Saturday’s 6-pack:
Some college basketball teams with a bad eFG% defense:
#361- VMI
#359- Stony Brook
#355- Seattle
#352- Oral Roberts
#350- Canisius
#348- Kansas City
Quote of the Day
“Joe does a great job at buying gifts that are extremely meaningful. The fact that he bought me a sword, it’s the most ancient form of respect.”
Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown, talking about the Christmas gifts QB Joe Burrow gave to his offensive linemen this week
Saturday’s quiz
Where did Patrick Mahomes play his college football?
Friday’s quiz
The Liberty Bowl football game played in Memphis.
Thursday’s quiz
Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff are the two starting QB’s in the NFL who have fathers that played major league baseball.
************************************
Indiana scored two TD’s in last 2:00; final score is misleading.
Notre Dame scored on a 98-yard TD run on their second series.
Notre Dame was 7-13 on third down, Indiana 4-12
Notre Dame plays Georgia in the Elite 8 next week.
— Florida 33, Tulane 8
Tulane’s QB bolted to Duke; his backup didn’t play well.
Florida’s lead was only 6-0 at halftime.
Gators ran for 224 yards; they outgained Tulane, 529-194
— Ohio 30, Jacksonville State 27
Ohio U led this game 27-7 at halftime.
Ohio QB Navarro ran for 3 TDs, threw a 4th TD, all in first half.
Both head coaches in this game have bolted to bigger $$$ jobs.
— Indiana had 13 players who played for James Madison last year; despite that, JMU went 9-4 this year and won their bowl game. Lot of talent out there.
— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 1-1 SU/1-1 ATS
ACC 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
Big 18 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
Big X 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
C-USA 1-2 SU/1-2 ATS
MAC 1-1 SU/1-0-1 ATS
M West 1-0 SU/1-0 ATS
SEC 1-0 SU/1-0 ATS
Sun Belt 2-1 SU/1-1-1 ATS
Favorites: 4-3-1 ATS
Totals: under 5-3
— St John’s 72, Providence 70
Friars led 42-29 at halftime.
Red Storm survived going 11-26 on the foul line.
Providence lost six of its last eight games.
— Cincinnati 66, Dayton 59
Bearcats never trailed, led 16-4 midway thru first half.
Dayton shot 39.2% from floor.
9-1 Cincinnati has #6 eFG% defense in country.
— Famous birthdays, December 21st:
Dave Kingman, 76
Samuel L Jackson, 76
Ray Romano, 67
Andy Van Slyke, 64
Kiefer Sutherland, 58
LaTroy Hawkins, 52
Mike Alstott, 51
Chris Davis, 37
Kendall Graveman, 34
Mike Clevinger, 34
— Houston Astros signed 1B Christian Walker to a 3-year, $60M contract; 33-year old Walker hit 26 homers for Arizona last year, with an .803 OPS.
— A record nine MLB teams were over the luxury tax threshold for 2024, which resulted in $311M in penalties, with the Dodgers ($103,016,896), Mets ($97,115,609) and Bronx ($62,512,111) paying the biggest penalties.
Some questions for this week’s NFL games:
— Steelers lead the Ravens by a game in AFC North; they visit Baltimore Sunday. Pittsburgh has won eight of its last nine games against the Ravens, including an 18-16 win in Week 11..
— Lions @ Bears- December 22 and this is Detroit’s 2nd game outdoors all season; should be a bit nippy in Chicago for this one. Lions won their first outdoor game 24-14 in Green Bay.
— Giants @ Atlanta- Falcons are favored by 8.5 points; they’re playing a QB making his first-ever NFL start. Atlanta lost four of its last five games; Giants have lost nine in a row.
— Jaguars @ Raiders
Jacksonville lost six of its last seven games.
Las Vegas lost its last 10 games; their last win was September 29.
Please don’t bet on this game, but if you do, play the total.
— Patriots @ Bills- Weird scheduling— it is Week 16 and these division rivals haven’t met yet this season- they play again in two weeks.
— Vikings @ Seahawks- Both teams are scrambling for playoff position; Vikings have a short week after their win against the Bears Monday night. Minnesota is 7-1 this year in games decided by 7 or fewer points.
Some college basketball teams with a bad eFG% defense:
#361- VMI
#359- Stony Brook
#355- Seattle
#352- Oral Roberts
#350- Canisius
#348- Kansas City
Quote of the Day
“Joe does a great job at buying gifts that are extremely meaningful. The fact that he bought me a sword, it’s the most ancient form of respect.”
Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown, talking about the Christmas gifts QB Joe Burrow gave to his offensive linemen this week
Saturday’s quiz
Where did Patrick Mahomes play his college football?
Friday’s quiz
The Liberty Bowl football game played in Memphis.
Thursday’s quiz
Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff are the two starting QB’s in the NFL who have fathers that played major league baseball.
************************************
Saturday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….
— Notre Dame 27, Indiana 17Indiana scored two TD’s in last 2:00; final score is misleading.
Notre Dame scored on a 98-yard TD run on their second series.
Notre Dame was 7-13 on third down, Indiana 4-12
Notre Dame plays Georgia in the Elite 8 next week.
— Florida 33, Tulane 8
Tulane’s QB bolted to Duke; his backup didn’t play well.
Florida’s lead was only 6-0 at halftime.
Gators ran for 224 yards; they outgained Tulane, 529-194
— Ohio 30, Jacksonville State 27
Ohio U led this game 27-7 at halftime.
Ohio QB Navarro ran for 3 TDs, threw a 4th TD, all in first half.
Both head coaches in this game have bolted to bigger $$$ jobs.
— Indiana had 13 players who played for James Madison last year; despite that, JMU went 9-4 this year and won their bowl game. Lot of talent out there.
— Conference bowl records (SU/ATS)
AAC 1-1 SU/1-1 ATS
ACC 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
Big 18 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
Big X 0-1 SU/0-1 ATS
C-USA 1-2 SU/1-2 ATS
MAC 1-1 SU/1-0-1 ATS
M West 1-0 SU/1-0 ATS
SEC 1-0 SU/1-0 ATS
Sun Belt 2-1 SU/1-1-1 ATS
Favorites: 4-3-1 ATS
Totals: under 5-3
— St John’s 72, Providence 70
Friars led 42-29 at halftime.
Red Storm survived going 11-26 on the foul line.
Providence lost six of its last eight games.
— Cincinnati 66, Dayton 59
Bearcats never trailed, led 16-4 midway thru first half.
Dayton shot 39.2% from floor.
9-1 Cincinnati has #6 eFG% defense in country.
— Famous birthdays, December 21st:
Dave Kingman, 76
Samuel L Jackson, 76
Ray Romano, 67
Andy Van Slyke, 64
Kiefer Sutherland, 58
LaTroy Hawkins, 52
Mike Alstott, 51
Chris Davis, 37
Kendall Graveman, 34
Mike Clevinger, 34
— Houston Astros signed 1B Christian Walker to a 3-year, $60M contract; 33-year old Walker hit 26 homers for Arizona last year, with an .803 OPS.
— A record nine MLB teams were over the luxury tax threshold for 2024, which resulted in $311M in penalties, with the Dodgers ($103,016,896), Mets ($97,115,609) and Bronx ($62,512,111) paying the biggest penalties.
Some questions for this week’s NFL games:
— Steelers lead the Ravens by a game in AFC North; they visit Baltimore Sunday. Pittsburgh has won eight of its last nine games against the Ravens, including an 18-16 win in Week 11..
— Lions @ Bears- December 22 and this is Detroit’s 2nd game outdoors all season; should be a bit nippy in Chicago for this one. Lions won their first outdoor game 24-14 in Green Bay.
— Giants @ Atlanta- Falcons are favored by 8.5 points; they’re playing a QB making his first-ever NFL start. Atlanta lost four of its last five games; Giants have lost nine in a row.
— Jaguars @ Raiders
Jacksonville lost six of its last seven games.
Las Vegas lost its last 10 games; their last win was September 29.
Please don’t bet on this game, but if you do, play the total.
— Patriots @ Bills- Weird scheduling— it is Week 16 and these division rivals haven’t met yet this season- they play again in two weeks.
— Vikings @ Seahawks- Both teams are scrambling for playoff position; Vikings have a short week after their win against the Bears Monday night. Minnesota is 7-1 this year in games decided by 7 or fewer points.
