Timh Bowl Thread

Thanks Justin.

WVU/GT under 47.5 -105 2.1/2 - Slaton is not completely healthy today for the Mountaineers and GT has a very formidable defense against the run. GT starts Taylor Bennett at qb and he doesn't bring a lot of experience to the table. Figure GT to be very conservative on offense as usual and try and just play field position, not turn it over and hope their defense keeps them in the game. I'll take a shot on the under in this one.
 
You know I just have to wonder what Chan Gailey has been watching in practice all year. This kid Bennett is so much better than Ball it's not even funny. God I couldn't have been more wrong here.
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Louisville -10 -105 2.1/2 - Wake won a very down ACC league this year and I have to give them a tremendous amount of credit for fighting through numerous injuries to their skill players in particular. Grobe is one of my favorite coaches and does a masterful job with the veer formation and his great use of influence and motion to set up plays. However, I think this is a really tough matchup for them tonight because their secondary is just not athletic enough to cover all of Louisville's weapons in the passing game. Wake will be in trouble if they get behind by more than a TD because they just aren't a team that is built to come back from a deficit. Skinner has been very efficient in the passing game and Wake really takes care of the ball +14 TO ratio but I don't think they can stop this prolific Louisville offense that will jump out of the gate early tonight.
 
No Cash - feel fortunate to win that one the way Louisville struggled offensively. WF is one of those teams that always finds a way to hang in there. I thought their defense was extremely well prepared and their variety of zone coverages really gave Brohm a lot to look at. Great effort by the Deacs and kudos to Grobe and their entire program for a storybook year. To have to go as far down the depth chart for RB's as they did and still run the ball that well is indeed a tribute to a very well coached scheme. Wake OL played great this year and so did Skinner.
 
ND/LSU over 56 -106 3.18/3 - ND has to throw the ball to win this game and I think they come out firing right from the go and throw on the early downs to keep the LSU pass rush (38 sacks) off balance. Irish OL has allowed 30 sacks this year and the matchup clearly favors LSU. Irish secondary is very likely to get exposed against the LSU receivers who are bigger and faster. I think Weiss comes up with a very innovative game plan here that will be based on very aggressive play calling early in the passing game. He knows he is going to have to outscore LSU to win and can't count on his defense to stop the LSU offense which should produce in the passing game against the vulnerable secondary of ND. This one should be a shoot out with both offenses able to put up some points. Look for ND to let it all out tonight.
 
LSU -
(01/03 03:43am) HC Miles didn't use the word suspended, but he confirmed Tuesday night an unspecified number of players broke a team rule. Miles said some might not play tonight. Miles declined to name the players or say how many were involved. He said "it was not a major issue" but didn't say whether curfew violations occurred. "There's a couple guys that it might cost playing time," Miles said, "but nobody's restricted. They will be available to play."


Important Injuries
Notre Dame
Date Pos Player Injury Status
01/01 9:16am TE John Carlson Knee upgraded to probable.
LSU
Date Pos Player Injury Status
01/03 11:04am SS Jessie Daniels Possible Suspension is "?".
Tigers coach Les Miles suspended starting strong safety Jessie Daniels, running back/kick returner Trindon Holliday and backup linebackers Perry Riley and Kelvin Sheppard for missing curfew this week. An LSU official said Miles hasn't determined the length of the suspensions -- whether they will cover the first quarter, first half or entire game -- and has afforded the players ways to shorten their suspensions.
12/23 10:51am RB Jacob Hester Knee is probable
 
LSU -
(01/03 03:43am) HC Miles didn't use the word suspended, but he confirmed Tuesday night an unspecified number of players broke a team rule. Miles said some might not play tonight. Miles declined to name the players or say how many were involved. He said "it was not a major issue" but didn't say whether curfew violations occurred. "There's a couple guys that it might cost playing time," Miles said, "but nobody's restricted. They will be available to play."


Important Injuries
Notre Dame
Date Pos Player Injury Status
01/01 9:16am TE John Carlson Knee upgraded to probable.
LSU
Date Pos Player Injury Status
01/03 11:04am SS Jessie Daniels Possible Suspension is "?".
Tigers coach Les Miles suspended starting strong safety Jessie Daniels, running back/kick returner Trindon Holliday and backup linebackers Perry Riley and Kelvin Sheppard for missing curfew this week. An LSU official said Miles hasn't determined the length of the suspensions -- whether they will cover the first quarter, first half or entire game -- and has afforded the players ways to shorten their suspensions.
12/23 10:51am RB Jacob Hester Knee is probable
 
Tough loss bro! Can't believe that neither team scored or gave up that "oh by the way TD"!
 
Yeah Mags that one stung a little bit. The two missed chippy FG's in the 1half ended up really hurting plus Russell threw a pick when LSU was going to put some pts on the board and then ND couldn't do anything offensively in the 2nd half. Pisses me off because I was really close to playing a tease with LSU and over which would have been good. Only a few games left. I hate to see this season end, one of the best I've ever had.
 
How do you feel about the Championship game? I will bet it small just for pride i never bet for or against my teams, except the Hawks cause they suck.
 
Troutman - I was reading Cash's thread where you guys were discussing the relative merits of both squads and I think you really did make a great point about Florida's SOS. However, I came away very impressed with OSU this year especially their WR's and think Florida is going to have a tough time stopping this offense. The question mark for me is just how good is OSU's defense? I haven't finished my research but my initial thinking was OSU.
 
Cash yes it is.

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=post1 vAlign=top width="100%">CINCINNATI -
(01/06 03:35am) Senior Nick Davila will make his third start of the season at quarterback today.
HC Kelly simply decided to go with the Davila over sophomore Dustin Grutza. One of the reasons
he decided to start Davila was Davila ran the spread for two years at Chaffey Junior College.
Although Davila will start, Grutza is expected to play, too. "We've got to see both those kids play,"
Kelly said.


Important Injuries
Western Michigan
Date Pos Player Injury Status
01/06 3:34am RB Mark Bonds Disciplinary downgraded to doubtful.
Freshman Brandon West starts at running back in place of Bonds, who has been demoted for disciplinary reasons. According to team officials, Bonds missed a practice while the team was still in Kalamazoo. The result has been a demotion on the depth chart to 3rd string. It is believed that Bonds will suit up for the game, but only be used as an emergency back-up.
Cincinnati U
Date Pos Player Injury Status
01/06 2:59am WR Bill Poland Fibula upgraded to expected to start.
01/04 9:17am DT Tony Carvitti ACL upgraded to expected to start.
12/05 4:18pm Coach Brian Kelly None is expected to coach Cincinnati in the bowl game.

WMich/Cinn under 42.5 +101 3/3.03 - Brian Kelly takes over Cincy in the bowl game and will start Davila over Grutza though both are expected to see time. Kelly will run his plays on offense but in the nomenclauture of the Cin. system. WMich strength is on defense stopping the run and getting pressure on the QB. Cin main strength is also defense. WMich key RB Bonds has been demoted to 3rd string which will really hurt their running game as he is the key to their offense. I think WMich will really struggle to get anything going offensively but their defense vs. a pedestrian Cin. offense will keep them hanging around in this one. I'm hoping WMU will take care of the ball +11 TO ratio and just try and let their defense give them a chance.
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Thanks Timmy! What are you liking in the Wildcard Games today? Leaning to OVER Indy/KC and Dallas myself? Thoughts?
 
Ronny - jesus this game is a complete shocker to me. I won't have to worry about it as it looks like it's going to go over in the 1h lol...

I am playing an Indy/NE tease and Indy/Phil tease. Agree the Dallas game looks like an over to me. Lot of action on Dallas bringing that number down off the soft 3 to 2 even some 1.5's out there. I think Indy will be tough if they can jump out and get a lead. That will minimize the effectiveness of LJ and make KC throw more than they want. If Indy can get up early the game should go over I agree.
 
Ohio
Date Pos Player Injury Status
01/05 6:02am QB Austen Everson Ankle left last game, expected to start.
Everson will be returning to action after aggravating an ankle injury in the first quarter of the MAC Championship. "He'll be in much better shape in this game than what he was for the MAC Championship Game," HC Solich said. "We'll see what that means. Hopefully, he'll be able to play and hold up."
01/04 10:30am RB Kalvin McRae Personal is probable.
McRae, Ohio University's leading rusher, receiver and scorer, is expected to rejoin the Bobcats for GMAC Bowl practice on Friday after leaving the team over the weekend due to a death in his family.
So Mississippi
Date Pos Player Injury Status
12/11 8:05am RB Damion Fletcher Ankle is probable.
Starting running back Damion Fletcher was in yellow, meaning the freshman was still sidelined by the high ankle sprain suffered in USM's 34-20 loss in the Conference USA Championship Game. HC Bower said he expected to have all three backs ready to go.


Southern Miss -6 -110 3.3/3 - I watched Ohio play CM in the MAC Championship game and came away rather unimpressed. The Bobcats just have no passing game at all to rely on and So. Miss just needs to load up the box and stop McCrae and force Ohio to try and accomplish something in the passing game which I doubt they can do. So. Miss has more team speed and certainly have a better chance to develop something in the passing game than Ohio does. So. Miss has played the tougher schedule and also does a better job of taking care of the ball +5 TO ratio. I would think Bower's preparation defensively for this game should be pretty simple and I expect So. Miss to just load up to stop the run and get Ohio in long down and distance situations where they have to throw and then be able to come after them with the pass rush. So. Miss should be able to get something going on the ground here and grind away an efficient win.
 
Good luck, Tim. I'm leaning to Ohio in this one, but most likely a non-play.

Go get the money, buddy.
 
Hate to see the season come to an end tonight and hope we get to see a good championship game decided on the field. It's been a great year for me in CFB and I appreciate the dialogue with a lot of quality cappers on this site.

Ohio State -7 -110 5.5/5 - Lots of good arguments and opinions by a lot of folks on this game. I think Ohio State just has too much balance offensively for Florida and I like their chances to make some big plays in the passing game. OSU should be able to run out of their spread formations where Florida will have to devote a lot of resources to pass coverage. I think this will discourage Florida from blitzing as much as they would like to and the OSU OL has been stellar in pass protection allowing only14 sacks on the year. Of course the mobility of Troy Smith certainly helps as well and he is very effective throwing on the run. OSU does a better job of taking care of the ball and creating TO's and come in with a +11 TO ratio compared to Florida's +3. Florida's running game hasn't really produced a tremendous amount this year and if OSU can get Florida in passing situations I like their chances for pressuring Leak (37 sacks). Florida return game is excellent though and a big play in that aspect could really help them. I think OSU needs to focus on preventing the yards after the catch and keep the plays in front of them and have their secondary tackle well. If they do that I see a comfortable victory. GL on however you play, hope we see a game that lives up to the billing.
 
Bro I watched this at the same bar about 5 feet from where we drank !!! Toasted you a few times. In fact that table was full of OSU fans who departed about half time. The were right next to a group of 4 rednecks who the staff gave a sign that read " White trash VIP " It was funny as hell.
 
Hey Mikesy - I know you're happy with the result. Kudos to you on a good win and nice call. I was totally surprised by the way the game played out. Troy Smith looked like he had a big turd in his pants and couldn't run or throw for that matter either. In the final analysis (1) Florida DL manhandled OSU OL physically and speedwise (2) Troy Smith was either completely out of shape, sick, hungover, on drugs etc. because he didn't look like the same player I have seen before. A good 3 seconds slower in the 40 last night. (3) OSU never adjusted at all defensively and played scurred....after the 1st two series. Their linebackers played so soft it made me sick at my stomach, never showed any inclination to be aggressive and step up on those receivers running the crossing routes(4) Urban Meyer deserves all the credit for a tremendous gameplan and used some wonderful misdirection stuff (ala Jim Grobe). (5) Speed is almighty in the college game if you have a coach that knows how to use it.

All credit to the Gators!
 
Sorry about your results last night, Tim.

Pleasure working with you this season and here's to an even better 2007.
 
RJ - likewise and I actually meant to track your thread down last night and see your thoughts but ran out of time. Appreciate all the info you share and the dialogue. BOL with the poker playing and certainly look fwd to next yr as well.
 
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