The Money Bet of the Century | Week #4

Money Betters-

A triumphant win was registered last week here at the MBOC. Nebraska made the trip out from their 'fly-over-frozen state' to the great city of Seattle. Here at Ground Zero, there was a plethora of Nebraska Red Sweatshirts and hideous 'Mom Jeans' walking around the city looking wide-eyed up at the skyscrapers. People from Nebraska probably didn't even know that buildings were even built that tall! ha! But true to form....the corn huskers shucked their way into town and handily took care of the Washington pups. As we predicted, Jake 'The Hype' Locker didn't really ever lead his team to anything other than another disappointing loss. He was able to rack up the awe-inspiring statistics of 4 of 20 for a total 71 yards. He also scrambled for a less-than-desirable 51 yards as the Huskies went on to lose the game 56-21. As MBOC field correspondent Jeff Wood aptly put it, "well, at least Washington's semi-fans will put their purple and yellow sweatshirts away until next fall and we won't have to hear any more talk of the "resurgent" huskies for another year"......very true, Jeff. Guess the re-surge will have to wait at least one more year.

This week, there are some interesting games to choose from. One big contender is the Pac-10 match up between California and Arizona. Arizona looks hot coming off of their big win over #9 Iowa. As it turns out, Iowa isn't very good when they come out West. Something like their last 7 trips out West have ended in humiliation. It's ridiculous to even think that this Arizona team cannot beat a stumbling-bumbling California team by 7 (California got taken behind the wood shed by Nevada last week).

I also like Oregon to defeat Arizona State by 12. Oregon looks like the team to beat right now in the Pac-10, and is the #1 scoring offense in the country (averaging 63 points) and the #1 Defense (allowing 3 points).

Nevertheless, the Money Bet of the Century game this week....er century....will be Texas vs. UCLA. Anyone who has watched UCLA play this year will quickly determine that this team isn't very good. This UCLA team is ranked #118 in the country in Passing Yards and 105th in the country in Points for (17.7). They are also in the bottom 1/3 of allowing points, allowing on average 26.3 points per game. Their Quarterback Kevin Prince might sound like royalty, but he only threw for 99 yards with 0 touchdowns in their 31-13 win over the Houston Cougars.
So the Houston Cougars lose another game.....they are used to losing....who will ever forget a couple years ago when the Oregon Ducks Mascot beat the living crap out of their mascot. If you forgot, watch it again here:


In short....UCLA is terrible...but at least the MBOC reporters were able to uncover a few great photos of some of their great looking co-eds.

Texas comes into this game with something to prove. They've got to claw their way up the rankings if they want to get back into the national title game again this year. And to be honest, they've got a shot. If they can get through a couple tough games in the next couple weeks (Oklahoma & the Red River Shoot Out coming up next week, and then a tough road game at Nebraska), they'll be sitting in the cat bird seat......but that's a big 'if' at this point. Texas' defense is looking pretty good, only allowing 12.7 points per game (9th best in the country). They are only mediocre in other categories in offense in rushing, but this could be a game they look back on later this year as a break out game. They need to make a statement going into week #4 that Oklahoma and Nebraska can start being worried about. Texas is badly missing their star quarterback from last season, Colt McCoy, but Garrett Gilbert is starting to look like a QB that can step up to the plate. Last week he threw for 227 yards and 2TD. If he can just get a little bit more control on the ball, we won't be seeing numbers like 3 interceptions. You can bet that Mack Brown has been on his ass this week about ball control...but you can expect these types of situations when you are dealing with a true sophomore qb.

Texas gets it together this week and enters the national championship conversation, but still has some groundwork to cover before playing Oklahoma next week. Look for Texas to 'HOOK' A growl-less UCLA Bruin team this week by 24!!! Is this the call of the century??? Don't forget to post your thoughts below and make sure that you vote in the upper right hand corner!!

.....AND YOU CAN TAKE THAT MONEY BET TO THE BANK!!!

The Money Bet of the Century | Week # 3

Money Betters-

I understand there was some confusion on The Money Bet of the Century last week. I have been posting it solely in Facebook and was not emailing people the link. Some people have become accustomed to receiving The Money Bet via email, so we’ll continue that to keep the readers happy.

Week 1 was a huge success for The Money Bet. Tate Forcier did not get the starting role as was expected. Instead, the starting role went to Sophomore, un-tied shoes phenom Denard Robinson. And boy did that guy run all over Connecticut. 29 carriers, 179 yards and one touchdown….oh….and then he threw for 186 yards and a touchdown as well. What an amazing first start for him. He definitely looks like he is going to be a threat out at Michigan for the next couple years. Look for good things from this program (whether you like them or not) with him at the helm. Is this the resurgence of the Big 10???!!!

This week, The Money Bet of the Century focuses on a non-traditional matchup that is always a good game. These teams have faced each other 7 times, and the series is actually tied at 3-3-1 (the tie happened in 1925 and ended in a 6-6 stalemate). Who could forget the 1998 shellacking of the Huskies, when they lost to the Cornhuskers 55-7 at home in Husky Stadium? Then there was the ‘Glory years’ victory for the Huskies, when Puyallup, Washington’s own Billy Joe Hobart led the #2 Washington Huskies to a 29-14 victory over the #12-rannked Corn Huskers. Mark Brunell saw some playing time in this game, and both Hobart and Brunell went on to NFL careers.

This year proves to be another interesting match up. Nebraska brings a team to Seattle that is missing the leadership and dominance of Ndamukong Suh (actually from Portland, Oregon you Nebraska fans). Still, this is a strong team. So far this year they’ve averaged 328 yards of running offense in the first two games of the season. That’s enough to make them the #3 rushing team in NCAA football right now. There weak spot is definitely at passing, only averaging 179 yards per game so far this year….and that’s against some pretty weak teams to start off (Idaho and Western Kentucky). Corona, California’s Taylor Martinez will get the start at Quarterback. As a Freshman, this will be his first road test…..visiting a legitimate competitor in Washington. Roy Helu Jr. (also from California) is back at running back in his Senior season and is looking to have a strong year. In 2009 he amassed 1147 yards and 9 touchdowns. This team is your typical Run-It-Down-Your-Throat Midwestern team, and they’ll try to pull the same thing on Washington.

Jake “The Hype” Locker gets the starting nod at Washington. I know a lot of people will think that I am talking trash about Locker because he is from Washington. That’s where you’re wrong. I think Jake Locker is a good quarterback. I think Jake Locker has a chance to make it in the league. What I don’t think is that Jake Locker has lived up to any of his expectations thus far. Sure….the college bookstore is sold out of #10 jerseys, but I ask of you “What has Jake Locker done that has been remarkable?”. At Washington State, many people laughed when the Cougars put Jason Guesser on the podium as a possible Heisman Candidate. But remember…. Jason Guesser helped Washington State return 3 ten win seasons between 2001 and 2003. Jason Guesser helped the team WIN GAMES….and any Heisman trophy candidate should do exactly that…..HELP THEIR TEAM WIN GAMES. Without wins, there is no argument. The Huskies come into this game looking the opposite Offensively. They are currently 25^th in the country in passing, putting up an average of 279 yards against their opponents in the first two games. They are 72^nd in rushing offense with 151 yards per game.

This game will see some scoring, as Nebraska and Washington both will run their prospective offenses successfully. The question is, how will Washington’s Defense hold up to the Cornhuskers running game. By the 3^rd quarter, will the D-Line have its hands on its hips, slogging back to the line after every play. I think Nebraska shucks the Dawgs and wins by 14 in a game that will be close, and will earn the Huskies some respect.

CORNHUSKERS BY 14.....YOU CAN TAKE THAT MONEY BET TO THE BANK!!

The Money Bet of the Century 2010 | Week One

The Money Bet of the Century is back, in it's 8th year!!! In case you are unfamiliar with The Money Bet of the Century (MBOC), our aim (and our tagline) is to "find you that one college football game each week that slipped past the odds makers in Vegas!!!" For those of you that are new to the MBOC, here's a brief recap of how it got started.

In all began in 1999, when yours truly was still just a young pup, in his final year of undergrad at Washington State. Fellow MBOC co-founder Marc Cooperstein was on a gambling losing streak of epic proportions. He couldn't pick a winner to save his life. In a desperate attempt to pull out of his losing streak, he put up the keys to his 1978 BMW, to fellow fraternity brother Cody Woodruff, in order to take a loan for 800 dollars for the big win that was going to put him on an EPIC winning streak. Before making this legendary bet, he was seen running around the fraternity screaming at the top of his lungs "THIS IS THE MONEY BET OF THE CENTURY......IF THE ODDSMAKERS ARE GIVING OUT FREE MONEY, I MIGHT AS WELL STAND IN LINE TO COLLECT....GET IN THE GAAAAAMMMMMMEEEEEE!!" Well, Marc definitely got into the game all right....and as it turned out, Marc's prediction was a little off. This Money Bet didn't turn out to be.....well....very 'money' at all.

Some time later, he regained possession (and his dignity) of the keys to his car. What team did Marc lose this legendary bet on? I can't really say for sure. But as we peeked in the window of his locked fraternity door, of which he would let no one in to taunt him on his loss, he was seen huddled over his televsion sadly shaking it in despair.

Marc went on to greater achievements, and recently graduated from UC Irvine's Merage School of Business. Marc tells me that Paul Merage, who the business school is named after, was the inventor of Hot Pockets. Here's to you, Marc! We hope that you are able to use this blog to find some winning bets while you enjoy with your lifetime supply of Hot Pockets (something I'm told every Merage School Alumni gets a certificate for at graduation).

This year, we plan on kicking off the season with a hell of an opening season win, and the game was very easy to spot upon a cursory viewing of the week one lines.

They started off the 2009 season last year looking RED HOT but shortly after fizzled. With a close victory over #18 Notre Dame (38-34) in week 2, Michigan looked like they'd be a Big 10 team to be reckoned with. In week 5, 4-0 Michigan saw their house of cards come tumbling down. An overtime loss to in-state rival Michigan State at Spartan Stadium (20-26) was a sign of bad things to come. Michigan then went on to win only one more game (Delaware State) and got nearly blanked in the Big Ten (1-7). Two close losses to Iowa and and Purdue by a combined 4 points further demoralized the team. Starting in 2008, it's been a couple rebuilding years for Big Blue. Michigan may never have enough bad seasons for me, but that's one of the reasons things are about to change.

Michigan may be one of the most underrated teams in the Big 10 this year. Tate Forcier is back again this year, after taking some lumps in his first year as a starting QB. Forcier is going to be around for a while, too, as he is only a Sophomore this year. Last year he put up some pretty decent numbers, throwing for 2000+ yards despite their crummy record. Back again is also his favorite target Roy Roundtree who was the team reception leader with 434 receiving yards. The pieces are young to this team (both Forcier and Roundtree are Sophomores)....but they gained a lot of experience last year which will be invaluable in 2010.

First up for Michigan this year is the Connecticut Huskies. Things were looking up for the team as they had an early season win over Louisville. That same night, the beginning of a long year for UCONN started when one of their football players Jasper Howard wasvstabbed to death on campus. The team used this tragedy as a rallying point, almost beating #5 Cincinnati....then handily dismissing Notre Dame, Syracuse, and winning their bowl game against South Carolina. Connecticut will have a better season this year than their 8-5 season last year. Back at QB is Senior Zach Frazer who had a mediocre season last year. Back at RB is Jordan Todman who rushed for 1188 yards and 14 touchdowns. These two pieces should help the Connecticut ground game. The team is young with just a smattering of Seniors on the Offensive/Defensive lines.

Michigan has had some early season stumblings in years past, but this is going to be the year that they come out firing on all cylinders. The line on this game is only Michigan by 3 in the big house. Michigan will come out looking to redeem their image as a once-storied program, and regain the respect they've lost in the Big 10. The Wolverines bite will prove to be much stronger than the Huskies in Week One! Big Blue by 10!