The Wiesguy is a newcomer to the handicapping scene. Hailing from Toronto, Canada he is always sweet on the underdogs and you can often find his thoughts, musings and picks at moneydogs.blogspot.com.
The story coming into the Redskins game last Sunday against the Eagles was the demise of Philadelphia and QB Michael Vick. They were being forced to start a rookie QB but as Washington fans know that isn’t always such a bad idea.
Jacksonville struggled against Indianapolis on a short week last week. The only good thing about playing last Thursday is that is gives them an extra few days to prepare for the best team in the league – Houston.
]Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-4) vs Carolina Panthers (2-7)
Sunday November 18
Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte, NC
1:00PM
Moneyline: Off From GTBets.eu
Spread: Pick em
O/U: 48.5
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Tampa
The Buccaneers won again last week. That makes three in a row and 4 of their last 5. Due to this roll they enter Carolina as the slight favourite. To illustrate how things have changed throughout the course of the season Tampa was a 3 point dog to Carolina in the opener at home. Both of these teams were expected to improve this year but it has been Tampa that has taken the greater step forward.
Tampa may have won the last three, all by double digit margins, but this team is certainly no powerhouse. The game against San Diego could have gone either way until the Bucs opportunistic defense had a pick 6 to salt it away. This team is 3rd in the league in scoring despite being just above average in yards gained. They are also 30th in yards allowed but yet a respectable 18th in points against. At some point you would expect that something has got to give.
Tampa is 7-2 ATS this season including a perfect 4-0 as the visitors. This team is still a tough one to get a read on but there is enough talent to continue their winning ways against a team like Carolina that is already beginning to think about next season. It is hard not to like the Bucs in a situation where all they have to do is win the game.[soliloquy id=”82219″]
Carolina
Carolina got dumped last week by Denver unable to maintain any of the momentum from their win the week before against Washington. Its another lost season in Charlotte and it appears many are beginning to tire of the look at me antics of franchise face Cam Newton. This team has been dismal at home with 1-4 SU and ATS records. It is hard to find any real reason to get behind them this season after they were solid moneymakers last year.
If Cam is losing the team that is one thing but the other that is plainly clear is that the Panthers can’t afford to lose him. Newton is the top passer and rusher on a team struggling for point production. They prefer to move the ball on the ground but the Bucs are among league leaders in slowing down ground attacks so it may be on Newton to find a way to move the ball through the air. He will definitely have to be sharp to avoid the turnovers that killed San Diego last week.
Tampa seems to be able to frustrate teams while Carolina seems easily frustrated – that does not make for a great outcome for the Panthers. Another thing going against Carolina is that in each of the last three season one team has swept the other – Tampa took the first one this season. In fact they seem to be alternating that trend and it is Tampa’s turn to take two.
Spread Pick: Tampa Bay -1
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: Tampa Bay 23 – Carolina 17
Things are pretty bad in Jetsland right now. At 3-6 they are pretty much out of the race for the playoffs this year and the way they are playing invites more questions than answers.
This is a mismatch as the Bearkats are an FCS squad but at least when these games happen later in the season it doesn’t seem as crazy because as you can see Sam Houston State has 8 victories. For what it is worth they are tied atop the Southland Conference standings.
Sam Houston State Bearkats (8-2) vs #8 Texas A&M Aggies (8-2)
Saturday November 17
Kyle Field – College Station, TX
3:30PM
Moneyline: No line
Spread: No line
O/U: No line
Sam Houston State
Their two losses are to Baylor and Central Arkansas – their rival. They held Baylor to 48 points, a feat some FBS opponents haven’t been able to match.
In the Southland the Bearkats have been killing opponents. They have scored 57 TDs while giving up just 19 featuring a rushing attack that averages close to 300 yards per game. Running back Timothy Flanders has already topped 1000 yards this season and he is not your average FCS back having matriculated to Sam Houston State after starting his career at Kansas State. Perhaps he can be the one player who can make a big difference in this one.
No line currently listed on this one and there might not be until much closer to game time. I am sure the Bearkats are going to be pretty excited about getting to face the team that just knocked off the #1 team in the nation. If they play smart they just might be able to keep this respectable for a half against an opponent that might not be giving them that much respect.
Texas A&M
The weird thing about college football is that often the teams that tackle the giants, like A&M did last week in beating Alabama, don’t get the chance to continue up the mountain. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
With two losses already the Aggies are way out of contention for the Championship and might not even qualify for a BCS bowl game. Still their victory against the Crimson Tide will be one of the highlights of a season that has been a little underwhelming.
QB Johnny Manziel is making a push to become the first freshman to win the Heisman trophy. He is having a fantastic season but to me this looks like the kind of game that will hurt his campaign not help it. I envision an efficient game but it will be hard to top what we have seen recently. I also see the Aggies just dominating with their own running game featuring two offensive tackles that are going to be great pros and a nice stable of running backs.
Even though Sam Houston State is a solid FCS program this should be a blowout. We have already seen what Texas A&M can do and now they return home where hopefully the fans support will make sure they don’t do something stupid that kills all their current good feelings. If there is a line probably best to stay away though.
Spread Pick: No line posted
O/U Pick: No line posted
Score Prediction: Texas A&M 45 – Sam Houston State 14
The Minnesota Golden Gophers have been a pleasant surprise in the Big Ten this season. With 6 victories they have already matched their total for the last two season combined and it appears they will be going to a bowl for the first time since 2009.
The Demon Deacons have had some ugly losses but they are just one win away from becoming bowl eligible with two games to play. Neither will be easy but this week will be an extremely hard test as they visit Notre Dame.
When you play in the SEC it sometimes can be hard to tell just how good you really are. The Rebels have won all the games they were favoured in save one and the same has been true with them as the underdogs, losing all except one.
While Texas A&M is getting headlines this week about how smart their move was to the SEC nobody is talking about how bad Hawaii has been since moving to the Mountain West Conference.
Arkansas is looking to steal a couple of late season games and perhaps put a good final shine on this complete disaster of a season.
After 6 of the worst quarters of football San Diego jumped out of their funk in beating the Kansas City Chiefs last week. Now they are off to Tampa for the first of two on the road and a three game stint against teams with .500 records or better.
The Dnever Broncos are looking to use this week to build some breathing space in the AFC West. At 5-3 they are well positioned as the rest of their schedule is pretty soft except for a visit to Baltimore.
The Wildcats just keep on rolling in this dream season with only a few obstacles left. Last week when other undefeated teams looked like their rides might come to an end Kansas State just kept rolling, unphased by the fact that All-Everything QB Collin Klein was knocked from the game.
The Falcons are the last unbeaten team in the league and now that we are entering the second half of the season it is reasonable to start assessing their chances of completing the trick.
I think it is fair to say that little has gone according to plan for Buffalo this year. Still they enter this road division tilt with a chance to narrow the gap between them and New England to just a single game.
The Irish escaped last week narrowly beating Pittsburgh in overtime. Usually when a team goes undefeated they have a close call like last week but it could also be that this team really is not as good at the others with zeroes in that right column.
