Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Vindy's Picks Week 8-2015


EX-BEATLE BANNED FROM HAPPY VALLEY
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania (AP)…On the eve of last Saturday’s Nittany Lions-Buckeyes tilt in Columbus, Sir Paul McCartney entertained alma mater-faithful with an outdoor gig in Happy Valley. McCartney reportedly offered-up a few chants of “We Are!”, but truly-stirred the crowd-in-attendance by reprising such classics as “Marchin’ Band on Da’ Run”, “Da’ Long and Winding Road Game,“Ob-La-Dee-Fence, Ob-La-Daand “Listen to What Da’ Lineman Said”. The band wowed the fans during its encore, altering Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey lyrics to sing, “Hand-offs across the water, hand-offs across da’ sky…”. However, given the disastrous results of the Ohio State-Penn State game, administrators have forbidden the knighted-musician from appearing anywhere on the grounds in the future.

Farther west, like Eleanor Rigby…we picked up the Rice Owls at the church where our forecast had been…showing 10-7 for Week 7 (59-66-3, .472 season). Favorites covered 13 of 17, but the four ‘dogs that covered bit hard, winning three outright. Hopin’ to carry the momentum forward, we belt out a rousing version of “All Ya Need Is…
THE WEBER KID’S 2015 WEEK 8 FORECAST
(After bein’ on da’ practice-field ”Eight Days A Week!”)

THURS. OCT. 22
#20 California (+3 ½) over UCLA: MINOR UPSET PICK OF DA’ WEEK #1. Rising Ursa Majors got a chance to relax and heal after 6-point loss to the Ducks. Host comes in on consecutive SU losses at Stanford and unranked Sun Devils. Berkeley has Jr. QB Jared Goff behind center, while UCLA still has a freshman behind the power-curve. UCLA has yet to beat the spread for a home-tilt to-date and is allowing video-game-worthy 41+ points-per-game. Snoop Dogg-offspring Cordell Broadus threw in the towel on his collegiate gridiron-tenure with da’ Bruins in lieu of a movie career! Great…can’t wait to see the formerly-promising wide-out reprise his daddy’s role as “Huggy Bear” in another remake of  “Starsky & Hutch”!!!...Da’ Bears 34 UCLA 24

#22 Temple (+3) over EAST CAROLINA: Temple, in the midst of an otherwise five-game losing-patch, managed to beat the Pirates 20-10 last year. The Buckos lost by a touchdown at Florida then were clobbered at Navy a week later. Owls have 19 starters back from 2014 and are one of three (count ‘em, three!) AAC teams in the rankings at the moment. Frankly, we like the Barnyard Birds’ 17-point win over the Alma Mater somewhat more than we like ECU’s 7-point victory vs. Virginia Tech…TU 31 Arrrgghhhh 27
FRI. OCT. 23

#18 Memphis @ TULSA (“Under 76 ½”):  Tigers 40 Golden Hurricane 20
SAT. OCT. 24

#1 Ohio State @ RUTGERS: OFF
Iowa State (+37) over #2 BAYLOR: Bears 63 ‘Clones 28

#3 Utah (+3 ½) over USC: LOCK OF DA’ WEEK. MINOR “UPSET” PICK OF DA’ WEEK #2. (Yeah, we know…we just cursed this one to epic-failure!) Troy’s favored? Really? When are da’ Utes gonna’ get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T???!!! Trojans may be drained after holding 7-point advantage through three quarters in South Bend, only to lose by double-digits to the Leprechauns. Utah will be on full-alert for trickeration after USC Coach Clay Helton went all “Les Miles” and busted out a WR-pass for a score against the Irish. The Evil Empire is on 1-3 spread-slide and we expect them to lose straight-up for the fourth time in five attempts. If nothing else, the hook is seriously-attractive in the event it turns out to be decided by a late FG. So much for more scholarships and release from league-restrictions …Utah 21 SoCal 16
#4 TCU: IDLE (next vs. West Virginia 10/24)

Western Kentucky (+17) over #5 LSU: Bengals 48 Hilltoppers 37
#6 Clemson (-6 ½) over MIAMI: We predict this will be the contest that sends ‘Canes’ coach Al Golden to the waiver-wire!....Tigers 28 Pelicans 19

Indiana (+16 ½) over #7 MICHIGAN STATE: Spartans won on much-replayed fumble- return fer TD on last play of da’ game, courtesy of a botched-punt by Michigan. And now back to our regularly-scheduled way-too-close programming … State 34 Indy 29
#8 ALABAMA (-15 ½) over Tennessee: Tide 38 Vols 13

#9 Florida State (-4 ½) over GEORGIA TECH: Best guess for “Wish We Had It Back”. Please excuse us while we wipe the egg off our face after calling “upset alert” for the Florida State-Louisville game (though in Vindy’s defense, Da’ Ville did take a 7-6 lead into the locker room after the first 30 minutes before losing by 20!). Bees are floundering in midst of 0-5 SU/ATS spiral. The option ain’t bad, producing about 25 ppg, but Tech is allowing about 35 ppg. Last two meetings were both in ACC Title matches, resulting in narrow victories by the ‘Noles, including last year’s 37-35 decision that sent State to the CFP. ‘Jackets have to win-out, starting here, to grab a post-season berth…FSU 24 GT 17
Washington @ #10 STANFORD: OFF

#11 Notre Dame: IDLE (next @ Temple)
#12 Iowa: IDLE (next vs. Maryland)

#13 Florida: IDLE (next vs. Georgia)
#14 OKLAHOMA STATE (-34) over Kansas: Changed our original selection here (consider yerselves duly-advised)…OKSU 48 Bluebirds 12

#15 tie Texas A&M (+5 ½) over #24 MISSISSIPPI: UPSET PICK OF DA’ WEEK…A&M 33 Ole Miss 30
#15 tie Michigan: IDLE (next @ Minnesota)

Texas Tech (+14 ½) over #17 OKLAHOMA: The coin likes…Sooners 38 Red Raiders 31
#19 Toledo (-14 ½) over UMASS: Rockets 34 Minute Maid 17

#21 Houston (-22) over CENTRAL FLORIDA: Second-choice for “lock” pick. Golden Knights won 17-12 in last year’s edition and all the teams UCF squeaked by in 2014 are coming back to exact a pound of flesh in 2015.  Gilded Paladins, who were beaten earlier by FCS-squad Furman, did post their initial cover of the campaign last week, losing by 14 to Temple, who just mighta’ peeked ahead to aforementioned ECU tilt. Coogs won’t be concerned with upcoming visit by Vandy…UH 42 UCF 13
#23 Duke (+3) over VIRGINIA TECH: Given the state of the Ramblin’ Wreckage, Duke hasn’t toppled anyone of note and has been away from Raleigh only at Tulane and West Point. Devils have won just once in this series over the last five years, but did get a week off coming in. VT gets original starting QB Brewer back from season-opener injury…Dante’s Azur Inferno 17 Hokies 16

SYRACUSE (+6 ½) over #25 Pittsburgh: Orange went to three overtimes last week in loss to Virginia, while Panthers basically traded touchdowns with Joja’ Tech until getting the winning fitty-six-yard FG late in the game. It’s Homecoming for Da’ ‘Cuse, which lost by 10 at LSU and whose only poor game was 21-point defeat at South Florida. The O is back on track, averaging 32+ ppg after just 17 ppg in 2014. The last two games at the Dome have been decided by 1-point each. Orange hopes to take advantage of only home-game in a five-week stretch. Pitt, who has 4 games decided this year by 7 or less, hosts North Carolina next on a short five-day turnaround…Pitt 21 Syracuse 17
BETWEEN THE HASHMARKS

BTW, Vindicator was onsite for the concert-in-question and implored the band to do “Strawberry Field-Goals Forever” and “Lucy in Da’ Sky with Dive-Plays” before being forcibly-removed from The Green by campus security! In response to the cease-and-desist letter, McCartney et al published a statement, altering song lyrics again, to read…”We’re so sorry….Uncle JoePa. We’re so sorry if we caused you any pain….”. More thoughts on this topic next week!
In preparation for facing da’ Boise State Broncos off the upset, Wyoming has equipped all its tackling dummies with Takata air bags this week!

In the wake of revelations that Volkswagen tried to cheat emissions tests, V-Dub has just been named the official car of the New England Patriots! (And off the State College performance, McCartney and his teammates went to Foxborough to perform “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill Belichick”!)
In April, Belichick seemed to be checking-out Chrissy Teigen, for which he was called-out at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner by John Legend. The photo of Coach’s eyes and sly smile could be interpreted as focused on Teigen’s derriere, but could be…in his mind…he was simply reliving Russell Wilson’s goal-line guffaw in the Super Bowl or some other devious play he’ll bust out vs. some unsuspecting opponent in this year’s regular season. Coach He of Da’ Hoodie’s gaze could’ve easily been the “one-K stare” or maybe he has a beautiful mind a la the late John Nash and saw nothin’ but numbers, X’s and O’s!

At halftime of the Giants-IGGLES Monday Night Football game, the “Star Wars: Da’ Forecast Awakens” trailer debuted, during which we heard Yoda say, “Holding, you were. Play again the down, you will.”
This summer, we noticed a headline in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that simply read, “Star Catchers Recital”. Our first thought?….Baseball players wearin’ da’ “tools of ignorance” and excelling at that position…bustin’ a move! In reality….it was a bunch youngsters dancin’ to various types of music.

The NHL’s governing board gave the nod for OT contests this season to be potentially decided by three-on-three match-ups before eventually going to a shootout, if necessary. What wasn’t announced was that the visiting team’s trio of skaters will be selected at random from its fans attending the game! The league will also permit a coach’s challenge in some limited situations, including questionable goals. But unlike other sports, in which coaches whip-out a red flag, NHL coaches will have to toss an octopus on da’ ice to initiate the review!
“Wish We Had It Back”: We backed Boise State layin’ double-digits on the MWC road despite the little voice in our head yellin’ “USU is the only remaining team that can take down the Broncos for the conference title! Don’t do it! Don’t do it!”

“Locked in a Box?”:  Da’ Lions tanked… badly… at Da’ Shoe, dropping the “lock” tally to 1-6 (.143).     
Black Shirt: Goes to Wolverines punter Blake O’ Neill for mishandling a snap on a punt that sent Michigan State to the predicted upset-win! Honorable mention to Baylor reserve (and Freshman) QB Jarrett Stidham for the nine-yard scoring toss with about 90 seconds to play that would net da’ Bears a cover and cash Vin’s only winning wager on the week and BU receiving-TD school-record-setting Corey Coleman for three pass-catchin’ scores along the way!

Shoppe Talk: The Shoppe wall continues to be adorned with Clemson Tigers (0-5, .000; 3-14 last 17, .176). Baylor gets a pass (1-4, .200) and shoulda’ been our “lock”.  We’re stuffin’ Leprechauns this week as Irish show-up at 2-5 (.285) and da’ Buckeyes are on a short-leash at 2-4-1 (.333)!
Vindy’s Week 8 Best Bets:  Last Week:  1-4 (Bless you, Kent State!)   Season: 16-17 (.485) BOSTON COLLEGE-Louisville “under” 37, Missouri-VANDY “under” 35, Auburn +6 over ARKANSAS, SOUTHERN MISS -16 over Charlotte,  New Mexico +7 ½ over SAN JOSIE STATE

 

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