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Hawaii Point Shaving Rumors

November 30th 2011 02:46
Last week, the University of Hawaii was hit with rumors of point shaving amongst the players due to an anonymous call into the Hawaii Police Department. Coach Greg McMackin has not been allowed to comment on anything regarding the matter. From what I have read, these kinds of things happen often when unfounded claims are made against a team for not covering the pointspread.

The allegations came on November third and amidst the Warriors being 3-7-1 against the pointspread through 11 games. The Warriors won 10 games last season but stand at 6-6 this season and 4-8 against the Vegas line. Hawaii suffered numerous injuries to their defensive line, wide receiver corps, and quarterback Bryant Moniz fractured his leg in Week 11 to put him out for the rest of the season. Through 12 games, the Warriors have been favored nine games and underdogs three times.


I've read rumors where Hawaii traveled to UNLV and practiced at a high school during the day and partied it up at night. Players had friends run bets into sportsbook casinos for them and Bryant Moniz's brother is also reported to be a bookie on the mainland. I do not know how much of this is true or any of it is true, but the fact McMackin would not have any clue what was going leads me back to the days of Dan Henning and Boston College in the early 1990s. The coach stepped down but actively sought out what needed to be done to highlight the corruption of the players involved in the program.

The other thing that I am wondering is about the totals, where scores of both teams are combined to exceed or stay under the Vegas line. The main reason for the spread being the focus is Hawaii blowing some big leads as favorites to San Jose State and Utah State. But I also think if players want to affect something, the total number of points could also be in question. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but then you start talking about scoring late touchdowns or missing field goals to purposely go over or under the total. If teams cover, I'm sure a lot of phone calls from upset gamblers come in regarding the failure of teams to cover. Evidence has shown nothing except a team being ravished by injuries and missing their starting QB. Time will tell if any of the claims are legitimate, but it's nothing that should be taken lightly. College athletes are targets because they can still be bought, especially the ones who are not guaranteed to go pro.
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BCS Championship

November 22nd 2011 21:02
Assuming LSU can get into the BCS Championship in New Orleans, I want to see a team who has yet to face them play in the championship. Yes that list includes Houston, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Oregon,and Oklahoma State.

The conference championships are really just another possibility for a team that had a great season (LSU) to possibly trip up against a team that will not be in the championship. Let's pretend LSU and Georgia play each other in the SEC Championship. Say Georgia happens to beat LSU, well LSU's championship hopes are in shambles and that opens the door for Alabama to enter the conversation again even though LSU beat them.


Look instead of championship conference games, which are only about money, have the two best teams face each other. If the BCS has Arkansas ranked second after the regular season, then let the Razorbacks and Tigers face off. But that isn't going to happen. Instead they will play each other and one of these teams' chances will cancel out.

If LSU beats Arkansas, there is no doubt they should be in the BCS Championship regardless of them having to play some game that means nothing against Georgia. Now the true definition of the second ranked team in the country is muddled this season. There is one way to fix it in my mind.

Have a different team play LSU. I don't care if Houston is a 14 point underdog to the Tigers or Virginia Tech's schedule was weak so they don't deserve to face them. I want a team LSU has not played to be in the championship because while I'm a fan of rematches, in this case the rematch is pointless. Even if Alabama and LSU play in the championship game and the Tide win, what does that mean? That means they just played in the game labeled the Championship and LSU's win in Alabama is all but forgotten because it happened in the regular season.

And if LSU beats Alabama again then it confirms what football fans already saw. So give Houston a shot or another afore mentioned one loss team not in the SEC a chance to upset the Tigers.
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The BCS is a mess. Officially.

November 20th 2011 09:05
For all the talk about conference realignment and super conferences that center around college football, the major upsets going on in the college football world right now are great theatre. It started on Friday with Iowa State taking Oklahoma State to overtime and beating them. This coming from a team that was 0-18 all time against teams ranked #2 or higher in the country.

Saturday has come to a close and there are even more questions. I'd love to have Elias Sports Bureau look up for me the last time so many top ranked teams fell on the same weekend. Not just top ranked teams losing to rivals or other top ranked teams but outright upsets. Out of all of the shockers the Iowa State game without question is the biggest surprise. No one and I mean no football fan saw that coming. So let me say that game goes down in my book as the biggest shock of all.

Oklahoma was a 17 point favorite visiting Baylor in Waco, Texas. Baylor has an amazing talent in Robert Griffin III, but this was another case of Oklahoma having a lead they could not keep. Baylor is ranked #22 in the country and they have talent, but OKlahoma was a team right up there with Alabama and LSU to contend for the BCS Title. Now saddled with their second loss, the Sooners will have to settle for the Big 12 Championship game and a BCS bowl.

Look at Oregon being favored by 15.5 over Southern California. I thought that line was a bit high considering the way USC is playing right now. Starting slow, the Ducks fell in a hole early and clawed their way back exploding in the fourth quarter while USC gave the Ducks chances to get back in the game with stalled drives, an interception, and fumble. In the end though, another college kicker felt the nerves and choked when it counted. Now the Civil War rivalry game between Oregon and Oregon State is suddenly very important for Oregon to win.

North Carolina State blew out Clemson 37-13 in a game that was never close. Still, despite all of their talent Clemson has not been the most disciplined and consistent of teams. That may chance over time with Dabo Swinney as head coach and they sure got off to a great start but now sit at 9-2. Mike Glennon made Wolfpack fans forget about Russell Wilson for a day. It was Tom O'Brien's first win against a top 10 team in his five seasons running the program.

Stanford took care of business in its rivalry game with California 31-28. Alabama beat Georgia Southern 45-21 but the score was actually closer until Nick Saban decided to run the score up some. Alabama was 42 point favorites but did not come close to covering that spread. Stanford was 17.5 point favorites but California gave them a run. At this point, top teams are literally worrying only about the wins and not about win margins or impressing the voters. So now Stanford and Alabama are looking much better with regards to the other top ranked schools who sustained upsets.

And don't forget LSU, looking as dominant as ever over a floundering Mississippi program watching Houston Nutt make his final rounds. The 52-3 trouncing covered the 31 point spread and LSU has certainly asserted themselves this season. Should LSU finish undefeated and beat whatever team they are scheduled to play in the Championship game, there is no question as to who the best team in college football would be this season.

It's just a matter of getting the best opponent to face the Tigers pending they win outright. And with a bunch of flawed teams in the debate, it will be anybody's guess what the BCS system decides to do.

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Watching the Oklahoma State-Iowa State game last night made me realize never underestimating those large home underdogs. The whole betting world was on Oklahoma State pushing a line over four points by kickoff.

Talk about one of the biggest upsets and wins for a football program like Iowa State. It was great entertainment and I think the Cyclones' decision to go to overtime instead of try to get into a position for a field goal with a minute to go left in the game showed the confidence Head Coach Paul Rhoads had in his team at that point. He had them believing they could hang with one of the most prolific offenses in the country they held to 17 points up to that point.

Rhoads took over Iowa State in 2009 replacing Gene Chizik who departed for Auburn. Rhoads was last the defensive coordinator at Auburn but returned to Iowa State where he had coached the secondary and linebackers in the mid to late 1990s. What a great story with Freshmen quarterback Jared Barnett outplaying Heisman hopeful Brandon Weeden plain and simple.

The 28 year old Weeden now joins the recent older QBs with remaining eligibility who failed to come through for a big time team when they needed him most. That list includes Florida State's Chris Weinke, Oklahoma's Jason White, and now Weeden joins it. Perhaps sticking to minor league baseball was the better choice after all. No disrespect to Weeden, he's had a great season but he simply played poorly throwing three interceptions costing his team a possible BCS Championship berth.

By the early third quarter it looked like Oklahoma State was saying play time's over for Iowa State up 24-7. But the Cyclones battled back with the mobile Barnett, an onside kick gamble, defensive stops, and timely turnovers. Weeden's three third interception in the second overtime sealed the fate as Jeff Woody's four yard TD run sealed Oklahoma State's fate.

So much for that LSU-Oklahoma State spread. Now Oregon, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are part of the one loss teams that have renewed life to be in line for a shot at the Championship Bowl Game in New Orleans on January 9th. I wonder how the Cowboys respond with this loss because it appears they clearly looked past the Cyclones in advance of the Oklahoma Sooners. In addition, you have to feel for the entire athletic department of Oklahoma State, who lost their head women's basketball coach and assistant coach to a tragic plane crash on a recruiting trip.
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Tonight the Oklahoma State Cowboys go to Ames, Iowa to play the Iowa State Cyclones on a primetime Friday night college football matchup. I've really become a fan of Oklahoma State since the Mike Gundy "where are we at in society today" rant when he defended his quarterback Bobby Reid. It doesn't hurt when you have a billionaire alum able to "donate" portions of his billions to "upgrading" all of the facilities and, well players on the field of competition.

Brandon Weeden isn't even the best player on his team but the 28 year old senior is in the race for the Heisman Trophy. Weeden could be considered the frontrunner for the Heisman but 14 of his 31 touchdowns have gone to the Cowboys' best player in wideout Justin Blackmon. I really like what the Cowboys are doing right now but their revenge game at home against Oklahoma is what will determine their destiny. Assuming Oklahoma doesn't overlook the Cyclones tonight as 27 point favorites, I started to ask myself what a betting line between LSU and Oklahoma State would be


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Semifinals and Final

January 11th 2011 21:24
A few days ago I did an analysis on Cincinnati’s basketball team (you can find it here) and how they haven’t played/beaten anyone yet. Then, I stumbled upon the Louisville Cardinals and did a comparison. They have a couple of decent wins, unlike Cincinnati, which came against Butler and UNLV (both at home), but nothing to get excited about. Their losses include home games against Kentucky and Drexel. Kentucky is a talented team and can give teams fits, but what about Drexel? Drexel is a 10-4 team that comes out of the Colonial Athletic Conference and is 2-2 in league play thus far - not the best of losses.

Louisville is 2-0 in the Big East, but those games were against Seton Hall and at South Florida – both teams that will be at the bottom of the conference all year


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Round Three, Part Two

January 10th 2011 15:14
Carmelo to New Jersey?

What if the Carmelo trade to New Jersey does happen? New Jersey would be going from an afterthought to having a decent starting lineup with Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony, Rip Hamilton, and Brook Lopez. Imagine those four starting on a seven seeded team in the Eastern Conference. Wait – seven seed? Some people are forgetting, the Nets are 10-27. That puts them 5.5 games back of Indiana for the seventh spot in the East, and they are 11.5 games back of New York for the sixth. The likely first round matchup would be New Jersey heading to Boston, which would be a good start to the postseason


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Round Two, Part Two

January 6th 2011 17:32
Cincinnati’s basketball team has stunned many people this year by starting out 14-0, but for those of us that dig in a little deeper – we know a scam when we see one. The Bearcats started out the season with six straight home victories against much lesser opponents, the best being a Dayton team that can be pesky, but wasn’t really a threat that night because of their 20 percent FG shooting. Credit can be given to Cincinnati’s defense that night, but 20 percent? Division One teams don’t shoot 20 percent unless they are just completely off that night.

The first road test Cincinnati faced this year was at Toledo. 3-11 Toledo! Ok, most big name teams have cupcakes on the schedule at the beginning of the year, so I will give them a pass on that one. Then, a few more home victories against Utah Valley and Georgia Southern - ok, another pass


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