Sorry, folks - no UPS AND DOWNS this week, it seems. The blogmeister was pretty DOWN himself, and it took what strength he had to get these out there for you on time! So, HERE GOES!
Here are our prognostications for the 3rd
Week in September, 2015, straight from the Following Football hotel room in downtown Dubai, overlooking the Palm Islands...
CFL) Calgary at home over the BC Lions, 39-24; and 8-3 Hamilton over 7-4 Edmonton at home,
34-26.
The other two are toss-ups, but
we’ll take Montreal at home over
Winnipeg, 30-20, and give home team Saskatchewan
the edge over 6-4 Ottawa (holding our breath!) 23-21.
Current record: 27-21 overall; 25-21-2 against the spread.
AFL)
We’re into the
second week of finals now; six teams left, with the two West Australia teams
home resting and awaiting the winners this week to come to Perth next weekend.
This week, though, we expect Hawthorn
to hold out against Adelaide and for poor crippled Sydney to find a way against North Melbourne through their
experience and home field and sheer class. Hawthorn’s favored by 21, Sydney by
10 – if we’re betting, we would only bet the victor and not the spread. If as a
Following Football expert, we’re required to bet the spread? Hmmm…. We’ll
go Hawthorn more than 21 and Sydney less than 10. (But to be frank, it might be more
interesting to see Adelaide and/or the Kangas go through instead! They’re both
great stories!) [Current record - 146-55 overall; 118-83
against the spread.]
NFL)
Here are our
suggestions for the second week of season 2015…
Denver (+3) to win against Kansas
City. D’s O has to improve.
New
England (-0.5) to win
and cover against Buffalo, despite the FF ratings forecast!
Carolina (-3.5) to win and cover
against Houston, unless the QB situation improves in Texas.
Arizona
(-2) to win,
cover, and annihilate Chicago.
Cincinnati (-3) over San Diego, but flipping
a coin is more reliable here: very
uncertain.
Tennessee (-0.5) winning at
Cleveland; half faith in Mariota, half antifaith in the Browns.
Taking Minnesota (+3) at home vs. Detroit. All my numbers have this
basically pick’m.
Tampa
Bay (-10.5) to cover
against New Orleans.
Atlanta (+2) winning at the Giants.
New Jersey used up its luck last week.
Going against our own system: Pittsburgh (-5.5) over the 49ers.
St.
Louis (-3.5) to win
and cover against the dumpster fire in Washington.
Miami (-6.5) to win against
Jacksonville, and crossing fingers to say they cover as well.
Baltimore (-6.5) will win at Oakland,
and should cover as well, but the Raiders will improve.
Dallas (+5.5) to cover but lose to
Philadelphia – without Dez, running game has
to dominate.
Green
Bay (-3.5) to win
and cover against Seattle. At home.
Indianapolis
(-7) has to be better than last week, right? Win
and cover against the Jets.
Current record sucks. 7-9 against the spread, 8-8 straight up. GOT
to do better this week or resign as your prophet!
NCAA) Our record here is a little better:131-24 overall; 83-72 against the
spread. As we get more data from games throughout the season, we tend to
improve as the season wears on. (We hope!) Remember, as always, all spreads come from Tuesday’s
Vegas line for FBS/FBS games, and the Sagarin point spread if an FCS team is
involved (because Vegas doesn’t take bets on those games).
The interesting
games this weekend, in our opinion…
Clemson (-6.5) wins and covers
against Louisville. (Tiers 1 v 3 imply a
13 point win)
Florida
St (-7.5) wins
against BC, and covers because the Eagles played a tier 11 and a 10 to
prepare…
Notre
Dame (+2.5) wins
outright at home v Georgia Tech. (Even
with a new QB…)
Miami-FL (-3.5) wins and covers
against Nebraska. (Beginning to think
Riley’s a .500 coach…)
Duke (-3.5) wins and covers
against Northwestern.
Virginia
(-24.5) cannot
cover against William & Mary…and
might not even win…
Iowa (-5.5) gives Coach Ferentz another
week of life by covering against Pitt.
Penn
St (-10) hosts
Rutgers…wins and probably
covers… (Hear the confidence in our
voice?)
Western
Kentucky (+1) upsets
Indiana. (we have a three tier gap in
WKU’s favor!)
Virginia
Tech (-6) wins
and covers against Purdue.
Illinois
(+9.5) upsets
North Carolina.
California (-6.5) wins but Texas stays close.
San
Jose St (+7.5) upsets
Oregon St.
USC (-10) wins and covers v
Stanford.
Washington (-5.5) wins and covers
easily against Utah St.
Colorado
St (+4) upsets
Colorado.
UCLA
(-17) defeats BYU but does not cover.
Utah (-13) wins and covers
against Fresno St. (Tiers 2 v 7? Should
be 25 points…)
Kentucky (+3) upsets Florida in
Lexington.
Georgia (-16.5) wins, covers, and
slaughters South Carolina.
Alabama (-7) defeats Ole Miss but doesn’t
cover.
LSU
(-6.5) defeats
Auburn but also doesn’t cover. Good
games in the SEC Saturday!
Miami
of Ohio (+19.5) covers
against Cincinnati but loses.
Navy (-3.5) over East Carolina,
and over the spread, too.
Temple (-10.5) wins and covers
against U Mass.
South
Florida covers
against Maryland, but we think MD can
hold on…
Memphis wins and covers at Bowling
Green, as much as we like BGSU this year…
Rice wins and covers at North
Texas.
Southern
Miss (+3) upsets
Texas St.
UTEP (-2.5) wins and covers at
New Mexico St.
Central
Michigan (+7) covers
only at Syracuse, who should win.
Eastern
Michigan (+6.5) not
only beats the spread (can’t believe
I’m saying this) but defeats Ball St!
Toledo (-7.5) wins and covers
against Iowa St.
Wake
Forest (-5.5) will
win and cover over the Army-West Point Cadets.
Arkansas (-12) wins against Texas
Tech, but we’re hedging that the Red
Raiders will cover.
FCS Wofford (-5) goes to Moscow and beats Idaho by a TD or more,
…and,
in the battle of Idaho’s two best teams, Boise St (-38) wins easily against
Idaho St.
The other FBS games this
weekend…because we don’t pick and choose who we pick and choose!
NC
State (-18) covers
and beats Old Dominion.
Michigan (-28) over UNLV, just not by four TDs.
Michigan
St (-26.5) wins
and covers against the Air Force Academy.
Ohio
St (-34.5) defeats
Northern Illinois by less than
five TDs.
Minnesota (-24) covers and defeats
Kent St.
Wisconsin by more than the 34.5 point
spread over Troy.
Kansas
St (-9) easily over
Louisiana Tech.
Oklahoma (-30) by more than 30 over
Tulsa.
Oklahoma
St (-24.5) by
LESS than 25 over UTSA.
TCU
(-38) wins and
covers against SMU, despite SMU’s improvement this year.
Oregon (-45.5) over Georgia St plus
46; after losing last week, they’ll take it out on poor GSU.
Washington
St (-25) over
Wyoming. Normally, too close to give the
points. But this is Mike Leach. Give’m.
Arizona (-28.5) over Northern Arizona, but take NAU and
the points – they’re better than Wyoming is.
Arizona
State (-28) wins
but doesn’t cover against New
Mexico.
Missouri
(-20.5) by MORE
than that over U Conn.
Mississippi
St (-41) over
Northwestern St? Take the over…
Tennessee (-41) by MORE than that
over Western Carolina.
Vanderbilt (-46) over Austin Peay, and
if they’ll ever win by 47, this is the game they’ll do it.
Texas
A&M (-34)
should rout Nevada by more than that.
UCF (-19) will win and cover
against Furman. (Six tier difference –
expect a blowout)
Tulane (-4) over Maine, by five
or slightly more…
Buffalo (-2) over Florida Atlantic,
and at two points, might as well give the points, too…
Ohio (-11) by a lot more than 11 over SE Louisiana.
Marshall (-38) should beat but not rout
Norfolk State; they played ODU to two TDs
last week.
Florida
International
(-25) does rout NC Central: Last
week Duke laid 55 on them without a sweat.
Middle
Tennessee (-19.5) wins
and covers against Charlotte in their first “real” game of the year.
Akron (-36.5) gets the best of our
beloved Savannah State. Win and cover.
Western
Michigan (-22) wins
but doesn’t cover against Murray State.
San
Diego St (-17.5) by
three TDs or more over South Alabama, who
should be better than this…
Arkansas
St (-17) wins
and covers against Missouri St.
Georgia
Southern (-12.5) has
an easy weekend against The Citadel.
Can’t believe Sagarin’s only 12.5!
Hawai’i
(-23) defeats
FCS UC Davis, but for old times’ sake let’s say the Aggies keep it close.
And finally, here are the FCS games
we’re watching this weekend…
SE
Missouri St (+8) upsets
Indiana St.
North
Dakota St (-28) defeats
cross-state rival North Dakota, but
we think NDSU’s not quite up to it, yet. Take the points.
Cal-Poly
SLO (+1) in a mild
upset over Northern Iowa.
We’re actually picking THREE Pioneer League teams to beat the
spread this week! Unreal!...
Drake (+19.5) covers at South Dakota,
Dayton (+9) at least covers at
home against Duquesne, and
Marist (+26) should stay within 26
of Sacred Heart Saturday!
Moving
on, Western Illinois (+10) may not beat
Coastal Carolina, but they should beat
the spread.
Same with St. Francis (+18) going to nearby Youngstown St…
And the same for Montana St, 11-point ‘dogs to Eastern Washington on the “red”.
Montana heads across the country to play
and win and cover (-2.5) at Liberty.
Southern
Utah (-9) covers
v. Northern Colorado.
Sacramento
St (+3.5) at least
covers and should upset Weber St.
Elon (+3) will upset North
Carolina A&T.
New
Hampshire (pick’m)
defeats conference rival Stony Brook.
Charleston
Southern (-14.5) shows
East Tennessee St what a real FCS team looks like Thursday night!
Samford (-2) wins and covers
against Southern Conference rival Chattanooga in a possible “early title” game!
Mercer (+1) mildly upsets
Tennessee Tech on their turf.
Bryant (+1.5) starts Ivy League Brown’s
season off with an upset loss.
Tennessee
St (+27) keeps Jacksonville St in its sight, after JSU’s
big game at Auburn last week. (JSU still
wins, though.)
Alabama
St (-2) covers
at home against Grambling.
Southern (-10) covers at home
against Jackson St.
BUT, Prairie View A&M (-5.5) fails to cover against Alabama A&M.
Finally, the IVY LEAGUE kicks off its season Saturday, and to celebrate,
we’re picking against some of their teams! (Hey, they’re not warmed up yet, and
their opponents are on game #3!)
Harvard (-22), the favorite AGAIN, should win
but NOT cover at Rhode Island.
Lafayette (-0.5) wins against
Princeton, and Lehigh (-5.5) covers
hosting Penn.
Colgate (+3.5) at least covers
against the Yalies, and Bucknell (-5.5)
covers with ease over Cornell.
Last, and probably least, Columbia starts its winless campaign by
losing at Fordham (-30.5).
AND REMEMBER, folks! These predictions are made for entertainment purposes only! If you're stupid enough to trust OUR judgment on territorial progress of grown men bashing into each other for the cheers of obese onlookers, that's on YOUR head, not ours!
(But then again, who else would you trust? We're the only one predicting EVERY game in the NFL, FBS, CFL, and AFL this and every weekend! This week, that's 106 college games, and 128 in all!)
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