Monday, December 25, 2017

Vindy's Picks 2017-18 Bowl Predictions Part II

PRE-SNAP MOTION DUPES ZEBRA, LEADS TO OFFERS 
 
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (REUTERS)…Late in the 1st Quarter of the Las Vegas Bowl, Boise State tight-ends John bates, Matt Pistone and Alec Dhaenens, along with RB Ryan Wulpin, executed a perfectly-choreographed pirouette just-ahead of the snap, misleading the back-judge into initially-penalizing the Broncos for "excessive-celebration". But the subsequent officials-conference led to the flag being picked-up, recognizing that the Broncos had not-yet scored. Elsewhere, replays of the highlight caught the attention of producers for "Dancing With The Stars", "So You Think You Can Dance" and "America's Got Talent", who have been actively-recruiting the quartet for future seasons ever since! 
The extended-absence of our computer prohibited us from offering our thoughts on the earlier bowls, so we're just moving forward.  Under da' tree, next to da' Disney Princesses Attack-Drone, the Kim Jong Un plush doll and the Paw Patrol beer mug and shot-glass set, you'll find...
 
THE WEBER KID'S 2017 BOWL PREDICTIONS PART DEUX: DA' SEQUEL 
(Takin' it to da' ginger-bread house!) 
TUES. DEC. 26 
ZAXBY'S HEART OF DALLAS BOWL (@ Dallas, TX) 
Utah (-6 ½) over West Virginia (56 ½): We changed our initial gut-reaction pick here. Consider yerselves duly-advised. Mounties limp in off two-TD loss to the Longhorns after four-TD defeat at Oklahoma and will be minus Will Grier, who will sit with a hand-injury. On top of that, West-By-Golly-Virginia has failed to win or cover any of the past three years' post-season outings. Not exactly steaming into this one, Utah lost four of final half-dozen, dropped three contests vs. Stanford, at USC and at UDUB by total of 15 points. Sing it with us..."Allllll I want forrrr Christmasssss....isssssssss"....Utes 29 'Eers 17
 
QUICK LANE BOWL (@ Detroit, MI) 
 
Northern Illinois (+5 ½) over Duke: UPSET PICK OF DA' WEEK #1...Huskies 24 Blue Devils 19 
 
CACTUS BOWL (@ Phoenix, AZ) 
Kansas State (-5 ½) over Ucla: Despite individual accomplishments (#13 nationally in passing yards [#2 in the 12-PAC]), "Rosen the Chosen" might as well have been "Rosen Da' Frozen" given significant margins-of-defeat in four of six road-losses and a three-point home-victory over rival Cal just to make it here. Inconsistent Purple Persians covered only 4 of 11 overall this year, but Bruins, who've squandered lotsa' preseason-love from Phil Steele, have gone 3-10-1 ATS in non-conference play the last four campaigns...KSU 34 UCLA 27
 
WED. DEC. 27 
 
WALK-ON'S INDEPENDENCE BOWL (@ Shreveport, LA) 
Southern Miss (+16 ½) vs. Florida State (48 ½): This is nowhere near Tribe expected to be in the preseason. Jimbo has un-assed his office. Can't in all good-conscience lay more-than-two-touchdowns with team that got abandoned (though didn't perform adequately with the coach present). Golden Iggles put last three regular-season tilts in the dubya-column. Game of Thrones meets FSU..."It's what I do...I drink and I 'Nole things."...FSU 27 SoMiss 17 
 
NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL (@ New York, NY) 
Boston College vs. Iowa ("under 46"): Fer the Seinfeld-fans..."And Field Goal-Festivus fer da' rest of us!"...Iowa 16 BC 13 
 
ACADEMY SPORTS + OUTDOORS TEXAS BOWL (@ Houston, TX) 
Texas (+2) over Missouri: Best guess fer "wish we had it back". 'Horns are hamstrung due to suspensions and other players sitting out to protect their assets for the NFL Draft, but Mizzou joined the party late, losing 5 straight (4 badly) then racked up a half-dozen consecutive wins, though none vs. Fellow-bowlers. Three of Steers' defeats came by total of 10 points. UT went 5-1 away from Austin and 3-1 as a 'dog...Cattle 27 Tigers 24
   
FOSTER FARMS BOWL (@ Santa Clara, CA) 
Purdue (+3) over Arizona: Wildcats' Khalil Tate leads the country in rush-ypg fer a QB and geography favors Arizona, but we'll call it...Choo-Choos 41 AZ 38  
    
THURS. DEC. 28 
 
MILITARY BOWL PRESENTED BY NORTHRUP GRUMMAN (@ Annapolis, MD)
 
NAVY (-1 ½) over Virginia: LOCK OF DA' WEEK. Middies line-up in the home harbor and look for redemption after self-destructing late in second-straight loss to Army. Cavs broke even at 6-6 SU in rebuilding year and stagger-in having dropped 6 of final 7. Sailors, who clobbered CUSA-juggernaut FAU to open the season, took 4 of 5 in Annapolis, losing only to AAC Champ and Peach Bowl-bound Central Florida...Armada 27 Wahoos 20 
 
CAMPING WORLD BOWL (@ Orlando, FL) 
 
#17 Oklahoma State vs. #22 Virginia Tech ("over 63"): Cowpokes did not yield a scoreboard-victory on the road in 2017. Tech went 7-3-1 "under" but OKSU put double-digits games "over", winning and beatin' the line 3 times in as many tries versus non-conference squads. Sate registers third-consecutive ten-win year with the triumph. Holies took 4 of 6 away and tossed a trio of shutouts, but...Vaqueros 43 Hokies 41 
 
VALERO ALAMO BOWL (@ San Antonio, TX) 
#15 Stanford vs. #13 Texas Christian ("under 49"): Trees' 15-14 over poor-Oregon State squad haunts us and Cardinal fell short in effort to take conference crown vs. Trojans, but Toads went 9-3 "under" (quite the accomplishment in the Big 12) and line-up across from one of country's best-D clubs. No surprise if SU manages minor upset...Redbirds 21 Froggies 19 

 

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION HOLIDAY BOWL (@ San Diego, CA) 
#16 Michigan State vs. #18 Washington State ("under 47"): Beating USC and Stanford in Pullman, Wazzou has now covered 6 of 8 against Top 25 opponents. Coogs floundered down the stretch including blowout Apple Cup loss to the Sled Dogs. WSU went 6-5 "under" with five games ending-up below 47 and each of last two years' bowls finishing at 34 and 29 total points. Spartans' young club also recorded a 6-5 "under" year (all six below 47). State's lone bowl since 2012 that went over 47 was 2015 42-41 win over prolific Baylor and Coach Dantonio would like his boys to atone for 38-0 no-show demise at the hands of 'Bama...MSU 20 WSU 18 
 
FRI. DEC. 29 
 
BELK BOWL (@ Charlotte, NC) 
Wake Forest (-3) over Texas A&M: Deacs 37 Aggies 24 
 
HYUNDAI SUN BOWL (@ El Paso, TX) 
NC State vs. Arizona State ("over 59 ½"): Wolfpack saw "under" go 8-3 and Pitchforks go 7-5 "below" and there's a plethora of Seniors on both stop-squads, but collectively they posted 9 contests finish "above" this total. Beezelbubs have ended-up well-over the number in each of last three years' bowl-outings...ASU 37 NC State 3
 
FRANKLIN AMERICAN MORTGAGE MUSIC CITY BOWL (@  Nashville, TN) 
Northwestern (-8) over Kentucky: NW 28 Mildcats 10 
 

NOVA HOME LOANS ARIZONA BOWL (@Tuscon, AZ) 
New Mexico State (+4 ½) over Utah State: New Mexico State plays in December fer first time in...almost....five decades!The fact that all three squads entering the 2016 post-season with sub-.500 records won their respective contests gives us hope for the 5-6 NMSU Aggies, who lost by 6 at Arizona State and by 3 in Las Cruces to Troy and show 12-4-1 ATS last four campaigns in one-possession finals! USU's best-win came in 52-28 victory at Sin City... USU 19 NMSU 17 
 
GOODYEAR COTTON BOWL (@ Arlington, TX) 
#8 Southern Cal (+7 ½) over #5 Ohio State: UPSET PICK OF DA' WEEK #2! Ugly-defeat at Iowa left State outside the Final Four. While both squads piled-up outright-victories (22 collectively), both were suspect (10-15 ATS) in any given week. Nine of da' Trojans' contests finished below this total. In contrast, seven OSU tilts ended-up beyond this total. Troy Boys did not fare well ATS away from the Coliseum (2-4), but went 5-0 SU to close-out the regular season. USC has won 2 of last 3 bowl-years outright, but went negative hat-trick 0-3 against the line. However, USC was layin' points in all three and MOV in that trio was 3 or less!  Ohio State maybe motivated by #5 CFP-spot. Trojans' track-record sucks in one-possessions games...0-5 ATS in 2017, 3-15 last four years.  Buckeyes no-showed in 31-zip loss to Clemson in 2016 playoff opportunity. SoCal posted 11-2 ATS record, but gailed to cover last three years' bowls (though took two of three SU) . Does good Yosemite Sam Arnold or...bad Yosemite Sam Arnold show up?! Hopin' fer da' former... USC 27 Ohio State 20 
 
BETWEEN THE HASHMARKS 
 
BTW, the players-in-question also garnered full-scholarships to da' school's synchronized-swimming team! 
If Jacob Marley appeared on the gridiron, would the goal be to "move the ponderous chains"?!
 
We think Jim Carrey, in his role as the Grinch, woulda' been happier to have sat in the Chair-of-Cheerleaders! 
Premiering this week on da' big screen...Rebecca DeMornay stars in a gridiron meets an evil-nanny flick meets a Jewish-holiday toy in..."Da' Hand-off That Rocks the Dreidel"! 
 
Rudolph by AP Rankings & Bass, Vindy's "not just a Fit...Bit"! 
 
On a serious note, Army, while facing Navy, wore all-white unis in honor of the 10th Mountain Division. Yer humble host finished his tour-of-duty at Ft. Drum, New York, spending about a year with Triple Deuce Infantry as part of said-Division. We never sported the duds-in-question, but put in plenty of time "out playing in the yard" in Arctic weather conditions! Brrrrr!!! 
 
Will Ferrell spoke at the 2017 USC graduation. Students were stoked when the famous former-SNL comic-actor appeared at da' podium sportin' a Sudden Cal cheerleader's outfit and quipped, "I *am* a *Trojan*...so *check* me *out*!" 
 
Vindy's early-college stompin'-grounds, Delaware State, played a part in Florida State's post-season presence. A blogger determined only 87 of da' required 90% of student-athletes were on scholarship during Tribe's 77-6 romp in September. DSU Hornets provided verification that student-athletes got aid-of-acceptable-kind to allow the 'Noles'-I-AA victory to be applied to the SU-record fer bowl-eligibility. And "no", Vindy's time pre-empting Adam Sandler's "Waterboy"-role on the Tallahassee-sideline had no impact. 
 
Dr. Seuss meets Da' Nawlins Saints in..."Who Dat' Grinch Who Dat' Stole Dat Christmas"? 
 
Black Shirt: Goes to Navy K Bennett Moehring for going wide-left on 48-yard FG-try with seconds remaining to preserve our call of Army outright! 
 
Vindy's Bowl Predictions Part II Best Bets: Last Week: 0-0 Season: 25-26-1 (.490) 
Virginia-NAVY "under 55", Arizona State +6 ½ over NC State, Ohio State-Sudden Cal "under 64 ½"
  
Until next week, we offer our traditional holiday-wish..."Pass on Earth, goodwill toward linemen." 
 

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