Money Bet of the Century | Week #9

Well Money Betters-
what can we say......the money bet of the century has let you down twice in a row. I can honestly say that a two week skid is very rare around the office. Walking amongst the rows of cubes, there have been a lot of forlorn faces. No more a long face than that of Adam Smith, who 'doubled down' last week by not only making the pick....but also dropping $550 dollars on his bet at the local Vegas Sportsbook. Although we offer Adam our condolences on his pick, we plan to keep the image of that bad pick around for quite some time....he'll never know when and where that memorable PDF Screenshot might pop up in his life. :)

Getting along to this weeks pick. We've got an iconic game lined up for you......a game that is also known as 'The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party'. That's right friends....we're talking about Florida vs. Georgia. This game has been played in a neutral location every year except for 1995 and 1996, where it was played at Georgia's home stadium one year, and 'The Swamp' one year. This game has had a lot memorable moments, probably none more memorable that this classic moment. You'll have to listen to the commentator all the way through to really appreciate the 'Game Call'...




Let's get down to the call. Georgia comes into this game as a 2.5 point favorite. And let's be honest....I think they definitely deserve to be. With a 82nd ranked passing attack (out of 119 teams) and the 75th ranked rushing offense, Florida has not been much of an offensive threat this year. Missing Tim Tebow anyone??? It must have been a huge letdown for the Florida fans who have grown accustoming to coming up in the National Championship discussion every year. John Brantley has been less then illustrious this year, throwing for 6 touchdowns in 7 games so far this year. Probably most shocking was the loss last week to Mississippi State, the first time the gators have lost to them since 2004. Florida has been on a 3 game skid, losing to the likes of #1 (at the time) Alabama, #12 LSU, and finally....the aforementioned Mississippi State.

Georgia comes into this game and a somewhat lukewarm opponent, but a lukewarm opponent who is getting much warmer. Georgia is really heating up in their rushing and passing game, throwing for an average of 228 yards per game, and rushing an average of 153. You know A.J. Green will be good for at least 80 yards and 1-2 touchdowns in this matchup. The best news about this pick is that it is played on a neutral field. No home field advantage for either team means that there is going to be an even playing field.....and an even playing field for this matchup means the ultimate advantage for Georgia.

Georgia gets in done by 10!!!

Money Bet of the Century | Week #8

Money Betters-

COULD IT HAVE BEEN ANY MORE WRONG LAST WEEK?! Here at the MBOC, we promote full disclosure. If you make a bad pick, you own up to it. The readers appreciate that....hell, the readers deserve that. Nothing is weaker than sitting behind your green curtain telling everyone you are the mighty 'Wizard of Oz'.....AND THEN getting exposed by a tiny dog......that's just straight up lame SHIT....

Anytime we get dealt a blow at the MBOC, we try something a little different. In this case....it's to dig deeper to find the real money for the readers.

So....we went to Field Correspondent Adam Smith out in Sin City LAS VEGAS this week for the pick. Adam is known around the Las Vegas community as a man with his hand on the pulse of college football gambling, and an all-around good dude. His picks have been known to sway major casinos lines.....so...when we really need an MBOC win.....I look to my field correspondent dugout, I come up tapping the right arm and calling in Adam Smith, the MBOC closer.....he runs to the mound ala-John Rocker style, and always chalks up a 'W'.

Adam understood we were on the fence from last weeks lost, and rolled back his sleeves for this weeks pick. The research he put in just might make this the most solid pick of the century.

Wisconsin was a team that successfully drilled home that they could run at will against the Buckeyes last weekend posting up a 31-18 win as a four-point home underdog. John Clay and James White combined for 179 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

The Badgers can’t get fat off of that win for too long as they’re set for another big league showdown. Now they head to Iowa City to face off with the Hawkeyes for the Heartland Trophy.

Most of the betting shops out and about have posted Iowa as a 5 ½-point home favorite in this contest. And VegasInsider.com’s expert handicapper Tom Freese believes that Kinnick Stadium is all the advantage the Hawkeyes will need.

“Both of these teams have great running games and defenses that can stop opposing attacks. Yet Iowa is an awfully tough team to beat at home.”

Freese is right on in that the Hawkeyes are tough in front of a home crowd. Iowa has gone 14-2 Straight Up at home dating back to the start of the 2008 campaign. Gamblers, however, have been on a see-saw when backing them with an 8-8 Against The Spread (ATS) mark. Those two losses, by the way, both came to Northwestern. If we’re tightening that info up to just Big Ten games, then the Hawkeyes are 5-1 Straight Up (SU) and 2-4 ATS in their last six in this spot.

Regardless of the issue of covering the spread, Iowa still has a damn good team. Ricky Stanzi is the third-most efficient quarterback in the country, completing 68% of his throws and posting a rating of 180.49. Should the Badgers be able to contain Stanzi’s passing attack, that’ll just give Running Back Adam Robinson a chance to shine in a big way. All he’s done is average 103.8 YPG on the ground with eight touchdowns.

When looking at past battles, you’d have to notice that the Hawkeyes have gone 6-4 SU against Wisconi. But for our MBOC purposes, Iowa has been the smart play nearly every time, evidenced by an 8-2 ATS record. Plus, the Badgers are just 2-8 SU and 3-6-1 ATS as road underdogs the last five years against Big Ten foes.

One other amazing fact that is EXCLUSIVE to MBOC readers: The last seven teams to beat an AP No. 1 in the regular season have just a 3-4 record in their next game!!

IOWA gets it done out in Iowa City against the Badgers. Look for Iowa to take this one by 18!!!
And if you want to know if we just pick 'em and don't have skin in the game....Adam would like to share this with you... GET IN THE GAME!!!! (don't forget to vote in the right hand corner and comment below!!!)

Money Bet of the Century | Week #7

Money Betters-

Welcome to Week #7.

I’m proud to say that last week, we made the call by exactly ½ of one point.

A lot of things did not go down the way we expected in Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh. Dion Lewis never got it moving in any way, shape, or form. He ended up carrying the ball 13 times for 63 yards. The Notre Dame defense and Linebackers put up a wall!!! Pitt struggled to score at all in the Red Zone. But it wasn’t a pretty win for Notre Dame "It's not a beauty contest yet for us. It's certainly not that. But my job is to get Notre Dame to win football games and we're starting to do that.", noted Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly. Notre Dame can look forward to a win this week against the Western Michigan Broncos.

This week, the money bet is OBVIOUS!!! One of the highest scoring offenses in the country is Ohio State. They are averaging a whopping 43.2 points per game. This will be there first tough test since a showdown in the 2^nd week of football against Miami. The game is at Wisconsin, so we’ll get to see how they play on the road against a tough team. Ohio State only allows an average of 13.5 points a game, and their defense has allowed only 10 points in the win versus Indiana last week.

The Wisconsinites will be ready for a big game. Camp Randall Stadium, with its 80,321 person capacity, can get rockin for a mid-October in-conference showdown. You can believe the stadium will be filled to capacity and there will be more red in the stadium with both schools colors being very similar to one another. Wisconsin comes into this game with quite the rushing game. They are currently 11^th in the country, averaging 240.8 yards per game. The key to the game for Wisconsin will be getting the ball into John Clay’s hands. He may not top his 2009 totals of 1517 yards, but he’s looking to get close with a projected 1384 yards this season. Wisconsin loves its short, stocky, built-like-a-tank runningbacks….Following in the great footsteps of the great Ron Dayne of the late 90s. You might see Clay opt to go pro after this year and forego his senior season.

This game is going to be a close one….but there’s no stopping the might of Terelle Pryor. With 1,349 yards this year, he’s on pace to have over 2,500 yards and 30 touchdowns this season. The key to the game for Wisconsin’s defense will be to get in and shut down Pryor before he can do any major damage. Buckeyes are favored in this game by 4, and they get it done clawing the badgers by 10!!!!

Do you agree....do you disagree!??!?!...Vote in the upper right hand corner and be heard!

The Money Bet of the Century | Week 6

Money Betters-

But this time this week, if you are not sitting on a Caribbean beach with a beautiful babe on your lap and a drink in your hand...wondering if you want to eat 'Surf or Turf' for dinner this evening....you have only yourself to blame. As Promised....

T H E
D O U B L E
D O W N
S P E C I A L

has enough potential to damage as a ton of bricks slamming into a bag of feathers! You were disappointed that you had lost money in week 4, and we delivered a solution to your problem. So...if you are sitting in your office reading this, you need to question your ability to bet on a good deal when you see one.

The 'Bears were what we THOUGHT they were' in the UCLA vs. WSU game. WSU actually ended up hanging around in this game....and there was a point in the game where I thought we were actually going to win the game. But as predicted, the combined point total was nowhere close to the 50.5 Over/Under spread predicted by Vegas. Combined score ended up being a whopping 70 points....the same line set for the Washington State vs. Oregon game this weekend. Half of me wants to say that game will score over 70, as well.

On to the Money Bet of the Century.....there isn't a lot of good games this weekend. MBOC Feel Correspondent Dustin Schnaitman likes Michigan State to win outright over Michigan, which after seeing the gutsy play calling of Sparty this year, could definitely happen. I'm worried of the crowd getting behind Denard Robinson. The MBOC is going to predict a Heisman Trophy at the end of next season for young Denard.

This week's game will be Pittsburgh @ Notre Dame.
Notre Dame looked good last week in their 31-13 handling of Boston College. But then again....it is Boston College. Dayne Crist has a phenomenol first quarter, driving down the field and helping the Irish put the game out of reach early on. Still, Notre Dame has proven when it comes to a substantial opponent, often times they come up short. Who could forget the play 'Little Giants' a few weeks ago, when Sparty sneaked the field goal then dumped the ball of to their tight end for the game winning score. What you didn't see was that the tight end ended up right in the Notre Dame band section, and their celebration for the score knocked around some of the ND Band Members. Talk about adding injury to insult (about 40 seconds in)....Here's a recap of that if you didn't see it enough times on Sportscenter.



Pittsburgh is one of those teams that always ends up doing better than you thought they were going to do. My old business school roommate Matt Michaux would make me a bet every year (usually after a few Yuengling beers) and he'd say "I'll bet you 5 bucks that Pitt ends up in the top 15". Well....he was wrong both years I bet him....but to give him credit, it came down to the last game both years.....and if they would have won, they would have silently finished out the year in the top 15. They are good......sneakily so. Utah is #10 in the country and damn near lost to Pitt in the first week of the season. Past that, Pitt's only lost is to Miami, where they were fairly well beaten. Other than that, their two wins have been by an average of 2.5 points. Weak sisters you say.... (Florida International and New Hampshire)...!!! You won't get any argument from me there....but the point is that they have the offensive power to put up points, and they've been fine tuning it against lesser opponents. Dion Lewis did not play in Week 5, and in my opinion....he is an NFL caliber running back that should be in the outside discussion of a Heisman Candidate. But once again.....Pitt just kind of does its thing....quietly. Now you might ask yourself....are these girls really from the University of Pittsburgh. Dude.....Who cares!

So here's the scoop. This game is at Notre Dame, and touchdown Jesus will be staring down at the field from the endzone hoping for another Notre Dame win. The line is Notre Dame by -6.5 which makes me leery, because a touchdown wins the spread for them. But the Panters are poised to take a bite out of some Irish ass. Look for Pitt to win this game and for Dion Lewis, now back and healthy, to run for 175. Panthers win this game by 7 in South Bend!!! Don't agree?!?! Tell me about it below....

The Money Bet of the Century | Week 5

Money Betters-

Well folks.....what can I say about last week other than I let you down. One thing to remember is that the season is long, and if I put up 14 straight weeks of wins, I'd be talked about in Vegas like I was a god. I also wouldn't be working anymore, either.

Last week's game went wrong in just about every way possible. UCLA had an offense and made plays happen. UCLA's Quarterback Prince actually only had 27 yards of passing, but they got it done on the ground. Who could believe that UCLA would actually not have to go to the air AT ALL to beat Texas. Who could believe that a QB who puts up 27 yards of passing from the Pac-10 could beat the #7 ranked team in the country? Simply 'a fluke'....

Over here at the MBOC, when we encounter the first loss of the season, we circle up the field correspondents and have a talk. We're a small organization....but not one without resources!!! Long-time contributor and field correspondent Adam Smith was 'on the ground' in Vegas, spending time at the different sports books getting a feel for the way the week was shaping up. He poured over countless statistics and research this week and uncovered what we feel to be is a gem. This weeks pick is being called 'THE DOUBLE DOWN SPECIAL'. This week, your pockets are hurting from the last week, but we've found a way to help you recover your losses from last week.....and a nice tidy stack of bills on top of that!

This week, The Cougs hit the the road to Los Angeles to face the same UCLA team that was in a pick last week. The Cougs hit their 'low water mark' last year, as they plowed through the season finding it seemingly impossible to pull a touchdown from anywhere. They were simply one of the worst teams in college football (but remember husky fans, they did not go 0'fer). This year they are back....looking 'slightly' better. Last week they were once again routed by another team, losing to USC 50-16. Not a lot can be said about this performance. I watched the game and the Cougs were able to keep in close in the first half of the game (28-13), before the wheels came off in the second half. Jeff Tuel, when he wasn't throwing one of the games 3 interceptions, through for 222 yards and a touchdown. The Cougs defense LOVES to allow other teams to score points on them, ranking 116 out of 121 teams in the FBS. They face a UCLA team that comes into this game riding high off their win last week at Texas.

While I still can't say that the UCLA offense is that impressive, they definitely did get it done last week against Texas. They seem to have found their game plan in a rushing attack, and are currently putting up 218 rushing yards a game on opponents, good for a top 20 showing in the FBS rankings. The Bruins will also find that it is easier to go to the air this week against a mediocre-at-best Washington State secondary. Look for Prince to hit some thinly guarded slant routes to his receivers and tight ends as the WSU linebackers have to stay home and guard against the run. In short, WSU is looking anemic enough to make UCLA into a duel threat run/pass type of team. With the UCLA team allowing an average of 22 points a game, and WSU allowing 43 points a game, we were shocked to uncover that the over under spread in this game was only a meager 50.5 points!!

To follow in the footsteps of the great Gordon Gekko, this week, "never run away when you are down". Step in with A DOUBLE SIZED bet this week on the Over in this game, and walk away on Saturday with a fat stack of Bills.

COUGS AND UCLA COVER 50.5 POINTS as UCLA goes on to win 42-21!.
.....AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS A MONEY BET YOU CAN TAKE TO THE BANK!!!!!