Hope you brought a snack. We're going to be here a while.
From the "Talks too much" studios, everyone Wang Chung tonight.
Fab 4 picks
It will be tough to top last week's picks http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/sports/columns/story/2015/oct/23/greeson-bad-bounces-disrupt-good-entertainmen/332072/.
We hit five of our seven picks, but even warned against lines that looked too good to be true (Georgia Tech and USC each won and covered despite close spreads against unbeaten, top-10 opponents) and mentioned two coaches - Al Golden and George O'Leary - who were struggling and they were without their jobs by Sunday evening.
Wow.
There are not a lot of "Too good to be true" spreads this week, so the board is open.
South Carolina-Texas A&M under the 56.5. Yes, South Carolina had a bye, but Connor Shaw did not come back to the program during the off week. The Gamecocks are bad at quarterback, and Texas A&M is confused at quarterback. Now, add to those offensively challenging truths that this noon kickoff has 90 percent chance of thunderstorms. Bad quarterback play + driving rain = 21-6 A&M win. When you break it into simple math, it's much easier you know.
La. Tech-Rice over 60. La. Tech has been a fairly reliable entertainment option for a while, and this year have gone over the total in five of its eight games (two of those fell short of the total by a field goal or less). The Bulldogs move it. Rice has been an equally reliable shootout partner, going over five of its seven games. Again, it's math people (and remember to show your work).
Notre Dame minus-10 over Temple. Buy the half just because that's how we operate, and yes, there's some concern about a late backdoor cover here, but still. Yes, Temple has overachieved, and yes catching double digits in the biggest home game in program history has some attraction. What does not are these two simple facts: Temple has not beaten a ranked team this year (and its best win is likely a 24-14 win over a 4-4 East Carolina) and its schedule is ranked 111th out of the 128 FBS teams according to Jeff Sagarin, while Notre Dame has handled one of the nation's top 10 schedules and is 6-1; now know that it's hard to name a position group on the field where Temple has a clear advantage.
Penn State minus-5 over Illinois. Penn State likely will get to 8-2 without a significant win this season. James Franklin's bunch is flying under the radar, but it will not be hard to get the Lions motivated against an Illinois program that beat them last year. Laying less than a touchdown seems like more than a fair price.
East Carolina minus-7 at UConn. On paper, the numbers look similar. A 4-4 ECU team at a 3-5 UConn bunch. A TD seems high on the road, right? Well, it actually is low. ECU's losses are Florida, Navy, BYU and Temple, a quartet that is a combined 24-4 on the season. UConn, however, has collected its three wins against winless UCF, 2-6 Army and FCS foe Villanova. Buy the half of course, and as Maximus asked, "aren't you entertained?"
Navy minus-7 over South Florida. Another chance to buy the half, and enjoy the moment. Side note: If you are wondering about picking less-than-high-profile games, well, your right. If you want predictions on the games that will draw most of the TV eyes, well, those are coin flips more times than not. Picking Florida-Georgia just because it's on the TV can add to the entertainment of watching the game, but it would be a hard game to gauge to add entertainment to your bankroll. That said, if you want to watch Navy, that's great. Taking the Midshipmen and laying the 7, however, looks to be very entertaining.
Florida International minus-2.5 over Florida Atlantic. When you talk about in-state blood feuds, you start with the Iron Bowl, then maybe the Egg Bowl and Clemson-South Carolina. You'd have to go about another 100 or so slots down the list before you got to the in-state Alphabet Soup Bowl of FIU-FAU. And as we all know, games do not have to be aesthetically pleasing to be entertaining, if you know what we mean.
Last week against the spread: 5-2 (71.4 percent)
This season against the spread: 30-19 (61.2 percent)
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SEC logoSEC items of interest
1. Georgia-Florida, winner books trip to Atlanta. All the doom and gloom of the last two games for the Georgia fan base, and the Bulldogs are still left with this real truth: UGA controls its destiny in the SEC East. Win Saturday against Florida and Georgia is in the driver's seat to get to Atlanta. If Florida wins, though, it's all-but sealed for the Gators and first-year coach Jim McElwain can start rehearsing his SEC Coach of the Year speech.
2. Tennessee starts its march toward eight wins. UT needs a strong finish to reshape the narrative of a difficult month. In fact, according to Sagarin's strength of schedule, the Vols have played the second-toughest schedule so far this year. (Texas is No. 1 for what it's worth.) Well, those challenges get easier starting this week. In fact, Saturday's tussle with Kentucky will be the most difficult left, considering that UT closes at Lexington this week and then has a game against arguably the worst FBS team in the country in North Texas surrounded by the SEC-underachieving trio of South Carolina, Missouri and Vandy. If the Vols handle things against the Wildcats, here's saying Big Oranges rolls through November at turns 3-4 to 8-4 heading toward the postseason.
3. Auburn a home dog against Ole Miss. Man, before the season, the thought of Auburn catching points at home against anyone other than possibly Alabama, seemed silly. Now, you have to wonder if Ole Miss laying seven is enough. To be fair, Auburn's three most important players before the season - quarterback Jeremy Johnson, receiver Duke Williams and defensive end Carl Lawson - have been benched, dismissed and sidelined by injury, respectively. That's not an excuse; it's just what happens at times when seasons with big dreams get derailed. Now comes an Ole Miss team with as many as four potential first-round picks in next spring's NFL draft. One of those is Laquon Treadwell, who has thankfully returned from a gruesome injury in this game last year. Sneaky feeling that Treadwell may make a big play or three for the Rebels.
4. Vandy's defense. Did you know that if Vandy had just gotten below-average quarterback play, the Commodores could conceivably be 5-2 and talking about postseason hopes? Instead, an anemic offense has wasted a great defensive turnaround and Vandy is 3-4 and a 12-point underdog against high-flying Houston. It's hard to ever envision an SEC team beating an AAC team as an upset, but Vandy has allowed more than 30 points to only one team, and Georgia needed a late pick-six to get there. Houston may very well win - and maybe even cover - but it's tough seeing the Cougars matching their 47-point average against a VU defense that is better than its 3-4 record.
5. South Carolina after a bye week. Can the Gamecocks close quickly after a bounce back win and a bye week? It's tough to see much from a team that has real quarterback issues (if the answer is Perry Orth, the question may need to be changed) and a difficult stretch of A&M this week, a hungry Tennessee team, Florida and closing with Clemson. Ouch-standing. That said, if interim-coach Shawn Elliott closes quickly - considering he is 1-0 and does have The Citadel in November, too - can scratch out two more wins and finishes 4-2, would that be enough to get the job permanently?
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Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez, right, hugs starting pitcher Johnny Cueto at the end of Game 2 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Mets Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, in Kansas City, Mo. The Royals defeated the Mets 7-1 to take at two game lead in the series. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) World Series Game 2
The Royals' bats are better than we expected. A lot better.
While Mets super starter Jacob deGrom was his own worst enemy with erratic location, the aggressive and smart approach of these Royals allowed K.C. to grab a 7-1 win in Game 2 Wednesday.
The stats were impressive/sad depending on which shade of blue you are supporting this week:
Against the power-pitching combo of Matt Harvey and deGrom and the rest of the Mets staff, the contact-minded Royals have four strikeouts and five walks.
According to ESPN, Harvey threw 30 fastballs in Game 1 and the Royals swung and missed at two of them. In Game 2, deGrom thew 54 fastballs and swung and missed zero of them.
As for the wonderful deGrom, he had allowed all of two hits with runners in scoring position in the entire postseason before Game 2. In Game 2 he gave up three in the fifth inning alone.
Wow. Now the Royals lead 2-0 and appear to be in complete control.
That said, we watched more of the GOP debate than the World Series, and had some fun with some of you on Twitter with some of the Republican candidates and the "Looks like" game from the Dan LeBatard Show.
Here were some of the better ones from last night's Twitter exchange (we're at @jgreesontfp if you are socially media inclined):
* Chris Christie looks like the guy who gets the double quarter pounder combo but rationalizes with the Diet Coke.
* Rand Paul looks like your neighbor who is convinced his lawn is better than yours because of better preparation
* Ted Cruz looks like the guy at the convenience story who knows everyone's name and their kids' names too.
* Marco Rubio is the buddy who asks you to pick the female he's going to try to pick up at the bar.
* Marco looks like that frat bro who is way too serious about his Cole Haan drivers (from Nathan Janeway)
* Rubio looks like the guy who still wears his lettermans jacket to Sunday lunch (James Gaither)
* (Rand Paul is) that guy you let hang around you in high school because he has a hot sister and a pool! (from BuckFama)
* Dr. Carson looks like the wise man who gives you great advise while waiting in line to pay your check at the Waffle House.
* Gov. Kasich looks like the energetic gym teacher that is a little too much into four square.
* Ted Cruz looks like the used car salesman who is trying to sell you a brand new 2003 hummer (from Nathan Janeway).
Good times.
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This and that
- Speaking of the debate, CNBC was the big loser last night and embarrassed themselves. At times it felt like they wanted to spark a WWE exchange. And we know this, if voters are tired of establishment politicians (and the polling numbers of Carson, Trump and even Sanders suggest most voters are), then the viewing/reading/listening public certainly has had enough of this circus so-called journalism.
- Wow, who in a million years could guess there is unrest within the Dallas Cowboys? Now, a demoted running back storms out of the facility and skips practice http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13998532/joseph-randle-dallas-cowboys-loses-starting-job-leaves-valley-ranch. It's that Greg Hardy leadership that is holding it all together.
- Speaking of World Series, Johnny Cueto was the first AL pitcher to pitch a complete game in the World Series since Jack Morris in 1991. Wow.
- Miami Marlins have hired Don Mattingly as their manager. Seems like a good move.
- It was good to have Kevin Durant back on the floor in the NBA. Also of note: Kobe scored 24 last night (on 8-of-24 shooting) and set a record by starting his 20 season opener with the same team. Hard to believe, but only four other players - Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Robert Parrish, Kevin Willis and Kevin Garnett - have played 20 or more NBA seasons.
- In the next chapter of the loony tunes that surround Roger Goodell, here he says DeflateGate "has nothing to do with Tom Brady" http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25356719/goodell-nfls-deflategate-appeal-has-nothing-to-do-with-tom-brady. Uh, Rog. It really could alter the legacy of a guy that is making a strong case as the best ever at the game's most meaningful position. It has a ton to do with Tom Brady.
- More NBA: Jalhil Okafor scored 26 in his debut with the 76ers Wednesday. The only Philly players in the last 50 years to score more in their first game are Allen Iverson (30) and Jerry Stackhouse (27).
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Today's question
Man, there's a lot to discuss today. Feel free to sound off on any of the above.
If you need a question - other than if you have submitted a mailbag question - we'll go here"
Randy Jackson of the Jackson Five is 54 today.
What's our Rushmore of muscial siblings? The Jackson certainly have a place there (you can leave off LaToya if you need to) but who else?
Go.