Week 14 Football Picks/13-14

Good evening everyone.  This entry will be a little bit shorter and sweeter tonight since it's Thanksgiving Eve.  I didn't enlist the help of any celebrity experts this week since it's a short week and everyone is bound to be hustling around and traveling.  However, since I'm paying Alyssa and Joey MIND BOGGLING amounts of money, they were kind enough to give me their expert selections for this long weekend...  ;)  To recap last weekend, the Longhorns were off, and the Bobcats lost 38-7 to Western Kentucky in a dreadful showing in miserable weather in San Marcos, America (however, there are several photos of my very enjoyable day that can be found a few entries back - 'My Motto Is, My Motto Changes').  Our celebrities went 2-9 last weekend, with only my brother Pete and my friend Leanne picking Western Kentucky to win.  Here is the update on the experts' current record, and who the local universities will be facing in the next few days...


Celebrity Experts (Last weekend 2-9/Overall record of 102-80 on Bobcats and Longhorns games)

Thursday, November 28th - Texas Longhorns (7-3) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-4)

Friday, November 29th - Texas State Bobcats (6-5) @ Troy Trojans (5-6)


Just so you know, the celebrity experts will make up for having this weekend off by picking some college bowl games and a little NFL contest known as the Super Bowl in the near future...  As for our in-house experts, they will suffer for making our blog a better place to visit by continuing to stop by even after the end of the college and NFL regular seasons (contract negotiations are underway as we speak)...  ;)  Speaking of them, live from the Palace Station Sportsbook in Las Vegas, Nevada, here's Joey..

  

Joey's Parlay Card (Last weekend 1-1/Overall record of 16-8 on Aggies, Bobcats, & Longhorns games)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  I have lots to be thankful for.  Watching football and Chris letting me write in his blog are near the top.  This is one of the final weeks, with a full slate of college football (and basketball) along with the pros.  It's time to make money before Christmas.  I picked it last week, and as I said before, the Longhorns have had twelve days to prepare for the Texas Tech "Air Raid" offense.  Few teams have been able to slow them down, and right now Texas just doesn't have the key personnel to do that.  Tech wins 38-20.  Troy has one of the lowest-rated defenses in the country, and is 0-4 as a favorite this year.  Five turnovers last week hurt the Bobcats, but I don't see a repeat performance this time out.  It's another close one, but Texas State wins 34-31.  Finally, the last overall-rated FBS team in the country (my NMSU Aggies) return home to take on an Idaho Vandal team that gave up 80 points last week to #2 ranked Florida State.  This game could be so bad that the last one with the ball wins - here's hoping it's NMSU. Aggies win 42-41.  Happy Thanksgiving and may all of your parlay cards be winners.


Well, I don't know if you remember (or if you've been following the blog long enough to know) when I told you that Las Vegas can be a bleak place to live at times.  Joey saying that writing in my blog is near the top of his list of things to be thankful for has to be the biggest testament to my statement about living in the desert that I can think of...  ;)  I appreciate it Joey, and for you college hoops fans, Joey will be sharing some weekly basketball picks with you in about a month.  Now it's time to visit with our favorite Texans fan - live from Abilene, here's Alyssa...

Alyssa's Corner (Last weekend 0-2/Overall record of 15-17 on Texans, Bobcats, & Longhorns Games)

My wonderful blog readers, Happy Thanksgiving!  Tomorrow I will be venturing back to Houston to spend time with my family!  The six-hour drive with my cat and fish Susan should be interesting. Before a car ride I usually spend fifteen minutes chasing my cat around until I trick her with cat treats.  Speaking of Belle, she celebrated her 12th birthday on Monday!  One more year before I have a teenager.  Ha ha ha...  Everyone have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

31-24  Texas
28-17  Texas State
17-14  Texans (over New England), because I'm not giving up hope...


If you look closely at Alyssa's photo, you may be able to make out the Texas State embroidery - I'm hoping that maybe this photo will give our Bobcats enough good karma to put them over the top, and finish with a 7-5 regular season.  As is the case with Joey, Alyssa has agreed to continue picking football games after the college and NFL regular seasons end, and because she is solely loyal to football, 'Alyssa's Corner' will become something with strictly her own spin after the Super Bowl.  Can you believe that we're already talking about the Super Bowl?  Can you believe that it's already Thanksgiving?  Wow...

And yep, I had to do it...  ;)  I can be a little superstitious, and I went 6-3-1 on my '10 Best Bets' last weekend with Leanne's photo leading into my selections, so here she is again, making us all ask ourselves the question, "WHAT was she thinking when she took this selfie?!"  :D


Coach (Last weekend 0-1/Overall record of 12-9 on Bobcats and Longhorns games)

Tomorrow the Red Raiders roll into town...  This will be the first UT Thanksgiving game that I've attended.  Despite what our punk friend Joey believes, the Horns are a 4 1/2 point favorite heading into this one, so I don't think that UT is losing by 18.  I'm going with the Longhorns over Tech, 38-30 (guns down Jenn, okay?)...  ;)  My Bobcats have been a mystery wrapped in a riddle this year when it comes to calling football games.  We never gave ourselves a chance with all of the early interceptions last week. For those of you who missed last night's blog entry, if you picture the first quarter of the Broncos/Patriots game from Sunday night, and substitute interceptions for fumbles, that's how we looked in the first quarter last Saturday against the Hilltoppers.  Troy is 5-6, but they are currently sitting in 3rd place in the Sun Belt Conference, obviously playing better football once the conference schedule began.  Common sense says that I should pick the Trojans, which means that I'll be taking the Bobcats to win this one, 30-23.


Coach's Ten Best Bets of the Week (Last weekend 6-3-1/Overall record of 63-63-4)

Auburn (+11) vs. Alabama - Taking the points in a hard-hitting, fierce matchup...
Arizona (+12 1/2) @ Arizona State - Giving the Wildcats 12 1/2 after CRUSHING the Ducks?...
West Virginia (-7 1/2) vs. Iowa State - The Mountaineers play well in Morgantown...
Cardinals/Eagles (Under 48 1/2) - Philly weather should slow the scoring down...
Eagles (-3 1/2) vs. Cardinals - Philly weather should slow the Cardinals down...
Chiefs (+4) vs. Broncos - Peyton still isn't a cold weather quarterback...
Broncos/Chiefs (Under 49 1/2) - K.C. weather should slow the scoring down...
Falcons/Bills (Under 46) - Buffalo weather/both offenses should slow the scoring down...
Patriots (-7 1/2) @ Texans - Pats beat Texans by more last year when Houston was better...
Saints/Seahawks (Under 47) - Nasty weather in Seattle will slow the scoring down...


Well my friends, my family has moved in several different directions as I've gotten older, and I've lived in several different places myself.  Although I'm not going to see any of my family tomorrow, I am very thankful for technology and social media, as they will allow me to touch base with everyone during one of my traditionally favorite holidays.  In addition to my family, I'm also thankful for the many friends that I've had the good fortune of meeting throughout the course of my lifetime. It is my sincere wish that all of you have a very safe and happy holiday weekend!  Oh, and if you're not saving any leftovers for me, if you would steer just a little good karma toward the Longhorns, and the Bobcats, and the Steelers, and my 'Ten Best Bets,' and my fantasy football team (whose lineup has not been finalized yet), and my Lucki Duck contest pick, and, and...  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  ;)