I'm Not A Degenerate, I Just Gamble A Lot is Sippin' On Purple's weekly discussion of college football point spreads, and by college football, we mean Big Ten games plus other national games of interest. All suggested wagers are for entertainment purposes only. All lines courtesy of 5Dimes.com, all times are central time.
Season Profit (including the vig): 40.91 Lundys
Dear readers, I am a humiliated and beaten man this afternoon. Sure, I'm still up more than 40 Lundys on the season, but l made perhaps the worst bet in internet history last week, placing a 9 Lundy wager on the Minnesota Golden Gophers. I failed to grasp the historic ineptitude of Jerry Kill's crew. I probably should have seen the writing on the wall when Kill spent the week leading up to the game talking about how much his own team sucked, but alas, I was blinded by the 14 point spread. As my man RZA says, if it don't make a dollar then it don't make sense.
Had I just done the smart thing and not bet the Gopher game, I'd have won Lundys last week, but instead I had my worst week of the year. Sorry everyone. It's ok though, this week I will win it back with interest.
Saturday
#11 Michigan Wolverines at #23 Michigan St. Spartans (-2.5), 11 AM, ESPN
Michigan's first real road game of the season comes against the Michigan State team that's beaten them 3 years in a row. The winner of this one takes control of the Legends Division race. I've got no idea what's going to happen: it will probably come down to the number of Denard Robinson arm punts and no one really knows which passing Denard will show up. So no bet, I'll just sit back and enjoy.
Indiana Hoosiers at #4 Wisconsin Badgers (-39.5), 11 AM, ESPN2
Indiana returns to the scene of the 83 point crime from last season. Once again, this will come down to how much of a dickbag Bielema decides to be with a big lead, and while he's taken it easy a bit this year, Indiana just doesn't have a prayer of keeping it close. This is the same Indiana defense that got abused by North Texas, so the Badgers should have a 40 point lead by halftime. Hopefully Bielema keeps his foot on the gas this time.
Bet Size: 2 Lundys
Purdue Boilermakers at Penn St. Nittany Lions (-12), 11 AM, BTN
This should be a fun one between Penn State and their bad quarterbacks and Purdue who is just plain bad. I don't see how Purdue gets to 14 points here, and I also dont see how Penn State gets to 28, so take the under 41.5 and watch something else.
Bet Size: 3 Lundys
#6 Oklahoma St. Cowboys at #22 Texas Longhorns (+7), 2:30 PM, ABC/ESPN
Landry Jones and company went HAM on the Texas defense last week, and Brandon Weeden and company should do the same thing here. The various scrubs Texas is running out at quarterback won't be able to keep up.
Bet Size: 3 Lundys
Ohio St. Buckeyes at #16 Illinois Fighting Illini (-3), 2:30 PM, ABC/ESPN
Illinois is pretty clearly the better team, but there's the Zook factor in play here. We're talking about a coach who didn't know the score last week when he went for two against Indiana. Even still, I am taking Zook, but limiting my potential losses.
Bet Size: 1 Lundy
Northwestern Wildcats at Iowa Hawkeyes (-6), 6 PM, BTN
This game should be close like all games in this series, so take Northwestern and the points.
Bet Size: 2 Lundys
#18 Arizona St. Sun Devils at #9 Oregon Ducks (-14.5), 9:15 PM, ESPN
This line seems on the high side given the rankings of the teams involved, especially since Arizona State had 600 yards of offense last year against Oregon with Steven Threet at quarterback (yes, the same Steven Threet who stunk it up for Michigan in 2008). ASU was competitive last year despite 7 (!) turnovers, so they should hang around this year.
Bet Size: 3 Lundys