Hop on the Wager Bus. Scoops is Driving!

I try not to gloat because the gambling gods have a way of coming back & biting you in the ass. This holds true for all betting games. When at the craps table, I try to take each win in check and not get too high. I don’t play blackjack anymore. And this holds true for sports wagering as well.

But I must admit, it was rather satisfying coming down the stretch with a 15 length lead on my nearest wagering opponent. The 8-3 record could have been enough to make one happy, but calling two thick underdogs to win outright and double the money coming in made it even better. And to top it off, I was almost dead on with Michigan State (picked 45-13 win, ended up 42-10), summed up the Arizona State game to a tee, stating that the game was right in ASU’s wheelhouse, picking a 38-17 win, only to be validated with an even bigger ASU 41-17 win, and nuts on my Lead Pipe Lock of the Week with Penn State destroying Oregon State. With the two money line wagers being sacked on, Scoops ended a nice $73 up for the weekend.

I do feel somewhat embarrassed about winning one of those though. I’ll touch on that in this week’s Monday Afternoon Punter TIDBITS:
-What can you say about Urban Meyer other than being a complete jackass? Up 20 with 30 seconds to go, he decides to tack on another 3 points, which ends up covering the spread and winning people, like Scoops, money across the globe who wagered on the Gators. And I’m sure Meyer’s response about why he decided to add 3 more points was “because I couldn’t get a 10 point field goal.” I’m sure Miami did something to Florida back during the Reagan administration on running up the score and it has to do with Jimmy Johnson & Galen Hall, but honestly. It’s one thing if there was a good 5-10 minutes left in the game & all. And if you run the ball and happen to score, that’s Miami’s fault for not stopping the run. But chucking the ball with less than 2 minutes left & going for more and then kicking the field goal with under 30 seconds left in a game already decided is bush league. And it’s a chickenshit answer by Herbstreit by saying that Florida is trying to make a statement. The statement they were trying to make was that they are punks.
-Minnesota. The f-ing Gophers! What can you say? There was a bit of a lull after the 1st drive and through the first 3 quarters. But the bottom line is they’re doing what they failed to do last year: make plays & protect the football. The making plays happened on a few occasions: Jay Thomas forcing a fumble on the opening kickoff of the 2nd half with it being recovered by Collado, leading to a TD. Tramaine Brock’s 4th quarter INT (that’s a play that a Gophers defender has been unable physically to make in the past 30 years), the high snap & Weber hitting Kuznia on the sidelines with him keeping a foot in to make the play. The 4th down pass to Simmons, followed by the dagger shot from Weber to Decker that was a thing a beauty and would make 90% of the NFL QB’s jealous. There are a few things still that aren’t good. The OL had a tough time pass blocking, and the DL didn’t put much rush. That may have been by design since Bowling Green is a quick hitting 5 WR team. But this is a better football team, and they are improving each & every week.
-Wisconsin: I must admit, the Badgers are looking pretty good right now. They started slow against Marshall, but cranked it up, lead by the passing game. They still have a defense that can most likely be exposed by a good spread offense (Penn State, Illinois & Minnesota are coming to mind right now), but the Badgers offense is looking good right now with balance.
-Penn State: They look even better. Having a upperclass lead OL helps, as does having a QB that can move & make things happen.
-OSU: They looked out of sync all game long. Don’t know if that has to do with missing Beanie, or that they simply were overlooking to USC. Either way, they’ll look a lot better this week against USC. I don’t know if they’ll win, but they’ll be everything USC can handle.
-Notre Dame: Looks awful.
Not a lot of great games this past weekend. It will get amped up a bit next week.