Football Friday 10/7/22

Benjamin Franklin said:

“Tis easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.”

Well, I did not prevent the habit of turning out Football Fridays and I do not have the resolve to break that habit.  So, the sensible thing to do is to get on with it for this week.

As usual, I will begin by reviewing last week’s selections – – unimpressive as they were:

• College = 1-1-0                                  Season record = 7-6-0
• NFL = 1-3-0                                        Season record = 5-7-2
• Money Line Parlays = 0-2                Season record = 1-4
• Money Line P&L = minus-$200            Season record = minus-$297

            Undaunted, I press onward…

 

College Football Commentary:

 

            The Linfield College Wildcats extended their record in 2022 to 3-0 last week with a thorough beat down of the Loggers of Puget Sound.  The final score was 72-2.  If you find that to be an “unusual” score, here is something else from the game that is even more “unusual”.

• Linfield returned three punts for touchdowns in the second quarter of the game.

This week Linfield is on the road visiting the Pirates of Whitworth University in Spokane, WA.  The Pirates are 3-1 on the season and – like Linfield – they opened their Northwest Conference schedule last weekend with a blowout win.  The Pirates beat Lewis and Clark by a score of 66-28.  This looks to be a high scoring game.  Go Wildcats!

I think I have counted correctly; there are 16 teams in Division 1-A college football that are undefeated to this point in the 2022 season.  That number must be reduced by at least one this week because undefeated TCU will play undefeated Kansas.  As for the other undefeated teams, good luck to all of them.

Some of the lyrics in Frank Sinatra’s September Song remind us that:

“The days dwindle down to a precious few…”

Well, by analogy, the number of winless college football teams has already dwindled down to a precious few – – namely 2:

1. Colorado
2. Colorado St.

Colorado fired its coach this week.  Jay Norvell is the coach at Colorado St., and this is his first year on the job having taken over for Steve Addazio last winter.  His “newness” insulates him from overly harsh scrutiny but the Rams’ record to date is rather embarrassing:

• The Rams are 0-4
• The Rams have been outscored 164 – 43.
• One of the losses was to a Division 1-AA team by the score of 41-10.

There are no more Power 5 schools on the schedule and there are two visits by two bad teams later in the season.  All is not lost for Colorado State yet.

The oddity associated with the Colorado housecleaning this week is that the head coach and the defensive coordinator were fired; the offensive coordinator was named as the interim coach.  Why is that odd?

• Colorado has averaged 13.8 points per game in its 5 games this year.  That makes it the 128^th ranked team out of 131 teams nationally.
• And the offensive coordinator was put in charge of the whole shooting match?

Speaking of coaches getting fired, Dwight Perry had this item in his column in the Seattle Times last week about the previously separated Herm Edwards:

“Nick Canepa of The San Diego Union-Tribune, on Arizona State firing football coach Herman Edwards: ‘Guess the problem with Herm was that he played to win the games, but didn’t.’”

Things may be looking bleak for the flagship football teams in Colorado, but that is not the case is Mississippi.  Ole Miss is 5-0 this season coming off a victory over previously 7^th ranked Kentucky and Mississippi St. is 4-1 having upset Texas A&M last week by 18 points.  Mississippi St. and Ole Miss will meet on November 24^th – – Thanksgiving Day.  That could be a fun game to check out if one of the NFL games turns into a blowout…

Take a look at the Big-12 standings this morning.  Two of the undefeated teams are Kansas and K-State with a combined record of 9-1.  Meanwhile, Oklahoma and Iowa State are winless in conference games at 0-2.  Not quite the way I figured things would be going …

Similarly surprising are the standings in the Big-10 West this morning.  Before you go and peek, let me tell you that six of the seven teams there have a conference record of 1-1 and one team is 0-2.  Would you guess that the 0-2 team is Wisconsin because it is.  And Wisconsin also fired its coach this week after losing badly last week to Illinois by 24 points.

Paul Chryst was a former player at Wisconsin and had been the head coach there for several years amassing an overall record of 67-26 but the last couple of years have “disappointed” folks in Madison, WI.  Chryst has 4 years left on his contract so he will leave with a tidy “parting gift”.  Wisconsin was ranked in the Top 20 in preseason polls and now has an overall record of 2-3.  That is a big fall from grace – – or it shows you the usefulness and credibility of preseason polls.

Last weekend, CBS was hyping the games they were going to televise this week.  The noon game on CBS will be Michigan versus Indiana; and according to CBS, the game features an “electrifying Michigan team”.  Say what…?

• Michigan is a very good team; there is no doubt about that.
• Michigan is also anything but electrifying; they are more “businesslike” or “plodding” than they are “electrifying”.
• I understand the need to “hype the game”, but maybe the folks at CBS could pretend that the people most likely to tune in are ones who have seen a college football game sometime earlier this season?

Looking at some games of interest last week involving Big-10 teams …

Illinois 34  Wisconsin 10:  This a home loss for Wisconsin and it dropped their record to 2-3 while Illinois sports a 4-1 record for the 2022 season.  Three turnovers and 10 penalties by Wisconsin did not help their cause even a bit.  The Badgers were shut out in the second half; here are the results of their 5 possessions in that second half:

• 3 plays and a PUNT
• 4 plays and TURNOVER ON DOWNS
• 3 plays and a PUNT
• 5 plays and TURNOVER ON DOWNS
• 13 plays and TURNOVER ON DOWNS

The Illinois defense held the Badgers to a total of 2 yards rushing for the game – – TWO YARDS RUSHING!

Michigan 27  Iowa 14:  Michigan’s running game dominated here.  The Wolverines gained 172 yards rushing in the game and held Iowa to only 35 yards on the ground.  This is a good road win for Michigan.

Purdue 20  Minnesota 10:  The Gophers had been ranked 21^st in the country going into this game but the Boilermakers used a solid defense and a strong ground game to win this one on the road.  Minnesota only had 46 yards rushing in the game.

Maryland 27  Michigan St. 13:  The Terps are 4-1 in 2022 and they won this game in a dominant performance.  Total offense for Maryland was 489 yards to only 321 for Sparty.  Maryland overcame 9 penalties in the game and committed the only turnover of the day.  This was Maryland’s game all the way.

Penn St. 17  Northwestern 7:    This was a defensive game from the start.  Northwestern’s ground game only produced 31 yards in the game on 28 attempts.  Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions ran the ball 56 times gaining 220 yards.

Nebraska 35  Indiana 21:  The game was tied at 21 apiece at halftime; then the Nebraska defense held Indiana scoreless in the second half.  This is the first win for Huskers’ interim head coach, Mickey Joseph, since he took over for Scott Frost a few weeks ago.

Here are some Big-12 results from last week …

TCU 55  Oklahoma 24:  The Sooners have lost two conference games in a row and this one was a beat down.  TCU outgained Oklahoma 668 yards to 355 yards in the game.  The Sooners lost their starting QB, Dillon Gabriel, after a hit to the head by a TCU player who was ejected for targeting.  That affected the Oklahoma offense, but the Sooners’ defense was overwhelmed.  The Horned Frogs had 4 TD plays of 62 yards or longer in the game.  TCU is undefeated at 4-0 for the season.

• [Aside:  First year Oklahoma coach Brent Venables is a “defense guy”.  Well, the Sooners have given up 96 points in the last two games.  What’s up out there in Norman…?]

K-State 37  Texas Tech 28:  Both teams came to the game off upset wins two weeks ago.  The stat sheet says the game was dead even; Tech actually had a 14-yard advantage in total offense for the day and the Red Raiders had 26 first downs to only 16 for the Wildcats.  Four turnovers by Tech were the difference in the game.

Kansas 14  Iowa St. 11: Kansas remains unbeaten at 5-0 for the season.  Iowa St. won the stat sheet outgaining Kansas by 100 yards for the day.  It was a day of missed opportunities for the Cyclones; they missed 3 field goal attempts including a 37-yard try in the final two minutes of the game that would have forced OT.

Oklahoma St. 36  Baylor 25:  The Cowboys are still unbeaten in 2022 and used a 99-yard kickoff return at the start of the second half to control the game.

Moving along to SEC action …

Ole Miss 22  Kentucky 19:  This was the first loss of the year for Kentucky; Ole Miss stays undefeated at 5-0.  Kentucky had the ball in the Rebel’s red zone twice in the final 5 minutes of the game and fumbled the ball away both times.

 Alabama 49  Arkansas 26:  Bama ran off to a 28-0 lead in the game, but Arkansas closed that margin to 28-23 at the end of three quarters.  The 4^th quarter was all Alabama.  The Crimson Tide had one drive in the 4^th quarter of 1 play for a 72-yard TD and another drive of 2 plays for 75 yards and a TD.  Bryce Young left the game early in the 2^nd quarter with a shoulder injury; Jalen Milroe took over and led the Alabama offense for the rest of the game.

Mississippi St. 42  Texas A&M 24:  This is the Aggies second loss this year and both losses are in conference.  It is not as if the Aggies did not have opportunities to win this game; they turned the ball over 4 times – – three of them in the red zone no less – – and the Bulldogs offense took advantage.

LSU 21  Auburn 17:  Auburn led the game 17-0 in the first half and led 17-14 at halftime;  however, they never scored in the second half.  Auburn outgained LSU 438 yards to 270 yards in the game.   Four turnovers by Auburn including an INT in the final two minutes of the game made the difference here.

Georgia 26  Missouri 22:  Georgia dominated the stat sheet 466 yards to 294 yards, but Missouri had the lead at 19-12 at the start of the 4^th quarter.  By the way, those 12 points by Georgia were all field goals; Georgia had not seen the end zone in the first three quarters.  However, here are the Georgia possessions in the 4^th quarter:

• 10 plays – – 75 yards – – TD
• 7 plays – – 68 yards – – TD
• 8 plays – – 42 yards – – END OF GAME

Take this close game and put it alongside the lackluster performance by the Bulldogs against Kent State and you have to wonder if the Georgia players are starting to believe the hype about their invincibility?

Here are some ACC game comments …

UNC 41  Va Tech 10:  The Tar Heels pitched a shutout for the second half of this game and almost doubled the offensive output of the Hokies in the game – – 527 yards to 273 yards.

Duke 38  Virginia 17:  Duke raises its record to 4-1 with this win.  In my college football preview, I said I loved the OVER for 3 projected wins for Duke this season; well, that ticket is a winner already.

Ga Tech 26  Pitt 21:  This was a shocker.  Five days before this game, Tech fired its coach and named an interim coach.  Pitt was a 20-point favorite in the game and was playing at home.  Tech was outgained but forced 3 turnovers to hold on and win in Brent Key’s first game as the interim coach at Tech.

Wake Forest 31  Florida St. 21:  This is the first loss for the Seminoles, and it leaves both teams with one conference loss for the 2022 season.  Looking at the stat sheet, this game was dead even.

Clemson 30  NC State 20:  Clemson remains unbeaten in 2022; this was State’s first loss of the year.  The Wolfpack turned the ball over twice in the game and never got the ground game going (32 yards on 19 carries).

Out west in the PAC-12 …

Utah 42  Oregon St. 16:  The Utes intercepted 4 passes in this game.  That was the difference on the field and on the stat sheet.

Washington St. 28  Cal 9:  This was a comfortable win for the Cougars who advanced their record to 4-1 this year.  They held Cal’s running game to a net of 31 yards for the day.

Arizona 43  Colorado 20:  The Buffaloes are still winless in 2022 once again showing an anemic offense and a porous defense.  Arizona gained 673 yards in the game to only 340 yards for Colorado.

USC 42  Arizona St. 25:  The Trojans continue to look strong in 2022.  Arizona St. falls to 1-4 for the season with this loss and that win was over Division 1-AA Northern Arizona.

Oregon 45  Stanford 27:  The Ducks dominated the scoreboard leading 31-3 at halftime and equally dominated the stat sheet 515 yards on offense as compared to 332 for Stanford.

UCLA 40  Washington 32:  UCLA led 26-10 at the half; Washington had 3 possessions in the second half and scored a TD on all of them making a game of it.  UCLA had one drive in the second half where they held the ball for over 18 minutes resulting in a TD.

And some random games of interest from last week …

Georgia St. 31  Army 14:  This is the first win of the year for Georgia St.  [Aside: I said last week they could win outright even though Army was an 8-point favorite.]  As usual, Army had no passing game; they threw the ball 8 times and completed one pass for a net of 11 yards.

Air Force 13  Navy 10:  Air Force won the game on the stat sheet more convincingly than they did on the scoreboard.  It took a field goal with about 4 minutes to play in the game to provide the margin of victory here.

James Madison 40  Texas St. 14:  Madison is still undefeated in 2022 with a 4-0 record.

Eastern Michigan 20  UMass 13:  UMass led 10-0 at the half and got a Field Goal on its first possession of the second half to lead 13-0.  From that point on, here are the results of the next 5 UMass possessions:

• 3 plays and a PUNT
• 3 plays and a PUNT
• 3 plays and a PUNT
• 3 plays and an INT
• 10 plays and a TURNOVER ON DOWNS

UConn 19  Fresno St. 14:  The game was in Connecticut meaning Fresno St. traveled a long way just to lose to a mediocre-at-best UConn squad.

FIU 21  New Mexico St.  7:  Remember, FIU lost two weeks ago to Western Kentucky by a score of 73-0…

Before I get to games for the upcoming weekend, the season is ripe enough for me to keep you informed on the race to the bottom among college teams’ defenses.  The Brothel Defense Award is given each year to the defense that gives up the most points per game for the season.  The name of the award derives from the idea that “Everyone Scores on the Brothel Defense”.

So, here are the three top contenders for the Brothel Defense Award as of today:

• Colorado gives up 43.2 points per game
• Hawaii gives up 45.4 points per game
• UNC-Charlotte gives up 46.3 points per game

 

College Football Games of interest:

 

For the record, I am writing this on Thursday evening and hope to finish it after the Thursday Night Football game.  I say that because the spreads and totals here may change over the next 36-48 hours when the games take place.

(Fri Nite) Nebraska – 3.5 at Rutgers (49):  Rutgers owns the conference record for most consecutive home losses versus conference opponents.  A less-than-fearsome Nebraska squad comes to New Jersey this weekend as a short road favorite.  Is this the week to break the streak?

Duke – 3.5 at Georgia Tech (54):  The oddsmakers must not be overly impressed by Tech’s win last week over Pitt since they have installed Duke as a road favorite here.

UNC at Miami – 3 (66):  The oddsmakers have seemingly forgiven the Hurricanes for losing at home to Middle Tennessee St. by three TDs.  There should be plenty of fireworks in this one.

Va Tech at Pitt – 14.5 (41.5):  Both teams have lost games this year to opponents who would not normally give them trouble.

Auburn at Georgia – 29.5 (49.5):  Auburn fans and boosters have their normal overly high expectations for their team – – and Auburn is not living up to the fans’ image of the team as a juggernaut.  There is a lot of criticism of the coach and the AD there.  I suspect it would be OK for Auburn to lose a close game on the road to a team ranked in the Top 5, but a blowout loss is NEVER acceptable to Auburn fans.  Meanwhile, Georgia has underperformed and not covered the spread in each of its last two games against teams they were expected to blow away (Kent St. and Missouri).  This will be interesting…

Ohio St. – 27 at Michigan St. (65):  Michigan St. had trouble scoring against Maryland and Minnesota; Ohio State has only given up an average of 14.8 points per game.  This might get ugly…

Florida St. at NC State – 3 (50.5):  This is an important game because both teams have 4-1 overall records and both teams already have one conference loss.

TCU – 7 at Kansas (66.5):  This is the “Battle of the Undefeateds” on the card for the weekend.  I think the losing team will score more than 30 points in this game – – absent a monsoon – – so I like the game to go OVER; put it in the Six-Pack.

K-State – 2.5 at Iowa St. (44.5):  This is a big game for both teams.  K-State seeks to stay unbeaten in conference play; Iowa St. already has 2 conference losses so another one here would probably take them out of contention for the Big 12 Championship Game at an awfully early point in the season.

Oregon – 13 at Arizona (69.5):  Ever since Georgia held Oregon to a single field goal in the opening game of the season, the Ducks have scored 41 or more points in their next 4 games.  Arizona ranks 102^nd in the country in scoring defense this morning giving up 31.2 points per game.  Oregon’s defense is not much better yielding 30.2 points per game.  This looks to me like another game of offensive explosions.  That is a big Total Line, but I will still take the game to go OVER; put it in the Six-Pack.

Utah – 3.5 at UCLA (64.5):  On offense this year, the Bruins are averaging 41.4 points per game.  They have never been held under 32 points in a single game.  I doubt they can keep that string going against a solid Utah defense.  This is a big conference game for both teams.

Tennessee – 2.5 at LSU (65):  Both teams are undefeated in SEC games joining Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia in that status.  This is an important game for all five of those teams without a conference loss to date.

Texas – 7 versus Oklahoma (65):  If the Sooners lose this one, that will make them 0-3 to start the Big-12 conference games in 2022.  I doubt anyone had that even as a possibility back in July…  Which Texas team will show up here:

• The one that came within a point of upsetting Alabamam4 weeks ago – OR – –
• The one that lost to Texas Tech two weeks ago?

Texas A&M at Alabama – 24.5 (50.5):  This is the College Football Game of the Week.  Having said that, I do not see how anyone can project an outcome for this game without knowing who will play QB for Alabama.  Whatever … the game starts at 8:00 PM EDT and this ought to be a game you make time to watch.

Wisconsin – 10 at Northwestern (44.5):  The oddsmakers opened this spread at 8 points but bettors seem to believe the Badgers will rally behind their new interim coach because the spread expanded to 10 points soon after the announcement of Paul Chryst’s firing and has stayed there steadily all week long.

Iowa at Illinois – 3.5 (36.5):  These are good defensive teams and marginal offensive teams.  I am willing to believe the Iowa defense is very good; is the Illinois defense also very good?

UConn – 6 at Florida International (46):  UConn is a touchdown favorite over a team not known as the American Asthma Institute?

BYU at Notre Dame – 3.5 (51):  Tag this game as a “Religious War” if you must.  Nonetheless, it should be a good game featuring two very good defensive football teams.

 

NFL Commentary:

 

Over the opening weeks of the season, I have been flipping back and forth on MNF between the Joe Buck/Troy Aikman presentation and the “Manning-cast”.  I like both presentations for different reasons.  The Manning-cast is different; it is like what happens in my living room when I am watching a game with a friend or one of my sons and we are going back and forth on every play.  Of course, we do not know one-one hundredth of what the Manning bros do about NFL football, but it is the banter/repartee that makes the situation fun.  Same goes for the “Manning-cast”.

At the other end of the spectrum are Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.  Meaning not even a smidgen of disrespect to the other leading network announcing teams, Buck/Aikman is the gold standard in 2022. The two broadcasts are almost good enough to get me to record one of them, watch the other one completely in real time and then go back and watch the game all over again just to hear what the “other guys” have to say.  Monday Night Football has returned to the status of must-see TV…

Having said all of that, let me throw some orchids at Amazon Prime TV and the announcing team of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit on Thursday Night Football.  If anyone in the broadcasting business today is demonstrably better on play-by-play than Al Michaels, I have not heard him/her.  I was “worried” when I heard that Herbstreit would be his on-air partner because on college football games, Herbstreit talks at least twice too much.  And so, I have been pleasantly – and significantly – surprised to see/hear Herbstreit do NFL games with Al Michaels.  His comments are measured; they are not panderingly glowing or harshly negative.  I don’t know if he is deferring to the legend of Al Michaels who is sitting next to him in the booth, but he is a lot more informative without being a didactic motor-mouth – – which is what he can be on a college broadcast.

There is another “London Game” this week as the NFL continues to try to expand its market/charisma in various overseas marketplaces…

 

NFL Games This Week:

 

Once again, a reminder…  This is being composed on Thursday night; NFL games will not kick off for another 72 hours or so.  These lines can swing A LOT in either direction; do not take the lines cited here as anything necessarily related to the final lines on the games.

The Thursday Night game this week (Colts/Broncos) was about as ugly a game as you might ever see from the NFL.  The score was 12-9 in OT; zero TDs and 7 field goals.  A game like that could result from great defensive play on both sides; that would be a great game to watch.  This game featured abject ineptitude from the first quarter through to the final possession of the OT.

Amazon Prime did not hope for games like this when it signed on to pay the NFL about $1B for the Thursday games.  And next week, the folks at Amazon will have to try to put lipstick on another pig when the Commanders and Bears square off.

 

(Sun Morning 8:00 Am EDT) Giants versus Packers – 7.5 (40.5) [Game is in London]:  Both Giants’ QBs are nicked; Daniel Jones has an ankle injury and Tyrod Taylor is in the concussion protocols.  If neither can go, the next man up is Davis Webb.  The only thing I can say about Davis Webb is this:

• There are no scandalous rumors about him circulating that he is the unacknowledged love child of Jack Webb and Mo’ne Davis.

If you are up early on Sunday morning, check this game out because there is nothing else on TV at that hour that is even marginally as interesting.  However, if you choose to “sleep in”, congratulations on making a great choice.

Seahawks at Saints – 5.5 (46): This is a “fly home from Europe game” for the Saints.  No way I would take them as a favorite in that jet lag situation.

Texans at Jags – 7 (44):  I have this game tagged as the Dog-Breath Game of the Week.  The Jags lost to the Eagles in Philly last week in a sloppy game where the Jags lost 4 fumbles.  That will not happen again here.  The Texans are a feisty bunch who play hard and “never give up” but the Jags seem to have the better roster and equal if not better coaching.  The Jags are atop the AFC South as of this morning; I expect them to stay there once Monday night passes by.  But I am not willing to lay a full TD in this game…

Steelers at Bills – 14 (46):  The Steelers’ defense is for real.  If the team is going to have anything related to success in 2022, it will be on the efforts and the talents of the defensive unit.  When/if TJ Watt returns, that defense will become measurably better.  However, Watt will not be there on Sunday and the Bills’ defense should be good enough to contain whatever the Steelers try to offer up as an offense.  I will not make a selection on an NFL game with a full 2 TDs as a spread, but I expect the Bills to win comfortably here.

• The Steelers have used 2 QBs so far this year – – Mitchell Trubisky for the first 3.5 games and Kenny Pickett for 0.5 games.
• The Steelers’ QBs have thrown for a grand total of 2 TDs in the four games the Steelers played in 2022.

Just so you know, that is beneath “shocking” and goes all the way down to “miserable”.

Falcons at Bucs – 9.5 (48):  Take a deep breath; if the Falcons win here, they will be in sole possession of first place in the NFC South five weeks into the NFL season.  I never saw that coming; did you?  I did see the Bucs dominating that division, but I am not remotely willing to lay that many points to a division rival.  No selection here; I’ll pass…

Bears at Vikes – 7 (44):  How to say this nicely?  The Bears stink.  The Vikings are not a great team; they are more NFC pretenders than they are NFC contenders – – but they are better than the Bears and they are at home.  I like the Vikes to cruise to a comfortable win here; I’ll take them and lay the points; put it in the Six-Pack.

Titans – 2.5 at Commanders (42.5):  As of this morning, these two teams are headed in opposite directions.  The Commanders have lost 3 games in a row and two of them were against NFC East foes.  This team needs a win more than the Donner Party needed to download the Uber Eats App.  The “problem” for the Commanders is that they have trouble protecting their QB and this week they will try to do so without their starting RT, Sam Cosmi.  I am not trying to pretend that Cosmi is some sort of pivotal player on the OL; he is a decent young tackle and nothing more.  However, given the rest of the OL, Cosmi is a veritable lynchpin.  The other humongous problem for the Commanders here is that their run-stopping begins and ends with their defensive line – – which is super talented.  But if Derrick Henry gets off to the next level beyond that DL, it will be a nightmare in DC only eclipsed by John Kerry returning to DC and threatening to give a 3-hour speech.  Give me the Titans on the road; I’ll lay the points; put it in the Six-Pack.

Dolphins – 3 at Jets (45):  Teddy Bridgewater will be the Dolphins’ QB here; should he need to be replaced, the QBs on the roster who might play – – not thinking Tua Tagovailoa is even a remote possibility – – would be Reid Sinnet and/or Skyler Thompson.  You will be excused if you could not pick Sinnet or Thompson out of a lineup with the hosts of the TV show, The View.

Chargers – 2.5 at Browns (48):  The key question here is simple:

• Can the Chargers contain the Browns’ running attack sufficiently to force the Browns to throw the ball more than they would prefer to do?

The Chargers will move the ball and will score; but if the Browns can control the clock and the tempo, the Chargers may never be able to exert control over the game.  Interesting game to watch; bad game to bet…

Lions at Pats – 3 (46.5):  The Lions’ offense is doing just fine; the Lions lead the NFL in points scored.  The Lions’ defense is a mirage; there is no there there.  The Lions give up more than 35 points per game.; that is what bad college teams give up per game not what guys who are getting paid to play defense give up per game.  But it is tough to take the Pats this week not knowing if Mac Jones or Bailey (Zappity-Doo-Dah) Zappe or Hugo Knucklebuck will play QB for the Pats.

Niners – 6.5 at Panthers (38.5):  This is a long trip for the Niners, and this is a let-down game for the team after beating the Super Bowl champion Rams on MNF last week.  So much for the negatives; the Niners are a far better team with a far better QB.  Just for giggles, give me the Niners to win and cover here; put it in the Six-Pack.

Eagles – 5 at Cards (49):  For a reason I have never understood, the Eagles never play well in Arizona.  Add to that history the fact that the Eagles have a date with the Cowboys next week and the Cowboys are 100 times the rival that the Cards are.  The Eagles could maintain their mojo and roll past the Cards – – or they could lose outright by 10 points.  Watch this game if you can and enjoy it – – but don’t bet on it.

Cowboys at Rams – 5.5 (43.5):  I think this is the Game of the Week.  The Rams played poorly on Monday night losing to the Niners; there is no way to sugar-coat that.  The Cowboys are on a roll with Cooper Rush orchestrating their offense.  The Rams need to be able to give Matthew Stafford time to throws the ball; I think they find a way to do that and win this game.

(Sun Nite) Bengals at Ravens – 3 (48):  The Bengals’ offense came alive last week, and the Ravens’ defense is “suspect” at best.  Lamar Jackson had a down game for him last week; he will be striving to assure that does not happen two weeks in arow.  I see points galore here; give me the OVER; put it in the Six-Pack.

(Mon Nite) Raiders at Chiefs – 7 (51):  This game was the runnier-up as the Game of the Week.  This is also clearly the best rivalry game on the card for this week.  I like the Chiefs to win this game at home because it looked to me that they found an offensive rhythm against the Bucs last week.  The Raiders will pin their hopes on Josh Jacobs’ ability to control the clock with a running game that keeps that rhythmic Chiefs’ offense on the sidelines.  No selection here because I do not like that spread or that Total Line.

Let me review this week’s Six-Pack:

1. Kansas/TCU OVER 66.5
2. Oregon/Arizona OVER 69.5
3. Vikes – 7 over Bears
4. Titans – 2.5 over Commanders
5. Niners – 6.5 over Panthers
6. Ravens/Bengals OVER 48

And just for fun here are two Money Line Parlays at an imaginary $100 each…

• Vikes@minus-310/Niners@minus-275/Chiefs@ minus-360  To win $136
• Nevada @minus-160/ James Madison@minus-400/Notre Dame@-160  To win $230.

            Finally, let me close here with another point made by Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“We like Central Florida’s chances of hitting a long-distance field goal, what with a kicker named Colton Boomer.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………