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.