Speaker 1: Ila, Army Navy, the first five bowl games, and college
football playoff thoughts. Initial college Football playoff thoughts. I know
it's still early, guys. That's what we've got on tap
here this week on the Blitz. Joining me as always
my good friend ed yours Ralph Michaels. Steve Merrill will
be joining us momentarily sitting in for Ross Benjamin this
week three and all last week with best bets Ralph,
second time in the last three weeks on the show.
But hey, no time to talk about the past. Let's
talk about the future. That's what we're here for, giving
you guys some actionable info, not just for the games
on Saturday, but like I said, the early bowls early
next week as well, Army Navy, Ralph a storied history obviously,
no not. I am sure that you have a lot
of systems and trends you can share on this game
and your best bet for the shows on this game
as well. So why don't you break it down for
the people?
Speaker 2: Well, you know it's no secret, Brian that this is
now two and seventeen over under the last nineteen years
since two thousand and six. Why it makes total sense
they run the option slower paced. They practice against this
offense every day. Statistically, Navy is more impressive for me.
My power ratings actually lean Navy. But this is a
game where, much like the final week of the college
football regular season, in state rivals or you're playing your
main rival, you really throw your power ratings out the window.
But I am impressed with Navy. You look at what
they've done. They finished this season winning back to back
games as a dog, knocking off USF and Memphis. They
were minus twenty yards per game and at last two,
but they got the job done. And then you look
at their two losses at North Texas and at Notre Dame.
I actually think Navy should be about an eight and
a half point favorite in this game, but I can't
quite get there. Why Their rush defense has allowed two
hundred and forty nine hundred yards two of the last
three games, they allowed five point six and six point
six yards per carry. Now, North Texas and Notre Dames
rush attacks are far different than Army because of the
O lines and the size of the O lines and
the size of the wide receivers and tight ends that
can block. You look at Army and you say, well,
they lost at home against Tulsa bad loss, a loss
of Tulane, A good loss at East Carona not a
good loss. They got out gained by two by one
hundred and eighty yards. They lost by North Texas by seven,
actually seven points better than Navy did, and they lost
to Tarlington State, which had the season start in an uproar.
Both of their bowl bids are already attached now. While
the over under is two and seventeen the last nineteen years,
the over is actually two and one the last three years,
so two of the last three have gone over the total.
That doesn't concern me because I have very good reasons
why both of those games went over the total. Last
year when Navy won and went over the total, remember,
Army was playing tu Lane the week before in the
AEC Championships, so they didn't have their traditional two week rest.
That's a big difference. While Navy had two weeks to
prep for Army, Army was prepping for the best team
in the American Conference, had to then take on tu Lane,
had another physical week and then to prep for Navy.
So that situation clearly screamed Navy last year and three
years ago when the game went under that was in
double overtime. The final was actually ten to ten after regulation.
With that said, the total thirty eight or thirty nine
and a half. This total was falling so far when
we had fifteen straight unders. But now that the last
three years two and one to the over, Joe public
is not grabbing those unders like they used to. I
really find value in the first half under Brian. First
half under is nineteen and a half, full game is
thirty eight. You don't find many college football games with
the first half total more than fifty percent of the
full game. That is giving us true value with the under.
Best bet for the show first half under nineteen and
a half Army Navy.
Speaker 1: All right, there you have it. We've were just a
few minutes into the show. We've already got one leg
of our three leg parlay in Ralph going with the
first half under like a Ralph's been tremendous with his
first half totals here on the show. Steve Merrill, I'll
tell you what, it doesn't matter if it's the Army
or the Navy. They can't tell this time. I got
so choked up the season.
Speaker 3: I love it. I tried to come light so you
don't get as choked up and you still can you
only imagine if it had been three minutes earlier. Ralph,
I know right now, Oh my, I.
Speaker 1: Just wonderful to see you, Steve. And look, I'm gonna
make the short and sweet my andicap of this game
is very simple, almost rudimentary. Dare I use that term.
You look at a game with this low of a
total and one of the teams is getting say six
and a half points, it's dogger passed for me. I see,
I see a couple of people in the chat. I
see David in the chat. I see CT in the chat.
Titan CT people say, hey, if this gets to seven,
I'm on Army. I would concur with that assessment. I
would I could only lean to the underdog as far
as the side goes. Steve, let me bring you in
our commanding officer, if you will. How do you like
Army and Navy?
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, great to see both of you,
and I want to thank Ralph because he gave me
some great data for the video that I did on
this game earlier in the week. You know, the first
thing you always think of is the under trend, and
Ralph's numbers show that you know, Service Academy games stay under.
But when you look at Army Navy, only seventeen and
two to the under, and one of those overs was
a double overtime game three years ago. Last year's game
did go over. And obviously the totals are a lot
lower than they were a couple of decades ago. When
that trend began, we were getting forties, even some fifties,
low fifties for the over unders. Now we're in the
mid high thirty range. It's still under a pass for me.
But the little wrinkle of this game is what you mentioned, Brian,
is that we do have Navy as almost a touchdown favorite.
And that did catch my eye when I was doing
the video a couple days ago. But the more I
dug into it, I get it. And by the way,
that's a sharp money move on Navy. The money quickly
on Monday came in on Navy crossed over that key
number six six and a half, and as you mentioned,
we might be seeing some sevens by kickoff on Saturday afternoon.
I'm not interested in laying seven, but it's six six
and a half. I would still lean towards Navy, and
I get what you're saying, you know, Army underdog run
the ball. Both teams know how to defend the option,
and that's why the Unders a little tricky in this
game as well, because if you think a favor can
win by more than a touchdown, then all of a sudden,
maybe some more points are scored. I still think this
game can stay under. Maybe an Army team total under
is another way to hedge it. But both teams are
going to run the ball basically every play. I think
Navy has the better run dye and even when the
passing is needed, I think Navy throws the ball better
as well. They are the better team this and while
Army has gotten them in recent years, I think it's
a chance for Navy once again to start that dominance
that they had for decades. If you're gonna play, and
I would actually lay it with the midshipman would have
definitely liked it more a minus six or less. It
is getting a bit pricey now.
Speaker 1: Though, Yeah Dan here, pardon me, pardon my finger, I'm
going to throw this comment up on the screen.
Speaker 2: RJ.
Speaker 1: He says, I will be looking to bet both of
these teams in their bowl games. Absolutely one percent agree
with that assessment, I will just point out one more
trend and then I'll throw it back to Ralph. You know,
one of the things with Navy, and I'm a tip
of the captain Navy, I did not think they were
gonna be able to match their record from last year
one win in. If they win either here or their
bowl game, they will match the last year's win total
of ten. They are. And here's I guess, Steve, another
reason I was looking at the Army side, and then naturally,
I'm just a guy who looks to take the points
everywhere I think Anyway, I think a lot of people
watch and know that Navy two and six against the
spread their last eight games, both covers were in the
underdog role. I had them of those games because USF
a game that cost USF a spot in the College
Football Playoff. They won that game outright, of course. So
that's just kind of how I was handicapping at Ralphi.
I think you wanted to follow up I did.
Speaker 2: I was just going to bring up this game, first
time in Baltimore in over a decade, temperature in the
mid forties, no win to speak of, so nice weather
for it, you know, Brian, I did a tna A
trends and angle Bowl video which we'll get posted tonight
on wager Talk's YouTube jump. But since we talked to
Army Navy and someone had said they wanted to back
them in the Bowl, this is one of those situations
I talked about on that. We'll bring it up again
when Army and Navy are playing in their balls. But
just to give you guys from some foresight, in service
academy in bowl games, you have to remember this. You
don't have opt outs, you have very few transfers, you
are conditioned, you don't get distrapted. Since two thousand and six, Army, Navy,
and Air Force and bowl games twenty four and nine,
seventy three percent against the spread. Since twenty seventeen, Service
academies in bowl games eleven and one straight up, eleven
and one against the spread, that is ninety two percent.
And since two thousand and nine, Service academies in bowl
games with the line between the sevens and a total
under fifty nine, so they're not playing a high flying
offense thirteen to oh straight up thirteen and oh against
the spread.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's an awesome trends right there.
Speaker 3: Well, hey, Brian, real quick, I'm looking at the Odds
logic screen. We see that Army open two and a
half against Connecticut. It's now five and a half even
six at one of these sharp Global books. So you know, Ralph,
at what point you know, obviously they haven't caught on
to it yet, right.
Speaker 1: He keeps working the year after year.
Speaker 3: You just wonder is that going to be priced in
this year or not?
Speaker 2: And you know, again it depends on what your power
ratings say, but you know it's there's a lot to
be said, and it makes complete sense. You know, we'll
see some of these teams that have ten or twelve
players opt out. That could be you know, your entire
starting offense or your entire starting defense. So to have
your team play with continuity, with everyone that's healthy getting
ready to play is a big boost for the Service Academy.
Speaker 3: And Brian, the other game is Navy against Cincinnati. Cincinnati
opened as a one point favorite. Navy is now a
four to four and a half point favorite. So yeah,
that's four point moves in both of those games already
towards the Service Academies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna bring that Navy Cincinnati game up
if you didn't sores be not gonna play for Cincinnati,
it looks like so that's opt out related again, Ralph
brought it up. Army and Navy they're not doing it.
They're the two teams you can count on not having
opt out. So, yeah, money's moving. I know we're getting
a little bit ahead of ourselves. It's a long Bowl season,
a lot and change between. I mean, Navy's not playing
their multil January second, only December eleventh right now, so
we'll of course have more analysis on that game coming
up on the Blitz in coming weeks.
Speaker 2: You know what, though, guys, if you are going to
play Armory Navy, play them now because it can It's
only gonna get worse. Other guys might opt out. And
remember what happens is the Bowls always have to start
after the championships, obviously because the semesters, and then they
start getting grades players that play January first or that
last week in December. The greats come in and we
see a lot of those teams lose their players because
they're ineligible because they their grades, because they were seniors.
They really didn't care. They thought they would have a
shot to play further. So again, if you want to
play the Service academy. I would play the opener every season.
Just jot that down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they're taking money, Navy's taking money for Saturday.
The story is Ralph gave you the best bet there
on the first half under. Certainly, history, even though two
of the last three years has gone the other way,
history does favor the under in this rivalry. And we
got a little back and forth here as far as
the spread money coming in on Navy though. So okay,
we're going to cover the first five bowl games today
on the Blitz, one of which is Saturday, the l
A Bowl between Boise State and Washington. But before we
start diving into these first Bowl games, Ralph, you mentioned
the video you're doing. You're talking a little TNA. It's
upcoming here on the way you talk to YouTube page.
This good time, guys, for me to remind you, don't
only just smash that like button for this show, click
subscribe down below me. That way you'll be instantly notified
when great videos like the one Ralph is going to
drop goes up on the page. And Ralph, you wanted
to dig into to start us off here today or
to start off our Bowl portion of the program, some
general handicapping trends for the Bulls. Obviously betting the Bulls
in the year twenty twenty five, it's not what it
used to be, uh ten or even five years ago.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, I've had a great Bowl record
twenty fourteen. I didn't make adjustments quick enough to be
honest with you this past season. Excuse me, the twenty
twenty three Bowls. Last year in the Bulls, I was
number one at wageer Talk, going twelve and three eighty
percent on my fifteen Bowl releases. So I just want
to talk about some generals, the trends and angles. And
I said this on my video. The trends and angles
are not as strong as they used to be. Used
to have great situations because everybody was playing and there
weren't opt outs, and teams that had six wins that
got to that win were a positive to finish the
season with a winning record. Teams that had a lot
of wins and our dog have been a positive place.
So it's something I look at and do not make
a Bowl play without looking at injuries, at opt outs,
at coaching changes. Because even now you know now with
the Michigan situation, we're going to have another slew of
coaching changes. So when you think you study the game,
this may change and all of a sudden, the other
coach may now play, and now you may start losing
some other starters on other teams. So it is a
trickle down effect. It's actually more like a domino effect.
It's much more than a trickle. Now we'll see what
happens with the Michigan with the Michigan side, But to me,
I do like taking team that are at six and
six and our dog. It's been a positive situation. I
don't put too much stock in losing a head coach.
I do put a lot of stock in if you
lose your head coach and one or two of your
coordinators as well, that's gonna leave you high and dry.
On the top end. A couple things, I just want
to mention who covers more both favorites your bulldogs the
last two years. Something that simple. At least know the
information and that's what we're sharing with you. Since twenty
twenty three, both favorites are thirty three and forty one
forty four point six percent, so bull dogs are fifty
five percent. Both favorites of nine or more are actually
fifty nine percent, so basically single digit favorites and bowls
from minus one to minus eight and a half twenty
three and thirty four forty point four percent against the spread.
That does not include play off games, the expanded playoffs,
or the four prior playoff games. Guys, favorites in playoff
games since twenty twenty one fifteen and five seventy five
percent against the spread favorites with a high total of
fifty six or more just two and three. When you
have a playoff favorite with a total under fifty six,
they have gone thirteen and two against the spread.
Speaker 1: No, our little teas for what Ralph will be dropping again, guys,
if you want more of that, to check out Ralph's video.
Ed know the reminder. I'll smash that like button if
you've been enjoying it. So, without further ado, let's get
into the bowl. The LA Bowl or this is a rare.
Usually Army and Navy has the Saturday to itself, but
not this year because the LA Bowl has intruded upon
the Army Navy game. I guess, for lack of a
better ternam, it's boy, it's good game. Boise State and
Washington good matchup Washington. Looking at the odd screen they've
taken money, I thought that the number did open a
little bit low, at least per my power rating. Course,
I think we're gonna mention this a million times over
the next couple weeks. Guys, power rings. You sometimes have
to throw them out. You have to be cognizant of
the personnel who's opting out. Like Rob said, our coach,
our team's going through transition with coaches where we talked
about one of those teams a little bit later. These
for my best bet. But here it doesn't seem like
there's gonna be a lot of opt outs, guys, so
which makes the matchup even more attractive. Maddox Madson I
think is gonna play for Boise State. He returned in
the Mountain West Conference championship game caught the show last week.
Boise State was my best bet on the show. They
wiped the floor with LV for a second time this year.
And Washington it seems like all their stars are gonna
play as well. No coaching vacancy, no coaching changes here
to talk about, So Steve, I'll throw it to you
thoughts on Boise State Washington kind of I guess the
rare matchup in this era of bowl games where we
don't have a lot of opt outs and we're we
can't actually look at the regular season and you know,
pull some things from it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the key brond is make them play
like one week after they just played, right, I think
you're a little less likely to opt out. The whole
opt out thing is always strange to me, right when
a team is out of the running, and Washington's been
out of the running, right, they weren't in the playoff
picture for the last month or so. They have four
losses on the season. So does Boise State, Like, why
do you all of a sudden play those last three
or four games in November? You know they don't matter,
like you're not going to the Big Ten title game.
So the whole opt out thing seems strange. I think
part of it is because you sit for three weeks
in practice, and that makes sense to me. So it's
not a surprise maybe in hindsight, that the guys aren't
opted out in this game, because it's just one week
later for Boise State and it was just basically a
bye week for Washington. So I do think that's part
of the reason we get a good match up here,
and it's maybe something the Bulls should start playing more
games on this Army Navy Saturday, like you said, instead
of waiting until next Saturday. It is a clean handicap.
You're exactly right about power ratings. But since both teams
look like they have everybody their coaches still there, I
do think you can rely on your normal numbers, which
I love because I'm a numbers guy. My ten thousand
game simulation has Washington winning by nine points on average.
I also rate them as the stronger offensive and defensive team.
I also have them with the stronger strength to schedule,
so the line is fair better team on both sides
of the ball. I did a standalone video for this
earlier in the week. It's posted right here on wager
Talk TV. By the way, you mentioned, click subscribe and
click that bell for instance alerts. I will be doing
every single bowl game this season except the Celebration Bowl
on Saturday. We're not doing South Carolina State, Prayer, View A,
and M, but I am doing every Big Boy Bowl
game all the way through January. Started off with this one.
I do lean Washington. I also leaned under fifty one
and a half in the video, it's now fifty two
and a half. Even fifty three, the line was eight
and a half. It's now nine and a half. I
still like Washington, still like the under that would normally
get me looking Boise State team total under. The problem
is most spots have twenty and a half. There are
a few twenty one and a half's out there. Yes,
at twenty one and a half, I do start leaning
Boise State team total under as well. I like washing
it in the under for the game. I just think
the Huskis are the better team on both sides of
the ball, and I think they'll be focused here. And
you mentioned Boise States big win against UNLV last week.
Can make an argument maybe this is not the greatest
spot for Boise after a big home win winning their
conference championship game, this might be a little bit of
a letdown spot here. Maybe they'll spend more time in
Hollywood than they will prep in for this game. I
love L A L A Bowl eight o'clock Eastern Staday
night favorite and under.
Speaker 2: Is he still alive?
Speaker 3: By the way, I mentioned him in the video the
other day. I said he might sing halftime and I
was like, he might not even be alive anymore. Didn't
get around on googling.
Speaker 1: That, Dan, Please, can you google that real quick?
Speaker 3: So Dan lives in l A. He has to know
this for city they didn't allow.
Speaker 1: Andy Newman is alive and well, gentlemen, continues, He continues
to make music.
Speaker 3: Yes, that is awesome.
Speaker 1: He's watching. I understand too.
Speaker 4: He is actually one of the uh you know of
the program. Yes, what do you think of instantly? What
sports sports ish movie do you you think of instantly
when you hear that song I love l a baseball
the Naked Gun?
Speaker 3: Come on, now, you guys, you.
Speaker 1: Put me on the spot. I apologize already.
Speaker 2: Yes, whenever I just think, have you got a friend?
That's all I think?
Speaker 3: The naked gun baseball scene with Reggie Jackson trying to
assassinate the queen. That's right, yeah, go with that, Brian,
come on, all right, right, okay?
Speaker 1: From Reggie Jackson assassinating the queen, queen, God, I'll tell
you what we can talk about, the sex pistols, God
save the Queen. I could have a nice conversation about that.
But Ralph, from that to the fact that Washington does
have a rest edge, there's no easy transition there. Steve
brought up a great point Poise they played last week.
It was a big game for them, the Mountain West
Conference championship. How much does that factor your handicap? I
think it does matter here. Uh you know for me,
I think it's another reason why we're seeing money come
in on the favorite. And I will point out too,
Steve mentioned liking the under in this game until last
week when Indiana held Ohio State and Check for four quarters.
Washington was really the only defense that held Ohio State
and Check for any length of time. Remember they Ohio
State did not have any success in the first half
when they went out to Seattle to face the Huskies.
So this Washington team, you know, as Steve mentioned, they
were on a contention of the Big ten for quite
a while. So I think, people, this is a team
that I have power rated quite high. I mean, to
be taking money and laying nine and a half the
Boise State, you got to be pretty damn good, you know,
to obviously be this big of a favorite against the Broncos.
Speaker 2: Well, let's look at strength the schedule. First, Boise played
a very weak schedule. In fact, their schedule is number
eighty two and even though they played that week of
a schedule, they were only number fifty eight in yards
per play diff Plus zero point four to nine yards
per play. Washington played the schedule ranked number four four,
so they played thirty six slots better and they were
forty seven spots better. They were number fifteen in the country,
top twenty at plus one point six to one yards
per play. BYU played one of the fastest tempos this year,
number ten seventy three point five plays per game, but
Washington was number ninety eight, averaging only sixty four point
five plays per game. And when Washington played a winning team,
they averaged under sixty plays per game, which was number
one twenty two in the FBS. You know, Steve, before
you logged on, I talked about Army Navy last year,
and remember Army played Tulane in the AAC Championship, so
they had a physical team while the opponent was prepping
for him for two weeks. Not quite the situation because
Washington didn't know who they were playing. But BYU up
and down that field against UNLV, you know, we saw
their defense on the field for seventy two plays against
the Rebels, and they allowed one to eighty four to
five point four yards per carry. One number. I do
have remember the balls up until this year, we never
had a Bowl that started prior to the Saturday after
Army and Navy. But with the expanded playoffs and those
two playoff games where there are no other Bowl games,
that just shrinks the balls to too small, so they
had to start them earlier. There aren't many situations where
a team played with thirteen days or or less of
rest playing in a bowl game. But if you are
a favorite with under thirteen days of rest, you've gone
twenty five and fourteen sixty four point one percent. So
there is something being the better team with that continuity
of basic a traditional buy or less than a traditional
bye week. I do. I do think Washington gets the
job done. Won't make my card because you always got
to be afraid of Boise in a bowl game. You know,
it started the whole world with you know, with their
Oklahoma win back in the Fiesta Bowl, and they continue
to pull out a lot of those tricks. So no
action for me in the game, certainly lean Washington. Yeah,
let's just put a ball on it here, Steve, just
want to wrap up. This is gonna be Washington laying
the number is gonna be your best bet for the
show here today as lead.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like it, and I like that angle Ralph
is that in against the spread angle the twenty five
and fourteen ats that.
Speaker 2: Is ats for the favorite.
Speaker 3: Steve, Yes, love it because that's actually an angle I
had not stumbled upon. That was some of the premise
behind the handicap, as I mentioned earlier, Brian, is that
you know, guys aren't opting now because this is like
a traditional bye week against a team coming off a
conference championship win, traveling on short rest basically, And I
think Ralph's situational angle there really solidifies that. So I
do like them as the best bet for the show,
and I want to give that out sooner than later.
Because when I did the video earlier this week, it
was minus eight and a half. I mentioned that it's
now minus nine and a half. One of the Sharper
Global books has a minus ten now. Yeah, and there's
about a three to four percent chance that Washington wins
this game by exactly ten points. It's a very key number.
So if you're gonna play it, I would lay it
sooner than later. With the Huskies minus nine and a half.
Speaker 1: All right, that's two legs of our three leg parlay
now in the books. Again, we're trying to sweep for
the third time in four weeks. Might will be coming
up in just a little bit, but now we're gonna
move to the Veterans Bowl between Troy and Jacksonville State.
I hate guys. I hate when they pair two teams
that I wanted to play against, and that's what we
have here. I don't think I'm gonna be getting too
involved in this game. Troy. Look, they were a massive
underdog last week on conference championship weekend against James Madison.
Of course, Jacksonville State. Kind of an interesting matchup here
because you have two teams that obviously lost their conference
championship game. We just talked about a game where one
team was involved in conference championship weekend one and its
opponent was not involved in conference championship weekend. But here
we have two lous of the the loser of the
Sun Belt Conference championship game against the low of the
Conference USA Championship game. I cannot lay it with Troy.
I think I thought Troy was one of no offense
to Troy. I thought they were one of the worst
teams ever being a conference championship game. Quite frankly, you
look at their yards per play differential, it stinks. But
jackson Jacksonville State, nobody thought this team was going to
make a Conference USA championship game. They you know, rich
Rod going back home to West Virginia. They defied expectations.
So I don't know real quick, I'll just open the
floor to either of you guys. This is not a
game that I, as of right now have a ton
of interest in.
Speaker 2: Well, you know it is. It is an in state
game for both teams, so at least they will have
some fans there. We won't have to look at one
of those empty stadiums that we sometimes see in these
early bowls. Let me just break down the stats. Troy
played a week's schedule number ninety three in the FBS.
They were number one hundred and seventeenth, getting out gained
by almost a yardber game minus point nine five. Jacksonville
State is number sixty three in yards per game death,
so they are fifty four spots better. The problem is this,
there's one hundred and thirty six FBS teams. Jacksonville State
has played the number one hundred and forty second toughest schedule,
So that means at least seven FCS teams played a
tougher schedule than Jacksonville State. I was leaning Troy, but
I'll tell you I can't get there. With their best
running back Meadows over seven hundred yards four point two
yards per carry. It doesn't sound great, but for Troy
it's significant because their number two rusher only has three
hundred and thirty three yards and three point nine yards
per carry. I don't think they're going to be able
to establish the run. I do think Jacksonville State will
be able to establish the run. We've seen the rush
defense for Troy away from home allow over two hundred
yards per game and five point four yards per carry.
This Jacksonville State team rushing for two point fifty five
point six yards per carry rushing matchups one of Troy's
best players. Opting out does have me with Jacksonville State
and the game Cocks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Troy also is going to have an issue
at quarterback. Who's Crowder? At least it looks that way obviously,
guys stay tuned to those injury reports. But Crowder the
quarterback was seen he left the Sun Belt championship game
with an injury. He was on crutches afterwards, So it
could be Tucker Kilcrease, who did start seven games this year,
so it's not like he's a guy with no experience,
but that is something to monitor there for the.
Speaker 2: You know, you know, kill Chris. Let me just say this,
Crowder fifty six point seven eleven to five ratio, Kill
Chris fifty eight point three percent better a nine to
five ratio, and kill Chris has a better YPA. So
it's not the drop off you might expect. It's just that,
you know, he got a lot of playing time with
Crowder heard earlier, and they just gave Jared Parker just
gave his starting quarterback back because they were so close.
So not quite the drop off you might think with
saying I lost a guy who started the last eight games.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, just just wanted to note it there, Steve Again,
just if you wanted to put a ball out of
two teams off conference championship losses, how do you know?
It's hard because normally you would think, all right, maybe
this team is just gonna be a letdown mode, but
we've got two teams in the exact same situation here.
Speaker 3: I'll say this, I think the sure thing in this
game is that Jacksonville State's going to run for more
yards offensively rushing the ball. And I'm getting more than
a field goal dog here that I'm almost ninety nine
percent certain is going to win the rushing attack in
a bowl game on short preparation time for Troy. Jacksonville
State runs the ball in about sixty seven percent of
their plays, average over two hundred and fifty nine rushing
yards a game. And then on top of that, Troy
is not a good offensive team, terrible rushing team two
point eight yards per carry, and as Roff mentioned, their
top running back is opting out and as you as
you mentioned, Brian, their quarterback is injured questionable now. They
made the switch after early November. So I really think
there's two mediocre quarterbacks. I don't worry too much about that,
but still maybe missing your preferred quarterback, missing your top
running back, and they're laying points here and they're coming
off the loss to James Madison. Meanwhile, I liked Kennesaw
in that game against Jacksonville State. I did a video
for that game last week. I recommend at Kennessaul it
was a quick revenge spot for Kennasau State after losing
in November fifteenth in the game which ate a thirty
one to eighteen first down edge against Jacksonville State. So
I don't really penalize Jacksonville State for losing that game.
I think they might be the better team. I definitely
think they're the more focused team in this game, and
they're almost a ninety nine percent certainty to a more
rushing yards I'm getting plus three. They look like a
live dog on Tuesday Night.
Speaker 1: Yes, go ahead, thank you for I was gonna mention
that Steve. This game takes place Tuesday night, nine o'clock Eastern,
and as Ralph mentioned, it is in Montgomery, Alabama. Jacksonville
State is located in Alabama's okay, in Florida. Some people
still may be unaware, of course, Troy also in Alabama school.
All right, we've reached the halfway porn in the program.
Let's talk about what we've got going on at wager
talk dot com. For me, I've already loaded my Sunday
NFL card, did it this morning. Very excited about this
Sunday's NFL card. We've won sixty seven percent of our
NFL sides and totals the last four weeks. I have
three plays you can currently get for just twenty nine
dollars on Sunday, including my top play for week fifteen.
I'm also playing Sunday Night Football. I've got a total
that I'm playing this week as well. I am four
for four with NFL totals this season. I've not played
a ton of totals, but i have won all of them.
So you can get all three plays currently at my
page WT dot buzz slash VP right now for twenty
nine dollars. But don't forget, we have expanded at Wagertalk
dot com. The Weekend Warrior Pass used to be only
football for Saturday and Sunday. Well now for forty nine
dollars you get every sport now. I'm doing college basketball soccer,
you got the NBA. The NBA comp is this weekend,
so there's a lot to bet on this weekend and
we will all. I'm sure Ralph and Steve will have
you covered as well, so do I WT dot Buzz
slash VP again. Three NFL plays up for Sunday twenty
nine dollars if you want them right now. You can
get that Weekend Warrior Pass though, get every other play
I released in every other sport for forty nine dollars
Saturday and Sunday, Ralph, I'll go to you next.
Speaker 2: Another special, Brian, is our Bowl Special one forty nine.
Get you every Bowl release from your favorite handicapper. Want
to mention a couple records. Last year Major Talk twelve
and three eighty percent in the balls that was number
one in profit amongst the site my NFL. The last
five weeks, I've really lowered my NFL volume have done
a much deeper dive. How about an eleven and one
ninety two percent run the last five weeks in the NFL.
So between the College bowls number one, between the NFL
Number one, be at the Weekend Warrior, be at the
college football Bowl package for one nine be on board.
Speaker 1: And Steve, thank you for joining us this week. Of course,
sitting in for Ross Pedro. I believe Ross will be
back next week, but Steve has said in before it
has done an excellent job. I'm doing an excellent job
again here today. What do you have going on at
wagertalk dot com this weekend?
Speaker 3: Thank you, Brian, I appreciate you having me and yeah,
looking forward to our great December here. You know, let's
not just forget it's not just Bowl season, but the
NFL regular season playoffs around the corner, college and pro
basketball on a daily basis. That's four major sports going
that I handicap right now. So it's a great time
to pick up an all sports, all Access membership one day,
one week, one month, one year. Different packages available, and
every client gets the exact same personal best bets that
I'm using each day. But don't forget about the bonus
free plays. The last cut, just a bit outside from
making my best bet card goes up as a free
play each and every day on my page. So if
you're building your bank roll, get the daily free play
right now. Steve Merrill wager talk dot com and here
on wager talkTV. Click subscribe, click that bell for an
instant alert, because I am truly giving you every single
Bowl game here during the bowl season, and also a
ton of free NFL videos. You know, last week guys
free play on my page and the videos I gave
you twenty one of the twenty three football games for
free last week college and pro football. I'm thinking, what
am I doing? This is a terrible business model. But
then I realized, you know, these are light opinions. A
lot of these games we're talking about today light wings.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: The only way to know my official best bets is
to go to wager talk dot com. You can get
there quicker with shortcut wt dot buzz slash sm all right.
Speaker 1: Steve Merrill a busy man this holiday season.
Speaker 3: It added up fast. I realized I'd done twenty of
the twenty three games, and I posted one Sunday as
my free NFL play, So it was twenty one of
the twenty three and uh yeah, you know, I mean, look,
I'm as you guys know, right, we're already handicapping these games, right,
so why waste the information, Let's make it available do videos.
And that's the same concept of that free play every day.
It's truly the last cut. And you know you never
want the game you drop from your best bet card
to win. You're always kind of like I should have
used it. But when you put it up for a
free playing, thousands of people get it. It's a nice
little hedge.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And of course Ralph su earlier, he's got his
TNA video coming up for the Bulls. You can catch
me basically doing a million different shows. Full Court Press
with Adam Trigger and Rob Veno every ten every Monday
through Friday, ten am Eastern, Deep Dive in the College
Basketball Card. I've got the Power Five coming up this weekend.
I subbed in for the pres on the best betting
show ever. It was Joe Ranairean I, which was.
Speaker 3: For yes, Yes became full circle Yes.
Speaker 1: Steve and I. We don't say it's it's nice to
work with you here Steve on the show this week
because we're we're always doing somebody shows the two of us.
Speaker 3: And some people think we're the same person. So this
is this has proven them wrong.
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, let's get to the next Bowl game. Guys.
I know that we're going out. There's still some days advance,
but we will look this show of course live. You know,
Ralph Ross and I have been doing it all season
live every Thursday, one pm Eastern. So these these Bowl
games we're just gonna hit real quick. We're not gonna
have a chance to talk about him obviously when we
go live next week and our next one. I have
a very strong take on the next game. It is
the Cure Bowl, which takes place Wednesday, December seventeenth. I
talked about this game earlier in the week with Andy
Lang on wager Talk. Today I did a segment two
bold teams to fade. You could check that out right
now elsewhere here, not only on my page wt dot
buz slash VP, but on the wager dot YouTube channel. Guys,
I'm gonna run through this real quick. I like Old
Dominion a lot in this game. USF is a team
I am most This is a client play by the
way for me, I'm gonna give it to you for
free right now. USF I am definitely looking to fade
is one of the top teams. I'm looking to fade
this bullseason. Why it's a program in transition. They're going
through a coaching change. Alex Golish he's off to Auburn.
He's being replaced by Brian Hartline, who's the offensive coordinator
at Ohio State. You're gonna have new players coming in
players know, existing players maybe looking to go elsewhere. You
got the new coaching staff heading to Tampa, so the
existing group is wondering about its future. On top of that,
I have to wonder, far be it for me to
question another human beings motivation. But I have to wonder
even the USF seniors are they excited about this final game.
This is a team USF that had a college football
Playoff aspirations less than a month ago. Now they're playing
in one of the very first bowl games. And it's
not even a destination. It's just a hop, skip and
a jump across the state from Tampa to Orlando. So
I don't think we're gonna get a real solid effort
from the Bulls. And keep in mind, I felt this way.
I talked about this game on wager Doc day before
the key op that was announced on Tuesday night or
pardon me, Wednesday night. A quarterback Byron Brown, he's not
gonna play. I'm pretty sure he's not gonna be only
USF player making that decision. I know Odu's starting quarterback
Colton Joseph. He's hit the portal, but his likely replacement
is a guy he's made one career start. He ran
for over two hundred yards in it. Oh, by the way,
I just think the USFQB situation is a little murkier.
Whoever's going to replace Brown not a lot of experience there.
Keep in mind, it remains to be seen who's going
to be calling plays for the USF offense as well.
The market moved towards ODU even with the Joseph news.
Then we saw a second move after Brown opted out.
No surprise there. I think ODEU is gonna be motivated.
They were not in the Bowl last season, you know,
and it's just their fourth Bowl game ever for the record,
So ODU is gonna be more motivated. I know that
we're not getting the best available number anymore at three
and a half, I still like it. I think ODU
is probably gonna win this game out right, So that's
my show. Best bet. We'll recap it at the end,
ODU plus the red and a half. If either of
you guys I would like to follow up, I'd be
more than happy.
Speaker 2: I am going to disagree with you, Brian, so I'll
go first so we can hear to me. It's totally
different if your coach got fired and your program's on
a downward swing. If you're an offensive player, you are
freaking ecstatic with this hire. This is from the Ohio
State legacy. Who's he's coached, how he recruits wide receivers,
he can bring in top talent. Yes, since only Orlando.
But remember next year. Is it next year or two years?
Maybe it's two years. They are building a brand new
thirty five thousand seat stadium. This program is building, They're
starting to get money in. They found some investors to
bring in. I don't think you're gonna have the opt outs.
And while Brown did opt out at quarterback, he is
going to be an assistant helping helping the offense at
the game. So you still have that camaraderie. You don't
have someone who's being selfish and leaving. He's being selfish
and still being involved. I lean USF, but not nearly
enough to talk you out of anyone from your best bet.
Just my lean on the game.
Speaker 1: All right, Steve, we've got a little disagreement on this one.
If you'd like to break the tie here on the
Cure Bowl Wednesday night.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm gonna do some videos on this later
this weekend for next week's games. I hadn't dug into
this one too much. That's what I was looking forward
to doing the show today. And boy, did you make
a great case, Brian. So when Ralf's season, I disagree.
I wanted to hear his side of the story, and
I do think he brings up an excellent point about
the continuity. Maybe we don't get that letdown, but I'll
still say this about Old Dominion. They have the better
defense in my rankings. They're a solid team on both
sides of the ball. And yes, as you said, that
line's gone from seven down to three, but you're still
getting them as an underdog in a situation which they
very well might win out right. And let's look at
those defensive numbers for Old Dominion this year. They gave
up just nineteen points a game, just four point eight
yards per play, just six yards per pass against teams
at average seven point two. Now South Florida average nine
point one yards per pass this year, and explosive passing attack.
But the loss of Byron Brown is legit. This guy
averaged over nine yards of pass a twenty eight to
seven touchdown interception ratio. So the question becomes can the
backup do anywhere near as well? We don't have much
to look at Gaston Moore fourteen for twenty two point
seven yards per pass, And then we had a lock
in Hewlett who threw one pass for a forty five
yard touchdown. He was perfect, but yet a lot of
uncertainty in this game about where the backup is. But
I can't imagine they're going to be as good as
Brown and Old Dominion is a good defensive team. So
you know, I think your handicap makes a lot of sense.
I wouldn't let that line move from seven to three
scare you because you're still getting out of you plus
a field goal and what could be a straight up
one situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I remember last year it was a Christmas Eve
I bet this USF team. I remember Brown's status for
that game was a big question mark. He ended up
not playing. I remember just on a personal level, I
remember like were like convulsing in bed because that game
came down to two point conversions and I had plus
two and a half, and then both teams were kicking
extra points to force extra over in the first overtime.
I remember cashing that play. I had to be quiet.
Speaker 2: You got to love the new rule. Right there, you
go for two points.
Speaker 1: Yes, my daughter was dreaming of Santa Claus and my
wife next to me was asleep, but I was trying
not to make it a convulsing and she's like, are
you okay. I'm like, oh, honey, I'm just watching the Hawaii.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, Ralph real quick, if I'm not mistaken,
I think Old Dominion's quarterback has entered the transfer portal.
Speaker 1: Yes, Joseph has.
Speaker 3: So Quinn Heneikey or Hennikele. I don't know if it's
a honey Key relative or not. Who obviously was the
star that went to the Redskins. Yeah, I mean so
that's a concern there too. I mean, both quarterbacks out.
You know, I guess you can maybe make a case
for the under because once again, this is going from
fifty seven to fifty four. And as I said, Old
Dominions had a good defense this year.
Speaker 2: You know that Steve stole my thunder. Next time come
to me first, Brian.
Speaker 3: Oh, you know that was not where you're going with it.
You know, Steve jump into ammunition for your reason to
play against Old Dominion earlier.
Speaker 2: Old Dominion only played three teams with the winning record
this year, but when they played those teams, they only
averaged thirty four point three points per game. That was
last in the FBS. While USF is a fast paced
team number thirty four in the country at sixty nine
point seven plays per game, you can't run at that
pace with a quarterback who doesn't know the offense like
Byron Brown does. I'm a multi year starter, so I
agree with the under as well, Steve that you know
USF was going to play as slow as they have.
We know Old Dominion is going to play this as
slow as they have. And USF even though Brown has
a lot of yards. You also remember Brown was the
leading rusher on the team nine hundred and four yards.
The next the next meeting, running back only five hundred
and forty six yards. So how I had an under
into the mix for me as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and USF's defense was good twenty three and a
half points against teams at average twenty nine and a half,
five point one yards per play against teams at average
almost six. So you know, check the opt outs for
both defenses here. But we're missing both starting quarterbacks. We
got the defenses decent. Yeah, I'm starting to like the
under here as well. I like Odu the Monarchs.
Speaker 1: We don't have a We don't have a king here
in the United States, but I like the Monarchs. We
don't this way, No, we don't have a king, believe
it or not. No, No, there's.
Speaker 2: No problem, no political talk on the plan.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no political talk. But I will
say again just to recap, just with the way the
markets moved. Joseph had hit the portal the quarterback for Odu,
and the markets still moved in Odu's direction. Then came
the big the big move came when Brown opted out.
We record this obviously, we're live here on Thursday. He
officially opted out last night, Wednesday night. I'll have to
change up. I right up.
Speaker 2: But you know it's different too. During the regular season,
no one here on the show would ever tell you
to bet into a three point line move. If you're
betting into a line move because players opted out, that
is not the same thing. If you are comfortable with
the line with those players gone, bet the game and
don't worry how much it moved, because it really is
like resetting Anne when you get this big news. So
totally different in the bowls on the app playing a
line move than in the regular season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's such a great point, Ralph. It's the same, Brian,
as an NFL preseason game. It's all information based, it's
all player personnel availability base. It's quarterback based obviously in
this game, and that's an extra point by Ralph. You
have to realize seven was not the correct line based
in the current lineups, right, so it was just a
rogue number. And now three if you got to decide
is that the true number or not.
Speaker 1: Let's just do these last two. Well, I'll kind of
group them together, guys, the bulls as we kind of
go deeper into next week. But again, these bulls will
have happened by when we go live now for next
week shows. And I also want to get some just
early college football playoff thoughts. I saw some people in
the chat going talking college football playoff already, so we
do want to get a little discussion of that in
here in the hours. So we've got two teams making
their bold debut in their very first year as an
FBS program because obviously some teams elected not to play
MOWLD games this year, both Delaware and Missouri State. They
waived what is a stupid rule anyway, that teams can't
make bowls in their first two years as an FBS program.
Delaware will be playing Louisiana that is in the Ventures Bowl.
I know when people get wax poetic and wax nostalgic
about the bulls, like the Ventures Bowl. It sounds like,
you know, something where a group of people are going
to lose a lot of money. And then we've got
Missouri State against an Arkansas State team. Arkansas State is
I think Delaware and Missouri State guys potentially are live
to win these gifts. I think they're gonna care a lot,
and I thought their respective opponents, Louisiana and Arkansas State
had bad years. So I have made any official decision yet.
But to me, I don't know what you guys just
think conceptually, here's a team and it's first. Here's two
teams playing their first ever bowl game. Delaware Missouri State.
New FBS programs. You know they're gonna be You have
to figure they're gonna be excited.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. Okay, you know, Brian asked me, I did.
I don't have information on a coach's first bowl game. Obviously,
these teams were FCS, you know, for Missouri State, they
were in the playoffs, you know, the FCS playoffs a
few years ago. I'll just say this, I did not
look at these games very much. My early leans on
these games were Delaware and Arkansas State. Yeah, Arkansas State
has six losses, but you know. I look at I
look at Missouri State and the way they finished the
season losing to Knnessaw State and losing to Louisiana Tech.
I think Arkansas State has a little better offense, even
though that you know, They're numbers aren't wild. They're numbers
three eighty five versus three ninety two, but the strength
of schedule is significant, so I will just shoot the
numbers year to date numbers. With the schedule. Missouri State
played the one hundred and fourteenth schedule their number sixty seven,
Arkansas State number one nineteen. That would lean Missouri State,
but the reason Arkansas State has played so poorly they
were minus nine turnovers this year. Missouri State was even.
That gets you ne extra win eror two on the season.
I lean Arkansas State and Delaware. In Louisiana, Louisiana's played
the one hundred and ninth schedule, Delaware the one twenty seventh,
Delaware ninety nine Louisiana one oh seven, both pretty even.
But it's such a weird bowl game. There is not
one bowl game this year where both teams are top
twenty five tempo. It seems like every fast temple team
is every playing every slow Temple team. So all those
bowl totals, I love getting couple up Temple teams with
couple young quarterbacks that are learning to play the game.
Not much value in that, but my leans, the slightest
of Lean's neither will make my card. Arkansas State and Delaware.
Speaker 1: Steve, anything you want to say about these two games.
Speaker 3: Well, that Arkansas State game is at nine o'clock PM
Eastern Thursday night, so I'll let Ross next week chime
in on that one for me. But this other Wednesday
game before we sign off, Lafayette, you know UL lafayete Delaware.
By the way, I looked this up because where do
they go By the University of Louisiana, and then we
see the betting rotations, I'll say UL Lafayette. They still
are UL Lafayette. Actually I looked at Wikipedia that a
few weeks ago, and I was doing a weeknight video
because it was driving me crazy. So either as apparently acceptable.
Delaware obviously a team I'm very familiar with. They were
in the CAA up until a year ago for both
basketball and football my neck of the woods, no question
they will be excited for their first year here in
Division one A football FBS to be in a bowl game.
I do think UL Lafayette is the better team overall.
That's why we're seeing them as a three point road
fair road favorite, three point favorite in this game. In Alabama,
opt outs are looking pretty clean on both sides the ball.
One thing that jumps out to me about you a lafiees.
They do not throw the ball well, struggle to pass
the ball this season, but they had a pretty good
rushing attack almost two hundred yards a game and delaware
both against the pass and the run. Pretty mediocre defense
giving up thirty two and a half points a game.
So if Louisiana lafiat is able to establish the rushing game,
they probably are the better team game. I'm have to
dig into a little bit deeper. I'll be doing a
video in this game, though, and right now looks like
a pretty evenly match game between two mediocre six and
six teams.
Speaker 1: All right, before we recap our best bets, I just
wanted to get your guys initial thoughts on the College
Uable PLAYFF. Look, we understand it's a flawed system, okay,
and they're going to tinker it again and whatever. That's
not what the purpose of this show is to give
the folks actual info. We got four bottom lines across
next Friday and Saurday, the four first round matchups to
bet on. I like, as probably both of you do,
to get out and speak to many people in this
fine country of ours. I have yet to meet a
single person who likes either group of five Team Troy
or James Madison tou Lane or James Massis, delf Troy
on the Brain Tulane or James Madison obviously both big
underdogs to All Miss and Oregon respectively. You've got Alabama
and Oregon and what is expected to be a Alabama
and Oklahoma. While I'm on fire today breaking these matchups
down Alabama and Oklahoma in regular season rematch, not a
lot of points expected there. What do you got, Ralph?
I'll go to you first, any initial thoughts, anything you
want to share with the people here. I know you
know you, I and Ross will be breaking these games
down in full on next week's show. But you know, hey,
the matchups are out. I didn't know if there was
anything you wanted to let the people know. Now get
them ready.
Speaker 2: I will say early Leans, Oklahoma, Oklahomabama first half under
uh I think Oregon team total against James Madison. James
Madison numbers are fantastic, but again they've played one of
the weakest schedules in college football. Totally differently that speed
speed kills, and I think they get that. A and
M in Miami went back and forth. Probably lean A
and M right now. And no real opinion on Mississippi
Too Lane. I you know, I just never give too
Lane enough credit. And I remember watching what four years
ago or five four years ago when they beat USC
in the in that bowl game, and they this They're
just a well coached, fundamentally sound team. So maybe Steve
will give you an opinion on that.
Speaker 1: You got a four percent. If I'm gonna check back
at GAMO, I'm ninety nine percent sure out of four
percent on two late in that game. Remember it was
an amazing comeback. I kind of like you. That was a
that was a wild finish. But Steve, you will not
be with us. Thank you again for joining us. Steve,
it's always great having you on the program. Any initial
thoughts you'd like to share. I know, of course again
you're gonna be doing videos for all four of these games,
but any initial thoughts you wanted to share.
Speaker 3: Yeah, click subscribe. Click that bell you'll get an instant
alert when these videos go up for next week's games.
My initial thoughts between the two big favorites you mentioned
to Oregon James Madison, Ole Miss Tulane. Obviously, the question
mark with Mississippi is their focus. No Lane Kiff and
half the staff gone. But I think the players still
want to play for a national title. They're going to
rally behind that, and I think Tulane could be the team.
It's a little bit less focused, And the big difference
in that game for me is the huge defensive edge
that Old Miss has. Solanine's a pretty good offensive team,
ole Miss is better, but ole Miss has a substantial
defensive edge, Whereas James Madison I do still rank as
a top thirty defense. I barely have Tulane in my
top seventies. So I think of those two games, if
you're going to lay the big number, I'd be more
comfortable doing it with ole Miss. The Texas and Miami
game is interesting to me. I do rate amm as
a stronger offense, but I've actually got Miami is the
better defensive team in that game. And we'll see if
this is like the NCAA basketball tournament, right, the team
that everyone thinks shouldn't get in always seems to go
on a run, whether it's one of those first four
teams or one of the last in the last doubt,
the committee normally gets it right. And I don't know
if this is the same as the basketball committee. It's
thirteen secret voters in a room that are non accountable.
So now a shock, Miami got in. But we'll see
if they make a run. And we often see that
in the basketball tournament.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree, and we'll be talking about that
again next week. But I'm in line with you that Miami.
I think it's very interesting and you're gonna hear all
for a week. Oh should they belong? Should they even
be here? And we'll see, you know, Chrystal ball though
always a question mark. But again that's more for next week.
Speaker 2: Miami and James Madison. Miami should be in over James Madison.
You know they need to change the conference rule.
Speaker 1: Yeah they did. Look, the ACC screwed it up. Well
you want you want, I guess I could speak up.
The ACC screwed the whole thing up. If and I
think what we're going to see moving forward with the
college fotball Playoff is if there's not a clean head
to head tie break in these massive conferences, they're just
going to put the two top teams in by College
Football Playoff ranking. It's what they should do. And if
we had had that in the ACC, where it'd be
Miami versus Virginia, then the a CEC would have been
guaranteed in an automatic qualifier. Ordre Dame would have got
in and we'd only have one G five in and
no one would well, I'm sure we would find something there.
Speaker 2: Aready ready did a press release there they said they're
redoing them already, so they're they're working on them as
we speak already. That's how Yeah.
Speaker 1: And again they last year they were they didn't. They
weren't ready for the fact that the Big ten at
SEC were so much better than the Big twelve and ACC.
So the idea that the four conference champions got those
automatic buys that that was foolish. They got rid of
that after one year. They're going to fix this, So
there you have it.
Speaker 3: They do it on purpose, Brian, and we've already spent
five minutes talking about it. They do this on purpose
so that we talk about it.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, I agree the powers that be in college football.
I just think they love people arguing about this rather
than the game.
Speaker 3: Look, they had they had two teams for a decade,
then they went to four teams for a while, and
then they jumped to twelve overnight. Like that wasn't doable
to get to eight a couple of years earlier, and
like why aren't we at sixteen? And we're going to
be at sixteen here in the near future. So it's like, yeah,
I don't I'm very condescending with it. I don't feel
like they do it on purpose, but I do think
they get some intrinsic value from all the controversy. As
you know.
Speaker 2: My only bitch is their inconsistency from one week to
the next. I'd rather not even have a playoff show. Hell,
you just got to worry about playing and not worry
about looking at it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I do like that, Ralph, no ranking until the final week, right, Yeah,
I like kind of where you're going with that.
Speaker 2: I agree, Yeah, screw that. That's the whole issue is
the committee saying one thing one week and the next
week changing it, you know, and then jumping a team
up or down. For no reason.
Speaker 3: Right, So, how does the exactly Miami and Notre Dame
don't play? From my understanding, I don't pay much attention
to it, but Notre Dame was ahead of them every week,
including that week in the rankings. Right, Like, so the
only only thing that like was somewhat connected by the
six degrees of Kevin Bacon was Duke beating UVA made
Miami stronger. I guess, I mean it doesn't make any
sense whatsoever.
Speaker 1: No, it didn't it. So again, the only college football
show you should make sure you're tuning into each and
every week is just right here live every one pm. What,
of course, check out all of our individual videos as well. Steve,
My goodness, what an undertaking that is. Keith Beryl previewing
every bowl game. Ralph, his trend's video is locked and loaded.
I'll have you covered with our I've this weekend. Dan,
let's throw those bets on the screen before we say
goodbye to find people. Steve Merrill, he likes Washington in
the l A Bowl and nine and a half betute. Now,
guys who looks like that numbers on the move against
Poise State. Ralph, He's looking at the Army and Navy.
That's also this Saturday, of course, uh first half under
nineteen and half and then we pass the weekend. Next Tuesday.
I like, O d U get three and a hook
in the pure bowls. So can we do it three
and oh for the third time in the next four weeks.
Speaker 2: We'll let you know, Brian, after Steve and I go
two and oh on Saturday, you've got to sweat it
out for three.
Speaker 1: I know, I know it's not like usual. I know
there's there's a lot of pressure if you have when
you do that. Oh, I know how that's gonna be
so all right. For Ralph Michaels, for Steve Merrill, I
am Brian Power. This has been the Blitz. We will
be back next week again talk looking in deeper detail
the college football playoff. Don't forget to get all of
our plays. Steve wtwuzz slash SM, Ralph WT buzz slash
rmme WT buzz slash BP. You can go back. It's
about the thirty minute market of this video. We told
you what we had cooking this weekend until next week,
let's cash the tickets.