After dismantling Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Texas is all the way back. Going into halftime down 13-6, it felt like Alabama had been lucky. The Longhorns had to settle for field goals early and couldn’t cash in on some bad mistakes from Jalen Milroe, the halftime score could’ve easily been much worse.
Clutching onto my Texas ML ticket at +235, I was worried that we would see a fired-up Alabama offense come out and run over Texas. Thankfully for UT, Milroe’s struggles continued into the second half.
Where we saw Texas have to settle for a couple field goals early, this time they kept the kicker on the sideline. Brooks was able to punch it in for 6 on the first play after the INT.
Alabama did respond quickly and scored on this 39-yard completion to Niblack. How the Alabama receiver in the middle of the screen is able to score, despite having 3 Texas defenders behind him, is beyond me.
This could’ve been a devastating blunder by the UT secondary, but thankfully for them, their offense was able to extend the lead again. After a big 2nd and 15 conversion on a quick pass to Jordan Whittington, Texas scores what would be the final points of the game on their own 39-yard touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell.
Alabama then failed to convert on a 4th down and Texas regained possession. Holding onto a 10-point lead with 2:09 left, Sark had one final decision to make. The Longhorns were looking at a 4th and 3 from the Alabama 35, knowing that a field goal does little to nothing, but a conversion would win them the ball game. Ewers and company lined up in the shotgun and were able to get a Bama linebacker to jump on a hard count and the 5-yard penalty was enough to reset the chains and effectively end the game.
One of the reasons last year’s matchup in Austin was so close was due to a surplus of Alabama penalties. In the Tide’s narrow win last September, they were hit with 15 different flags, the most by a Nick Saban-coached team at the time. This year? Only 10 flags for 90 yards, more than double the amount of penalties and yards that the road team surrendered. While the game was likely over even without a UT conversion with 2:09 left, it’s fitting that the final dagger was due to an undisciplined Saban defense.
Elsewhere, all of the other AP top 10 teams rolled easily, not a single matchup was decided by two scores or less. Just outside of the top 10, we did have a few nail bitters between ranked PAC 12 teams visiting Big 12 schools.
Despite a 10-3 lead at halftime, Baylor ended up falling to Utah due to a touchdown-less second half and an untimely interception by Blake Shapen replacement, Sawyer Robertson. #12 Utah moves to 2-0 and hopeful that star QB Cam Rising will be back in action next week when the Utes host Weber State. Baylor on the other hand will be desperate for a win next week in Waco vs LIU before they have to start conference play vs UT on 9/23.
The second PAC 12 / Big 12 heavyweight battle took place out in Lubbock where #13 Oregon found themselves trailing 27-18 going into the 4th. A turnover on downs and a late pick-six by the Red Raiders offense ended up opening the door for the Ducks to win and cover a spread that shrunk from -8 to -4.5 on Saturday.
Another bad beat would’ve been anyone on Tulane yesterday afternoon. The line was around +7 in the morning, but shifted all the way back to +12.5 when the news broke that Tulane would be starting their backup QB. I got in pretty early and was laying 8 points with the Rebs, but it was a sweat all game. Up 20-17, Ole Miss got a big stop on 4th and 2 when Tulane elected to go for it instead of kicking a 48-yard field goal that would’ve tied the game up. Lane Kiffin then opens up the playbook and the Rebels complete a 43 yard pass on the first play after the turnover. Ole Miss scores a TD to take a 10 point lead, covering the 8 points I’m laying, but there’s still 4:28 left in the game.
Tulane, after getting bailed out of another turnover on downs thanks to a Rebels defensive penalty, converts a short field goal then decides to go for an onside kick. The Rebels recover the kick but quickly find themselves with a 4th and 1. Ole Miss goes for it, but the play gets called dead because of a false start. Kiffin then trotts out the field goal unit to attempt a 56 yard field goal… which gets nailed! Caden Davis, remember the name. That kick was good for 60+ under a lot of pressure.
Ole Miss is now covering the 8 points I need, but what about the 12.5 points the last minute bettors had? Or are the Tulane bettors who waited until kick off to make their pick going to cash in on some closing line value? Well after a quick 20+ yard play to get Tulane’s drive started, a big hit on backup QB Kai Horton leads to a loose ball and a defensive touchdown from Jared Ivey. The Rebels score 17 points in the final 5 minutes and cover every Ole Miss ticket out there!
A parlay of worst tickets to be holding on Saturday afternoon would probably look something like this:
We’ve talked about the first 3, but the under in the Houston/Rice game also was a tough one to watch… Unless you bet the over like me 🙂 check out Back_Rick on ActionNetwork for all of my picks.
The parlay above is one I put together based on some bad beats, not my actual action. I had the over in this game and it was off to a blazing start. 21-0 Rice at the end of the first quarter and I thought we’d be getting close to the number by half. Two touchdowns in the second quarter helped, but an interception in the redzone by former USC, Georgia, West Virginia, and current Rice QB JT Daniels just before haltime left some bad vibes out there for the over.
Sure enough, we get ZERO 3rd quarter points. After 21 points in the first quarter, we go into the 4th quarter still needing 17 points for the over. A quick Houston touchdown gives the over life, but then we go 10 minutes without a score. Houston punches in another touchdown with 3:46 to go, making the score 28-21, or 49 points. No matter which side you’re on, you’re still on the edge of your seat praying to the gambling gods.
Rice, up a touchdown and just needing to bleed the clock for a big in-state rivalry win, gets called for an illegal block on the kickoff return and starts with the ball at their own 8. After a 7 yard completion on 1st down, Rice has 2nd and 3 with 3:38 to go. Houston still has two of their time outs, but I think most people would expect Rice to run the ball and force them to stop the clock. Instead, incompletion, incompletion, then a 25 yard punt. Now I know Houston still has to go down and score, but could Rice have executed that any worse? When Houston’s Stacy Sneed walked into the endzone to make the score 28-21, there was 3:46 on the clock. When Houston regains possession with a chance to tie? 2:49 on the clock. Less than a minute of game time used and the Cougars get the ball at the Rice 40 and still have 2 timeouts. Awful clock management and all of my under bettors know how the rest of the game goes. Rice wins 43-41 in double overtime and the over smashes by 33 points after being on its last life with just a few minutes to go.
All together a fun and electric week 2, and that has nothing to do with the fact that I won almost every bet I put in. Just an objective take from a football fan, that’s all.
I know I didn’t touch on OSU or Colorado, I’ll send out something on them later this week. Time to make some food and watch 7 hours of commercial-free football!
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