Vindy's Picks Week 7-2012

TEAM QUITS SEASON, WORKS AT NEW MALL

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (AP)…The “D” in Big D now stands for Dillard’s. The combined grand-opening of a Victoria Secret “PINK” store onsite and a mistake-filled effort in a loss to Da’ Bears, dropping Da’ Boys to .500 in what appeared to be headed for another lackluster season, led the local NFL squad to forfeit the remainder of the year and prompted Jerry Jones to cut his losses by turning over Cowboys Stadium to new investors, with many players taking-up employment in what had previously-been their “house”. On his first day of the new job, true-to-form, Tony Romo while slinging the featured product at Cinnabon, overthrew the intended-customers several times, once even far enough that the tasty-pastry landed square in the hands of a rival Orange Julius employee, who sped past the entire food court and returned the bun all the way to the parking lot, much to the delight of on-looking patrons! The new Board of Directors, sensitive to the city’s rich-but-colorful NFL history, will vote this week on changing the name of the venue to either “The Mall of America’s Team” or the “Leon Out-Lett Mall”.

Off the decent 11-7 record for Week Six (52-52, .500), Vindy tried to garner the favor of former Cowboys offensive linemen now working at The Gap, which is also what the bookies will try to shoot in an effort to put pressure on…

THE WEBER KID’S 2012 WEEK 7 FORECAST
(Free with every purchase of a Corndog-on-a-Stick)

SAT. OCT. 6
#1 Alabama (-21 ½) over MISSOURI: Tide rested last week, while Tigers got waylaid by Vandy…’Bama 42 Mizzou 17

#2 Oregon: IDLE (next @ Arizona State 10/18)

#3 South Carolina (+2 ½) over #9 LSU: What do the Chicken Wings gotta’ do to get some love???!!!! We suspect the line here has something to do with the fact that the Bengals have been defeated in Baton Rouge just once in last three-plus seasons. Tigers, however, will face a defense even better than what they saw in the Swamp last week and the Poultry have a few extra weapons on offense. LSU had covered 9 straight vs. the Top 25 until BCS title game loss to ‘Bama, then missed vs. Florida as well this year. “Under” is probably the preferred wager, but…Carolina 20 Bengals 13

VANDERBILT (+8) over #4 Florida: Gators worked the run (behind Gillislee’s 126 yards) and the usual stellar D well-enough to stay close and eventually pass by LSU. Vandy comes in off nice upset of SEC-newcomer Missouri for first FBS win on the year. Crocs have beaten the line four straight times, but have visit by the Gamecocks on-deck. ‘Dores have covered 7 straight home games, have 6 losses in last 10 defeats by a touchdown or less and continue their ascent under Coach Franklin. They did, however, get belted 48-3 at Georgia…Florida 16 Vandy 10

#5 West Virginia (-4 ½) over TEXAS TECH: And now, a few words about the Red Raiders nationally-ranked stop squad…AA NW State, Division I-A rookie Texas State, rising-but-still-work-to-do New Mexico and (we’ll give ‘em this one) Iowa State. Tech’s D was abused by Sooners offense that ain’t nearly as potent as Mountaineers’ version. Mounties defense is MAC- or WAC-worthy and doesn’t send offensive coordinators out lookin’ for Ambien or Lunesta, and three turnovers didn’t help Raiders’ cause vs. Oklahoma, but Texas got within 3 on a touchdown only as the clock ticked down to 15 seconds left to play…’Eers 48 TTU 38

#6 Kansas State (-6 ½) over IOWA STATE: Dust Devils have been loitering just outside the Top 25 for a few weeks now. We liked ISU last week, with some reservations, and we thank TCU QB Casey Pachall for the DWI-related benching that made us feel even better about the pick. After toying with Kansas early, KSU continued its dominance over its rival. Cyclones pulled the upset over the depleted-Toads. The Purple Persians will have the full-compliment of backfield starters and QB Klein can augment RB Jon Hubert’s rushing game with his own legs. ISU has covered six in a row vs. ranked opponents, but…KSU 35 ISU 24

#7 NOTRE DAME (-8) over #17 Stanford: Irish 20 Cardinal 10

INDIANA (+17) over #8 Ohio State: Buckeyes 28 Indy 17

#10 Oregon State @ BYU: OFF

WASHINGTON (+11 ½) over #11 Southern Cal: Trojans, who’ve cover the line once in five tries, beat Cal by 9 and Utah by 10. Lost to Stanford. UDUB upset the Cardinal for its only spread win. Given the defection of former PSU RB Silas Redd to LA, Troy’s 0-fer-5 forecast record and the looming presence of Halloween, we by-pass the full analysis, curl our index-fingers and simply quote “Danny” in “The Shining” … ”Redd-rum! Redd-rum!” Don’t be shocked by another upset in Seattle, but…USC 27 Sled Dogs 23

Boston College (+28) over #12 FLORIDA STATE: And there ya have it, Sportsfans! NC State was the annual loss-that-shouldn’t-have-been by the Tallahassee Tribe, which again hampers the national title run. Could end up FSU 31-0. We see something closer to…’Noles 24 BC 13

#15 Texas (+3) over #13 Oklahoma (@ Dallas): Texas 22 OK 20

#14 Georgia: IDLE (next vs. Kentucky)

#16 Clemson: IDLE (next vs. Virginia Tech)

#18 Louisville (-3) over PITT: LOCK OF DA’ WEEK. Okay, we’ll bring up the topic again. Panthers commenced 2012 with its 4th coach in 13 months. Judges on The Voice and Idol don’t swap out that quickly!!!! Lack of stability equals lack of production. We thought Pitt was righting the ship, posting a pair of wins prior to last week’s tough 1-point loss at Syracuse. Gotta’ stay with Louisville with short line, despite consecutive spread-losses and 3rd away tilt in as many weeks…Cardinals 24 Pitt 9

#19 MISSISSIPPI STATE (-3) over Tennessee: Line initially looks reasonable since State had difficulty putting away Kentucky (in which State didn’t score vs. Wildcats’ paper-thin D after three minutes into the second half) and the effort provided by the Vols in one-score loss at Joja’ and previously-mentioned three-quarters vs. Florida, but Rocky Top’s only significant victory came vs. NC State (which now warrants a few extra points this week following Wolfpack’s second upset of Florida State in three seasons). All four of Tennessee’s I-A games have gone “over” the total (with UT scoring north of 39 ppg), while State’s last three have gone “under”… MSU 23 ‘Tears 14

Syracuse (+7) over #20 RUTGERS: Knights 17 ‘Cuse 13

Fordham @ #21 CINCINNATI: No line.

#23 LOUISIANA TECH (+8) over #22 Texas A&M: UPSET PICK OF DA’ WEEK #1. This is the reschedule of the season-opening weather-postponed match-up. The WAC’s Bulldoggies, already 5-2 ATS vs. Big Six conference teams, includin’ SU wins this year over Virginia and Illinois, are being mentioned in more-than-whispers as BCS-busters. A victory by LT here leaves it with just Utah State (at home) as the major obstacle to an undefeated season. While A&M was edging Ole Missed by 3 last week, Tech took advantage of UNLV miscues to separate late and win by four scores. Win or lose, Weeziana Tech has our respect…LT 38 A&M 34

Fresno State (+7 ½) over #24 BOISE STATE: UPSET PICK OF DA’ WEEK #2. Big game in the Mountain Jest. Broncos rejoin the rankings after a one-week hiatus following three-point win at improving-New Mexico. Fresno, behind QB Derek Carr, has covered five straight and shows 4-2 SU, with tough 27-26 loss at C-USA contender Tulsa. ‘Dogs, up 28-0, yielded Colorado State’s meaningless score with 28 seconds left. Broncos got five turnovers to belt poor SoMiss team 40-16 and are a surprising 1-5 ATS in last 6 on the blue turf, where BSU has just one outright loss in over six seasons. Bulldogs, who suffered minus-double-digit turnover ratios the previous four years, are currently +10…FSU West 21 BSU 19

#25 MICHIGAN (-23 ½) over Illinois: Michigan 38 Illini 10

BETWEEN THE HASHMARKS

BTW, on a positive note, the former Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, starting the day after Thanksgiving, will allow mall-goers to sit in their laps and whisper into their ears what they want for Christmas while having photos taken! Oh my!

After reviewing videotape, the Big Ten Conference determined MSU-OSU incident was not really “eye-gouging”. Officials did confirm our Week 6 thoughts that the players’ actions were merely honoring the Three Stooges, citing indisputable audio-evidence in which both athletes were heard uttering “Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!” at the bottom of the pile!

During the Penn State-Northwestern broadcast, we learned Bill O’Brien calls the alma mater’s version of the hurry-up offense…”NASCAR”. Great. Increases the tempo of play, but lowers the cumulative IQ of the players by 10 points! Can’t wait to hear QB Matt McGloin bark signals like..”Two…fitty-seven! Two…fitty-seven! Git-R-Done!” More thoughts on this one next week.

Shortly after Mitt Romney, in a nationally-televised presidential-debate, declared he loves Big Bird, but would cut funding to PBS, players and backers of the Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes, Big Twelve’s Kansas Jayhawks and Big East’s Louisville Cardinals pledged their votes to incumbent Barack Obama!

Prior to the first BCS poll even coming out, we’re just thinkin’ out loud…raise yer hand if ya’d like to see potential-buster LA Tech face West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl (Are ya listenin’, Vegas?! Just try to set the over-under below 90…just try!). Reach fer the stars also if ya like the Ohio Bobblecats toe-to-toe with the ‘Bama-South Carolina SEC Title game loser in the Orange!

On HBO…Nucky Thompson calls pitches behind the plate on Atlantic City’s wooden walkways amidst casinos and amusement rides during the Prohibition era. Players arguing balls and strikes not only get tossed, they get whacked …in…”Boardwalk Umpire”!

Black Shirt: The obsidian tee goes to….much-maligned Nifty Lions kicker Sam Ficken for a short FG and a critical 4th Quarter extra-point that forced Northwestern to go for a touchdown rather than a tying FG late and ultimately led to Penn State’s comeback win and cover! In addition, we note the young man’s kickoff that split the uprights from…75 yards!!!! Honorable mention and half-a-tee to Coach O’Brien fer several successful gutsy calls on 4th Down throughout the game and to Scarlet Knights DB Wayne Warren for a final-stanza INT-for-TD that allowed Rutgers to beat the spread!

“Locked in a Box?”: For those who remember our “cable” ad back in Week One…hide the cocktail servers ‘cause we’re about to begin “throwin’ darts blindfolded in the sportsbook” as the upset of Florida State lowers the lock tally to 0-6 (.000)!!!!

Shoppe Talk: The Trojan Whores of USC have now fanned on our predictions five straight times, surpassing even the hated Mountaineers, who now stand-in at 0-4 (.000) on the year and 3-12 over the last 15 (.200)! If yer wonderin’ about teams that have been Weber-friendly, the Gators show 4-1 (.800) in five tries and the Joja’ Dawgs come in at 4-2 (.667)

Vindy’s Week 7 Best Bets: Last Week: 3-2 Season: 14-14 (.500)
Western Kentucky -2 ½ over TROY, NORTHWESTERN -3 over Minnesota, Idaho +2 ½ over TEXAS STATE, CENTRAL FLORIDA -16 ½ over SOUTHERN MISS, UL-MONROE -24 over Florida Atlantic