Week 13 continued (Saturday)

I went to bed and it was 24-7 Boise. I wake up, and the dream ends. Hard to believe. The South exhales.

Something has to be said about football uniforms. It's a MFing epidemic. In the NFL, you can't find a game where the two teams are wearing their normal uniforms. The Bears have worn those stupid throwbacks twice(with names on the back and helmets from today). If you can't replicate the uniforms from decades ago(leather helmets, high top cleats, tiny shoulder pads) then just forget it. Is there some sort of clamoring for throwback uni's. (And while I'm at it, the only throwback uni I actually want to see is the Fouts era Air Coryell unis with the royal blue and yellow pants, but there has been a steadfast refusal to wear them, or people just forget about some of the coolest uniforms any team has ever worn. Have the Chargers disowned that those teams or something? If it isn't the throwbacks, it's the alternates, like the Bears or Dolphins orange, or various blacks. Terrible. Don't even get me started on college. We get treated to these abominations known as the Nike pro combat uniforms in what seems to be every week. The newest additions were shown in the Backyard brawl yesterday, with WV wearing rusty garbage cans on their heads. Earlier this year, we were treated to the "exploding brain/shotgun blast to the head" Air Force helmets. Add that to the myriad of programs pandering to the military with these camo tinged uniforms with things like 'Pride" "Committment" and "Honor" substituted for the names on the back. This from programs whose players were probably hurling their girlfriends through plate glass windows or breaking someone's skull at a bar fight the night before. I've really had enough. Here's the exploding brain helmets by the way.

5-3 to start after the Boise debacle, though I'm sure some didn't get Oregon at 18 where I did. That one should have an asterisk, I guess, or we can call it 5-3-1. Whatever. I must also note that in 2 cases, teams that the musings were on made significant comebacks...Auburn and Arizona St(down 17-0 as a 12 point favorite). Can't bitch about that, can I?

9. @Purdue -3 v Indiana: I have some reservations on this one because Purdue has looked so bad at times on offense this year, but how can you pass up a chance to fade Indiana on the road laying only a FG? Answer: You cant. Indiana has been somewhat worthy of your money when they play at home, but as we all know, it's been a different story on the road, as it has been every year under Lynch. Even when they play well and are supposed to cover they don't. As long as Purdue has Rob Henry back there playing QB, they are mildly dangerous, and good enough to compete in the BIg Ten, as their game with a disinterested Michigan State showed last week Defensively, they are actually pretty decent, ranked in the top half of the country in YPP. Indiana can't stop a soul on defense. On a neutral, this would probably go down to the wire, but not at Purdue.

10. Michigan State -1 1/2 @Penn State: Frankly, when I saw that Penn State was being dogged at home here, to a team that hasn't ever really been close to beating them in Happy Valley, I was ready to pull the trigger on the Nits. After looking at this one closely, though, I have to go with Michigan State. Earlier this year, Penn State's major problem was it's offense under the freshman Bolden, but it masked the fact that their defense has niot been very good all year. They are ranked 70th in total defense(ypp), 83rd against the run and 72nd in pass efficiency defense. Michigan State is a pretty good offensive team, and they are going to be ready to play coming off the clunker performance against Purdue and fighting for a share of the conference crown. If the Nits can get MSU into 3rd down spots, they might have a shot because they are strangely good defensively on 3rd down(6th) and MSU is strangely bad offensively on 3rd down(83rd), but overall, MSU has been much better than Penn State on both sides of the ball. teams like Minnesota and Indiana have hung with PSU effectively this year, albeit away from happy valley. I also think that a 12 noon kickoff reduces the home field edge a bit.

11. @Utah -8 1/2 v BYU: Despite Utah's tough stretch lately, I still think they are a solid squad. Historically, they seem to get the better of the Holy War matchups..when they are better, they blow out BYU, when BYU is better, they give them a good game. This year, as well know, BYU has not been itself. They've come back lately to get themselves bowl eligible, but when you have a 4 game stretch against a bunch of collective circle jerks (Wyoming, Colorado St, UNLV and New Mexico) and 3 of them are at home, it's no wonder you strung together a couple wins. Now they go back on the road against real competition, and that has not been a pretty picture for BYU, having lost to Utah State soundly among non-competitive games with AF, Florida St and TCU. They can't throw the ball at all, and Utah can stop the run. I think it will be more of the same for BYU.

12. @Cal -7 v Washington: I can't believe how favorite heavy I am this week...almost every game is a square bet, too, but this seems to be the case on Thanksgiving weekend. Home Cal laying only 7 to a shitty team like Washington? Wow. I realize that Brock Mansion is about the worst QB to suit up for a BCS team in decades, but even he can lead a drive or 3 against this terrible Washington defense, especially when he has Shane Vereen to hand the ball off to. Defensively, cal will put the clamps on the wildly overrated Jake Locker, and bounce back from that terrible performance they had against Stanford last week.

13 @Oklahoma St -2 1/2 v Oklahoma: At least that's the spread on Bet US. Oklahoma has lost 2 games previously to Missouri and Texas A&M on the road, and I would submit that this will be their toughest test of the 3. Oklahoma, contrary to popular belief is not that good on either side of the ball statistically. They are 61st in total offense, 102nd in rushing pards per carry. They are 68th against the run defensively. Oklahoma St, on the other hand is better than Oklahoma on both sides of the ball. They are explosive as well, able to score from anywhere. They had a tough go defensively when Nebraska came in there, but other than that, they have been pretty good defeensively by their standards. Oklahoma will have to play extremely well to win this game. they've owned the pokes recently, but I don't think they match up well this year.

Others. I like BC getting 3 at Syracuse. neither team will be able to do much offensively, but BC is a borderline elite defense, and has the better playmakers on offense. I'll take the 3 there. Syracuse has trouble winning tough games in which they are favored......I lean to Ohio St laying 16.5 at home to michigan. OSU should be able to name the score offensively because as with every offense, they are a terrible matchup for michigan's defense, but Tressel has a penchant for conservative play that does not translate to covering big spreads, especially when Michigan is capable of scoring like they are. That was very close to a musing.....Also like Cincinnati to beat UCONN at UCONN. The Huskies have had all kinds of trouble stopping spread attacks over the years, and Cincy looks like they are back to competence with the return of Zack Collaros. Cincy also stops the run(ranked 7th) so UCONN will have a hard time doing what they do. You can pass on the Bearcats, but UCONN sucks at that.....I think the Cats are in for a long day in Madison, but 24 is a bit much to lay for a musing. Since Bielema is such as asshole, and an admittedly dumb one at that since he readily admits he is too mind-numbingly stupid to deviate at all from the 2 point conversion "card",the chance for a 35 point win in there. This is especially true with Evan Watkins barking the signals instead of Dan Persa. That's it. Sorry for the lateness....