Our Story (Part 3): How We Got Married… Twice

Yeah, so I booked a five day cruise that Bela couldn’t go on because she wasn’t a citizen and couldn’t leave the country under her current visa. My first thought was to just reschedule, no problem. But the cruise line charges a pretty hefty reschedule fee. I had up to about two months before the sail date to reschedule. So I rescheduled for a year later to make it our one year anniversary vacation.

Then I was faced with the bigger issue. What do I have to do to get married to someone who isn’t a U.S. citizen? How do you become a U.S. citizen? (Before I go any further, if anyone reading this is currently dating someone who isn’t a U.S. citizen, end it now. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it… I kid, I kid. It was totally worth it, and I would do it all over again.) This led me to a massive search on Google.  My research only led me to more questions. One answer I found was that the resident alien has to apply for permanent resident status by applying for what is called a green card. What is a green card and how do you get one? It was all so complicated for me, I had no idea what I was going to do.

After much discussion, we decided to call and hire the best immigration attorney in Jacksonville to help us with the process (Thanks, Joanne!). This helped everything go a little bit smoother, but it was a long and stressful process. There were certainly times where I thought to myself that there was no way this was going to happen. I thought that she would certainly have to go back to Brazil, and there was no chance this was going to work.

The first thing we did was actually get married and receive our marriage license. So we set a date of Thursday, March 19, 2015 to actually get married for the first time, and we would keep the date in August to have another big ceremony that her family would be able to attend. The first wedding was really nice in a small chapel at Westside Baptist Church, where we had our marriage counseling with Rev. Ray Mayfield, who also ministered both of our weddings. It was only my immediate family, her best friend, and her sister that actually attended. Her sister was actually in town for spring break and was able to Skype the wedding so her parents could watch from their home in Brazil. And then I actually went into work the next day. We went on what I called a “mini honeymoon” that weekend to Orlando, stayed in a Disney resort, and went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

We came back to Jacksonville and then completed our application to file her for permanent resident status and played the waiting game. Once it was received by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, we would be scheduled an interview in approximately 6 months to prove that our relationship and our marriage was legitimate. More on that later.

So now comes the worst part of this whole marriage thing: planning the ceremony in August. We pretty much had to plan the whole thing by ourselves since her family was in Brazil. I did have some help from some of my family members, mostly my mom, for which I am thankful. No way we could’ve done it without her persistence. Also, our wedding planner/coordinator Irene was fantastic. We owe her a big thanks for everything she helped us with before, during, and after the wedding. I never imagined I would actually get married, let alone plan an entire wedding with just my fiancé. It was phone calls and meetings after meetings non-stop. We literally had no time to do anything else the entire summer.

We did a little bit of church searching and decided on Ortega Presbyterian Church for a number of reasons. It was mainly the price, but it was a very beautiful church that she loved. I didn’t want to make any decisions on anything. Whatever she wanted, I was okay with. We booked the church in April, which gave us approximately 4 months for everything else. Some of it we had already started, but that 4 months was both the longest and fastest 4 months of my entire life.

As we got closer to the wedding date, the planning got more stressful. There were definitely some thoughts of “no way this wedding is going to happen” or “it’s going to be a horrible wedding, nothing is going to be ready on time.” Amazingly, we got everything done and all booked somehow. This may be my biggest accomplishment I ever have for the rest of my life.

Then came the week of the wedding. Her family was flying in the week before, and the only ones that were able to come from Brazil were her parents, aunt, and grandmother. They were flying into Miami and to help out with expenses, we decided to rent a minivan and drive down to pick them up. So the weekend before, we made the trip down to Miami and I met her family for the first time. It was hard to hold back tears seeing her hug them for the first time in over a year and a half. Then I was able to give them all hugs and I was so happy to see how they were so receptive of me and our relationship. That was one of the more special moments of the entire week.

So we decide to grab some dinner before staying in a hotel for the night instead of driving all the way back to Jacksonville. I booked a good sized hotel room for six people with two double beds for her family and a pull out sofa for both of us. When we got there, her dad didn’t know it was a pull out sofa, so he offered to sleep on the floor. I showed him that it pulled out into a bed, and we all shared a good laugh.

So we head back the next morning where we would arrive at our two bedroom townhome we had just bought in April where we would all be staying for the next week. It was five Brazilians and me. I felt bad for our neighbors as we were not a quiet bunch. Also, her sister was flying in from Arizona and her boyfriend was flying in from New York at the end of the week. So for two days we were going to have a total of 8 people staying in our house for a week, six of which were Brazilian. Wow, it was tight but we made it work.

Communication with them was difficult since they only spoke Portuguese. Her aunt spoke English so I was able to communicate with her. But for her parents and grandmother, I would keep a Google translator on my phone and would type what I wanted to say in English. Then I would read the translation in Portuguese to communicate with them. We also used a lot of hand gestures. It was difficult, but we made it work and had a lot of good laughs over communication.

So the day before the wedding came, and I was supposed to only work half a day so I could go around town and pick up all the last minute things we needed. And less than an hour into work that morning, Bela texts me that she needs my help and I have to ask for the whole day off. Her sister’s boyfriend is flying in from New York and they weren’t able to pick him up. Thankfully, my supervisor allowed me to leave so he wouldn’t be waiting for a couple hours at the airport. Then I literally drove around the entire Jacksonville loop in my truck picking up chairs and dishes among other things for the wedding. I didn’t even have time to get a haircut I had planned because I would’ve been late for the rehearsal.

And our special day was finally here. I had the early morning jitters as I couldn’t wait to finally see her in her wedding dress. I got ready with all my groomsmen and we proceeded to take pictures and head to the church. I was then directed to the waiting room as it was imperative that I did not see her before the doors opened. The way I was directed by our wedding coordinator Irene, I felt like I was the damn President of the United States. If I had seen her before it started, I’m pretty sure the wedding would have been called off. (I did see her through one of the side windows inside the church for just a brief second as the ceremony was starting)

We finally got to the ceremony and the doors opened for her to walk down the aisle. She was absolutely stunning, more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. It really seemed like a dream that was too good to be true. Everything went smoothly other than the pastor forgetting to tell all the guests to be seated, and I almost tripped when lighting the unity candle. Think about that potential disaster. Also, she choked up when reciting her vows making it even harder to hear her. But none of that mattered. I was so happy in that moment, and I just wanted to savor it. We kissed and were introduced for the second time as Mr. and Mrs. Rich.

Before the reception, we had to take pictures outside of the venue. It’s the only bad thing about summer weddings in Florida. Wearing a full tuxedo outside for an hour in the middle of the day was not fun. But we got through it and made it to the reception and had the best time. From the food, to the dancing, and tears of joy, it really could not have been a more perfect day. I would give anything to do it all over again and maybe we will one day in Brazil. I would love to do it one more time so her family back home who weren’t able to come can share the special moments with us.

So the next day we had to drop her family off at the airport and say goodbye. That was really hard for both of us since we weren’t sure how long it would be before we’d see them again. We left for our second honeymoon the next day and stayed in a Sea World Resort and went to Sea World, Aquatica, and Islands of Adventure.

The first day we went to Islands of Adventure and I begged her to ride the Hulk Coaster with me. She doesn’t really like roller coasters, but I wanted her to do just this one with me. Her favorite rides are the water rides, which I hate. So I made a deal with her. If she rode the Hulk with me, I’d ride both water rides, Popeye and Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. She agreed. So we rode it and she had no idea about the beginning of the ride, and she hated me for the rest of the day for making her ride it. I kind of felt bad. And she tells me to this day that she’ll never ride another roller coaster with me, which really pains me. But it’s also funny because I wouldn’t dare get on a roller coaster until I was like 13 or 14. Anyway, she loved the rest of the park and the other two we went to the next couple days.

At the end of August, we were informed that our interview with USCIS would be in September. We spent the next few weeks preparing for it and created a nice photo album of our life together so far. We were both really nervous, but it ended up being a pretty easy interview and we passed! A few weeks later her green card came in the mail and she was officially a legal U.S. resident. It was the biggest sigh of relief I’ve ever had. What I thought six months earlier would never get done, got done.

We’ve now been married over a year and she got back from Brazil in May after finishing her last semester of school. We just returned from Miami this past weekend where we registered our wedding at the Brazilian consulate. It has been an absolutely incredible journey so far, and I can’t wait to continue on it with her.

 

College Football Week 3 Recap

#2 Florida State at #10 Louisville: My God. Nobody saw this coming. I can’t remember a top team getting beatdown like this. The only one I can think of is the 1996 Fiesta Bowl where Nebraska crushed Florida 62-24 to win the National Championship. But I was only 5 years old, and the only reason that comes to mind is because I’m a diehard Florida fan.

But Louisville just completely dominated every phase of this game, and I honestly couldn’t believe what I was watching. FSU just had no answer for Louisville’s offensive attack, and we saw shades of this in the first half of the Ole Miss game. And as a Florida fan, I can’t believe we let Lamar Jackson get away. He was right here in our backyard and I guess we went all in on Deondre Francois, and McElwain didn’t go hard after Jackson, being only a 3 star recruit.

As for trying to predict the rest of the season, FSU actually isn’t quite out of the ACC Atlantic race yet. Their best hope is a 3 way tie between themselves, Clemson, and Louisville. They would still have to win a tough road game at Miami and Clemson at home and hope that Clemson can beat Louisville at home. I tried figuring out the 3 way division tiebreakers, but it was way too complicated, even for me. While this isn’t a likely scenario, it’s still possible, but a lot has to go their way. Louisville still has two very tough road games remaining: at Clemson and at Houston in a non-conference game at the end of the year. If they can win the ACC with one loss to one of those two teams, that will be good enough for them to get into the College Football playoff.

North Dakota State at #13 Iowa: I didn’t pick this game because North Dakota State is technically an FCS team, but they really are an FBS talent level team and have been for several years. They have now won six consecutive games versus FBS teams since 2010. I loved their coach going Jack Del Rio to take the lead with the two point conversion (Hugh Freeze should take notes) even though it failed. They still ended up getting a stop and drove down the field for the game winning field goal.

Iowa was one of the luckiest teams in college football last year going 12-0 in the Big Ten by taking advantage of a weak schedule. Now they play their first close game of 2016 and they lose, which isn’t all that surprising. I still think they can win the B1G West with their two toughest opponents, Michigan and Wisconsin, coming to their home field.

Georgia State at #9 Wisconsin: Wiscy is who I thought they were. They beat a Georgia State team by 6 points, who were coming off a loss at home to Ball State and a blowout loss at Air Force. I’ll just leave it at that.

#1 Alabama at #19 Ole  Miss: Welp, this game looked all too familiar for Ole Miss. They jumped out to a 24-3 lead only to completely blow it and lose again. And there is only one person responsible for this loss, and it’s not Chad Kelly or the defensive coordinator. It’s Hugh Freeze.

Let’s start with the end of the first half. Alabama scored to make it 24-10 with 2:10 left. Ole Miss gets the ball and Freeze goes conservative to try to run the clock out and get to the half. Play calls are run, run, run, punt. Now the third play was a Chad Kelly run and if I remember correctly, it was a designed run. Regardless, it’s way too conservative play calling because there was still too much time left in the half. Alabama also still had two timeouts and they were going to try to score again if they got the ball back. Also, as (Alabama homer) Gary Danielson reminded all of us like he does every game, Alabama would get the ball to start the second half. Then on the ensuing punt, Alabama returns it all the way for a touchdown to go into the half only down by 7. And then they recover a Chad Kelly sack-fumble in the first few minutes of the second half to tie the game. Within a matter of like 6 minutes of game time, Alabama went from down three touchdowns to tied.

Now his other two gaffes were fourth down decisions in the second half. Ole Miss is down by 3 points with 1:47 left in the 3rd quarter against the #1 team in the nation in a must-win game to save their season. And he opts to kick the field goal on 4th and goal from the 1. It’s a classic play not-to-lose move. It’s a must-win game and you have nothing to lose and you’re on the 1 freaking yard line. You have to go for the touchdown here. Even if you miss, which is unlikely, you have Alabama backed up on the one yard line and they probably go conservative to not get a safety or turn it over. And then you get the ball back with great field position.

And his last questionable move was a little more defensible, but not much. They have the ball down 7 early in the fourth quarter at the Alabama 21 yard line, and it’s 4th and 3. Your defense can’t stop Alabama and it’s a short yardage situation close to the endzone. Also, you’re already down by 7! He opted to go for the tie last time by kicking the field goal, so why not go for it and try to tie it up on this drive? This was another no brainer call here. And again, he kicks the field goal to be down by 4. I just don’t get it.

Alabama then scores a touchdown two drives later, making it an 11 point game, and now Ole Miss is desperate with 7:33 left. It looked like Alabama would backdoor cover after an interception returned for a touchdown, but then Ole Miss ended up backdoor covering after recovering an onside kick. I don’t fault Freeze for opting to kick deep after the second late score because they had all three of their timeouts, but a case can be made to do another onside kick. Hugh Freeze owes his team and the Ole Miss fans an apology for the in-game decisions he made to cost his team a chance to win this game.

Ole Miss’s season is over now and now the wheels might start to completely fall off with games against Georgia, Arkansas, and LSU coming up in three of the next four weeks. Alabama is still the best team in the country to me, but they still have a very tough 4 game stretch coming up against Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and LSU, three of which are on the road. My guess is they will probably lose one of those games and then will play for the SEC championship.

#22 Oregon at Nebraska: I want to briefly talk about this game because the story in this one was how Oregon lost by going 1 for 5 on two point conversion attempts. They lost 35-32, and if they kick extra points every time, theoretically regulation would have ended with the game being tied and would go to overtime. Instead, they lost by three. As one of my favorite follows on Twitter pointed out (@BPredict) here and here, whenever Oregon wins a game or blows someone out, nobody ever mentions the two point conversions. But when they lose, it’s all everyone wants to talk about. I like the strategy of going for two every time, especially in the NFL because the extra point is now a longer kick and lower percentage make. I understand why almost all coaches don’t do it though. Oregon probably should’ve just kicked extra points after the first successful two point conversion and maybe they would’ve won the game.

North Texas at #23 Florida: Have to give my thoughts on the Gators because of a big injury sustained to QB Luke Del Rio. Overall, I thought they looked pretty good in this game. The defense was fantastic, albeit against a Freshman QB, and the running game and offensive line were great. Before the injury, Luke Del Rio wasn’t as good as he was last week against Kentucky. Missed some throws, made some nice ones, and threw a horrible interception. But the story was his injury. Watching it live, I saw it was a nasty hit and thought he could be hurt as the ball was traveling in the air. But I didn’t think it was an intentional dirty hit when watching the replay. It looked like the defender lost his balance a little bit when coming around the edge to make the hit. And he hit him more in the thigh than in the knee/lower leg area.

When he was able to walk off on his own power and was able to put weight on the knee, I thought there’s a good chance he’ll be able to play next week. But McElwain said after the game that Luke Del Rio is probably going to miss next week’s game against Tennessee. So what does that mean for next week? It’s going to be a low ass scoring game. Like probably 9-7 from a couple years ago. The limited snaps that Austin Appleby was in the game, he looked pretty bad. Tennessee also has their fair share of injuries to deal with as well, so I’m still pretty confident in Florida’s chances to win this game even with a backup QB. Appleby just needs to be serviceable and not commit any stupid turnovers because I think the defense will do it’s thing and shut down Josh Dobbs and Jalen Hurd.

Mississippi State at #20 LSU: LSU looked to be in total control of this game going into the 4th quarter up 23-6. And then they almost blew it by giving up two late touchdowns and then one last chance for MSU to go down and tie or possibly win. LSU may have a decent quarterback in Danny Etling, who transferred from Purdue. But a 3 point home win against a bad Mississippi State team is concerning, especially the way they almost blew it. It might be an ugly ending for LSU that might see Les Miles be let go before season’s end.

#12 Michigan State at #18 Notre Dame: Notre Dame’s season is over three games in and I’m loving it. Just caught the end of this one since I was watching the Florida game, but I got to see Brian Kelly call a timeout in the final minutes before sending out the punt team. That gave me a good laugh. I thought the Vegas line of Notre Dame -8 was totally ridiculous in this game. Michigan State is really low ranked in the Sagarin PREDICTOR but they always play good defense, and I think Mark Dantonio is one of the most underrated coaches. Michigan State now has a very good shot at running the table in the B1G with it’s three toughest opponents, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State, all at home. If they can win the B1G with losing just one of those games, they would be in the College Football Playoff.

#16 Georgia at Missouri: So I found out that I’m very good picking against the spread so far this year (36-21), but I can’t declare locks very well (3-5). This was my lock of the week thinking that Georgia would bounce back after that atrocity last week and beat Missouri easily. Totally wrong on that one. So when I realized there was no chance to win that pick, I rooted like hell for Georgia to lose and of course they win on a beautiful Jacob Eason pass over the middle on 4th and 10. Are you kidding me? Double loss.

I am just now seeing how low Georgia is ranked in the Sagarin PREDICTOR and they are not as good of a team as I originally thought. Georgia has another tough game next week at Ole Miss and then Tennessee at home the week after that. I think the Florida-Georgia game is going to decide the SEC East this year because of Tennessee’s brutal 4 game stretch coming up of Florida, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama. Tennessee is losing at least two of those games, maybe three.

#3 Ohio State at #14 Oklahoma: Oh, Big Game Bob. I had trust in you to beat the Urbs at home. But he’s nowhere near Urban Meyer’s level of coaching. Maybe it’s time for OU and Stoops to part ways and go after Bobby Petrino. Oklahoma’s defense just isn’t very good, and Baker Mayfield doesn’t have much help with his receivers now that Sterling Shepard is in the NFL. Oklahoma’s season is now over with two non-conference losses. They can still win the Big 12, but with two losses the College Playoff isn’t going to happen.

As for Ohio State, that Noah Brown kid is pretty good. As many pointed out on Twitter, the catch he made was Tyrone Prothro-esque. JT Barrett continues to do what he does and of course, Urbs continues to keep up with Saban in big time wins. Ohio State has a bye next week followed by a couple of cupcakes in Rutgers and Indiana before going to Wisconsin. They close out the season with a road game at Michigan State, home against Michigan, and a potential B1G title game that will define their season. I like Ohio State’s chances to run the table.

#11 Texas at Cal: I went to bed at halftime for this one. I see the score and first think, “Yeah! I picked Cal to win straight up!” And then I see Cal won by a touchdown and a controversial play where the running back dropped the ball before crossing the goal line. The ball was recovered by Texas about 3 seconds later and was deemed not an “immediate recovery”, giving the ball back to Cal. I don’t know what that means, but it looked pretty immediate to me. Enough at the very least to overturn the call and give the ball to Texas. Instead, Cal was awarded the ball and ran out the clock to win. Imagine if the officials had awarded the ball to Texas, and then they march down to tie it and then win the game in overtime. That would go down as one of the biggest bonehead plays of all time. I don’t know why we see players drop the ball like that before reaching the goal so often. If it were me, I’d run it all the way through to the back of the end zone and hand the ball to the official. Pretty simple.

I wasn’t totally buying Texas being a top 10ish team before last night, which is why I picked Cal to win this one straight up. Texas is much improved and can maybe even win the Big 12, but they aren’t a legitimate playoff contender. They now have a couple tough games coming up at Oklahoma St and the neutral site game against Oklahoma. We’ll see how they respond to this loss. As for Cal, they are in too tough a division with Oregon, Stanford, and Washington. But it’s interesting that they get all three of those teams at home this year. Still not going to beat all of them and win the Pac 12 North with that defense.

 

From now on every week, I’m going to post my top ten teams as well. My top four teams are the teams I would have in the Playoff if the season ended today. I try to rank teams by combining actual results and predictions of the outcomes of future games. Here’s my top 10 after week 3:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Louisville
4. Houston
5. Michigan
6. Clemson
7. Stanford
8. Michigan State
9. Texas A&M
10. Washington

 

NFL Week 2 Picks

NFL week 1 was fantastic just like it is almost every week. Outcomes are so unpredictable and almost always seem to come within one score. 11 of the 16 games in week one were decided by 7 points or less. I’ll admit that NFL is not my specialty when picking games, thus my week 1 picks were a disaster going 6-9 (pushed in the NYG-DAL game). But Cousin Sal also had a bad week going 1-2 in his Sure Thing. So we all have bad weeks. Also, my Jags let me down by losing at home to Green Bay by calling a WR screen on 4th and 1 that got blown up. I’m optimistic that we’ll turn things around this week. Here we go with my week 2 picks (in parentheses).

New York Jets (-1.5) at Buffalo: The Jets lost a tough one by missing an extra point and the Bengals kicking a field goal in the final minute. The Bills offense looked like crap, totaling only 160 yards of offense. Jets defense shuts them down again.

New Orleans (+4.5) at New York Giants: The Saints lost a heartbreaker after blowing a two touchdown lead against the Raiders. The Giants are a lucky 1-0 thanks to Terrance Williams not understanding how football works. I think the Saints win straight up in this one, so I love the 4.5 points they are getting.

San Francisco (+13.5) at Carolina: Am I really picking Blaine Gabbert? You bet I am. I’m back on the Blaine train only because I think 13.5 points is too many for any NFL game.

Dallas (+2.5) at Washington: Big division game here as the loser will drop to 0-2. I’ve never been a big believer in Kirk Cousins, and no, I don’t like that. I think Dallas is a little better team even with rookie Dak Prescott at QB, and I like them to win straight up.

Miami (+6.5) at New England: Wow, Bill Belichick is good. Like greatest coach of all time good and I’m not sure it’s even close. Miami was one 4th down stop away from beating Seattle last week, so I think they keep this close, but Gostkowski kicks a game winning field goal to win.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (-3): Antonio Brown may be my favorite player to watch as he can tally 8 receptions for 100+ yards and 2 TDs in his sleep. The Bengals offensive line was horrific giving up 7 sacks last week. I’ll stick with my hate for Andy Dalton and go with the Steelers to get after him and cover the 3.

Baltimore at Cleveland (+7): Oh, Browns. RGIII is out for at least the next eight weeks after sustaining a shoulder injury late in the game. Now they turn to Josh McCown who actually isn’t too awful of a backup. I think the Browns actually keep it close and wouldn’t be surprised if they won.

Tennessee (+5.5) at Detroit: The Titans were pretty awful in week one after starting the game off really well. Detroit took advantage of a crappy Indy defense and won on a last second field goal. I’m still a believer in Mariotta, but not as much on the Titans as a team. I think they cover here but Detroit still wins.

Kansas City (+2.5) at Houston: This is a matchup between two teams I think are overrated frauds. I’m going with Kansas City because of the experience at QB in Alex Smith over Brock Osweiler and mainly because I think they are slightly less fraudulent than the Texans.

Seattle (-7) at Los Angeles: Hey, the NFL is back in LA. Are the Jaguars still moving to there? Or is that not a thing anymore? The Rams got shut out by the Niners in week 1 and might get shut out again against Seattle. Seahawks win big.

Tampa Bay at Arizona (-6.5): Despite losing to a Tom Brady-less Patriots, I’m still a believer in the Cardinals. I think Jameis Winston will be a good QB, but I still think the Bucs are a year away from contending. Arizona wins by 10.

Jacksonville at San Diego (-3): There’s one thing we know: Philip Rivers loves playing against the Jaguars who still have no pass rush. He’s going to eat us up I’m afraid, and the Jags offense won’t be able to quite keep up. Jags fall to 0-2.

Atlanta (+4.5) at Oakland: All the talk after the Raiders win over the Saints was the size of Jack Del Rio’s balls. That’s why I liked him as a coach when he was here in Jacksonville. Derek Carr and the Raiders are a legit playoff contender and I think they win, but the Falcons keep this one close.

Indianapolis (+6) at Denver: The Colts have some major issues on defense but get to go up against an inexperienced QB in Trevor Siemian. I actually like Andrew Luck and the Colts to win straight up in this one after last week’s near comeback against Detroit.

Green Bay (-2) at Minnesota: Every year I pick the Packers to win the Super Bowl because of Aaron Rodgers. I’m really surprised at how low this line is. It doesn’t matter who starts at quarterback for Minnesota, Green Bay wins this one easily in my lock of the week.

Philadelphia at Chicago (-3): I think Chicago bounces back after that week 1 collapse against Houston. Their defense gets after rookie QB Carson Wentz and forces him to really struggle. Da Bears win in a low scoring game.

Week 3 College Football Picks

 

Photo credit: Rich Barnes – USA TODAY Sports

Aw yeah, week 3 of college football is going to be more like week 1 all over again. We have 4 games involving top 25 teams, and I am stoked. Last week we went 11-9 in the picks and an awful 1-2 in the “locks.” I think I’m just going to have to quit calling them “locks” because I clearly have no idea what I’m talking about. I’ll give it one more week and if we don’t go at least 2-1, I’m done. For the season we are 23-15 overall and would like to keep the trend going. Maybe I’m due for a little regression, but let’s hope not. Again, my pick is the line in parentheses. Here we go:

#6 Houston at Cincinnati (+8): QB Greg Ward should be back for Houston after missing last week’s game against Lamar with a banged up shoulder. But there’s always something weird about Thursday night games, so I like the home dog to keep it close and wouldn’t be shocked if Cincy pulled off the upset.

#21 Baylor (-30.5) at Rice: Why is Baylor going to Rice? No idea, but Rice is coming off blowout losses to Army and Western Kentucky. That’s good enough for me to feel good about picking Baylor in this one.

Ohio (+27.5) at #15 Tennessee: I just can’t bring myself to pick a team with Josh Dobbs at QB. Sorry. Until he proves me otherwise, I might pick against them every time. Tennessee also has to have some fumble luck regression. Maybe I should hope they save that for next week.

Georgia State (+34) at #9 Wisconsin: I’m going one more time against the Badgers, as I’m still not a believer. If they cover here, I may just pick them every time for the rest of the season. I’ll probably be wrong as Georgia State just gave up 48 points to Air Force last week.

#2 Florida State (-2) at #10 Louisville: This is no doubt the game of the week, even with all the other great games. I’m totally hedging here and I’m not afraid to admit it. Derwin James is out 5-7 weeks with a knee injury, which is really going to hurt the Noles. But we’ve seen this before with FSU. Louisville will probably have a fast start and make us all think they got this game, and then FSU will come back and find a way to win. I hope I’m wrong on this one.

#25 Miami (-3.5) at Appalachian State: Another weird road game for a Power 5 conference team. Interesting how this is only a 3.5 point spread after App State was a 3 TD underdog at Tennessee. I love Miami this year and I don’t think App State is quite as good as we saw in week 1. Canes win by two touchdowns.

#1 Alabama at #19 Ole Miss (+11): I believe this game opened at Bama -9 and has now shifted all the way to -11. I’m playing the odds here and taking the double digit home underdog. Just way too many points for a good team with a good QB at home. As Lee Corso would say, Bama wins by a touchdown and an extra point.

Colorado (+20) at #4 Michigan: These two teams met in 1994 when this happened. Michigan’s first real test comes against a pretty good Colorado team who have a really good QB in Sefu Liufau. I have no idea how to pronounce his name either. He’s currently Colorado’s all time leading passer. Michigan has a big game against Oregon next week, and I think Colorado can catch them off guard and keep this one respectable.

#22 Oregon at Nebraska (-3): Really tough one to pick here as this feels a toss up. Nebraska and Oregon have both played really well to start the season. Not too confident, but I like Mike Riley and Nebraska to finally get a nice, signature win in what will be a high scoring game.

Mississippi State (+14) at #20 LSU: So many questions in this one. Who plays mostly at QB for LSU? Is Leonard Fournette healthy? How good or bad is MSU after the South Alabama debacle and win over South Carolina? Too many unknowns so I’ll take the points in what should be a low scoring game.

#17 Texas A&M (+3.5) at Auburn: This is another tough one for me to pick. Auburn was able to hang with Clemson and A&M looked good for three and a half quarters versus UCLA. I’ll kind of hedge here by picking A&M with the points and Auburn to win by 1-3.

Texas State at #24 Arkansas (-31): Arkansas showed they could be a legit top 25 team with a road win at TCU last week. Texas State is no Louisiana Tech. They are awful who went 3-9 in the Sun Belt last year with hardly any returning starters from last season. Arky wins big.

North Texas (+36.5) at #23 Florida: North Texas went 1-11 last year and still might be better than Kentucky. This is a lot of points to lay for a Florida offense we’re still not totally sure about. Gators come back down to earth here with a big game next week looming against Tennessee.

#12 Michigan State (+8) at #18 Notre Dame: This is a really interesting line. Maybe Vegas knows something that we don’t. I’m just playing the odds here as I’d be really surprised if Notre Dame beat a good Michigan State team by more than a touchdown, even at home.

#3 Ohio State at #14 Oklahoma (+1): Oklahoma has no more room for error after the Week 1 loss to Houston. And Bob Stoops is only Big Game Bob when it comes to games at home. Oklahoma keeps its season alive and wins by a field goal.

#16 Georgia (-6.5) at Missouri: This is my lock of the week. Georgia is not as bad as they showed last week and Missouri is absolutely terrible. Georgia bounces back and wins by three touchdowns.

USC at #7 Stanford (-9): USC is going 7-5 at best this year, maybe even 6-6. Christian McCaffrey may be one of the best offensive players to ever play college football. Seriously. He runs wild in this one and Stanford wins by 17.

#11 Texas at California (+8): Here’s my upset of the week. Texas is not as good as their ranking. They are only ranked 25th in the Sagarin PREDICTOR, which is much better than Cal’s 59. I know Cal has no defense, but I’m not sure Texas’s is much better. The O/U on this game is an insane 80.5, so this is going to be a wild one. Going bold here, and I’ve got Cal winning straight up.

Over Lock of the Week – #2 FSU at #10 Louisville (65): Lamar Jackson and Louisville might just be a lock every week to hit the over. Against Ole Miss, we saw FSU can score too. This is an easy over and a much lower line than a game like Texas-Cal.

Under Lock of the Week – Vanderbilt at Georgia Tech (43): A Georgia Tech triple option offense against a good Vandy defense? That means a lot of clock running and not much scoring. Also, Vandy’s offense is atrocious ranking worse than 100 in 3 of 4 major categories last year. Lock up the under here even with the low total.

Week 2 College Football Recap

Photo credit: J. Pat Carter / Getty Images

Week 2 ended up not being such a dud of a weekend like we all thought. Didn’t get to watch much though as I was out of town visiting my grandfather. There were a couple really good finishes and one of the greatest Hail Mary’s I’ve ever seen that shouldn’t have even counted. Also went positive again in the gambling picks going 11-9 and moving to 23-15 on the year. I’ll get into those as well as my “locks” not performing so well.

Central Michigan at #23 Oklahoma State: I didn’t get to see this happen live as I was driving down to Leesburg, FL from Jacksonville. My family was waiting for me and my wife to get there to go eat, and my grandfather who is from Indiana decided to record the end of this game while we went to eat. He is a huge B1G and Midwestern homer. He actually changed the TV to Ball State-Indiana several times during the Gator game. So we get back from eating and I saw the play on Twitter and told them they won’t believe what they are about to see. As we’re watching the final 5 minutes, they are telling me I’m full of shit and there’s no way CMU wins this game. So there’s 4 seconds left on the clock and 4th down around the opponents 40 something yard line. As I’m watching this I tell them there’s only one play here. (Now, I only saw the Hail Mary play earlier, I did not see anything prior to that). Line up the QB in the shotgun, snap it to him and let him roll out and throw it out of bounds so there’s no intentional grounding. And sure enough, he throws it away while still in the pocket and there’s an intentional grounding flag. According to the rule though, the game should be over. But nobody knew it. Not the officials or either coach seemed to know this rule. I certainly thought it was the right call to play one untimed down. Regardless, how does Gundy not tell his QB to roll out and throw it away? Maybe it’s a lot more difficult to make decisions on the field, but I knew it live while sitting on my grandfather’s couch. But I just don’t understand how some of these college coaches don’t understand some basic strategies. This one seemed about as simple as it gets, in my opinion. Then once the game is over and the refs have left the field, you can’t overturn the result. The refs screwed up, but nobody else knew the rule either. Refs miss calls all the time that cost teams games. It’s just part of the game.

Two top 10 teams struggle with inferior opponents: No idea what happened with Georgia and what is going on with Clemson. A 2 point win at home versus Nicholls State is pretty concerning but if they go out next week and beat Missouri easily like they should, everyone will forget about this one. They are still very much one of the favorites to win the SEC East. Same thing with Clemson. They’ve struggled in their first two games and Deshaun Watson doesn’t seem like his normal self. But it’s all about survive and advance. They still pretty much have a 3 game schedule with FSU, Louisville, and a potential ACC title game. I still think they lose to FSU and miss out on the ACC title game.

Kentucky at Florida: Good call, Mike. I don’t feel bad for Kentucky fans. Sorry. They have basketball. This was a total beat down in every phase. Kentucky players looked to have quit on Mark Stoops, and there’s no way he makes it through the season. The Gators looked great and the homer in me believes they will run the table in the SEC and be undefeated going into the FSU game. But I realistically know this probably won’t happen. The SEC East is a total shit storm with Jeff Sagarin ranking them dead last among Power 5 conference divisions. Assuming the Gators can get by North Texas and Tennessee can get by Ohio, it will set up maybe the most anticipated UF-Tennessee game since… 2006? Should be a good one.

Virginia Tech vs. #17 Tennessee: I was driving home during the first half of this one and checked my phone at a red light to see Tennessee was down 14-0 in the first half. I thought it was over as there’s no way Josh Dobbs was going to be able to bring them back. And then fumble luck happened for Tennessee. Fumble recoveries are almost 100% luck, in my opinion. Tennessee was 7-7 in fumble recoveries in this game. They recovered all 5 of Virginia Tech’s and both of their own. If Virginia Tech recovers 2 or 3 of the 7, this might be a totally different outcome. Counting the App State game, Tennessee is 10 for 12 on fumble recoveries. That is insane. Tennessee’s rushing game is great with Dobbs and Hurd, but Dobbs again was just not very good throwing the football. He did have 3 TD passes but still only threw for 91 yards. He has to be better throwing the football.

Arkansas at #15 TCU: This is a classic example of forgetting a previous disappointing game. Arkansas barely squeaked by Louisiana Tech and then goes on the road and beats a good TCU team. Arkansas will probably get several top 25 votes and maybe even crack the polls. This is a good win for Arkansas, but even with their toughest games at home, they still won’t be able to contend in the SEC West.

So I continue to do well in my overall gambling picks, but the “locks” of the week are turning out to be total duds. I nailed the Michigan-UCF over, but I doubled down against Wisconsin yesterday and they went out and put up 54 points against Akron. I think that’s more of Akron’s defense being worse than I thought instead of Wisconsin’s offense being good. That now puts me at 2-3 in my “locks” of the week. Maybe we should start calling my locks the “bullshit locks of the week.” I’m still sticking with my gut that Wisconsin is overrated and we’ll definitely find out in the upcoming weeks.

 

Week 2 College Football Picks ATS

Week 1 was absolutely fantastic. Not just because of the games, but we nailed the picks going 12-6. If idiot Dabo kicks the field goal at the end, we end up 13-5. Someone had to have lost a parlay thanks to Dabo and if it was me, I’d be furious. But I’m not going to complain after that great start. I did blow my second lock of the week thanks to Houston’s defense. We’ll bounce back this week. As great as last weekend was, this weekend is pretty much crap with no matchups between two top 25 teams. Since this week is a little different with so many mismatches, I will mostly focus on the teams we don’t know much about to try to help you make your pick. Also, I’ll be giving three “locks” of the week. One against the spread, one over the point total, and one under the point total. I only did one over and one under last week going 1-1. Let’s get to the picks (my pick is the line in parentheses).

#13 Louisville (-14.5) at Syracuse: I forgot how great of an offensive coach Bobby Petrino is, as long as he stays off his motorcycle like Brent Musburger said. Lamar Jackson showed he could be a Heisman contender this year. They get a big lead here again and pull the starters in the 4th quarter this time to rest up for the FSU game next week. No backdoor cover for Syracuse.

UCF (+35.5) at #5 Michigan: UCF may have been the worst FBS team last year going winless. But they hired former Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost, who should improve the offense. I think UCF scores a couple times in this one to cover the spread.

Central Michigan (+21) at #22 Oklahoma State: Central Michigan has a very good QB in Cooper Rush who may even be an NFL prospect for the draft next year. He threw for almost 4,000 yards last year while completing 66.3% of his passes. They also hung with Oklahoma State last year and only lost by 11. I expect a similar result in this one with a lot of scoring.

Troy at #2 Clemson (-36): Clemson and Deshaun Watson struggled with Auburn last week, and I think they bounce back and put up a ton of points against a pretty bad Troy team who went 4-8 last year in the Sun Belt conference.

Nevada at #18 Notre Dame (-28): Another bounce back performance here from Notre Dame after the heartbreak loss to Texas. Nevada is a pretty mediocre team going 7-6 each of the last two seasons. I think Brian Kelly settles with DeShone Kizer at QB and the Irish roll.

SMU at #23 Baylor (-32): SMU lost to Baylor by 35 in the season opener last year. SMU ended up 2-10 last year and their defense was absolutely horrific. I love Baylor QB Seth Russell, and I think the Bears might score 70 in this one.

Akron (+24) at # 10 Wisconsin: I had no idea Terry Bowden was coaching Akron. They had a pretty good season last year going 8-5 and winning a bowl game. The pollsters overreacted by putting Wisconsin in the top 10 and they aren’t quite that good. I don’t think Wisconsin’s offense is good enough to outscore very many teams by 24. Love Akron in this game and this is my point spread lock of the week.

Tulsa (+28.5) at #4 Ohio State: Tulsa went 6-7 last year after losing a bowl game. Their QB Dane Evans was great, throwing for over 4,000 yards. Their defense was absolutely atrocious finishing near the bottom of every defensive category. This is going to be a shootout and I think Tulsa keeps it within the spread.

Western Kentucky (+29) at #1 Alabama: Western Kentucky is actually a pretty good team. They went 12-2 last year, beat an (sort of) SEC team in Vandy, won the Conference USA title, and won a bowl game. They did lose a bit from last season, but this feels like a letdown game for Alabama coming off a huge win and a big game next week against Ole Miss.

Idaho at #8 Washington (-37): Idaho went 4-8 in the Sun Belt last year and are dropping down to FCS in 2018. Washington looked pretty good last week against a horrible Rutgers team, and I think Chris Petersen and the Huskies keep it rolling.

Florida Atlantic at #25 Miami (-24.5): Mark Richt was an excellent hire by Miami, and QB Brad Kaaya is really good too. FAU gave up 30 points to Southern Illinois last week and has Jeff Driskel’s younger brother starting at QB. I think Miami wins big.

Louisiana-Monroe (+46.5) at #14 Oklahoma: The biggest spread of the week makes this one very difficult. Stay away from betting on this game. ULM was awful last year at 2-11 but I think this is just too many points, even against a team like Oklahoma.

Arkansas (+7.5) at #15 TCU: I feel like everyone will be on TCU in this game after Arkansas barely squeaked by Louisiana Tech. TCU also struggled too with South Dakota State. Arkansas shows that last week was a fluke and only loses by a field goal in a high scoring game.

UTEP (+29.5) at #11 Texas: Letdown game for Texas coming off a huge win and road game at Cal next weekend. UTEP was not very good last year at 5-7 but they have running back Aaron Jones back from injury after rushing for over 1,300 yards in 2014. UTEP keeps it reasonable.

Iowa State (+15.5) at #16 Iowa: No idea about this one with Iowa State coming off a loss to FCS Northern Iowa. I’m just going with the “in-state rivalry game, so it will be close” narrative and hoping I’m right. Also, this game has the second lowest O/U total of Top 25 vs. FBS games this weekend at 51.5. So I think ISU and the points is the right play here.

Virginia Tech (+11.5) vs. #17 Tennessee: This will be the largest crowd ever for a college football game with maybe 150,000 in Bristol, TN. Until Josh Dobbs proves he can throw a football with accuracy, I’m not picking Tennessee by double digits over any decent team, much less a decent ACC team. That said, he’ll probably throw for 300 and 3 TDs in this game.

Virginia (+24.5) at #24 Oregon: Virginia is coming off a loss to Richmond, losing by 17. But there’s no way they are that bad. Oregon gave up 28 points to FCS team UC Davis. I think the Hoos keep it fairly close in a high scoring game.

Honorable mention: Kentucky at Florida (-16.5): Have to make a prediction on the Gators every week since they are my team. I think the offense improves against Kentucky’s horrid defense that blew a 35-10 lead last week to Southern Miss and gave up 100 yards rushing to two different running backs. Jordan Scarlett goes for over 150. The defense cuts down on the penalties and shuts down Kentucky. The Gators win 34-10 and make it 30 in a row versus Kentucky.

Over Lock of the Week – UCF at Michigan (53.5): As I mentioned above, UCF has a new head coach who should run a fast- paced, up-tempo offense. Combine that with a horrible defense and I love the over in this game. Michigan may hit the over by themselves. Lock it up!

Under Lock of the Week – Akron at #10 Wisconsin (47.5): Wisconsin and Akron were both top 15 last year in total defense. Wisconsin was top 10 in all 4 categories (scoring, rushing, passing, and total defense). And both teams were in the bottom half in almost all offensive categories in FBS. This is going to be an ugly one.

 

 

 

 

Stupid Week 1 NFL Picks ATS

NFL is back this week and I’m excited but it’s never been like college football for me. Being born and growing up in Gainesville, I’ve always been more of a college football fan first. I’ve lived in Jacksonville for most of my life and I love the Jaguars, but they’ve never quite been able to excite me more than the Gators. Maybe it’s because of the so many disappointing seasons. I still love it though and I’ll be giving out some more (terrible) picks against the spreads every week. Since week one in the NFL is about as predictable as daily fantasy, here are my serious picks ATS with arbitrary comments to justify them.

Carolina (-3) at Denver: I honestly hadn’t heard of Trevor Siemian before last week. He played college football at Northwestern. Simple enough.

Green Bay (-4.5) at Jacksonville: Is Aaron Rodgers starting at quarterback against a Gus Bradley coached defense? Oh, he is? Okay then.

Buffalo at Baltimore (-3): Is Joe Flacco elite? Who the hell knows? As a Jags fan, all I can say is thank God for the Buffalo Bills.

Tampa Bay at Atlanta (-3): The Bucs eclipsed the Jags with the worst draft pick in NFL history by trading up (!) to pick Roberto Aguayo in the second round. Even Gene Smith laughed.

Cincinnati (-2.5) at New York Jets: It’s a game being played in a month ending in “ber ” so Andy Dalton and the Bengals will probably win.

Oakland (+1) at New Orleans: I’ve said before Jack Del Rio is a hall of fame coach compared to Gus Bradley. Think about how good a .489 winning percentage with the Jags is. Gus only needs to win 23 in a row to match that percentage.

Chicago (+6.5) at Houston: If Bill O’Brien had a normal chin and not a hole in it, maybe I’d take him seriously and pick the Texans.

Minnesota at Tennessee (+2.5): Oh my God I’m picking Mike Mularkey to win. A football game. In 2016. I may or may not be writing this while watching a replay of the Gators playing UMass.

San Diego (+7) at Kansas City: Should clock management expert Andy Reid and Alex “Checkdown” Smith be favored by 7 over anyone?

Cleveland at Philadelphia (-4): After basketball and maybe baseball, maybe this is Cleveland’s year in football too. Wait, what?

Miami (+10.5) at Seattle: Ciara confirmed that she and Russell Wilson finally had sex. Bad move, bro.

New York Giants (-1) at Dallas: Isn’t rooting against the Cowboys so much fun? Even more fun when they allowed your team to pick Jalen Ramsey.

Detroit at Indianapolis (-3.5): The Detroit Lions: Another team that has a lot in common with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

New England at Arizona (-6): Have conflicting issues with Tom Brady. We both have great taste in women, but he’s a Trump supporter. Brazilian women over politics for me, but keep your footballs inflated, Tom! Come on, man!

Pittsburgh (-3) at Washington: Jay Gruden’s brother still parts his hair in the middle. And he has an annoying voice. Can’t do it.

Los Angeles (-2.5) at San Francisco: Jeff Fisher vs. Blaine Gabbert? Ugh. In the words of the great Gary Johnson, “Waterboard me.”

 

College Football Week 1 Recap

Photo credit: Kevin Jairaj – USA TODAY Sports

What a weekend of college football. The greatest opening weekend ever certainly didn’t disappoint. I’m going to do a recap of my thoughts on the biggest games and then talk about the SEC. Let’s get started with the two best games of the weekend.

Ole Miss vs. Florida State: My word, what a way to finish the weekend. Not sure I’d call this much of a choke by Ole Miss though. They got all the lucky bounces in the first half, while FSU got them in the second half. Oh, and Deondre Francois is #nice. As a Gator fan, I’m going to be haunted for the next 2 or 3 years watching this kid play. He’s the real deal. No way did I think I could ever witness a Freshman QB have a similar first career start like Jameis, but he was pretty damn close, if not better. And defensively, Jacksonville native DeMarcus Walker was an absolute beast with 4.5 sacks. Florida State’s schedule sets up nicely for a national championship run with Clemson and North Carolina at home. Their toughest road game is at Louisville in less than two weeks. As for Ole Miss, they play Bama and Georgia at home in the next three weeks to define their season. If they lose one or both, their season is over and things could spiral out of control with NCAA sanctions and a postseason ban looming after the Laremy Tunsil fiasco.

Notre Dame at Texas: Swooooooopes. I actually missed the first half of this game, but boy that second half and overtimes were fun. No doubt it will be in the running for game of the year. I couldn’t have been more happy for Charlie Strong and to see Notre Dame lose a heartbreaker at the same time was too perfect. Texas has a pretty favorable schedule with Baylor and TCU at home. Their toughest games are Oklahoma on a neutral field and at Oklahoma State. So don’t be surprised if they make a run at the Big 12 title. As for Notre Dame, I wouldn’t count them out of the playoff picture either. Their schedule is also very favorable with Michigan State and Stanford at home and a finish at USC. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if they ran the table from here on out. If they do, it would be very tough for the committee to leave them out. Also, not sure why Brian Kelly said after the game he hasn’t named a starting QB yet. DeShone Kizer was spectacular.

Appalachian State at Tennessee: Welp, looks like I fell for the trap of drinking the Tennessee kool aid again. I know it’s just one game, but we’ve seen this so many times with Tennessee. Maybe App State is better than we thought, but there is no reason this game should’ve gone to overtime. Also, what was App State’s coach thinking by not calling a timeout at the end of regulation? How in the hell do you go to overtime with a chance at pulling off a massive upset without using all of your timeouts? Just call it with three seconds left and throw up a Hail Mary. Anyway, Tennessee got lucky in this one thanks to a gritty fumble recovery by Jalen Hurd in the end zone in overtime (italics mean sarcasm). Laughably, announcers were saying he wanted it more on the recovery, when he was just in the right place at the right time #fumbleluck. It’s amazing how one player can make a team look so bad. Josh Dobbs just can’t make even the simplest of throws, which I’d say is pretty concerning for a senior. Their season will be defined in a 4 game stretch of Florida, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Alabama. They probably need to win 3 of those 4 to win the East (unless they beat both Florida and Georgia) and it’s hard to see that happening after this performance.

Oklahoma vs. Houston: The Cougars are for real. I blew my lock on the over on this game thanks to Houston’s defense applying pressure on Baker Mayfield with 5 sacks and a fumble. Totally didn’t see that coming. If Houston finishes unbeaten with wins against Oklahoma and Louisville, there’s no way the committee can leave them out of the playoff. But the rest of their schedule is too weak to leave any margin for error. As for Oklahoma, I’m not giving up on them yet, but their schedule is pretty tough from here with games against Ohio State, TCU, and Texas all in a row. I think they can win all those games and actually wouldn’t be all that shocked if they win out. I don’t buy that Houston has to lose twice for Oklahoma to get in the playoff if they win out. If Houston and Oklahoma both have one loss, there will probably be several other teams with 1 loss too. In which case, head to head goes out the door. You have to pick the team with the best resume, and I think that would most likely be Oklahoma. But we still have a long, long way to go to get to that point.

LSU vs. Wisconsin: My SEC champion pick did not look good. I was so mad at myself for not making the under on this game as my lock of the week. Easy to say after the fact,  but that was free money. Everyone is overreacting about Les Miles, and I think it’s way overblown. He’s a very good coach who just makes a couple crazy decisions that always seem to bounce his way, except this time. Their biggest problem is Brandon Harris. He’s just not very good at throwing footballs accurately, which is kind of important for a QB. After this weekend, it’s kind of hard to see LSU beating Bama even at home, let alone winning out. I’m not buying into Wisconsin as a legitimate B1G contender with a brutal 4 game stretch of Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, and Iowa, three of which are on the road.

UCLA at Texas A&M: Didn’t quite catch all of this game as I was watching the LSU game more. A&M did everything they could to blow this one, but were able to pull it out in OT. They could have been on the other end of a massive choke this time after their basketball team came back against UNI in the NCAA Tournament. A&M is not a legit contender in the SEC, as it’s Bama and everyone else in the West. Josh Rosen was great during the comeback, but the turnovers hurt. Credit to A&M’s defense for pressuring him all afternoon. I still like UCLA to win the Pac 12 South, with a very favorable schedule.

UNC vs. Georgia: Looks like the Dawgs have found their QB, and as a Gator fan it scares the hell out of me. Jacob Eason is going to be a star. And Nick Chubb is back. Georgia has got to be the favorite in the SEC East now after the way Florida and Tennessee looked. I’m not going to try to predict where UNC will finish in the ACC Coastal division, because that’s a crap shoot. And let’s be honest, outside of Clemson, FSU, and Lamar Jackson, no one cares about ACC football.

USC vs. Alabama: God, I hate Lane Kiffin. But that had to feel good running up the score on his old team. Bama may actually have a legit big time QB in Freshman Jalen Hurts. If that’s the case, it’s game over. USC has a real problem and I think it’s the head coach, Clay Helton. I don’t care how good Bama is, that showing was inexcusable. USC’s schedule is insanely tough with trips to Stanford, UCLA and Washington and a home game vs Notre Dame. They could easily wind up 6-6 this year.

UMass at Florida: I’m a Florida fan as well as a lot of my readers, so I have to recap this one. “Here we go again” was my exact thought as the 4th quarter started. Luke Del Rio looked okay to me. Didn’t make any bad decisions, made some good throws, and some pretty bad ones too. His biggest question is his arm strength, so we’ll see if that’s an issue as the season progresses. Jordan Scarlett needs to be getting at least 20 carries a game, if not more. The offensive line needs to get their heads out of their asses if they want to compete with SEC defensive lines. The defense looked good, but they have to cut down on the dumb penalties and absolutely must stay healthy. I love Alex “Sunshine” Anzalone and his GOAT hair. Oh, and we finally have a kicker! And he looks to be kind of a douche by fist pumping after every made kick. I love it. After watching the other SEC teams play, I actually feel pretty good about Florida’s chances of winning the East.

Clemson at Auburn: Dabo, what are you doing? Biggest coaching fail of the weekend was Dabo at the end of this one. I think there was like 50 seconds left, 3rd down and Auburn was out of timeouts. First, how do you not to tell your running back to stay in bounds and how does he not know himself? And then once he runs out of bounds to stop the clock, how do you not kick the field goal? First of all, the chance of your kicker making the 35 yard field goal are pretty good, in which the game would be over. If he misses, which is low, you are in the exact same spot if you miss a 4th down conversion attempt. And the chance of the field goal being blocked and returned for a touchdown is microscopic. I just don’t get it. Nonetheless, Clemson pulled it out, but Dabo almost cost his team here. I’m not worried about Clemson at all. This was a tough environment, and they found a way to win. Their season will be defined by a home game vs Louisville and a road game at FSU. Auburn looks to be improved but their schedule is just way too difficult for them to contend in the SEC West.

Alright, so let’s discuss what everyone says was an awful weekend for the SEC. They had a terrible start to the weekend, but salvaged it with a few really nice wins. I used to be a blind, biased SEC homer, but now I try to look at the whole thing objectively. So let’s break down the weekend they had. Not counting the USC-Vandy game, they went 6-6 straight up and 4-8 against the spread overall including 5-3 straight up and 4-4 against the spread in top 25 match-ups. The most disappointing teams, in my opinion, were Tennessee, Mississippi State, LSU, Arkansas, Florida, and Ole Miss. The reason I leave out teams like Kentucky and Missouri and that awful South Carolina-Vandy game is because those first teams have reasonable expectations this year or lost inexcusably like Mississippi State or blew a 22 point lead like Ole Miss. We all knew the other four teams have no expectations and are going to be terrible this year. No doubt the bottom half of the SEC is bad and the conference as a whole is not head and shoulders above everyone else. But it’s still the best conference overall. One thing I try not to do is overreact to small one game sample sizes. While it was a bad weekend overall for the SEC, it wasn’t a disaster like it seems many are proclaiming. The same is true when it’s the other way around like bowl season last year. The SEC went 9-2 in mostly meaningless bowl games and all the SEC homers were saying, “See! 9-2 in a down year!” Don’t overreact to one week of games. The truth almost always lies somewhere in the middle.

Our Story (Part 2): How We Got Engaged

So I left off after our first date that was just okay, but I really liked her and I think she really liked me. We continued to text that week before I asked her out on a second date. I promise this will be the only other date I talk about, only because it was actually worse than the first date. I don’t know how it worked out either. This week I wanted to take her to dinner and a movie. The first mistake I made was buying movie tickets the night before and scheduled the dinner a couple hours earlier. Yeah, you can see where this is going. I don’t know why I bought the movie tickets in advance. Maybe because I was so excited. Again, I get to the restaurant a little early thinking there will be a long wait on a Saturday evening. This would give her time to get there in case she’s a little late like last time. I get there and they give me a 25-30 minute wait time. I felt like that was perfect. She’ll be there in plenty of time. Wrong. After about 20 minutes, they call me and say my table is ready. What do I do? Do I go and wait at the table? Do I tell them to leave me on the list until my date gets there? I panicked a little and just went to be seated and ordered a drink. About 10-15 minutes at the table waiting and she finally texts me that she’s there. My word. So I let a couple minutes pass and walk out to find her to bring her to our table without telling the waitress. I see her and give her another one armed hug and walk in only to find my drink is gone and the table is reset. They thought I left.

So we sit and laugh and start talking. I reminded her about the movie and how we’re really cutting it close to make it on time. She then told me about her host family and her host mom (the mom of the three girls she took care of). And because she was so quiet when she talked, at first it sounded like she was saying “husband” instead of host mom. Your husband? What? Is she married?  There’s no ring on it. What is going on? Then I understood. Then I asked her if she was looking for a serious relationship. She kind of smiled and looked down and answered and I couldn’t understand what she said. I swear I thought she said there was someone else she was interested in. But I didn’t want to tell her that’s what I thought I heard, so I just pretended like I didn’t even ask that. Boy, that was awkward.

Dinner ended and we were running late for the movie. We get there and the parking lot is packed. I believe the movie we are seeing just opened that weekend. We finally make it inside the movie theater and it’s totally full except the front couple rows. Unbelievable. So we go to customer service and see if they can swap our tickets out for a later showing. They do, but it’s a couple hours later around 10:00 PM. Okay, so we have two hours to burn. I ask her if she wanted dessert and she said sure. But there’s no good dessert places nearby that I know of so we go to McDonald’s. I get a McFlurry and she gets a chocolate cone. This was the best part of the date. Dessert at McDonald’s.

So we head back to the movie theater to make sure we get good seats and I don’t know why but I let out a big sigh while driving. It’s something that the guys in my family do as an inside joke. She later told me that she thought that meant I was having an awful time on this date (I kind of was). Then we get there and finally get to watch the movie. Oh, the movie. As far as movies in general go, it’s pretty good. But for a date movie, it’s about as bad as it gets.  And then, halfway through the movie I get that feeling in my stomach where the food you ate isn’t sitting well. I had to go to the bathroom and felt so bad leaving her there by herself.

So the movie ends and we both say how much we hated it. I walk her to her car and give her a two armed hug this time and we go our separate ways. I thought about how awful the date was, but how sweet and perfect I thought she was. Our dates sucked, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be with her. There was something different about this girl.

The next week I invite her to my house to meet my family. She cooks a homemade dinner for all of us (I helped a little, emphasis on “little”) and Brazilian dessert brigadeiro. My parents fall in love with her and tell me how they think I have a “winner.” A week later I asked her to be my girlfriend and she says yes.

So our dates from there actually do get better, believe it or not. But the hard part for us was communication. We both worked full time and she had classes every night of the week including a curfew. This only gave us a couple hours a night to talk and I made sure to use all of them. Because of this, she ended up staying in my parents house with us on the weekends so we could have as much time as possible together. She didn’t really have many other friends here, just a few other au pairs that she came to the U.S. with. And our relationship just continued to grow and grow at a rapid pace. I was totally falling in love with this girl and after just a few months of dating we knew we were absolutely perfect for each other. So for Christmas, I decide to buy her a red ruby promise ring. It’s her birthstone, so I knew she would absolutely love it and she did.

When people asked me if I thought she was the one, I remember my dad telling me, “Now you don’t have too wait too long, Tony.” I think my parents got engaged after only a few months of dating. So, after only about a couple months we start talking about wanting to get married, but was it too soon? Do we need more time? What will other people think if we got engaged this fast? All these things kept running through my head. But we both knew it was meant to be, and I was ready for this next step in my life. So the week between Christmas and New Year’s we told both of our parents that we were planning to get married. And I broke the news to extended family on New Year’s Eve.

So now I have to propose. But wait, I just bought her a promise ring less than a month earlier and now I have to buy an engagement ring. Oh well, I didn’t care. I wanted to show her how much she meant to me. I’m not a very creative guy so this part scared me. I still wanted to surprise her with a special ring and a proposal that she would absolutely love. So I decided to do it on our 4 month anniversary. I had my sister go ring shopping with me during the week and I picked out what she told me was her dream ring (After a year and a half she wants to upgrade already). I decided to do it at Alpine Groves Park in St. John’s County. It’s a beautiful park right on the river and I wanted to do it at sunset. I had a red heart blanket, rose petals, candles, and her ring waiting there for us at a perfect spot right by the river. My brother, sister, and mom were there waiting to take pictures. So we planned a nice dinner that evening, and I asked her if before dinner she wanted to go for a walk in the park since the weather was perfect.

So I pick her up and proceed to the park and we start our walk. Then she sees my setup and says, “Wow, that’s so cute!” And then I said, “Really? Because that’s for you.” And then I told her how much I loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and dropped to one knee to ask her to marry me. As I was telling her all of this she’s smiling and asking who else is there and that’s she’s really shy right now. She told me she doesn’t remember a single word I said and that it happened so fast. She finally said yes and I couldn’t have been more happy.

And then we went on our date and came back home to take more pictures. We had talked a little bit on our date about when we wanted to get married and what we wanted to do for our honeymoon. I told her I thought a cruise would be great since she had never been on one. I had only gone on a Disney cruise when I was like 10 and didn’t remember too much about it. I think it was sometime during that week we landed on a date of August 8, 2015 for our wedding. I was so excited that I went ahead and booked a 5 Day cruise for that week to the Bahamas for our honeymoon and put down a pretty good sized deposit. Only one problem. She wasn’t a U.S. citizen and couldn’t leave the country under her current visa…Oops.

College Football Week 1 Picks ATS

My favorite sport officially starts today. Don’t give me that Australia game. Tonight is when the fun begins. Thank Christ, college football is back! We have two top 25 teams playing as well as this crazy guy headlining a sideline again. Oh my God. South Carolina and Vandy play tonight and I’m wondering if we’ll see this at the end of regulation. So much for the big, bad SEC! SEC! SEC! “But we play defense!” Okay, I digress.

I’m a bit of a gambling man, so I’m going to post my ATS picks every week for college football top 25 teams vs FBS opponents. I’m actually pretty horrible making picks against the spread. I did it for college football and NFL last year and I think I went around 10 games under .500. So I’m going to share my picks so you can lose money off of me. Good luck!

Charlotte (+38.5) over Louisville: Louisville is coming off a decent season after a horrible start. Charlotte is coming off their  first FBS season and were one of the worst teams in all of college football. I think Lousiville’s young sophomore QB Lamar Jackson is going to be an absolute stud. But I think Louisville pulls the starters early in the second half with big games early in the season against FSU and Clemson. Charlotte gets the back door cover.

Tennessee (-20.5) over Appalachian State: This is finally Tennessee’s year. Wait, what? I think I’ve heard that before. No, really. It is. As long as Butch Jones can throw the extra point/2 point conversion charts in the trash can (sorry, couldn’t resist), I like them to win the SEC East. App State is a sneaky good team who went 11-2 last year and returns 9 starters on defense. But it was against mostly horrible competition. I think they may keep it close in the first half, but the Vols pull away late.

Kansas State (+14.5) over Stanford: Here’s an interesting stat for you: Bill Snyder is 20-8 as an underdog ATS including 10 outright upsets. Stanford has Heisman hopeful Christian McCaffrey back, but a new QB this year in senior Ryan Burns. McCaffrey will get his yards and TDs, but it will a be a low scoring game. Bill Snyder keeps the trend going.

Honorable mention: South Carolina vs. Vandy under 41.5. This is the stone cold, lead pipe, blood bank guarantee lock of the night. I just can’t see either team scoring 20 in this game. Will Muschamp is coaching. Former walk-on Perry Orth is the likely starter for South Carolina who – I kid you not – was taking classes at FSCJ in the fall of 2012. Also, inexperienced sophomore QB Kyle Shurmur will be starting for Vandy. Take it to the bank, kids.

Michigan (-40) over Hawaii: Hawaii is coming off a loss to Cal last week down in Australia. Now they travel all the way to Ann Arbor. Michigan had one of the best defenses in college football last year. Not sure Hawaii will score in this one. And we saw how awful Hawaii’s defense was last week against Cal. Michigan wins big.

Houston (+12) over Oklahoma: This is going to be a fun one. A lot of points will be scored here. This game is at neutral NRG Stadium in Houston. Houston QB Greg Ward Jr was the only player besides Deshaun Watson last season to rush for 1,000 and pass for 2,000 yards. Also, Houston is 3rd best ATS in the last 5 years at 39-22-1. Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma win, but I think Houston keeps it close.

Ohio St. (-28) over Bowling Green: Bowling Green had a good season last year going 10-4 and winning the MAC. But they only return 10 starters from last season. Ohio St. lost a lot too, but they still have JT Barrett and everyone’s favorite coach, Urban Meyer. I like Ohio State big in this one.

Washington (-26.5) over Rutgers: I’m pretty sure I haven’t watched a minute of Washington football since Jake Locker was the QB. Not sure I’m buying into the Washington hype this season, but I do know Rutgers is bad. Like really bad. And they are flying across the country. Washington with the cover here.

Wisconsin (+10.5) over LSU: This is the first college football game at Lambeau Field in 33 years. This will be a low scoring game plus it’s a semi-home game for Wisconsin, so I love the points here. And Les Miles will have to get unlucky at some point by trying something dumb. I think he does, but LSU still squeaks out a victory by a field goal.

Texas A&M (-3) over UCLA: This is a tough one for me. UCLA sophomore QB Josh Rosen could be a star in the making. A&M brings in senior Oklahoma transfer QB Trevor Knight. I’ll take the experienced QB at home against the young, less experienced one on the road. Also, A&M has a WR whose first name is Speedy. Good enough for me.

Iowa (-27.5) over Miami (OH): Iowa was one of the most overrated teams last year taking advantage a soft schedule. CJ Beathard is back for his 8th season as Iowa’s QB. Miami (OH) though is one of the youngest teams in college football with only 15 upperclassmen. This won’t be close.

Georgia (-3) over UNC: New UGA head coach Kirby Smart announced he’ll start Greyson Lambert over highly touted Freshman Jacob Eason. I think they should start Eason, but nonetheless, I think they still win here. UNC is starting a new QB too and lost quite a bit on defense. Georgia  by a touchdown in the Georgia Dome.

UMass (+36.5) over Florida: Hahaha. Too easy. We all know Florida’s defense will be fine. Yes, Treon Harris won’t take another snap under center. And sure, Luke Del Rio (son of should-be hall of fame coach Jack Del Rio for going .500 with the Jags) looked great in the spring game. And yes, UMass is one of the worst FBS teams. I don’t care. Not believing until I see it.

USC (+11.5) over Alabama: The biggest story here is Lane Kiffin going up against his former team. Saban still hasn’t announced a starting QB, but I don’t think it matters. This is just too high of a spread for two top 20 teams on a neutral field. Bama wins but it won’t be easy.

Clemson (-7.5) over Auburn: I know Auburn is at home in a night game, but Clemson is so much better. Deshaun Watson will win the Heisman this year. And I’m pretty sure Auburn is starting a snowboarder or a skateboarder or something like that at QB (I know, that’s a bad joke). Too much talent for Clemson. They win by 2 touchdowns.

Texas (+3) over Notre Dame: This is another tough one for me. So I’m 100% going with my bias against Notre Dame and picking the Horns to win outright. This is the only game where I have the underdog winning. And I still like Charlie Strong and hate Brian Kelly.

FSU (-4.5) over Ole Miss: What a way to end the greatest opening weekend in college football history. FSU is starting Freshman QB Deondre Francois with Sean Maguire out with an injury. Chad (AK-47) Kelly is back and he’s good, but he’s a douche. Even with a Freshman QB, FSU is just too talented on both sides for Ole Miss and they win by a touchdown.

Honorable mention: Oklahoma/Houston over 67.5. Another easy over/under here. This is my lock of the week with two explosive offenses and two great QBs.  I’d literally be shocked if this didn’t hit.

Enjoy Labor Day weekend with some great college football and a little extra cash in your pockets! (Just make sure you go with the opposite of my picks)