HIDDEN
PERK IN AIRPORT SCANNERS BENEFITS SCOUTS
LAS
VEGAS, Nevada (AP)…Once the stuff of sci-fi books, films
and TV, iris scans are now operational in nearly a dozen airports across the
nation. But not only do they verify the identity of the traveler, they detect,
predict and record information about players’ likelihood to succeed or fail,
including Wonderlic scores, graduation possibilities, tendencies toward scoring
or turnovers and potential off-the-field issues. College recruiters are already
saving a bundle on costs of transportation and hosting of athletes by meeting
them at the airport security areas prior to boarding. NFL scouts are planning
to implement similar strategies ahead of April’s draft!
THE
WEBER KID’S 2014-15 BOWL PREDICTIONS (PART III)
(Takin’
more people “for a ride” than Uber!)
JAN.
1
COTTON
BOWL (@ Arlington, TX)#4 Baylor-#7 Michigan State “under” 69 ½: A pairing of Bears’ top-ranked scoring offense (48.8 ppg) and Spartans #7 scoring offense (43.1 ppg) makes this an easy “over”, right?! Wrong-o!!! Mark Dantonio knows a track-meet spells doom for his Spartans, so they’ll have to play keep-away from Bears’ Bryce Petty and company to have any shot to win this. Both defenses played reasonably-well much of the year. State faltered badly only in the 4th Quarter at Oregon (yielding a game-long total of 46) and vs. Ohio State (giving up 49), while da’ Bears were touched for 58 by TCU, 41 at West Virginia and 46 against Texas Tech. Baylor’s last three post-season outings have produced three final scores exceeding this total (125, 75 and 94), but Spartans will play their 8th consecutive bowl, with just one surpassing this number (combining with Texas Tech in 2009 for 72 points). The MSU defensive coordinators will study film of Baylor’s contests vs. the Longhorns and Mountaineers, who both held the Bears’ production to mid-20’s, and da’ Bears OC has moved on to Tulsa, leaving Art Briles’ son calling the plays on offense…Baylor 34 Michigan State 24
CAPITAL
ONE BOWL (@ Orlando, FL)
Minnesota
+4 ½ over #16 Missouri: We wrote-off Mizzou back in late
August and all the Tigers did was win
the SEC East behind inconsistent-but-sufficient sophomore QB Maty Mauk and
reeled off six straight victories before bad loss to ‘Bama in conference title
match. In each of Coach Jerry Kill’s four years, Golden Gerbils have increased
scoring and decreased opponent-scoring (though they regressed 1 ppg this season
that area). Gophers won 8 games in the regular season, including 28-24 at Nebraska
sandwiched between competitive losses to Ohio State and at Wisconsin. Minny is
run-heavy, while Tigers ((12-4 ATS vs. non-conference the past 4 years) show
more balance (though still rank 82nd in passing yards). Neither club
will show much confidence in the FG units (collectively just 27 of 40, 67.5%),
so expect multiple efforts to go for it on 4th Down (combined, the
two teams converted 19 of 23, 82.6%). Mizzou, having won their post-season
outings in 2011 and 2013, go for the hat-trick, but we anticipate a better
effort for Minnesota, trying to stop an 0-6 bowl-game skid dating back to 2005,
and we won’t make it an official
pick, but think the “under” 48 is also worth considering (Tigers finished this
season 3-8-1 “under” the totals). What’s in yer
Wahlburger?!…Mizzou 23 Minnesota 20
ROSE
BOWL (@ Pasadena, CA)
#2
Florida State +8 ½ over #3 Oregon: Inaugural CFP
semi-final #1. In all honesty, we won’t be droppin’ dollars on this one or on the
Sugar Bowl prediction later in this forecast, but with the significance of both
games, we’ll propose our best guess for each one. No question, Oregon possesses
the best offense State will have faced this season and FSU went a wallet-wilting
3-9 against the spread while looking very vulnerable much of the year. But as
long as Houdini, Penn & Teller, Criss Angel and MacGyver are wearin’
chinstraps on the Seminoles sideline, there’s a chance they’ll walk away with
the win. The Chop has put 29 straight games in the victory-column (and 34 of
last 35), Fisher just got a nice shiny new contract extension and Winston’s
wearin’ a Dungeons & Dragons-worthy
cloak of invulnerability vs. legal issues after being cleared in a
code-of-conduct hearing, so State, who’s won six straight bowls (covering 5),
should be focused if Jameis doesn’t escape his 24-hour guard by climbin’ out a
window, shimmyin’ down the lattice-work and commandeerin’ a parade-float for a
joy-ride before pre-game warm-ups. Ducks
avenged their only loss of year by blowing out Arizona to win the PAC-12 and Marcus
Mariota will audition for his already-secured spot on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’
roster…FSU 34 Quack Attack 31
SUGAR
BOWL (@ New Orleans, LA)
#1
Alabama-#5 Ohio State (under 58): Crimson Typhoid has
lost exactly one game to a non-SEC opponent in the last six seasons (to
Oklahoma in last year’s Sugar Bowl; and had won four consecutive bowls by
double-digits until that defeat as well).
Despite Buckeyes going 11-2 to the “over” thus far this season, we note State is down to its 3rd-string
QB…making his second-ever start. OSU has allowed an average of a little more
than 21 ppg, while ‘Bama has given up just over 16 ppg, even accounting for
unusual 44 to Auburn. Buckeyes bring 8th-best rushing offense while
Tide sports 28th-best. Much like above-mentioned Gophers-Tigers
match, neither team here will readily trot out their kickers for FG-attempts
with any regularity and will more-likely punt the ball away and play
field-position. Given State’s last three bowl defeats by 3, 7 and 5 and
factoring the decreased-importance of style-points for ‘Bama, we’ll also take an
unofficial gander at the ‘dog with the points. Meanwhile…“Puttin’ on the Ritz” meets Alabama’s Heisman-candidate
wide receiver…”…tryin’ hard to look like Amari Coooo-ooper!?” and one need not look any further than…Tide 14-13
over Arkansas, 20-13 over LSU and 25-20
over Mississippi State as precedents for… Alabama 27 Ohio State 20
JAN.
2
ALAMO
BOWL (@ San Antonio, TX)
#11
Kansas State (-1) over #14 Ucla: Just a major gut-feelin’ here, and one that’s been
gnawing at us from the git-go. Purple Persians have posted 8 or more spread-wins
in each of the last 4 years and would make it 9 for the first time since 2011
with the win and cover here. State absorbeEve d early 6-point defeat to Auburn
off tougher than expected win at Iowa State in September, and late November
losses at TCU (by..OUCH!...21) and at Baylor (by 11). Back-to-back home-losses
to Utah (by 2) and Oregon (by 12) took the Bruins outta’ CFP discussion in
early October. Bruins did win all
three non-conference games on the 2014 campaign…edging Virginia on the road,
Memphis at home and Texas on a “neutral” field. While not generally among the
nation’s leaders in passing yardage, UCLA QB Brett Hundley shows a nice 21-5
TD-to-Pick ratio. The problem? Sacked 35 times! KSU went “over” this total (59)
in nine games this season. Bruins surpassed this number six times. We’d lean toward an “over” as well…Kansas
State 38 UCLA 33
BETWEEN
THE HASHMARKS
With some of the New Year’s contests still
undecided, we’ll offer more details on our cumulative bowl picks record in our
next post, but we’ll note we suffered the baddest beat of the postseason thus
far backing Western Kentucky -3 ½ over Central Michigan. If ya haven’t seen it/read
about it… the Hilltoppers, up 49-42 late, won 49-48 following a redonkulous Hail
Mary/hook-and-ladder hybrid TD by CMU with the last tick left on the game clock
at its own 25 in the Popeye’s BOHICA Bowl!
Apparently some butter was
originally gonna’ be among the pilfered items by Jameis Winston along with the
seafood during the April shoplifting incident. But the ‘Noles QB said he decided
not to take the butter and put it in
a sales bin rather than return it to the dairy cooler. However, he was not
outside the tackle box and drew a flag for intentional grounding.
In a late June ish of Gaming Today, Rich Saber noted that SEC
teams have defeated Big Tent-Peg opponents outright in 13 of the last 19
contests from 2011-2013. Thus far in 2014 regular-season…Louisiana State edged
Wisconsin 28-24 and Indiana beat MISSOURI 31-27 to make it 14 SEC victories in
21 tries, suggesting statistically, one
more Big Tinnitus member could manage a straight-up triumph in the
remaining four match-ups (Wisconsin-Auburn, Minnesota-Mizzou, Ohio State-‘Bama
and Iowa-Tennessee).
Auburn’s preparing to face
Wisconsin in da’ Outback Bowl…to which we say… “No rules, just wide-right!” BTW, the
50th Anniversary ish of Sports
Illustrated earlier in 2014 featured
the Barbie doll, but red-blooded American males woulda’ been more-drawn to
photos of Outback’s “Shrimp on da’
Barbie”!
Stay tuned! We’ll back before January 12th
with our opinions on the national championship game!
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