September 2007 - Posts
1) Albert Young averaged 7.5 yards per carry in the first half.
2) He only carried eight times in that half.
3) You miss 25-yard field goals and extra points, it's probably going to hurt you if you're ever in another close game.
4) Terry Hoeppner laid the groundwork for a nice program at Indiana before his extremely untimely death. He would have loved the way his Hoosiers played here.
5) Had there been enough people left in the stands to matter late in the game, the booing would have been loud. It was audible even with a sliver of the original crowd remaining.
6) Iowa will play better teams than Indiana. Starting next week with Penn State. But the Hawkeyes match up better with Penn State's traditional attack than the let-it-all-hang-out offenses of Indiana and Northwestern.
7) Oklahoma and Texas also got beat. That stuff about parity in college football these days is more than a cliche. It doesn't make it any easier to swallow when you're on the losing side.
8) Iowa's 7-game Big Ten losing streak is really going to be an embarrassment if it grows longer and longer. Both Penn State and the next week's opponent, Illinois, feel like they owe Iowa beatings.
9) Did you hear Indiana's name mentioned in recruiting rankings a few years ago when everybody in Hawkdom was going cuckoo over Iowa's so-called recruiting haul? No, you didn't.
10) The Hawkeyes aren't good.
Hello, lovers of free money.
1. Indiana +11 at Iowa: When the Hawkeyes start drilling teams other than Syracuse, we'll start believing they can drill teams other than Syracuse.
2. Michigan -16.5 at Northwestern: The Wildcats look like a high school team. They're little fellows.
3. Miami Ohio +1 vs. Syracuse: Two in a row for the Orange. We think not.
4. Alabama +2 vs. Florida State: The Seminoles are messed up.
5. N.C. State +9.5 vs. Louisville: The lines haven't caught up to the horror that is the Louisville defense.
6. USC -21 at Washington: Your top-ranked Trojans are a relentless, wicked team. The Huskies will pay.
7. Middle Tennessee State -9.5 vs. Florida International: All we know about this is every time we see a Florida International score, it's a massacre and Florida International is the one getting massacred.
As you were.
Tell everyone you know who enjoys getting top-rate college football handicapping advice that winners galore will be presented here Thursday.
Season record vs. the spread: 15-6, 71.4 percent.
Repeat: 15-6, 71.4 percent.
Why do I give you these slices of gold for free? Because I am a true humanitarian. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, people. Return here Thursday.
Hlastradamus went 4-3, nailed Iowa and Iowa State's games, and improved his season mark against the spread to 15-6, a fabulous 71.4 percent.
Do you believe in the sage yet? You should.
Hlastradamus doesn't have the same good feeling he had the previous two weeks, but will have another winning week on sheer guts and determination instead of athleticism and talent.
(Season record vs. the spread: 11-3)
1. Indiana +3 vs. Illinois: These are two teams on the rise. Indiana hasn't grabbed the oddsmakers' eyes yet. But the Hoosiers are going to a bowl game this year, and winning this game is one reason why.
2. Nebraska -23.5 vs. Ball State: The Cornhuskers will be hung over from getting routed by USC last week, but they need to turn right around and beat up on someone smaller than themselves or the state of Nebraska will implode.
3. Ohio State -22 vs. Northwestern: You don't lose to Duke at home and give Ohio State a good battle in Columbus. You just don't.
4. USC -25.5 vs. Washington State: Style points do count. USC, LSU, Oklahoma and Florida will need to smash opponents to not lose ground in the polls. The Trojans will do plenty of smashing this week.
5. Notre Dame +12 vs. Michigan State: There's no logic to this pick since the Fighting Irish are America's worst team, at any level, in any sport. But the Spartans aren't as good as their 3-0 record indicates, and it's their first road game.
6. Toledo +3.5 vs. Iowa State: Toledo's pretty rotten, too, especially on defense. Hosting a BCS conference team is a big deal for a Toledo, and the Rockets surely will want payback for their three-overtime loss at Ames last year. But USC is a much, much, much better play this week than Toledo.
7. Iowa +8 at Wisconsin: Just a hunch, and nothing more.
That's 11-3 vs. the Nevada pointspreads after a 6-1 performance Saturday.
That's 78.6 percent for the season.
That's insanely good. You need to hit on 53 percent of your picks to break even. If you hit on 58 percent or more, you can make a living. But if you hit on 79 percent, you can have a winter home in an island paradise, build a house with 32 bedrooms, put your kids through elite Eastern colleges. You could even drink wine with vintages that aren't "last Tuesday."
For the last two weeks, the Hlog has given you seven picks of college games against the spreads. It gave you a little reasoning behind each selection. The documented proof can be found elsewhere here.
Will the Hlog will keep feeding you winners here for free when tout services across America are selling their "expertise" and are ripping people off royally? You'd be crazy not to find out.
This week's picks will be released later this week. Keep checking here this week or information. The laws of mathematics says this bubble will burst. But what if this transcends those laws? What if the Hlog's instincts and reasoning keep this high level of success going all season long?
Tell your friends around the world to come here this week and check the Hlog's Pick 7. Hitch your wagon to this star.
I sit here in Jack Trice Stadium's press box looking over a darkened field. It's cold in here, and it's wet outside. It's 8 p.m.
That was some game, huh? Iowa and Iowa State, I mean. I get tired and bored of the press conferences, the hoop-dee-doo and hype, the weighty expectations of fans, the travel, glitches with unreliable wireless Internet that causes transmitting my columns to be an ever-frustrating affair, tailgates that I can't enjoy because I'm working, and much more woe-is-me nonsense that is nothing you (or I) should care about.
I want to see good games. I want drama. I want emotion, the good kind of emotion.
This game had it. Iowa State played valiantly, Iowa rebounded from its dormancy of the first-half that needs explaining, and the fourth-quarter was tense from start to end.
Iowa State's 15-13 win ranks as one of the most interesting, entertaining games in the Iowa-ISU series. It doesn't bode well for the Hawkeyes, and I don't expect many more triumphs for the Cyclones this year.
But this day, this was theater.
If I go 5-2 again this week, you have to listen to your conscience and send me a cut of your winnings. You simply must.
Syracuse +13 vs. Illinois: OK, Syracuse is horrible. But Illinois doesn't go around busting up opponents on the road.
Purdue -21 vs. Central Michigan: Purdue seems to be back on track this season and is enjoying punishing lesser foes at West Lafayette.
Central Florida +19 vs. Texas: Playing a game in Orlando against a team most Longhorns have never heard of will unnerve them.
Ohio State -4 at Washington: The Huskies have impressed so far. But if the Buckeyes can't win this game by more than four points, it's time to close down the Big Ten.
Oklahoma -46 vs. Utah State: That's an ungodly amount of points. But have you seen the viciousness with which the Sooners have laid out their foes?
Indiana -13 vs. Akron: The Hoosiers really want to go to a bowl this year. Zapping the Zips will help.
Iowa State +17 vs. Iowa: It's a lot of points.
My picks vs. the spread were 5-2. That, dear friends, is greatness.
Of course, picking Michigan to cover as 8-point favorites against Oregon was a little on the gruesome side. So I maintain humility.
I missed last year's Iowa-Syracuse game because of a kidney stone. This year, it looked like Syracuse was the one passing the stone.
As a social experiment, I will begin picking seven games a week against the Las Vegas Hilton's Thursday afternoon lines.
Why? To illustrated how difficult handicapping games is. Or, if I hit on 60 percent of them, to open a 900 number and be rich, rich, rich.
1. Oklahoma -11 vs. Miami: Sooners will make a Holy Grail of this game, not realizing Miami's dynasty no longer exists.
2, Michigan -8 vs. Oregon: Wolverine players publicly stood up for Lloyd Carr, which tells me they'll stand up Saturday against the Ducks.
3. Notre Dame +17 at Penn State: This line opened at 11, so no one believes in the Irish. With good reason, one would say, after their 33-3 loss to Georgia Tech. But it's still a lot of points.
4. Washington +3 vs. Boise State: Boise is 0-12 on the road against BCS conference teams. Washington appears to have some things going for it this year.
5. Bowling Green +18 at Michigan State: A lot of points, especially for a team that already owns one Big Ten skin, having won at Minnesota last week.
6. UCLA -7.5 vs. BYU: This one looks too good to be true. UCLA is a good team. BYU? Not so sure.
7. Iowa -22.5 vs. Syracuse: This is a lot of points, but after seeing the Orange looked as hapless as any team that stepped foot on a football field last week.
I didn't mean Michigan in the national-title game against Florida. I meant Hawaii. How silly of me!
And now, back to the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon.