Old dude, it's hard to imagine that it's 2015 and it's time to start reasserting my dominant picking skills.
Picking what?
I'm not sure I like the implications of that, Geritol Fan! We're talking football, fella. The sport that brought us Lombardi and Wayne Fontes. The game of destiny! You know, right?
Oh, that. Yeah, we should get back to that.
The way I look at it, if this is the political season of Donald Trump, it's a perfect time to unleash the HYYYYYYYPPPPE!
Wouldn't that be the YUUUUUUGGGE?
Hmm. Maybe. I'm not sure you should do the comedy, though -- it may not work well for you. In the meantime, I have some picking to do. Watch me work:
Minnesota Golden Gophers (-4) vs. Colorado State Rams. The Gophers gave TCU a good battle, and are going to be good. The problem is that going out to Colorado State is that Goldy is a favored team in a hostile environment. Jerry Kill has quietly done a great rebuilding job, and I feel that Goldy might soon be booking tickets in a few years to Pasadena. I think they win, but considering the struggles they have OOC in my lifetime, expect a tougher game. Gophers 27, CSU 25.
The Gophers gave it a good effort against TCU last week, but you could see some of the same issues we've seen with Gophers teams in recent years, especially that the squad is offensively challenged. This is also a tough place to play a non-conference game -- Fort Collins is not a hospitable place and a lot of teams have left there with problems. Do I see the Gophers having problems? Not necessarily. Challenges? For sure. But they prevail. Gophers 24, Colorado State 21.
Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (+31) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers. The good news is that Bucky always plays well at home. I don't know how much of the offensive struggles was due to coaching, replacing players, or playing an elite defense. Miami is not a Power 5 team, so things will be better. Again, it might be closer than you think. Bucky 35, Miami 24.
Bucky got their trouble out of the way early this year. I'm concerned that they couldn't move the ball at all on the ground against 'Bama -- you would think they could, but the offensive line is young. Miami is not close to Alabama quality defensively, so I think the Badgers will score, but I think that line is a little high. Closer than we'd like. Wisconsin 38, Miami 24.
Glorious Green Bay Packers (-7) vs. Bear Down Chicago da Bearz. The Bears learned from their last coaching change. John Fox is one of the few coaches to take a team from each conference to a Super Bowl, and he gets good play out of his quarterbacks. Problem that the Bears did not count on is that James Jones is back in Green and Gold. He takes pressure of Randall Cobb, and might force the Bears to play man coverage on Adams. This game is a bit of a trap game because Packer fans are living to play Seattle again. Sorry, Gino. Packers 42, Bears 32.
It's not easy being Gino sometimes. I do think the Bears are going to get better under John Fox -- he's won everywhere he's gone. Still, they are a long ways away defensively and it's going to take a while for the 3-4 concept to gel. Cobb looks to be good to go and unless the Bears muster a pass rush, this is going to be a long day for their secondary. I think the Packers win this one comfortably. Green Bay 34, Chicago 20.
Minnesota Vikings (-2.5) vs. San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco must have had horrible luck this offseason, because it seemed like half the team left or retired. It was like Steve McQueen busted them out of Alcatraz or something. Minnesota is a team who is going to be a huge contender in the NFC North. Teddy Bridgewater has improved a lot in training camp, and getting AP back is a huge help. Who knows, it might even be a circular journey for the Vikings, if you get the drift. Vikings 35, Book of Exodus 11.
Who knows about the Vikings, really? We haven't seen Adrian Peterson play in almost a year, so we don't really know what the Vikings offense is going to look like at all. I am very concerned about their offensive line, though -- losing John Sullivan for 8 weeks is a tough blow, especially since there's not much stability elsewhere on the line. The 49ers have been having an against-their-will fire sale in the offseason and I don't know that they have much defensively at this point, so that will be the difference. I think Zimmer will have something in mind for Kaepernick. Vikings 28, 49ers 17.
That's all I have for the moment. But don't worry -- the HYYYYYPPPPE! is building up and you'll be stunned and amazed at how classy and YUUUUUUGGGE! this feature is going to become as the year goes on. Ben out!
5 comments:
if i read the reports correctly, the Packers have lost their last 4 season openers... and Fangio defenses are 4-0 vs Rodgers.
though i would caution against betting on this rebuilding Bears team, i think Cheeseheads might want to wait til after the game is played to begin celebrating.
Gino, you had better believe that I am waiting til after the game. Heck, sometimes the first 55 minutes of a game can go great and then... POOF... gone.
On the other hand, boy did they nail that Gophers game!
Guess Fangio is 4-1.
Green Bay showed they can win a Dean Smith 4-Corners-style game, but it was a good game plan by Fox. The Packer penalties in the first half were surprising, as was the 3-and-out after the 4th down stop in the 4th quarter where it looked as if the Pack was about to step on the Bears' throat and instead gave them a little life and a chance to make it interesting. The Packer offense is clicking, but saying that stopping Matt Forte is the number one priority and then allowing him to rush for 140+ yards has to have caught Adrian Peterson's (and Norv Turner's) attention. There were a lot of great games yesterday, and this was one of the best.
The Packer offense is clicking, but saying that stopping Matt Forte is the number one priority and then allowing him to rush for 140+ yards has to have caught Adrian Peterson's (and Norv Turner's) attention.
The difference for Adrian Peterson is that he'll see a Packers defense that has Morgan Burnett, Sam Barrington, Datone Jones and Letroy Guion. If you take four preferred starters out of any defense, it will struggle against the run.
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