Fab 4 (minus-1) picks
OK, we’re in it until the end. Yes, we survived conference championship week with a 4-3 mark that benefited from Stanford’s late touchdown run to soar past the total. We also lost on Florida’s late cosmic touchdown that covered the number through the backdoor.
And since we are a full week from round one of the bowl madness – which starts Dec. 19 – we thought, why not continue the Fab 4 picks as people still are looking for entertainment even if the regular slate of games is not available.
Alas.
Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey (5) runs against Southern California during the first half of a Pac-12 Conference championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) With that, let’s take this trio of entertainment risks and know that we are really reaching for something entertaining here. That’s code for the simple truth that we are not as confident in the FCS rolls as our normal list of suggestions. Think of it this way: Have you ever gone to a movie but said movie is sold-out and then you look around and you’re not super sure about the rest of the choices but you pick one anyway? That situation can lead you to “Sideways” or “Disorderlies” and the roll of the dice is really beyond your control.
That said, going into the bowl season (we will trot out the bowl contest tomorrow, deal?) we are a smudge under 60 percent this year against the spread. We are most proud of the fact that we went through the entire season and had only two weeks in which we were on the negative side of entertainment.
Good times.
In grand total, we entered this season – our fifth of picking games against the number here at the 5-at-10 – with a 284-175-6 mark and head into the unknown abyss of FCS playoffs (and Army-Navy) with a five-year mark of 61.4 percent against the spread.
Now that’s entertainment.
Navy minus-21 over Army. Buy the half here to protect against a backdoor cover. Navy is much, Much, MUCH better, but we are never fully comfortable giving up three touchdowns in a rivalry game of this magnitude. Still, it’s hard to see an Army defense that allowed more than 35 points to Fordham and Eastern Michigan stopping Keenan Reynolds and Co. That said, trumpeting Navy on the ground seems somewhat un-American in this scenario, right? So be it when searching for season-ending entertainment.
Jacksonville State minus-9.5 against Charleston Southern. The Gamecocks and their fans will not be among the 30-for-30 “Emily Post’s view on good sportsmanship” if they ever decide to make that one. But JSU can slap play, and after dispatching UTC last Saturday, here’s saying it will pick up speed. Charleston Southern was quite fortunate to advance, but good luck against better players feels like it should be worth more than 10 points.
North Dakota State minus-6.5 over Northern Iowa. NDSU has arguably the best home-field advantage in the FCS. That is worth noting. The defending champs also are rolling at the right time – the Bison have won six in a row, and avenged a season-opening 38-35 loss to Montana with an impressive 37-6 win over the Grizzlies last week in round one. And remember, NDSU has won the last four titles, so until someone dethrones the king, well, you know. As Ric Flair told us, “You want to be the man, you gotta beat the man.” Whooaaa.
Last week against the spread: 4-3 (62.5 percent)
This season against the spread: 55-38 (59.3 percent)
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Items of interest
Normally in this space we’d list five things around the SEC to detail for you to keep your eye on. Today, we’ll just spit ball five things as college football winds down. (Yes, with college football ending, there are tears in our eyes, but that’s only because it’s dusty in here. Shut up.)
Navy defenders Will Anthony, from left, Jordan Drake and Chris Johnson chase after Army quarterback A.J. Schurr in their Army-Navy game on Dec. 13, 2014, in Baltimore. Navy won 17-10.1. The pageantry that is Army-Navy. (Side question: If you are a Midshipman support do you say, “Navy-Army game” as opposed to the normal way?) The student support is second-to-none for this annual season-ending showdown between the academies. Yes, the outcome has been decidedly Navy in recent memory. Navy has won the last 13 in the series, including last year’s closer-than-expected 17-10 win.
2. Enjoy the last weekend before the bowls crank up. Yes, the first round of bowl games are less than thrilling, but they are still bowl games. Plus, we certainly will have some entertainment at risk come next weekend so there’s that. Plus the fact that the Star Wars comes out next Friday and it has already set box office records on pre-sale tickets alone. (Side note: Our 8-year-old loves, Loves, LOVES him some Star Wars. In fact, he turned the corner this morning and asked, “What happens when a Jedi master goes looking for a Camry? A To-YODA-thon. He gets it from his mother.)
3. Turn the honey-do list into a honey-done list. Sure, schedule around the 3 p.m. kick of the Army-Navy (or Navy-Army) game, but this is an ideal weekend to finish your shopping or your decorating or what have you. If you are ahead of the curve, then bully for you. Here’s an idea: Tell the Mrs. to go do her thing, you’ve got the kids and make it work. In truth, you probably need to pay it forward for a fall spent gorging yourself at the college football buffet every Saturday like it was the all-you-can-eat special at Wally’s in East Ridge. And you know this to be true. As for an idea with the tots: Try bowling. Or maybe High Point downtown. Either way, if things run long, there are TVs in the alleys or you can dip into Mellow Mushroom for the start of Army-Navy (or Navy-Army).
4. Class of the FCS. Here’s hoping North Dakota State (the defending champ) and Jacksonville State find their way to Frisco for the FCS title game. That would be the matchup of the four-time defending champ, and the best team in the FCS. JSU is 11-1, and that lone loss was at Auburn in a game JSU should have won and outplayed the SEC Tigers. (Side note: The teams that outplayed Auburn this year is not a real exclusive club, for what it’s worth.)
Thomas Rhett 5. Go get your Riverbend pins. What a great last-minute Christmas idea, right? Plus, with this news that Thomas Rhett and Heart will be in attendance, why wait. You know you are going to go.
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Pop being Pop
We get it. Gregg Popovich is a Hall of Famer and has become the lovable grump who gets a pass for being somewhat ornery because he was overly kind to cancer-stricken Craig Sager.
Cool.
Dude has introduced a lot to the game, notably the wise move of resting players in appropriate points of the regular season. It’s obviously paid dividends because the Spurs are on the short-list of best franchises in all of sports in this generation and long-time veterans such as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are still contributing at a high level.
This week, Pop made news by saying he hates the 3-pointer. (That said, the headlines on these stories compared to the actual quotes are misleading. We hate it when that happens.)
Here’s the latest rant in which he calls it a “circus sort of thing.”
In a lot of ways, that’s Pop being Pop, getting attention with basketball wisdom akin to “turn down that Rock-n-Roll music” and “get off my lawn.” And that’s OK.
In fact, that he embraces the value of the 3 despite hating it shows the level of his greatness. He hates the 3 – while at best old-school and bordering on curmudgeony – but the Spurs use it. It’s not unlike Saban’s Alabama team playing with pace or Belichick’s bunch throwing it 50 times.
Do what you have to do with what you have. That’s a 10-word sentence to describe a truly great coach.
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Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James smiles as he watches from the bench as he sits out the game during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Miami Heat and the Cavaliers, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015, in Miami. Cavaliers coach David Blatt says he made the decision in part because James logged 45 minutes in Cleveland’s overtime loss at New Orleans on Friday night. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) This and that
– Here’s a report that LeBron’s lifetime deal with Nike will be worth at least $500 million. We’d be surprised if it’s not closer to $1 billion to be honest, and considering the amount of product LeBron will help them move, Nike comes out on the good end of the deal.
– Speaking of a lot of coin, here’s the list of which singers made the most money this year
– Antonio Brown was fined more than $11,000 for his TD celebration that included an amorous move against the goal post. As one Pittsburgh columnist wrote, we wonder what the NFL’s scrotum protocol is after Brown led with groin in the full-speed embrace of the post.
– Yes, it was against the interior-challenged Lakers, but Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 26 and 14 last night for Minnesota in an overtime win. For the year, the former Kentucky star is better than 15 points, nine boards and two blocks a night. Nice.
– College football awards banquet is tonight. Here’s a run down of the nominees.
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Today’s question
Mailbag folks. (Got you MT, and feel a little like Thornton Melon with a question with that many parts.)
OK, let’s share a little knowledge.
On this day in 1884, Huckleberry Finn was first published. Mark Twain is certainly in the discussion of folks we’d have in our dream foursome for 18 holes of golf and a few Co-Colas afterward.
With that, what’s your Rushmore of great novels? Go.
(And leave the Grishman books off, OK, Spy?)