It is nice to be back home this week after nearly ten days in Mountain West country. It was great, but it is nice to be back home. The Colorado Buffs review is posted here, and was easily at the bottom our experiences. For the record it was a surprising Wyoming game at number one, followed by a strong Air Force tailgate that was brought down to second by a cold, wet blowout. Those reviews are coming. This week we are off to Pullman to see the red hot cougars of Washington State. UPDATE the scheduling gods did intervene, and I will try to pull off an elusive double game day. First catching the Vandals at noon (they are now an FCS team, but they weren’t when we made the bet – I am counting them). I will bolt at halftime and make the 7 mile trip over to WSU to hopefully catch most of that game.
After a poor Friday start with Louisville upsetting UCF, I nearly went three and oh on Saturday. My slate was only marred by a push on the UTSA – Army game. Early in the week, the line was two, so I would have won had that held. Air Force took care of business despite sloppy conditions. Liberty upset UAB to round out my day.
Overall, the weekend was far better than I thought. Upsets all over the place and lots of entertaining games all around. A few choice comments.
- App State had long been a favorite spot of mine ever since they upset Michigan in 2005 and it only grew more when I saw a game at the Rock. The visit to Boone by ESPN Game Day is well deserved after their upset of Texas A&M. Aggies had to pay $1.5M for that loss. Ouch.
- Enjoyed the Marshall upset of the Irish and Georgia Southern beating Nebraska. Not surprisingly, Husker coach Scott Frost didn’t make it through the season.
- Texas – Bama was far competitive game than I thought it would be, but, as I predicted, the 2OT Baylor – BYU game was probably the best of the day. Tenn – Pitt and UK – Florida might disagree of course.
- Lots of familiar faces at the bottom with UMass, and New Mexico State winless. Joining them are the struggling Colorado State Rams, a tough luck WVU, and a Buffalo team that couldn’t knock down a Holy Cross Hail Mary with five guys around the ball. Talk about your divine intervention.
I was surprised to see Vandy as an underdog to NIU. I don’t have any logic for that, I just think Vandy can pull the upset. I am riding the Liberty Flames until they burn me (see what I did there). Nebraska is either going to fold like a cheap suit or rise up and win one for exited coach Frost. I am betting on the former – taking the Sooners. Lastly for the game we are at, I think WSU will roll over a bad Colorado State team.
Other thoughts for this week:
- Penn State is a three point favorite on the road against Auburn. I don’t like to bet against the Nittany Lions, but this one is tempting.
- You may have to stream it off your laptop, but Troy vs App State should be very entertaining. Sunbelt = Funbelt
- We will see if BYU is for real or not with this game against Oregon
- Sparty takes on UDub for the night game. I like the Huskies in this late night game.
That’s all I got. Enjoy the games.