PROGNOSTICATOR
CAUGHT-UP IN WAKE FOREST FRAY
WINSTON-SALEM,
North Carolina (CNN)…Even as the Atlantic Coast Conference
levies fines on Louisville and Virginia Tech for passing-along game-plans
leaked by ex-Demon Deacons assistant coach Tommy Elrod, the Vegas Vindicator
made the trip East to come forward, saying he, too, got some Wake Forest X’s and O’s on the down-low. The fab
forecaster defined the clandestine-communications as “interesting-reading”, but
will dodge NCAA sanctions because he did not
field a team against the Deacons in 2014. In fact, Vindicator pressed
counter-charges vs. the former-aide because Sin City bookies revealed they received picks and strategies ahead
of Vindicator’s weekly picks, resulting in a collective 9-20 tally through Weeks
One and Two of 2014, ultimately-leading Vindy to abruptly-terminate his
campaign for the remainder of that year.
We opened Part I with just two correct choices through the first half-dozen bowls, generating
a “here we go again” mentality, but we went 5-0-1 the rest of the way to finish
at a good 7-4-1 (125-128-6, 494), including our “lock” and “upset” picks
(though the “minor-upset pick” did not
materialize). Nicely-wrapped with ribbon and a bow, right next to the basket of
Hatchimals, Ken Bone red-cardigan sweater (with white tie and black-rimmed glasses accessories!),
flammable Galaxy S-7 phone and tandem
You Can Be Anything Barbie and
Love2Learn Elmo Attack-Drones… while pickin’
“in fog as thick as peanut-butter” …and makin’ its way through the sportsbook in
the “Chair of Cheerleaders”, it’s…
THE
WEBER KID’S 2016-17 BOWL PREDICTIONS: DA’ SEQUEL
(“It
came without ribbons…it came without tags…it came without ‘packages’, box-scores or flags!”)
DEC.
26
ST.
PETERSBURG BOWL (@ St. Petersburg, FL)
Mississippi
State vs. Miami-Ohio (“under 57 ½”): Bulldogs 31 Redhawks 16
QUICK
LANE BOWL (@ Detroit, MI)
Maryland
vs. Boston College (“Under 44”): LOCK OF DA’ “WEEK”. We
expect an ugly grinder between two
teams that offer pretty-good defense against mediocre opponents and little in
the way of scoring in-general (though Turtles hung fitty on Purdue and recorded 36 at nominal-D Indy). Over/under on drives
ending in FG-attempts is seven. First team to 15 wins…Terps 16 BC 13
CAMPING
WORLD INDEPENDENCE BOWL (@ Shreveport, LA)
Vanderbilt
(+5 ½) over NC State: Wolfpack 23 Admirals 21
DEC.
27
ZAXBY’S
HEART OF DALLAS BOWL (@ Dallas, TX)
Army
(-10) over North Texas: A rare bowl-rematch of a contest
that happened during the regular-season.
Congrats to Army for breaking Navy’s death-grip on that annual clash,
though had Middies been able to put a couple of injured-starters on the field,
it’s likely Annapolis woulda’ prevailed again for the 15th time in a
row. Nonetheless, the Platoon will be
brimming with confidence for this one as the result. Assuming better
ball-security, West Point could get its 8th victory and best SU win
total since 10-2 season in 1996. UNT, completing the hat-trick of clubs with
sub-.500 win-loss records (Hawaii was the first at 6-7) to bowl this year,
makes first postseason since belting UNLV at this same venue in 2013. BTW,
penalties against the Soldiers for also receiving Deacon-plays in advance are
TBA. Doin’ push-ups ‘til da’ bookies get tired, but gettin’ revenge
for late-October 35-18 demise at Denton…
Black Knights 31 Mean Green 13
MILITARY
BOWL PRESENTED BY NORTHRUP GRUMMAN (@ Annapolis, MD)
Temple
vs. Wake Forest (“under 41”): Deacons make first bowl
since 2011, but youth on offense is painfully-obvious, in particular during 1-5
SU skid to end the year, scoring 14 or less in 5 of ‘em. Owls more-veteran D
allowed cumulative 33 points over final five contests (all “under”, though
three were “over” this minimal total)… Barnyard Fowl 27 Wake 7
NATIONAL
FUNDING HOLIDAY BOWL (@ San Diego, CA)
Minnesota
(+10) over Washington State: Coogs 23 Gophers 17
MOTEL
6 CACTUS BOWL (@ Phoenix, AZ)
Boise
State (-8) over Baylor: By our numbers, this duo posted a joint,
wallet-wilting 6-16-1 record vs. the
point-spread. Broncos have the better defense, and while no
longer an unknown-threat, Broncos should hem-in Bears, whose most-recent
victory came on October 15 vs…Kansas,
long-enough. Improved-times await first-year coach Jim Croce…(sing it with
us…”If Iiiiiii could save tiiiiiiiime-outs…in
a bot-tlllle…the First Down that I’d like to doooo…”)..er…um…Grobe…next season. For now, it’s “Motel 6…we’ll leave da’ light-beer on for ya!”…BSU 34 Ursines 20
DEC.
28
NEW
ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL (@ Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY)
Northwestern
(+5 ½) over #22 Pittsburgh: Full
disclosure? Ahead of line-publication, we were gonna’ back whichever club was gettin’ points here. First ranked-team takes the stage on the bowl-season. Part of us applauds the renewal of the
Pitt-Penn State rivalry series, while the other nine-tenths hopes the Wildcats mop
da’ gridiron with da’ Panthers, who basically cost da’ Alma Mater a
CFP-berth with three-point win at Heinz Field in early September. Wildcats lost
by 4 at Columbus, while Pitt owns Clemson’s lone demise in 43-42 win. NW
yielded more than 24 points just twice and held powerful Western Michigan to
22. Won’t shocked by the upset, but we’ll call it…Pittsburgh 23 Northwestern 20
RUSSELL
ATHLETIC BOWL (@ Orlando, FL)
Miami
(-2 ½) over #14 West Virginia: Tough call given the
pairing of squads that are combined 1-4 straight-up and 0-fer-five against the
spread in their collective past ten bowls. Mounties’ only losses came to
Oklahoma and at Oklahoma State. Scoring D was better-than-sufficient minus
those two matches and 35-32 win over defense--minded BYU. “Mo” seems to
minimally-favor da’ Canes, who won four consecutive conference games coming in
over Morganbillies, who took four of final five Big Twelve games, but that
record included a pasting of Kansas and narrow-victories over fading-clubs
Texas and Baylor. Da’ U posted decisive-wins against fellow-bowlers Pitt and NC
State. Pelicans QB Brad Kaaya was 5th-best QB in the ACC and showed
worthy 23-7 TD-pass-to-INT ratio… Coral Gables 27 West-by not-da’ Godfather 21
FOSTER
FARMS BOWL (@ Santa Clara, CA)
Indiana
vs. Utah (“under 54”): Hoosiers held Michigan to 20 points
at Ann Arbor as one of seven games that finished below this total and just
missed “under” this at Columbus,
losing 38-17. Fer those of ya
old-enough to remember the commercials-in-question (and the oil-can-like
containers) “Fawster’s…Australian fer
beer!”…Utah 24 Indy 23
ADVOCARE
V100 TEXAS BOWL
Kansas
State (+3) over Texas A&M: MINOR UPSET PICK OF DA’ “WEEK” #1. Part
II best guess for “wish we had it back”, but in OT, we like…Purple Persians 30
Aggies 27
DEC.
29
BIRMINGHAM
BOWL (@ Birmingham, AL)
South
Carolina (+10 ½) over South Florida: Seriously-considered an
“upset pick of da’ week” here as Gamecocks went 6-6 vs. a much-toucher
schedule. USF’s coach has left da’ building (once more) for da’ five-point,
greener pastures of Oregon. Sing it with us…”On da’ road again. It’s me, Willie
Taggart, and I’m on da’ road again…”…Bulls
26 Poultry 21
BELK
BOWL (@Charlotte, NC)
Arkansas
(+7) over #18 Virginia Tech: UPSET PICK OF DA’ “WEEK”. Bacon
Strips 29 Hokies 27
VALERO
ALAMO BOWL (@ San Antonio, TX)
#13
Oklahoma State (+3) over #11 Colorado: MINOR UPSET PICK OF DA’ “WEEK” #2. Potentially
the best of the pre-New Year’s Eve games. Previously, we made reference to
1980’s Colorado team, which was, of course, part of the Big Eight rather than da’ Big
12, which came-about in the mid-Nineties. Our bad. Cowpokes could post third 10-win season in four campaigns,
while Bison get first bowl-appearance since 2007 and first opportunity to win a bowl since 2004. Buffs, who were
chosen by respected-tout Phil Steele,
to finish in a last-place tie with Arizona in the 12-PACK South (though nearly
made his “most-improved” list) won ten games outright, covering nine (though 3 ATS defeats came over
final five contests). Might come down to turnover-margin. Both sides throw
fairly-well, but OKSU QB Mason Rudolph shows the edge at 25 touchdown passes
vs. 4 INTs over collective CU 21-10 ratio, with starter Sefo Liufau garnering
11 scoring-throws and 6 picks.. Cowboys won three of five SU in the underdog-role
(two vs. Top-25 opponents in Stillwater). Kicking-game definitely favors OKSU,
with Bison nailing FGs at about 68% and having missed three-PATs. Steele
suggested Colorado was a year-away
from bowl-contention. We’ll tweak that
slightly and say CU was a season-removed
from a post-season triumph…Stillwater
31 Buffaloes 28
BETWEEN
THE HASHMARKS
BTW, the former Wake Forest aide-in-question denied
responsibility for the leak, blaming Russian hackers, Chinese hackers and
Hillary Clinton’s personal e-mail account instead.
Continuing to take a few creative-liberties with one
of our favorite Christmas TV shows/movies…”He parlayed and parlayed ‘til his forecast was sore. Then Da’ Grinch
thought of something he hadn’t
before. Maybe Christmas, he thought,
doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means running-up da’ score.”. “Then what happened next…down in Whoville,
they say…was the Grinch’s hard-count
drew three off-sides that day!”
A Canadian vendor in Anchorage, Alaska sells boots
with button-activated, retractable spikes in the heels. Several NFL teams have
contacted the salesman to inquire about applying the technology to pads and helmets!
On the big screen this
weekend, Macaulay Culkin resurrects his role in…”Home-Game Alone”!
Pulling da’ string on da’
classic “See ‘N Say” toy (raise yer hand if ya had one of these back in the day!), we hear…”The referee says…’Upon further review, the
call on the field tree-stands.’”
President-elect Trump,
this week, appointed Florida Panthers team-owner Vincent Viola as Secretary of
the Army. The former West-Pointer said his first priority would be to equip
players and soldiers alike with camouflage hockey-sticks that included
night-optical devices, grenade-launchers and selector-switches for single-shot
or full rock-n-roll!
All Vindy
wants fer Christmas is a highly-coveted spot on Carpool Karoake to sing Muskrat
Love, Disco Duck, MMM-Bop and Dust In
Da’ Vin!!
Bizarre random thought…if cheap pasta meets Olympic
grappling…is it “Greco-Ramen
wrestling”?!
“Locked
in a Box?”: Arkansas
State (+5 ½) came through nicely, toppling UCF, lifting da’ lock tally to 8-7
(.533)
Black
Shirt: A seasonal “ugly sweater” version goes to Wyoming WR
Tanner Gentry for a pair of late 4th-Quarter TD-catches that let the
Cowboys (+8 ½) cover vs. BYU.
Shoppe
Talk: The Houston Cougars get a holiday-berth for tagging
us with fourth straight forecast loss (0-4, .000)
Vindy’s
Bowl Predictions Part II Best Bets: Last
Week: 2-2 Season: 39-41 (.488)
Northwestern-Pitt “under 65 ½”, Indiana +7 over
Utah, South Carolina-South Florida “under 61 ½”.
To all our loyal readers, we offer the annual
Yuletide greeting…”Pass on Earth.
Goodwill toward linemen.” And “have
yerself a Vindy little Christmas.”
We’ll back around December 29 with Part III of da’ bowl picks.
No comments:
Post a Comment