College Football Week 9 Reaction Show Recap
The College Football Experience on the Sports Gambling Podcast Network continues its College Football Week 9 Reaction Show as Colby Dant (@TheColbyD) brings in Rob Donaldson (@robdfb) to go through the whole weekend, from the weekday Conference USA games to Washington stealing one from Nebraska late Saturday night.
Is Wake Forest the hottest team in the country? Can Iowa ride a 30-0 win over Wisconsin into the playoff? Is Indiana a fraud or still the best defense around? Did the refs tilt Miami vs. North Carolina? Is Oklahoma headed for a losing season? We talk it all and more on this episode of The College Football Experience. Colby Dant gives game balls to Iowa State, Syracuse and Troy, and Rob Donaldson picks Wake Forest, Baylor and the Hawkeyes.
College Football Week 9 Reaction Show Opens With The Weekday Cashes
Colby Dant came in hot off an outstanding week. Rob Donaldson joined him for a much better Sunday than his last one. The weekday slate set the tone. Nick Minucci was back under center for Delaware, and the Blue Hens won 35-21 at Western Kentucky. Rob said it was the only weekday game he bet, and he went heavy on Delaware. Colby also cashed. He thinks a healthy Minucci makes Delaware the second-best team in the conference. Sam Houston went the other way. Rob had backed them for weeks, so Phil Longo getting fired did not surprise him at all. So naturally Colby already sees a one-game bump spot this week.
Kennesaw State smashed Middle Tennessee 44-28, and Colby was all over it. Rob had Kennesaw on the money line too. Colby thinks Kennesaw is much better than its record. Rob pushed back on the Sam Houston half of that take, saying the Bearkats are their record. Then came the easiest play on the board. Jacksonville State shut out New Mexico State 24-0 to move to 6-2. That puts Jacksonville State in the driver’s seat to meet Liberty in the CUSA title game. It also helps Colby’s under 4.5 wins on New Mexico State, which he admits is still dicey.
Troy Comes Back And Charlotte Lets One Slip
Thursday belonged to Troy. The Trojans trailed JMU 14-0 after the first quarter and still won outright. Colby was on the right side of the 20.5 points, but he wishes he had played the money line. Seth Cromwell ran for 135 yards and a touchdown. Rob pointed out that JMU scored zero points in the second half and overtime combined. So both guys hung this one on Billy Napier. Neither liked going for it on fourth and one in overtime. Rob’s reasoning was simple. Both defenses were playing well, so you trust yours. Colby also laid 6.5 with South Carolina State in the FCS and cashed.
North Texas split for Colby. He lost laying 13.5 against FAU but cashed the over. The bigger story is Neil Brown with North Texas at 6-2. Rob thinks Brown is the perfect follow-up to Eric Morris. Colby went further and called it maybe the best coaching job in the country. Friday hurt more. Colby had Charlotte on the first-half money line, the game money line and +10.5. Charlotte led Tulane 24-7, but the game money line, the biggest payout, was the one that missed. Then Dartmouth cashed at +10.5 against Harvard on ESPNU. His Ivy rule stands: when you get more than a touchdown, take the points.
Baylor gave both guys an easy Friday cash, beating UCF 41-9 in its first game under Joe Klanderman. Colby thinks Klanderman can coach. He also believes Baylor finds a way to win at least seven games. Rob backed Baylor and passed on Maryland for the same reason, talent. He also flagged the leg injury to UCF’s Keonne Jenkins, which hands the job to Alonzo Barnett. Then Sac State delivered as a Colby triple lock against Kent State. He dropped the first-half money line but cashed the game money line and the points. Rob called it an easy play with Kent State flying across the country. He just didn’t pull the trigger.
The Saturday Locks And The Saturday Wreckage
Saturday opened with another one-game bump cash. NC State beat Cal 31-10 after a 10-10 halftime, and the guys all had the Wolfpack. Rob called Cal maybe the biggest joke in the country. Then came Colby’s worst play of the season. He had Boston College on the money line and the points, and Duke won 47-2. Manny Diaz has Duke at 6-2 and one game out of the ACC title race. Rob credits a defensive identity that hides the roster turnover on offense. UAB stung too. The Blazers led South Florida 10-0, then gave up 30 unanswered, so Colby lost the spread and the money line.
Syracuse fixed the afternoon. Colby had the first-half money line, the game money line and the points in a 30-27 win over SMU. He thinks Fran Brown is a good coach whenever his starting quarterback stays healthy. Rob agreed that people jumped off Brown too fast after last year’s injuries. Rutgers covered for Colby in a 28-21 loss at Michigan. His logic was a young quarterback making his first road start, because those teams rarely win big. Louisville also covered 22.5 for both guys. Meanwhile Rob hit Illinois at -122 on the money line over Maryland. He skipped the spread entirely.
Iowa Owns Wisconsin Again
This was the sweat-free play of the day. Colby and Rob both took Iowa, and the Hawkeyes rolled Wisconsin 30-0. Rob noted last year’s meeting was 37-0, so to him Luke Fickell is just not built for this matchup. Iowa now sits at 6-2. Colby has the offense charting 69th in the country, when it normally lives in the 120s. And the defense is still top 15. Rob’s bigger point is special teams. Iowa is elite in two of three phases, so opponents travel about 20 more yards to score. That is how Iowa still wins nine or ten games while the offense lives in the doldrums.
Air Force And The Case For Running The Triple
Colby won a lock battle when Air Force beat UConn 35-26. Rob took UConn at +3.5 and lost anyway. Air Force went five of six on fourth down and threw for zero yards. Kemper Hodges ran for four touchdowns and 200 yards on the ground. That turned into Colby’s favorite rant. A program short on money should just run the triple, because the academies prove it works without paying quarterbacks. He pointed at ULM, with one winning season since 1994. Rob agreed, since the offense is plug and play and rarely turns the ball over. So who needs the flashy recruits?
Indiana’s Field Goal Chaos And Wake Forest’s October
Indiana beat Minnesota in a game Colby passed on, because the 20.5 spread made him paranoid. It ended with two made 60-yard field goals within 30 seconds, a first in college football. Indiana went just 2 of 14 on third and fourth down. But the defense held Minnesota to 215 yards, so Colby still calls Indiana elite. Rob agrees, and he is more worried about Miami and Notre Dame. Wake Forest is the hotter story. The Deacons beat Virginia 51-7, which burned Colby’s +12.5 ticket. Their October also included 57-3 over Stanford and 41-7 at Cal.
Gio Lopez left that Virginia game after a scary hit, and Colby says it is something to monitor this week. Rob holds some reservation on Wake but calls them the hottest team in the country. He wants the SMU road trip as the barometer. Georgia Southern then cashed Colby’s number one lock, 19-3 over App State, and Rob went heavy on Georgia Southern too. Iowa State outlasted Oklahoma State 51-49, though Colby wishes he had played the money line instead of the points. Finally Miami escaped North Carolina. Colby still believes Miami was the better team. But he points to an illegal formation on a fourth and one.
Game Balls To Close Out Week 9
The show closed with three game balls each. Colby went Iowa State first for scoring 51 on a top 25 team, then Syracuse for taking down SMU. He nearly handed his last one to Lincoln Riley before switching to Troy. Rob took Wake Forest, which he thinks could make the playoff in year two under Dickert. He also backed Baylor for housing UCF in the first game after Dave Aranda. His last ball went to the Hawkeyes, because Kirk Ferentz owned Luke Fickell again. And before the sign-off, a report came through the chat that Mike Norvell had been fired.
Podcast Chapters
00:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
01:01 Ric Flair Week With Rob Donaldson
04:10 Korean Baseball, Marble Racing & Colombian Basketball
08:05 Delaware vs. Western Kentucky Reaction
11:17 Sam Houston & Phil Longo Fired
14:17 Kennesaw State vs. Middle Tennessee Reaction
15:44 New Mexico State vs. Jack State Reaction
17:19 Troy vs. JMU Reaction
20:24 North Texas vs. FAU Reaction
22:47 Tulane vs. Charlotte Reaction
25:20 Dartmouth at Harvard & the FCS Weekend
27:16 Baylor vs. UCF Reaction
30:45 Sac State and Kent State
35:38 NC State and Cal
37:57 Arizona and Texas Tech
39:48 Boston College and Duke
43:50 Maryland and Illinois
45:45 UAB and South Florida
48:02 Syracuse and SMU
49:55 Notre Dame and Navy
50:58 Western Michigan and Bowling Green
51:56 Iowa and Wisconsin
59:15 Michigan and Rutgers
1:01:47 Ole Miss 45, Auburn 15 & Trinidad Chambliss
1:04:29 Marshall & Old Dominion
1:06:27 Coastal & Georgia State
1:07:43 Kansas State, Colorado & Collin Klein
1:11:07 La Tech & South Alabama
1:12:55 ECU & Temple
1:15:41 Air Force, UConn & Running the Triple
1:20:22 Louisville Covers 22 and a Half
1:21:30 Arizona State vs. BYU
1:22:14 Indiana, Minnesota & Two 60-Yard Field Goals
1:29:06 Southern Miss & Liberty
1:34:38 Kansas, TCU & Georgia Over Florida
1:39:28 Utah State & North Dakota State
1:41:29 Wake Forest, Virginia & Gio Lopez
1:47:57 Utah, Cincinnati & New Mexico
1:51:52 Penn State, Purdue & UCLA
1:56:03 South Carolina, Venables & Oklahoma
1:58:34 Georgia Southern, Iowa State & Clemson
2:00:10 Iowa State and Oklahoma State
2:02:08 Clemson Sticks It to the Saudis
2:03:08 Wazzu and San Diego State
2:03:36 Texas and Mississippi State
2:05:26 Georgia Tech, Pitt, USC and Ohio State
2:08:42 Miami Escapes North Carolina
2:14:32 Missouri and Arkansas
2:15:13 Washington and Nebraska
2:17:58 Army and Memphis
2:18:18 Boise State and Texas State
2:20:15 Illini and Northern Illinois
2:20:58 Oregon State and Fresno
2:21:57 Game Balls
2:24:30 Sign-Off & Socials
