The national spotlight is to The Ohio State University as salt is to a slug.
Garrett and Griftdrift are tied for the overall lead after Garrett’s strong showing this week. Griftdrift’s slow-and-steady/voodoo approach has been good for accumulating points, but those contemplating following his lead may want to consider this: if the contest ended here Garrett would be declared the winner since he has won a week and Griftdrift hasn’t. Rules are tricky like that.
If you didn’t follow the comments thread last week, you may have missed this addition to the rules: players are now allowed to wager points with each other.
Example: Tony bets 1 point with Archibald that Archibald doesn’t score at least 10 points overall. If Archibald scores 10, a point is docked from Tony’s score and added to Archibald’s score. If Archibald scores 9, a point is docked from his total and added to Tony’s score.
Obviously, both players must consent to a bet.
There are a lot of scenarios where I could imagine this being abused, but I’m going to allow it for now just to see how it shakes out. And because the abuse might actually be the fun part. I reserve the right to change my mind later.
Results
| Player | Points |
|---|---|
| Garrett | 11 |
| Griftdrift | 10 |
| Jen | 9 |
| rugbyfan | 9 |
| Carl Lindecrantz | 8 |
| Reginald | 8 |
| Tony Ventry | 8 |
| Ben K | 7 |
| Rusty | 7 |
| Tony | 7 |
| Alyssa | 6 |
| Archibald Throngbow | 6 |
| Sara | 6 |
The full results spreadsheet for week 3 is here. If you find an error, let me know and I’ll adjust the results.
| Player | Points |
|---|---|
| Garrett | 31 |
| Griftdrift | 31 |
| Tony Ventry | 28 |
| Rusty | 27 |
| Sara | 26 |
| Tony | 26 |
| Ben K | 25 |
| Reginald | 25 |
| Carl Lindecrantz | 22 |
| Jen | 22 |
| rugbyfan | 22 |
| Archibald Throngbow | 21 |
| Alyssa | 19 |
The full overall standings with week-by-week scores can be found here.
Week 4 schedule
| Time | Game | Line |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 PM ET | West Virginia (22) at Colorado | West Virginia by 3 |
| Time | Game | Line |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 PM ET | Troy at Ohio State (14) | Ohio State by 20.5 |
| 12:00 PM ET | Temple at Penn State (15) | Penn State by 28 |
| 12:00 PM ET | East Carolina (17) at N.C. State | East Carolina by 7.5 |
| 12:30 PM ET | Alabama (13) at Arkansas | Alabama by 9.5 |
| 2:00 PM ET | Buffalo at Missouri (6) | Missouri by 34 |
| 3:00 PM ET | Wyoming at Brigham Young (11) | Brigham Young by 27 |
| 3:30 PM ET | Florida (4) at Tennessee | Florida by 7 |
| 3:30 PM ET | Boise State at Oregon (12) | Oregon by 12 |
| 4:00 PM ET | Utah (20) at Air Force | Utah by 7 |
| 5:00 PM ET | South Florida (16) at Florida International | South Florida by 28 |
| 7:00 PM ET | Rice at Texas (7) | Texas by 30.5 |
| 7:00 PM ET | Wake Forest (18) at Florida State (25) | Florida State by 4 |
| 7:45 PM ET | LSU (6) at Auburn (9) | LSU by 3 |
| 8:00 PM ET | Georgia (2) at Arizona State (24) | Georgia by 6.5 |
Game of the Week
Georgia (3) at Arizona State (24).
You, Georgia Bulldog fan, may have wondered at some point what ingredient is missing from the national superpower secret sauce Mark Richt has been trying to brew in Athens, aside from a mythical national championship. Look no further than this fact: the Bulldogs have not played a regular season game outside the South since 1965.
It’s hard for a team to enter discussion among the latté-sipping liberal media in Bristol, Connecticut if it doesn’t swing by their Starbucks occasionally.
Thank Vince Dooley for this long history of lackluster out-of-conference scheduling. Fortunately for you, it appears Richt and the current administration possess an understanding of this phonomena which predeccessors lacked. Arizona State is the first of what I’m told will be several demonstrations of this new-found fount of knowledge.
How to enter your picks
You read the rules, right?
The short version:
- You’re picking which teams won’t cover their spread. You must choose at least one team not to cover unless there is only one game being played that week.
- You’re also entering a predicted score for the Game of the Week, which cannot be the same as a predicted score another player enters.
Example:
Florida and Clemson don’t cover. Alabama wins the GOTW 19-14.
If I entered that, that means I think Florida and Clemson either would lose or not cover their spreads, and you then wouldn’t be able to predict a 19-14 win for Alabama.
Re: Bulldogs Schedule
2008 – @ Arizona State
2009 – @ Oklahoma State
2010 – @ Colorado
2012 – @ Louisville (well, it’s outside the SEC!)
2015 – @ Oregon
We’re getting better at it, but really.. USC shouldn’t get so much credit for flying across the country to play Virginia. I mean, seriously.
HAHAHAHAHAHA! FSU is the only team to cover.
I will wager with whomever one point that they don’t score 9 points.
GOTW: ASU 3 – UGA 0
Won’t cover:
East Carolina
Oregon
GOTW: UGA 21 – ASU 13
Wow, I really crapped the bed this past week. That’s what I get when I make too many picks for teams that won’t cover.
As for this week…
Won’t cover: Georgia, East Carolina.
GOTW: Georgia 27, ASU 21.
I’m really really tempted to pick FSU not to cover since I think it will be a squeaker at best…but I won’t.
Won’t Cover: Florida. That’s right! Tennessee is going to take Saint Tebow down!
GOTW: Georgia 21, ASU 17
I wish you were right about that. This team will be lucky if it can lace its damn cleats before it takes the field.
I guess it’s kind of weird to feel so pessimistic about a team that put up almost 500 yards rushing in its first two games. But there you go. I wouldn’t pick Tennessee to beat the spread if it was 14 points.
West Virginia, Ohio State, and FSU don’t cover.
GOTW: UGA 34, ASU 21
And I take rugbyfan’s wager. If I score nine or better, I get one of his points. If I score eight or less, he gets one of mine.
The power of positive thinking.
Maybe I should have chosen a higher number. So if everyone took that wager and everyone scored nine or more, then I would have negative points. Does that mean I would subtract three points from next week’s total? That would be an excellent way to knock out the looming juggernaut that is my victory in this competition.
Rugby,
I was hoping to avoid regulating side bets, but I will go ahead and say there’s no credit here. You can’t bet any more than your total accumulated points from previous weeks in a given week.
So, this week you can bet up to 22 points in any combination if people will take you up on it. One bet of 22 or 11 bets of two, whatever, but you can’t take more than 22 points of action.
I’m still only taking you up for one point, so that leaves you with 21 if others want to gamble with you. That’s predicated on them having enough points remaining to bet with you as well.
If someone gambles away all their accumulated points and somehow manages not to earn a single point, they can’t participate in side bets until they win some more points back.
Albama, Florida, Wake, East Carolina, Georgia, and LSU wont cover.
GOTW: GA 35 Arizona State 10
Wake isn’t favored.
West Virginia and Florida State
GOTW: UGA 70-9
Not to cover: Florida, WVU, LSU, FSU, Utah
GOTW: In 1916, the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets set an NCCA record by beating Cumberland (who?) by a score of 222-0. 92 years later, that record will be broken by another Georgia team. 230-0 (after a 2-point conversion keeper by 4th string QB Jonathan deLaureal).
Rusty, I admire your confidence in accpting RugbyFan’s offer. I’m feeling so great about this week, though.
Time to get a little sporty.
WVU, Alabama LSU and Georgia don’t cover
GOTW: Georgia 31 ASU 28
And Reginald gets the dumbass of the week award. Actually, rugbyfan is pretty smart. There’s only 15 games and someone would have to go 9-6 or better to take a point. Against the spread that is tough to do. Look at last week. Only 4 people got 9 or higher. I’m not taking that bet. I would be stupid to take Tony’s too but I said I would this week so if Tony wants the bet then I’m in. I’m going to pick consrvatively this week which means it will be a crazy weekend. East Carolina, Oregon, and LSU won’t cover. UGA 28, ASU 14.
Alright, I need a new strategy, obviously.
WVU, LSU, FSU and Utah won’t cover.
GotW: UGA 35-17
Archibald, an over/under of 7 games is probably a fairer wager with these games. But, I’m not feeling it this week; we will have plenty of opportunities over the season for some insanity.
USF, FSU, and Utah won’t cover.
GotW UGA 17-7
Teams that will NOT cover: East Carolina; Florida; Oregon; Texas; Florida State; LSU
GOTW: LSU 31 Auburn 28
Carl, Carl, Carl…just when I think Reginald is the runaway Dumb Ass of the Week winner you go and pick the score of the wrong game. GOOD GOD!!! Typos can be tolerated, especially given the condition half the people on here are likely in while typing (looking at Rusty on this one). Seriously though…you’re probably even thinking UT will beat UF this week which means there is something wrong with you.