Sunday’s six-pack
Six most popular picks in Week 7 of the Westgate Super Contest:
1) Minnesota Vikings (751) -2.5
2) San Diego Chargers (599) +6.5
3) Tennessee Titans (562) -2.5
4) New England Patriots (506) -7
5) Miami Dolphins (489) +3
6) Oakland Raiders (413) +1
Season record: 11-24-1
Sunday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday
13) Cleveland Indians haven’t been to the World Series since 1997, haven’t won one since 1948. Chicago Cubs are in World Series for first time since 1945; they last won one in 1908.
Two very happy fanbases; congrats to both. Should be a very good World Series.
12) Penn State 24, Ohio State 21— 19.5-point home dog Nittany Lions blocked FG for a TD, also blocked a punt that set up a FG, as they rallied back from down 21-7 in 4th quarter to post a big upset, ending Buckeyes’ 20-game road win streak.
11) Other big upsets Saturday: Hawai’i (+17) won in OT at Air Force. North Texas (+18) won at West Point. SMU (+21.5) stunned Houston 38-16 in Dallas. Been a rough couple weeks for the Cougars, who lost 46-40 to Navy two weeks ago.
10) Oklahoma 66, Texas Tech 59— Both teams gained exactly 854 yards in this outdoor tribute to the Arena League. Next February on Signing Day, I’m going to report here as to how many defensive players Texas Tech signs, because their defense sucks- they lost 68-55 at Arizona State last month. If you score 55 or 59 points, you should win.
Tech deserves mention for converting 20-25 third down plays. Unheard of numbers.
9) Wisconsin 17, Iowa 9— Hawkeyes’ coach Kirk Ferentz took a ton of heat on social media for kicking FG when Iowa trailed 17-6 with 0:43 left. Maybe it was gamblers who took Iowa plus the 4 points, but the Hawkeyes were outgained 423-236; he passed up a 4th-and-2 to kick the FG. I’m guessing he was skeptical Iowa could get the first down so they kicked a FG.
8) Charlotte 27, Marshall 24— Thundering Herd opened at -18.5, wound up at -8 and lost SU. Marshall didn’t score in the second half after leading 24-17 at the half.
7) LSU 38, Ole Miss 21— At one point in this game, Leonard Fournette had seven carries for 241 yards; he wound up with 16 carries for 284 yards. LSU outscored the Rebels 17-0 in second half. The new OC has made LSU’s offense more balanced.
6) Utah 52, UCLA 45— Best part of this game was when UCLA was lining up to kick a 39-yard FG when they were down 10 points. Sideline mike caught UCLA coach Mora f-bombing one of his assistants for sending out the wrong kicker. Kid made the FG, gestured towards the bench (he had to have heard his coach), which was a little funny, but Bruins have lost four of last five games, are 3-5 and things are not real rosy in Westwood right now.
5) Cal 52, Oregon 49 OT— Late Friday night/early Saturday, this marathon took place, Golden Bears ran 118 plays (a record) for 636 yards, blew a 31-14 halftime lead, endured 14 penalties for 145 yards (Oregon had 14 for 134) in handing the Ducks their fifth loss in a row.
A note to the officials in this game: No one pays to watch you ref. Throw fewer flags.
4) Colorado 10, Stanford 5— Either Stanford or Oregon won last seven Pac-12 titles; those two teams are a combined 0-6 this season vs Colorado and the two Washington schools. Cardinal is 1-3 in its last four games, with the one win at Notre Dame. This has been a strange season.
3) Auburn 56, Arkansas 3— In 2010, when he was at Wisconsin, Bret Bielema’s Badgers beat Indiana 83-20, two weeks before they beat Northwestern 70-23. Was surprised when Bielema bolted to the SEC, because there are no Indianas/Rutgers in the SEC. Tigers ran ball 57 times for 543 yards here as they crushed Arkansas, outgaining the Hogs 632-215. Bielema is 8-20 in SEC games, 1-3 this year. The SEC is a hell of a lot more of a grind than the Big 14.
2) Texas-El Paso 52, Tex-San Antonio 49 (5 OTs)— There were 45 points scored in the OT’s, after a scoreless 4th quarter. Miners (+9.5) are now 1-7; bad loss for UTSA, which I’m sure was counting on this game to get to six wins and bowl eligibility.
1) Navy 42, Memphis 28— Midshipmen ran ball for 447 yards and their five passes averaged 21.2 yards/attempt, with two TDs. Navy has a senior QB who sat the bench for three years but boy does he run the option well. They have to be very difficult to prepare for.