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Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football

Posted on by boom booms room staff

The beginning of the work week is upon us.  And, the beginning of almost exclusive NCAA football conference play is also upon us.  You have to take care of business every Saturday in conference play.  If you don’t, someone will be there to take food off of your table.  Here are ten nuggets for your breakfast table to kick start your week.

  1.  A week ago we called the lack of movement in the top ten “frankly boring.”  Like the weather, that changed this past Saturday.  The new AP top 25 is out.  And, Alabama took care of it’s business to remain # 1 with a solid conference road victory over the Texas A&M Aggies 47-28.  Tua T threw his first pick of the year and Alabama had 11 penalties accepted against them.  That’ll make this week’s practice for the Tide anything but frankly boring when Saban tears into his team.
  2. And, previous #5 became this week’s #2.  The fighting Tigers of LSU trailed a talented Florida team after one drive in the third quarter 28-21.  But from there for real Heisman candidate Joe Burrow took over on offense, and Dave Aranda’s leaky defense took over Florida’s offense.  LSU scored 21 unanswered to secure a 42-28 win.  It was it’s second win of the year over a top ten team.  Apparently the voters were impressed.
  3. Clemson and THE Ohio St. University slid one spot each to #3 and #4 respectively.  Clemson rolled a below average Florida St. team 45-14, while THE took the week off after it stymied an offensively challenged Michigan St team 34-10 the week prior.
  4. Oklahoma fans are hot.  The now #5 Sooners beat the then #11 ranked Texas Longhorns by seven points.  Oklahoma feels like they should be ranked higher.  If their Red River Rivalry score would have better reflected how they dominated Texas between the 20’s, maybe they would be.  Jalen Hurts dazzled at times and at others made poor decisions.  The only ranked team left on the Sooner’s schedule is down the road with #18 Baylor.  They’ll need some help to climb.  And, they’ll likely get it.
  5. Knock knock.  Who’s there?  The Big 10.  The Big 10 who?  The Big 10 who now have Wisconsin at #6 and Penn St. at  #7 to go along with THE at #4.  Wisconsin shut out said offensively challenged Michigan St. 38-0.  It’s Whisky’s fourth shutout in six games.  On the year they have allowed a mere 29 points in total.  Impressive.  Penn St. held off offensively challenged Iowa in Iowa 17-12.   Iowa has scored 18, 3, and 12 in conference games worth mentioning.  Thirty against Rutgers doesn’t count for much.
  6. The loud thud you heard was Georgia falling from #3 to #10.  We stated above that you have to take care of business every Saturday in conference play.  If you don’t, someone will be there to take food off of your table.   The Gamecocks of South Carolina took away UGA’s dog bowl and did so between the Athens’ hedges.    It’s a big win for Will Muschamp’s continued tenure at SC.  It’s a big loss for Kirby Smart’s team.  They’ll now need to beat Florida, win the SEC East, and beat the West opponent in the SEC Championship Game to have any shot at barking about inclusion in the playoffs.
  7.  Notre Dame sits somewhat quietly at #8.  Georgia beat them a few weeks ago.  We aren’t sure how they get the #8 spot, two ahead of Georgia.  But, Georgia only has Georgia to blame.  The Irish ran for over 300 yards in South Bend, and held on at the wire to defeat a game USC team.
  8.  Oregon remains the highest ranked PAC 12 team checking in at #12.  They’ve been impressive after a season opening loss to Auburn.  Don’t believe us?  Ask Colorado who got worked on both sides of the ball in a 45-3 wipe out.  On defense, the Ducks lead the conference with an average of 8.7 points per game surrendered. Oregon does face a test in Week 8 — a road trip to No. 25 Washington that is a must-win if the Ducks look to keep any shot at the playoff alive. The Ducks are a 2 1/2 point early week favorite.
  9. Who else remains undefeated after seven weeks?  If you said Boise St #14, Baylor #18,  SMU #19, Minnesota #20, and Appalachian St. #24 you’ve been watching too much college ball.  Is there a 2017 UCF type run in one of them?  We don’t know.  But, don’t sleep on Baylor.  Their schedule toughens from here.  But, Texas and Oklahoma both have to travel to Waco.
  10.  Congrats to Tennessee for getting an SEC win 20-10 over the Mississippi St. Bulldogs.  The season opening loss to Georgia St. stings a wee bit less now.  The Volunteers should not celebrate for very long, however.  They travel to Tuscaloosa this weekend for their yearly “natural rival” game v. Alabama.  Bama is a big 34 1/2 point favorite to kick around the team with the blue tick hound.  Big spreads litter the Vegas Strip this week.  Ohio St, Clemson, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and LSU  are favored over conference opponents by 27, 23, 29, 33, and 19 points respectively.

It’s a quick 4 days till Friday.

Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Flip the page on your calendar this AM.  October has arrived.  And, thankfully with it will come some Power Five NCAA in conference football games.  We’ve had far too few as there is an extra weekend built into the schedule. Week six is here.  We review week five with a Ten Piece Nuggets order to chew on below.

  1.  The new AP Top 25 is out.  Clemson’s near loss was Alabama’s gain.  Saturday the Tide rolled Ole Miss 59-31, and yesterday they rolled into the top spot in the latest poll.  Alabama has this coming weekend off before they roll into College Station next weekend.
  2.  It’s hard not to like Mack Brown directing his NC Tar Heel team to go for the win at the end of their 60 minute donnybrook with Clemson.  It’s hard to like the play that was called however.   Clemson escaped with a 21-20 win.  They haven’t been playing as well as some others early on.  Maybe this near loss and a drop to no. 2 will do them some good longer term this season.  They too are idle this weekend before Florida St comes calling next weekend.
  3.  Georgia was off Saturday and remained at #3.  Number four LSU was too.   However they dropped to #5 as the voters were impressed by THE Ohio State University taking all of the corn that they wanted back home from Nebraska.  They shucked the Cornhuskers 48-7.   You have to harvest before the first frost.  Nebraska’s Scott Frost has a long way to go to bring Lincoln back to relevance.
  4.  The rest of the top ten remained as it was except Notre Dame moved up one as Florida moved down one.  They are now ninth and tenth respectively.
  5.  Florida has a chance to erase that little drop and then some this weekend.   Lee Corso, his pencil complete with eraser, and the gang descend on The Swamp for ESPN’s College Gameday.  The Gators host Auburn in a #9 v. #7 showdown.   Both teams look very strong on defense.  Both teams are undefeated.  Something has to give.  It should be a rock ’em sock ’em afternoon in the heat and humidity.  Kickoff is set for a steamy 3:30 pm eastern.
  6.  There was a good bit of bouncing around in the lower half of the polls.  No one moved more than Arizona St. though.  A week removed from a disappointing home loss to Colorado, the Sun Devils went to Berkley and beat the Golden Bears.   Herm Edwards and crew entered the top 25 at #20 jumping from a previously voted counted #37 spot.  California was the last undefeated PAC 12 team.  The state of California signed into law a bill that allows NCAA players to be paid for using their image/likeness starting in 2023.  Maybe the PAC 12 will have a national contender again by then.
  7.  Virginia dropped from the unbeatens and slid five to #23 with their loss the the Fighting Irish.  The Texas A&M Aggies dropped to #25 even though they won.  The voters were underwhelmed by the year to date underwhelming Aggies as they held on late to beat a 23 point underhog (see what we did there?) by four.
  8. Who’s the second best team in the ACC?  Florida St.?  Miami?  Virginia?  How about Wake Forest?  The Demon Deacons are a very quiet 5-0.  They check in at #22.   The schedule stiffens from here.  But, for now they’ve beaten everyone in front of them to date including the pesky bunch of Carolinans from just up Tobacco Road.
  9. Say hello to SMU.  They are ranked for the first time since the football program received the death penalty for NCAA rules violations in 1987. The 5-0 Mustangs entered the poll at #24 after winning 48-21 at USF on Saturday. They’re off to the school’s best overall start since 1983, with three road wins under their belt including a then ranked TCU.  Under second-year coach Sonny Dykes, the Mustangs are playing their best ball since the Pony Express days of Eric Dickerson and Craig James.  Hey Cali, Texas was already paying it’s players way back then.
  10.  Some early lines are out.  That matchup of the week has Auburn a three point favorite in The Swamp over Florida.  Washington is a whopping 14 1/2 point road favorite over Stanford.  Texas travels east to West Virginia as an 11 point favorite.   The three home dogs and the points seems like a fun three team parlay.

The entire BBR staff is traveling to BR for an 11AM LSU v. Utah St. Saturday kickoff.  They will also be in that number to cover the Saints hosting the Buccaneers the next day.  The work never ends.

October is here.  Footballs are flying.

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Year 2, Week 2

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Abby’s offseason wasn’t spent howling at the moon.  Her rigorous research began to pay off in week one.  While only two of five against the spread picks cashed her bones won were six while her bones lost were only four.  We’ll take 60% money all season long if we can get it.  Her hunch parlay bet split(lost), as the under covered and the over fell just shy.

College football picking isn’t easy.   The smart money in Vegas (called the Sharps) focuses on a narrow window of analytics and doesn’t stray (Abby doesn’t like strays either).

That’s why it’s important for her to risk various amounts (bones) to weight average the risk.  Remember one bone equals $11 risked to win $10.

She urges great caution every year in week two.  Over reactions to good or bad play in week one can feel like chasing parked cars come late Saturday night.

Wake Forest at Rice +20 — Rice isn’t a very good football team.   But, they are beginning to play a bit if D in downtown H town.  And, it’s hot in downtown H Town.  Very.  100 degrees hot is predicted at game time.  That’s why smart Owls only come out at night.  One bone.

UAB -8.5 at Akron —  A little bird is chirping in Abby’s ear about UAB being a smart money play all year.  Abby normally chases birds away, but she’s embracing this one.  Two bones.

Texas A&M +18 at Clemson — Betting against Clemson is indeed like a dog chasing the proverbial parked car.  Abby has a soft spot for Reveille, the A&M mascot, but won’t let puppy love interfere with money.  A&M is a legit dog.  Three bones.

BYU at Tennessee -3.5 —  One of Abby’s credos to live by is to “never kick a blue tick hound when he is down.”  This one falls squarely in the over reaction of week one category.  Tennessee looked like road kill in week one.  Three bones.

Miami -5 at North Carolina —  Dorian the Hurricane is pounding the North Carolina Outer Banks as Abby digs through these lines.  The Miami Hurricanes, if they can fix their woeful OL blocking, will do the same to the Tar Heels.  The sunshine was on Mack Brown for a week.  It’s raining now.  Two bones.

The line of Maryland -1.5 hosting Syracuse makes no doggone sense to us.   When it seems so odd Abby likes to play a hunch bet.  Take Maryland over a 21st ranked Orangeman team that might be looking ahead to hosting Clemson next week.

Enjoy the games and say a prayer for The Bahamas and for New Mexico St.  They go to Tuscaloosa, AL as a 56 point dog!  Woff!!