Smitty Says

[Smitty]

after a couple days off, i'm baaaaaaaack. i know my 12 faithful readers will be excited. i thought i did a decent job of whittling down this card to a manageable number of games, but i still have 8. :scared

iowa (+2.5) 2 units. i was not impressed with illinois as a team against michigan state. dee brown was hitting everything, but that hurt the rest of the team, as they just stood around and watched. when he did finally decide to distribute the ball, his teammates looked confused. augustine must have had 26* traveling violations. iowa has struggled on the road, but i think they'll take care of business at home today. unless, of course, brown goes off for another 34.
*approximated number

nc state (+2.5) 2 units. the kids from nc get a rude welcome to acc play today.

buffalo (+4.5) 2 units. this would be a larger play, but it looks too easy to me. buffalo is 11-1 on the year. northern ill has dropped 2 straight home games. to miami ohio and... north dakota state. :scared they blew halftime leads in both games, of 9 & 7 points. all told, this is either one of the worst lines on the board today, or a serious trap. which is why i'm treading lightly.

bowling green (+4.5) 3 units. really following gman and spang on this one. bg has been improving. western mich is not very good this year. the points should be a bonus.

texas a&m (-6.5) 4 units. oh boy, bobby's boys are a 6.5 point dog? against a&m? holy cow. sounds to me like they're begging for tech money here. i know a&m is 10-1, but they really haven't beaten anybody. i have to believe everybody will see this line and jump on the points. which is why i gotta go strong the other way. looking at this game last year... a&m smoked tech, 85-63, on the strength of a 51-28 second half. hoping for more of the same here.

providence (+4.5) 2 units. providence is not that good, but i haven't seen anything from louisville yet this year that indicates they should be laying points in a conference road game.

northern iowa (+5) 2 units. this is a very solid ballclub with a definite chance to win this game.

utah state (-5.5) 2 units. it's all about the aggies today.

 

[gman2]

good luck smitty (though i'm not on bg or going anywhere near that game. to be truthful, don't lean that way either). mac games are pretty tough today for the most part. we'll learn a lot about buffalo today. they've done most of their damage at home and their road games have been cupcakes except for bc. wouldnt be a shock if buffalo won outright, but northern illinois is fully capable of winning by 10-12, which was enough to keep me away from that one.

 

[Smitty]

thank you, gman. your input is ALWAYS appreciated. for me, the biggest factor in that buffalo game is the way northern ill lost those two games. i know 7 & 9 points is not a huge halftime lead, but you usually feel pretty comfortable going into the locker room at that point. and to lose the games by 1 & 2 points... it's gotta make it tougher to bring the defensive intensity. like i just said in spang's thread, i shall tip my cap to northern ill if they put together 2 halves today and cover the 4.5. i will definitely tread lightly.