bigbottom
Footballguy
It is looking like heavy rain in LA on Saturday. That helps Iowa quite a bit as they have no passing game. I think Iowa has a good chance to pull off the upset.Haven't made too many large wagers on college football this season. Really tamped it down over the years for, uh, reasons.
But boy, I feel a LOT like Kramer at the airport betting flight arrivals right now with the USC/Iowa game. USC -6.5 just seems like a smoking good wager to me. Iowa has to pick themselves up after a bruising defeat and play on the road against a team that's clicking on its offensive cylinders right now. Oregon was down several starters and depth pieces and still managed to grind that game out. USC is going to just unleash hell on a tired team. IMO.
Eh, it's warm rain. I'm not backing off on this. Combine Ferentz' comments about Lincoln Riley last year just bashing his coaching and his lousy defense and I think Iowa is in major trouble. If they get down 2 scores, it's over.
Have you heard all the gushing from Ferentz this week about USC? He’s really really trying to undo all that bulletin board material. It’s almost embarrassingly transparent.
“USC is having a great season right now. To me, they’re playing at a really high level. Coming in — I don’t know if it’s quiet or not. I haven’t heard a lot of chatter about them. They’re sitting there at the top of the league at 5-1. They’ve been playing really good football all year long.
As you might expect, the roster, they have great size, great speed, great athleticism. No big surprise there. Then beyond that, they’re a very well-coached team. Certainly, Coach Riley is a noted offensive coach. He’s had great success no matter where he’s gone in that regard.
Special teams, the first thing that jumps out at you, they don’t punt very much, and they kickoff a lot, which goes back to their offensive success. They’re really good in the kicking game, have an excellent kicker, been very consistent, very productive. Got No. 6 back there, the great receiver, is a punt return guy as well. Obviously, a very dangerous player and a good punter on top of that.
Defensively, they’re in the second year of their system, and I think they’ve made big, big strides there, and to me that’s part of the reason they’re 7-2. They’ve always been a potent offensive team and playing really good defense right now. Look back a year ago, they were 6-6, won their bowl game to go 7-6 and right now 7-2. Just playing at a really high level.
A couple of things that jump out at you, I mentioned the defensive play. They run the ball, at least in conference play, 50 yards more a game than they were a year ago and right up there at the top of the conference with Oregon. So doing a really good job there. Quarterback is playing tremendous for them, a really good football player. With that, they had 15 interceptions on the year, and right now they have five. Their quarterback play has been really been on top of that and I think a big difference in this whole thing.
All that being said, we’ve got a big challenge on our hands. Doing our best to get ready for it right now. Then playing in the Coliseum, a historic venue. I didn’t realize it was built as a tribute to the veterans from World War I back in the ’20s, a lot of history behind that on top of it.”

