WEEK FOUR RESULTS

• WEEK FOUR WINNER:  Dan Kucab, Jason Speakes, Nick Washburn and TootitandBootit.  Ideally, you wouldn’t want to share the weekly prize with 3 other people, but its better than missing the top score by one point like Zac Watson.
• Only two people went 0-6.
• The group and lock winning percentages were fine:  48.9% and 52.6%, respectively.
• The average score was the worst of the year (60.3), thanks in part to the few bonus points available.
• Home underdogs continue to struggle.  They were 2-4 last week and only 9-14-1 for the year.
• The group lock winning percentage is at 56.9% for the year.  Really impressive.  At this point last year, it was 44.8%.
• Northwestern was the only underdog to receive at least 100 picks, and the only underdog to receive more locks than the favorite.  Oops.
• Wisconsin and Texas were the most popular picks.  They both covered and won.
• All games earned either zero or just one bonus point.  That hasn’t happened since Week Two of 2015.  
• The top 3 people in the standings have 4-0 lock records.
• Kyle Karnish is the only person in the Top 30 with a losing lock record.
• Alex Kaiser is only 10-14 on the year, but he is 4-0 on locks.

• WEEK THREE WINNER:  Dale Sheller.  Eleven people went 6-0!  Dale (128 points) edged out TDowdell83 and Doug Reigle to take home the weekly prize.  Its the second time in as many weeks that a newbie has earned the top score.  So much for paying your dues.
• Its rare to have 10 or more people go a perfect 6-0.  It happened only three times last year.
• Kris K was the only person to go 0-6.  Sorry, Kris.  The good news is….well, there is no good news.
• The group and lock winning percentages were both great: 59.4% and 65.1%, respectively.
• There were some HUGE pick disparities this week.  Seven games had at least a 100-pick disparity between the underdog and favorite.  Three games had a greater than 200-pick disparity.  In every case, the action was on the side of the favorite.
• 74% of this week’s picks were for the favorites!
• 87.8% of the locks were placed on the favorites!
• Favorites actually had a losing week against the spread (6-8-1), yet the scoring average for the group was 73.7 points.  Clearly, the picks for the favorites were loaded heavily in the right spots.
• Nobody locked South Carolina against Alabama.  Not one.  They covered of course.
• OSU (279 picks) and OU (257 picks) were the two most popular sides.  They both covered.  In fact, the top 4 most popular picks covered the spread.
• The group majority went with two underdogs:  Iowa State and Kansas State.  Both teams were ATS winners.
• We had our first push of the year, and it happened in dramatic fashion.  Florida scored on a 76 yard TD run with 33 seconds left to push the 8 point spread.  Seconds earlier, Kentucky had missed a 35 yard field goal, which would’ve given them a 23-21 lead.
• We have a new PP6 leader.  J Thompson is 15-2-1 and has scored at least 105 points every week.
• Corbin Tirey is 2-15-1 and has scored nowhere near 105 points every week.
• 96 people have a 3-0 lock record.

WEEK TWO RECAP

• Thru two games, Wisconsin has outscored their opponents 110-0.  They defeated South Florida 49-0 in Week One.  Central Michigan was last week’s victim.  Wisconsin scored more points (61) than Central Michigan had total yards (58)!
• The Texas A&M vs Clemson game was proof that head coaches pay attention to betting lines, whether they admit it or not.  Down 24-3 with time ticking away, the Aggies needed a touchdown to cover the 17.5 point spread.  On their final drive, Jimbo Fisher called timeouts with 0.25 seconds and 0:10 seconds remaining, allowing A&M just enough time to score.  I’m not saying they wouldn’t have or shouldn’t have tried scoring otherwise, but the point spread gave a sense of urgency.  The covered spread padded the booster’s pockets, making the loss more palatable.
• Maryland has scored a ridiculous 142 points in two games.  This program isn’t exactly known for lighting up the scoreboard.  They finished 69th in points/game last year and 100th in 2017.  Their best finish this decade was in 2010 when they were 30th.  Something has to give.  By contrast, OU and OSU have each been outside the Top 20 only once since 2010.
• Before this happened in the Texas vs LSU game:

which resulted in this…

and this…

…Texas apparently made LSU suffer through a visitor’s locker room without air conditioning…and on a day that reached 101 degrees no less.  Texas disputes LSU’s claim, with their AD promising that “our air conditioning in the visiting locker room is in good working order”.  That might be the case, but that doesn’t mean you turned it on.

WEEK TWO RESULTS

• WEEK TWO WINNER:  Cooper Davis.  473 attempts,  and only 1 person went 6-0:  Cooper scored 129, which vaulted him from 117th place to 4th.
• The group winning and lock winning percentages were almost identical.  Identically average:  49.0% overall and and 48.4% for the locks.
• Only 26 people scored 100 points or more.
• Four people went 0-6.
• Two weeks into the season, and only 146 people have a 2-0 lock record.  97 people are 0-2.
• Two games earned the maximum bonus points:  Maryland over Syracuse and Oregon over Nevada.  That happened on 3 occasions last season.
• 64% of the picks went for the favorite.
• The two most popular picks were ATS losers:  Boise State (181) and Texas (192).
• Boise State was easily the most popular lock pick.
• Colorado (111 picks) vs Nebraska (101 picks) was the only contest to receive at least 100 picks for each side.  Colorado forced overtime late in the contest and ended up winning outright.

WEEK ONE RECAP

• The first week of the college football season is in the books.  From a point spread perspective, several games were decided late in the 4th quarter:  FAU vs Ohio State, Mississippi vs Memphis, Duke vs Alabama and Vanderbilt vs Georgia.  Two games, though, were all-time gut-punching “bad beats:
  • Oregon vs Auburn (-3.5):  0:59:51 – The amount of time Oregon was covering the spread. 59 minutes and 51 seconds of the 60 minute game.  With 9 seconds to play and trailing by 1, Auburn threw a 26 yd TD to cover the spread (ouch) and win the game (double ouch if you’re a Duck).  Had that pass attempt failed, Auburn likely would’ve settled for a game winning field goal attempt.
  • Northwestern vs STANFORD (-6.5):  5951 – The number of expletives verbalized (or internalized) after the last play of the game.  With 30 seconds to play in this sloppy affair, Northwestern was trailing by 3 with the ball on their own 22 yard line….when this happened:

If only No. 73 had recovered it for a safety.  This outcome was eerily similar to another game involving Northwestern:  It was 2013.  NW vs Ohio State (-7).  Down 3 points with 5 seconds to play and the ball on their own 7, NW needed a miracle.  Instead, they got this:

• Tulsa had a historic performance against Michigan State.  Historically bad.  Tulsa rushed for -73 yards.  Yes, 73 yards in the wrong direction.  They went backwards at a faster clip (-2.9 yards/rush) than Michigan State went forwards (2.7 yards/rush).

WEEK ONE RESULTS

• WEEK ONE WINNER:  Monica Aguilar.  Six people went 6-0, but Monica was 9 points better than all of them.  In case you are wondering, she did not make a selection in the NW vs Stanford game, but she did have Auburn.
• Six people went 0-6.
• The overall winning percentage and lock winning percentage were solid:  53.7% and 61.4%, respectively.
• The average score was 66 points, and 76 people scored 100 points or more!
• The “Majority 6” went 5-1.  In other words, the 6 most popular picks went 5-1 against the spread.
• The most popular game of the week was also the most even distributed.  134 picks for Oregon.  140 for Auburn.  Both sides were locked 28 times.
• The most popular pick of the week was Oklahoma State (219 picks).  The most popular pick is rarely a midweek game.
• Houston was the only underdog to receive the majority of the picks.  They covered the spread against the Sooners.