Friday Football Feast Bonanza (8/22/2008) CHAT TRANSCRIPT

Scoops McCracken: Question: What is the Vegas line that JoePa announces his retirement this season? I think it's less than even money, but I think it depends on how PSU's season goes. If it goes well, he'll step down because he wants to make sure that the program is in the right direction. If it was off, he'd want to make sure it's fixed. So I think it's 4:5 odds he retires this year. I see PSU having a 9-10 win season and possibly getting a BCS bid.
Peoria Pliers: So if they are successful he sticks around another year?
Scoops McCracken: No, I think he's done if they're successful. Sounds kind of backwards, I admit.
Peoria Pliers: See I think I have to come at this from another angle...I don't think (or maybe I just don't want to believe) that he and B. Bowden get along too well, and a guy like Paterno probably does care about his legacy...he wants to go out on top AND stay on top, so I think that his decision is as much attached to the success/failure of Bowden's year as anything. I like your reasoning, though...just the type of tough stance that the loyal Scoops Fans out there have come to know and respect
Scoops McCracken: My fans like me because I have the memory of an elephant when it comes to great games & players, including the not so great player and the average player that made a big play when their moment came. As for what first week matchup provides the sauciest betting line? I haven't checked many of the lines yet. I know that Minnesota is -8.5, last I checked, and they should be able to beat Northern Illinois by at least 10 points. The first week or two of the year is some of the best time to get in bets, especially if you know something that Vegas doesn't. I remember when I cashed in big time in 2005 when Minnesota was a small -14 point favorite on the road at Tulsa......Maroney had them up by 21 after the 1st quarter. One that will be odd is the sauciest matchup of the weekend: Clemson & Alabama at the Georgia Dome. Clemson is better, but Alabama had 10 games last year that were decided by 7 points or less. Plus, Clemson has been known to NOT show up in big games.
Peoria Pliers: Those poor Golden Hurricanes. Fair enough, and despite J.P. Wilson's goofball SEC haircut, he is pretty good. But Clemson is REALLY good
Scoops McCracken: John Parker is a stiff. You heard it here first.
Peoria Pliers: Oh I hope you are right. He cost me some money last year with his hail-mary-esque heave to beat someone, I can't even remember who it was. All I could think about was the fact that a pumpkin-pie haircutted freak beat my line.
Scoops McCracken: It was against Arkansas & the immortal Houston Nutt.....the next week, I lost on both in Vegas: Arkansas lost to Kentucky and Alabama lost to Georgia in OT (this was before Georgia turned into a beast). That was a crazy game....J.P. lead Alabama on a game tying drive with less than a minute left, so I thought I had a chance to win or at least push my bet with a 3 point Bama win. Bama had the ball in OT first and got a FG, so up 3, but then Stafford first play went downtown in OT and ended it. They have to have a wild ride somewhere since it doesn't occur in the lecture halls or classrooms of their fine institutions, so where better than right on the 85,000 capacity stadiums.
Peoria Pliers: The wild ride of gambling with the SEC. Always a cock-tease. How do you remember this stuff? Tell me, who many touchdowns did Archie Griffin score in his sophomore year versus Michigan? And what size shoe did Bo Shembeckler wear that game?
Scoops McCracken: I only remember the games that I saw...I don't remember much of the OSU/Michigan games before 1986. Speaking of the SEC, I was thinking about all the teams I hate or cheer for. Example: I'm not a Florida fan, but I kind of liked them because I HATED Florida State and HATED Tennessee. I liked Wuerfel, I liked their offense, etc. The reason I bring this up is I tried to think of the WORST championship game, and it practically happened in 1998-1999 season when Tennessee & Florida State played for the championship. Talk about having to cheer for syphillis versus herpes. And Wisconsin won the Rose Bowl that year too....talk about a kick to my groin.
Peoria Pliers: I think that there is a term for that, it's like the " Jimmy Johnson Corollary" or something. Agreed, though. I would have rather watched Phil Fulmer and Bobby Bowden engage in a knife fight in the stadium parking lot...to the death...because then one of them wouldn't be around anymore. I bet you always like their Ouside LB wearing the short cutoff jerseys. That always pissed me off
Scoops McCracken: They were fun; they're fun to watch in the 80s classic games, but I'm more a fan of single digit linebackers. One of my football rules: Always fear the single digit LB. You mentioned SMU.....I think SMU should have a banner recognizing the fact that they were put on the death penalty.
Peoria Pliers: Yeah Single Digit linebackers are in a league of their own, right up there with the F-22, the Avian Flu, or a parkinson's patient holding a newborn....all of them are VERY scary. That's not a bad idea for SMU, like celebrating that they are back from the dead. We could make the same banner for Joan Rivers.
Scoops McCracken: Gotta love SMU....they cheated the right way. A bunch of wealthy Texans paying big time bucks for players. I just think they should embrace the death penalty rather than try to run from the fact.
Peoria Pliers: Scoops and Pliers land knows about your innate desire to become the next T. Boone Pickens. All SMU needs is Robert Novak or Tucker Carlson spinning the death penalty into something positive and then they would be set.
Scoops McCracken: Yeah, minus the wind power, but it would be fun to have buildings named after me along with weight rooms, football buildings, and if I want a coach fired, I can do it simply by writing a check.
Peoria Pliers: I think that is still possible at places like Minnetonka and Edina, by the way. Maybe you should start small and work up to the college ranks as your hedge fund grows. OK, back to the college game...What is the Over/Under for Colt Brennan's years of service as an NFL quarterback? Err...maybe not all college, but close.
Scoops McCracken: I only watched him in that Hall of Fame game, and he looked good. He throws goofy, but he's accurate. Always a spot for accurate throwers in the NFL.
Peoria Pliers: Tell that to Chad Pennington.
Scoops McCracken: Yeah, and he was quickly picked up by the Dolphins. Maybe not successful, but he's definitely made a nice living.
Peoria Pliers: I do agree with you, I think he is going to be a difference-maker somewhere, although he will have to do it from the 2nd string for quite a while. He looked GREAT in the game I saw him play. But then again, the NFL preaseason is worth about as much as a side of butched beef in Mumbai. True that. 3rd string NFL quarterbacks and MLB Bullpen catchers...the best lives in the world
Scoops McCracken: I don't see any reason why he can't be around the NFL for a while....perhaps never a star, but he'll get his shot at being a starter sometime. If Brooks Bollinger & Spergeon Wynn started an NFL game, Colt Brennan should.
Peoria Pliers: Spergeon Wynn. Wow. Just stop saying his name please. Where did he come from, anyway? I think I saw him at the Jiffy Lube I went to a few weeks ago.
Scoops McCracken: How many games does Michigan win?
Peoria Pliers: I'd say that they win somewhere betwen 5-7 games...the cupboard isn't exactly bare since Carr could always recruit kids, but the switchover to the spread offense will cost them 2 games, and the loss of the Henne-led class of offensive all-stars will cost them a few more games.
Scoops McCracken: I said 6-6 (3-5 in the Big Ten). Their defense will be ok, but the offense will look ugly at times.
Peoria Pliers: Rich Rodriguez is the only reason they win 6 game this year, he can coach em' up. Yeah I think that's probably a good start. They beat MN, Indiana, and Northwestern. They will have a shot at Purdue if they can get their Defense up to snuff by November. Painter is legit, though, and the game is in West Lafayette, so that will probably be a good battle. Isn't this Tiller's last year, too?
Scoops McCracken: It is....what do you think about Purdue? I wonder if their time has come & gone. They were the in thing about 10 years ago, but they're not the only dog in town concerning offensive football
Peoria Pliers: I think Purdue is in the same boat as many of the boring, rural college towns these days. With the continued exodus to the city of our population, it is a really tough sell to get kids to come to these podunk little towns like Starkville, Pullman, Collegeville (Tx), etc.. And as we know, for the most part, it isn't the X's and the O's, it's the Jimmys and the Joes
Scoops McCracken: I agree with you very much, but then how is Zook getting kids to come to Champaign?
Peoria Pliers: Well that guy was born to recruit, honestly. There will always be noteable exceptions to just about everything, right? The Zooker is a machine when it comes to selling kids...I think he might be a crack dealer or something
Scoops McCracken: He has definitely taken things to a completely different level in the Big Ten. And RichRod will only take it further. I like it; this conference needs some shady tactics to compete with the oil salesmen in the SEC. And I'm glad that Minnesota got into this game....Brewster is the type of guy that's needed to compete. The program that's going to take a dive is Iowa. They used to count on the Chicago kid. Now, Illinois is taking him.
Peoria Pliers: Yeah sometimes you need a snake-oil salesman who actually believes what he is saying. Yeah, Iowa is in real trouble. Ferentz must be kicking himself for not taking the NFL offers a few years ago. Scoops McCracken: Iowa doesn't play Michigan OR Ohio State this year, and they're still going to have to fight for a bowl bid.