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Lines We Care About (Bowl Edition)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on December 14th, 2009 under Football
It's almost here. After a weekend of watching Army/Navy (is that really even football?), the entertaining 1AA blizzard game semifinals, and the D2 Northwest Missouri State Bearkats finally win a championship game, I'm ready for some actual football. So, without further ado, the opening lines from actual football:
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Lines We Care About (Week 14)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on November 30th, 2009 under Football
In addition to the regular recitation of lines that are available in nearly every paper in America, I'll take a look at some bowl projections for the teams we've been following. Our non-con foes fared well, aside, of course, from Illinois. Also, Dave Christiansen's Cowboys shocked the world by getting bowl eligible in his first season. It's all anyone is talking about.
Also, I'd like to get something off my chest - this college football season
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Lines We Care About (Week 13)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on November 23rd, 2009 under Football
The end of the regular season is upon us - kind of snuck up on me. It's been a wild ride for Tiger fans. The season peaked, unfortunately, at the Ed against Illinois. That was followed with some ebbing and some flowing, some ups and some downs, and then bottoming out when a harmless little private Baptist school came to call. The team responded well, though, and went on the road to dismantle KSU and
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Lines We Care About (Week 12)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on November 16th, 2009 under Football
What a difference a week makes. I care again. And care deeply. A thorough demolition of the K-State Wildcats has restored my faith in humanity and re-focused my football attention. Thank you, Danario.
Mizzou started out a dog against the Wildcats, but by the end of the week was favored by a point. The smart money was especially smart. All other favorites won, and in fact, covered. That
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Lines We Care About (Week 10)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on November 2nd, 2009 under Football
MillieMartha the Passenger Pigeon was right on time this week with the lines.
Lots of good games this week with four home underdogs, a recipe for excitement. Last week brought us several good games, one of which was not Okie State taking on Texas. I am now duly impressed with Texas. I didn't see much of the game what with trick or treating and beer drinking, but what I saw showed that Okie
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Lines We Care About (Week 9)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on October 28th, 2009 under Football
Sorry this is late. If this tardiness has thrown off your gambling week I apologize. I should warn you though that the lines here are not from Vegas or Danny Sheridan or any other reputable source. The lines are delivered to me every week by a passenger pigeon, the last of its kind. The bird is 95 years old, bless her tasty soul. From where Martha the pigeon gets
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Lines We Care About (Week 8)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on October 19th, 2009 under Football
I can't believe we're already to week 8. Mizzou is halfway through the regular season schedule and sitting at 4-2. Preseason that sounded reasonable, yet I sit here disappointed. Gabbert playing better than expected and the defense indeed living up to Gene Claude's expectations of strength combined to raise my hopes for the '09 Tigers. Two disappointing double-digit losses have tempered my enthusiasm. Well, a win this weekend would untemper
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Lines We Care About (Week 6)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on October 5th, 2009 under Football
Finally. The Big 12 is playing the Big 12 this week. No longer do we have to be embarrassed by our poor showing against non-conference opponents and we can focus on conference embarrassments. Regarding last week's games, I would like to present an open question to the readers: would OU have lost with Sam Bradford? I only saw the second half and my answer to that question based on that limited knowledge is "yes." Reminded
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Lines We Care About (Week 5)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on September 28th, 2009 under Football
This week's slate is sparse. Let me tell you, there are more byes in the schedule than attended the last Lillith Fair. *rimshot*
Only six games involving Big 12 teams and five conference teams taking the week off. I believe there's a Tony Robbins retreat scheduled at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City - Pinkel, Mangino, Gundy, Brown, and Pelini are going to better themselves and maybe even walk on some fire.
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Lines We Care About (Week 4)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on September 21st, 2009 under Football
The early lines are out and reveal probably the most boring week of Big 12 football to date. Three teams take on teams from the Furman subdivision and nary a one has the balls to play a team from the BCS conference. Oklahoma and Colorado are so disgusted they've decided to bag the whole weekend.
Boring or not, we still care, so here we go:
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Lines We Care About (Week 3)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on September 14th, 2009 under Football
An interesting slate for Week 3. All 12 teams are playing and, happily, the conference season kicks off with the Longhorns seeking revenge on the Red Raiders for ruining 2008. The ten other games involve opponents from four BCS conference teams and just one 1AA team. The lines about which we care:
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Lines We Care About (Week 2)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on September 7th, 2009 under Football
Week one is in the books - a strong one for the Big 12. Only OU and CU lost, while Mizzou and Baylor pulled off upsets. KSU and ISU lived up to expectations by letting D1A teams hang with them. A&M exceed expectations by obliterating New Mexico and Okie State scored a big one for the conference by offing an SEC powerhouse. UT, KU, NU, and TT easily handled their weak opponents. Week two is
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The Lines! OMG, the Lines!
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on September 1st, 2009 under Football
Feels good to present the opening lines again for the Big 12 games. There are just three or four competitive games this week, which isn't a surprise because nobody plays anybody in the non-con. Still, those three games promise to be spellbinding. Four of the Big 12 games go lineless as the opponents aren't deemed worthy of a line (in Iowa State's case, I'm not sure whether it's the Cyclones or North Dakota State that doesn't warrant
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Big 12 Bowled Over
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on January 11th, 2009 under
Rightly or wrongly, people use the bowl season as a measuring stick for the conferences. In a way it makes sense, what with all bowls featuring interconference battles. In another, more logical way, it's inappropriate because of the small sample size and the analysis coming down to random matchups in random locations. Whatever. It happens, and if you can't beat them, join them. And try to do it smarter. Here goes.
Before the bowls, I analyzed the
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Lines We Care About (and other stuff)(Bowl Edition)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on December 11th, 2008 under
I figure this is the last chance to care about lines, so I'm going to care about all of them (Scipio can make you care about the really bad ones). And that's a whole hell of a lot of caring - there are 34 bowl games! Fifty-seven percent of all D1-A schools go bowling. I'm not really complaining because I say the more football the better, but being a bowl team isn't a big deal any more.