Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thursday lines: light week

Since the Ohio State-Michigan "rivalry" is the big game of the weekend ... well, I guess that means it's a lousy weekend. I feel the need to call upon my hero, Lewis Grizzard, for the occasion:
"I was sports editor of the Chicago Sun-Times at one time and I had the opportunity to go to any game I wanted. So I decided one year I'd go to the big Ohio State-Michigan game, big rivalry. And I went to it ... and I was not impressed. It was kinda like two mules fightin' over a turnip — I mean, who cares?"

Still, there are games going on this weekend, and only a handful of weekends remain where we can truly say that. Here then, are your lines for the weekend, courtesy of centsports.com. For the sake of everyone's sanity, Alabama's Senior Day scrimmage with UTC has come off the board. And thank God.
(One other note: As a self-professed football junkie, I normally would've turned on last night's Central Michigan-Ball State game, at least for a few plays. Unfortunately, I couldn't watch more than one series because of the atmosphere — the stadium was almost completely empty, like a mid-week NBA game in Memphis or something. When a 3A football game can outdraw you on a weeknight, you might want to seriously consider the direction of your program.)
Anyway, the lines.
Thursday
Colorado (+19) at Oklahoma State
(Note: This looks easy, until you consider what happened to Zac Robinson last Saturday. No telling what the OSU offense looks like without him, particularly on a short week.)

Friday
Boise State (-23.5) at Utah State

Saturday
Duke (+20) at Miami
Maryland (+19) at Florida State
North Carolina (+3.5) at Boston College
Louisville (+11.5) at South Florida
Minnesota (+10) at Iowa
Ohio State (-12.5) at Michigan
(Note: Is Michigan really going to run off Rich Rodriguez after two seasons? Weren't we ready to canonize him as recently as September?)
Mississippi State (+11) at Arkansas
Oklahoma (-6.5) at Texas Tech
Memphis (+24) at Houston
(Note: If I had a top-5 for the Heisman, I'd probably put — in some order — Case Keenum, Mark Ingram, Toby Gerhart, C.J. Spiller and ... I guess, Colt McCoy. Did I leave anybody out? ... No, not Tebow.)
TCU (-31.5) at Wyoming
Connecticut (+6) at Notre Dame
(Note: Is it too late for ND to give George O' Leary a try? I mean, his resume's pretty solid at this point, right?)
Baylor (+7.5) at Texas A&M
UAB (+13) at East Carolina
(Note: The Blazers can go bowling, right? You realized that? What if they played Kentucky in the Pizza Bowl? That would be the worst bowl game of all-time, right?)
(Additional note: If that game happened, I would absolutely buy tickets. Seriously.)
Purdue (-3) at Indiana
Air Force (+10) at BYU
LSU (+4) at Mississippi
Wisconsin (-7) at Northwestern
North Carolina State (+21) at Virginia Tech
Virginia (+21) at Clemson
Penn State (-3) at Michigan State
Arizona State (+4.5) at UCLA
Vanderbilt (+17) at Tennessee
California (+8.5) at Stanford
Kansas State (+17) at Nebraska
Kentucky (+8.5) at Georgia
Kansas (+27.5) at Texas
Oregon (-6) at Arizona

1 comment:

-D. said...

If that happens--the Worst Bowl of All Time--don't jump to buy tickets. I bet M's dad can get us some.