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NCAA Week 4 College football thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by BrianGriffin, Sep 16, 2013.

  1. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    http://www.omaha.com/article/20130916/HUSKERS/130918936/1685#bo-pelini-apologizes-for-expletive-filled-rant-against-fans-reporters

     
  2. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Nebraska officials say they know about it a year ago:

    http://ow.ly/oZvd4
     
  3. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Am I nuts, or were there not lines on games like this in the past?
     
  4. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Some people --- including a guy I used to work with --- will bet on two cockroaches running down a wall.

    But I wouldn't spot Virginia 43 points against a decent high school team.
     
  5. joe king

    joe king Active Member

    I also remember when early season blowouts-to-be were often marked as NL.
     
  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Yeah they used to not post lines against lower division teams, then they saw there was a market for it.

    Haven't seen any data but I wouldn't be surprised if a person could do pretty well betting the underdogs there.
     
  7. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Games like that are so hard to figure. How into it will the top players be, knowing they can fart around for 3 quarters and still win comfortably?

    I imagine it's terribly hard for the coaches. Say you're up 49-0 in the fourth and the line is 52. You really don't want to run it up and embarrass the opposing coach, especially if he's, say, a former assistant or friend. But you know Mr. Big Money Booster has a few grand riding on the home team, so do you feel pressure to leave the starters (or even second-teamers) in for one more series to cover the spread?
     
  8. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    It seems like it's not so much the losses that bother Nebraska fans (though no doubt they still do to some degree) as it is how the losses keep happening. One could argue that Nebraska has taken on a bit too much of Pelini's personality over the years and become increasingly inconsistent, volatile and undisciplined. Plus, when the momentum turns away from the Huskers, things tend to snowball quickly. Pelini was hired in 2008 to stop Nebraska from falling behind not only the likes of Texas and Oklahoma but Missouri, Kansas State and Kansas. When the Huskers come up against teams that Nebraska fans and administrators think are their school's peers, though, the Huskers tend to fail and fail spectacularly.

    2012: Ohio State 63-38 Nebraska; Nebraska 31-70 Wisconsin; Georgia 45-31 Nebraska
    2011: Wisconsin 48-17 Nebraska; Michigan 45-17 Nebraska; South Carolina 30-13 Nebraska
    2010: Washington 19-7 Nebraska
    2009: Nebraska 10-31 Texas Tech
    2008: Nebraska 17-52 Missouri; Oklahoma 62-28 Nebraska

    Then there's the annual inexplicable loss that's come to be known as the "Bofart" game, such as the 2011 home loss to Northwestern, falling at home to a 5-7 Texas team in 2010 or committing seven turnovers in a 2009 home loss to Iowa State. Turnovers, dumb penalties and inconsistency have been a hallmark of Pelini's teams since his arrival, whether he had Callahan's players or his own.

    Pelini continually tells people to "trust in the process" and that any problems are "fixable", yet the same problems keep popping up over and over again. His circle of trust is exceedingly small -- and will no doubt shrink further after Effgate -- and he's packed his coaching staff with friends and guys who are beholden to him for being where they are. There are no dissenting voices or outside influences within the locker room, and even the mildest of criticism -- and seeing as it's the Nebraska media, it will undoubtedly be mild -- sets Pelini off in a profane fury he justifies by saying it's all in the name of "protecting the kids." His behavior smacks of insecurity one usually doesn't associate with big-time college football coaches.

    Even the most blinkered of Nebraska fans acknowledge that the college football landscape has changed since the mid-90s. 60-3 isn't happening again anytime soon. What bothers people is that Nebraska consistently gets outplayed and outmaneuvered on the biggest stages, a fact that was as true in 2008 as it is today. The question now is whether the Nebraska program and fanbase will accept more four-loss seasons and having the Rose Bowl as its highest aspiration or jettison Pelini and risk drifting further into irrelevance.
     
  9. joe king

    joe king Active Member

    I've got to say if I'm an AD (or a pro GM) and my coach even knows what the point spread is, he's fired.
     
  10. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    That's reasonable. You'd be a great AD (or a pro GM).
     
  11. joe king

    joe king Active Member

    I remember once playing in an NFL team's preseason media golf event, and the head coach, who did not play golf, was making the rounds in a golf cart, checking in with each group to shake hands and say hi.

    One of his assistants was in my group, and he caught up to us on the tee of a par-3. As the assistant stands over the ball, the head coach yells, "If you hit it close, you're fired."

    The assistant dutifully missed the green. The HC said, "If a coach has enough time to get really good at golf, it means he's not doing his job."
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  12. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    That makes as much sense as firing a coach for being aware of the point spread. Which is to say none.
     
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