This week in college football is a very intriguing one, headlined by Oklahoma State at Texas and Nick Saban returning to the Bayou on Saturday afternoon. Here are my thoughts…
Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (-3.5)
Yes, Texas Tech is coming off of an emotional win over Texas. Yes, people think this is a prime time trap game. No, I don’t think Tech will make it to the finish line flawless - but that doesn’t mean they will lose this week. It comes down to whether they will keep riding the emotion or suffer from a “big win hangover”. Oklahoma State does only have one close loss to Texas, and also has a good quarterback in Zac Robinson and a very good rushing attack, lead by Kendall Hunter (135 yards per game, 11 TD). But Texas Tech’s d-line has been playing outstanding lately, and the Graham Harrell show (402 yards per game, 30 TD, 4 int.) is rolling. Look for it to be close early, but for Texas Tech to pull away and cover the spread easily in a high scoring affair.
Straight Up: Tech
Against the Spread: Tech
Alabama (-3.5) at LSU
This is the big storyline this week – Saban returning to the team that he ditched for Miami in late 2004. LSU is led by their running back Charles Scott (111 ypg, 11 td), but look at their quarterback – average at best. Jarrett Lee has been inconsistent, throwing for 12 TD to go along with 10 picks. On the flip side, Saban and Co. seem to be fully loaded, especially with the return of humungous Terrence Cody back to anchor their line and stop the tough rushing attack. Look for the Tide to continue rolling, and cover for us this week as well.
Straight Up: Alabama
Against the Spread: Alabama
Here are a few others…
Michigan State (-9) to cover against Purdue
Will USC (-22.5) win big enough over Cal? I think so.
Penn St. (-7.5) will be close with Iowa early, then win by 10.
Finally, an upset special? I guess I’ll give it a shot…
Will the young and talented Georgia Tech (+4) team last against a more experienced North Carolina? I hope so, because I’m going to be riding them for a big ACC win straight up.
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First Five Reasons...
I enjoy sports. If you're reading this, chances are you enjoy sports. They are a part of us, a part of life. Whats not to like? They give you chills, they give you excitement, and most of all, they give guys like John Daly a chance to make millions of dollars. Sports are the heart of American culture and have the same underlying American theme - if you work hard for it, you can achieve it. In the words of "Pistol" Pete Maravich, you "don't get there by just wishin". In all, there are many reasons to love sports, and I will be avidly blogging on a few reasons why I love sports.
The Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays
Whats not to like about them? They played well all season, played loose, and played like they’d been there before – and they had never even had a 71win season before. The same team that was famous for signing guys like Vinny Castilla (6 HR, 42 RBI, 6.2 million dollars in 2000) and Greg Vaughn (.163 in 2002) in their not so prime now have a young, very talented, chance-to-win-for-years-to-come roster and were only a couple of wins from the first world series in their less than storied history. So scrap the old multihued jerseys and ring in the mohawks. And to think, all it took was shortening their name to reach the World Series…“Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Milwaukee Brew!”
“Pistol” Pete Maravich
Arguably the greatest player in college basketball history and the most amazing showman of all time. But lets just talk about his scoring ability under his dad, Press Maravich, at LSU. With floppy socks and a skinny frame, Maravich burst onto the scene as a sophomore for LSU, scoring 141 points in the first three games of his career. That wasn’t far from his career average of 44.2 ppg…without a three-point line. Research shows that he would have averaged 13 three pointers PER GAME (and you thought Chris Lofton was good), which would put him at 57. He set the all-time D-1 scoring mark with 3,667 total points in only 3 years, which is more than double Michael Jordan’s career total. He broke the career mark by 400 points, meaning the guy in second averaged just over 32 per game. Phooey. And who knows how many points he would have finished with if freshmen were allowed to play with the varsity back in 1967...
Fantasy Football
There’s nothing quite like losing hundreds of dollars in the first quarter of the season opener when your number one pick lands on the season long IR (thanks a lot Bernard Pollard). Or that same money resting on the right arm of Gus Ferotte because your new starter, J.T. O’Sullivan (cut by the Lions last year. Yes, those Lions.) has a bye week. Why else would you ever check how Bernard Berrian matches up against Houston’s secondary?
Andruw Jones (then)
He was called up to the majors towards the end of the 1996 season for the post-season roster…at the age of 19. This guy hit two home runs in one World Series game as a teenager, finished with 6 RBI, a .500 OBP, and hit .400 overall in the series. He won his first of 10 gold gloves at the ripe age of 21, and went on to be a 5 time all star, all before the age 30. He also single handedly created Sportscenter’s top ten plays every summer day throughout my childhood.
Doug Flutie
Forget the famous game against the Hurricanes in ‘84, Gerard Phelan, and his performance that day (34 - 46, 472 yards). This 5’9” “little big man” won the Heisman in the 1984 season, throwing for 3,454 yards and 27 touchdowns and surpassed BYU’s Jim McMahon as the all-time total offense leader in NCAA history. He stuck it out in the CFL for 2 years before getting his chance in the NFL with the Bears. He eventually ended up in Buffalo, where he led them to a 21-9 record as a starter over three years and won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1998 while trying to see over his offensive line (2 of his starters were 8 inches taller than him, 3 were 6 inches taller). And lets not forget his throwback extra point drop kick for the Patriots in 2005.
And Not So Much Love…
Andruw Jones (now)
O.K., so he’s 10 years older, but more than 25 lbs overweight for spring training? He must have been on Shawn Kemp’s grueling diet. It’s safe to say he didn’t put on muscle…The guy had career lows in virtually every statistical category (he had one triple in ’08, zero in ’02). He hit an atrocious .158 and had an uncanny .249 slugging percentage, nearly HALF his career average (.489). His strikeout-to-hit ratio was more than 2-1 (76-33) while earning 14.7 million. That means that if Dustin Pedroia made the same amount of money per hit, then he would be raking in just a shade under 95 million dollars for the 2008 season. Let’s put it this way, he had more total lbs than total at bats (240-209) and gained more weight than extra base hits (12) and RBIs (14) combined. It makes you wonder…how did he leg out that triple?
The Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays
Whats not to like about them? They played well all season, played loose, and played like they’d been there before – and they had never even had a 71win season before. The same team that was famous for signing guys like Vinny Castilla (6 HR, 42 RBI, 6.2 million dollars in 2000) and Greg Vaughn (.163 in 2002) in their not so prime now have a young, very talented, chance-to-win-for-years-to-come roster and were only a couple of wins from the first world series in their less than storied history. So scrap the old multihued jerseys and ring in the mohawks. And to think, all it took was shortening their name to reach the World Series…“Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Milwaukee Brew!”
“Pistol” Pete Maravich
Arguably the greatest player in college basketball history and the most amazing showman of all time. But lets just talk about his scoring ability under his dad, Press Maravich, at LSU. With floppy socks and a skinny frame, Maravich burst onto the scene as a sophomore for LSU, scoring 141 points in the first three games of his career. That wasn’t far from his career average of 44.2 ppg…without a three-point line. Research shows that he would have averaged 13 three pointers PER GAME (and you thought Chris Lofton was good), which would put him at 57. He set the all-time D-1 scoring mark with 3,667 total points in only 3 years, which is more than double Michael Jordan’s career total. He broke the career mark by 400 points, meaning the guy in second averaged just over 32 per game. Phooey. And who knows how many points he would have finished with if freshmen were allowed to play with the varsity back in 1967...
Fantasy Football
There’s nothing quite like losing hundreds of dollars in the first quarter of the season opener when your number one pick lands on the season long IR (thanks a lot Bernard Pollard). Or that same money resting on the right arm of Gus Ferotte because your new starter, J.T. O’Sullivan (cut by the Lions last year. Yes, those Lions.) has a bye week. Why else would you ever check how Bernard Berrian matches up against Houston’s secondary?
Andruw Jones (then)
He was called up to the majors towards the end of the 1996 season for the post-season roster…at the age of 19. This guy hit two home runs in one World Series game as a teenager, finished with 6 RBI, a .500 OBP, and hit .400 overall in the series. He won his first of 10 gold gloves at the ripe age of 21, and went on to be a 5 time all star, all before the age 30. He also single handedly created Sportscenter’s top ten plays every summer day throughout my childhood.
Doug Flutie
Forget the famous game against the Hurricanes in ‘84, Gerard Phelan, and his performance that day (34 - 46, 472 yards). This 5’9” “little big man” won the Heisman in the 1984 season, throwing for 3,454 yards and 27 touchdowns and surpassed BYU’s Jim McMahon as the all-time total offense leader in NCAA history. He stuck it out in the CFL for 2 years before getting his chance in the NFL with the Bears. He eventually ended up in Buffalo, where he led them to a 21-9 record as a starter over three years and won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1998 while trying to see over his offensive line (2 of his starters were 8 inches taller than him, 3 were 6 inches taller). And lets not forget his throwback extra point drop kick for the Patriots in 2005.
And Not So Much Love…
Andruw Jones (now)
O.K., so he’s 10 years older, but more than 25 lbs overweight for spring training? He must have been on Shawn Kemp’s grueling diet. It’s safe to say he didn’t put on muscle…The guy had career lows in virtually every statistical category (he had one triple in ’08, zero in ’02). He hit an atrocious .158 and had an uncanny .249 slugging percentage, nearly HALF his career average (.489). His strikeout-to-hit ratio was more than 2-1 (76-33) while earning 14.7 million. That means that if Dustin Pedroia made the same amount of money per hit, then he would be raking in just a shade under 95 million dollars for the 2008 season. Let’s put it this way, he had more total lbs than total at bats (240-209) and gained more weight than extra base hits (12) and RBIs (14) combined. It makes you wonder…how did he leg out that triple?
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