The Holiday Bowl, 12/30/10: Washington 19, Nebraska 7

Before this game started, I was telling people I knew that we were going to lose. My father, whose opinions regarding college football I always respect and take heed of, was warning those around him that "It's going to be a lot worse than you think." I don't know what kind of responses he got, but what I heard varied from contemplative silence to "Well, I don't know..." to "But we're favored by 14!"

If there's one thing I've learned after researching betting lines and college football, it's that no one predicts better than 60% consistently. There were games this year that the bookies had right on, and there were some betting lines I saw that made me stop and say, "What? Are you kidding?" (e.g., the Oklahoma State vs. Texas Tech game on Oct. 16 where the line was Tech -3.5; if those who make the lines had actually watched each of these teams play, they would have clearly known that OK State wasn't going to lose). It would seem that too many betting lines are created by people who only look at overall statistics and not those who actually watch the games. So, when I heard that Nebraska was favored by 14, I knew once again that no one with any clout was paying attention.

How did I know we were going to lose? Four pretty obvious reasons:

1) Washington was coming off a three-win streak at the end of their season
2) They wanted Nebraska blood spilled for the embarassing loss we gave them in week 3 on national television and were hungry for revenge
3) They had plenty of time to prepare for our now totally predictable offense and research the weaknesses in our defense
4) With Shawn Watson as our offensive coordinator, we have nowhere to go but down

Remember the way Texas beat us on Oct. 16? Washington did the exact same thing, but they did it better. Once again, we waited until we were desperate to go to our extremely talented tight ends/slot receivers. Once again, Taylor Martinez displayed his inexplicable ignorance with his dangerous short forward passes to avoid yardage losses (on the second one, he would have actually gained two yards as he ran out of bounds had he held on to the ball). Once again, instead of throwing an opponent a curve ball by starting a quarterback other than Taylor Martinez, we put all our chips on T-Mart and kept on playing that hand until he couldn't run any more.

We have seen that once given a little time to settle into a game, Cody Green can perform well enough to keep opposing defenses off-balance even with his sporadic efficiency. I actually feel sorry for him. He works hard and has a good attitude, and there he has stood, ready and able on the sideline, having to play a strict second fiddle to T-Mart because of T-Mart's ego and the coaching staff's lack of cojones. We could have been using them in a tandem attack that would have turned our season into something to truly remember instead of another black mark on our scarlet hearts that we will pray to forget for years to come. Congratulations to Steve Sarkisian and his staff, Jake Locker, and the Huskies.

Game Prediction Results for 12/4/10

No. 17 Nevada 35, Louisiana Tech 17
Nevada won by 18, four more than I had called. Pretty close. Betting line was Nevada -7.5.

No. 2 Oregon 37, Oregon State 20
Oregon won by 17, and I had said they'd do it by at least 12. Lookin' good. Betting line was Oregon -16.

No. 1 Auburn 56, No. 19 South Carolina 17
Auburn won by 39. Not quite the max of 6 that I predicted. Betting line was Auburn -3.5. The bookies didn't even see this one coming. What the hell happened, Gamecocks?

No. 15 Virginia Tech 44, No. 21 Florida State 33
Predicting a game based on emotion almost never works, and it sure didn't here. I just wanted five games to write about, and this one was an easy shortcut. I won't be doing that again. Betting line was Virginia Tech -4.5.

No. 9 Oklahoma 23, No. 13 Nebraska 20
I got the winner correct, and during the fourth quarter I was fully expecting the Sooners to score that last touchdown. I'm actually surprised they didn't, seeing how gassed our defense was. Unfortunately for my last desperate hopes for Husker dignity, I was right on with the fumbles and dropped passes. Betting line was Oklahoma -4.5.

Overall, the predictions went very well. It's too bad I didn't have the time to have more fun with this over the season.

Underinformed Game Predictions for 12/4/10

This is my first installment of Underinformed Game Predictions. I'm always underinformed, but this year I've been busier than usual and haven't had as much time to devote to watching every game possible and reading up on results and analysis. Since there are so few teams I've gotten to watch this year, my predictions will be very limited.

No. 17 Nevada at Louisiana Tech : Those Louisiana boys are tough. Really tough. However, even though this is a home game for LT, I think that Nevada's persistence in the second half with their varied offensive looks and well-learned pass defense will confuse the Bulldogs enough to pull out a win by 14.

No. 2 Oregon at Oregon State : The Beavers are unpredictable this year. I think coach Riley was relying on the Rodgers brothers too much (even before the injuries) and painted himself into a corner. Oregon State will try to perform their historic role as spoiler in this rivalry, but Oregon's defense is maniacal. There is no other word for them. They're just in-your-face mad. Because of this, the Ducks win it by 12 at least.

No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 19 South Carolina : South Carolina is familiar with a loss to Auburn already, and people say the second time around in the same season spells disaster for the team who won in the first meeting. However, if Auburn can come from behind and win like they did last week, then it would seem that they can survive any storm. But then, South Carolina beat Alabama too. Hmm. I can see this one possibly going into overtime, but I think Auburn will win it outright. In either case, I don't think they win it by more than 6 points.

No. 21 Florida State vs. No. 15 Virginia Tech : Honestly, I haven't seen either team play very much this year,  so I can't call this one with anything other than emotion. Being from Nebraska, I really don't like either one of them. I think Virginia Tech has been overrated for a long time and I'm a sucker for rooting for the underdog, so I'll pick Florida State by 7.

No. 9 Oklahoma vs. No. 13 Nebraska : If you read a couple of my other posts, you'll know how I feel about Nebraska's offense and the reasons why we suck. The only things that give me hope are that we actually looked like a real football team against Oklahoma State and Bob Stoops can be predictable and stubborn to adjust on the fly. With that said, I'll have to resort to the metaphysical to predict this game. Because Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit are providing the commentary, I predict that Brent's mildly handicapped ramblings and Kirk's deep but hidden resentment for Nebraska will affect the Nebraska faithful worldwide. They will create a vacuum for hope during the beginning of the second quarter that will dig us into a hole of fumbles and dropped passes that we won't be able to recover from. Musberger and Herbstreit will create, in effect, an anti-prayer. Oklahoma wins by 9 or 10. If, by some miracle, the 'Huskers dig deep and do the right thing, they could pull an upset by 5 or less.

One way or another, it's going to be an exciting day in college football.

Brock Huard: ESPN, Give This Guy a Promotion

It's pretty obvious that ESPN gives out their commentator assignments based mostly on seniority. If they based the assignments on the individual's ability and presentation, goofballs like Bob Davie, Brent Musberger, and biggest-asshole-in-the-business Craig James would be relegated to lesser duties while people with real talent for the profession would take over the prime spots. The man poised for an elevated position in the ranks more than any other is Brock Huard.

Mr. Huard, a former quarterback, was the Gatorade National Player of the Year in high school. He continued his career at Washington where he still holds many school career records to this day. He was an Academic All-American and held a 3.6 GPA. His time in the NFL was brief (1999-2004) with the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts. I'm assuming that he left because of his injuries, but the available information doesn't specify this. His time at Washington was also plagued with injuries. Perhaps someone was trying to tell him something. Here's his Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Huard

Whatever the case, we as college football fans are blessed that he left the field and went into the booth to don the headset. The man is a natural when it comes to calling the color commentary for football. It's as if he was born for this profession. His perspective and analysis on the game is in-depth and complete. He captures the mood of the game and keeps the listener informed without having to slap you in the head with statistics every time he speaks. Plus, his commanding baritone voice makes the game relaxing and fun to listen to without lulling us into boredom.

Jesse Palmer was rewarded with a quick rise to commentator fame because of his ability to remember stats and spit them out like a damn computer while maintaining an even level of professionalism no matter who he talks about, and he has a knack for pointing out angles of the game that other commentators neglect. Plus, I'm sure he scores well among the female viewers. Brock has the same level of talent without being a stats monger and should be rewarded for it.

ESPN, he makes far too many of your current commentators on staff sound like total amateurs. For God's sake, promote him. Please put him in place of one of your more agitating airbags. I've given you three obvious examples already, and replacing Bob Davie is the most logical move. You know I'm right, ESPN. Don't procrastinate with this. Just do it.