Issue #1 — “The Hook” (October 14th, 2022)
The game last weekend we would love to have attended… 🤩❤️🙌
TCU at Kansas. Max Duggan and his high-flying offense roll into Lawrence, Kansas to take on the feel-good story of the ‘22 football season in the Kansas Jayhawks, with College Gameday in tow. Both teams came in undefeated and had covered each game. Memorial Stadium was rocking with chants of “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk!” TCU’s last three games had each gone over 70 total points, so a shootout was inevitable. The first half didn’t deliver, but after halftime, all hell broke loose as the teams combined for 6 touchdowns in the 3rd quarter alone. Jalon Daniels went down to an injury for Kansas but Jason Bean came on in relief and didn’t miss a beat. Ultimately, the TCU offense was too much for the Jayhawks and the Horned Frogs prevailed 38-31, pushing the seven-point spread and leaving both without a spread loss for ‘22.
The game last weekend we would NOT have attended if they played it in our backyard… 🥱😴🤦♂️
UConn at Florida International. Ugh. In a battle of two teams that won’t be in the College Football Playoff, UConn got the best of FIU by running for nearly 300 yards and taking advantage of 3 Panther turnovers. There were swaths of empty seats in majestic Riccardo Silva Stadium in Miami (capacity 20,000) as UConn spoiled the Panthers’ homecoming game by a final score of 33-12. I’d like to think that somewhere in that crowd was an undergrad who perhaps smuggled some spirits into the game and had a secret $20 bet on UConn minus five which softened the blow as his school rolled over for a mediocre UConn team.
This guy could really use a beer and a hug… 🥺🍻🤗
Jerome Boger. Mr. Boger is an NFL referee and on Sunday, his crew was working the Falcons – Bucs game in Tampa. The Bucs took a commanding 21-0 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Falcons came back. After cutting the lead to 21-15, the Bucs had the ball but the Falcons had the momentum. On third down with only a couple of minutes left, Tom Brady dropped back and was unceremoniously spun to the ground by Falcon D-lineman Grady Jarrett. To Jarrett’s, Brady’s, and everyone watching’s surprise, Jerome Boger dropped his yellow flag and called one of the most egregious roughing the passer calls ever seen. The Falcons never got the ball back. After the game, Boger said to the media: “What I had was the defender grabbed the quarterback while he was still in the pocket, and unnecessarily throwing him to the ground.” Unnecessarily, Jerome? Should he have politely asked Brady to take a seat? Yeesh. Well, Jerome didn’t know it, but he was going to get a bit of a reprieve as a little over 24 hours later, Chris Jones of the Chiefs would strip-sack the Raiders’ David Carr and himself be called for roughing by ref Carl Cheffers, prompting an outcry from fans and media for changes to the roughing the passer penalty. Stay tuned.
Hey… didn’t you used to be??? 🤔🥸🧐
The Oklahoma Sooners football team. Boomer Sooner was shellacked 49-0 by Texas in the Red River Showdown. It is the worst loss in the history of the program, but the misery for this Oklahoma team isn’t limited to one game. They came into the game off back-to-back losses to Kansas State by 7 and TCU by 31. Brent Venables, the defensive coordinator guru from Clemson leads a group giving up over 200 yards on the ground per game, and 300 over the last three weeks. They draw upstart Kansas this week and linesmakers have installed Oklahoma as nine-point favorites. Check out our free play on this game. Spoiler alert: We’re down on the live dog.
Our moneyline pup of the week… 🐶🤑💰
Iowa State (+500) vs. Texas. For our first edition of “The Hook”, we’ll go ahead and play a 17-point underdog on the moneyline, because that is just how we roll. The Cyclones have dropped their last three games but by a total of eleven points. Their offense is struggling but their defense may be the best in the Big 12. This pick is about the spot for Texas. They come off an epic beatdown of rival Oklahoma and they have Oklahoma State on deck. Combine that with a local 11:00 AM start, and the Longhorns are likely to start this game with a nasty hangover. Iowa State has a defense that could keep them in the game if the Longhorns do get a sleepy start. We’ll take a flyer on the fighting Matt Campbells at 5-1 – and we won’t lie, we’ll have a little more interest in the Tornados at +17.
Our “under the radar” play of the week… 🤫😎👀
San Jose St. (-8.5) vs. Fresno State. This is the proverbial two teams going in different directions. San Jose State has won and covered in four straight. In the process, they have covered each game by an average of 20 points. That’s good. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs of Fresno have not covered any of their 5 games this year and have fallen short of the number by an average of 14 points per game. That’s bad. Fresno’s QB Jake Haener was hurt against USC a few weeks ago, and the team has not been the same since, bottoming out in a loss to UConn 19-14, a game in which they could only muster 187 yards of offense. Haener’s replacement Logan Fife has thrown 4 picks to date against zero touchdowns. San Jose State wins this one by double digits.
