FORMER PREZ-HOPEFUL, COUNTRY STAR “MEET”, SORT OF
DETROIT, Michigan (CNN)...At a concert in February, Garth Brooks sported a jersey bearing the name “Sanders” on the back, spurring a mistaken-belief that the country-singer was giving a nod to then-Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Turns out the garment-in-question reflected Brooks’ fandom of former Detroit Lions running-back Barry Sanders. Brooks, arriving in the Motor City earlier this week, ahead of the home-team's game vs. the Indianapolis Colts, was contacted by staffers for the political-figure, who reached-out to arrange a “meeting” by Zoom. Undeterred by the global pandemic, the pair of “strange-bedfellows” would perform an impromptu virtual-duet of “I got friends in vot-ing-places...where da’ de-bates drowwwwnnn and da’ beeeerrr chases...my bluuuuue-states a-way...”.
Our third 2-3 ending in a row, missing badly on the entire trio of losses, keeps us on the wrong-side of .500. (16-18, .470). In May 2018, President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum products from China and Canada. Both countries, well-after-the-fact, recently counter-punched by enacting similar charges upon U.S. exports of...
THE WEBER KID’S 2020 WEEK 9 FORECAST
(Still hosting bigger crowds than Trump’s inauguration!)
SAT. OCT. 31
#3 Ohio State @ #18 PENN STATE (“under 64 ½): Whether the final call on Hoosiers two-point conversion was correct or not is irrelevant. Lions shot themselves in the foot and let Indy stay in it far too long. Special teams, as a whole, were a complete disaster. Buckeyes won by a single-point in 2017 and 2018 prior to 11-point triumph last season. Final scores of 27-26 and 28-17 the past two years would portend a final tally below this total. Nitwits have much work to do after coming up empty in three possessions inside Indy’s 20-yard-line. Lions have lost yet-another RB to injury. Hoping for the upset, but not convinced QB Clifford can carry the squad that far, we’ll be content with...OSU 30 Alma Mater 27
#6 OKLAHOMA STATE (-3 ½) over Texas: Cowpokes have seemingly fixed the issues on the stop-side that were collectively a bugaboo for years, allowing just 12 ppg over four games (3-0-1 “under” across than span). ‘Horns finally fielded their own D last week, limiting Baylor to 16 on the scoreboard, but still show 4-1 “over”, having played five OT-periods to-date. Steers finally took a game in this series in 2019 after Cowboys beat them the previous two years. UT has been solid 9-3 getting points on the road. Texas’ middle-of-the-pack rush-defense faces third-best rusher in the Big 12, in the person of Chuba Hubbard, who should get the conference’s top-wideout Tylan Wallace, free against conference’s 8th-ranked pass-D (253 ypg-allowed...and not because Cattle jump out to big leads and force opponents to throw!)...State 34 Burnt Orange 17
Arkansas (+11 ½) over #8 TEXAS A&M: Aggies have taken three of four contests in 2020, beating Vandy, Florida and Mississippi State [away]. Razorbacks split its first four, sweeping both clubs in the Magnolia State (already doubling the number of SEC wins it had over the previous three years) and covering road-tilts, upsetting then-Top 25 Mississippi State and losing by just two against-then-ranked Auburn (who still got some votes in this week’s AP Poll). Marc Lawrence’s Playbook.Com recommended backing Arkansas in this one. As poorly as the Pork Loin has performed the past three years, A&M has bested the Bacon Strips by just 7 or less or fewer in each of those chances ...TAMU 30 Arkansas 26
#15 North Carolina (-6 ½) over VIRGINIA: Curious line, which has also moved in favor of the Cavs. Best we can surmise is that the spread reflects Tarheels’ less-than-stellar play in both games away from Chapel Hill...a 26-22 victory at Boston College and a 3-point defeat in Tallahassee to floundering Seminoles, both of which are in stark-contrast to nice wins at Kenana Memorial. Virginia has also walked off with triumphs of 6, 10 and 7 the past three seasons in this series. Wahoos are off tough 19-14 loss in Coral Gables. Only a trek to Duke awaits UNC, so can’t see it as a peek-forward spot. ‘Heels top the ACC in ypg at 531.2 and are second-best behind Clemson in points-scored per tilt...Pleistocene Pachyderms 35 Virginia 23
AIR FORCE (+14) over #25 Boise State: Broncos are fresh off blasting USU in its only contest so far and Flyboys bring back even less experience than the Aggies. Air Force, which surprisingly fell at San Josie a couple weeks after smoking Navy, lost at Boise by 11 last season and by 10 here in 2018. Tater-Heads have won 25 of last 28 MWC games, but show just 17-10-1 ATS. Pilots have defended the home-hangar fairly-well the past three seasons, going 14-5 outright (11-5 vs. I-A competition). Army has already locked-in a berth in the Independence Bowl and Troy Aikman recently dissed military-fly-overs! Wonder if that’ll spark some healthy-competition by the Pilots here, having readily-dispatched the Middies...BSU 30 Flight Platoon 24
BETWEEN THE HASHMARKS
BTW, is it just us or does anyone else out there think it would be poetic if Ford Field featured stands full of test-crash dummies during the Lions friendly-venue contests???!!!
If Spiderman meets top-level Division-I football, do we hear...”With great Power Five comes great responsibility.”
Given 2020 thus far, MAGA actually equates to...“Make...Air Force, Akron, Appalachian State, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Army and Auburn...Gridiron Again!”
In July, supporters at a Trump event chanted “Send’er back!”. We’re still not sure what part of the gridiron is occupied by the send’er back!
Notable rends among teams playing a minimum of six FBS opponents...BYU 6-0 SU/5-1 ATS, Duke 1-5 SU, Joja’ Tech, Navy and Tulane all 5-1 “over”; Texas State 1-6 SU and 5-2 “under” and Weeziana Skid-Row 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS/5-1 “under”.
With rumors/suggestions already in the air that the NY Jets, arguably the worst team in the NFL, will be intentionally-tanking the rest of the season to secure the first-pick of the 2021 Draft, is the battle-cry “Error for Trevor”???!!! Ummm...”Abhorrence for Lawrence”???!!!
With Stephen King-classic “The Shining” getting its fair-share of telly-time ahead of Halloween, it dawned us that the Washington Football team could adopt “RedRum” as its next nickname! The team mascot could be a set of young twin-girls standing at the end of a hotel hallway!
We’re blaming last week’s poor-performance on distractions caused by Vindy’s unscheduled-appearance on “The Face-Masked Singer”!
Given contentious encounters previously, which included some rather-childish exchanges, Vindicator’s mic was muted by the moderator while the sports-ticket writer offered uninterrupted disparaging opinions of our fab forecaster’s weekly wagers!
Hooray Fer Da’ Little Guy: The Gamecocks of Jacksonville State knocked-off Florida International, notching the I-AA division’s initial victory against a I-A squad in 2020!
Black Shirt: The coveted-clothing goes to Indiana coach Tom Allen, who decided to go fer two in extras vs. da' Nittany Lions rather than kicking the tying PAT that woulda’ sent the game into a second-OT, which potentially woulda’ permitted Penn State a chance to win and cover. Honorable Mention to Roadrunners’ safety Antonio Parks for picking-off Weeziana Tech QB Aaron Allen with a buck-forty-seven left, allowing Beep, Beep! to run-out the clock and preserve a 27-26 victory, converting one of our only two correct “Best Bet” selections!
Shoppe Talk: Tiger-skin rugs will adorn the Shoppe walls and plastic-ponies will provide merry-go-round rides for younger visitors as Clemson and SMU both show 0-3 (.000) forecast-records entering this week!
Vindy’s Week 9 Best Bets: Last Week: 2-2 Season: 20-6 (.769)
Texas-San Antonio +6 ½ over FLORIDA ATLANTIC, San Jose State –9 over NEW MEXICO, Rice @ SOUTHERN MISS “over 58”, Texas Christian –3 over BAYLOR
Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to go carve our Jack O’-Lineman!
