College Football Trick System
By Marc Lawrence
In sports a hat trick is associated with succeeding at anything three times in three consecutive attempts.
In the Victorian era, the phrase 'hat trick' referred to a common trick by magicians, where the performer used a top hat. Often times he would pull three rabbits out of the hat, one after another.
In the sport of cricket when a bowler dismisses three batsmen with consecutive deliveries in the same match he achieves a hat trick, considered very rare. On the ice in the sport of hockey a player who scores three goals in one game is awarded a hat trick. A player accomplishes a 'Gordie Howe hat trick' by scoring a goal, getting an assist and getting in a fight, all in the same game. And interestingly, Mario Lemieux once accomplished a feat that is now known as a 'Mario Lemieux hat trick' when he received a radiation treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma the day of a game, and then scored a goal and an assist that night against the Philadelphia Flyers. He has also recorded a "5-goal hat trick" (or "ultimate hat trick" or "Lemieux Cycle") in which he scored in all five possible game situations in one game, on 31 December 1988, against the New Jersey Devils. He scored on a power play, short handed, even strength, penalty shot, and an empty net goal. The latter two are obviously variations of the real deal, but you get the idea.
In football a team accomplishes a hat trick when they win their first three games of the season. That is not necessarily good news for all teams, especially those that were bowl teams the previous year. According to the PLAYBOOK database, teams in Game Four of the season who are 3-0 and were bowl teams last year are just 84-100-6 ATS when tackling a conference foe, including 10-26-2 ATS versus an opponent off a double-digit loss.
These hat trick teams quickly become targets for the opposition. The best role to fade them comes about when we -
PLAY AGAINST any college football underdog in Game Four of the season if they are 3-0 and were a bowl team last year.
More often than not, after these games, these teams don't live in the land of the undefeated after the final gun has sounded as they are just 22-31-3 ATS in this role.
Worse yet, put them up against an opponent who won eight or more games the previous year and they really take it in the chin, going 3-21 SU & 6-17-1 ATS provided that same opponent checks into the game off a loss or win of less than 30 points. FYI: the bubble is sure to burst if these guys are dogs of less than seven points, as they are 0-11 SU and ATS in these games since 1980!
This week four teams will be looking to get 'hat-tricked' when Kentucky, South Carolina, Temple and West Virginia find themselves taking points as 3-0 bowlers.
As Tracy Byrd put it in his tune, 'Hat Trick', "If it's not in the cards, I can't wave a magic wand and make you want me near. But I can do a hat trick. I'll put it on and disappear."