pick sucked.  It's 41-24 Tigers as the clock heads toward merciful zero. 

Merry Christmas

I went looking through the archives for a particular picture that I wanted to post today.  Instead, I found a bunch of pictures and stories that I posted to celebrate Christmas a few years ago.  Take a look at the Twelve Days postings that are accessible on the right side of the linked page.  It is, to quote Mr GunN, a heart warming trip to the days of yesteryear.  Click here

Merry Christmas.

Game #7 : Mele Kalikimaka

Just who decided not to play any games yesterday?  I need  games on TV at this time of the year, football, and a Friday night without it was awful. 

Looking forward to this evening, we travel, thanks to the magic of television,  from the desert landscape (and fake ta-ta's and hordes of homeless wandering the streets) of Las Vegas to the warm Pacific breezes of our 50th state, Hawaii.  So let's take a moment to refresh, say Pepsi, please, and enjoy a rendition of a perennial native favorite of the season:

OK, back to the real world now, Clark.  The Christmas Eve special tonight features the Nevada Wolfpack (7-5) squaring off with the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (11-2).  SoMiss's claim to fame this year is derailing the undefeated Houston Cougars to claim the Conference USA championship back on December 3.  If we didn't have three weeks intermission here I would be looking for SoMiss to have a bit of a hangover, and they still just might.  Not likely, though.

Southern Miss is coached by Larry Fedora, who has put up a string of winning seasons and has been enticed to go run the show at North Carolina.  Unlike some of his less responsible brethren in the coaching profession (sing with me, has anybody here seen Kelly...), Coach Fedora has chosen to stick around to take his team to the bowl berth they earned together.  I expect an emotional lift to translate to their performance. 

Talent on talent, So Miss should prevail.  They do a lot of things well.  Nevada, despite a less glittery record, is no tomtato can. I lingered long pondering picking them as a big pay upset, but I don't think it's going to work for them.  They lost the two stars of last year's team to graduation (well, to the NFL anyway) and then had to launch their star running back in the preseason because he was naughty.  Three big dogs gone and still a good season.  The achilles for them here is that they'll be starting a freshman QB.  They're going to be the only game of the day, and the lad who was in high school six months ago will be at the helm. It could be the birth of a star, but these things usually turn out to be more of a tutoring session wherein one touts the moral victory aspect.  In other words, he'll likely make some mistakes.

The spread openend at SoMiss -5 1/2, rose to 8 1/2 before I got on.  I still got on. 

Jelly of the month club...the gift that keeps on givin', Clark.

UPDATE
That sucked.  24-17, missed a field goal and so no cover.  5 1/2 would have worked...or I could have switched sides.  Live and learn...ha!

Game #6 : The Las Vegas Bowl

Nothing says Christmas Week like "we're going to Vegas". 

Boise State v Arizona State
The Las Vegas Bowl
Thursday, same time, same station
I think that this game will be very entertaining.  It's an odd sort of a match up, with Boise State sporting an 11-1 record, while Arizona State comes in with a pretty unimpressive 6-6.   Despite the apparent inequality, the Broncos are only 14 point favorites.  One of the reasons for the slim margin is betrayed by Boise's  0-6 ATS record in the second half of the season, 4-8 overall. 

AZ State is no prom queen, either, ATS speaking.  They dropped their last four when the points are factored in.

The story of this one for me is all Broncos.  They have shown a tendency to be a lesser team when they're not on their famous blue field, and they're perenially the media proclaimed victims of a BCS format that discriminates against them, but this year they fell pretty far in the esteem of the slatemakers to draw the Vegas Bowl assignment. 

All in, with a fast turf track and chip on their shoulders, they're likely to have enough to break their ATS losing streak for this one. 

UPDATE I
We learned long ago not to count your money while you're sitting at the table, thank you Professor Kenny Rogers.  So we're not going to count this one yet, but Boise is rolling, thanks to  AZ State miscues.  So far the blue team has 2 defensive TD's in the second half, and they lead 49-17 with 13+ minutes left.  Go Blue!
UPDATE II
Boise State ruined AZ State Coach Dennis Erickson's sayonara game.  AZ State game 'em plenty of help.  Fumbles, INT's, and more stupid penalties than I've seen in ages were the calling card for AZ State.  The final was 56-24, a big win for us!

Game #5 : Poinsettia Bowl

Louisiana Tech +10  v TCU

Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego
Wednesday 7:00 p.m. ESPN
This one has intriguing numbers. 

Both of these teams enter the game with 7 game winning streaks.  TCU opened as a 12 1/2 point favorite and has been bet down to 10.  The reason appears to be Louisiana Tech's remarkable record ATS;  they're 11-1 ATS this season.

 I normally gravitate toward TCU as they've been kind to us over the years, but 11-1 ATS for LaTech is too strong to ignore.   They haven't been cheap covers for the most part, either. The last 5 games they  have covered by 3, 23 1/2, 19, 11 and 21.  On the other side, TCU is 2-3 ATS in their last 5.

Now, the poinsettia. 

Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, the poisettia was introduced to the USA in 1825 by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American Minister to Mexico.  The plant's bright colors result from (ready for this one?)

>>>>>>>>>>>>> photoperiodism <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

meaning it requires 12 hours of darkness for 5 consecutive days to change color.

Did you think this was gonna be just a bunch of dumb football gambling stuff?

Update
31-24 TCU was the final.  We win!  Felt sorry for LaTech, they played their hearts out.  I got over my angst quickly; cashing a winner will do that.

Game #4 : The Beef

St. Petersburg, the host city for the
Beef O'Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl, has,
over the ensuing years,
compromised none of the excitement
promised by this c.1940's postcard.

Florida International -4 v Marshall

The Beef O'Brady's Bowl, St. Petersburg, Flahriddah

Tuesday @ 7:00 on ESPN

Florida International (8-4) travels up from Miami to square off with Marshall (6-6).  Neither team offers a distinguished resume, and I'm taking the chalk and giving the points.  FIU started at -5, maybe a warning?  I've had trouble reading Marshall for years, so I'm hoping that FIU just takes care of business here.

Word of the day, courtesy of Mr. GunN : consubstantial.  To allay your trepidation, click here for elucidation.

Update

Don't know what the final is going to be, but with 4 minutes to play, FIU looks like history.  The game turned when Marshall scored on a long TD to end the first half.  FIU wasn't the same afterward, and they've looked inept in the second half.  We are off to a pretty poor start, 1-3.

Aaaaaaaand they're off....

Update 1

The New Mexico Bowl is looking pretty crappy.  The best news to come from this stinker is that the pathetic U of New Mexico Lobos (1-11 this year) have hired Bob Davie to take over as head coach.  The Wyoming Cowboys, who are participating (not "competing") today, look terrible.  They're being pushed around, outhustled, out-everythinged.  The halftime score is 28-7, Temple.  Temple is positively cavorting about the gridiron thus far.  Cavorting.  Aaaargh.

Update 1A

Final 37-15.  A craptacular start for us!

Update 2

O...M...G...with a couple minutes to go, Utah State punts from it's end zone and Ohio takes over around the 45.  They move downfield and find themselves 4th and about 6 around the 20.  Utah, and this is the OMG, blitzes the 4th down play, and the pass is completed into the area vacated by the blitzing defender.  There's a bunch of referee conferring and reviewing, but in the end Ohio scores the winning TD with :13 to play.  Utah squanders a 13 point lead, and we have gone to 0-2.  Final 24-23. Props to the Ohio coach for keeping his wits at crunch time and stealing a win-and stealing my money!

Update 3

The Ragin' Cajuns and SDSU are offering up the best play of the day.  The Cajun fans have made the 2 hour trek to NOLA and they're plenty vocal.  SDSU has a very good QB and a big dog running back.  This should be fun.

Update 3.1

Halftime, it's the Cajuns 13-3.  I don't count anything before the final tick of the clock. This has been great fun so far, though!

Update 3.2

The Ragin' Cajuns win a thriller with a game ending 50 yard field goal, 32-30.  They were ranked last--#120--in one preseason poll, it's their first D1 bowl game ever, and they played their hearts out.  It's our first win of bowl season!

Parlay Pete Rides Again

From the oracle himself:

THE RAGIN CAJUNS OF LA LAFAYETTE +5 DEC 17 MIKE HUDSPETH HAS THEM TO THEIR 1ST BOWL EVER 8-4 TEAM COMPLETE

Two Guns

TURNAROUND FROM 3-9 2010 1ST YR COACH IS 2O11 UNDERDOG PT SPREAD CHAMP CAJUNS 7-0 AS DOGS EVEN COVERED AT

OKLA ST AND ARIZONA KIDS BUST THE LOCKER ROOM DOORS DOWN FOR THIS COACH IN THE SUPER DOME IST BOWL PLAYING

TO SHOW POPULATION THERE IS ANOTHER TEAM IN LA BESIDES LSU



AIR FORCE FALCONS +3 DEC 28 MILITARY BOWL OVER TOLEDO AIR FORCE IN THE MILITARY BOWL AGAINST A TOLEDO TEAM

THAT HAD IT,S COACH LEAVE THE PLAYERS AND GO TO ILL NOT ONLY THAT BUT HE IS TAKING ASST COACHES WITH HIM

WHAT A AWFUL MIND SET TO PUT THE PLAYERS IN

THE FALCONS PLAYING FOR THE HONOR OF THE MILITARY I,M SHOCKED AF GETTING PTS

BOTH PLAYS TYPICAL WRONG TEAMS THE FAVORITE I REMEMBER WHAT KELLEY DID TO A UNDEFEATED CINN 13-0 TEAM WHEN HE UPPED AND LEFT THE KIDS FOR ND THEY GOT KILLED AND SHUT OUT IN THEIR BOWL



RAGIN CAJUNS

AIR FORCE FALCONS DEC PARLAY LOCK OF THE MONTH

REMEMBER YOU,LL NEVER GET PISTOL WHIPPED WITH A TWO GUNN PPP

MONEY LINE PAR PAYS $28 FOR 2
 
--- Two GunN Pete

'Tis the Season...for Tipping

As the holiday season envelopes us, we're reminded that it's time to send a few bucks to the people who service us all year.  Mrs PFOS makes sure there's a little something for the mail lady (sounds funny, doesn't it, mail/male lady, I am so easily amused), the trash and recycling guys, the hair cutters and others whose efforts impact our lives throughout the year. 

In this season, more than ever, I am amused by our newspaper delivery person.

A lifetime ago, young me delivered newspapers.  Best job I ever had, done by six o'clock every morning.  Pounding away sometimes on my bike, sometimes on foot with a ton of newspapers over my shoulder, rain or dry (no shine, not at that hour), I loved doing that job.  When the big Christmas ad supplements came out and there was four times the load, it was a challenge.  When it went sub zero outside, my dad would help now and then, shuttling loads for me to the corners and waiting in the big yellow Chevy station wagon with the heat blasting, providing a warming station for me. Hard work, good pay. 

Today, newspapers are disappearing, and so with them the people who deliver them.  The delivery people aren't kids riding bikes anymore, they're adults rolling across the distances in their cars or vans, flinging papers out the window. 

Young me developed a skill at this task, back in the day, flinging the rolled up paper from the sidewalk as I pedaled or strolled past  (by the way, when you got good at it, you didn't need rubber bands for the paper anymore, just creases and folds, another lost skill, this one not China's fault) so that the papers landed in front of the shiny aluminum storm doors on the cement porches of the south side ranches (not bungalows, like everyone calls them, but that's another discussion) and slid or bounced properly into the corner next to where the door opened, so that the customer needed only to crack the door open a few inches and reach down to snatch the paper, never needing to set foot outside the house to claim their morning prize. 

Thinking of this makes me chuckle as I mumble in the mornings these days, one of those remaining subscribers waiting for the morning rehash of what I read on the 'net yesterday and already saw rehashed on the evening news.  I'm mumbling because I'm wandering around in front of my house because the individual who delivers my newspaper has proven skilled at missing the driveway, a task akin to failing to hit the ocean while standing on the beach.  My newspaper can be found in the grass, in the gutter, on the street, everywhere, it seems, but on the driveway, unless it's raining, when I can always expect to find it in the one puddle that forms in one spot by the curb.  Lately, on Sunday mornings, I've frequently left the house by the time the paper arrives, so I've been treated to a double scoop : poor service / performed late. Quite an enticing combo.

I began to pay attention, starting around Thanksgiving, to the deterioration of service from this person, while everyone else seemed to step up their game a bit to assure that the Christmas earning opportunity wouldn't be squandered, and I waited for "the message".   It came last Sunday : a photocopied season's greetings with the delivery person's name and address, tucked inside the plastic bag that held the morning paper...which I eventually found lying in the gutter in front of the mail box. 

This guy would have never lasted, back in the day, on the south side.  Dumb ass. 

#3 : NOLA

I'm not sure when New Orleans started referring to itself as NOLA, but I don't think it's the best name.  There's a negative connotation to starting with "NO".  Not a place to which you naturally gravitate, no.  No.

The Superdome became the Mercedes-Benz
Superdome this past year.  The building opened in
1975, can you believe it's been that long?  The first
NFL game featured the Saints getting shutout by the
Cincinnatti Bengals, 21-0.  The building became
internationally known when it became the home of
thousands of refugees from Hurrican Katrina.  That
was in 2005, can you believe it's been that long?
Personally, I have only seen it from the air, flying
over it in a Mexicana Airlines flight home from
Cancun.  I remain amazed that it was easy to pick
out the building from 8 miles high.  Eight Miles
High is a song that was a hit for The Byrds back
in 1966, can you believe it's...

Question:  "do you wanna go to NO--LA?".  No.  Hold the LA. 

Or, "it's no L.A.", as in "New Orleans is no Los Angeles, or NO, it's inferior to Los Angeles. Plus,  all that was before that crazy mayor started his whole racist babble, back in the day.  So we're not going, not going to NOLA, just trying to construct a winning argument here.

Saturday evening it will be the SanDiego State Aztecs taking on the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns.  Lafayette...a TwoGun word...say it slow, with the "fay" sound like "fie"...La...fie...ette.  Sort of a Gulf version of "everybody likes to say Tulsa".

It's SanDiego that is a 4 1/2  point fave, down from 5, O/U is 58 1/2.  Early money is pounding the over and going on SDSU.  I think there is an argument here to go Cajuns and take the points, and that's what I've done.  With no common opponents, it's tough to do straight up comps, so we're left to a lot of inferences.  This also equates to a home game for the Cajuns. 

That's the best I can do.  Louisiana Lafayette +4 1/2.  It's a crap shoot.

#2 : Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

You're asking yourself where this new bowl game came from, this game with the incredibly catchy name. 

Or not. 

You do not need to go to Boise to
be a part of the Famous Idaho
Potato Bowl!!! You can be right
in the middle of all the festivities
right in your own rumpus room
(ha! rumpus room!) with this
Official SPUD HAT!!!  Only
$19.50, free S&H!  Hold the
sour cream and chives, yuk yuk!

This was the Humanitarian Bowl until August, when the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was christened.  The game was briefly a sensation when Ohio University announced that it had accepted the invitation to compete.  That prompted Ohio punter Paul Hersey to proclaim to the world via Twitter “Idaho?? Who the (bleep) wants to play there in December??”

Paul Hersey is not a popular young man in the state of Idaho.  Perhaps he will make amends by taking the field attired in a Spud Hat. 

Or not.

As for the game, to be contested on that intriguing blue turf (I am sure it uses up all the blue coloration in my big screen, but I've told you that before), Utah State is a 2 1/2 point favorite.  Their regular season efforts yielded a 7-5 record.  The Ohio Bobcats finished at 9-4, losing the MAC title to Northern Illinois by squandering a 20-0 halftime lead only to lose 23-20. 

Perusing the game by game performances of the two combatants, I gotta tell you, nothing jumps out (except Utah States clobbering Wyoming 63-19, that was highly unusual for both teams).  The O/U on this one is 57 1/2, and that's the only place that I think I have a chance to make a reasonably informed guess.  My guess is under.  Utah State was half and half for the season in O/U 57 scoring.  Ohio was 4 games over, 8 games under.  An even contest will probably go over, this one will probably be lopsided and stay under.  Since Ohio's coach has jumped ship to take the top job at the University of Illinois (reminding me of another of my "favorite" coaches over in SBend), I'm thinking this may be a fine day for US...Utah State, that is. 

I hope my Spud Hat arrives by Saturday.

#1: New Mexico Bowl

The first of the 2011 bowl games kicks off at 1:00 p.m. this coming Saturday in Albuquerque, featuring the Temple Owls and the Wyoming Cowboys.  The game trophy is pictured here (excised from the game website).  It is a piece of Zia pottery about 20 inches tall.  The Zia are a native American tribe indigenous to the Albuquerque area, and the rendering of the sun with those spikes radiating from its surface is referred to as a Zia sun.

Don't you feel superior to everyone around you now that you have those morsels of information?

I'm rowing upstream on this first game, taking Wyoming straight up at    +220.  Temple is a 6 1/2 point favorite, but I think this is one of those "the wrong team is the favorite" situations.  Here's why.

While both teams are sporting 8-4 won/lost records, reviewing their schedules and taking a look at who delivered the four losses to each of these teams explains the choice.  The  Mountain West Conference Cowboys were beaten by #20 Nebraska (38-14), Utah State (63-19),  #18 TCU (31-20) and #7 Boise State (36-14).  The Utah State game is the only lopsided loss--and the one you probably wouldn't have selected, given those four opponents from which to choose a mismatch. 

Temple is a member of TwoGun's favorite conglomeration, the MAC.  Temple lost this season to Penn State (14-10), Toledo, Bowling Green and Ohio (the same Ohio who will face none other than Utah State in the Idaho Potato Bowl right after this game, symmetry, love it).  Temple had some big wins (back to back shutouts, Ball State 42-0 and Buffalo 34-0), but doesn't have any W's over big time opponents.  Looks to me as if the Cowboys have played better competition all year long, and that will carry the day for them in Albuquerque.

So that's the choice.  Ye pays yer money and ye takes yer chances.  1:00 p.m. on ESPN. 

Anchors Aweigh

Final : Navy 27, Army 21. Navy's 10th straight win over Army, but Army covered the 7 point spread. For us, a winner (under 56 1/2) to finish the season.

Bowls start next Saturday. It's the hap-hapiest time of the year!

Today, Rock Climbing With Citi

Another tv commercial song mystery solved : today it's the Citi Card commercial where there girl goes rock climbing.  Here's a live performance of Into the Wild from L.P..  Hang with it for a few until the song cranks up...and remember, Army Navy at 1:30 today.

2011 In Review -- Off Topic

Nothing to do with football, but worth your time.   Here's a link to a presentation of 45 of the most powerful images of the year 2011.

 Click here

Army, Navy, IPod Touch

It's the Army Navy game this weekend at Annapolis.  There's also some D2/D3 games, and maybe we'll give them a shot, just for giggles.

CBS, 1:30 p.m.  Weather : 43 and sunny.

The Navy is a 7 point favorite and O/U is 56 1/2.  I'm betting under. 

Another song mystery solved : from the Ipad Touch commercial, here is "Tongue Tied"

Hail the Champions

I started putting up a photo salute to each of the conference champions who were crowned this weekend and found it took way too much space.  It would also have been vastly inferior to Sports Center, and I couldn't bear to be inferior.

There were some thrillers, e.g. Mississippi State handing Houston its first loss of the season to claim the Conference USA title, Oklahoma State eviscerating the Sooners, and a great football game in the inaugural Big Ten title clash, where Wisconsin won, barely.



**** Troy @ Arkansas State -17 1/2  WIN
Final 45-14
Mimsy and I went to see Tower Heist while the Red Wolves worked out on Troy.  Niiiiiice.

***New Mexico @ Boise State -48 1/2  LOSE
Final 45-0
I think Boise got bored, or we answered the question " how big a spread is too big?"  Maybe they just felt sorry for NM, but hey, coach, if you turn that field goal into a TD, we cover.  Just sayin'.

** Wyoming -5 1/2 @ Colorado State  LOSE
Final 22-19
Wyoming's offense wasn't up to it, the cover, that is.  The Cowboys win to conclude a very successful season and will bowl somewhere.

* UNLV @ TCU -38 1/2  WIN
 Final 56-9
UNLV started strong in this game and it looked like the Frogs were going to be in for a tussle.  Then they both reverted to form: UNLV making lots of errors and TCU scoring lots of TD's.  Happiness!

My +300 bet on Michigan State ended up being decided by an infraction by a Michigan State player on a punt at the end of the game.  Tough loss.

Bowl pairings are on the way Sunday evening.  The first three games will take place on Saturday, December 17.  Lock and load!

The Big Finish

Last night in the PAC 12 Championship, UCLA was game but it was the Ducks who had game and will go to the Rose Bowl.  The Bruins never gave up in Coach Neuheisel's finale as head coach and kept it well inside the 31 point spread. Oregon's LaMichael James put up 221 yards La-rushing and scored 3 TD's.  Final 49-31.


This is our last big Saturday of the regular season, and there are some really sweet very fun match ups and spreads. Onward!

****  Troy @ Arkansas State -17 1/2
3:30 p.m.
The 9-1 Red Wolves are going to beat Troy, as they say, like a rented mule.
***New Mexico @ Boise State -48 1/2
5:00 p.m.
This match up is perverse.  It's a big number, but Boise could cover by halftime.
** Wyoming -5 1/2  @ Colorado State
1:00 p.m.
Wyoming gave Boise a good game in a losing effort last week.   Colorado State has 7 straight losses on its ledger, and more than a few were pretty one sided.  To illustrate: Colorado State lost to UNLV, who has the distinction of being the team that lost to New Mexico. Cowboys by 17.
* UNLV @ TCU -38 1/2
 1:30 p.m.
Keeping the interrelated thread alive, UNLV, well, they will be happy to get out of there alive tomorrow.

Finally, I'm taking Michigan State +310 in the Big 10+2 championship game in Indianapolis.

Big MAC

Born in 1967, the Big Mac
offers 540 caories, 29 grams
of fat, 25 grams of carbs and
1,040 mg of sodium, a tidy
43% of your recommended
daily intake of sodium. That's
before you get fries.  A study
in 2007 found that 80% of
Americans know what the
ingredients are for a Big Mac,
but only 60% know that
"thou shalt not kill" is one of
the ten commandments.
Moses should have hired
Needham, Harper and Steers,
the agency responsible for
"two all beef patties...etc"

I hope I didn't get to the line too late for tonight's MAC championship game at Ford Field in Dee-troit, featuring Northern Illinois and Ohio. 

This one has the Huskies as a 3 1/2 point favorite, a position I was initially inclined to take.  After doing a bit of digging I decided to purchase what I assume to be the safe refuge here and go after the O/U.

Indecision frequently has a price, and mine was 4 1/2 points.  I'm on at over 71 1/2; the open was 66.  That's a TD difference, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the ask price didn't climb too high. 

In the other Friday game, it's the UCLA Bruins visiting Oregon for the first ever PAC 12 nee 10 championship game.  At this moment, the Ducks are 31 point favorites, pretty silly for a championship game. I'm inclined to just stay away from this one.  The Ducks are pretty consistent high fliers, but UCLA is difficult to predict.  This game could be interesting for a while, but Oregon is almost certain to get a comfy leady by Q4, at which point it's likely that the reserves will be on the field, and covers and O/U's are too hard to predict.

UPDATE
I'm throwing in the towel.  Came home to find it 20-0 at the half.  Should have been 20 points by the quarter.  Crappy game, too, hardly worthy of a conference championship contest...not a defensive tussle, more of a display of offensive ineptitude.  Blechhhh!  This is why TGP moans about the MAC. 20-13 with 7:30 to play, no chance for anything close to the point total.

Thursday Night Winner...Whew!

WV @ USF didn't disappoint for excitement.  BJ Daniels, the bruised Bulls QB, started the game as expected and gave his team a big lift.  USF's defense played an inspired game.  WV fumbled away a sure TD and missed 2 field goals.  Their star QB, Geno Smith,  frequently looked like a deer in the headlights, and their coach spent all his timeouts by the start of the fourth quarter.  BJ Daniels fumbled away the ball with 3 minutes to play and the score tied at 27 as his team appeared to be headed toward a winning score.  The WV offense, getting the ball on the fumble with no time outs, launched a Keystone Kops drive highlighted by Smith taking a sack that most high school QB's would have avoided.

Then, on 4th down, with time nearly gone, Geno Smith hit his receiver in triple coverage for a 25 yard gain.  West Virginia kicked a 3 pointer as time expired, and it was over.  The Mountaineers are in the mix for the Big East title, and USF loses again and fails to become bowl eligible.

We book a winner on this one, and WV covers the 2 1/2 point spread, too, thanks to an amazing combination of skill, luck and circumstance.  Better lucky than good goes the saying, and that's the way it went tonight in Tampa.

Take a look at Mr. Gun's suggestions in the comments section of the previous post.  He's on a roll!

Thursday Night Special

The high temperature in Tampa today is supposed to be 72 with some scattered clouds.  Unless you're there, or someplace near there, you may want to read that once again and let it sink in, close your eyes and feel the sun warm you all over, sitting still, it raises the slightest bit of perspiration on your brow...

Wake up! It's December 1st and it's cold outside!

Sorry. 



Raymond James Stadium, looking north, with
the old Sombrero at the top.  Notice that this
looks nothing like Chicago's Soldier Field,
where the new stadium appears to have been
dropped from above onto the old one.  I have
had the privelege of attending games in both,
 (Soldier Field and Raymond James, that is,
never in the old Sombrero, sadly)and
Raymond James is far superior.  RJames
will also forever hold a place in my family
lore as the site where my son nearly restarted
the Civil War with two grannies from Auburn.
The altercation occurred on the south
plaza of the stadium while watching the
Marine Corps band performing, and ended
with the grannies muttering something about
the damn Yankees.  War Eagle, indeed. In
the photo above, at the top left, is George
Steinbrenner Field, spring training home of
the other damn Yankees.  



Tonight at Raymond James Stadium, West Virginia visits the USF Bulls.  WV is a 1 1/2 point favorite.  USF's best player, QB BJ Daniels, has been out with a shoulder problem he suffered when he was body slammed by a behemoth a few weeks ago.  He's a maybe for tonight, which suggests that he'll play.  It's the last game of the regular schedule and USF needs a W to become bowl eligible; bet on Daniels playing.

WV is 8-3 and gunning for the Big East title.  USF is 5-6, hungry for that bowl bid.  My initial thought was that USF would be the more highly motivated of the two and that determined spirit would carry them to victory.  Recent history in this match up is that the home team comes out on top.

After ruminating a bit, not tonight, say I.  USF is 1-6 after winning its first four.  They've lost their last three home games ATS.  While the Bulls haven't had a blow out loss since late September against Pitt, they've shown little to get excited about, and only flashes of competence on offense since Daniels was injured. 

WV is the opposite.  The Mountaineers have put up better numbers all year against opponents they have in common with USF. 

By the time I placed the bet, the spread had risen to 2 1/2, so I pocketed the points and took WV straight up at -135 just in case it's close.