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WINNING POINTS
College
PREFERRED
Rice* over S.M.U. by 14 (Friday)
Pro
BEST BET
Oakland over Seattle* by 8 (Friday)
KEVIN O’NEILL’S
TTHHEE MMAAXX
College Football
Friday, August 29, 2008
@Army (+7) over Temple Selection and analysis by Dave Fobare Temple has all the characteristics the average handicapper looks for in an improving team: the coach, Al Golden is in his third season. He has brought in another good recruiting class, ranked tops in the MAC by Scout.com. And all of the 2007 starters return on both sides of the ball except for one. While Temple won just 3 games in 2007, their power rating improved over 2006 by more than a touchdown per game. And the improvement would have been greater if QB Adam DiMichele had not missed the final 4 games with an injury. The Black Knights notched 3-9 marks each of the last two years against some decent opponents. The Black Knights have won just 21 games against 1-A opponents over the last 11 seasons. In a bid to play more winnable games the administration had their schedule softened, getting out of games against Georgia Tech, Boston College and Tulsa. The administrators did their job to help the team, and now head coach Stan Brock is making a big change on the field: bringing back the option-based attack. The service academies are a natural fit for the option. The players are smart and disciplined, but lacking in size and speed. The deception of a good option attack helps level the playing field. Navy has prospered in recent years with the option, and Fisher DeBerry built an impressive legacy at Air Force with the wishbone. Army's last great season came in 1996 when they went 10-2 with an option-oriented offense headed by QB Ronnie McAda. But the option was scrapped in 2000 and the Black Knights have been awful ever since. The option should also help out a miserable defense by shortening the number of possessions it must defend. Even with Temple's big improvement in 2007, when adjusted for schedule the Black Knights were about two points per game better than the Owls. Assuming another big step up for Temple in 2008 one could justify making them a small favorite at Army. But not a touchdown favorite. And Army should improve as well in its return to the option. Army won their 2007 meeting 37-21 on this same field. That triggers a 69-39 ATS dominance-based system featuring games between two poor teams. I prefer the sizeable dog in what should be a low scoring game; the last 7 Temple games have gone under. Temple by only 1
Marc Lawrence
PLAYBOOK CFB 2-MINUTE HANDICAP - WEEK 1
FRI, AUG 29TH
Smu 4-1 as conf dogs w/ rev… 1-6 Game One… *1-6 as conf RD’s 10 < pts… 1-5 on weekdays
RICE SERIES: 5-1 L6… 5-1 home vs conf opp w/ rev… 5-2 home bef BB RG… 1-4 favs in Game One
Goldsheet
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29
*Temple 19 - ARMY 17
*Smu 38 - RICE 35
Power Sweep
FRIDAY AUG 29th
Temple 24 ARMY 14
RICE 33 Smu 30