This week we have good news, bad news, and more bad news! Lets start with the good news – college picks have recovered nicely, returning to the green going 3-2. Bad news – pro picks went belly up, crashing and burning at 0-5 for the second time this season. Fun little tidbit for you guys – through the first 13 weeks since the inception of Guster’s Guarantees there were zero 0-5 days, and since then there have been 3 in a row! *internally screaming*. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me THREE TIMES, FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! Okay i’m sorry I just needed to get that out of my system. Cherry on top of this shit sundae was Josh squeezing out another win this week to tie up the challenge at 4-4. Deep breaths everyone, plenty of weeks left to go and we will stop the bleeding, I promise you that.
One additional note this week, I have channeled some of my frustrations into some analytics work (which helps calm me down) and produced an updated tracker for all of the picks and challenges so that the history and current standings can be more easily accessed. I will post it each week at the bottom of the column.
Josh challenges:
Ohio State -14 vs Wisconsin
Bold choice by Josh here to dip into the college arena where he was just 1-4 prior. Ohio State has been an absolute cash cow all year and Wisconsin just had their Big Ten championship hopes crushed after being upset the week before by 30 point underdog Illinois. This is the type of situation where motivation plays a huge role. Ohio State is rolling and on track for the playoff, whereas Wisconsin now has little to push them in a spot where they’d need every ounce of juice they can get to stay competitive in Columbus. Despite keeping it close early in the second half, Wisconsin ran out of gas as anticipated and the Buckeyes blew the door off with four straight touchdowns to seal a 38-7 win. Josh felt that Wisconsin might be motivated by the disrespect of a two touchdown spread, but sometimes the disrespect is just warranted. 1-0 Gus going into Sunday.
CAR +6 @ SF
I have been waiting for the other shoe to fall on the Niners all year long but Jimmy G & co. just won’t let it happen. Gotta give Josh credit on this one, he nailed the handicap to a tee. San Francisco showed that they were clearly the better team and Kyle Allen’s spotless record finally regressed to the mean as he threw 3 interceptions and the Panthers never got within arms length on this one. 1-1.
HOU -6.5 vs OAK
Rubber game of the week in Houston was a tight one. Raiders grabbed the early lead and kept the Texans at arms length for the majority of the day until late in the 4th quarter when Deshaun Watson pulled out some eye opening heroics (see what I did there) and got the lead for the first time in the game with 6 and a half minutes left. After forcing Oakland to punt on the ensuing drive my only opportunity for a rare front door cover was for Houston to break one all the way to the end zone, but unfortunately they would run out the clock and fall short of the 6.5, winning 27-24. 2-1 Josh.
Series tied 4-4 😦
Week 8/9 Results:
College picks – [3-2]
Ohio State -14 vs Wisconsin
38-7 Ohio State – WIN
Michigan State +7 vs Penn State
28-7 Penn State – LOSS
Iowa State -10 vs Oklahoma State
34-27 Oklahoma State – LOSS
Michigan pk vs Notre Dame
45-14 Michigan – WIN
Washington State +14 @ Oregon
37-35 Oregon – WIN
Pro picks – [0-5]
DET -6.5 vs NYG
31-26 DET – LOSS
IND -4.5 vs DEN
15-13 IND – LOSS
UNDER 43 BUF vs PHI
31-13 PHI – LOSS
CAR +6 @ SF
51-13 SF – LOSS
HOU -6.5 vs OAK
27-24 HOU – LOSS
Overall Week – [3-7]
Season Record – [43-37]
Total Record – [85-70]
*DISCLAIMER: GUSTER’S GUARANTEES IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY WAGERS LOST IN RELATION TO ANY SUGGESTIONS MADE DURING THIS SEGMENT*
Week 10 NCAAF Picks
Michigan -21 @ Maryland
Virginia Tech +17.5 @ Notre Dame
Florida +7 vs Georgia
USC +4.5 vs Oregon
Hawaii -2 vs Fresno State
Week 9 NFL Picks
OVER 51.5 TB @ SEA
OAK -2.5 vs DET
CLE -3.5 @ DEN
GB -3.5 @ LAC
NE -3 @ BAL
PICKS TRACKER
| NCAAF | NFL | Week | Season | Total | ||||||||
| Post # | Year | Week | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | L |
| 1 | 2018 | 6,7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| 2 | 2018 | 7,8 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 6 |
| 3 | 2018 | 8,9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 12 | 18 | 12 |
| 4 | 2018 | 9,10 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 16 | 24 | 16 |
| 5 | 2018 | 10,11 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 26 | 19 | 26 | 19 |
| 6 | 2018 | 11,12 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 32 | 23 | 32 | 23 |
| 7 | 2018 | 12,13 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 38 | 27 | 38 | 27 |
| 8 | 2018 | 13,14 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 42 | 33 | 42 | 33 |
| 9 | 2019 | 1,2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 49 | 36 |
| 10 | 2019 | 2,3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 15 | 5 | 57 | 38 |
| 11 | 2019 | 3,4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 22 | 8 | 64 | 41 |
| 12 | 2019 | 4,5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 26 | 14 | 68 | 47 |
| 13 | 2019 | 5,6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 34 | 16 | 76 | 49 |
| 14 | 2019 | 6,7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 38 | 22 | 80 | 55 |
| 15 | 2019 | 7,8 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 40 | 30 | 82 | 63 |
| 16 | 2019 | 8,9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 43 | 37 | 85 | 70 |
CHALLENGE TRACKER
| NCAAF | NFL | Picks | Weeks | |||||
| Week | Gus | Josh | Gus | Josh | Gus | Josh | Gus | Josh |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
Wasted Talent 