Look Aheads and Let Downs
By Judd Hall
If you had doubts about college football squads getting sucked into a trap, last week should have eliminated them.
The Spartans fell to Wisconsin after a near miss in South Bend to Notre Dame. Washington showed they’re not quite ready for primetime in a defeat against the Cardinal. The Golden Bears went into hibernation in Oregon. Even the Seminoles weren’t immune to a hangover last Saturday with a loss at home to South Florida.
Luckily for us, there are some more trap games for us to play on this Saturday.
Hawkeyes Down…
A lot of folks made it out that the Nittany Lions were out for blood against Iowa last Saturday night. Sure, the Hawkeyes killed PSU’s chances for a national title last season but these weren’t the same teams. Regardless of the men in the uniforms, the result was the same with Iowa getting the win in Happy Valley as a 9 ½-point road pup, 21-10. The Hawkeyes used their defense to take a hold of this soggy game. They forced Daryll Clark into three interceptions and Evan Royster to fumble.
The betting shops are expecting the Hawkeyes to run roughshod over Arkansas State this weekend against Arkansas State by making them 21-point home favorites.
The Red Wolves have done a real good job of being the fall guy for teams this season. They were owned by Nebraska 38-9 on Sept. 12 and knocked over by Troy 30-27 last Saturday.
What makes Arkansas State an attractive play is how the Hawkeyes play after making Joe Paterno their bitch. Iowa is 4-1 straight up following its last five wins over the Nittany Lions, but 1-4 against the spread.
No Bull this weekend…
South Florida looked like it could be dead in the water as it went up to Tallahassee last weekend to play the Seminoles without Matt Grothe under center. The Bulls didn’t need him as B.J. Daniels pulled in 341 total yards and threw for two touchdowns in their 17-7 win over Florida State.
Now the Bulls head up to the Carrier Dome to play Syracuse as 6 ½-point road favorites.
This is a perfect trap spot for USF after you think about it for a little bit. They’re coming off of a win that Jim Leavitt desperately wanted to give his team legitimacy in its home state. And next week, the Bulls play host to the Bearcats in what is an early battle for Big East supremacy.
The Orange are also on a nice roll for their standards, having won two straight games. Greg Paulus has fared well in those matches by completing 71 percent of his passes for 660 yards and four touchdowns. Don’t be surprised if this game winds up as a nail biter.
Sleeping Tigers…
If you’re going off of talent alone, then the Tigers should have had no problems in dispatching Mississippi State. Yet Louisiana State needed a goal line stand to hold off the upstart Bulldogs as a 12 ½-point road favorite, 30-26. You could say that Mississippi State let the Tigers stick around by giving up the ball four times in the first half that turned into 10 points. No matter the excuses, LSU is still undefeated.
The close call last Saturday no doubt had an effect at the sportsbooks as LSU is listed as a three-point road underdog against Georgia.
This is a difficult for the Bayou Bengals as Georgia has much better talent than what Mississippi State. However, Joe Cox is still learning the ropes on how to be a starting quarterback in the SEC.
The history of this series shows that the Bulldogs have won and covered in the last three meetings. But there is also the added spectre of Tim Tebow and the Gators the following week in Baton Rogue. The Tigers are 4-1 SU and ATS in the last five matches that preceded facing Florida – the lone loss coming against Georgia.
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