I have grave concerns about Texas Tech. We graduated a LOT of seniors last year, including the first and second-string quarterbacks, running back, couple of good receivers, and some real powerhouse defensive players.
Saw the season opener on the 3rd, and I’m feeling a little better about the rest of the season, but there are clearly a lot of bugs to be worked out.
The Good: Seth Doege, the new QB, can throw, and unlike Taylor Potts from last year, he’s not afraid to run and take a hit occasionally. Potts tended to make really bad decisions when put under pressure and would fold like a cheap card table rather than take a hit. Also, I noticed that our defense seems to have improved their conditioning; in previous years, the defense’s exhaustion during the fourth quarter was all too evident.
The Bad: Doege may be decent, but at 6’1", he’s also short compared to Potts, which makes it a bit harder to find receivers over the line. Tommy Tuberville, the new head coach, isn’t a risk-taker like Mike Leach. Fourth downs will be punts. There’s a lack of “killer instinct”, too, that is palpable after the departure of pirate-captain Leach. Our running game is pretty much absent, and while Tech is traditionally a heavy passing team, you need at least some semblance of a run as an anchor.
Well, guess we’ll see how it goes when we play a real opponent, which will be Kansas by my reckoning. I mean, surely UNM and Nevada won’t be too much of a challenge…
Obviously your entitled to your opinion, but Youngstown State is Div I-AA and not a very good team in that division (3-8 last year). FAU is the probably the worst of the Div I Florida teams. There defense might be better than Michigan but until Sparty plays a real team no one really knows
If I still had a betting account, I’d be tempted to bet the house on MSU. That said, one thing I’ve learned over the years is that whenever I see a line that seems to be too good to be true, I usually end up relearning that Vegas is better at these things than I am.
Anyone see ESPN’s Outside the Lines today about the USC/Utah football game last weekend? I only caught a little bit of it. this is what I did catch: USC was favored by 5.5 pts? (not sure but it was around that mark) Utah was lining to a last second FG to tie the game and go into overtime. USC blocked the FG a defender recovered the ball and ran in back into the endzone to win the game by 9 points and covers the spread
Only problem, Referee threw a flag to call unsportsmanlike penalty on the bench during the runback. Referees overrule the TD and take it off the scoreboard. USC wins by three points instead of 9 points and does not cover the spread.
Vegas Bookmakers pay the people who took Utah and the 5.5 points.
Later that evening, PAC-12 officials say the touchdown does count. USC does cover! Vegas Bookmakers are ticked, they already paid out the UTAH bets.
That is all I caught and I don’t know the rest of the story. Apparently you can make money by betting both sides of the spread!
The line was 8.5 points - USC was up by 3 when they ran it in to end the game and then had the points waved off.
I watched it and then read some pretty interesting articles - apparently some places paid twice first for Utah then 2 hours later for USC - others have a house rule that doesn’t allow the result to change - that was pretty entertaining to follow.
I read some guy on a forum trying to start a class action lawsuit because he bet USC but at one of the places that doesn’t change the score afterward.
Wiping off a touchdown for celebration is absolutely ridiculous. I’m curious, why did the conference re-allow the TD? Did they feel the celebration was not worthy of a penalty? Or did they just want to screw with Vegas?
There was a similar circumstance during an NFL game a couple of years ago. Steelers playing Chargers. Last play of the game, the Steelers picked up a fumble and ran it back for a score that allowed them to cover the spread. After about 10 minutes of review and discussion, the refs nullified it saying a lateral (remember, this was one of those last-play garbage-time plays) was an illegal forward pass or something. My memory is hazy.
What is not hazy is that I actually had real $$ on the Steelers and the nullification swung the bet against me. The Steelers won regardless in a weird 11-10 score.
Later that evening, the NFL ruled that the officials were in error and that the score should have counted. The NFL did NOT, however, change the official score of the game.
I recall in the broadcast, while everyone was waiting for the ruling, one of the broadcasters said something like, “well, it really doesn’t matter because the Steelers are going to win the game either way.” And the other broadcaster (Al Michaels?) said someting like “Oh, a LOT of people are very interested in how much the Steeles win by” and made some not-so-subtle reference to the point spread.
[QUOTE=PAC-12]
The new Unsportsmanlike Conduct rule is Rule 9, Section 2, Article 1. It states that Unsportsmanlike Conduct fouls by players are administered as either live ball or dead ball fouls depending on when they occur. The rule does not apply to substitutes. All Unsportsmanlike Conduct fouls by substitutes are enforced as dead ball fouls. Since the game was over, the penalty could not be enforced and the referee stated it was declined by rule. The officials did rule it a touchdown making the final score 23-14.
[/QUOTE]
and then later
[QUOTE=PAC-12]
The final play of the game between USC and Utah was ruled properly and the touchdown did stand. There was miscommunication between the officials and the press box that led to the confusion about the final score. We will make the appropriate adjustment to improve the communication between on field officials and press box personnel so that we avoid any scoring issues in the future.
[/QUOTE]
So basically according the PAC-12, they never did take away the touchdown. It was just something the press did all by themselves. And the PAC is just enforcing the ruling on the field. I’m not sure I buy that story, but that is what they are going with.
An article I read said that the officials were asked in the parking lot by 2 reporters about the waved off touchdown and they were completely surprised the points had been removed. They then initiated some process with the Pac12 and ultimately it turned out the stats person in the booth told the scoreboard person to remove it.
Ga Tech is running up and down the field on Kansas, scored 59 points with almost 12 minutes left in the game. This year, they have done something that few if any teams have ever done. On their **first **offensive play from scrimmage in each of their first three games they have scored a Touchdown. Today it was a 95 yd run. Three games in a row.
Can’t figure out Notre Dame. They are whipping MSU but looked terrible the rest of the season. Were they over rated, then under rated? Wha are they?
MSU scheduled too easy. They are paying for that.
It seems to be turning into a true gentleman’s game. “Please, you take the ball.” “Thank you sir, but I insist–the ball is yours!” I don’t really think this is boding well for either team as the season progresses.
Michigan got lucky but they also have a dynamic offense. They are dangerous and can score quickly.
I suspect ND is a bit better than advertised. They may surprise a few teams this year.
MSU just blew it on the 3 yard line. Shitty pass that was intercepted. That was a disaster after getting a fumble deep in ND territory.
Michigan State wins were against Div I-AA Youngstown State and a very poor Florida Atlantic. It does not surprise me at all that they got whipped by ND.
I assume they looked OK, if not great. I lost the plot at halftime. Weeden needs to stop throwing interceptions though. Randle is great, and Smith is a stellar change of pace. Blackmon is still a monster.
Who the fuck thinks it’s a good idea to schedule an in state game at 9PM, where weather like last night is not out of the ordinary?