By Carl Mohrbacher
Mike Luce, our man on campus, is on campus this week. He will return next week.
Have those of us who, um, are not very fond of Notre Dame ever wanted USC to win a game more badly than today?
Have so many spiteful dreams ever rested on the shoulders of a freshman quarterback named Max?
Are Notre Dame players really so eager for this game that they are eating noisily?
Do we possibly despise Lane Kiffin enough to root for a tie? (Yes and no.)
And is this true?
Notre Dame is the 5 1/2-point favorite, with Over/Unders generally floating between 45 1/2 and 46 1/2.
Even in the Los Angeles Coliseum, it’s hard to see the Trojans winning this game, and the spread would probably be wider if there weren’t so many Irish-haters betting with their hearts and not their heads.
Notre Dame is going to the BCS championship game, folks.
And that’s where they’ll have their asses handed to them; ‘Bama is already projected as a 10-point favorite.
So a Lane Kiffin loss today and a Crimson Tide win later satisfy the strongest urges of spiteful gamblers – with the biggest payoff.
Big Tent
Who knows how much longer Michigan and Ohio State will play in the same conference? Ohio State could end up in the SEC and Michigan in the Pac 10 considering the way things are going. Remember when these teams would fight to the death each year for the right to play in the Rose Bowl against USC or UCLA? Those were the days. Times were simpler then.
Ohio State is the 4-point favorite and while the Blue Maize might keep this one close, in the end the Buckeyes will cover like, um, cream on corn.
*
Michigan State is at Minnesota and while that 8-point spread is appealing, remember that the Gophers have feasted on bad teams this season and failed against even moderately talented teams. Sparty will party.
*
Northwestern is a whopping 19-point favorite at home against the absolutely awful Illini and it’s hard to disagree, but point spreads that big, which aren’t uncommon in the college game, can also be dangerous. Plus, we hate Northwestern around here at least as much as we hate Notre Dame, if not more. Pass.
*
Wisconsin is a 2- to 3-point underdog in Happy Valley today, depending on whether your book goes by the Mirage or the Stations line. The Mirage happens to still be our favorite casino in Vegas even if it now almost qualifies as old-school, but either way we see a real opportunity here. Badgers, babies!
*
We have no interest and nothing to say about Indiana at Purdue in the Boring Bowl.
The CFR FRC
It’s interstate rivalry week and The College Football Report Free Range Chicken will be in the field monitoring from the skies.
Florida State is a 7-point favorite over Florida, which looks like a good opportunity to take the Gators and put on some Molly Hatchet.
*
Lord, the Over/Under for the Oregon-Oregon State game is 66. Pick up some brewski, take the Over and make a game of it.
*
Lord, the Over/Under for the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game is 72! Pick up some weed, take the Under and make a, um, game of it. In your mind.
*
Mississippi State is a 1 1/2-point underdog at Ole Miss. Pass.
*
Texas State is playing Texas-San Antonio and neither of them is Texas A&M. Pass.
*
Virginia Tech hosts Virginia and is a 10-point favorite. Wow, nerds really are ascendant. Take Tech.
*
Georgia is a 14-point favorite of Georgia Tech. Revenge of the non-nerds.
The Beachwood Sports Seal
The Over/Under of the Texas Tech-Baylor game is 79 and the Seal plans to pick up some brewski and some weed, place that Over bet and make a weekend of it.
–
Comments welcome.
Posted on November 24, 2012