Ferringo College Report: Heisman Hopefuls, Hawaii and Helium Balloons
By Robert Ferringo of Doc's Sports Picks
Amazing. We made it through an exciting, intense, and very telling weekend of college football without the benefit of some ridiculous and cheesy ESPN nickname like "Separation Saturday" or "Syphilis Saturday". How did we ever manage?
Anyway, here are some random, scattered thoughts for a truly outstanding weekend of college football:
- Forget the Colts and Bears in the NFL; we have a more impressive run at an undefeated season going on in college football. That's right - Central Michigan is the last remaining unbeaten team against the spread in college football. They're 8-0 and trying to become the first all-profit team in over a decade.
While we're at it, Ohio State is 7-1 ATS and my alma mater Syracuse is money at 7-1 as well. Clemson (6-2), Tennessee (5-2), South Carolina (5-1) and Michigan (5-2-1) are four other high-profile teams that are currently in the Top 15.
As for the worst teams - that would be Fresno State at 0-7 ATS and North Carolina at 0-5-1 ATS. Stanford (1-7), Miami (1-4-1) and Iowa (1-6) are three other BCS busters, and Media Darling Notre Dame is ranked No. 87 with a 2-5 ATS mark.
- Mike Hart gets my vote for the Heisman. In Hart's career the Wolverines are 16-1 when he rushes for more than 100 yards.
- Here's a HUGE congratulations to Doc Moseman for hitting his Big Ten Game of the Year - AGAIN. There wasn't any doubt on this end, but more than a few morons and child molesters on message boards last week were calling into question his powers of premonition. Please. He's been a class act in this industry longer than most of those posters have probably been alive. Hopefully cashing in on Michigan quieted that minority of the crowd.
Also, everyone knows what it's like to score on a huge bet. But it's completely different cashing in as a handicapper knowing that your clients are just as excited as you are when you hit a Game of the Month or GOY. Think back to college and recall those first 30 seconds of a hit on a helium balloon. Take that feeling and stretch it out for about two days and you start to get an idea of what that's like. Good times.
- Colt McCoy is legit. He's going to win a Heisman for himself in 2008.
- No, The Rock was not impressed with Michigan State's record-setting comeback against Northwestern. It's Northwestern. How are you losing by 35 points to them in the first place? No that doesn't make up for blowing it against Notre Dame or the other handful of collapses you've experienced this year. Celebrating that is like talking trash when you beat a blind kid in dodge ball.
- Bret Bielema is doing a phenomenal job with Wisconsin. I really don't think that the Badgers are that talented, but they've posted a 6-0-2 ATS record and are a road win in Iowa on Nov. 11 away from an 11-1 regular season.
- So much for North Carolina State getting hot. After topping Boston College and Florida State they drop two in a row to Wake Forest at home and Maryland on the road. Attaboy, Chuck Amatto.
- The Big 12 North is 3-11 against the Big 12 South.
- Western Michigan linebacker Ameer Ismail just made another sack as I was typing this sentence. Ismail notched six sacks this weekend, tying an NCAA record, against Ball State.
- For the second straight week Syracuse was hanging around at halftime with one of the nation's best teams. Last weekend the Orangemen (they'll always be the OrangeMEN to me) were down just 17-14 at West Virginia. On Saturday they trailed mighty Louisville only 7-6 in The Dome. Otto and the Boys have some work to do to make a bowl game, but Greg Robinson's philosophy is clearly taking hold.
- Is anyone else worried about Cal after that performance last weekend? They benefited from five Washington turnovers but still only managed a 7-point win at home over the Huskies. I'm not Henny Penny, but it was a curious score.
- Between October of 1992 and October of 2005, Florida State was 55-1 straight up in conference home games. Since then they are 0-3.
- What do you do when one of your good friends rolls up to your house to pick you up for happy hour bumping to some K-Fed beats? Run in horror? Hit him with his own car? Sit in silent agony and listen to it as he tells you that, "it's really not that bad"?
- This is why college football and the entire BCS system are absolutely absurd. The Coaches Poll is a factor of the BCS rankings. Well, Miami still has 11 votes and Iowa has 33 votes in the poll!!! Are you kidding me?
I'm not a big rankings or poll guy, but that one got me. The other thing that baffled me is how Arkansas is ranked above LSU. I understand the schedule, etc. But what do you think that the Tigers would do to the Razorbacks if those teams played this week? I'm telling you this - it wouldn't be pretty.
- Air Force got caught with its pants down last weekend, falling prey to San Diego State one week before what would have been a match-up of Mountain West unbeatens when they played Brigham Young this coming weekend.
- The oddsmakers were amazingly consistent with their totals last weekend - especially considering that this was one of the first Saturday's where unpredictable weather came into play. The over was 27-28 for the week.
- Hawaii is no joke. They're defense is a bit better than people expect and the offense is, well, Hawaii. This is a solid football team.
- Burn in Hell, Bob Stoops. I'm glad he had to deal with the Oregon situation earlier in the year. That's what he gets for running in that garbage touchdown with less than 20 seconds left against Colorado to win 24-3 instead of 17-3. Scumbag.
- Madonna is a fake foreigner and a baby stealer.
- Who on this planet thought Georgia would cover that monster line against Mississippi last week? That, more than any other game, I was kicking myself for not playing heavy on. This Georgia team IS NOT THAT GOOD.
- Speaking of teams that are going to get hammered in their bowl game, Notre Dame is a very average team. Their offense is calculating and efficient, but they would lose by about 28 to West Virginia, Florida, Texas or anyone else with speed on defense. The Irish continue to be the most overrated team in all of football.
- Toledo's three-headed monster at quarterback is baffling to me. If Clint Cochran is healthy enough to play the fourth quarter, why isn't he starting?
- Could Boise State running back Ian Johnson be working his way into the Heisman discussion? Not really. He'll be dismissed just like the Broncos, even though he's on pace for nearly 1,800 yards and 27 touchdowns.
- Oklahoma State backers took a kick in the groin. How do you miss extra points? And is it me or does a missed extra point victimize someone in overtime every week?
- I've seen enough of Reggie Ball to know not to ever trust him in the clutch.
- Rutgers is awesome. I've been selling them all season, and hopefully you've been buying. Just remember that it was me pimping them and Clemson weeks before the national media jumped on board.
- Wyoming is rolling. They won the Border War convincingly and are now 6-2 ATS. How they let SU put up 40 on the third-best defense in the league I'll never know, but they are a tough, rugged team.
- Borat's movie can't get here fast enough.
Questions or comments for Robert? E-mail him at robert@docsports.com or check out his Insider Page here.
