Colin Cowherd One Hour Longer
Today we learned that we get an extra hour of The Herd on a national level. The show has also been added to a few affiliates including Indianapolis. He joked that his slogan is now, “The Herd: Bugging You For One More Hour Daily.” It is now going to be 10 am to 2 pm on the east coast and 7 am to 11am on the West Coast. The mysterious first hour will now be available to us nationally! Hopefully, ESPNU will also take part in this addition, especially for those of us that DVR the show.
Football Fix is Back on The Herd
The football fix is back on The Herd even though Amanda is not a fan. Most of Colin’s fans are huge football fans and we need our football fix year round, especially this time of year. We will keep you up to date on the important news on the football fix.
Colin Cowherd’s Week 9 Wheel of Genius
Another week of picking games for Colin Cowherd is as follows:
Kentucky @ Florida (-26) – The line has moved almost six points this week and that is way too much. Rich Brooks of Kentucky limits big plays which will slow the Florida offense down. Kentucky leads the SEC in scoring defense and will keep the game within the spread. Florida – 33 Kentucky -14
Alabama (-5) @ Tennessee – Alabama has the much better team and the much better coach. Tennessee is 1-8 in the last 9 games when hosting a top 10 team in Neyland Stadium. Alabama will take the crowd out early and control the Volunteers. Alabama – 27 Tennessee – 17
Oklahoma State @ Texas (-12.5) – This game is Texas’s 3rd of 4 straight games against top 15 opponents. Oklahoma State has held very powerful offenses in check and will have a game plan to at least slow down the Longhorns. 16 starters for Oklahoma State are from the state of Texas and were passed up by the Longhorns so they will be playing with a chip on their shoulders. Texas – 36 Oklahoma State – 28
USC (-16) @ Arizona – Arizona at home at night is a very good team; they have won three straight home games versus ranked opponents. It will be a competitive game in which Arizona covers. USC – 31 Arizona – 20
Penn State (-2.5) @ Ohio State – The Buckeyes continue to dominate one dimenionsional teams but Penn State is not one dimensional. A mature Penn State team will not be intimidated by The Horseshoe. The trends of the last fifteen years do not matter as the players on this Penn State team were not on all those teams that last in Columbus. PSU – 26 OSU – 19
Overall Colin has:
Kentucky +26 @ Florida – not picked
Alabama (-5) @ Tennessee – Agree
Oklahoma State (+12.5) @ Texas – not picked
USC @ Arizona (+16) – not picked
Penn State (+2.5) @ Ohio State – Disagree
Thursday Reaction:
Once again the Church of Cowherd was correct in their Thursday Night Football prediction. Our record on Thursday night is now 7-2. I am not sure what is wrong with Auburn, but it needs to be fixed very soon or Alabama is going to make them look silly.
Dot Edu Guy, Subject 1
We all know that Colin Cowherd loves Dot Edu guy, so we are making a weekly tribute to dot edu guy each week. This week it goes to non other than a UVa fan, go figure. Nice outfit for the game buddy!
My Take: LSU vs. South Carolina Ref Tackle
I am sure most of you have seen the video of the LSU vs South Carolina Ref Tackle by now and the slow motion video above reiterates what I think. The referree made an effort to slide step THREE times toward the play. WHY?!? As an umpire his responsibility is to keep his eyes on the offensive linemen and watch for holding and illegal men downfield. He does not spot the ball on that play as the sidejudge does, therefore he should be backing away from the play rather than walking into it.
There is no doubt that the referee should be watching the offensive lineman for a hold, especially since the quarterback took off and started running. Many times linemen will hold in this situation as they know their quarterback is in trouble. Little did they realize that the referee is who Stephen Garcia should fear!
What happened in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday night is truly remarkable. No one will be able to convince me that the referee did not mean to do that. Any intelligent referee would have take three steps backward and gotten out of the play. The worst part of it all is the fact that the game was on national television and most of the South Carolina fans feel it is obvious what happened.
I would like to hear your comments. Was it intentional? Was he just protecting himself? How do you feel?
Gary Danielson on the Herd
Today Colin had Gary Danielson on the Herd and he brought up a very good point. When asked who Gary felt had a chance at the national title, Gary made the statement, “Who can stop the other team and grind out a win.” I totally agree with this mindset as the teams that can get up on the scoreboard and grind out a win are the ones that are consistently 10 and 11 win teams. The way to do this; run the ball and stop the run. When looking at the top ten as compared to rush defense, we can make some conclusions:
1. Texas – 48.1 ypg rushing defense (#2)
2. Alabama – 66.1 ypg (#4)
3. Penn State – 103.9 (#22)
4. Oklahoma – 111.6 (#32)
5. USC – 83.7 (#8)
6. Oklahoma State – 116.7 (#35)
7. Georgia – 61 (#3)
8. Texas Tech – 92.4 (#12)
9. Ohio State – 97.1 (#17)
10. Florida – 96.3 (#15)
I do not find any irony in the fact that seven of the top ten teams have a rushing defense in the top 20. What is interesting is that Penn State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State all have rush defense outside the top 20. While this can change in time, it is a precursor to what will happen as the season goes on. It will be interesting to look at these stats as the season goes on and see which defense ends up playing better.
Sunday Evening Picks
Due to the overwhelming success of the season and the growth of traffic to this site, I will no longer post my picks for free. I am sure many of you have made some very good money off of my picks as seven of eight weeks I have been over 60% and I am sitting at 61.5% for the year overall.
I will post a link under Weekly Picks above the banner that links the site to purchase weekly picks as early as Sunday night. It will cost $10 for my weekly ten picks. The ten games are always national television games which will give you the opportunity to watch the games in which I do pick. If you do wish to gamble, please do it legally as I do not condone illegal sports gambling.
After much thought, I will continue to post my “Most Dominating Performance” column as there is no true trend for these teams. You may base your own opinion, but I do not believe there is a trend yet.
Good Luck to all the avid college football fans. I will continue to write articles about the season, I just will not put up my picks with commentary. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free!
Colin Cowherd’s Wheel of Genius Week 8
Today Colin is at the Scholz Garten in Austin, Texas. His picks are as follows:
Missouri @ Texas (-5.5) – Mack Brown is great after the Red River Rivalry as he has covered 8 of 10 games after the OU game. Missouri is very good on offense but they score too quickly. Scoring quickly will give Colt McCoy and the Longhorns 11 to 12 possessions which is way too many. Take Texas -5.5
Kansas @ Oklahoma (-20.5) – Todd Reesing is the Doug Flutie of 2008 as he is smart and mobile. Kansas is too well coached and too good at quarterback to lose by three touchdowns. Take Kansas +20.5
Ohio State (-2) @ Michigan State – Most people feel that Michigan State has a huge advantage because Dantonio used to be Tressel’s defensive coordinator and he knows OSU’s tendancies. This does not matter as EVERYONE knows OSU’s tendancies. Ohio State has been a great team in conference and it will continue. OSU-23 Michigan State-17
LSU (-3.5) @ South Carolina - Chris Smelley was benched for a freshman Stephen Garcia and LSU will torment him the whole game. LSU has won 36 of 37 against unranked teams and their athletic defense will lead to this win too. LSU-27 South Carolina-20
Stanford (-2.5) @ UCLA – Stanford is the most physical team in the Pac-10, even though that is not very impressive. They have a bowl game in sight and they have been playing hard. The quote of the show was “When you wear baby blue, you roll out of the bed soft!” Stanford-30 UCLA-17
Overall Colin has:
Texas (-5.5) – Agree
Kansas (+20.5) – not picked
Ohio State (-2) – Agree
LSU (-3.5) – Agree
Stanford (-2.5) – not picked
Thursday Reaction
After the Thursday night cover by the Wolfpack, I am now 6-2 on the year for Thursday night games. While my strategy is obvious, I am not willing to reveal it; stay turned for future Thursday night picks. That being said, NC State continues to do what it has done for the last 8 years, get close enough to win and let their fans down. I have become numb to this feeling as I have seen it too many times. I will continue to support my alma mater, but its very easy to see the future with this program. Why didn’t we interview Paul Johnson?
Colin Cowherd – What is a Gimmick?
Today Colin was intrigued by Duke claiming that Tim Wakefield was a gimmick pitcher for using a knuckleball. The staff found the definition, but Colin believes that a gimmick is deception or trickery. The question posed by Cowherd was, “Is it a gimmick if not everyone can do it, such as a knuckleball?”
Amanda feels that if it is not the norm then it is a gimmick, much like the wildcat offense that Ronnie Brown runs with the Miami Dolphins. Colin totally disagrees as he states, if it is something that you do all the time and it makes you successful it is no longer a gimmick; “is the Iphone a gimmick because just Apple created it?”
Colin uses the example of Jim Rome and his stacatto style. Cowherd met Rome and believes he is not a gimmick as his style is how Rome speaks in real life with comments like “good night now!” It is his bread and butter.
Being gimmicky is not a compliment and should not be used to described something that is unique and successful because of originality. A main point is that individuals do not prepare for gimmicks; it is something that comes totally unexpected.
Ultimately Colin believes that Tim Wakefield is not a gimmick pitcher for throwing a knuckleball, but did state that the only player to throw a knuckleball better than Wakefield was Bugs Bunny.
A modern gimmick that Colin did mention is Mantyhose. He also gave some fashion advice to guys:
1. Never wear clothing with a large mammal on it unless you are under 6 or over 90 years old
2. Never wear anything that was initially developed for a woman.
Wheel of Genius and Most Dominant Wrap Up
After a very enjoyable Saturday of football, one thing remains evident; getting college students to remain on an even keel emotionally can only be done by the select few coaches. Of the five most dominant teams of last week, zero played even remotely well. Zero of four covered their spread (Georgia Tech did not have a spread) and three of the five lost as favorites. I was interested to see how these teams would react and it is quite evident that after a dominating performance most teams do not keep the same intensity into the next week. So the results:
Straight Up – 2-3 (Georgia Tech beat Gardner Webb 10-7; quite unimpressive!)
Against the Spread – 0-4
Colin Cowherd’s Wheel of Genius was 50% this week. Colin won the Penn State and Notre Dame games while losing Oklahoma and LSU; USC was a push.
On a side note, the Church of Cowherd picks once again were in the money as we went 60% (6-4). That is six of seven weeks in which we have been 60% or better.