Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The Big Game pick by The Man


The Man's been teetering on .500 over the bowl season and wants to give you a gift in 2006 with his pick for tonight's National Championship game. But before giving you The Man's rock-solid, lock of the year pick, The Man wants to look at tonight's team mascots.

Southern Cal's mascot is the Trojan. Admittedly, when The Man was growing up, his parents went to California and the only thing he wanted was a Trojans sweatshirt. The Man's parents came back with a "USC" sweatshirt - not the same thing.

The Man also used to own a few Longhorns hats, having to explain to females the sexual connotation. The ultimate battle of the sexes matchup would be the Oregon State Beavers against the Longhorns, but The Man will have to settle for Trojans and Longhorns. Tonight's matchup literally will come down to whether or not the Trojans will be able to keep the wraps on the Longhorn star, Vince Young, and if the Longhorns will be able to penetrate into the backfield and take care of Bush.

OK, enough with the sex talk - here's the skinny: each team features a potent offense - Texas is 10-1 against the over this year, USC is 7-5. Look for each team to score tonight - a lot. The Man expects the final score to be in the range of 45-42, which means you should take the Longhorns getting 7.5 and the over. Because The Man likes to play it safe (no pun intended), he's buying points each way to bring the spread up to Texas +10 and the over down to 66. Lock of the year!

Monday, January 02, 2006

Happy New Year from The Man

Here are The Man's New Year's Day (late) picks:

Florida vs. Iowa
Not a lot stands out when The Man looks at the stats for these teams - on paper they're comparable. The Big Ten hasn't posted a bowl victory yet, and the SEC is a stronger conference overall... couple Urban Meyer's spread offense with Iowa wins against bad teams like Illinois, Northern Iowa, Indiana and Purdue, and a season finale loss to Iowa State means the Hawkeyes are goin' down. Take Florida getting a point.

Alabama vs. Texas Tech
Too much offense versus a horrid offense means Texas Tech should cover the 3 point spread. Take Tech -3.

Virginia Tech vs. Louisville
VA Tech was considered a national title contender at one time. And Louisville's without their starting QB Brohm. Look for Marcus Vick to have a big game running and passing. The man's buying 2.5 points to bring it down to VA Tech -7.

Wisconsin vs. Auburn
Auburn's running game is going to send Barry Alvarez out a loser. The Man read that the Badgers D is giving up over 400 yards a game, and the Auburn O line is monstrous. Buy a couple of points to bring it under 10, take Auburn -7.

Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
The Hawk and the impressive Buckeye defense will be the key to this game. I don't like giving ex-NFL coach Charlie Weiss 5 points, though -- this team almost beat USC. The Man is buying 2 and betting that ND will keep it within a TD.

Georgia vs. West Virginia
The beneficiaries of Hurricane Katrina, Georgia's playing what amounts to a home game at the Georgia Dome. Look for the Dawgs to cover the spread at -6.5.