5 at 10: Tiger tumbling, Vegas/Tebow and the Fab 4 (+1)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

We have a couple of spots open in the mailbag, so if you have a question, we have an answer.

From the "Al Davis Studios," here we go...

photo Arkansas wide receiver Joe Adams, center, is congratulated by safety Eric Bennett (14) and other teammates after Adams' score on a punt return during the first quarter of the NCAA college football game with Tennessee, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, in Fayetteville, Ark.

Fab 4 (plus 1)

We are coming off our worst week of the season - a 2-3 debacle that included some bad picks and a bad beat (Southern Miss was minus-7 and led 30-23 before Central Florida scored a TD on the final play of the game and missed the two-point try in a 30-29 Southern Miss win).

But, to borrow a line from all-time great L.L. Cool J, don't call this a comeback, we've been here for years. Seriously. The 5-at-10 can remember Pop 5-at-10 bringing home the old-school Kickoff he got mailed to his office and trying to pick college winners. We were 8, and no we did not have one of those green casino visors or a mobbed-up nickname like "Snacks" or "Jay-Jay Two-Times" or "Kid." We just liked to pick games, and when you're as competitive as the 5-at-10 is, anything you like to do you expect to be good at. Zip it Jefe. And Spy. And you too, OTWatcher. Let's just move on. (Side note, we met Kickoff editor Tommy Duff earlier this week at the UTC QB Club and didn't put two and two together until it was too late or we would have told Mr. Duff that the 5-at-10 is a long time Kickoff reader.)

Anyhoo, on to the picks, and remember we're 33-19-1 on the season:

Arkansas State minus-11 at MTSU - MTSU has lost three straight to La.-Monroe, Tennessee and La.-Lafayette by big, Big, BIG scores. In fact, MTSU's closest game in that three-game slide was the loss at UT (there's a joke here, but we can't think of it).

Now we come to the "We're motivated for a higher goal than you part of the show..."

Houston minus-19 over SMU - Yes, that's a lot of points. Want to know what else is a lot of points? How about 57.1, that's a lot of points right? That's what the high-powered Houston Cougars are averaging at home. Houston needs style points.

Oklahoma minus-13.5 at Baylor - Road double-digit 'dogs can be scary. Oklahoma needs style points.

Arkansas minus-13 against Mississippi State - Arkansas is 7-1 against the spread as the home team. Arkansas has an outside shot of sneaking into the BCS.

And the plus one game...

Georgia minus-30 against Kentucky - How many would it take for you to feel safe betting on UK? Is 37 enough? Is 40?

And the extra-special, get of the losing skid, plus-one-plus-one game:

Miami plus-1 at South Florida - Here's saying the 'Canes roll.

photo U.S. golfer Tiger Woods, left, shakes hands with his former caddie Steve Williams after the Presidents Cup Golf Tournament at Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. The handshake between Woods and Williams was routine. The loss by Woods and Steve Stricker turned out to be the real drama in the Presidents Cup. (AP Photo/David Callow)

Tiger got Tiger-ed

Picture Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in the Kevin Bacon role in "Animal House" during the fraternity initiation process and that was the historical whipping Woods and Stricker got from Adam Scott and K.J. Choi early Thursday morning in the Presidents Cup.

Woods and Stricker did not make a birdie, did not win a hole and did match the worst loss since the Presidents Cup began in 1994, falling 7 and 6 (which means they were seven holes down with six to play; it also means they got beat so bad that to translate it to another sport, it's like stopping a baseball game after six innings or a football game with five minutes left in the third quarter).

Ouch, and to think some yahoo wrote that this could tell us if Tiger could be Tiger again in the near future (Greeson: Can Tiger Woods recover at President's Cup).

OK, this was an alternate shot event, and at least early on Stricker appeared to less-than-recovered from some injuries that have kept him out of action since Sept. 25. Still, this was a supremely motivated Tiger Woods against former caddie Stevie Williams, who now works for Scott. And a motivated, pre-meltdown/accident/public debacle Tiger Woods would have made three birdies playing with the 5-at-10 as his partner three years ago.

We're still a ways off, we suppose.

photo Vanderbilt players run off the field after beating Kentucky 38-8 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

UT-Vandy, a matchup for the aged

There was a time when Vandy was a hoss. History less time:

The 1904 Vandy team under then-first-year coach Dan McGugin went 9-0, outscoring its opposition by 474-4. Current first-year coach James Franklin has not enjoyed that level of success, but he has worked miracles with the 'Dores. Consider this: If Vandy beats UT on Saturday and Wake Forest the following week, Franklin's team would be 7-5 and have a shot at eight wins with a good bowl game. Want to know the last time Vandy had more than eight wins? Try 1915 when McGugin's team won the SIAA title at 9-1. If Vandy finishes 7-5, Franklin deserves mentions in national coach of the year discussions.

But, that all hinges on beating the Vols, something the 'Dores have done exactly once in the last 28 years.

We're going to breakdown the match-ups more in the mailbag on Friday, but this game means a great deal for each - and that in itself is a win for Vandy and kind of a loss for UT. Plus we have a big-time contests on our hands. Let's go to the board:

We want your UT-Vandy scores. Be it UT 9-6 or Vandy 31-0, we want what you believe to be the final score. The first factor will be picking the winner, then the margin of victory. We asking for a score prediction so we can have total points scored as a tie-breaker. Remember, "Price is Right" rules are in effect, meaning that if you go over you're out. We'll try to get some of the area's "experts" on college football to play along too.

So, what do you think? Vols or 'Dores? 'Dores or Vols?

The winner will get some tickets for the Falcons-Vikings game in the Dome on Nov. 27.

Bring it.

Here's what we have so far, and we'll get Chris Goforth's pick today around 2 p.m. when we make our regular visit to "The Show" on 1370 AM.

UT-Vols Throwdown Showdown

BlueOval - Vandy 24-10

McPell - UT 23-21

Jharvey1984 - UT 13-10

FEChancellor - Vandy 20-16

Spy - Vandy 20-6

Memphisexile - UT 17-14

Addictedtochalupa - Vandy 17-10

Jesse - Vandy, 21-7

Etsubuc13 - UT, 20-13

BTG - UT, 13-10

scole023 - UT, 30-10

OTWatcher - UT, 20-14

ThatIDoKnow - Vandy, 21-6

JordanRules - Vandy, 23-14

WarEagle - UT, 28-21

SportTalk's Quake - UT 20-16

SportTalk's Dr. B (he's a doctor after all) - UT, 23-13

SportTalk's Cowboy Joe - Vandy, 17-16

TFP SEC ace David Paschall - Vandy, 25-22

TFP UT ace Downtown Patrick Brown - TBA

TFP ace columnist Mark Wiedmer - TBA

TFP ace Deputy Sports Editor Ron Bush - Vandy, 24-13

5-at-10 - TBA

Mrs. 5-at-10 - TBA

photo Mississippi quarterback Randall Mackey (1) looks for a receiver in the first half of a NCAA college football game against Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

This and that

- Don't know if we're completely ready for this sentence, but here goes: Baseball is about to complete it's new labor deal and continue to be the shining example of labor tranquility among professional sports leagues. Wow, that was hard to type.

- Your Tennessee Vols basketball team thumped La.-Monroe with an overpowering second half in an 85-62 win Wednesday night. For the second-consecutive game point guard Trae Golden looked big time, leading the Vols with 29 points. Golden, who is from the 5-at-10's old stomping grounds in Cobb County, Ga., and by all accounts from hometown contacts was unstoppable in high school at McEachern, has seemed to be much, Much, MUCH more comfortable with new coach Cuonzo Martin. More impressively than Golden's scoring was his passing Wednesday. He finished with nine assists and is averaging 10 per game. Did any Vol ever have nine assists in Bruce Pearl's tenure? Seriously.

- Ole Miss has suspended some football players, including quarterback Randall Mackey, for violating team rules before facing top-ranked LSU. There has been no reports whether Mackey violated team rules on purpose in an effort to miss the beating the LSU pass rush puts on opposing QBs, but here's saying that move deserves consideration for the Smarty-McSmarty Pants, scholar-athlete of the week award.

photo Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) runs during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Today's question

One of our favorite things about the good people in Las Vegas, Nevada is that they'll take a bet on just about anything. Whether it's how many players will be arrested the week of the Super Bowl or what will happen with the Dow Jones Industrial Average the day after.

In the land of prop bets, anything goes.

Well, Vegas' attention has turned to Tim Tebow tonight as the 2nd-year quarterback is set to take on the New York Jets in Denver.

Here's a few of the bets regarding Tebow for tonight's game:

- How many passes will Tim Tebow complete? Over/Under: 11

- How many rushing yards will Tim Tebow have? Over/Under: 55

- How many passing yards will Tim Tebow have? Over/Under: 120

Here's today's question. How many more years will Tim Tebow draw a paycheck from the NFL?

Less than 3 years

3-5 years

6-9 year

10 or more years

Feel free to give your thoughts on the other Vegas Tebow bets for tonight's game as well.