Slacking
I've been a bit of a blog slacker. I'll work on that. Sorry, peeps.
TecHaiku for a Bad PowerPoint Template
In an e-mail today, I received a copy of a PowerPoint template that I thought was lacking. My first thought was to channel my inner Joey Styles. Later, though, I opted for a little haiku.
Very bad template.
Too much orange on the screen.
Big PowerPoint fail.
I did look up ‘orange’ in the dictionary, and most pronunciations give it two syllables, so I’m going with it. Also, rather than just calling this haiku, I think it deserves its own label.
Henceforth, all tech-related haiku from me will be TecHaiku.
So let it be written; so shall it be done.
Things I Observed at the MHSFCA Winner’s Circle Clinic
Let’s be clear: I’m not a football coach, although I did go to the University of Alabama, so I’m sure I acquired at least a small amount of football intelligence. That being said, I’m not a football coach. I did, though, get to hang with football coaches over the last couple of days, as the Radisson downtown is hosting the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Winner’s Circle Clinic. My gym is in the basement, so I got to experience parts of the conference. While every single person I talked to was very nice, I did observe a few interesting things.
For starters, I honestly thought it was a truck and SUV convention. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many trucks and SUVs — mostly the latter — in one place at any given time. Unfortunately, many of the drivers of these vehicles need work in parking them.
Suggestion: Perhaps the MHSFCA could offer a session at next year’s Winner’s Circle Clinic on using a parking deck, including the parking of large vehicles. No, wait — that will be too late. I vote for a webinar.
A pair of drivers had significant difficulty with the parking deck. One didn’t seem to be able to accelerate his SUV beyond about 3 miles per hour. That was unfortunate. More unfortunate, though, was the guy who decided to make like a salmon and drive his SUV upstream — otherwise known as the wrong way. I’m pretty sure that said coach would have been really unhappy if one of his wide receivers had turned right instead of left on a pass route.
Suggestion: Coaches who fail the MHSFCA parking deck course should be required to run suicide sprints.
The coaches enjoyed conversing with each other. They also enjoyed traveling on the escalators. Unfortunately, they seem to enjoy conversing at the entry and exit points of the escalators instead of, you know, in the common areas where there is lots of space for standing and talking.
Suggestion: Mark off the common areas to look like sidelines. Coaches should be naturally drawn to those areas.
Coaches never get to experience tailgating; after all, they’re getting ready for their games while people are tailgating. Apparently, the conference wanted to give them the experience they never get during the season, as beer was available for purchase in the hotel lobby.
At 11:00 this morning.
And the tip jar already had money in it.
Suggestion: I guess beer is beer, even if it’s a can of Coors Light at $4 a pop, but having beer available for massive quantities of football coaches — high-school football coaches, that is — that early in the morning sends the wrong message, even if there aren’t students on hand. I’m not sure that sends the right message.
Better suggestion: I suspect at least some of the coaches in attendance were not on annual leave. I know I saw at least one group of coaches get out of a publicly owned vehicle (or a van with a license plate stolen from a publicly owned vehicle). Even if the alcohol wasn’t included in the registration fee, I don’t think it’s a great idea for public employees to be consuming alcohol during a training session. I go to training sessions, and I don’t get to booze it up during training. Maybe it’s time for public employees who coach sports to subscribe to the same rules other public employees have to follow. Save the beer for the after hours, MHSFCA.
Last, but not least, I got to see representatives from Michigan-located, Division I – Football Bowl Subdivision teams, including Michigan, Michigan State, and Western Michigan University. I saw the folks from WMU on Thursday night, but they weren’t around while I was there. I’m not sure who was representing MSU at the conference yesterday, but today the Spartans were represented by Mark Dantonio (who clearly enjoyed his presentation session) and, at the MSU table, two women to whom I didn’t speak. The Wolverines were represented by, amongst others, Jeff Hecklinski, who I did talk to on Thursday night. He was a really nice guy, and I enjoyed getting to chat with him for a moment. Michigan also had one other important representative at the table.
Yes, it's the real Sugar Bowl trophy. Nice work, Michigan! (Much better work than my photography....)
Suggestion: More trophies, please.
All in all, it was an educational experience, even though I had only very brief interactions with the conference. Jeff Hecklinski was the highlight, and beer sales before noon were definitely the lowlight.
My New Song: “O Vanilla Bean”
Yesterday, Jess and I were at the Biggby between Saginaw and Grand River in Lansing, and I ordered my traditional Vanilla Bean latte. I was chatting with Abby, the barista, while she was making my drink, and I asked her if this would be the best latte I had ever had. She said it would be, and that it would be so good that I should write a song for it. Abby, here’s your song, to the tune of “O Tannenbaum”:
Vanilla Bean, O, Vanilla Bean,
I truly love your flavor.
Vanilla Bean, O, Vanilla Bean,
Your every drop I savor.
Abby made you piping hot;
I should have got an extra shot.
Vanilla Bean, O, Vanilla Bean,
I am your greatest craver.
Given that “Abby” could be replaced easily with “Biggby,” I’m sure I’ll be getting a call from their corporate offices soon to license the song. I mean, who wouldn’t want to use … brilliance? … like this. #sarcasm
Christmas Letter x 2 — 2010 and 2011
I’m doing a few new things this year. First, the Christmas letter is going paperless. It will save money and be slightly more friendly to the environment. (I say “slightly” because I am mailing Christmas cards this year, after a one-year hiatus.) Second, I’m covering (at least lightly) last year’s happenings on top of the expected 2011 content. Just like Charlie Sheen, you folks are bi-winning. Third, even folks who don’t get a Christmas card can read the Christmas letter.
Understand that, if you don’t get a Christmas card but know me in real life (as in, more than just as a reader of my blog or a Facebook/Twitter follower, it’s not likely anything personal. I like sending Christmas cards, but it’s not cheap, you know?
There will doubtless be links to photographs. I probably won’t post many photographs inline, so as to save folks with slower Internet connections the pain of waiting for lots of photographs to load. Instead, I’ll post links to photos on my Flickr account.
It’s shocking that some folks don’t have high-speed Internet access, isn’t it? I’m being a bit tongue-in-cheek with that question. My parents have only dial-up access, though. Lots of photos would totally put this out of their reach.
Major Life Events
First things first, let’s talk about the major events of the last couple years. On May 21, 2010, I started dating the lovely and talented Jessica Miller. She lived in Chicago at the time, but she has since moved to Lansing. She’s an archivist by trade and training. In her spare time, she is a runner and occasional triathlete, and she enjoys cooking and singing. Jess currently works as a reference archivist at the Archives of Michigan. Our first date was at Hot Woks Cool Sushi.
Shortly after I met Jess, I got to meet Buster, her fantastic orange tabby cat. Buster was 18 pounds of fat, happy cat. Unfortunately, my friendship with Buster was cut very short, as we lost him to liver failure on January 6, 2011. I’m not really sure there could have been a more somber way to start the year. I still miss Buster. He was a great cat.
If you’re so inclined, join with us on Buster Remembrance Day, January 6, 2012. It’s simple — just raise a glass of your favorite beverage in his honor wherever you happen to be. Those of you who are my friends on Facebook definitely got to see lots of photos of the not-so-little guy, so feel free to honor Buster from your location, if you wish.
In June, shortly after she moved to Michigan, Jess adopted Wembley, who was then a little ball of brown and white hair. He had been found in a parking lot by a friend of one of Jess’s friends, but he couldn’t keep him because he was allergic to the cat. So, Jess gave the little guy a home. He needed a lot of love when he moved in, but the extra attention has definitely paid off for him. There’s not much food that Wembley won’t eat; he’s quite fond of Cheez-Its. He’s also a bit of a hoarder, and he’s OCD about it. He doesn’t just steal things; he sorts them, too.
Wembley is a very active cat, and being there by himself left him rather bored, and very eager to do kitten-type playing — meaning that Jess and I became frequent targets of kitten chewing and such. So, on December 3, we adopted Gobo in Atlanta and brought him back to Michigan to occupy Wembley’s time. Gobo is almost completely black, save only a few individual strands of hair scattered throughout his coat. He’s basically invisible in a dark room. He’s done a great job of mellowing Wembley a bit — meaning that he’s the target of Wembley’s chewing, though he gets to dole out plenty of it as well. He’s also brought out some other fun characteristics in Wembley’s personality. It seems that Wembley’s case of feline OCD extends beyond sorting stolen goods and into hygiene. Wembley’s favorite activity is grooming Gobo. Gobo is not always particularly interested in having his entire body cleaned.
Work
Things at MDOT have kept me very busy over the last couple of years. I still work in the same office, though my duties have changed quite a bit. In 2010, the state legislature adopted complete streets legislation, which included a mandate that the State Transportation Commission adopt a complete streets policy for MDOT. Because we want to be sure that we do a great job of implementing the policy, MDOT established an internal complete streets team. I was not an initial member of the team, but ended up being appointed as co-chair shortly after the group’s inception. That has been consuming lots and lots of my time, but in the name of doing good work.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been more in demand for speaking at presentations. Here’s an incomplete list….
- Michigan Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
- Michigan Conference on Affordable Housing
- Michigan Traffic Safety Summit
- National Outreach Scholarship Conference (my first national conference … woot!)
No, we weren’t enriching uranium. We were talking about civil engineering, not nuclear engineering. Of course, had it been in nuclear engineering, I think we would have been able to do work that would be talked about for years….
It went so well, in fact, that I’ll be co-teaching in ENGR 1002 during the spring term, and we’re already discussing an encore performance in ENGR 1001 for the fall of 2012. Go figure.
Running
I’ve continued to run since I last wrote to you. I ran a lot, in fact. This year, I’m currently sitting at 1,314.86 miles; last year, though, I logged 1,714.11 miles. So, aside from running 3,000 miles in the last two years, what have I accomplished? Well, …
- One ultra-long relay race (as part of a 12-person team)
- One marathon
- Eight half marathons
- One 15k race
- Two 10k races
- Two 5-mile races
- One 8k race
- One 7k race
- Seven 5k races
Fancy, huh? Okay, maybe not, but it’s been a lot of fun. The relay was incredible. Our team spent 31 hours, 37 minutes, 56 seconds covering 196 miles. I ran 18.37 miles of that in just around 2.5 hours. During the period between the start and the finish of the race, I got a grand total of 3.5 hours sleep.
Random Happenings of the Two-Year Period
I had a run-in with the Big Boy. He wouldn’t share his hamburger.
I photographed the fancy neon sign at Central Camera on my first date with Jess. Chicago is full of lots of great neon signs, like those at A&T Grill, Cole’s Appliances, Gold Star Lounge, and Simon’s. Oh, and Superman lives there, too. There are great neon signs in Michigan, too, like Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Paw Paw, Plainwell, and Spring Lake.
I started noticing that portable toilets have great names like Drop Zone, LepreCAN, Oui Oui .
Chicago is apparently plagued by roving packs of hula-hooping senior citizens.
Jess and I got to attend a taping of the NPR show Wait … Wait … Don’t Tell Me! last winter. We got to meet Carl Kasell, Peter Sagal, and Tom Bodett!
Final Notes
That’s all for this go-around, folks. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I hope you have a very merry Christmas and a great holiday season!
Peace,
Darrell
Early Work on the ’11-’12 Race Schedule
As usual, I’m working on my schedule of upcoming races well out into the future, mostly because …
- … I need something on my calendar to motivate me to train.
- … I like to plan ahead. It’s what I do for a living, after all.
- … I like not leaving travel plans to the last minute.
- November 12, 2011 — Mid-Land Half Marathon, Midland, MI
- December 3, 2011 — Ladiga Half Marathon, Jacksonville, AL (Half2Run state #5)
- January 21, 2012 — Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon, Milwaukee, WI (Half2Run state #6)
- August 17-18, 2012 — Ragnar Relay-Great River, Winona, MN – Minneapolis, MN
- October 6, 2012 — Eight and Eat Pancake Run, Otsego, MI
- April 22, 2012 — Glass City Half Marathon, Toledo, OH
- May 6, 2012 — Toronto Half Marathon, Toronto, ON
- May 19, 2012 — Joplin Memorial Run Half Marathon, Joplin, MO
- May 20, 2012 — Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon, Fredericksburg, VA
- August 11, 2012 — Gopher-Badger Half Marathon, Hudson, WI
College Football Picks: Week 5 Results, Week 6 Picks
Last week was a challenging week on the gridiron for my picks. I carried a winning record at 15-13, but I earned a paltry 205 points for my efforts. Let’s see if the boys do better on the field this week….
30 – #16 West Virginia (-20) v Connecticut
29 – #8 Clemson (-21) v Boston College: The Bottom 10 has you on its watch list, BC. Don’t keep ‘em waiting.
28 – #21 Virginia Tech (-7.5) v Miami
27 – #1 LSU (-13.5) v #17 Florida: Welcome to college, Jeff Driskel. Since you bravely stood in for John Brantley and took your licks from the Alabama defense, you get a reward — a trip to Death Valley to spend quality time with the LSU defense. Look at the bright side: It’s not a night game.
26 – #14 Nebraska (-11) v Ohio State: As a plus, since this will be Nebraska’s first B1G home game (as ESPN reminds viewers about every 92 seconds), maybe ESPN can start swooning over something more important than Nebraskas’s change of conferences. Please. Thank you.
25 – #13 Georgia Tech (-14) v Maryland: I’m always a little nervous about picking option teams to win by a large margin, because they can consume mass quantities of time in scoring points. Georgia Tech do not seem to have that problem, though. With apologies to my supervisor at work and despite my fear of bee-like things, I’ll take the Yellow Jackets.
24 – #19 Illinois (-14.5) @ Indiana: Sorry, Hoosiers, but the Bottom 10 is waiting for you, too. Oh, and Gunner Kiel doesn’t show up until next year.
23 – #20 Kansas State (+3) v Missouri: Fresh off their big win against Baylor, Kansas State are … home underdogs. I’ll take them.
22 – #25 Baylor (-15.5) v Iowa State: Sorry, Kristen. I’m just not sold on the Cyclones. I did meet a very nice Iowa State employee at the National Outreach Scholarship Conference on Monday, though.
21 – #7 Stanford (-30) v Colorado: I’m not a fan of huge point spreads, but … oh, Colorado, you used to be such a great program.
20 – Mississippi State (-18.5) @ UAB: If the Bulldogs can’t win this one, I may be done with them for the year.
19 – #18 South Carolina (-21) v Kentucky: Just let Lattimore run the ball, Steve.
18 – North Carolina (-14.5) v Louisville
17 – Arizona (-2) @ Oregon State
16 – #15 Auburn (+10) @ #10 Arkansas: I’m not sure who is going to win this game, but I feel like 10 points is a huge spread.
15 – Texas Tech (+9) v #24 Texas A&M: The Bottom 10′s coveted #5 spot belongs to the Aggies this week. If there were a poll ranking teams most likely to collapse in the second half, The Aggies would be #3, right after Utah State (who get style points for waiting until the last minute) and the Minnesota Vikings.
14 – San Diego State (+4) v TCU
13 – Air Force (+15) @ Notre Dame
12 – #22 Arizona State (-4) @ Utah
11 – #6 Oklahoma State (-31.5) v Kansas
10 – Rutgers (+6.5) v Pittsburgh: In the wild and wacky Big East, who knows which team will show up, which team will get screwed out of an extra point, and … heck, who will be a member of the wild and wacky Big East next week.
9 – #23 Florida State (-10) @ Wake Forest
8 – Navy (-2.5) v Southern Mississippi: Maybe Navy won’t get quite so excited when they score a touchdown in this game.
7 – Tennessee (+2) v Georgia
6 – Penn State (-3.5) v Iowa
5 – Fresno State (+21) v #5 Boise State
4 – #11 Texas (+10.5) “v” #3 Oklahoma: That’s a lot of points for a rivalry game.
3 – Washington State (+3.5) @ UCLA
2 – #12 Michigan (-7.5) @ Northwestern: I usually assign 2 points to Michigan anyway, because of a long history of their screwing me over in pick’em contests, but the Wolverines have problems in Evanston, too.
1 – #2 Alabama (-29) v Vanderbilt: I’m not sure if the 29 is the point spread or the over/under on Vanderbilt rushing yards.
College Football Picks – Week 4 Results, Week 5 Picks
This will be a (mostly) snark-free edition of the picks. Last week, I went 19-10 (0.655) and scored 297 out of 435 points (0.683).
Here are this week’s picks….
28 — #4 Boise State (-27.5) v Nevada
27 — #21 Georgia Tech @ North Carolina State (Favorite – No Spread)
26 — Utah (-7.5) v Washington
25 — North Carolina (-6.5) @ East Carolina
24 — Fresno State (-3.5) v Mississippi
23 — #25 Arizona State (-18) v Oregon State
22 — #1 LSU (-30) v Kentucky
21 — Georgia (-7) v Mississippi State
20 — #13 Clemson @ #11 Virginia Tech (-7)
19 — #6 Stanford (-20.5) v UCLA
18 — #17 Texas (-9.5) @ Iowa State — Sorry, Kristen.
17 — Tennessee (-28) v Buffalo
16 — #10 South Carolina (-10) v Auburn
15 — #15 Baylor (-3.5) @ Kansas State
14 — SMU @ #20 TCU (-13)
13 — Notre Dame (-12) @ Purdue
12 — Navy (-3) v Air Force
11 — Arizona @ USC (-13.5)
10 — #24 Illinois (-8) v Northwestern
9 — #8 Nebraska @ #7 Wisconsin (-9.5) — I like Wisconsin to win, but that’s a huge spread.
8 — #18 Arkansas “v” #14 Texas A&M (-3) (Note: This one has already started, and I’m watching it. Right now, this pick looks horrible. Fortunately, Texas A&M in the 2nd half looked like Bottom 10-worthy material last week.)
7 — Syracuse (-1) v Rutgers
6 — Michigan State @ Ohio State (-3)
5 — Ball State @ Oklahoma (-37.5)
4 — Bowling Green @ #22 West Virginia (-20)
3 — Washington State @ Colorado (-3)
2 — #19 Michigan (-20) v Minnesota
1 — #3 Alabama (-4) @ #12 Florida
College Football Picks: Week 3 Results, Week 4 Picks
Well, week 3 went about as well as week 2 went. Here’s a recap of my season so far….
Week 1: 20-13 (.606) — 381/561 points (.679)
Week 2: 16-16-1 (.500) — 324/561 points (.578)
Week 3: 16-16 (.500) — 326/528 points (.617)
Total: 52-45-1 (.536) — 1,031/1,650 points (.625)
The lowest two weeks are dropped in the Yahoo! College Pick’em game, meaning that I’m still resting on the laurels of week 1. Undeterred by my ongoing lack of success, though, I offer you my picks for week 4.
29 — #6 Wisconsin (favorite, no spread) v South Dakota — I can’t even come up with anything funny to say about this one.
28 — #20 Texas Christian (favorite, no spread) v Portland State — Maybe TCU will actually play some defense this time around.
27 — Auburn (favorite, no spread) v Florida Atlantic — Auburn’s defense is on the waiting list for the Bottom 10, but FAU is #4 in the Bottom 10 poll. Really, Auburn only have to win by 1 point. Something has to give in this game. FAU have consistently demonstrated an inability to move the ball, while Auburn have consistently demonstrated an inability to stop their opponents from moving the ball.
26 — #15 Florida (19.5-point favorites) v Kentucky — The Wildcats have looked more like kittens this season. The Gators may not even have to chew on this snack.
25 — Mississippi State (20-point favorites) v Louisiana Tech — This is a large spread, but I think Mississippi State are better than their record might indicate.
24 — #17 Baylor (20.5-point favorites) v Rice — On Wednesday, I met a gal who went to a prom with Robert Griffin III. He clearly did as well off the field as he does on the field.
23 — #25 Georgia Tech (6.5-point favorites) v North Carolina — I ♥ the option offense.
22 — Miami (12.5-point favorites) v Kansas State — Really, Miami are the more talented side. That has to count for something, right?
21 — #10 Oregon (16-point favorites) @ Arizona — How visible will Oregon’s uniforms be from the International Space Station? Also, will the Ducks score more than 50 points? I’m guessing at a 48-17 score in favor of Oregon.
20 — #9 Nebraska (22-point favorites) @ Wyoming — I’m not sure I would consider this to be a road test. A loss here would certainly find Nebraska going from #9 in the polls to the coveted #5 spot in the Bottom 10.
19 — Brigham Young (2.5-point favorites) v Central Florida — Provo is a tough place to play, and BYU have to be angry after last week’s performance. (Author’s note: Halfway through this game, we’re reminded why BYU’s turnovers made the Bottom 10 watch list.) As an aside, the BYU cheerleaders are way too young to be cougars. I’m just saying.
18 — Georgia (9.5-point favorites) @ Mississippi — Ole Miss “earned” the coveted #5 spot in this week’s Bottom 10 poll, and with good reason. Vanderbilt looked more like Oregon than … well, Vanderbilt when they throttled the Rebels/Black Bears last weekend. If Georgia beat up on Mississippi this week, the students may want to consider replacing the black bear mascot with a teddy bear.
17 — Toledo (2.5-point underdogs) @ Syracuse — I feel like everything Toledo can do, Syracuse can do worse. Oh, and this isn’t a basketball game.
16 — Notre Dame (7-point favorites) @ Pittsburgh — Notre Dame as road favorites scare me a bit. For that matter, given that Notre Dame are tied for the turnover lead amongst bowl-going teams, Notre Dame scare me. Pittsburgh demonstrated an epic ability to collapse last week. If Notre Dame can manage to hang onto the ball, they should win the game.
15 — #2 Louisiana State (5.5-point favorites) @ #16 West Virginia — No one can accuse LSU of playing a cupcake schedule. West Virginia are the third ranked team The Hat has faced this year. The Mountaineers have a solid offense, but I think LSU have way too much defense. Couches won’t be burning in Morgantown after this one, unless there’s a need for emergency street lights or the WVU kids think they’re in East Lansing, where it’s okay to riot regardless of the game’s outcome. (Yes, Spartan fans, I went there.)
14 — #1 Oklahoma (21-point favorites) v Missouri — If LSU have too much defense for their opponents, Oklahoma have too much offense for theirs. Missouri will find out that they are, in fact, members of the Big Two / Little Eight Seven Conference.
13 — Southern Mississippi (3-point underdogs) @ Virginia — This one’s a toss-up in my mind, mostly because I don’t know — and don’t want to know — enough about either of these teams to make an informed decision.
12 — Oregon State (5.5-point favorites) v UCLA — If Oregon State can manage to keep the locker room from becoming a MASH unit, I think they’ll win.
11 — Vanderbilt (16-point underdogs) @ #12 South Carolina — I’m not at all convinced that Vanderbilt will win this game, but I think 16 points is a huge margin. I mean, Navy gave South Carolina fits, and Commodores outrank Midshipmen, right?
10 — Marshall (20.5-point underdogs) v #13 Virginia Tech — Marshall aren’t very good, but VT have a habit of playing to the level of their competition. On a related note, remember when Marshall thought they were too good for the Mid-American Conference and moved up? How’s that working out for you now, Marshall?
9 — #8 Texas A&M (4-point favorites) v #7 Oklahoma State — This should be a great game, and could go either way. I think A&M have an edge at home, and I’m picking them based on that.
8 — Arizona State (2-point favorites) v #23 Southern California — I’m still not impressed with USC.
7 — California (0-point underdogs) @ Washington — Seriously, Washington are favored, but the spread is zero points. I’ll take Cal in the road win.
6 — #21 Clemson (2.5-point favorites) v #11 Florida State — In this edition of the Bowden Bowl, … oh, wait. This isn’t the Bowden Bowl. It’s the Poulan Weed Eater Great Coach Names Bowl. Dabo Swinney and his Tigers will host Jimbo Fisher and the Seminoles. I’ll give Clemson the edge at home, but I’m not going to be surprised if Florida State find a way to win.
5 — #4 Boise State (28.5-point favorites) v Tulsa — Boise State were on the road, but they waited very late to cover the spread. I’m taking them to cover, but it’s a huge spread.
4 — Texas-El Paso (29-point underdogs) @ #18 South Florida — I’m even less confident in South Florida’s ability to cover a giant spread.
3 — Western Michigan (12.5-point underdogs) @ #24 Illinois — I attended a WMU game at Illinois a few years back. They made it a very close game. I don’t think they’re that much inferior to Illinois this time around.
2 — #22 Michigan (10-point favorites) v San Diego State — I think the Wolverines will win the first Brady Hoke Bowl.
1 — #3 Alabama (11.5-point favorites) v #14 Arkansas — This is a rather large spread in a game that features two ranked teams, and Arkansas have put up some gaudy numbers so far this season. That being said, Alabama have an amazing defense. I think they’ll carry the day, and the Alabama running game will help to keep the Arkansas offense off the field.
College Football – Week 2 Results, Week 3 Picks
This week’s report will lack a lot of the snark, mostly because I don’t really have time. Grading papers is way harder than I ever imagined, and consumes a lot more time.
Last week, I wasn’t so good. I went 16-16-1, good for 324 points. I didn’t get much right in the way of upsets, with East Carolina being the only really decent one I called.
Now, for my week 3 picks. (Yes, I know some of the games have been played, but I’m not changing my picks. I’m honest like that.)
32 – #13 Oregon (Off) v Missouri State
31 – #20 Baylor (Off) v Stephen F. Austin
30 – #21 Missouri (Off) v Western Illinois
29 – #22 South Florida (Off) v Florida A&M
28 – Georgia (Off) v Coastal Carolina
27 – #4 Boise State (-27) at Toledo
26 – #8 Wisconsin (-17) at Northern Illinois
25 – #10 Nebraska (-17) v Washington
24 – UCLA v #24 Texas (-3.5)
23 – #14 Arkansas (-23) v Troy
22 – #6 Stanford (-9.5) at Arizona
21 – #9 Oklahoma State (-13.5) at Tulsa
20 – #23 Penn State (-6.5) at Temple
19 – Georgia Tech (-14.5) v Kansas
18 – Iowa (-3) v Pittsburgh
17 – Louisville at Kentucky (-6)
16 – #7 Texas A&M (-35.5) v Idaho
15 – #11 Virginia Tech (-24) v Arkansas State
14 – Tennessee at #18 Florida (-9.5)
13 – Minnesota (-4.5) v Miami-Ohio
12 – Arizona State at Illinois (-1)
11 – Mississippi (-1.5) at Vanderbilt
10 – #25 TCU (-29) v Louisiana-Monroe
9 – Virginia at North Carolina (-10)
8 – #17 Michigan State at Notre Dame (-5)
7 – Maryland (-1.5) v #19 West Virginia
6 – Navy at #12 South Carolina (-17)
5 – Miami (-2.5) v #15 Ohio State
4 – BYU (-4) v Utah
3 – #5 Florida State v #1 Oklahoma (-3)
2 – Clemson (-3.5) v Auburn
1 – #3 Alabama (-46) v North Texas
College Football – Week 1 Results, Week 2 Picks
Week 1 offered a mixed bag of results for me, just like most weeks are likely to do. I had a couple of highlights, including calling Baylor, LSU, and Northwestern as underdog winners for a total of 45 points. Of course, I also put way too much faith in Auburn, Missouri, Notre Dame, and USC. Overall, I finished 20-13 (60.61%) against the spread, earning 381 of 561 (67.91%) available points. Rankings are from the AP unless otherwise noted. ESPN.com Bottom 10 Poll rankings will also feature prominently.
That takes us to Week 2. We’ll see if I learned anything. Here are my picks.
33 — #2 Louisiana State (favorite – no point spread) v Northwestern State: This has the potential to get ugly. In fact, LSU may force a turnover and score before the game actually begins. I’m taking LSU, with a PlayStationesque final score of 102-3.
32 — #5 Florida State (favorite – no point spread) v Charleston Southern: FSU won’t treat Charleston as badly as did the later years of the Civil War, but it’ll get ugly.
31 — #17 Michigan State (favorite – no point spread) v Florida Atlantic: FAU are on the Bottom 10 Poll watch list, right between Louisiana-Monroe and Auburn’s defense. If this game had any kind of actual spread, this game would be nowhere near the top of my confidence rankings, but it doesn’t. All the Spartans have to do is win. Don’t blow it, Sparty.
30 — #19 West Virginia (favorite – no point spread) v Norfolk State: Maybe the weather in Morgantown will be good enough to let the teams play the entire game.
29 — Mississippi (favorite – no point spread) v Southern Illinois: Ole Miss covered for me last weekend, and I’m grateful to them for those 3 points. All they have to do is win this weekend. I’m sure we won’t revisit the Jacksonville State debacle of a couple years back, will we? Ole Miss’s play-calling did make the Bottom 10 watch list….
28 — #8 Wisconsin (21-point favorite) v B10 #5 Oregon State: Losing to FCS I-AA foe Sacramento State earned Oregon State the coveted #5 spot in the Bottom 10, but they were playing with what seems like half a team because of injuries. I hope that the visit to Camp Randall doesn’t amount to the football equivalent of Pickett’s Charge.
27 — #15 Ohio State (19-point favorite) v Toledo: I don’t expect the Rockets’ red glare to be visible from Columbus this weekend.
26 — #6 Stanford (21-point favorite) @ B10 #10 Duke: Duke lost to FCS I-AA school Richmond last weekend. I’m surprised that this line is only 21 points. Perhaps the oddmakers expect a calculus class to break out in the middle of the third quarter.
25 — #13 Oregon (26.5-point favorite) v Nevada: Despite Oregon’s punt returns having earned a spot on the Bottom 10 watch list, I think the Ducks are angry, and Nevada are the unfortunate foes who will get to experience their wrath.
24 — #10 Nebraska (28-point favorite) v Fresno State: The Bulldogs lost to Cal by 15. Nebraska are a much better team.
23 — California (6.5-point favorite) @ Colorado: I think Colorado may get to visit the Bottom 10 before the year is over.
22 — Arizona State (7.5-point favorite) v #21 Missouri: Missouri didn’t impress me last week. Maybe they were rusty, but I think that Arizona State will play well at home and win.
21 — Northern Illinois (5.5-point favorite) @ Kansas: I think the Jayhawks will be looking forward to basketball season.
20 — #18 Florida (23-point favorite) v Alabama-Birmingham: The Blazers might get scorched in Gainesville.
19 — #22 South Florida (20-point favorite) v Ball State: Ball State may not turn it over five times, but South Florida should win.
18 — #24 Texas (7-point favorite) v Brigham Young: BYU probably should have beaten Mississippi by more than a point. Texas will take care of business here.
17 — Central Florida (7-point favorite) v Boston College: I’ll give Central Florida the win, and the nod for class. UCF are encouraging their fans to wear red bandannas in honor of former BC lacrosse player Welles Crowther, who lost his life in the World Trade Center’s south tower.
16 — #12 South Carolina (3-point favorite) @ Georgia: Frankly, this may be a wider margin. I have a tough time coming up with reasons that Georgia (whose uniforms made the Bottom 10) could win this game. If they’re playing for Mark Richt, it seems like they would have started sooner.
15 — #16 Mississippi State (6.5-point favorite) @ Auburn: Before the season started, I wouldn’t have picked the Bulldogs to cover in this game. Then came the Utah State game. Auburn have something to prove to me. I don’t think they’ll prove it against a confident Mississippi State team, even at home. I think there is a reason that the Auburn defense is in the Bottom 10 watch list.
14 — Virginia (7-point favorite) @ Indiana: Indiana are on the Bottom 10 watch list, and I think they’ll make the poll before too much longer.
13 — Utah (8.5-point underdog) @ Southern California: USC managed 19 points against Minnesota. Really? Wow. I’ll take Utah to make it a decent game.
12 — Central Michigan (11.5-point underdog) @ Kentucky: Kentucky managed only 14 points against Western Kentucky last weekend, landing the offense on the Bottom 10 watch list. Could Kentucky be the doormats of the SEC? This game may tell us. I don’t know if CMU will win, but I like the Chippewas to cover.
11 — East Carolina (18-point underdog) v #11 Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech are good, but ECU have been decent for a while, and I think they’re better than an 18-point underdog. That’s a large spread. The Hokies win, but I think it will be closer.
10 — Tennessee (5-point favorite) v Cincinnati: Tennessee didn’t necessarily impress folks last week, but I think this is a program getting better. I have faith in Derek Dooley, even if the Bottom 10 poll doesn’t like his pants. Tennessee get the nod.
9 — San Diego State (9.5-point favorite) @ Army: It’s rough to make a cross-country trek, but Army didn’t fare well at Northern Illinois. Maybe NIU are just a really good team, but I think the quality of the Army team — or the lack thereof — may have been on display, too.
8 — Iowa (6.5-point favorite) @ Iowa State: Iowa State struggled against Northern Iowa last weekend. It’s a rivalry game, and maybe the Cyclones will be motivated to win a sub-par rivalry trophy, but motivation may not be enough.
7 — Washington (6-point favorite) v Hawai’i — Sure, Hawai’i knocked off Colorado at home. Still, the win was against Colorado. I’ll take Washington.
6 — North Carolina (10.5-point favorite) v Rutgers: I don’t really know what to do with this game. The spread seems large to me, but I think North Carolina probably have better talent, and they’re playing at home.
5 — Vanderbilt (favorite – no point spread) v Connecticut: This game looks like a match-up of two teams that don’t figure to be overly good. It seems like a toss-up to me, so I’m not going with the usual bit of awarding maximum points to games with no line.
4 — Air Force (2-point underdog) v #25 Texas Christian: I’m not sold on TCU yet. Who would have thought the TCU defense would be on the Bottom 10 watch list? Air Force always pose an interesting challenge to an opposing defense. This game is basically a toss-up, and I’m going to pick the home team.
3 — B10 #4 New Mexico (36-point favorite) @ Arkansas: The only reason I’m picking New Mexico is the size of the spread. They’re not good, but that’s a huge spread.
2 — Notre Dame (3.5-point favorite) @ Michigan: Notre Dame’s turnovers are on the Bottom 10 Poll watch list, and with good reason — Notre Dame should have won last weekend against South Florida, but literally gave the game away. Similarly, Michigan didn’t outplay Western Michigan, but made big plays when it mattered. I don’t think that Notre Dame will be as bad this time around, and I don’t think that Michigan will be as good, so I’m taking Notre Dame on the road, 30-17.
1 — #3 Alabama (10-point favorite) @ #3 Pennsylvania State: As usual, Alabama are the subject of my one-point pick. The Alabama defense looked to be dominant, but the offense committed five turnovers against mighty Kent State. If Alabama commit five turnovers against Penn State, they won’t win 48-7. They likely won’t win at all. I expect a healthy dose of Richardson and Lacy from Alabama, and I don’t think Penn State will be able to stop it all night long.
That’s the story from here. We’ll see what remains after the smoke has cleared.
