NCAA Week 9 running thread: Dennis Franklin's Collarbone is fine, thank you

Uh, no. That's not what I was implying. Wisconsin is out of the picture with a loss. Boise is still in the picture as an unbeaten.

I was merely responding to the ridiculous point that Boise was more deserving of a national title spot than Wisconsin if they both finished unbeaten when clearly that would not have been the case based the schedules they would have played.

And that case is the same every year.

Beating one BCS conference team in September is nowhere near as impressive as running the gauntlet unbeaten in the SEC, Big 10, Pac 12 or Big 12.

 

38-24 OU is a pretty fair guess -- probably about what I'd pick without purple glasses on -- but let me make a few arguments for my Wildcats here, and provide some solid quote-worthy material to mock me with Saturday afternoon:

1. You only halfway make this argument, but it's been made elsewhere on this thread, and a lot of other places: spare me the "OU will be angry and motivated" crap. Remember, this was the same Sooners squad that was supposed to pulverize Tech because it was so mad it came out flat against Kansas, only up by 10 at half, and failing to cover in the game. Now they're supposed to be extra-extra mad? Maybe, I guess. Or maybe this is a Sooner team with some real problems.

2. Having watched most of the K-State games this year, I can't help but feel Snyder is playing opossum with his offense, at least a little and maybe a lot. They've run a little QB shotgun option play for about 90 percent of their offensive snaps this year. They haven't passed much, but it's been there when they've looked for it. It hasn't always been pretty, but it hasn't always been ugly, either. Sometimes quite the opposite. Maybe they've kept things so vanilla, so plain because they're a bunch of over-achieving marionettes being guided by a great coach. Or maybe they have a great coach that wants everyone to think that. Of course, even if they can unleash some as of yet unseen offensive capabilities, that's not guarantee they'll hang with, let alone beat, OU. But I have hunch there's more than the stats show.

3. Speaking of what the stats show, Landry Jones isn't "impressing" no matter what his stat line looks like this season, or against Tech. He was god awful in that loss. If he doesn't play better against K-State than he did against Tech, they damn well could lose again.

 

I fear that Bob will be a little pissed, and light up the kitties for 60.

I actuallly hope KState wins, setting up a helluva KState @ Ok. St. game next Saturday.

There's another team that's dipping their toe in the Big Crock O' Shit.

If KState runs the table against OU this week, at OState next week, vs. A&M, at Texas, vs. Iowa State......is that good enough to beat a 1-loss Bama/LSU?

 

Yes, of course. The one-loss Alabama or LSU will have a loss, and won't have significantly better wins than over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and A&M.

 

True, but the wins over the mediocre SEC teams will help them more then wins over the mediocre Big 12 teams.

You lose to a team at home, you should be done. How many national champs have lost a game at home? Florida in 2008. I can't think of another recent example.

 

LSU lost to Arkansas at home in 2007, and to Florida in 2003.

EDIT: Other than those three, no eventual national champion has lost a home game since Oklahoma in 1985 (lost to Miami).

 

So....heading to Vegas tomorrow PM. Anyone see any numbers that really jump out? Especially mid-major / non-AQ conference games? I tend to do relatively well with the MAC, for example.

 

Wiscy giving only 7.5 at Ohio State. Maybe an overreaction?

Michigan should cover the 13.5 against Purdue.

Nebraska giving 5.5 against Michigan State. No idea what to make of that. Wiscy killed Nebraska and MSU beat Wiscy. You won't find me anywhere near this line.

 

Looked at the Sparty & Husker line & thought, "run!" I've got no feel for that one at all. I do like Bucky, though, to curbstomp my Buckeyes. It opened at 9, somebody must be seeing something I don't. Will still play it at 7.5, though...

 

No coincidence that all of the exceptions since 1985 are in the SEC.

 

Nope.

None.

 

I'm no gambler, but here's one that caught my eye, Layman:

• Hawaii 7 over Idaho, in Moscow ... the Vandals are the worst team in the WAC, maybe in Div.-I. They were destroyed at home by Louisiana Tech, and Hawaii has a much better offense than La. Tech. Can't believe the spread is this low.