College Football - The Dead Zone

Here we are, back in action!  Four out of five weeks makes it a habit right?  No wait, that’s doing something 7 times…let’s not get crazy, TOB has serious responsibilities outside of this article.  These responsibilities include…well, nothing comes to mind, but they exist (bowling every other Sunday is pretty intense, yeah, that’s the ticket!).  Not much going on this weekend on the old CFB front, which makes it a great time to do some housekeeping and incoherent rambling (a TOB favorite!).  But first, the “Commercial that is currently making TOB laugh.”  Nothing much this week, going to the way back machine, to a time before HD ruled the airwaves (apparently, the video quality is terrible, but the message is clear):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkvhnRAd4V0

Ah, what a classic.  Wonder what that little fella is up to these days.  These are the thoughts that keep TOB from advancing in life.

Last week TOB was spot on (for once, so please remember this when my bowl picks cost you 60% of your 401k – if you have any left after this week’s tank job on Wallstreet – just follow TOB’s financial adviser who no matter the circumstance pronounces, “Now is definitely not the time to sell!”  Apparently the time to sell is the day after your financial adviser retires…).

Now that we are to the end of the regular college football season (Army/Navy aside – take Navy and the points, these games are always lose, should be a field goal game) it is time to reflect on some things we learned:

1 – TOB should continue his betting abstinence because success with paper betting does not equal success with actual betting

2 – Uban Meyer is one of the most predictable human beings in the public eye (Trump being on the other end of that spectrum).  Several years of success, several scandals shoved under the rug until the one big one cannot be ignored and he splits for “health reasons.”  In this day and age of prescription medicine taking up half of the advertising space, we all have “health concerns” that could keep us home if we chose.  Are you feeling good (anxious), bad (depressed), or indifferent (malaise)?  We have a pill for you!  But, the side effects are such that you will also need this pill, and this one, and this one…

3 – The college football committee gets it right, but isn’t all that different than the BCS.  The only difference is ESPN/FOX/NBC can interview Rob Mullens or Frank Beamer after the rankings are announced.  The BCS was an aggregation of all the things the committee takes into account.  But TOB, we have the “eye test” now.  That’s terrific, I’m sure the “eye test” is great at ignoring bias.  Go back to the BCS and eliminate the committee, it’s inconsequential. 

4 – TOB continues to be a macro predictor than a micro predictor.  Hooray for how the final four ended up!  If you took TOB’s advice last week, I’ll be looking for that 10% any day now.  Three great games are in our future…very far into the future.

This week, TOB makes gut reaction picks to the bowl games.  These are non-researched, 5 second predictions (which may be more than TOB usually puts into the picks) meant to show complete bias.  Next week, TOB reaches out to Robert the Cheech and TOB’s number 1 female fan Sarah Bagley-Whealan to change picks as needed.  That’s right, like all the good sports sites we will do paralysis by analysis!  Initial picks (subject to change):

Tulane (-3) over LA Lafayette

North Texas (+7.5) over Utah State

Fresno State (-4.5) over Arizona State

GA Southern (-1) over Eastern Michigan

App State (-7) over Middle Tennessee

UAB (-2.5) over Northern Illinois

Ohio (-3) over San Diego State

Marshall (-2.5) over South Florida

Toledo (-6.5) over Florida International

Western Michigan (+12) over BYU

Memphis (-5) over Wake Forest

Army (-3) over Houston

Buffalo (-2.5) over Troy

Hawaii (-1) over Louisiana Tech

Boise State (-3) over Boston College

Georgia Tech (-3.5) over Minnesota

TCU over Cal (pickem)

Temple (-3) over Duke

Miami (-3.5) over Wisconsin

Vandy (-3.5) over Baylor

Auburn (-4) over Pudue

West Virginia (-2.5) over Syracuse

WSU (-3.5) over Iowa State

South Carolina (-4) over Virginia

Florida (+7.5) over Michigan

Arkansas State (-1.5) over Nevada

Notre Dame (+11) over Clemson

Oklahoma (+14) over Alabama

Cincinnati (-5) over Va Tech

Stanford (-6.5) over Pitt

Oregon (-3) over MSU

Oklahoma State (+7.5) over Mizzou

Utah (-6.5) over Northwestern

Texas A&M (-4.5) over NC State

Mississippi State (-6.5) over Iowa

UCF (+7.5) over LSU

Penn State (-6) over Kentucky

Ohio State (-6.5) over Washington

Texas (+10.5) over Georgia

Next week, we start all over.  Yay for recycled content!

GO IRISH!

-Tonyonball