College Football Results Against The Spread Week 5
By Mike Marteny
College Football Results Against The Spread Week 5
Another week of college football is in the books. Most of the football is off of the DVR, and its time for me to face how bad my picks were. At least that has been the case so far this year. Was this week any better? I sure hope so.
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I missed the ten pointer in Pick Em, so I don’t really have high hopes that these picks went any better. Of course, I sit at a dismal 82-110 through the first month of the season. I could hit on 24 of the 56 games this week and still improve my percentage. That is not a place you want to be, especially when you put all of your picks out there for the world to see.
Here are the results of another wild college football weekend. Winners against the spread are in BOLD. My results follow.
Just in case you want to follow along, here are the picks:
Thursday-Friday
Early Saturday
Saturday Afternoon
Saturday Evening
Connecticut at Houston(-28.5): MISS! I knew I hated that half….
Kansas at Texas Tech(-27.5): HIT! Kansas doesn’t even really have competition this year for the title of worst Power Five school….
Stanford at Washington(-3.5): MISS! The Huskies are 5-0 for the first time since 1992. Can they exorcise the Oregon demons this weekend?
Toledo at BYU(-3.5): HIT! What a game this was. Toledo didn’t win straight up, but I guarantee that the Cougars remember them.
Notre Dame (-11.5) at Syracuse: MISS! The Syracuse offense was M.I.A. in the second half. Notre Dame figured out how to cover Etta-Tawo and no one else could do anything.
Baylor(-16.5) at Iowa State: MISS! Honestly, I can’t believe that the Cyclones blew this. They had the game in hand until they ran out of gas. They didn’t even score in the fourth quarter.
Florida(-9.5) at Vanderbilt: MISS! It was almost painful to watch Florida try in vain to move the ball in this one.
Texas at Oklahoma State(-2.5): MISS! Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Charlie Strong limps into the Red River Shootout with his job on the line…..
Rutgers at Ohio State(-38.5): HIT! The gap between the Buckeyes and the rest of the Big Ten(14) is huge right now.
Northwestern at Iowa(-13.5): HIT! Believe it or not, Nebraska is leading the Big Ten (14) West. Not that they have looked all that good either.
Central Florida at East Carolina(-3.5): MISS! If Scott Frost doesn’t win Coach of the Year, he should.
SMU at Temple(-12.5): HIT! Big surprise here….the Ponies got trampled again.
Miami(FL)(-7.5) at Georgia Tech: HIT! Is Miami really a top ten team? We find out this weekend.
Georgia State at Appalachian State(-18.5): MISS! Of course, the Mountaineers didn’t even score 19. It was still a convincing win though.
Virginia at Duke(-3.5): MISS! How did Duke get this bad? To lose by 14 at home to Virginia, a team that got dominated by Richmond?
Buffalo at Boston College(-18.5): MISS! What is the worst thing a gambler can do? Out-think him or herself. I’m starting to do that.
Oregon State at Colorado(-18.5): HIT! Even when the Ralphies graduate Sefo Liufau, they have Steven Montez to handle things. This could be Colorado’s most talented team since 2001. It’s been a slow decade-plus in Boulder.
Ohio(-3.5) at Miami(OH): HIT! At least the Redhawks are staying competitive. They haven’t really done that for a while.
Eastern Michigan at Bowling Green(-3.5): HIT! When was the last time the Eagles started 4-1? Way back in 1995. Their quarterback that season was Charlie Batch. The last time the Eagles won four games in a season was in 2011, when they won six. They are definitely headed in the right direction. Bowling Green? Not so much….
Navy at Air Force(-7.5): HIT! This was about as dominant of a display by an option offense as you will see.
Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn(-33.5): HIT! Hey, the Warhawks made Oklahoma’s offense look great too. It’s what they do.
Tennessee(-3.5) at Georgia: MISS! Well, the Vols had no business winning this game anyway….
Tulane(-2.5) at Massachusetts: HIT! If UMass finds a defense, they could be dangerous. That is a few years away though.
Northern Illinois at Ball State(-4.5): HIT! The Huskies finally won a game!
North Carolina at Florida State(-10.5): MISS! The FSU defense is shell-shocked right now. Can Miami keep it up?
Wake Forest at North Carolina State(-11.5): MISS! That’s what I get for believing in Wake, I guess.
Akron(-7.5) at Kent State: MISS! I really need to learn to consider how poor a team’s defense is when making these picks…..
Purdue at Maryland(-10.5): MISS! I knew better….
Wisconsin at Michigan(-10.5): HIT! This was easy money. Both teams have good defenses.
Illinois at Nebraska(-20.5): MISS! By the middle of the third quarter, Nebraska was missing TE Cethan Carter, RB Devine Ozigbo, WR Alonzo Moore, and WR Jordan Westerkamp. They had to run the ball with Newby, and that is the only reason they won the game.
Minnesota at Penn State(-2.5): MISS! When a Penn State QB throws for 300+ on your defense, you know you have problems.
Kansas State at West Virginia(-3.5): MISS! The Big 12(10) has about eight mediocre teams and two bad ones. Are they the worst Power Five conference? Probably, but only because they don’t have a single good team.
Texas A&M(-17.5) at South Carolina: MISS! A&M looked pretty sloppy in this one. That wont fly with all the division games coming up.
San Jose State at New Mexico(-9.5): MISS! I’m getting used to logic not making sense this year.
Oklahoma(-3.5) at TCU: HIT! The Sooners nearly blew this after building up a 25 point lead. And that was after they erased a 14 point deficit. Watching this team is hazardous to my health.
Troy(-13.5) at Idaho: HIT! The Vandals resume their place among the bottom teams.
Old Dominion(-9.5) at Charlotte: HIT! I want to see Idaho play Charlotte, you know, because I’m a sadist.
Utah at California(-1.5): MISS! Lost in this game was just how well Cal’s run defense played.
Memphis at Mississippi(-14.5): HIT! Ole Miss could end up being the best two loss team in recent memory.
Kentucky at Alabama(-35.5): HIT! Nothing to see here. No sense in getting anyone hurt.
Florida Atlantic(-5.5) at Florida International: HIT! So do I get extra points for saying McGough comes through? Lord knows I need them…..
UTEP at Louisiana Tech: MISS! Damn those garbage touchdowns….
Middle Tennessee State(-15.5) at North Texas: HIT! The good news is that North Texas is getting better. The bad news is that a team this close to Dallas can still be this bad.
Rice at Southern Mississippi(-24.5): MISS! How in the world does Nick Mullens throw for 591 yards and NOT cover this line???
South Florida(-5.5) at Cincinnati: HIT! The Bulls mean business!
Western Michigan(-3.5) at Central Michigan: HIT! Ah, there is nothing quite like handing a rival a 39 point loss on their home field.
Marshall at Pittsburgh(-16.5): MISS! Seriously, Pitt? You were up 27-0 at halftime!
Missouri at LSU(-12.5): MISS! So, Cam Cameron’s vanilla offense was more of a problem than Les Miles. That said, everyone knew the talent was there, so what does that say for the staff?
Louisville(-1.5) at Clemson: MISS! This was everything you want a top five game to be. It was decided by one yard.
San Diego State(-19.5) at South Alabama: MISS! How in the world does a team beat Mississippi State in Starkville, then beat a SDSU team with one of the best running backs in the country, yet lose to Lafayette and beat Nicholls State by one? How is that possible?
Louisiana-Lafayette(-4.5) at New Mexico State: HIT! This was a great game between two not-so-great teams.
Michigan State(-6.5) at Indiana: MISS! Where did that come from?
Arizona State at USC(-9.5): MISS! Are the Trojans back? This goes a long way towards showing it. In other news, Colorado leads the Pac 12 South. Colorado. Let that sink in for a minute.
Oregon(-1.5) at Washington State: HIT! The Cougars are sure fun to watch, aren’t they?
Utah State at Boise State(-21.5): HIT! The Utah State defense played a very good game. They held Jeremy McNichols to 132 yards on 30 carries. If you have seen McNichols run, you know that’s a pretty good feat.
Wyoming at Colorado State(-6.5): MISS! Craig Bohl to the rest of the Mountain West: Can you hear me now?
Fresno State at UNLV(-9.5): MISS! Really? As if the Vegas-style numbers on the field weren’t enough of an abomination….
Arizona at UCLA(-13.5): MISS! Bear Down? They must have missed the memo.
Nevada(-3.5) at Hawaii: HIT! The moral of the story is that I should switch my five pointers to ones, and ones to fives. Nothing else is working.
The final tally for the week is 27-32. The really sad part is that still improved my percentage. I now sit at 109-142 on the season. I need to try something different since conventional methods aren’t working.
Let’s see if the point system was any better. The season totals are in parentheses:
1. 5-2 (20-19) +1
2. 11-10 (41-41) 0
3. 6-14 (29-48) -57
4. 4-4 (14-20) -24
5. 1-2 (5-14) -45
I lost another 24 points this week, which puts me at -125 points on the season. The 123 points I accrued last season are now gone. That means I am no longer playing with (fictional) house money. The hurricane is wreaking havoc with our college football Saturday, but there are still enough games going on that I can make up some ground. It’s now or never!
Next: ESPN College Pick Em Picks Week 6
We have another full weekend on tap for you at Fantasy CPR! We will have DFS picks for the NFL and MLB Playoffs. We have start/sit advice for the NFL, and our survival pool picks. I will also post my against the spread picks (for all the good it does) for the college games that are still being played this weekend! We have something for everyone!