Armadillo Sports
Friday’s 6-pack:
Six of college basketball’s most experienced teams:
1) Manhattan
2) Cleveland State
5) Detroit Mercy
7) Penn State
8) Illinois-Chicago
10) Northern Colorado
Quote of the Day
“I’m human, I make mistakes, and I own up to them. I don’t (bleep)ing hide from them, that’s not me,”
Kelly Stafford, Mrs Matthew Stafford; she threw a pretzel at a fan in San Francisco 2 weeks ago
Friday’s quiz
What is the name of the minor league baseball team that Michael Jordan played for?
Thursday’s quiz
Before moving to Baltimore and becoming the Ravens, the Ravens were the Cleveland Browns. The new Cleveland Browns started playing three years after they became the Ravens.
Wednesday’s quiz
Dick Vitale coached the Detroit Pistons after coaching at U of Detroit.
****************************************
Friday’s Den: Hope you had a good Thanksgiving Day
13) Here’s something to store away for March; 11 of the last 12 years, team that won the national title in college basketball won one of these tournaments played before conference play, mostly in November. So teams that are winning tournaments this weekend are improving their chances to go home with a much bigger trophy in April.
Later on this month, I’ll post a list of the teams that win these events.
12) Las Vegas 36, Dallas 33 OT:
— Raiders blew 24-13 third quarter lead, kicked FG in OT for the win.
— Total yards: Las Vegas 509, Dallas 437
— Raiders are 10-5 ATS last 15 games as a road underdog.
— Las Vegas allowed 20+ points in 10 of 11 games this year.
— Raiders are 6-1 in OT with Carr at QB.
— Prescott threw for 200+ yards, just in 4th quarter.
— Pollard ran kickoff back 100 yards for a TD.
— Both teams converted only 3-13 third down plays.
— Cowboys are 2-3 in last five games SU, after a 6-0 run.
— Dallas is 3-5 SU in last eight Thanksgiving games.
11) Chicago 16, Detroit 14:
— Santos kicked 28-yard FG for win, ending 18-play drive.
— Chicago kicked FG at 0:00 of both halves.
— Dalton threw for 317 yards in his first start since Week 2.
— Under is 7-2-1 in last ten Chicago games.
— Bears won seven of last eight series games.
— Chicago ran 69 plays for 378 yards, Lions 45 for 239 yards.
— Detroit is winless, but is 7-4 ATS (4-1 last five).
— Last eight games, Lions were outscored 117-39 in first half.
— Lions lost last five Thanksgiving games (1-4 ATS)
10) Buffalo 31, New Orleans 6:
— Buffalo outgained the Saints, 361-190.
— Bills scored TD’s on 3 of first 4 drives in second half.
— Buffalo is 8-5 ATS last thirteen games as road favorites.
— Bills are 0-3 in games decided by less than 15 points.
— Bills were 8-13 on third down, New Orleans 5-14
— Last four weeks, New Orleans was outscored 60-13 in first half.
— Saints lost last four games, giving up 30.3 ppg.
— Last three years, home side is 0-9 SU on Thanksgiving.
9) I’ve read for years how the NFL wants more scoring in its games, because more scoring leads to better TV ratings which leads to more money, which is what they really want.
Here’s a hint; CALL FEWER HOLDING PENALTIES!!!!!
No one pays to watch officials throw flags; holding is very subjective- you could call it on most every play, if you wanted to. Penalties grind the game to a halt; the fewer the better.
8) Blind resume for college football coaches. Here is one, for a guy in his third year as a college head coach.
2019— School A- Goes 5-7, then jumps to a new school.
2020— School B— Goes 2-5 in a year where the pandemic screwed things up.
2021— Is 9-2 in his second year at School B, a school in a major league.
Three years as a head coach, 16-14 record. Any guesses who he is?
Will let you know tomorrow.
7) Iona 72, Alabama 68:
— Rick Pitino as a 12-point underdog? Big win for the Gaels.
— Alabama led by 9 with 12:27 left.
— Crimson Tide was only 13-25 on the foul line.
6) UConn 115, Auburn 109, 2OT (Wednesday game)
— Auburn led 21-10 early.
— UConn led by 15 in second half.
— Teams combined to make 27-56 on arc, 65-79 on foul line.
High-level game; looked like a March game.
5) Maryland 86, Richmond 80:
— Richmond led by 12 late in first half.
— Maryland scored 54 points in second half.
— Terps were 10-23 on arc, 20-25 on foul line.
4) There used to be a tournament called the Alaskan Shootout which was played this week; it was fun, the last first round game would start around 2:30am on Thursday night. At one time, big-time schools went up there to play, but then ESPN started sponsoring events in Bahamas and South Carolina, warm weather places with great beaches, and that killed the Alaskan Shootout. Too bad.
3) Pitcher Steven Matz signed on with St Louis for four years, $44M. Matz was 14-7, 3.82 in 29 starts for Toronto LY. He is from Long Island, but spurned the hometown Mets (his old team) to pitch for the Cardinals.
2) Ohio State-Michigan is noon Saturday; can’t remember a time when this game wasn’t the noon game on Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend— they probably moved it to Friday once or twice, but I can’t remember when.
Problem is, when one team wins 16 of 17 meetings, like Ohio State has against the Wolverines, it makes the rivalry a little less appealing. Michigan is 10-1 this year; we’ll see if they can hang with the Buckeyes this time around.
1) Boise State is at San Diego State is also at noon ET Saturday; the thing is, noon ET is 9am in San Diego. Isn’t 9am a little early to play a football game?
Understood that teams are desperate to get TV attention, but having teams eat their pregame meal at 5am seems ridiculous.