It's a soft opening - to test the place before the Grand Opening. It's finally here! After months of watching tolerating other sports it's time for the best of them all. College Football!
To start the 2016 season, College Football is going with - as Al Pacino tried in Oceans 13 - a soft opening. Lets hope it goes better than in the movie.
Prior to a full slate over Labor Day weekend, the season opens with Cal vs Hawaii set in beautiful Sydney Australia
The Sheriff wanted to know why his Bears will being played down under. Now, I had a working theory that it involved the Poobahs at Cal, not exactly a bastion of conservative thought, and Trump's wall. And while Obama thinks there are 57 states. Trumps calculates there are only 48. Throw in some old Birtherism stories and the theory really started to take off. But it started to get too political and I don't like politics mixing with sports. That said, I'll give the full version to those interested at the GO JUMBO trip.
The real reason has to do with money obviously. Cal is guaranteed a two comma payout and Hawaii assured a profit. Seems as though those Aussies love American sports. They are all over the NFL, NBA, you name it. And with 23 million boomerang chuckers, its good for a west coast team and far west coast team to get in on the ground floor for selling their logo type stuff.
And they get all those fans dying for some college football all to themselves for one night. Count me in.
As for the game itself - I won't be mega betting it. It's too early and these teams are too flaky. I will put a quatloo on
To start the 2016 season, College Football is going with - as Al Pacino tried in Oceans 13 - a soft opening. Lets hope it goes better than in the movie.
Prior to a full slate over Labor Day weekend, the season opens with Cal vs Hawaii set in beautiful Sydney Australia
The Sheriff wanted to know why his Bears will being played down under. Now, I had a working theory that it involved the Poobahs at Cal, not exactly a bastion of conservative thought, and Trump's wall. And while Obama thinks there are 57 states. Trumps calculates there are only 48. Throw in some old Birtherism stories and the theory really started to take off. But it started to get too political and I don't like politics mixing with sports. That said, I'll give the full version to those interested at the GO JUMBO trip.
The real reason has to do with money obviously. Cal is guaranteed a two comma payout and Hawaii assured a profit. Seems as though those Aussies love American sports. They are all over the NFL, NBA, you name it. And with 23 million boomerang chuckers, its good for a west coast team and far west coast team to get in on the ground floor for selling their logo type stuff.
And they get all those fans dying for some college football all to themselves for one night. Count me in.
As for the game itself - I won't be mega betting it. It's too early and these teams are too flaky. I will put a quatloo on
Goff is now playing down the coast in LA Hawaii vs Cal +20.0 - For the first time in four years someone not named Goff will be under center for the Bears. Jared Goff destroyed the Cal passing records, chucking it for 12,200 yards on his way to the overall number 1 pick in this year's NFL draft.
His replacement is Texas Tech transfer Davis Webb, Webb originally was going to transfer to Texas A&M but when when the Aggies OC, Jake Spavital, moved over for the same spot at Cal, he dragged Webb with him.
Not only will Davis be replacing a legend in Strawberry Canyon, he will be throwing to a receiving corp that lost its top 6, count 'em 6, receivers from last year. A tall order for the Bear Raid attack.
Hawaii has been just plain bad for a long time. Under four years of recently fired HC Norm Chow the Rainbows went 11-39. After debating whether to sh!tcan the program all together, Hawaii decided to keep things going for awhile longer and hired the former Nevada OC Nick Rolovich to be the new HC. Rolovich played 2 years at QB for Hawaii and one of the few coaches even interested in coaching on the Islands.
The first order of business will be to fix the offense. It was atrocious last year averaging less than 18 points per game. And it was a turnover machine going -23 on the year. Much of the blame goes to QB Max Wittek who threw 15 picks to only 7 TDs
But nothing gets an offense going like playing the Cal defense. The Bears allowed 31 points per game and lost their top 6 tacklers from last year.
I'm going to go with Hawaii trying to control the clock and keep the Bear Raid off the field. So I'll take the points. I'll put a quatloo on the under 64 too.
The game is at 10:00 pm tonight but due to the time difference will be kicking off at noon local in what is expected to be perfect football weather.
His replacement is Texas Tech transfer Davis Webb, Webb originally was going to transfer to Texas A&M but when when the Aggies OC, Jake Spavital, moved over for the same spot at Cal, he dragged Webb with him.
Not only will Davis be replacing a legend in Strawberry Canyon, he will be throwing to a receiving corp that lost its top 6, count 'em 6, receivers from last year. A tall order for the Bear Raid attack.
Hawaii has been just plain bad for a long time. Under four years of recently fired HC Norm Chow the Rainbows went 11-39. After debating whether to sh!tcan the program all together, Hawaii decided to keep things going for awhile longer and hired the former Nevada OC Nick Rolovich to be the new HC. Rolovich played 2 years at QB for Hawaii and one of the few coaches even interested in coaching on the Islands.
The first order of business will be to fix the offense. It was atrocious last year averaging less than 18 points per game. And it was a turnover machine going -23 on the year. Much of the blame goes to QB Max Wittek who threw 15 picks to only 7 TDs
But nothing gets an offense going like playing the Cal defense. The Bears allowed 31 points per game and lost their top 6 tacklers from last year.
I'm going to go with Hawaii trying to control the clock and keep the Bear Raid off the field. So I'll take the points. I'll put a quatloo on the under 64 too.
The game is at 10:00 pm tonight but due to the time difference will be kicking off at noon local in what is expected to be perfect football weather.
The Sheriff sees new Bear QB Davis Webb lighting up the scoreboard There Sheriff had a different take on the game and a couple more picks
Cal (-19.5) over Hawaii. The Bears are breaking in a new Graduate transfer QB from Texas Tech named Davis Webb, who threw for over 5000 yards and 46 TDs for the Red Raiders. Cal lost virtually its entire receiving corps to graduation, but it has a slew of promising rookies including 5-star wideout Demetris Robertson, who de-committed from Georgia to play for the Bears and Melquise Stovall, a 4-star who saw the light and told USC to go for a long walk off a short pier so that he could play in Sonny Dyke’s Air Raid offense. Hawaii is one of the worst teams in the Mountain West and coming off a dismal four years under Norm Chow. The Sheriff thinks Cal will light up the scoreboard like a pinball wizard and win big.
UCLA (+3) over Texas A&M. The boys from Westwood are in for a culture shock when they step off the bus in College Station, Texas, but the Sheriff thinks Jim Mora will have them ready to play. UCLA’s defense had a slew of injuries last year, but among the returnees is Eddie Vanderdoes, who should shore up the D-Line and help stuff the run, a weakness last year for the Bruins. UCLA also has great depth at Linebacker (Kenny Young and Jayon Brown) and in the Secondary with Fabian Moreau coming back from injury. UCLA has a lot to prove this year after losing its last 3 games to Stanford, USC, and Nebraska in the Foster Farms Bowl, but the defense should be much improved and they still have the best QB in the country in sophomore Josh Rosen.
Houston (+10.5) over Oklahoma. Prognosticators are saying that if Houston beats Oklahoma and runs the table that it could be the first non-Power 5 team to make the CF Playoffs. Houston was 13-1 last year and capped off the season with a win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl. Houston has a senior QB in Greg Ward Jr, who is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country and on the shortlist for the Heisman. The Sooners tend to choke in years when they are highly ranked and half the talking Heads on ESPN are picking Oklahoma to win the Big 12 and make the Playoffs. The Sheriff smells an upset.
Cal (-19.5) over Hawaii. The Bears are breaking in a new Graduate transfer QB from Texas Tech named Davis Webb, who threw for over 5000 yards and 46 TDs for the Red Raiders. Cal lost virtually its entire receiving corps to graduation, but it has a slew of promising rookies including 5-star wideout Demetris Robertson, who de-committed from Georgia to play for the Bears and Melquise Stovall, a 4-star who saw the light and told USC to go for a long walk off a short pier so that he could play in Sonny Dyke’s Air Raid offense. Hawaii is one of the worst teams in the Mountain West and coming off a dismal four years under Norm Chow. The Sheriff thinks Cal will light up the scoreboard like a pinball wizard and win big.
UCLA (+3) over Texas A&M. The boys from Westwood are in for a culture shock when they step off the bus in College Station, Texas, but the Sheriff thinks Jim Mora will have them ready to play. UCLA’s defense had a slew of injuries last year, but among the returnees is Eddie Vanderdoes, who should shore up the D-Line and help stuff the run, a weakness last year for the Bruins. UCLA also has great depth at Linebacker (Kenny Young and Jayon Brown) and in the Secondary with Fabian Moreau coming back from injury. UCLA has a lot to prove this year after losing its last 3 games to Stanford, USC, and Nebraska in the Foster Farms Bowl, but the defense should be much improved and they still have the best QB in the country in sophomore Josh Rosen.
Houston (+10.5) over Oklahoma. Prognosticators are saying that if Houston beats Oklahoma and runs the table that it could be the first non-Power 5 team to make the CF Playoffs. Houston was 13-1 last year and capped off the season with a win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl. Houston has a senior QB in Greg Ward Jr, who is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country and on the shortlist for the Heisman. The Sooners tend to choke in years when they are highly ranked and half the talking Heads on ESPN are picking Oklahoma to win the Big 12 and make the Playoffs. The Sheriff smells an upset.
And it's also that time of the year when the pump up videos come out. AndyH is the master at putting together fantastic Spartan videos. His latest is below.
It's long but worth every second for Spartan fans. You'll remember where you were during each highlight.
It's long but worth every second for Spartan fans. You'll remember where you were during each highlight.
Remember the annual GO JUMBO trip is Nov 5th at the Westgate Resort (the usual spot)
