OT: PAC 12 Week 7: Warm up your chip-raking arm-- again!

1. SC beats Cal 2-nite, Thurs., @ AT& T in SF, @ 9 ET

2. Hawaii Pearl Harbors San Jose Fri. night, down there just off 101 South, also @ 9 ET.

Still not convinced Utah beats the 7 though. that’s a weird spread, but maybe its another sucker bet.

Watched the 2nd half— which was an all too typical SC 2nd half: 3 pts from scrimmage. Barkley can’t get anything done after halftime, for whatever reasons; the team is deep into its self-congratulatory We Are SC stupor, and a 20 pt lead (here 23) is not really safe.

This Rubber club could easily lose 3 more games this yr. The help they’ve been getting from marginal teams/players will dry up soon enough…

Ahahahaha: a pie-throwing contest at which a football game threatened to break out several times, but never did. The 12 turnovers lead the FSB this yr (which’ll prolly hold up). Calling this mess “exciting,” as the doofus announcers did, was simply ESPN-speak for the actual word: “crappy.”

At least they didn’t resort to the ol’ reliable for close-score games, “exciting,” which this was at exactly one point: when prudent bettors realized they were about to lose their 6-cover— many no doubt for the 1st time ever this way— on a blocked XP returned 90+ yds for 2 pts, leaving HA up 27-22 (instead of 28- or 27-20).

At least THAT didn’t happen, as HA’s secondary shifted immediately into Dresden mode, making sure they lost to SJ at 101 Stadium for the 1st time in 14 yrs. Pretty unbelievable. Um, excuse me here, I have to go throw up breakfast.

Well, actually, it’s well PAST the crisis point. And while the BCS system is a Bad Thing, it isn’t the heart of the problem. By a long shot.

So this thing is OK as far as it goes, Mr. Dago St. prez, but…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/college-football-has-reached-a-crisis-point/2011/10/07/gIQAB4VskL_story.html?hpid=z3

Sounds great, ‘o course, long as you can keep yourself from wallowing in the This SHOULDA Been 7-0 trough. Which it shoulda. But c’mon, let’s Person Up and get over it. Hey, 13-6 ATS for Oct. rocks.

SC [-3] @ Cal:
Everybody likes SC here, and so do I. Barkley is hot, Maynard is not – I liked one guy’s note that he had "accuracy issues" – and this is only a semi-home game for Cal anyway (at AT&T/SF). The Rubbers aren’t a great team, but they oughtta cover easily enough here.

SC 30-9 [See above]

Utah @ Pitt [-7]:
This wk’s mystery game. Pitt has one good win (SF) and y’know what? That’s all UT has by Wk 7 too (@ BYU). The rest of their seasons have been close losses and stunning mediocrities, respectively, so this game is basically the Scratching Toward Eligibility Bowl. Take UT to beat, I guess, but Please Bet Responsibly.

UT 26-14. If SJS-HA was a clown show, this was frickin’ Jerry Lewis. Utah looked dazed – but compared to limp-dick Pitt, who couldn’t score from scrimmage, even the Utes non-tackling, getting kicks blocked, snapping over their punter’s head and running out of bounds instead of stopping the clock couldn’t lose it. Just awful – be glad you won a few rubles and forget it.

Colo @ U Dub [-14 ½]:
Yeah, OK, CO is prolly a lot better than most 1-5 teams – and has better than 1-5 talent for sure. But they’re gonna lose this & the next two (OR, @ AS) regardless. Here Price is gonna throw 3 or 4, anyway, and Dub covers going away. Fasten seat belts.

Dub 52-24. Yeah, Price threw 4, all right – in the 1st half. If he can stay healthy, they may win 2 more games, possibly 3, and the Sort of OK Bowl looks pretty realistic. Snodfart next wk will be a good gut-check/index game.

BYU at OSU [-2 ½]:
How do you win one game and become a favorite against a winning team in Week 7? Leave it to the Beavs, who can lose to anybody at home and will here, what with no discernible running game or QB. Da Morms have been unimpressive several times, but they’re up to beating this.

BYU 38-28. Nothing much to note here. Mannion looked better than hopeless, I guess, but the Punkins would only be competitive in the WAC or the ACC or sth, and will lose at Wazoo next wk as Corn Valley continues its reincarnation as Suck City.

No. 18/20 ASU @ No. 9 Orygun [-16]:
On paper the marquee Game o’ the Wk, but it won’t be that close. The Scum Devils are deluding themselves if they think Osweiler is gonna go nuts in Autzen; he’ll do OK, and they won’t turn it over 7 times again (like last year), but OR is still gonna be OR. After some nice desert-rat scuffling, by midway in the 4th the spread’ll be covered for good.

OU 41-27. Playing out right on track until Thomas goes down and scrubino Bryant can only produce FG’s, to the dismay of Kelly and the crowd — and the nausea/horror of ‘cappers watching their easy-call cover dematerialize in the middle of the 4th. Damn. Hey, it happens.
 
No. 5/7 Snodfart [-21] @ Wazoo:
Wanna hear a nice line? "This is a chance for the Cougars to show their pluck." Ahahaha. Pluck you. And the Curse of the Palouse too. After doubting STA on the cover last time, I say they’ll make it here – even after Lobbestael gets his 3 or 4 – in what may be the highest scoring conf game of the yr. No, I don’t bet over/under. But if I did…
 
STA 44-14. After a drowsy half, Luck & Co. did THEIR part; but the (surprise) return of Tuel was not a smart move for WSU, turns out, and Lobbestael never got a chance to make this a game. So the Coogs looked pretty pluckless, and are gonna have to straighten up fast for the Mediocrity Bowl dream to come true.

Regional Peek o’ the Week: Hawaii [-6] @ San Jose:
HA is ready to hit this season’s take-off point – and SJS is a good place to do it, esp. w/o Rutley, the sort-of-OK RB who may not play. But I like HA here regardless, so get a couple good sacks o’ rubles down on this mismatch.

SJS 28-27 [See above, but carry a puke bag.]

UCLA @ Zona [-4]

How funny is NCAA fb? A 1-5 team can be a fave in Week 8 – and it makes sense. UCLA is a bumbling mess of low-end mediocrity coached by an enthusiastic incompetent; Zona has just gotten RID of its coach, who was theoretically competent but stopped winning. This is a classic Rally Round the New Coach game: watch Air Foles do a Desert Storm for 4 through the evening haze as Zona beats — and helps (please!) put Neuheisel out of our misery.