OT: PAC 12 @ Week 8-Ball: A Smoker of an October Stays Hot-t-t!

This was so easy even the AP got it exactly right: "an emotional win, giving their interim coach a victory in his first game while sending UCLA’s coach possibly closer to losing his job." Only w/o the "possibly," let’s hope. Anyway, yeah: Foles went all modest on us (only 3!), ’cause suddenly there was a…running game! 250 yds worth, for cripes sake. Somewhere Stoops is saying WTF?!?

[cf. http://www.camdenchat.com/2011/10/13/2487401/ot-pac-12-week-7-warm-up-your-chip-raking-arm-again]

If GT hadn’t lost to UVa last week, they’d be favorites here. Take GT to beat/win.

Barner we knew about, but scrubino Bennett is getting his chance to prove he’s really, y’know, Somebody. And he could well be.

Holy crap, an 18-8 October ATS. As L. Harper had it, I must be physic!

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.

Zona 48-12 [see above]

No. 9/10 Orygun [-30 ½] @ Colo

How good – or how deep, anyway – this yr’s Orygun model is may be examined this time around as two heart-o’-the-O players, James and Thomas, may or may not play. Frankly, Thomas means a lot more spread-wise, so check his status this a.m. if you can. If it looks like he WILL go, take the 30.5. Sure, they might get it it w/o him (I’m down regardless) but hey, if you can wait longer…

OR 45-2. Yeah, and w/o both of ‘em. CO isn’t exactly a great test, but still: deep. Very deep. Bennett’s numbers are modest, but he def knows what he’s doing.

Utah @ Cal [-3]

Two identically frustrated and frustrating teams – both 3-3/0-3 – are gonna fight it out for a better shot at some Mediocrity Bowl berth 8 or 9 wks from now. I sorta like (not love) UT to beat here, if only for their good DEF show last wk @ Pitt. Cal meanwhile is on a nice losing roll at 3 straight, and could wake up all angry about it. But I ain’t betting on that.

Cal 34-10. It’s morning in the East Bay. It was D that did it, all right, but the other guys’. Anyway, book Cal for the Starbucks-Kleenex Bowl or sth: all they gotta do is beat UCLA, OSU and Wazoo – def doable – before losing to STA and ASU.

USC @ Notre Dim [- 8 ½]

This spread reflects one of the Iron Laws of Handicapping — "Notre Dame at Home" – but I’ve seen too many exceptions prove that rule, thx. All right, no, I’m not HAPPY taking the Rubbers to beat here, what with their consistent inability to play an entire game this season. But still, Barkley is going to put up enough to keep this under 8.5, which I’m willing to attest with via some pretty sizeable rubles.

SC 31-17. No surprise here, and I hope you too laid down big. Good to see (for the conf’s sake) Barkley get one in the 4th, i.e. SC can stick to business late, if they try. Should be ranked now, which will help STA.

No. 22/25 U Dub @ No.7/8 Snodfart [-21]

STA finally gets to play a ranked team – and my sense of it is they’re gonna take a big, whomping advantage of the situation and run the score up…if they can. This won’t be easy, as Luck & Co. are often 2nd-half starters, whereas Price can put 4 on you in the 1st half – and the STA sans-Skov secondary is the most suspect element of this tantalizingly almost-but-not-quite "complete team." So I’m taking Luck to beat, watching between fingers and betting…responsibly.

STA 65-21. Played to form score-wise, although the curious thing is: it was mostly on the ground. Neither Luck nor Price had that much to do, and STA set a school ground rec w/, gulp, 446 [!]. Looks like a frickin’ TYPO.

OSU @ Wazoo [-3]

Maybe Tuel will get back on track this wk after having his lunch handed to him by the Snodfart Thunder Chicken D last Sat. Lobbestael could do the job here, y’know, so if there’s any doubt…The point is, Coogs, pick one or the other and go w/ him—don’t frickin’ "rotate." The Punkins really suck – except at underexploiting their player talent – so if you’d just choose who’s gonna be Your Guy, he’ll beat ‘em (and this 3).

OSU 44-21. Does anybody EVER listen? Wazoo splits the QB time DESPITE MY SPECIFIC WARNING and gets blown right outta there. How do you like THEM pumpkins?!? Sure, congrats to OSU for (finally) organizing and getting talent-efficient, but c’mon…

Regional Pick o’ the Wick: N. Mex @ TCU [-41]

And under the heading of potential Stoopidest Bet o’ the Week, we have one of those scary Monster Spread things that nobody in his right mind would put a lot o’ dough on, with the possible exceptions of people who (a) saw Snodfart beat -41 SC at the Coliseum in ’07 and (b) have reached the death-wish/don’t-care level of, say, Jesse Pinkman. Anyway, I’m sayin’ the hapless Lobos remain unhapped and Les Horny Frenchmen cover. Deal with it.

TCU 69-0. Let’s get the stoopid joke over with right away: yes, the Horny Pierres got into some 69 action (or sth) and set a conf scoring rec, btw. And no, the missed PAT was NOT the last one – get your mind out of the gutter. (The Skins once had 69 on the Giants, led by 20-sth in the 4th, and kicked a FG for 72…from which one smutty-minded friend of mine has never recovered.) Not sure of the N Mex 87 TNY is also a conf futility rec. Anyway, it’s nice to be right on a -41, but let’s not get carried away here.