Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Vindy's Picks Week 12-2016


PRESIDENT-ELECT, HEAD OF NCAA MEET
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (FOX News)…Days after  visiting the White House for similar purposes, Donald Trump got together with NCAA president Mark Emmert to hash-out the “smooth transition of Power Five” conferences, including the shift of teams in blue states to red states! Emmert noted the two “disagreed on a number of items, but will work diligently to bring-about a seamless change-of-possession”. Reversing course on an earlier accusation, the Donald said he was “pleased that all top-four College Football Playoff rankings included schools based in red states”.
We basically wasted a 2-0 start, for the second straight fortnight, to finish 11-11 (95-99-3, .489). A new university study in Seoul, Korea suggests listening to one’s choice of music can mitigate acute or chronic pain. Therefore, we recommend the readership crank up their fave tunes to diminish physical and emotional discomfort associated with…

THE WEBER KID’S 2016 WEEK 12 FORECAST
(Accompanied by one-hit wonder…”Afternoon Defense” by da’ Starlight Vocal-Band)

THURS. NOV. 17
#3 Louisville (-14) over HOUSTON: Cardinals 41 Houston 20

Arkansas State (+8) over #25 TROY: This got a look for “lock” and “upset pick of da’ week.”. Trojans’ first-ever presence in the Top 25 also signals the Fun Belt making its initial 2016 sojourn into the rankings. Phil Steele’s mag had the Trojans at #5 in the conference behind Arkansas State, winner of four of the last six Stun Belt crowns, and Apparition State, whom Troy beat by 4 last week, yet made it his #7 most-improved team. State opened with four losses in a row, including 28-23 defeat by FCS Central Arkansas (currently 9-1 and #12 FCS poll), but is surging on current 5-0 SU/ATS run and are giving up less than 4 ppg less and 41 ypg less than Troy.  Much-respect to Troy, whose only defeat came by 6 at Clemson in early September, but …Troy 34 Red Wolves 31
FRI. NOV. 18

Nevada-Las Vegas (+28) over #22 BOISE STATE: We changed our initial pick here. Consider yerselves duly-advised. Yes, the Rebels come-off win in triple-extras over Wyoming, who’s responsible for Boise’s lone loss on the year to-date. Broncos picked up just their third spread-win, walloping the ‘Bows by 38 in a game that wasn’t even that close. Vegas needs to win here and against Reno to bowl. Not gonna’ happen, but Tony Sanchez can feed off last week’s upset-victory. UNLV has failed to cover in two of three following SU wins this year, but have lost by no more than 23 in any road game in 2016. But then, the 5-5 Chippies of Central Michigan ain’t one-loss Boise State. Hometown Heroes are 2-3 ATS as road-dogs this year against much-smaller lines and were 10-4 coming into the season in that role. Broncos have trek to Air Force on-deck and gave up 31 to San Josie on the Blue Carpet…Boise State 51 Sin City 27
SAT. NOV. 19

Tennessee-Chattanooga @ #1 ALABAMA: No Line.
MICHIGAN STATE (+21 ½) over #2 Ohio State: Spartans’ white-wash of Rutgers accounted for our only “best bet” win last week.  MSU finds itself a home-dog for second time in four weeks after seeing no such role in the previous four years and Marc Lawrence’s Playbook. Com notes the home-team in this series has been the incorrect side the past seven match-ups. Buckeyes won 14-7 in 2015, lost by 10 in 2013 conference championship and have Michigan on the horizon. Sparty’s year is disappointingly toast, but if they can beat OSU, and the Buckeyes topple Michigan next week, they could hold that over Big Blue the entire offseason. Expect MSU to go all out…Buckeyes 30 Michigan State 17

#4 MICHIGAN (-23 ½) over Indiana: Second-best guess for “wish we had it back”. Wolverines will likely be minus dual-threat QB Wilton Speight for this one. Ahead of the Hawkeyes game, Michigan wallpapered the pink-painted visitors’ locker room at Kinnick Stadium with UM images. How’d that work-out for ya, Mr. Harbaugh?!...Michigan 37 Indy 13
WAKE FOREST (+21) over #5 Clemson: Tigers 26 Deacons 13

#6 Wisconsin (-26) over PURDUE: Wisconsin 41 Choo-Choos 10
#7 WASHINGTON (-26) over Arizona State: Huskies will regroup after loss to USC. Sun Devils’ hologram “defense” will provide little-more than target-practice…Sled Dogs 52 ASU 13

#8 Oklahoma @ #10 WEST VIRGINIA (“under 66 ½”): Sooners 29 Mountaineers 24
#9 Penn State @ RUTGERS (“under 57 ½”): LOCK OF DA’ WEEK. In light of nice SU/ATS win over Iowa, Coach Franklin is callin’ fer yet-another white-outat Rutgers! Not sure the color-coordination will be necessary to secure the victory in East Brunswick, though the spread-win could use some assistance (see our Black Shirt segment below). Lions have moved up to #8 in the playoff rankings this week and RU could be on the wrong end of a 4th shutout this season, but we’ll conservatively call…Simbas of State College 39 Scarlet Knights of Da’ Round-Robin Table 6

#11 UTAH (-14) over Oregon: Utes 45 Rubber Duckies 27
#20 Washington State (+4) over #12 COLORADO: Buffs opened givin’ almost a TD. Public came in hot-n-heavy on da’ pass-happy Coogs, who’ve put all three 12-PACK road games in the win-column, to decrease line to 3 ½. Now back to 4.  Bison’s only demise came at hands of who-are-those-guys?-USC and lost 27-3 to Washington State in 2015. Cougars, behind huge passing-attack, average about nine more ppg than Colorado, but CU allows about six-fewer ppg than Wazzou. Changed our initial-pick here too, more than once…Buffaloes 28 WSU 27

#13 Oklahoma State (+4) over TCU: MINOR UPSET PICK OF DA’ WEEK. This was our original choice for “lock”. Serious-overreaction to Toads’ rout of embroiled Bares team last week. Kermits had been perfect 13-0 SU in Ft. Worth 2014 thru 2015, but have already logged three defeats at the partisan-venue and have covered just once on the campaign layin’ points…Cowpokes 42 Frog Legs 31
#14 WESTERN MICHIGAN (-34 ½) over Buffalo: WMU 48 Bulls 10

UCLA (+10 ½) over #15 Southern Cal: Akin to Michigan State, Bruins aren’t going to the post-season, and will put all they’ve  got into the rivalry game…Trojan Horse 24 Bruins 17
#21 FLORIDA (+13 ½) over #16 Louisiana State (“under 39”): We implement the rare double-pick on a single game. Gators and Bengals finally meet after original game on October 8 was postponed due to inclement weather. Injury-riddled Crocodiles still managed to cover vs. the Game-Hens, while LSU took out the frustrations of the goose-egg vs. ‘Bama on the Razorbacks. Florida’s gained a little spread-momentum, covering three of last four after opening 1-4 and see first home-dog spot on the year and 5th in nearly 4 seasons. Sadly, it’s gone just 1-3 on those occasions. Bengals found nice complement to Leonard Fournette in the person of RB Derrius Guice, but have been just 6-8 SU on the road in last 14. UF’s purpose-in-life this season is apparently to make Vindy’s life miserable, so no faith in either selection. We’ll be satisfied with a split…Tigers 20 Florida 12

SYRACUSE (+20 ½) over #17 Florida State: Seminoles 34 Orange Sauce 17
Alabama A&M @ #18 AUBURN: No line.

#19 NEBRASKA (-15) over Maryland: Corn Pops will probably not have QB Armstrong on the field for this one…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Box Turtles have been taking cues recently from Rutgers and have dropped five of last six to the line, with four of five defeats on the year by 21 or more. Maryland’s one cover on the road came at…currently 3-7 Florida International. Big Dread has alternated ATS wins and losses each week since starting Big Ten play. If the pattern continues, they’ll find a way to win by less than 15. NU recently got the go-ahead to grow hemp on campus. Players are hopin’ their home playing-surface gets switched from Field Turf to…natural grass!...Huskers 31 Maryland 14
#23 TEXAS A&M (-27) over Texas-San Antonio: Best guess for “we wish we had it back”. On the heels of three losses in four games, including one-point loss in College Station to Ole Miss after being up by two-scores late, sending A&M from CFP #4 to nearly-unranked, a blow-out win would be cathartic and restore some confidence for pending visit by LSU next, on a short week. Roadrunners, who were smoked at Weeziana Tech last week following convincing-upset at Middle Tennessee, could go bowlin’ for first-year coach Frank Wilson after winning just three matches in 2015 if they can upend Charlotte in the regular-season finale and have covered three times in four tries in games subsequent to outright losses this year…Aggies 48 UTSA 17

WYOMING (+9) over #24 San Diego State: UPSET PICK OF DA’ WEEK. Cowboys’ mysterious 3OT loss in Sin City gives Rebels hope of post-season (though they’ll likely need an upset of Boise or academic excellence to play in December with a losing record). Aztecs have already clinched a berth in the conference championship game and have allowed miniscule total of 42 points across half-dozen MWC contests. Wyoming, 5-0 SU/4-0 ATS in Laramie, including upsets over Boise State and Air Force, could get into the Mountain West Championship game by winning out due to tie-breakers over the Broncos and Lobos, should they beat New Mexico two Saturdays from now. Since the beginning of 2013, Sudzu is very-nice 22-8-1 against the spread vs. conference opponents, but… Wyoming 34 SDSU 31
BETWEEN THE HASHMARKS

Apparently, the letdown-concept has been banned in Tuscaloosa for 2016 as we incorrectly-backed Mississippi State (+29) against the Tide off tight 10-0 win over LSU. Taking a few creative-liberties with a quote from The Karate Kid...”Pain…does not exist… in this dojo, does it??!!” “NO, Sabansei!!” “Fear…does not exist…in this dojo, does it??!!!” “NO, Sabansei!!!”
During summer camp, the UNLV Rebels got put their paces by a bunch of US Marines on the first strength-and-conditioning day of the offseason. Barked one instructor at the offense…”You want da’ ball???!!! You can’t handle da’ ball!”

On da’ Big Screen this weekend, JK Rowling’s-take on retired Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch… ”Fantastic Beast-Mode and Where Ya’ Can Find Him”!
Star Texans defensive player meets well-known credit card motto…”JJ Watts in your wallet?!”

Mike Tyson tweeted his kudos to Cincinnati’s women’s hoops team for winnin’ a 4th consecutive national title in April. UConn, of course, took that crown. Iron Mike subsequently claimed Steve Harvey hacked his Twitter account!
Upon Kim Jong un’s declaration that North Korea “will remain heavily-armed”, Trump named Dennis Rodman as Secretary of State.

Back in July, the Final Four of a bracket-pool sponsored by the Las Vegas Review-Journal for potential monikers for a Sin City pro hockey team saw Outlaws, Bighorns, Aces and Scorpions.  We cast our vote for the last of those, in hopes the team-unis would mimic the outfit worn by the Mortal Kombat character-in-question!
“Wish We Had It Back”: Yep, we got a case of “buyer’s remorse” for…pickin’ UDUB -8 ½ after noting “ (USC) Trojans starting to resemble team predicted in the offseason….”

“Locked in a Box?”:   Da’ Utes’ romp over Arizona State stops the “lock’ slide and puts us back-in-black at 6-5 (.545).  
Black Shirt: Gets awarded to Western Michigan RB Javion Franklin for the fumble that was returned 47-yards for a Kent State TD just over two-minutes into the 1st Quarter, helping the Golden Flashes cover +20 and commencin’ our Week 11 forecast with a win. Honorable mention to Hoosiers QB Richard Lagow, whose fumble at his own 9-yard line with less-than-half-a-minute to play down by 7 was returned for a Penn State score, allowing the Alma Mater to cover minus-7 ½. Fist-bump to Red Raiders K Clayton Hatfield for missing a late PAT that kept the Cowboys-Texas Tech game, which finished 45-44, “under 90”!

Shoppe Talk: We’re firin’-up da’ purses and shoes as Florida (as noted higher) failed to cooperate again (1-7, .125). We’re stuffin’ Bulldogs this week as UGA shows up at 1-4-1 (.200). Da’ Aggies, mercifully “off” when we published Week 11, tread water at 2-6 (.250). Clemson (3-6, .333) gets a breather after falling to Pitt. Baylor returns, now 1-5 in last 6 appearances (3-6, .333) overall.
Vindy’s Week 12 Best Bets:   Last Week: 1-3 (Oy vey!!!!)  Season: 30-28 (.517)

Iowa @ ILLINOIS “under 45 ½”, Duke +8 over PITT,  SMU +13 over South Florida, CENTRAL FLORIDA +1 ½ over Tulsa, Missouri @ TENNESSEE “under 66 ½”, EAST CAROLINA +7 over Navy

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