Thursday’s 6-pack
NFL trends for Week 10:
— Titans are 8-16-2 ATS in last 26 games as a home underdog.
— Tampa Bay is 4-13 ATS in last 17 games as a home favorite.
— Seattle covered its last five games as a divisional road dog.
— Vikings covered 12 of last 17 games as a road underdog.
— New Orleans won/covered its last six games.
— Green Bay covered 12 of its last 17 games.
Quote of the Day
“I was wrong, because I used the old, traditional quarterback standard with him, which is clearly why John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome were more prescient than I was.”
Former NFL GM Bill Polian, talking about Lamar Jackson
Thursday’s quiz
Which NFL team is the only one that hasn’t played a game in London?
Wednesday’s quiz
The late actor Fred Thompson played a DA on Law and Order, and also ran for the Republican presidential nomination in real life, in 2008.
Tuesday’s quiz
In the excellent football movie Invincible, Greg Kinnear plays then-Eagles’ coach Dick Vermeil.
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Thursday’s List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud……
13) Was laughing watching the Saint Mary’s-Wisconsin game Wednesday, which was played in Sioux Falls, SD; the court had FOUR different 3-point arcs on it. Had to be confusing for the players, because the arc they were using wasn’t the farthest one back.
12) Early returns on the 3-point arc being moved out this year: Of the 176 D-I teams who played Tuesday night, 80 of them (45.5%) shot 30% or worse outside the arc- 41 of them (23.3%) shot 37.5%+.
For all of last year, 42 of 353 D-I teams (11.9%) shot 37.5% from the arc for the season; 14 of 353 teams (4%) shot 30% or worse for the year. Small sample size Tuesday; we’ll keep following this.
11) North Carolina 76, Notre Dame 65— Have to admit, watching Greg Anthony’s son play for the Tar Heels makes me feel old. Doesn’t seem like that long ago (but it was) that the elder Anthony was at point guard for UNLV’s 1990 national champs.
Cole Anthony wore ************ goggles early in this game, but then played without them later on; he scored 34 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, had five assists in his college debut. All six of his made 3’s (6-11 for night) came after he took the goggles off.
10) Cade Cunningham, the #2 college basketball prospect in the 2020 class and the top available player in the country (according to ESPN’s rankings) announced his commitment to Oklahoma State Tuesday; this isn’t surprising, seeing how OSU hired Cunningham’s brother as an assistant coach back in June.
9) For only the third time in the Super Bowl era, all 11 home teams covered the point spread last Sunday. Dallas covered Monday night, the only road team to cover in thirteen Week 9 games that weren’t on a neutral field.
8) Florida State is a football underdog to Boston College for the 2nd year in a row, after having been favored over BC in 12 of previous 13 meetings, which helps to explain why the Seminoles kicked in $17M to send Willie Taggart packing.
Taggart’s career spiraled downhill pretty quickly; he’s coached four different schools in only ten years as a head coach, going better than 8-5 only once (10-2 at USF in 2016).
7) NFL stuff:
— Carolina put QB Cam Newton on the IR, ending his season.
— Jaguars will start QB Nick Foles in Week 11, after their bye.
— Eagles put WR DeSean Jackson on IR.
6) Sunday was third time in Super Bowl era that three QB’s with the same last name started in the same week:
2019, Week 9: Allen (Brandon, Josh, Kyle)
1984, Week 16: Wilson (Dave, Marc, Wade)
2000, Week 14: Johnson (Brad, Doug, Rob)
5) JD Martinez didn’t opt out of his Red Sox contract, meaning that he can earn $62.5M over the next three years: $23.75M for 2020 and $19,375,000 for both ’21, ’22.
4) Indiana Hoosiers’ freshman QB Michael Penix Jr (collarbone) is out for the year. Junior QB Peyton Ramsey takes over as the #1 QB; he’s played a lot this year. Hoosiers are 7-2, are having their best season this century.
3) Want to win a bar bet? Milwaukee’s Wallace Matthews has earned the most career salary of any NBA player ever who wasn’t drafted: $103,781,929
2) From John Templon’s database of mid-major coaching salaries in college basketball:
Kent State’s Rob Senderoff gets $5,000 for beating one of the following programs each season: Cincinnati, Dayton, Memphis, UConn, or VCU. The Golden Flashes are not currently scheduled to play any of those teams this season, but could play them in postseason tournaments.
1) San Diego State didn’t impress anyone when they beat I-AA Weber State 6-0 in their season opener, gaining only 238 yards, but it is November now and the Aztecs are 7-1, ranked #24 in country. Go figure.
NFL trends for Week 10:
— Titans are 8-16-2 ATS in last 26 games as a home underdog.
— Tampa Bay is 4-13 ATS in last 17 games as a home favorite.
— Seattle covered its last five games as a divisional road dog.
— Vikings covered 12 of last 17 games as a road underdog.
— New Orleans won/covered its last six games.
— Green Bay covered 12 of its last 17 games.
Quote of the Day
“I was wrong, because I used the old, traditional quarterback standard with him, which is clearly why John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome were more prescient than I was.”
Former NFL GM Bill Polian, talking about Lamar Jackson
Thursday’s quiz
Which NFL team is the only one that hasn’t played a game in London?
Wednesday’s quiz
The late actor Fred Thompson played a DA on Law and Order, and also ran for the Republican presidential nomination in real life, in 2008.
Tuesday’s quiz
In the excellent football movie Invincible, Greg Kinnear plays then-Eagles’ coach Dick Vermeil.
************************************************** ***********
Thursday’s List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud……
13) Was laughing watching the Saint Mary’s-Wisconsin game Wednesday, which was played in Sioux Falls, SD; the court had FOUR different 3-point arcs on it. Had to be confusing for the players, because the arc they were using wasn’t the farthest one back.
12) Early returns on the 3-point arc being moved out this year: Of the 176 D-I teams who played Tuesday night, 80 of them (45.5%) shot 30% or worse outside the arc- 41 of them (23.3%) shot 37.5%+.
For all of last year, 42 of 353 D-I teams (11.9%) shot 37.5% from the arc for the season; 14 of 353 teams (4%) shot 30% or worse for the year. Small sample size Tuesday; we’ll keep following this.
11) North Carolina 76, Notre Dame 65— Have to admit, watching Greg Anthony’s son play for the Tar Heels makes me feel old. Doesn’t seem like that long ago (but it was) that the elder Anthony was at point guard for UNLV’s 1990 national champs.
Cole Anthony wore ************ goggles early in this game, but then played without them later on; he scored 34 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, had five assists in his college debut. All six of his made 3’s (6-11 for night) came after he took the goggles off.
10) Cade Cunningham, the #2 college basketball prospect in the 2020 class and the top available player in the country (according to ESPN’s rankings) announced his commitment to Oklahoma State Tuesday; this isn’t surprising, seeing how OSU hired Cunningham’s brother as an assistant coach back in June.
9) For only the third time in the Super Bowl era, all 11 home teams covered the point spread last Sunday. Dallas covered Monday night, the only road team to cover in thirteen Week 9 games that weren’t on a neutral field.
8) Florida State is a football underdog to Boston College for the 2nd year in a row, after having been favored over BC in 12 of previous 13 meetings, which helps to explain why the Seminoles kicked in $17M to send Willie Taggart packing.
Taggart’s career spiraled downhill pretty quickly; he’s coached four different schools in only ten years as a head coach, going better than 8-5 only once (10-2 at USF in 2016).
7) NFL stuff:
— Carolina put QB Cam Newton on the IR, ending his season.
— Jaguars will start QB Nick Foles in Week 11, after their bye.
— Eagles put WR DeSean Jackson on IR.
6) Sunday was third time in Super Bowl era that three QB’s with the same last name started in the same week:
2019, Week 9: Allen (Brandon, Josh, Kyle)
1984, Week 16: Wilson (Dave, Marc, Wade)
2000, Week 14: Johnson (Brad, Doug, Rob)
5) JD Martinez didn’t opt out of his Red Sox contract, meaning that he can earn $62.5M over the next three years: $23.75M for 2020 and $19,375,000 for both ’21, ’22.
4) Indiana Hoosiers’ freshman QB Michael Penix Jr (collarbone) is out for the year. Junior QB Peyton Ramsey takes over as the #1 QB; he’s played a lot this year. Hoosiers are 7-2, are having their best season this century.
3) Want to win a bar bet? Milwaukee’s Wallace Matthews has earned the most career salary of any NBA player ever who wasn’t drafted: $103,781,929
2) From John Templon’s database of mid-major coaching salaries in college basketball:
Kent State’s Rob Senderoff gets $5,000 for beating one of the following programs each season: Cincinnati, Dayton, Memphis, UConn, or VCU. The Golden Flashes are not currently scheduled to play any of those teams this season, but could play them in postseason tournaments.
1) San Diego State didn’t impress anyone when they beat I-AA Weber State 6-0 in their season opener, gaining only 238 yards, but it is November now and the Aztecs are 7-1, ranked #24 in country. Go figure.
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