COLLEGE FOOTBALL - CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK!

It all comes down to this.  Well, most of it comes down to this.  Actually, depending on one result (Georgia/LSU), most of these games really may not matter.  Oh well, let’s get excited anyway!  Last week TOB mentioned going to a birthday party for TOB’s sister in law.  On the way to said party, TOB and his lady picked up the birthday cake.  During this ride, TOB’s lady asked the mother in law if we should keep the cake hidden until everyone arrived, “Is it a surprise?”  “No, it’s not a surprise, she just doesn’t know about it.”  Apparently general confusion is genetic…

Commercial watch:

What’s this controversy about the thin lady and the Pelaton?  Apparently fat people are upset that fit people still see the use in fitness equipment?  If anything, exercise equipment people should target fit people more.  Fit people likely work out WAY more than out of shape people.  Fat shaming is one of the few things TOB can’t even see the other side of.  You shouldn’t be overtly mean to overweight people to their face, but just as dangerous is ignoring clear health issues in favor of “feelings.” 

Please submit your item for TOB review in the comments.  Anything from food, drink, podcast, book, TV show, movie.  TOB has opinions, may as well share them with 8 people….

Last week to prepare for the excitement of Championship weekend, TOB and his special lady watched the documentary, “Free Solo.”  Riveting account of a rock climber trying to climb one of the more challenging rock faces in the world with no rope.  High drama, very real consequences.  Well worth the 1:40 run time.  During the watch, TOB’s lady was feverishly searching Google for random facts about the movie.  One of them happened to be that Alex (the main character) had climbed three mountains in Yosemite National Park (El Capitan, the mountain he climbs in the movie, is also in Yosemite).  However, upon pronouncing “Yosemite”, TOB’s lady decided that it was a hard I…YoseMITE.  Apparently she has never seen an early Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Not all championship games are created equal.  In fact, only a couple of them matter. 

1.      Utah vs Oregon:  (Note, this is being written before the game was played) This game could add to or suck much of the drama out of the Saturday games.  With a BIG win, Utah is in.  With a loss, they are out.  With a tight win…well, then it gets interesting.  TOB intends to watch just about every snap of this game, with the expectation that Utah wins close and we have to debate their chances against OSU.  Post watch:  Wow, Utah was outplayed in almost every way.  So much for them being a team to take seriously.  It’s a shame they have two losses; if Oregon could run the ball that well and play opportunistic defense, they just might keep it within 20 against Ohio State.

2.      Oklahoma vs Baylor:  Similar to above, with a big win OU probably jumps ahead of Utah (with a tight win).  If they both win close, it may come down to the fact that the semi-final games are in fact, a TV show.  Most casual football fans know who Lincoln Riley and Jalen Hurts are.  TOB doesn’t know who the Utah coach or QB are, and TOB writes about college football for a hobby.  Post watch:  This is officially a playoff game.  Winner is in!

3.      LSU vs Georgia:  Nightmare scenario for the PAC12 and BIG12, Georgia wins a tight game over LSU.  That puts both of them in the playoff.  TOB sees a narrow LSU win with a low, tight, classic SEC game. 

4.      Clemson/Virginia and Ohio State/Wisconsin will possibly be unwatchable.  That’s why they are playing them at the same time, just in case one of them is worth watching.

For all those that want to expand the playoff, this is basically the expanded playoff.  Please do not make it an 8 team playoff.  If the four team playoff has taught us anything, it’s that 4 is enough (if not too many already).

Further point on the playoff.  TOB has gone back and forth on whether to allow teams in the playoff if they do not win their conference.  This situation pops up every so often, and may this year if Georgia narrowly beats LSU, or Wisconsin narrowly beats Ohio State.  The argument for the one loss, non-conference Champion to get in is simple:  Their loss is the best loss of the group, and just because they happened to lose that game doesn’t mean they aren’t the better team.  Especially in college, teams are often learning themselves over the course of a season and often get better as the season goes on and players learn to play with each other.  Fair enough.  The argument against:  If you aren’t the best team in your conference, how can you be the best team in the country?  This would be like the NFL awarding the team with the fewest losses the Superbowl Championship.  Just because they didn’t win the last game of the year, that’s a quality loss, so they should be the champion because of quality of loss.  That wouldn’t make sense.  It DOES matter when you lose, sorry ‘bout it.

 “Countdown Until Urban Meyer Takes a D1 Job.”  Unfortunately it appears Urban is coming back to TV.  TOB has no idea how he is as an analyst, it was just exciting to see him stab yet another D1 team in the back.  This segment will likely be done for the year unless there is some breaking news this week after some more high profile coaching firings.

·          UCLA – 5:1

·          Tennessee – 3:1

·          Florida State – 3:1

·          Cowboys:  10:1 – New Addition, Jerry loves successful college coaches

·          Michigan State:  10:1

·          Remains analyst:  100:1

Now for the picks!

 Robert the Cheech

Week 1:  1-4 - Yikes

Week 2:  5-0 – Yeah Bobby (6-4)

Week 3:  3-2 – Typical (9-6)

Week 4:  3-2 (12-8)

Week 5:  3-2 (15-10) Making Money!

Week 6:  3-3 (18-13) Welcome to my life, Robby

Week 7:  3-2 (21-15) Solid

Week 8:  2-3 (23-18) Sliding toward .500

Week 9:  4-1 (27-19) Big bounce back, Bobby!

Week 10:  3-2 (30-21) Still making money

Week 11:  3-6 (33-27) back to earth

Week 12:  3-3 (36-30)

Week 13:  5-5-1 (41-35-1) Getting by

Week 14:  7-5 (48-40-1) – Current Balance:  $320; Betting $100 each with the 10% cost of the bet

·        Eastern Michigan -3.5 over Kent State - L

·        Ball State -3 over Miami Ohio - W

·        Texas -7.5 over Texas Tech - W

·        Nebraska +5 over Iowa - W

·        Boise State -14 over Colorado State - L

·        South Carolina +27 over Clemson - L

·        Indiana -7 over Purdue - L

·        Ohio State -9 over Michigan - W

·        Baylor -14 over Kansas - W

·        Pitt -8.5 over Boston College - L

·        Wisconsin -3 over Minnesota - W

·        Kansas State +5 over Iowa State – W

Week 15: 

·        All the favorites – we will limit it to the Power 5 bowl games, and since Cheech always goes for an obscure game, he will also take App State -6.5

 TOB

Week 1:  2-2 with 1 push – slowly losing money

Week 2:  push

Week 3:  push

Week 4:  (5-4-1)

Week 5:  2-3 (7-7-1) Just burning money, 10% at a time

Week 6:  2-2-1 (9-9-2) Has there ever been a more mediocre gambler?  Yeah, probably

Week 7:  2-3 (11-12-2) Here I sit on Mount Mediocrity

Week 8:  3-2 (14-14-2) Yikes, right at .500

Week 9:  3-2 (17-16-2) Back on the winning side!

Week 10:  3-2 (20-18-2) Getting there!

Week 11:  4-1 (24-18-2) Real Nice!

Week 12:  Bye

Week 13:  1-3 (25-21-2) Bummer

Week 14:  4-3 (29-24-2) – Current Balance:  $210; Betting $100 each with the 10% cost of the bet

·        Bama -3 over Auburn - L

·        Iowa -4.5 over Nebraska - L

·        Boise State -14.5 over Colorado State - L

·        Ohio State -9.5 over Michigan - W

·        Wisconsin -2.5 over Minnesota (emotional hedge) - W

·        Baylor -14 over Kansas - W

·        Kansas State +4.5 over Iowa State – W

Week 15:  We’re picking ALL of the Championship games!

·        Oregon +6.5 over Utah (feels like we are headed to a world where Oklahoma sneaks back in)

·        Clemson -30 over Virginia (they do not want to drop to the 4 spot and play OSU)

·        Memphis -9.5 over Cincinnati (they played literally last week, Memphis won by 10, no reason to think it will change)

·        Ohio State -16.5 over Wisconsin (likely have this covered by end of the first half)

·        Oklahoma -9 over Baylor (they dominated the second half against them last time, will take it more seriously from the opening whistle, climbing back into that 4 spot, only to lose by 40 to OSU)

·        FAU -8 over UAB (Does Lane Kiffin coach FAU?  TOB did not verify)

·        CMU -3.5 over Miami (OH) (Central Michigan is usually pretty strong, Cheech would know better than I, he’s from there…)

·        Boise State -14 over Hawai’I (Boise State runs over people, hard to believe they aren’t ranked higher after the season they’ve had)

·        LSU -7 over Georgia (LSU is so strong, would be tough to pick against them until the title game)

·        App State -6.5 over ULL (Shout out to App State for making the jump to D1 and putting themselves in position for a strong bowl game)

Sharps

 Week 7:  4-1 – Current balance:  $60 – Look at that, already made money!  Let’s let it ride!

Week 8:  1-0 (5-1) – Current balance:  $150

Week 9:  3-3 (8-4) – Current balance:  $120

Week 10:  3-1 (11-5) – Current balance:  $290 – Not bad fellas!

Week 11:  2-3 (13-8) – Current balance:  $170 - meh

Week 12:  5-0 (18-8) – Current balance:  $620 – Wow!

Week 13:  2-1 (20-9) – Current balance:  $700 - Nice

Week 14:  3-1 (23-10) – Current Balance:  $670 (won $170 this week, but it was a new month so I had to theoretically pay another $200 for the membership)

·        Virginia Tech -3 over Virginia – L

·        Appalachian State -12 over Troy – W

·        Liberty -14 over New Mexico – W

·        Utah -28 over Colorado – W

Week 15: 

·        Clemson -28 over Boston College (Vic Arisa)

·        FAU -8 over UAB (Vic Arisa)

·        Boise State -14 over Hawai’I (Vic Arisa)

·        Utah -7 over Oregon (Tim Garvey)

Go Irish!  Oh wait, their season is over…get that good bowl Notre Dame!

-Tonyonball