CFB Saturday Preview
It was October 15, 2005, almost sixteen years ago to the day. #9 Notre Dame wearing their lucky green jerseys while hosting bitter rival and #1 Southern Cal, who at that point had won 27 straight games. I woke up like a kid on Christmas - this was the year Notre Dame takes down the dynasty of USC, finally beats scumbag Pete Carroll, and turns the corner and starts their own dynasty. And it seemed that way, Brady Quinn drove the Irish down for a touchdown with just over two minutes to go up 31-28. Too much time. Dwayne Jarrett breaks off a huge play to get the Trojans in the redzone as time slowly passes. Now here’s the part everyone remembers, The “Bush Push.” I had ran out of the house screaming and cheering for an Irish win as I watched the ball go out and the clock wind to zero. But wait, there was one more play on the one yard line. Are you kidding me?! This can’t be good. I watch in shock as Reggie Bush pushes Matt Leinart to go up with three seconds left, left crying on the floor asking why there was no flag, Reggie Bush can’t do that, this isn’t fair. So every weekend that USC comes to South Bend, I’m reminded of that game and I may have only been 11 years old, but I had realized the true emotions of sports fanhood and the ups and down rollercoaster that is college football.
Sixteen years later, USC comes to South Bend as 7-point underdogs and both teams coming off byes. I’m still waiting for this Irish offense to look like they did Week 1 against FSU but it hasn’t come yet. Marcus Freeman’s defense has been solid and I’m looking forward to seeing their matchup against pass heavy Kedon Slovis and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell (From? - think Michael Crabtree.) I could see this being a high scoring game if the Irish O-Line can keep the USC front seven in check. If we’re talking spreads, I don’t personally love this one for ND but if you’re able to keep an eye on it as the day goes on it could come down to 6 and then take a half point tease down to -5.5 to play it safe. Could be an Overtime kind of game.
Other Games & Picks I like Today:
3 Team 7-Point Teaser:
Ole Miss -0.5 (v LSU), Notre Dame PICK (v USC), Purdue +10.5 (v Wisconsin)
Essentially getting two money lines and Purdue getting 10 points versus an inconsistent Wisconsin. I don’t think LSU will be able to keep up offensively at the end but it will be close throughout. Purdue-Wisconsin should be low scoring so 10 is a manageable spread.
Oregon - UCLA OVER 61
Both teams are averaging 34 points per game and I expect that trend to continue in a nice 3:30 Pac-12 Shootout, give me the over but I don’t have a great feel for the winner here.
Oklahoma - Kansas OVER 66.5
If we know one thing about Lincoln Riley, it’s that it doesn’t matter who’s behind center - they’re putting up points. Oklahoma’s last three games have all been over 67 points and it will continue versus the Jayhawks. Oklahoma could cover this on their own if they get rolling but the Sooners offense has given up 31, 48, and 31 in their last three so I see Kansas getting a couple scores to help out the over.
