Week Fourteen

Two week recap! Thanksgiving week always gets hard to write these because the week gets choppy. I did feel good about the Giants once Lock was announced but I know for the final five weeks to not bet on them thinking they can win. They look toast! So they’ll probably win this week ahaha. College has hit a nice rebound as the season comes to an end. Conference Championship week is one of my favorites! The Big Ten and SEC Championship game they made semi meaningless? But the rest will have all the emotions! All four of the Big Ten / SEC teams will be in the playoffs. I’m sure all four teams want to win but they have other goals in mind with the playoffs coming up. Health should be their number one priority. I think we’ll still have a Big Ten play but I do recognize it is not do or die here.

UConn +10 at Syracuse – HIT!
Colts +7 vs Lions – Miss.
Bucs -6 at Giants – HIT!
Rams +3 vs Eagles – Miss.
Giants +4 at Cowboys – Miss.
2024 NCAA 7-7-1
2024 NFL 10-8-1
NCAA 115-117-6
NFL 153-126-11
267-244-17

Oregon -3.5 v Penn State
The elephant in the room is would Oregon be better off with a loss in the Big Ten Championship. It’ll add an extra game, but they’d host the 12 seed which is likely the winner of the Big 12 Championship, and they would play the Mountain West Champion on neutral site to get to the Semi’s. Dan Lanning seems like a coach that doesn’t have loser mentality and is ready to stamp himself as the best coach in college football. Plus, a bye week sounds pretty valuable right about now. Penn State is very solid. They have a good QB, a nice RB duo, great TE, and are strong in the trenches. But, very solid is not great, and I believe Oregon is the only great team in college football this season. When Penn State played Ohio State, who matched them in the trenches, the Penn State running backs ran for 42 yards on 18 carries. Abdul Carter of Penn State will be a top10 pick off the edge, but Oregon has a top5 offensive line in all of college. They are deeper, stronger, and faster. And let’s be real, we’re still waiting on a signature win out of James Franklin. Quack!

SMU -2 v Clemson
Clemson has played 4 power4 schools that finished over .500. They went 1-3 losing to Georgia, Louisville, and South Carolina, and their 1 win was at Pitt who played a backup QB. In similar games, SMU went 5-1. They lost at BYU 18-15 and beat TCU, Louisville, Duke, Pitt and BC. Clemson has been a staple, but idk if they have the horses to keep up with the Ponies. Cade Klubnik and Phil Mafah should be able to establish a run game, but I’m not trusting Klubnik in a big spot to pass the ball. SMU can dial pressure with their DLine and I expect Clemson to run out of steam. Kevin Jennings has put together one hellova season for SMU slinging the rock, and I think they close it out with a playoff berth. I look for SMU to spread out Clemson and let their speed talk. I don’t think this is a Clemson of old, and their defense can get exposed here. Pony up!

Falcons +6 at Vikings
The Falcons are 0-3 and Kirk Cousins has thrown 0 touchdowns to 6 interceptions in this bad stretch. Sometimes, we need to get back to what’s routine, and Kirk returning to Minnesota is exactly what the doctor ordered. There was a time where the Falcons were 6-3 with wins over Philly and two over Tampa, with 2 loses vs Chiefs and Steelers. I see them getting back to this form and Kirk getting the engine running. The Vikings will throw a lot of different looks at Kirk so it’ll be important for the Falcons to protect him. The Vikings also have the most interceptions this season, but this isn’t a surprise for Kirk and the Falcons so the focus all week had to have been protecting the ball. A person who has been protecting the ball is Sam Darnold, with no interceptions his last 3 games. I don’t know if this is sustainable for him as he threw 8 in his prior 6 games. He’s a gunslinger and mistakes will happen, as will lots of yards. If the Falcons offense can positively regress back to their normal then they should be able to go toe to toe scoring wise with the Vikings.

Thank you,
Goose