November 18, 2012

Something one of the five readers of The Playhouse might have said in 2011: "That blog is awesome. Fade that shit, and you'll win the Super Contest."

Meanwhile, a 2012 reader: "Dude, that blog is awful -- it's barely English. But somehow it's been pretty hot this year, so I hold my nose and check it out every Saturday and Sunday."

Such is our international fan base (one of those five readers resides in Canada). The Crew continued a tremendous run Saturday, cashing on all three of our plays, including yet another Super Play as well as a money line winner on UCLA. The Super Play is now 15-7-2 for the year (68 percent), cementing our status as the anonymous handicapping service for low-stakes players in the Northwest.

A couple stats/thoughts before the Super Play of the Day...

Saturday was easily the most tumultuous day of the college football season, with the top two teams in the BCS standings both going down as double-digit favorites. K-State was basically awful, getting housed 52-24 by Baylor, which going into last night had statistically the worst defense in college football. Gone are Colin Klein's Heisman hopes, and most likely any chance the Wildcats have to play for the national title, though stranger things have happened.

For Oregon, the Ducks went from controlling their own BCS fate to possibly not even playing in the Pac-12 title game. There is, however, far less shame in losing to Stanford. The Cardinal are a joy to watch, physical on both sides of the ball and extremely well-coached (in other words, everything USC is not). Even so, championship teams win that game -- especially at home. The good news for Oregon fans: That may be the game that keeps Chip Kelly in Eugene for another year.

Meanwhile, as most anticipated at the beginning of the season, Stanford is now in position to play in a BCS bowl for the third consecutive year. It will take considerable work, however. In a very unusual set of circumstances, they'll travel to Los Angeles next week to face UCLA, who has already wrapped up the Pac-12 South. A Cardinal win cliches the Pac-12 North -- and sets up yet another meeting with the Bruins six days later in Palo Alto in the conference title game.

Beating a team in back-to-back weeks is difficult, especially one playing as well as UCLA. And while we don't find it likely, if Stanford is somehow able to pull it off, they will have definitely earned their trip to the Rose Bowl, finishing the season with wins over Oregon St, Oregon and UCLA twice...

Poor Georgia. Sure, the Bulldogs now have chance to play for the national title if they can beat in-state rival Georgia Tech next week and Alabama in the SEC title game on December 1. But Georgia has simply no chance to beat the Crimson Tide, and more than that, they would save everyone a lot of time by simply staying home. That according to Twitter, which not 15 minutes after watching the top two teams lose as heavy favorites, had an Alabama-Notre Dame BCS title game set in stone.

While largely a great source of information -- especially for gamblers -- Twitter is becoming simultaneously the best and worst thing that has ever happened to the Internet, overwhelmed by a vast assemblage of media trolls and dimwitted, agenda-driven fans. That certainly was on full display last night...

USC athletic director Pat Haden to the Los Angeles Times Saturday night:

"Lane is my head coach, 150 percent, now and hopefully for a long time. I see the future. I see the potential. I know what he's been fighting through and I like what he's done."

LOL...

Speaking of LOL, The Playhouse president and CEO told a friend at the beginning of the season that Tennessee was a 'top five team.' Savvy commentary...

For all the mouth-breathing Philly fans who are optimistic about the Eagles' new quarterback: Nick Foles once lost ten consecutive games in college to FBS teams. Yeah, he's the answer...

Utah St, after their 48-41 overtime win against Louisiana Tech Saturday, is now 10-0-1 ATS. The Playhouse, of course, has not played them once this year...

Phil Simms said this week that Eli Manning is not an elite quarterback. All we know is this: Dude was given the ball twice in the final minutes of the Super Bowl and he led game-winning drives both times. His less accomplished older brother, on the other hand, was presented with the same opportunity. He threw a pick six...


Super Play of the Day

Denver -7.5

other plays

Tampa -1
Dallas -7