Ultra Sports Bet

Now that the smoke has cleared and I have had a day or two to reflect on what was a pretty decent bowl season, it’s time now to look back at what happened and how I did in my predictions. In a word (two, actually), not great. My final record was 15-16-1. Though that’s obviously a slight loss, I feel okay about it. I would obviously would have looked to have done better, but it should be equally obvious that I would normally never play all 32 games, nor would I make all my picks a week before the first …read more

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Not much is exciting me about today’s college schedule, so I am going to take a pass on the day. That doesn’t mean I’m not excited about something, though – the Kansas-Missouri game tonight is everything that is great about college football.
Thanks to LSU’s loss yesterday, this is the second straight year where we have a huge rivalry game to end the year with the number one ranking on the line for the winner. Kansas is the de facto number one already, and there is a good chance that Missouri would take the top spot with a convincing win. To …read more

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You Americans have the best holidays. Thursday’s full of NFL action, and then a full slate of college football on Fridays. A bunch of great college basketball tournament play to boot. And big freaking balloons invading Broadway. Life is good.
Three college football games intrigue me on Friday:
Central Michigan (-2.5) at Akron – The Akron offense has been struggling for the most part recently. Central Michigan never seems to falter offensively against teams of this caliber. I’ll take the explosive offense to win by less than a field goal. Pick: Central Michigan
Texas (-6) at Texas A&M – Texas has an outside …read more

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What a horrendously boring day of football this has been so far. Two games and two totally predictable mismatches. Tonight’s NFL offering doesn’t promise to be any better, either. Thankfully, the college ranks are providing an intriguing game:
USC (-3) at Arizona State – I think that it’s a bit of an insult that ASU is a home dog in this game given how the seasons have gone. More importantly, I think that ASU will view it as an insult. They are an explosive team who suddenly has the Pac-10 championship in their grasp despite their loss to Oregon. They will …read more

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Five games capture my attention this weekend. None of them, of course, will be nearly as interesting to me as watching my beloved Wolverines crush the life out of the Buckeyes will be.:
Western Michigan (+14.5) at Iowa – Western Michigan is hit and miss and have not been a great team to bet on this year. that being said, I like them here. It comes down not to what they bring to the table, but rather that I have no faith in Iowa’s ability to beat anyone by more than two touchdowns right now. Pick: Western Michigan.
Iowa State …read more

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Oregon (-10) at Arizona – I’m going to play this game because I have a good streak going on Thursday nights, and to give you all something to read, but it’s one I would probably pass most days. On the surface, I really like Oregon here. The Wildcats only have an average defense, and they look better than they really are thanks to their two game winning streak. They have won two in a row by beating up on struggling teams – Washington and UCLA. In both cases they gave up more points than I would have liked. I …read more

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There are four games that have caught my eye this weekend because of the value they offer:

Indiana (-1.5) at Northwestern – This is a game between two teams who are better than they have been in recent years, but still are a long way from being great. Of the two, though, I think Indiana is further ahead. It hasn’t been a smooth road, and they were struggling before a big win last week, but I think that their offense has more depth and is a bit more reliable. Northwestern has had big wins, but they seem to be playing above …read more

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Louisville (+17) at West Virginia – I have been wildly disappointed by Louisville this year. I had high hopes, and they have repeatedly been dashed. I’m not nearly pessimistic enough about the team and what has occurred, though, to believe that 17 points against West Virginia is a fair spread. Louisville hasn’t lost by near this much this year, they are playing better in recent weeks, and they are going to be up for this game because it is a shot at a little redemption in a year that desperately needs some. West Virginia is very good, but the value …read more

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There are just a few college games that stick out this week.
Kansas (-3.5) at Colorado – The Jayhawks are a huge surprise this year with their undefeated record. Colorado is much better than they are supposed to be, too. Colorado is coming off a bad loss, though, while Kansas has covered every time out. I expect them to do the same here. Pick: Kansas
Stanford (+14) at Arizona – Neither team is very good, but Stanford is playing with heart as of late. They had the huge upset over USC and then they hung tight with TCU. That’s two …read more

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Here are some of the things that have caught my eye heading into the weekend of action:

The Trojans just can’t catch a break. USC’s charter plane plummeted during a thunderstorm on the way to South Bend. People were thrown from their seats, there was lots of screaming, and the pilot had to abort the initial landing attempt. Reports are that the team is shaken. I have no idea how to factor this into the handicapping, but thankfully I don’t have to worry about it – USC and Notre Dame are both so troubled that I wouldn’t touch the game with …read more

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