Tag Archives: Sun Belt

Week 11 – The Storm

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November in college football is like Saturday in a golf tournament. You sure can’t win it yet, but you can eliminate yourself from a championship. Despite what the average fan seems to think, there are more titles than the National Championship. When the Sun Belt Champ lifts the trophy they will be ecstatic.

The CFP Committee got it right. Every is overreacting to where teams are. Most seem to forget that there are four games left in the regular season on top of Championship Weekend. As Aaron Rodgers once said, “R-E-L-A-X.” This is money time for the nine or ten teams still hoping to make the playoffs. I still think Oregon is in a good spot. The Big 10 and SEC champs should be in. An undefeated Clemson goes, but a one-loss Clemson sweats it out. One-loss Oklahoma is already sweating.

I’ll be at the logistical nightmare that is LSU @ Alabama. Why can’t we just play football without all the nonsense? I wish GameDay would’ve chosen Penn St and Minnesota.

Last week my Vegas 5 continued to dip. 2-3 again brings me to 26-24. In Top 25/SEC I went 10-6, which takes me to 120-97. This week I like Kansas St (+7) at Texas. I’ll take the Over (47.5) for Penn St at Minnesota and the Under (43) for UTSA at Old Dominion. The Over (38) for Iowa at Wisconsin and Arizona St (-1.5) when the host USC.

Where’s your action?

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Week 9 – Homecoming

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Officiating throughout the nation continues to be poor. And for that matter, so does commentary during games.

The big story involves Tua’s ankle, but the boys in the dessert don’t seem concerned for this weekend. LSU has the big matchup in the South. Can Auburn’s D hold up the dynamic and balanced Bengal Tigers O? Auburn is relegated to a Florida bowl game with a loss and with a win hope remains for bigger prizes. Wisconsin got the shocker last weekend. How much was looking ahead? I’ll let you know next week. Ohio State has looked solid, but here comes the beginning of their tests.

BYU seems to win the games they aren’t supposed to and drop the gimme games. Boise St received the latest upset in the Cougars rollercoaster of love. The Group of 5 rep for the New Year’s 6 may go down to the wire. Conference strength should be a factor and that gives the edge to the AAC and MWC. How much cannibalization occurs and does that open the door for App St? We shall see. I’m hoping for an Air Force v Washington St Vegas Bowl. That would be wild.

I rebounded slightly last week going 3-2 in the Vegas 5. Arizona let me down while the Tua injury may have cost me the Over. I now sit at 22-18. In Top 25/SEC action I went 15-7 which brings me to 101-82.

This week I start with TCU (+1.5) over Texas, Wisconsin (+14.5) against Ohio St, and the Under (59) with Syracuse v Florida St. I close with Temple (+10.5) against UCF and Oregon (-14) over Washington St.

Who do you have?

Pride Trophy Week

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Rivalries. Trophy games. Championship participants. These are what will be on the line when toe meets leather this week.

Ohio St continues to find a way, but this week brings a hot Michigan team to the Horseshoe. West Virginia and Oklahoma will decide the Big 12 championship. The winner is in and will play Texas if the Longhorns take care of Kansas. Vandy meets Tennessee in a loser go home match. One of them is going bowling. Cal/Stanford moved to Dec 1 due to the horrific fires in the region. And the triple option proved too much to contain as The Citadel gave Bama half a game.

I look for Washington St to take the Apple Cup. I’ve been in attendance at the Holy War and like that time I think Utah prevails. Notre Dame will finish the job and send Clay Helton back to coordinator jobs. Texas A&M and LSU should be a great game. The sneaky good game calls for you to stay up late and watch Boise St take on Utah St to decide their division. Another to watch earlier is Troy v Appalachian St. I’m just hoping that my guys can bring home the ODK Foy Trophy back to the Capstone.

Vegas 5 went 3-2 last week. 29-28-3 is now where I sit. I got it handed to me again in Top 25/SEC going 12-15. I’m at 135-132 there.

I’m going with the Over (52.5) again when Auburn visits Bama. But I’ll go Under (64.5) when Purdue plays Indiana. I like Maryland (+13) against Penn St. I’m willing to give a bunch of points in Temple (-29) against U Conn. Lastly, UCLA (+7) stays hot against Stanford.

Who’d you pick?

The Picture Begins to Reveal

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After last weekend our playoff contenders have come into view. I agree with the CFP Committee on their top 6. Looks like the next few weeks will go a long way to seeing the finished product. But I highly doubt everyone keeps winning.

We found out the Bama defense was tired of hearing about the O and how they weren’t as good as years past. Clemson seems to be on cruise control, but BC should give them a game, especially in that weather. Notre Dame and Michigan look good enough to run the table, but some tricky spots could trip them up.

Three of the Power 5 conference  title games will involve teams that are barely over .500. The SEC and Big 12 seem to have the proper balance, but the others not so much this season.  This Saturday, the Miss St defense looks to prove itself against the juggernaut of the Bama O. While Georgia got their revenge last year against Auburn, I think they still want a little more. Troy meets Georgia Southern in a monster Sun Belt game. I like Troy’s chances. Bedlam happens this weekend, but Oklahoma should be too string for the Pokes.  Friday noght Fresno St @ Boise St in what could be a very good match up. The sneaky good game of the week should be UCLA @ Arizona St. The Pac 12 remains the most entertaining conference.

Last week was good for the Vegas 5. I went 4-1 to move to 24-24-2. Top25/SEC tally slipped again at 10-12 and 112-108 total.

This week I like the Over (52.5) when Miss St visits Bama. I’ll take Boston College (+20) against Clemson. Weather will be a factor in that one. Kentucky (-6) will rebound at Tennessee. It’s hard to imagine Bedlam is low scoring, so I have the Over (80) in Oklahoma St @ Oklahoma. And give me Pitt (-3) when Va Tech comes to town.

Who’s your locks?

Bye Week

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It’s bye week here at The Blog. That means a full day of watching whatever game strikes me at the time.

I thought the Ohio St/Purdue game would be good. I was kinda wrong as it was a blowout. I felt Purdue had a shot and took them in my picks section and they sure delivered. Michigan has established themselves as a true contender while LSU exposed Miss St as overly one-dimensional. Washington St just may take the PAC 12. Clemson absolutely destroyed NC St. The question there is whether that means the Tigers have awoken or if the Wolfpack were overrated.

This week brings fewer marquee match ups, yet no shortage of great action. The Cocktail Party sees two Top 10 teams for the first time in a decade. I’m a Georgia lean on that one, but I think Florida could sneak out with the win if the Dawgs let them hang around. Iowa travels to Penn St. I think the Hawkeyes are legit contenders for the Big 10 West. Washington St will take the next step if they can handle Stanford.

Last week’s Vegas 5 could’ve gone better. I hit 2-3 to move to 18-21-1. Top 25/SEC went 11-7 moving me to 94-87 for the year. I’m gonna need to start hitting quick if I want to make a move.

This week’s Vegas 5 starts for me with Syracuse (+2.5) hosting NC St. I like the Over (64.5) in the Kansas St/Oklahoma game. I’ll go with the Under (70.5) in the Bama opponent Sun Belt game between Arkansas St and Louisiana. UNLV (+3) is my pick against San Jose St. Lastly, I’ll take Iowa (+6) against Penn St.

Who’s your pick?

Mess in the West

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Bad week for the Big 10, especially the West. Ohio St needed every defensive play they could get to slip past TCU on a “neutral” field and 7 teams lost to unranked non-conference opponents. To be the best conference depth is required.

What I learned from Week 3 is that little guys can still play, Kansas has its first win streak in a long time, and Ole Miss wishes they could’ve stopped after the first play. Streaks were snapped in Wisconsin and Lee County as The Badgers dropped to a BYU team that lost to Cal and LSU made another stellar comeback against Auburn in what has to be one of the better rival games recently. Oklahoma St won an important game for them over Boise St. Pump the breaks if your team dropped their first game this week, though. There’s a lot of football yet to play and we rarely have seen undefeated teams in the playoffs.

Week 4 finds aTm ranked and travelling to Tuscaloosa. I’ll be there in Section N-1 Row 38 Seat 2. We’ll learn much in that game. Friday night has an entertaining slate of games. FAU @ UCF, Penn St @ Illinois, and Washington St @ USC. I’m pulling for the road teams. The game I have the most interest in is UGA @ Mizzou. I think the Tigers can surprise and shake up the East. And Purdue might be the best 0-3 team in history. One wonders if they can upset Boston College. TCU @ Texas and Texas Tech @ Oklahoma St rate as exciting matchups that will go a long way to determine the Big 12. Stanford goes to Oregon with the winner providing Washington the best challenger in the Pac 12 North.

I found out why Texas was favored over USC. Steve Williams, as you may remember from the Pac 12 podcast, said USC would be bad. He might be correct. My Vegas 5 went 2-3 last week. I can’t seem to get over the hump yet and the season total sits at 5-9-1. Against the Spread in Top 25 and SEC, Florence played havoc with games and forced cancellations. I went 14-10 taking me to a season total of 51-28.

This week for the Vegas 5 I’ll start with the Over (51) for Louisville and Virginia. I’m going to give a ton of point and take Syracuse (-27.5) over UConn. I want the Over (48) for Michigan St v Indiana. Iowa (+3) over Wisconsin. Lastly, I’ll keep taking USF (-22) until they cover as they take on East Carolina.

Who ya got?