HORNS UP!
Tonight is the night fellas. We’ve hit the apex of not only our own personal UB sports history but the entire schools existence. What was once a laughable notion that we’d have something nationally relevant to watch is now a reality. Men’s basketball is ranked 21 in the AP poll (highest in program history and secured a nice W early this morning in Belfast) and the football team is a 3.5 point favorite tonight over Northern Illinois in the MAC championship tonight at 7:00. If you aren’t tuning in tonight you are completely written off my list of respectable UB fans/alum. Personally, as good of a time as I had in my 4 years in Buffalo, there was always a small undeniable shred of regret for not choosing a school with a major sports program (and of course hot poolside coeds in bikinis year round). Now that small piece of me has vanished and been replaced by something I have’t felt in a long time when it comes to the teams I root for – pride. Truly feels like we are a part of something that has been built from ground zero. I hope you all have a little extra pep in your step today as I do, because tonight we become champions.
P.S. you can bet your ass the Bulls are one of my picks this week.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming: Last week’s picks yielded yet another winning week! If you haven’t bought into this yet then you are just a stubborn fool and I no longer feel pity for you. We will just keep this train rolling and send you a post card from the promise land. I’d also like to call attention to the big time fantasy week we have ahead of us. Five teams fighting it out for 4 spots and a bye up for grabs in the The Athletes division. With so many potential outcomes Sunday will be as good as it gets when it comes to fantasy implications. Roll Batmen!
Saturday NCAAF:
I’m sure some of you thought my UB pick this week was purely emotional but I actually really liked this match up for the Bulls at -15 against Bowling Green. After a bad loss to Ohio a couple of weeks ago this game was a must win to guarantee a birth in the MAC championship so I expected Buffalo to show up with big motivation and they did just that. Horns over Talons by 30 to start off the week. My worst read of the day came by the hand of Pittsburgh who may have been looking ahead to the ACC championship against Clemson this week. West Virginia vs Oklahoma turned out to be the shootout everyone expected, but unfortunately you would’ve had to buy that half a point to get your money back on this one; the Sooners win by 3 in a back breaker. Washington and Penn State closed out the day on a high note with convincing covers and locked in a 3-2 day.
Thursday/Sunday NFL:
I normally try to avoid making forced picks where I may not have a strong read, but I was feeling festive and decided to roll the dice with all three Thanksgiving games. I went back and forth on the first game of the day but decided to play it safe with Trubisky ruled out, regrettably. This was looking like a winner until Matthew Stafford decided to go fuck everything up and throw a late pick-6 to knock us out of the money. My stat of the day showed that teams favored by more than a touchdown on Thursday covered the spread 65% of the time. This proved to be true to the test with both Dallas and New Orleans covering and giving us some extra gravy for our turkey legs. My two Sunday games were split with the Pats taking care of business against the Jets and that loser of a coach Bowles (don’t get me started), followed by the Steelers late comeback falling short to the Broncos. 3-2 on pro picks brings the overall week to 6-4, in the money once again.
Overall record is up to 38-27 (58%).
Week 14 NCAAF Picks
Buffalo -3.5 vs Northern Illinois
Washington -5.5 vs Utah
Texas +8 @ Oklahoma
Under 64 Memphis @ Central Florida
Ohio State -14 vs Northwestern
Week 13 NFL Picks
HOU -5.5 vs CLE
NYG +4.5 vs CHI
IND -4 @ JAC
WAS +6.5 @ PHI
PIT -3.5 vs LAC
Wasted Talent 