The Linfield College Wildcats advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III college football playoffs last weekend with a 38-17 win over Cal Lutheran. That raises Linfield’s record for 2009 to 10-0 as they prepare to take on the Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders this weekend. Mary Hardin-Baylor is from the American Southwest Conference and comes to the game with a 10-1 record. These schools have played one another only one time in the past and that previous game decided the 2004 Division III college football championship. Linfield won that game 28-21. Go Wildcats!
Here are some good things and some not so good things – a dozen in all – from last week’s Mythical Picks:
1. I said that Boise State had lots to gain and everything to lose by winning by a small margin against Utah State last week. Final score: Boise State 52 Utah State 21. Good thing.
2. I said the Christians had a better chance against the lions in the Roman Coliseum than FIU did against Florida. Final score: Florida 62 FIU 3. Good thing.
3. I said Oregon State/ Washington State would be a mismatch. Oregon State covered a 31-point spread. Good thing.
4. I picked UNC/BC to go Under 38.5. It went Over. Not so good thing.
5. I said the line on Ohio State/Michigan was too fat. Ohio State won but did not cover. Good thing.
6. I liked Duke/Miami to go Over 55. It went Under. Not so good thing.
7. I took Kent State with 12.5 points against Temple. Kent State lost by a mere 34 points. Not so good thing.
8. I liked Notre Dame to win and cover against UConn. They did neither. I also liked the game to go Over. At least it did that – - thanks to double overtime. Not so good thing matched with a good thing = Meh.
9. I liked Army as a road dog to win outright. They did just that. Good thing.
10. I liked Tennessee laying 17 points. They won by only 15 points. Not so good thing.
11. I liked Cal/Stanford to go Under 65.5. They squeaked in Under. Good thing.
12. I liked Arizona with 6 points against Oregon. They lost by 3 in OT. Good thing.
Someone might look at the results from last week and come to the stupid conclusion that they ought to take information in this week’s Mythical Picks and use it to select a side for wagering this week in bets involving actual money. That would be a stupid thing to do. If you drew such a conclusion and acted on it, you would be too dumb to convert a grandé coffee and a couple of beers into piss at a potty stop.
General Comments:
As Florida and Alabama proceed on their collision course for the SEC Conference Championship Game, both teams remain undefeated. Here are a couple of notes about that status:
The last time Florida was undefeated in the SEC was in 1996. The Gators – - with Steve Spurrier at the helm then – - went on to win the national championship.
If Alabama goes through the regular season undefeated it will be the first time Alabama has been undefeated in two consecutive seasons since 1973 and 1974. A gentleman named Bear Bryant was the coach then. In both of those seasons Alabama lost their bowl game and both times they lost to Notre Dame – - then coached by Ara Parseghian.
Cincinnati had last week off. The other five undefeated teams had easy times against a less than stellar set of opponents winning the games by a cumulative score of 255-54.
Reports say that Mark Mangino is in jeopardy of losing his job at Kansas and the tipping point was when he poked/punched/prodded one player in the chest and dressed down in a politically incorrect way another player for hot-dogging after making a play in a game. Those player relationship stories have next-to-nothing to do with why there is an “investigation” ongoing nor will either of them have any bearing on whether or not Mangino is actually canned. Here is the problem in a nutshell. Kansas is 5-6; Texas crushed them by 31 points last weekend; the game was over by halftime. Even worse is the fact that Kansas started the season with 5 consecutive wins and looked as if they were the tall dog in the Big-12 North. Former players and the parents of former players have used this opportunity to come out of the woodwork with stories of ongoing abuse of players by Mangino during all of his tenure at Kansas.
And the reason this never surfaced then is very simple… Mangino’s teams were winners back then. The fact that they are not winning this year is what all of this is about. If the Jayhawks were 9-2 or even 8-3 at this point, none of this would have ever made it out of the locker room.
Pitt is 9-1; their loss was to North Carolina State back in September. What is amazing about that is that North Carolina State has only 4 wins this year. Two came against Division 1-AA opponents, Murray State and Gardner-Webb; the other win came against woeful Maryland. Nevertheless, Pitt found a way to lose to the Wolfpack…
In case you need any more convincing with regard to the assertion that there are just too many damned bowl games, the SEC has twelve teams in it. The SEC has nine contractual tie-ins with bowl committees. That means the ninth best team in the SEC – so long as it can fashion 6 wins on the year by playing out of conference cupcakes can get to a bowl game. Is anyone holding his/her breath to see the ninth best SEC team play one more game? I did not think so…
There are myriad rumors that Charlie Weis will not be the coach at Notre Dame next year. Depending on what report you read, the buyout value in his contract is somewhere between $10M and $18M. That is a pretty big jump from one to the other; but in either case, I do not think Charlie Weis will need to stand in a bread line anytime in his future. Back in 2005, the school extended his contract for 10 years at a reported $41M.
Meanwhile, Paul Wulf is the coach at Washington State and he has one game left in his second season in Pullman, WA. Wulf’s record at the moment is a less than gaudy 3-21 and it looks even worse when you look closely at the three wins. Two came last year – - against Division 1-AA Portland State and in the Apple Cup game against winless Washington. Those wins are hardly ones to be remembered over the ages. This year’s win came against SMU – - a team that is actually bowl eligible this year and showing improvement over some dreadful teams in the past couple of years.
However, since losing to Arizona State on 10 October, Washington State has lost 5 games in a row and has given up 40 or more points in each of them. Their closest game in this stretch was a 26-point loss to Notre Dame. The Cougars better not lose by 5 TDs to Washington this year…
The Boise State/Nevada game this week should be interesting. Boise State is undefeated and should be in a BCS bowl game if there is an iota of “meritocracy” left in that sham process. Nevada is 8-3, the Wolfpack have won 8 games in a row and they lead the nation in rushing.
Temple has won 9 games in a row after opening the season with losses to Villanova and Penn State. The Owls will go to the MAC Championship game against Central Michigan if they win this weekend at Ohio University. Against Kent State last weekend, Temple trailed at the half 10-9. In the second half, Temple scored 38 straight points before allowing a meaningless field goal to win the game 47-13. With or without the Mac Championship, Temple should go to its first bowl game in more than 25 years.
Some bad performances last week include:
Georgia lost to Kentucky by 2 TDs at home after leading by 2 TDs at halftime.
Rutgers seemed to be putting the pieces together, was on the fringe of the Top 25, and lost to Syracuse.
Notre Dame lost at home to UConn – - just a couple of weeks after losing at home to Navy.
Oklahoma lost by 4 TDs to Texas Tech.
LSU was ranked #10 and lost to Mississippi.
Yale led Harvard by a field goal with 2:27 left in the game. Yale had the ball 4th and 22 on its own 25 yardline when the coaching staff for Yale suffered one of the great brain cramps since the Democrats ran George McGovern for President. They called for a fake punt which did not get a first down, gave Harvard a short field and led to Harvard scoring a TD to win the game. The Yale coach said he made that call because he wanted his team to see that he was not “playing scared”. Excuse me, this is the last game of the season; what does it matter what the players think at this point in the year? How about “playing smart enough to win”… Punt the damned ball!
The Ponderosas:
Last week there were 7 Ponderosa Spread games and the favorites covered in all 7 of the games. Boise State, Florida, Houston, TCU, Oregon State, Texas and Nevada all covered. That brings the season total for favorites covering to 32-36.
This week we have 4 Ponderosa Spread games:
New Mexico at TCU – 44 (55.5): New Mexico won last week bringing their season record to 1-10. This game will be as ugly to watch as a hit and run accident. Nevertheless, would you really risk real money on a game with a 44-point spread?
Florida State at Florida – 24 (55.5): Notwithstanding the fact that this will be Tim Tebow’s final game in The Swamp, that is a lot of points for a huge rivalry game. However, it is reflective of the status of the two football programs as of 2009. There was a time not all that long ago when this game matched two of the top five teams in the country and even in “bad years” matched two of the top ten teams in the country. Sic transit gloria mundi…
Washington State at Washington – 24 (58.5): Washington has won 3 games this year and they are 24-point favorites over archrival Washington State. Wow!
Rice at Houston – 29.5 (no line): Rice has difficulty stopping anyone; Houston can move the ball and score with ease. Rice’s offense is modest at best but the Houston defense is less than staunch. I think this game could be very high scoring indeed…
The SHOE Teams:
Here are my ten bottom feeders for the week. Seeding for the mythical SHOE (Steaming Heap of Excrement) Tournament will be out very soon. Note this week some entries from the “name conferences”…
Eastern Michigan 0-11
Western Kentucky 0-10
Miami (Oh) 1-11
Ball State 1-10
New Mexico 1-10
Washington State 1-10
San Jose St. 1-9
Vandy 2-10
Maryland 2-9
North Texas 2-9
Games of Interest:
(Friday Morning) Temple – 3 at Ohio University (47): Temple will probably be without its leading rusher in this game. The Temple defense has been the strength of the team all year long but without a running game to give it some rest, I wonder if it can hold up against a good Ohio U team. If I were going to play the game, I would take the game Under.
(Friday Morning) Rutgers – 3 at Louisville (44): Rutgers loss outright to Syracuse last week was a stunner. With 7 wins under its belt already, Rutgers will go to a bowl game; they will get a better invitation if they have more than 7 wins and I have to believe the coaching staff will make that abundantly clear to the scholar-athletes during this week. Louisville is not very good so I think Rutgers will be out to regain a measure of respect this week. I think Rutgers will win big here and cover the spread.
(Friday Afternoon) Alabama – 10 at Auburn (47.5): This is a rivalry that is contested every day of the year in Alabama; the football game just happens to be this Friday. Auburn would love nothing better than to soil Alabama’s spotless record. The dog has risen up to bite the favorite in the past. Not this week, Alabama wins and covers.
(Friday Evening) Pitt at West Virginia “pick ‘em” (48): I like Pitt in this rivalry game and I like the game to go OVER.
(Friday Night) Nevada at Boise State – 14 (71): Because Nevada runs the ball as well as it does, I don’t think there is enough time to get this game Over 71 points. I like the Under here.
Clemson – 3 at South Carolina (44.5): South Carolina has not scored more than 16 points in any of its last 5 games. Meanwhile, Clemson has not scored less than 34 points in its last 6 games. I know this is an intense rivalry game, but it sure seems as if these teams are heading in different directions. I like the game to go Over.
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma – 9.5 (48.5): Oklahoma is a banged up football team with a 6-5 record and a 4-6-1 record against the spread this year. Oklahoma State is 9-2 and bowl bound – - with an outside hope that they can get into one of the big time BCS bowl games. I know that OU is 5-0 at home but I do think Oklahoma State has a legit shot to win the game outright. So, I’ll take the Cowboys with that generous helping of points.
Arizona – 3 at Arizona State (44): After the disastrous overtime loss to Oregon last week, I would normally stay away from Arizona this week fearing a gigantamous letdown. But with its in-state archrival on tap, I think that is doubtful. Arizona is the better team here so I’ll take them and lay the points.
BC – 6 at Maryland (46.5): Overall, BC is 7-4; on the road, BC is 1-3. In their 4 road games this season, BC has yet to score more than 16 points and averages less than 13 points per game. So, how could they be favored on the road? Well, Maryland just plain stinks no matter the venue. The Terps may find themselves in the SHOE Tournament. I sense that the Maryland team has packed it in for the year so I’d play BC and lay the points – - if I were forced to make a play. I would also be tempted to take the Under here.
Utah at BYU – 7.5 (52.5): Both teams are 9-2; that makes a traditional rivalry game all the more interesting. Both of Utah’s losses this year came on the road; interestingly, both of BYU’s losses this year came at home. There would not appear to be a “venue call” to make in this game. Statistically, BYU is the more potent offensive team and Utah is the stingier defensive team. Given the balance in this game, I love the fact that the line has a hook on top of a full TD and so I’ll take Utah with the points here.
New Mexico State at San José State – 11 (41.5): San José St. is a SHOE team with a 1-9 record and they are favored here by 11 points. How can that be? Well, they are playing a New Mexico State team that is 3-8 for the season and is averaging a whopping 12 points per game. Do not bet on this game but check to see the scoring progress because the final score here might be 10-9 – - either way…
UCLA at USC – 13 (47.5): UCLA is a mediocre team and not much more than that. USC is above average but is perceived to be more than that because of its recent prowess on the football field; they are not nearly as good as their hype. USC will go to a minor bowl game this year no matter what happens from here on out; and so, I do not want to lay double digits here. I’d play UCLA with the points.
Finally, here is a cogent observation from Greg Cote of the Miami Herald regarding one aspect of college football:
“CBS Sports chose a Sun Belt Conference All-Decade Team, a strong indication there are way too many all-decade teams.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…