From the CFL stats gurus themselves: The season has been SO unpredictable that...
...eight of nine teams have either two or three wins.
...five weeks of games have had three overtimes: as many as the last four YEARS combined!
...the CFL Pick'Em contestants (all 13,ooo of them!) have a collective six correct picks out of the first 20 games! (Which should now be 6 of 21, as BC was upset by Winnipeg tonight!)
...55% of the first five weeks of games (11 of 20) have been within four points!
SO...we don't feel so bad here at Following Football being 10-10 so far this year! (OK, 10-11...we had BC winning tonight, too...)
By the way, here are last week's finals, if you didn't already look 'em up:
Ottawa upset Calgary 29-26; Toronto managed to beat BC in Vancouver 30-27; Edmonton wiped out Winnipeg 32-3; and Hamilton went to Saskatchewan and made them 0-5, winning 31-21 (it was close until the last few minutes, though, tied in the fourth).
And, for all the good it does!, here's FF's calls for this weekend's remaining games:
We like Edmonton over Saskatchewan by eight; Montreal over Calgary (without their leading rusher Jon Cornish) by four; and Toronto by two at Hamilton.
(Therefore, you should probably bet on the Riders, Stamps, and TiCats...)
Showing posts with label Week 6. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 6. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
The AFL ladder looks very strange...
Week Six down under was almost as wild as week Two was - five legitimate upsets out of the nine games, including the youngest team beating the reigning double premiers, and the fifth largest comeback in footy history by St. Kilda, of all teams!
Let's start at the end, though: the standings (or "ladder") after 27% of the season -
1. Fremantle Dockers (6-0) - alone on top, two games clear of everyone, and even more amazing, they're also 6-0 against the spread! At some point, they'll come back to the pack.
I think.
2-7. At 4-2, it's the Sydney Swans and five pretenders to the crown, none of whom were really expected to be here: Collingwood, the Western Bulldogs, Adelaide, West Coast, and Greater Western Sydney. They've all played well, with one or two weak games scattered, and all deserve to be here.
The question: how many of them will be able to stay up here? I say: Sydney, Western, and Adelaide for sure, but the other three all have a shot to hold on and make the top 8 for finals.
8-12. At 3-3 we find the five teams who expected to be up at or around the top of the ladder: Hawthorn (WAY ahead on percentage over the others), Port Adelaide, Essendon, Geelong, and North Melbourne. Presumably, even this early in the season, not all of these teams are going to turn it around and make finals - the question, though, is which ones WILL do it, and which ones won't? I say: Hawthorn, Port, and (if you force a choice on me) North Melbourne, by a hair over Essendon.
13-18. Right now, there are three 2-4 teams and three 1-5 teams which will be separated for draft order after September. I know, there's plenty of season left, but none of the two-win teams (Richmond, St. Kilda, and Melbourne) and certainly none of the one-win teams (Carlton, Brisbane, and the surprisingly bad Gold Coast Suns) have shown any potential of making any significant charge on the top eight. Keep in mind, however, that last year Richmond left round 14 at 3-10 and won their next nine games (including at Sydney) to sneak in as the eighth seed! After what the Saints did this weekend, anything is possible!
The games this weekend included the expected:
- North Melbourne over Richmond 109-74
- Fremantle over Essendon
- Adelaide beats Gold Coast
- Sydney over Melbourne
...the unexpected:
----Geelong found legs and ran down Collingwood 100-59, an outcome which was only predicted by about 25% of betters.
---- West Coast pulled away in the third and held on on the fourth quarters against Port - IN Adelaide!
---- A very similar situation gave Brisbane its first win, sending Carlton coach Mick Malthouse and his teams into another week of intense media scrutiny.
---- Despite the false claims that it was their best win ever (defeating the supposed "superteam", your crosstown rival Sydney Swans, to start last season is still #1!), coming from behind twice to overwhelm the two-time premiers Hawthorn by ten points.
...and the ludicrous: Western was up by 55 points after scoring the first goal of the second half. They had completely overwhelmed the Saints on all fronts, and led 70-15; the only two goals the Saints had in the first half were flukes, or it would have been 70-3. Suddenly, the Saints came to life - scoring a couple of what looked like token goals - then a couple more - continued to stop the Bulldogs from scoring - stayed aggressive, and got within two goals (12 points) at three quarter time - even after a pair of quick Western goals increased the lead to 23, St. Kilda held their composure like a champ and kept scoring, catching and passing the Doggies later on to win by seven points. It was the largest second-half comeback ever, the fifth largest ever, and kept Western from being alone in second at 5-1.
Let's start at the end, though: the standings (or "ladder") after 27% of the season -
1. Fremantle Dockers (6-0) - alone on top, two games clear of everyone, and even more amazing, they're also 6-0 against the spread! At some point, they'll come back to the pack.
I think.
2-7. At 4-2, it's the Sydney Swans and five pretenders to the crown, none of whom were really expected to be here: Collingwood, the Western Bulldogs, Adelaide, West Coast, and Greater Western Sydney. They've all played well, with one or two weak games scattered, and all deserve to be here.
The question: how many of them will be able to stay up here? I say: Sydney, Western, and Adelaide for sure, but the other three all have a shot to hold on and make the top 8 for finals.
8-12. At 3-3 we find the five teams who expected to be up at or around the top of the ladder: Hawthorn (WAY ahead on percentage over the others), Port Adelaide, Essendon, Geelong, and North Melbourne. Presumably, even this early in the season, not all of these teams are going to turn it around and make finals - the question, though, is which ones WILL do it, and which ones won't? I say: Hawthorn, Port, and (if you force a choice on me) North Melbourne, by a hair over Essendon.
13-18. Right now, there are three 2-4 teams and three 1-5 teams which will be separated for draft order after September. I know, there's plenty of season left, but none of the two-win teams (Richmond, St. Kilda, and Melbourne) and certainly none of the one-win teams (Carlton, Brisbane, and the surprisingly bad Gold Coast Suns) have shown any potential of making any significant charge on the top eight. Keep in mind, however, that last year Richmond left round 14 at 3-10 and won their next nine games (including at Sydney) to sneak in as the eighth seed! After what the Saints did this weekend, anything is possible!
The games this weekend included the expected:
- North Melbourne over Richmond 109-74
- Fremantle over Essendon
- Adelaide beats Gold Coast
- Sydney over Melbourne
...the unexpected:
----Geelong found legs and ran down Collingwood 100-59, an outcome which was only predicted by about 25% of betters.
---- West Coast pulled away in the third and held on on the fourth quarters against Port - IN Adelaide!
---- A very similar situation gave Brisbane its first win, sending Carlton coach Mick Malthouse and his teams into another week of intense media scrutiny.
---- Despite the false claims that it was their best win ever (defeating the supposed "superteam", your crosstown rival Sydney Swans, to start last season is still #1!), coming from behind twice to overwhelm the two-time premiers Hawthorn by ten points.
...and the ludicrous: Western was up by 55 points after scoring the first goal of the second half. They had completely overwhelmed the Saints on all fronts, and led 70-15; the only two goals the Saints had in the first half were flukes, or it would have been 70-3. Suddenly, the Saints came to life - scoring a couple of what looked like token goals - then a couple more - continued to stop the Bulldogs from scoring - stayed aggressive, and got within two goals (12 points) at three quarter time - even after a pair of quick Western goals increased the lead to 23, St. Kilda held their composure like a champ and kept scoring, catching and passing the Doggies later on to win by seven points. It was the largest second-half comeback ever, the fifth largest ever, and kept Western from being alone in second at 5-1.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
AFL Week 6 predictions
The best game of the weekend may be the first game for once - the Friday night clash between two surprise teams in the MCG. Collingwood is a surprising 4-1, losing only to a blazing Adelaide team in round 2, and meanwhile Geelong started the year 0-3, winning against a terrible Gold Coast team and a slumping Richmond team the last two weeks. Yet for some reason the Cats were originally the betting favorites until the smart money took over and agreed with me that Collingwood should win the game with ease.
Saturday sees six games, a huge fixture for one day in the AFL:
Richmond @ North Melbourne (should be a North victory)...
St. Kilda @ Western (the first game the Bulldogs will be favored in!)...
Hawthorn @ GWS (the Giants are good, but not THIS good yet!)...
Adelaide @ Gold Coast (the Crows need this win, and should get it)...
Sydney @ Melbourne (Swans have lost two in a row; they won't lose this one)...
and Essendon @ Fremantle (the Dons are good, but not "go into Fremantle and win" good).
Finally, on Sunday, we round out the slate with two interesting games: Brisbane @ Carlton, at the bottom of the ladder (Carlton's had more pressure on them, oddly, because Brisbane was always going to be a work in progress - go with the Blues to win at home); and West Coast @ Port Adelaide, which has a pair of middle of the pack teams who might each be SO much more than that! Port's much closer to reaching its potential, however, and that's going to push them to the victory over the Eagles.
Saturday sees six games, a huge fixture for one day in the AFL:
Richmond @ North Melbourne (should be a North victory)...
St. Kilda @ Western (the first game the Bulldogs will be favored in!)...
Hawthorn @ GWS (the Giants are good, but not THIS good yet!)...
Adelaide @ Gold Coast (the Crows need this win, and should get it)...
Sydney @ Melbourne (Swans have lost two in a row; they won't lose this one)...
and Essendon @ Fremantle (the Dons are good, but not "go into Fremantle and win" good).
Finally, on Sunday, we round out the slate with two interesting games: Brisbane @ Carlton, at the bottom of the ladder (Carlton's had more pressure on them, oddly, because Brisbane was always going to be a work in progress - go with the Blues to win at home); and West Coast @ Port Adelaide, which has a pair of middle of the pack teams who might each be SO much more than that! Port's much closer to reaching its potential, however, and that's going to push them to the victory over the Eagles.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Week 6 NFL Quartiles...seen this before?
So, the changes in quartiles after Week 6 is moving the 3-2 Browns up another level this week, into the Second Quartile, and knocking the .500 Texans down to the Third. Otherwise, all 30 other teams remain status quo this week. So, next week, it's time to divvy up the pros a little more: quintiles? Or deeper? You decide! Comment on this or any other post and let us know what you think!
HERE ARE YOUR WEEK SIX NFL QUARTILES...
HERE ARE YOUR WEEK SIX NFL QUARTILES...
Top Quartile
Arizona, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, San Diego and Seattle.
Second Quartile
Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Cleveland, Detroit, Green Bay, New England and San Francisco.
Third Quartile
Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans, New York Giants and Pittsburgh.
Bottom Quartile
Jacksonville,Minnesota, New York Jets, Oakland, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Tennessee and Washington.
(As always - we remind you that listings are alphabetical, not a ranking; we feel it's pointless to RANK teams at this stage.)
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Why you should NEVER trust our predictions!
Here at Following Football (ACNC), we pride ourselves on having an opinion.
We never said it was the RIGHT opinion, however!
Looking back at our Thursday prediction post, we...ah, well, we sucked. However, being Christians of our word, we review it honestly here for your amusement:
Thursday: Not terrible, as the Colts got off to a huge 24-0 lead and held on to win by more than 3. However BYU/UCF was hardly the yawner we forecast, going into overtime before the home team knocked the LDS kids off 31-24. So... One for two.
Friday: We liked Hamilton (lost by one), the Aztecs (covered) and said Wazzu wouldn't lose by seventeen. In fact, they lost by exactly seventeen. One for three.
Saturday: Down the line, against the spreads, mind you, we chose the BC Lions (won 41-3), Cincinnati (lost 55-34), West Virginia (didn't cover), Oklahoma (didn't cover and deserved to lose!), Georgia Tech (had to score twice late to make the final respectable), Kent St (got blown out by the team w the longest losing streak in FBS! How does that happen?), Baylor (their offense held up their end of the bargain, but it's hard to cover any spread giving up 58 points! They also really should have lost...), Oregon (with ease), Idaho (sigh...We had such faith in you, Vandals!), Penn St (really? Losing to Michigan this year? 18-13?), and LSU (not the rout we expected, but technically 30-27 is more than two points, and we need the win). So... Three out of ten. As noted gambler Charles Barkley would say, "Turrible...that's just turrible."
Sunday: Better today... We chose the Broncos (thank you, Aqib Talib! Without you last minute pick six, we don't cover at 31-17!), the Panthers (we SAID they'd stay close! A 37-37 tie game is definitely staying close!), the Steelers (oops. 31-10, and it wasn't that close...), thr Chargers (31-28 didn't cover), Cardinals (30-20 did) and the Eagles (covered with aplomb!) - went four for six today!
WARNING! Following Football does NOT advocate monetary gambling in ANY form!!! We use the Vegas point spreads as a means of determining the EXPECTED OUTCOME of football games, NOT for betting on those games! Spend your money on more important things - like virtually ANYTHING else!
So, for the weekend (with MNF still to come), we went just nine out of twenty-one, or 42%. And that's by cherry picking our favorite games - heaven help us if we had to pick ALL of them! But it's fun, and it's a way of getting excited about our favorite sport. The moment that STOPS being fun, STOP. If you have an addictive personality, STOP ANYWAY!
We never said it was the RIGHT opinion, however!
Looking back at our Thursday prediction post, we...ah, well, we sucked. However, being Christians of our word, we review it honestly here for your amusement:
Thursday: Not terrible, as the Colts got off to a huge 24-0 lead and held on to win by more than 3. However BYU/UCF was hardly the yawner we forecast, going into overtime before the home team knocked the LDS kids off 31-24. So... One for two.
Friday: We liked Hamilton (lost by one), the Aztecs (covered) and said Wazzu wouldn't lose by seventeen. In fact, they lost by exactly seventeen. One for three.
Saturday: Down the line, against the spreads, mind you, we chose the BC Lions (won 41-3), Cincinnati (lost 55-34), West Virginia (didn't cover), Oklahoma (didn't cover and deserved to lose!), Georgia Tech (had to score twice late to make the final respectable), Kent St (got blown out by the team w the longest losing streak in FBS! How does that happen?), Baylor (their offense held up their end of the bargain, but it's hard to cover any spread giving up 58 points! They also really should have lost...), Oregon (with ease), Idaho (sigh...We had such faith in you, Vandals!), Penn St (really? Losing to Michigan this year? 18-13?), and LSU (not the rout we expected, but technically 30-27 is more than two points, and we need the win). So... Three out of ten. As noted gambler Charles Barkley would say, "Turrible...that's just turrible."
Sunday: Better today... We chose the Broncos (thank you, Aqib Talib! Without you last minute pick six, we don't cover at 31-17!), the Panthers (we SAID they'd stay close! A 37-37 tie game is definitely staying close!), the Steelers (oops. 31-10, and it wasn't that close...), thr Chargers (31-28 didn't cover), Cardinals (30-20 did) and the Eagles (covered with aplomb!) - went four for six today!
WARNING! Following Football does NOT advocate monetary gambling in ANY form!!! We use the Vegas point spreads as a means of determining the EXPECTED OUTCOME of football games, NOT for betting on those games! Spend your money on more important things - like virtually ANYTHING else!
So, for the weekend (with MNF still to come), we went just nine out of twenty-one, or 42%. And that's by cherry picking our favorite games - heaven help us if we had to pick ALL of them! But it's fun, and it's a way of getting excited about our favorite sport. The moment that STOPS being fun, STOP. If you have an addictive personality, STOP ANYWAY!
Without further ado...the Week 6 Tiers!
Tier 1
Alabama (5-1, thanks to a blocked XP), Baylor (6-0, thanks to local timekeepers), Florida St (6-0, thanks to the Tallahassee PD), Mississippi St (6-0, legitimately), Notre Dame (6-0, no thanks to the stud QBing for North Carolina) , Ole Miss (also legit 6-0), Oregon (5-1), and TCU (4-1 and deserving of Tier 1 by proving against OU and Baylor that they deserve to be up here!).
Tier 2
Auburn (5-1 and probably just on vacation from the top tier), Arizona (5-1, and a failed two-pt conversion from undefeated), Georgia (5-1, after proving they are not just Todd Gurley), LSU (5-2), Michigan St (5-1, but they'd prefer three-quarter games), Oklahoma (5-1; see Auburn), Oklahoma St (5-1), and UCLA (4-2, all due to Brett Hundley).
Tier 3
Clemson (4-2), Duke (5-1), Georgia Tech (5-1), Kansas St (4-1), Nebraska (5-1, higher if we could forget McNeese St), Ohio St (4-1), Texas A&M (5-2, and our pastor will never set foot in the state of Mississippi again!), and USC (4-2).
Tier 4
Arizona St (4-1), Kentucky (5-1, and a 3OT loss from perfection), Louisville (5-2), Marshall (6-0, and a decent schedule away from perfection), Missouri (4-2, embarrassed by Georgia yesterday), Stanford (4-2), West Virginia (4-2), and Utah (4-1, and getting the hang of this Pac-12 thing).
Tier 5
Maryland (4-2), Minnesota (5-1, thanks to a great runback for the winning TD), Oregon St (4-1), Penn St (4-2 and fading), Rutgers (5-1), Virginia (4-2), Virginia Tech (4-2), and Washington (kur man Chris Petersen is starting to get the 5-1 Huskies moving smoothly!).
Tier 6
Arkansas (4-2, the lowest ranked SEC West team is still on the board!), Boston College (4-2), BYU (4-2 and falling faster than PSU), Colorado St (5-1 and on the rise), Florida (3-2, and the biggest mystery in the nation), Iowa (5-1), Miami-FL (4-3), and Utah St (4-2 and more and more looking like the cream of the MWC).
Tier 7
Air Force (4-2, and brought back to earth by USU), Boise St (4-2), Bowling Green (5-2), California (5-2, waxed by Washington), Northwestern (3-3), South Carolina (3-3), Tennessee (3-3), and Wisconsin (4-2).
On the outside, looking in...
Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, North Carolina, North Carolina St, Northern Illinois, Pitt, Temple, Texas, Texas Tech...
Alabama (5-1, thanks to a blocked XP), Baylor (6-0, thanks to local timekeepers), Florida St (6-0, thanks to the Tallahassee PD), Mississippi St (6-0, legitimately), Notre Dame (6-0, no thanks to the stud QBing for North Carolina) , Ole Miss (also legit 6-0), Oregon (5-1), and TCU (4-1 and deserving of Tier 1 by proving against OU and Baylor that they deserve to be up here!).
Tier 2
Auburn (5-1 and probably just on vacation from the top tier), Arizona (5-1, and a failed two-pt conversion from undefeated), Georgia (5-1, after proving they are not just Todd Gurley), LSU (5-2), Michigan St (5-1, but they'd prefer three-quarter games), Oklahoma (5-1; see Auburn), Oklahoma St (5-1), and UCLA (4-2, all due to Brett Hundley).
Tier 3
Clemson (4-2), Duke (5-1), Georgia Tech (5-1), Kansas St (4-1), Nebraska (5-1, higher if we could forget McNeese St), Ohio St (4-1), Texas A&M (5-2, and our pastor will never set foot in the state of Mississippi again!), and USC (4-2).
Tier 4
Arizona St (4-1), Kentucky (5-1, and a 3OT loss from perfection), Louisville (5-2), Marshall (6-0, and a decent schedule away from perfection), Missouri (4-2, embarrassed by Georgia yesterday), Stanford (4-2), West Virginia (4-2), and Utah (4-1, and getting the hang of this Pac-12 thing).
Tier 5
Maryland (4-2), Minnesota (5-1, thanks to a great runback for the winning TD), Oregon St (4-1), Penn St (4-2 and fading), Rutgers (5-1), Virginia (4-2), Virginia Tech (4-2), and Washington (kur man Chris Petersen is starting to get the 5-1 Huskies moving smoothly!).
Tier 6
Arkansas (4-2, the lowest ranked SEC West team is still on the board!), Boston College (4-2), BYU (4-2 and falling faster than PSU), Colorado St (5-1 and on the rise), Florida (3-2, and the biggest mystery in the nation), Iowa (5-1), Miami-FL (4-3), and Utah St (4-2 and more and more looking like the cream of the MWC).
Tier 7
Air Force (4-2, and brought back to earth by USU), Boise St (4-2), Bowling Green (5-2), California (5-2, waxed by Washington), Northwestern (3-3), South Carolina (3-3), Tennessee (3-3), and Wisconsin (4-2).
On the outside, looking in...
Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, North Carolina, North Carolina St, Northern Illinois, Pitt, Temple, Texas, Texas Tech...
College Tiers after Week 6! (Part A)
Another truly exciting weekend of college football, culminating in the fourth straight victory for the state of Mississippi over a top-notch SEC team! The two Egg Bowl participants are a combined 12-0, and sit in the drivers' seats in the hardest division in football, the SEC West!
Leveling up this week from last.... Oregon and TCU (despite their first loss, they proved they belong in the big leagues) to Tier 1; LSU up to Tier 2; Clemson, USC, and Duke up to Tier 3; Kentucky and Utah up to Tier 4; Washington and Minnesota up to Tier 5; Boston College, Iowa, Utah St and Miami of Fla all moved up to Tier 6; and Bowling Green and Tennessee move into Tier 7.
Those who fell at least one tier include Auburn, Arizona, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Missouri, Louisville, Penn St, Oregon St, BYU, Air Force, Wisconsin and California.
The full Tier listing comes up in the next post in a few minutes...
Leveling up this week from last.... Oregon and TCU (despite their first loss, they proved they belong in the big leagues) to Tier 1; LSU up to Tier 2; Clemson, USC, and Duke up to Tier 3; Kentucky and Utah up to Tier 4; Washington and Minnesota up to Tier 5; Boston College, Iowa, Utah St and Miami of Fla all moved up to Tier 6; and Bowling Green and Tennessee move into Tier 7.
Those who fell at least one tier include Auburn, Arizona, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Missouri, Louisville, Penn St, Oregon St, BYU, Air Force, Wisconsin and California.
The full Tier listing comes up in the next post in a few minutes...
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Friday night update
San Diego St and Stanford lived up to billing, winning reasonably at about the expected margin. However, it was UNLV's night in the spotlight, upsetting dark horse darling Fresno State 30-27 in overtime in front of the twelve dedicated Rebel football fans in Sam Boyd Stadium (an exaggeration - there aren't that many). First conference loss for the Bulldogs, first conference win for Vegas. Maybe the last; who knows?
On tap for today... An exciting daytime slate, so save your housework for the evening...
The 10 am Mountain time starts include Florida St/Syracuse, West Virginia/Texas Tech, Georgia/Missouri, Northwestern/Minnesota (both undefeated in the Big Ten!), Cincy/Miami, Duke/GT, and the State Fair spectacular, Oklahoma/Texas! Clickers at the ready!
The 1:30 MDT slot is even better, with headline games including two Tier 1 teams, Auburn/Mississippi St, two more undefeateds in TCU/ Baylor, tier 2 powerhouses Oregon/UCLA, Louisville/Clemson, and Michigan St/Purdue.
And if you like car crashes, don't miss the battle of the winless in the MAC, UMass at Kent St, or the Sun Belt version of New Mexico St at Troy, where the winless Trojans are actually favored...
The evening games aren't quite as compelling: Alabama/Arkansas, Washington/Cal, Penn State/Michigan, LSU/Florida, Texas A&M/Ole Miss, and USC/Arizona. Nothing to sneeze at, and our remote will be in use, but nothing like the midday slate.
(And Wyoming plays at Hawaii in a 7 pm Hawaii start, which places it as a Sunday game for those of you in the Eastern time zone! Gotta love college football!)
On tap for today... An exciting daytime slate, so save your housework for the evening...
The 10 am Mountain time starts include Florida St/Syracuse, West Virginia/Texas Tech, Georgia/Missouri, Northwestern/Minnesota (both undefeated in the Big Ten!), Cincy/Miami, Duke/GT, and the State Fair spectacular, Oklahoma/Texas! Clickers at the ready!
The 1:30 MDT slot is even better, with headline games including two Tier 1 teams, Auburn/Mississippi St, two more undefeateds in TCU/ Baylor, tier 2 powerhouses Oregon/UCLA, Louisville/Clemson, and Michigan St/Purdue.
And if you like car crashes, don't miss the battle of the winless in the MAC, UMass at Kent St, or the Sun Belt version of New Mexico St at Troy, where the winless Trojans are actually favored...
The evening games aren't quite as compelling: Alabama/Arkansas, Washington/Cal, Penn State/Michigan, LSU/Florida, Texas A&M/Ole Miss, and USC/Arizona. Nothing to sneeze at, and our remote will be in use, but nothing like the midday slate.
(And Wyoming plays at Hawaii in a 7 pm Hawaii start, which places it as a Sunday game for those of you in the Eastern time zone! Gotta love college football!)
Toronto rises from the dead to edge Hamilton 34-33
Three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including two after the 3-minute warning (not a typo!), push the Argonauts into a flatfooted tie with the TigerCats atop the East Division of the Canadian Football League.
Besides the two touchdowns Hamilton left on the table in lieu of the field goals they got (one of which was a returner who was caught from behind when he started to showboat), watch the very last chance play, reminiscent of Manning's first play in last year's NFL Super Bowl - must've made every Hamilton fan as sick as it obviously made their coach...
Hamilton at Toronto
Besides the two touchdowns Hamilton left on the table in lieu of the field goals they got (one of which was a returner who was caught from behind when he started to showboat), watch the very last chance play, reminiscent of Manning's first play in last year's NFL Super Bowl - must've made every Hamilton fan as sick as it obviously made their coach...
Hamilton at Toronto
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Holly Anderson's college football preview
Another great weekly CFB writer is Holly Anderson, whom you can read the latest from at http://grantland.com/the-triangle/college-football-week-7-viewing-guide-auburn-mississippi-state/ via Grantland (although we loved her work at SI even better).
Follow Pat Forde's "Forde-Yard Dash" every week for great CFB commentary!
Go to http://sports.yahoo.com/news/forde-yard-dash-072843992-ncaaf.html?soc_src=copy , and read about teams that are struggling (and others that are thriving!) with their quarterback situations.
Games in American Football for Week 6...
The weekend starts on Thursday night, as the Indianapolis Colts go to Houston to play the Texans in the game of the night (BYU at UCF is a yawner - sorry, boys...). As much as the Following Football crowd loves JJ Watt (he who proposed to a six year old girl who swooned over him on YouTube last year!), you cannot bet against Andrew Luck in a prime time game (not that you should ever bet on football - especially pro football! WAY too unpredictable - even we so-called 'experts' are correct against the spread about as often as a coin flip!). We like the COLTS over the TEXANS by more than the 3 point spread.
Friday
San Diego State should beat New Mexico handily (by more than six), and we don't see Washington State allowing Stanford to beat them by the seventeen points the oddsmakers suggest. Take the Aztecs and the Cougars (for recreational purposes only!).
SATURDAY
The games we like: Cincinnati won't lose by two touchdowns to Miami of FL...Expect West Virginia to go to Texas Tech and handle the Red Raiders easily...Texas Longhorn fans should watch something else Saturday than their game against Oklahoma: go cruise the State Fair, have a corn dog, or (gag!) deep-fried sweet tea (how do you even do that?). But the Sooners will demolish them sooner rather than later... Georgia Tech by more than four over Duke, thanks to the work of their chaplain's pre-game speeches...Kent State, despite being winless, will beat up UMass, who can't figure out how to win a game when the opposing team hands it to them (as Miami-OH did last week)...Not a no-brainer, but we like Baylor to win against the TCU Horned Frogs by more than the 8 1/2 point spread at home...Oregon will be quacking mad, and ready to rush right through the paper-mache offensive line of UCLA Saturday; expect a big Duck win...Idaho won't break their winless streak at Georgia Southern this week, but they will hold it closer than three TDs...We absolutely cannot believe that Michigan is favored over Penn State Saturday night; the Nittany Lions will make cat food out of them...LSU should be more than a 1 1/2 point favorite at Florida, but most bettors can't believe that the SEC West is as weak as the SEC East is strong. Literally, the first place team in the West would lose against all but Arkansas in the East, and even Arkansas would be 4-3 or better in the West. Take the Tigers.
SUNDAY
Again, betting on NFL games in the age of parity is like playing roulette, but here's a couple of games we think we can guess the way the chips will fall: The Broncos should end up ten or more points clear of the Jets, but Peyton'll wait until being back in Denver to break the TD record...We like the Panthers to keep close to the Bengals, and the Steelers to stay close to the Browns, although we have no confidence on victories in either case... The Redskins, Raiders, and Giants are all expected to lose (to the Cardinals, Chargers, and Eagles, respectively), but we think the line-makers are too conservative. Take the favorites and the points.
And on Monday night, it's hard for us to see the Rams staying closer than a field goal to the Forty-Niners, even at home.
Friday
San Diego State should beat New Mexico handily (by more than six), and we don't see Washington State allowing Stanford to beat them by the seventeen points the oddsmakers suggest. Take the Aztecs and the Cougars (for recreational purposes only!).
SATURDAY
The games we like: Cincinnati won't lose by two touchdowns to Miami of FL...Expect West Virginia to go to Texas Tech and handle the Red Raiders easily...Texas Longhorn fans should watch something else Saturday than their game against Oklahoma: go cruise the State Fair, have a corn dog, or (gag!) deep-fried sweet tea (how do you even do that?). But the Sooners will demolish them sooner rather than later... Georgia Tech by more than four over Duke, thanks to the work of their chaplain's pre-game speeches...Kent State, despite being winless, will beat up UMass, who can't figure out how to win a game when the opposing team hands it to them (as Miami-OH did last week)...Not a no-brainer, but we like Baylor to win against the TCU Horned Frogs by more than the 8 1/2 point spread at home...Oregon will be quacking mad, and ready to rush right through the paper-mache offensive line of UCLA Saturday; expect a big Duck win...Idaho won't break their winless streak at Georgia Southern this week, but they will hold it closer than three TDs...We absolutely cannot believe that Michigan is favored over Penn State Saturday night; the Nittany Lions will make cat food out of them...LSU should be more than a 1 1/2 point favorite at Florida, but most bettors can't believe that the SEC West is as weak as the SEC East is strong. Literally, the first place team in the West would lose against all but Arkansas in the East, and even Arkansas would be 4-3 or better in the West. Take the Tigers.
SUNDAY
Again, betting on NFL games in the age of parity is like playing roulette, but here's a couple of games we think we can guess the way the chips will fall: The Broncos should end up ten or more points clear of the Jets, but Peyton'll wait until being back in Denver to break the TD record...We like the Panthers to keep close to the Bengals, and the Steelers to stay close to the Browns, although we have no confidence on victories in either case... The Redskins, Raiders, and Giants are all expected to lose (to the Cardinals, Chargers, and Eagles, respectively), but we think the line-makers are too conservative. Take the favorites and the points.
And on Monday night, it's hard for us to see the Rams staying closer than a field goal to the Forty-Niners, even at home.
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