College Football - Week 10
TOB is live on the scene! The game of the week is obviously Minnesota at Michigan, so TOB is here! Cheech is housing TOB and his special lady, so shout to Bobby, even though I will show no mercy in my picks. Looking forward to tailgating at the Big House (well, the University of Michigan Golf Course anyway), even though it’s looking like 45 degrees and raining. This will be LOB’s first tailgate north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I wonder how long until she asks if she should wear a jacket…
Follow up to last week’s “people becoming their dad’s group,” TOB found “people becoming their mothers!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVV5uI3Djww
First CFP Playoff rankings are out and people in cheese eaters are all kinds of butt hurt. Well Wisconsin, if you would play a ranked team prior to your conference championship you might earn a playoff spot. “But we can’t help that our division is terrible.” Well, maybe schedule tougher than Utah State, Florida Atlantic, and BYU out of conference. TOB has no sympathy for teams that schedule cupcakes out of conference. Badgers, you are cowards, and you deserve your fate.
TOB is perfectly fine with the rankings, they will no doubt shake themselves out (big slate of games this week and next) by season’s end. The only concern is UGA/Bama playing a tight game in the SEC title game, prompting the committee to put them both in the playoff. That shouldn’t happen, no matter how close the game is. It will be a neutral site game, winner goes, loser goes to a nice Sugar Bowl match-up against TCU. TOB is anti two teams from the same conference making the playoff. The goal of the playoff is to find the best team in the country, not put the four best teams in the playoff. If a team doesn’t win their conference, they may very well be the second best team in the country, but they are certainly NOT the best. May as well give another team a shot.
Now for the completely biased breakdown of ND’s schedule:
Temple (4-5) – ND blew them out, Temple isn’t great, but a win is a win
(1) Georgia (8-0) – Tight game, no shame in losing to the #1 team in the country
Boston College (5-4) – Having a decent season, should finish as a top 5 ACC team, recently beat up on Florida State, though they are having their own issues. Frequent TOB reader (read: occasional) Adam Case had this analysis of Florida State, “They are booty.”
(24) Michigan State (6-2) – The better of the two Michigan teams this year, they could end up top 4 in the Big 10. Big games coming up for the Spartans
Miami (OH) (3-6) – Yeah, not a great team to have on your schedule, but ND did what they should, beat them by 40 points.
UNC (1-8) – Probably the worst team on ND’s schedule, still a D1 Team, well, sort of.
(17) USC (7-2) – Smashed the Trojans, TOB enjoyed this very much. USC could win out and take the PAC12
(20) NC State (6-2) – Could make a lot of noise in the ACC the next couple of weeks playing Miami and Clemson.
Still to come, ND plays (10) Miami and (21) Stanford. If ND wins out, they would have 5 wins over ranked teams, and one loss to the Number 1 team in the country. Not a bad resume to make the final four.
Now for the segment that Vegas is trying to get TOB to stop running, Tony and Cheech make picks sure to go wrong!
Last weeks’ results:
Cheech (21-17-2) – 1-4 last week, coming back to earth.
Inidana (-4.5) over Maryland. Hoosiers had good chances to beat Michigan and MSU, which makes me think they're not terrible. Maryland has lost its last 3 games by an average of 30 points, which makes me think they are terrible. Go Hoosiers. - LOSS
MSU (-2.5) over Northwestern. I think this should be a 7 point spread, but ESPN's matchup predictor has Northwestern as 61.3% likely to win. wtf? – LOSS – should have looked at that predictor a little more closely Bobby
Louisville (-3) over Wake Forest. Sure, why not? - LOSS
ND (-7) over NC State. This one is scary, but I'll stick w/ the Irish. - WIN
Ohio State (-6.5) over Penn State. I have no real opinion on this game, except that it would be a little too straightforward (from an overall CFB / playoff perspective) if PSU wins out. So I bet on the chaos. - LOSS
TOB (12-27-1): Took a beating last week, and the week before, and the week before…
Florida (+13) over Georgia. This is a rivalry game for God’s sake! Florida sucks, but they should keep it close. – LOSS…and it wasn’t even close
TCU (-7) over Iowa State. Iowa State has been a bit of a giant killer this year. Good for second year head coach Matt Campbell who took over a situation just as bad a Mizzou’s. The difference is, in year two he’s beating Oklahoma in Norman, OK. Mizzou beat Idaho, at home, congratulations. - LOSS
UCLA (+17.5) over Washington. The Pac-12 is garbage, none of these teams deserve to be favored by more than two touchdowns over any other. - LOSS
UCF (-43.5) over Austin Peay. Gotta love a 40+ point spread. - LOSS
Clemson (-14) over Georgia Tech. Clemson off a bye is going to be fired up. Need to win out to stay in the playoff. Good luck Freshman. – PUSH…thank God.
This week:
Cheech:
Penn State (-10 ) over Michigan State – After a tough loss to Ohio State, Penn State needs a big win to stay relevant in the committee’s eyes. However, a MSU good performance or win would really help the Irish…
Texas A&M (+15.5) over Auburn – Why is Auburn ranked #14 again? A&M isn’t that much worse than Auburn.
ND (-14.5) over Wake Forest – Have to win big and keep winning. Style points matter
NC State (+8.5) over Clemson – Another selfish pick, go Wildcats (are they wildcats?).
West Virginia (-3.5) over Iowa State – They turn back into a pumkin.
TOB:
Stanford (-1.5) over Washington State – Despite TOB’s love for Mike Leach, Stanford winning benefits ND, so we are betting with our heart this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVKYV4GEFTM
Florida (+3.5) over Missouri – Apparently it isn’t good to lie about receiving death threats. Who knew?! Even so, Mizzou is terrible and shouldn’t be favored over any SEC team.
Oklahoma (+1.5) over OKST – Oklahoma looks good this year, despite the loss to giant killer Iowa State. They should win this game, if by a slim margin.
TCU (6.5) over Texas – Texas sucks, TOB stands by it.
Miami (-2.5) over Virginia Tech – Need this win for ND. Go Hurricanes!
Bama (+21.5) over LSU – LSU kind of sucks, Bama is really good and needs some big wins now that Florida State is “booty.”
Let the tailgating begin!
GO IRISH!
-Tonyonball
