9-6 last week and 34-24 on the season.  Let’s keep getting loadeddd!!

Louisville +7.5 at #11 Florida State

FSU didn’t cover this spread with a night game at home last week against Al Golden’s dogshit Miami squad.  They’re not going to cover against a way better Louisville team.  True freshman QB Lamar Jackson keeps getting better every week for Louisville, while Everett Golson keeps showing FSU that he’s nothing more than a castoff retread.  Also, Louisville’s defense looks like the truth this year.  Bobby Petrino may be a scumbag, but he builds winners and will be a great bet this morning.  If you like to do double units on your highest confidence games, this is definitely one to pick.

Northwestern +1.5 vs #12 Iowa

Iowa sucks.  If they are a favorite, fade the fuck out of them.

#22 Toledo -28 vs Eastern Michigan

#12 Michigan State +7.5 at #7 Michigan

Ah yes…  One of those classic rivalry games between the dumb poor person school and the smart rich person school.  Brady Hoke gave some hope to the dumb poor people that they could find a small bit of validation in their lives through football.  Jim Harbaugh is going to end those dreams very soon, but I’m not so sure its soon enough to be today.  Michigan State has played like shit lately, but they’re still undefeated.  They still have a preseason Heisman contender QB, while Michigan has an Iowa reject.  Harbaugh is a god and there is a chance he finds a way to win this game, but 7.5 points is an excessive amount to lay.

Kansas State +4 vs #19 Oklahoma

Did Baker Mayfield prove himself to be the most overrated college QB in history last week?  I think he did.  Remember when he almost got benched at Tennessee and then within 8 days people were suggesting he was a Heisman candidate?  That was odd.  Take the legend Bill Snyder getting points at home.

#9 Texas A&M +4.5 vs #10 Alabama

It may seem obvious to take Alabama given their 59-0 thrashing in this game last year, but Texas A&M is a billion times more talented this year.  I was also really disappointed by how Alabama played against Arkansas last week.  Take the points with the home team off a bye week, and then pray to god for all souls in east Texas that Alabama still gets the straight up win.

Nebraska +2 at Minnesota

Virginia Tech +3.5 at Miami

The U needs to fire Al Golden already.

#14 Notre Dame -6.5 vs USC

I don’t think people understand just how good Notre Dame is yet.  If hurricane storms didn’t start pouring down on their offense after a slow start at Clemson, they would’ve blown the Tigers out.  They almost still won anyway.  Honestly they are my favorite sleeper pick for the national champion.

#1 Ohio State -18 vs Penn State

OSU has had some problems getting the juices flowing this year, but a home game at night will help alleviate that in this game.  Also, Penn State is horrendous.  They almost lost to Army.

#6 LSU -6.5 vs #8 Florida

I don’t think the QB situation at Florida is as bad as people make it out to be, but 6.5 is still too few points against this dynamite LSU team at a Death Valley night game.

Arizona State +6.5 at #4 Utah

I said last week that Utah was overrated.  It turned out that Jared Goff is a huge fraud, but he still covered against Utah.

Washington -3 vs Oregon

All hail Chris Peterson!  Time for a changing of the guard.

Jesus Christ man.  It’s not like an untimely error is gonna fuck over your season or anything…  Maybe break in a new glove during the games that you’re trying to lose anyways.

Also, Encarnacion – try to be more of a pussy than you were tonight, you can’t.  Had to be taken out of a game for x-rays that were NEGATIVE?  So you weren’t hurt, but you didn’t feel good…  You could’ve stuck it out like Perez and tried to help your team win a championship game, but instead you act as cowardly and heartless as your colleague.

Next up is game 2 with 0-6 Price on the mound

Toronto had the AL lead going into the last week of the season, but they lost 4 out of their last 5 to finish as a 2 seed. Rumor is they did it on purpose to avoid the Yankees. It does seem fishy…

They held David Price out of his last start to give him an excessive 11 days of rest going into the ALDS. In their final game, they started Mark Buerhle on one day’s rest, apparently to let him get through two innings and retire with 15 straight seasons of 200+ seasons. He couldn’t get out of the first that day and is not on the playoff roster.

I guess it is an underrated tactic to try and finagle yourself into the path of least resistance on a bracket, but Toronto might’ve fucked themselves if this is true. They were by far the best home team in the league and they ceded that advantage to a Royals team that is more than ready to capitalize on it.

All for what… To avoid the Yankees? To get the Rangers? No matter what they preferred, they’re World Series favorites and shouldn’t be giving a shit what their matchups end up like. And playing games 6 and 7 at Kauffman is gonna be a huge fucking bitch for them.

But still, don’t bet against them.

$310 million payroll.  Another one and done playoff collapse.  No hit twice in 10 days.  No games on local TV.  And a god awful Dee Gordon trade that’s more sickening than AIDS…

Damn, Magic Johnson doesn’t seem to be getting the hang of this whole ownership thing

Any Rangers fan with their heads down needs to check out this excerpt from Boys Will Be Boys…

After the loss, Johnson gave what many consider to be the best post-game speech of his career. Before a downtrodden group of players and coaches, Johnson insisted there should be nothing but pride.

“We have built the foundation of something that cannot be stopped,” he said. “And will not be stopped. We went into Soldier Field and beat the Bears. This is only the beginning. This moment—remember it. It is not an ending. It is not a defeat. It is another step on the road that leads inexorably to the Super Bowl and greatness as a football team. You are on that road.”

Then, moments later, he met with his coaches. “Next year,” Johnson said, “this shit doesn’t happen. Next year—Super Bowl.”

That all happened after a 1992 playoff loss in the divisional round.  Do you know what the Cowboys did after that?  Won three Super Bowls.  Do you know what the Rangers are gonna do after this?  Win a fuck ton of World Series.

Four errors in the 7th was brutal, yes…  But it wasn’t a choke job by a veteran team.  It was a young team new to the stage playing with house money.  A dope game like that was 1000 times better than expectations three months ago.  And we got this far without our ace.  Hamels was a fucking hero today, but he’s ace #1b when Yu gets back.  We’ll be fucking fine.

.

As for the Toronto fans… I know a lot of people will give them shit for everything they did today. But I have to admit I respected them.  When I saw their near riot unfold, I felt like they filled a void in my sports heart that Eagles fans left when they started to go soft during the Chip Kelly era.

While pretend baseball experts keep going on and on about things we already know about (did you know the Cubs hit a lot of home runs?), for some reason nobody is touching on what should be a mega controversy right now…  John Gibbons just straight up BENCHED his Cy Young ‘ace’ pitcher.  What the fuck?

Toronto was up 7-1 in the 5th on Monday, 2 outs and only a runner on first.  R.A. Dickey was having a stellar game, but Gibbons brought in Price to relieve him.  Gibbons says that he was ‘terrified of Choo’, who was due up, and wanted to stifle the Rangers before they had a chance to get back into the game.  But let’s call this like it really is… a straight up benching.

Price has been a bonified ace for years, and his 2015 campaign with the Blue Jays should warrant a Cy Young, but he’s been dog shit in the playoffs.  After underwhelming fans with mediocrity in his game 1 outing, Price’s playoff record fell to an atrocious 0-6 with a 5.23 ERA.  Does that sound like a starter you want to trot out there in a do or die game 5 for your franchise?  Fuck no…

Gibbons already knew that Stroman was going to be the Game 5 starter.  He just put Price out there in a low leverage situation to try and get him some playoff confidence before reclaiming his #1 role in the ALCS.  It also could have been a test run to see how he fares as a much needed lefty relief man for the Jays.  After all, he originally rose to fame with a stellar playoff performance as a closer for the Rays in 2008.  However, 50 pitches, six hits, and three runs later, its unknown what role, if any, Price can be dependable for.

I say he gets his head out of his ass and bounces back either in the ALCS this year or for the Cubs next year.

The Cardinals are at +114 at the Cubs today.  Are you fucking kidding me with that?  This is absolutely a double or nothing your bank account bet.

First off, the Cards have an enormous advantage in starting pitching today.  They have their #1 in Lackey vs the Cubs #4 in Hammel, who has been absolutely atrocious since the all star break.

Second, it’s an elimination game for a veteran team that’s played and succeeded in this situation countless times throughout the past decade.

Third, did everyone just forget that the Cards are the best top-to-bottom team in the National League?  They’re not losing to the Cubs today, especially with Addison Russell out of the lineup.

Take the Cards moneyline as well as the over for their team total of 3.5 runs.  Too eeaassyyyyy!

College picks are 25-18 going into this week, and that 17 point dog I touted to you on Thursday just casually rolled their way to an outright upset.  Like that bad guy on Fury Road said, “I AM YOUR REDEEMER!”  Do you want to be rich?  Follow these picks today.

Morning Hangover Cures

Illinois +11 at Iowa

Everybody is up on Iowa because they beat Wisconsin last week in quite possibly the worst college football game that’s ever been played.  Illinois has a stout defense and I’m very comfortable fading the overhyped Hawkeyes with them.

#10 Oklahoma -17 vs Texas

This game is a tough one to touch because 17 points is a lot tto lay in a rivalry game, but today’s game might be the biggest matchup disparity that we’ve seen in the Red River Shootout in the past twenty years.  Bob Stoops has a history of running up the score on Texas when he can, so I’m gonna go ahead and take OU.

Duke -14 at Army

Army is not too too terrible this year, but they’re not good enough to avoid a blowout at the hands of a team as good as Duke.  If Duke was laying this many points two weeks ago against Georgia Tech, which is a much better triple option team than Army, they still would have covered.

Afternoon Day Drinking

Boston College -7 vs Wake Forest

Boston College has one of the best defenses in the country and Wake Forest sucks.  This game is going to be boring to watch but defnitely fun to wager on and check the score and realize how easy of a cover it turned out to be.

Texas Tech -12 vs Iowa State

Expect a big bounceback game from a Texas Tech offense that is absolute fire at home.  They are probably going to score over 60 points while we win money off them.

Nebraska +3 vs Wisconsin

How the fuck is Nebraska getting points at home against a team that, as I referenced earlier, lost what might have been the worst college football game every played?  Wisconsin sucks this year.  Nebraska is not top tier but they’re not a bad team at all and Tommy Armstrong Jr. is a gamer.  He’s going to beat Stave outright at home easily, much less cover the spread.

Georgia -3 at Tennessee

Now that Tennessee is finally underdogs, it seems that people are finally starting to realize that they suck.  However, 3 points is not enough for them to cover.  Tennessee got pounded last week by Arkansas and Georgia has an even better rushing attack.  Don’t penalize Georgia for losing poorly to a pissed off Alabama team, it happens to everyone that stumbles into that situation.

#15 Notre Dame -14 vs Navy

If a hurricane didn’t hit Death Valley right after Notre Dame’s poor start, they would’ve beat Clemson going away.  It was almost impossible to pass downfield in that game and they still almost came back from 18 down.  Two touchdowns is an annoying amount to lay, but Notre Dame is one of the best home teams in the country and the Georgia Tech game showed that they are well practiced in defending the option.  I expect this top 5 coaching staff and basically an NFL defense to annihliate Navy.

Georgia Tech +8 at #6 Clemson

As I said last week when we faded Clemson, Deshaun Watson is a fucking fraud.  He’s got great legs but can’t throw worth shit.  If he was running the triple option for Georgia Tech, that’d be fine.  Instead, he’s running a pro offense that people are slow to realize is underwhelming.  Georgia Tech has had a really disappointing season, but they’re still a very good team.  They’ve lost to two elite teams in Notre Dame and Duke, and were up by 21 before losing to North Carolina last week.  Eight points is plenty comfortable enough.

#7 LSU -20.5 vs South Carolina

Those poor Gamecocks have been having such a shitty season and just realized this week they have to travel to LSU instead of being home.  Who knows how they’ve even been able to practice this week.  LSU had a really disappointing start against against Eastern Michigan last week, only leading 20-14 at half.  They are well coached enough to not be coming out flat twice in a row, and this coaching staff will also be trying to pad Fournette’s stats to help his Heisman campaign, so lay the points in this easy rout.

Primetime Profits

West Virginia -6 vs #21 Oklahoma State

We nailed the OSU fade last week, as Kansas State almost pulled off the outright upset even though they were down to their 4th string quarterback.  Oklahoma State is complete garbage.  They played only cupcakes in their non conference games and struggled against them.  Egregious special teams errors by Texas giftwrapped them  what might be the most embarrassing win in all of college this year.  And they almost lost to a 4th string quarterback last week.  West Virginia will pound the shit out of them in Morgantown.

Missouri +5.5 vs #11 Florida

Florida looked awesome last week, but they are still a raw team and are going on the road.  This is a classic letdown game and five is plenty of points for a home dog to cover.

Miami +7 at #12 Florida State

These teams are even enough in talent for us to be confident that the game will be very close. Kaaya and The U almost won this game last year against Famous Jameis.  Now, they are even better while Florida State is much worse.  Miami will definitely cover 7 points.

#23 Cal +8 at #5 Utah

The people rating Utah as a top five team clearly only watched the Oregon game and no other down of football that they’ve played.  I have seen some other Utah games, and they’ve shown me nothing more than an underwhelming squad.  The Cal defense is shaky, but future #1 draft pick Jared Goff is going to pick apart this team enough times to cover a touchdown’s worth of points.

First, Seattle stole away Pete Carroll to build a badass NFL team.  (It helps that the NFL is much lighter on cheating than the NCAA).  Then, that same team crushed the collective souls of the Bay Area and sent the Niners to the cellar of the league.  Now, as we saw last night, Seattle may have pulled off an even greater coup in the college ranks.

SI’s Pete Thamel put together an excellent scorch job this morning to show just how badly USC has been fucking up…

Chris Petersen, then at Boise State, interviewed for the USC job following the 2013 season. The USC brass dismissed Petersen as not dynamic enough and too unwilling to handle the media and booster obligations that go hand-in-hand with the biggest football job in Los Angeles.

So USC athletic director Pat Haden went back to the Win Forever well, hiring Steve Sarkisian from Washington as a replacement for his old co-offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin.

But perhaps more tellingly, USC hired a familiar face from USC’s Never Never Land—a time that USC officials remember more for the wins and attention than the cheating and NCAA sanctions that followed. After a program defining loss filled with bad penalties and questionable game management, it’s clear that USC’s decision to hire Sarkisian​ has left the Trojans stuck in the past, like Uncle Rico chasing state.

[…]

When considering Sarkisian versus Petersen, USC picked hoodies over khakis, sideline volatility over serenity and a coach who has proven he can win on signing day as opposed to league play. USC took Sarkisian with his 35–29 record at Washington over Petersen’s 92–12 at Boise. USC took style over substance, sizzle over steak. They took the comfort of Uncle Pete’s coaching tree over the proven acumen of Coach Pete. While those records are not apples to apples comparisons, we’ve learned at USC that there’s something to be said for having received a driver’s license before taking over a Cadillac program. And, no, winning the Holiday Bowl doesn’t count.

Yeah, wonderful work USC…  Lane Kiffin turned out to be a disaster, so let’s go right the ship with his former co-offensive coordinator.  His team at Washington sucks, but he used to coach for Pete Carroll so of course he’ll just magically become better when he gets to Los Angeles…

Meanwhile, Seattle gets to dump ‘Seven Win Sark’ for one of the best coaches of this entire era.  The same coach that wanted to be at USC, but didn’t have a dynamic enough media personality to handle ‘the biggest football program in Los Angeles’.  Ahhh poor Chris Peterson…  If only he was more willing to get plastered before speaking at booster events, he could’ve been qualified to coach in LA instead of having to slum it up in Seattle.

BTW – called it!

Does everybody know what we’re playing for now? I mean, you get a tweak and you got to leave the game. You take a knee to the head, and you’ve got a helmet on, and you gotta leave the game to go take a test that you pass. I mean, because you’re a little light-headed?

I got light-headed how many times in my career? I still went out there and played. I guess it’s just different from when I played to when they’re playing today, Frank. I can’t see you sliding into second there and leaving the game, I really can’t.

Oh boy.  How much fucking money did Pete Rose lose?  It’s not like he’s wrong here though…  It’s the most important Blue Jays game in 22 years, and the MVP wants to screw over his team in order to get a concussion test (that he passed).  That is flat out unacceptable.

And this is baseball, not football.  In football, you take a guy out because there are head collisions on every single play.  In baseball, your head gets touched maybe once a week at most.  Even if it was football, you still have to hide your concussions when it’s the fucking playoffs.  I didn’t see anybody complaining last year when Russell Wilson and Julian Edelman stuck it out for their teams in far more dangerous positions than baseball third baseman…

Donaldson wasn’t going to bat for at least another 30 minutes.  If you want your test so badly, go play third base for a half inning, field maybe one or two balls at most, and then go get your test in the next inning.

Unfortunately for Rose and all other Blue Jays backers in Vegas, Donaldson has the heart of a division winner and not the heart of a champion.