PiRate Ratings–College Football Week 1

Since only a handful of games were played in Week 0, and the ratings barely moved, we will dispense with posting a new set of ratings this week and feature just our spreads for Week 1 and combine our Selections against the Spread For Week 1, as there are no NFL games this weekend.

This Week’s PiRate Rating Spreads

Thursday,	August 30
Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Connecticut	Central Florida	-24.2	-23.5	-25.4
Purdue	Northwestern	-4.0	-3.2	-5.8
Minnesota	New Mexico St.	27.5	23.4	26.3
Tulane	Wake Forest	-12.8	-10.4	-10.7
Friday,	August 31
Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Michigan St.	Utah St.	33.9	29.8	33.1
Western Michigan	Syracuse	-12.2	-7.8	-9.2
Wisconsin	Western Kentucky	45.7	37.6	45.2
Colorado (n)	Colorado St.	13.7	13.5	14.5
Stanford	San Diego St.	24.6	21.0	24.2
Duke	Army	20.2	16.5	19.4
Saturday,	September 1
Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Oklahoma	Florida Atlantic	20.5	17.7	19.6
Rice	Houston	-26.2	-24.5	-29.0
Ohio St.	Oregon St.	36.1	35.8	38.2
Penn St.	Appalachian St.	36.8	31.6	35.9
Nebraska	Akron	12.9	9.6	10.0
Boston College	Massachusetts	27.5	21.3	25.2
Illinois	Kent St.	16.2	14.5	15.8
Rutgers	Texas St.	30.5	25.7	28.7
Florida Int’l.	Indiana	-13.3	-7.0	-12.2
Iowa	Northern Illinois	20.0	15.1	18.4
Maryland (n)	Texas	-18.4	-19.2	-19.8
Troy	Boise St.	-14.9	-12.1	-13.7
South Alabama	Louisiana Tech	-9.8	-10.1	-10.0
Miami (O)	Marshall	-0.3	-0.7	0.9
North Texas	SMU	-0.6	3.9	1.1
Vanderbilt	Middle Tennessee	6.9	5.6	4.6
Arizona	BYU	17.0	13.6	16.7
Arizona St.	UTSA	28.2	20.6	25.2
USC	UNLV	26.4	22.9	25.1
UCLA	Cincinnati	18.4	16.7	16.5
Auburn (n)	Washington	-4.6	-2.3	-4.8
Kentucky	Central Michigan	24.5	19.2	23.6
Texas Tech (n)	Ole Miss	0.7	-1.0	-1.9
South Carolina	Coastal Carolina	42.2	37.8	41.1
West Virginia (n)	Tennessee	11.2	9.2	10.7
California	North Carolina	9.5	7.6	10.1
Wyoming	Washington St.	-4.5	-2.8	-2.5
Oregon	Bowling Green	32.3	32.2	32.3
Liberty	Old Dominion	-9.8	-14.9	-12.3
Notre Dame	Michigan	6.9	3.9	4.0
Alabama (n)	Louisville	28.4	25.5	30.7
Hawaii	Navy	-17.6	-18.6	-19.4
Sunday,	September 2
Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
LSU (n)	Miami (Fla.)	-10.2	-7.9	-9.4
Monday,	September 3
Home	Visitor	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Florida St.	Virginia Tech	0.2	0.1	0.2

(n) means neutral site game, but some teams may receive a little advantage for playing close to home.

FBS vs. FCS Games–PiRate Rating Spread Only

FBS vs. FCS
Home	Visitor	PiRate
Ball St.	Central Conn.	5.1
Georgia St.	Kennesaw St.	3.6
Oklahoma St.	Missouri St.	40.9
San Jose St.	UC-Davis	-0.9
Texas A&M	Northwestern St.	40.6
UAB	Savannah St.	28.8
Utah	Weber St.	22.0
Eastern Michigan	Monmouth	20.0
Air Force	Stony Brook	13.7
Arkansas	Eastern Illinois	29.8
Arkansas St.	SE Missouri	24.9
Baylor	Abilene Christian	31.3
Buffalo	Delaware St.	38.6
Charlotte	Fordham	10.8
Clemson	Furman	43.7
East Carolina	N.C. A&T	9.9
Florida	Chas. Southern	32.5
Fresno St.	Idaho	21.0
Georgia	Austin Peay	47.8
Georgia Southern	S. Carolina St.	22.3
Georgia Tech	Alcorn St.	39.9
Iowa St.	South Dakota St.	16.5
Kansas	Nicholls St.	10.6
Kansas St.	South Dakota	25.2
La.-Monroe	SE Louisiana	10.1
Louisiana	Grambling	10.2
Memphis	Mercer	32.9
Mississippi St.	S F Austin	44.3
Missouri	UT-Martin	29.3
N. Carolina St.	James Madison	17.2
Nevada	Portland St.	21.0
New Mexico	Incarnate Word	27.8
Ohio U	Howard	34.7
Pittsburgh	Albany	30.1
South Florida	Elon	28.7
Southern Miss.	Jackson St.	35.4
TCU	Southern	47.6
Temple	Villanova	18.8
Toledo	VMI	42.4
Tulsa	Central Arkansas	10.0
UTEP	Northern Arizona	-6.0
Virginia	Richmond	15.6

PiRate Ratings Picks Versus The Spread

This year, we are going to stick our necks out and go with straight spread and totals wagering in our imaginary picks with an imaginary bank account.

Remember: We never lose money on these picks, because they are strictly for fun.  We suggest you use these selections the same way.

Unless otherwise stated, all of our pretend picks will be for $100 imaginary.

Date	8/27-9/3		$100 per pick
Favorite	Underdog	Spread	Pick
Purdue	Northwestern	2 1/2	Northwestern
Michigan St.	Utah St.	23	Michigan St.
Penn St.	Appalachian St.	23 1/2	Penn St.
Nebraska	Akron	24 1/2	Akron
Iowa	Northern Illinois	10	Iowa
Texas	Maryland	13	Texas
California	North Carolina	7	California

 

 

 

Selections Against The Spread: December 11, 2015

With only one college game on the schedule this week, we had few selections to go with.  Therefore, you get a smaller version of selections this week.

 

We are playing both the sides and totals in the Army-Navy game, and then we have two NFL Money Line Parlays, both of which present better than even money odds.  The problem is that with so few opportunities at this point in the season, it is hard to diversify.  It is a crap shoot.  Either we win big or lose big.

Straight Selections

12/11/2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Navy	Army	22.5	Army
Navy	Army	50	Over

Money Line Parlays

Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 13-10		$233 payout          on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Kansas City	San Diego		Kansas City
Tampa Bay	New Orleans		Tampa Bay
Denver	Oakland		Denver
Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 6-5		$220 payout          on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Carolina	Atlanta		Carolina
New York Jets	Tennessee		New York Jets
Green Bay	Dallas		Green Bay

Selections Against The Spread: December 4, 2015

A stopped watch is correct twice a day, and the PiRates’ watch enjoyed one of those moments last week, as we won with our straight selections and our Money Line Parlays.

 

The straight sides selections are still only in the .500 range for the year, but our money line parlays now boast a return on investment above 50% for the year.  We know that some of you are actually now ignoring our advice and are playing our money line parlay selections.  Remember this: even though our ROI is about +52% for the year, unless you play every one, you may lose, because we are making parlays that pay out better than even money.  Thus, we can be correct 35% of the time and make a profit.  If you choose to play just one parlay when we issue five, the odds are greatly against you.  Thus, the smart thing to do is to NOT use our picks as advice in losing your hard-earned money.

 

That said, we do not particularly like this week’s schedules in college and pro football.  Between the two, we like the picks of underdogs more than the parlays, because the schedule is not favorable for making parlays.

 

We are actually going with two one-team money line selections and are picking the underdog in upsets.

 

Read with caution.

Note: Later today, we will reveal the opening round results of the computer simulated NCAA football playoffs using the 24-team format used in FCS Football.

Straight Sides Selections

12/4/2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Bowling Green (N)	Northern Illinois	13.5	Northern Illinois
Georgia Southern	Georgia St.	21	Georgia St.
South Alabama	Appalachian St.	-18	South Alabama
Western Kentucky	Southern Miss.	7.5	Southern Miss.
Michigan St. (N)	Iowa	3.5	Iowa
Buffalo	Houston	3	Houston
Minnesota	Seattle	-1.5	Minnesota
Oakland	Kansas City	-3	Kansas City
Pittsburgh	Indianapolis	7	Indianapolis

 

Money Line Selections

Money Line Parlay	5 Teams at 8-3		$375 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Chicago	San Francisco		Chicago
Cincinnati	Cleveland		Cincinnati
Carolina	New Orleans		Carolina
Denver	San Diego		Denver
New England	Philadelphia		New England
Money Line	1 Team at +210		$210 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
West Virginia	Kansas St.		KANSAS ST.
Money Line	1 Team at +185		$185 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Clemson	North Carolina		NORTH CAROLINA

 

Selections Against The Spread: November 26, 2015

It’s time to stuff your wallet with money.  And, how best may we recommend that your wallet gets stuffed?  Keep it there and do not use all these picks to lose it all.  There are retailers anxiously waiting to remove all that cash you have saved in the last 52 weeks, so waste it on that cheap drone toy that will be broken by January 10.

 

We have opened the vault and come forward with the most selections of the season for this week’s slate.  Rivalry games, games that are must win contests for bowl eligibility, and teams that are reversing earlier trends lead our selections this week.  A season high six money line parlays anchor 13 straight picks.  Enjoy, but only to look at them.  Don’t be like a certain reader here from the Las Vegas area that informed us three weeks ago that SHE played every money line parlay selection we issued and won a few hundred dollars after losing every week prior during this season by using other information.  Yes, she won some money that week, but if she followed our advice the following week, she gave a chunk back to Vegas.

 

Which brings us to another point:  for some reason, women seem to be following this blog more than men, or at least, they contact us more than the guys.  As some of you know, this site is run by a majority of the fairer sex.  Our founder is the only male contributing here.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American followers.  Happy Autumn/Spring to all our followers on the other side of the pond and on the lower side of the Earth.

 

11/27/2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Buffalo	Massachusetts	6.5	Buffalo
Georgia St.	Troy	1	Georgia St.
Tulane	Tulsa	-6.5	Tulsa
San Jose St.	Boise St.	-7.5	San Jose St.
Kentucky	Louisville	-4.5	Kentucky
Michigan St.	Penn St.	11	Penn St.
Purdue	Indiana	-6.5	Indiana
Illinois (@Chi.)	Northwestern	-3.5	Northwestern
Stanford	Notre Dame	3.5	Stanford
Detroit	Philadelphia	2	Detroit
Dallas	Carolina	1	Carolina
Green Bay	Chicago	9	Chicago
Houston	New Orleans	3	Houston

Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 7-5		$245 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Pittsburgh	Miami (Fla)		Pittsburgh
Buffalo	Massachusetts		Buffalo
Akron	Kent St.		Akron
Money Line Parlay	4 Teams at 13-10		$230 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Toledo	Western Michigan		Toledo
Tulsa	Tulane		Tulsa
West Virginia	Iowa St.		West Virginia
Tennessee	Vanderbilt		Tennessee
Money Line Parlay	4 Teams at 7-3		$325 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Utah	Colorado		Utah
Florida St.	Florida		Florida St.
Georgia	Georgia Tech		Georgia
Clemson	South Carolina		Clemson
Money Line Parlay	4 Teams at 3-2		$256 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
LSU	Texas A&M		LSU
Alabama	Auburn		Alabama
Oklahoma	Oklahoma St.		Oklahoma
San Diego St.	Nevada		San Diego St.
Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 8-3		$358 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Houston	New Orleans		Houston
Kansas City	Buffalo		Kansas City
New York Jets	Miami		New York Jets
Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 13-10		$233 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Cincinnati	St. Louis		Cincinnati
Arizona	San Francisco		Arizona
New England	Denver		New England

 

 

Selections Against The Spread–November 20, 2015

We almost decided to take this week off in our selections against the spread and money line parlays.  To start off with, we do not like any of the NFL lines this week, and we eliminated them all from consideration.  Since an overwhelming majority of our readers come to us for NFL information rather than college, it almost did not seem worth it.  However, a couple of you like the college game, so we need to give you something to laugh at.

While our selections against the spread are basically at .500 this year, our money line parlays have been an inconsistent winner.  Because we are playing parlays where the final odds on each game are on the + side, it figures that it would be very hard to win half, but the average payout is about 5-3, so winning 50% is okay, because you come out ahead.

To date, our parlay choices are just 10-12, but our return on the mythical 22 selections has been positive to the turn of 43.5% ROI.

 

However, we do warn you: do not use our selections as your source of investment.  It’s fine if you want to look, but make your own choices.  We do not use ours for anything other than the fun we have doing it.

 

Straight Picks–Sides

11/20/2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Maryland	Indiana	3	Indiana
Connecticut	Houston	-10	Connecticut
Virginia Tech	North Carolina	-4	North Carolina
Wisconsin	Northwestern	10 1/2	Northwestern
Oklahoma	TCU	11 1/2	TCU
Arizona St.	Arizona	7 1/2	Arizona
Kansas St.	Iowa St.	5 1/2	Kansas St.
Stanford	California	11 1/2	California
New Mexico	Colorado St.	-2 1/2	New Mexico

Money Line Parlay

Money Line Parlay	6 Teams at 8-5		$264 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Georgia	Georgia Southern		Georgia
NC St	Syracuse		NC St
Tennessee	Missouri		Tennessee
Ohio St.	Michigan St.		Ohio St.
Washington	Oregon St.		Washington
Notre Dame	Boston College		Notre Dame

 

Selections Against The Spread–Friday, the 13th of November, 2015

It usually happens once a year–the PiRates decide to go with a slate of underdogs, and this is the week we do it in 2015.

 

We have been looking to this week for the past month believing that there could be trap games galore in college football, and thus the urge to go with some underdogs stimulates us to present you with 11 plays.

 

We have chosen four money line parlays for you with all offering better than even money odds.  Enjoy these picks, but remember, they are worth exactly what you have paid for them.

Straight Sides

11/12/2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Cincinnati	Tulsa	19.5	Tulsa
Syracuse	Clemson	-30	Syracuse
Rutgers	Nebraska	-8.5	Rutgers
Old Dominion	UTEP	7.5	UTEP
Air Force	Utah St.	-2	Air Force
Nevada	San Jose St.	1	San Jose St.
Idaho	Appalachian St.	-19.5	Idaho
South Carolina	Florida	-8.5	South Carolina
Boise St.	New Mexico	30.5	New Mexico
Green Bay	Detroit	12	Detroit
Vanderbilt	Kentucky	3.5	Kentucky

Money Line Parlays

Money Line Parlay	6 Teams at 7-5		$242 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Ohio St.	Illinois		Ohio St.
Northwestern	Purdue		Northwestern
Louisville	Virginia		Louisville
Michigan St.	Maryland		Michigan St.
North Carolina	Miami (Fl)		North Carolina
Oklahoma St.	Iowa St.		Oklahoma St.
Money Line Parlay	4 Teams at 2-1		$294 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Iowa	Minnesota		Iowa
West Virginia	Texas		West Virginia
Alabama	Mississippi St.		Alabama
Georgia Southern	Troy		Georgia Southern
Money Line Parlay	4 Teams at 4-3		$228 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Green Bay	Detroit		Green Bay
Cincinnati	Houston		Cincinnati
New England	N.Y. Giants		New England
St. Louis	Chicago		St. Louis
Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 2-1		$292 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Philadelphia	Miami		Philadelphia
Carolina	Tennessee		Carolina
Denver	Kansas City		Denver

 

Selections Against The Spread–November 6, 2015

Due to time constraints this week, the PiRates were not able to put out their selections on Thursday. Here are their picks for the weekend.

 

PiRate	Selections	For	Nov. 6-7, 2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
UTEP	Rice	-6.5	Rice
West Virginia	Texas Tech	8	Texas Tech
Georgia St.	UL-Lafayette	-1.5	UL-Lafayette
Indiana	Iowa	-7	Indiana
Florida	Vanderbilt	21	Florida
Houston	Cincinnati	8.5	Cincinnati
Massachusetts	Akron	-2.5	Akron
Northwestern	Penn St.	2.5	Penn St.
Colorado	Stanford	-16.5	Colorado
Clemson	Florida St.	11.5	Florida St.
Alabama	LSU	7	LSU
Middle Tennessee	Marshall	3	Marshall
N. Y. Jets	Jacksonville	7.5	Jacksonville
New Orleans	Tennessee	7.5	New Orleans
New England	Washington	14	New England
Indianapolis	Denver	-4.5	Denver
Dallas	Philadelphia	-2.5	Philadelphia

This Week’s Selections: October 8-12, 2015

We told you last week, and it came true last week.  A broken clock is correct twice a day, and the PiRate clock just happened to experience one of those instances where we lucked into a nice winning weekend.

Our straight picks against the side went 4-2-1, and our Money Line parlays returned 70% on investment.  Yes, it was a nice winning week for those that theoretically used our picks as their investment advice.  And, we received positive comments from some of you, two of whom thanked us for supplying research data by commenting at our sister site: http://www.piratings.webs.com.

This disturbs us.  How many times have we warned you readers not to use our picks as your method of choice to wager real money?  How many times can we say that you are getting exactly what you paid for–NOTHING!

Our selections are strictly for fun, much in the way you might play a game of Strat-o-Matic baseball against a friend.  Your 1927 Yankees may beat your friend’s 1954 Indians 5-3, and 15 minutes later, it is forgotten (unless you live in a make-believe world).  These picks should be considered Strat-o-Matic wagering.  Use your Monopoly money to make wagers; please do not use these picks for real.  We have no experts here.  We lose nothing, and we do not regret doing it just for fun when we have a successful week like the last one.

Don’t be like the poor soul that took his pickup truck in the high waters in South Carolina after failing to heed the warnings not to attempt to drive through the flooded street.  We cannot bail you out if your financial pickup truck takes on too much water and flips over.

Please read the above paragraphs once more before skipping down to this week’s picks.

Okay, here are this week’s Pretend Picks.  We are going with what worked last week and sort of worked the week before–13 straight side picks against the spread and four money line parlays where the odds give us a payout better than 1-1.

Straight Selections Against the Spread

10/8/2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Purdue	Minnesota	-2.5	Minnesota
Army	Duke	-12.5	Army
Iowa	Illinois	11	Illinois
Northern Illinois	Ball St.	10.5	Ball St.
Georgia St.	Appalachian St.	-15.5	Appalachian St.
Tennessee	Georgia	-2.5	Georgia
Michigan	Northwestern	8	Northwestern
Houston	Indianapolis	-2.5	Indianapolis
Kansas City	Chicago	10	Chicago
Cincinnati	Seattle	3	Cincinnati
Oakland	Denver	-4.5	Denver
N.Y. Giants	San Francisco	7	N.Y. Giants
San Diego	Pittsburgh	3	San Diego

Money Line Parlays

Money Line Parlay	5 teams at 6-5		$216 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Oklahoma	Texas		Oklahoma
Akron	Eastern Michigan		Akron
Temple	Tulane		Temple
Alabama	Arkansas		Alabama
Oregon	Washington St.		Oregon
Money Line Parlay	5 teams at 6-5		$222 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Notre Dame	Navy		Notre Dame
Arizona St.	Colorado		Arizona St.
Boise St.	Colorado St.		Boise St.
Texas Tech	Iowa St.		Texas Tech
Michigan St.	Rutgers		Michigan St.
Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 6-5		$218 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Baltimore	Cleveland		Baltimore
Atlanta	Washington		Atlanta
Green Bay	St. Louis		Green Bay
Money Line Parlay	3 Teams at 3-2		$246 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
New England	Dallas		New England
Denver	Oakland		Denver
N.Y. Giants	San Francisco		N.Y. Giants

Selections Against the Spread–October 1-5, 2015

Have you not had enough angst in your life?  Do you have to come visit this addictive weekly exercise in futility?  Why is it that this no-frills weekly submission is our most read regular post?  Are we doing that well that you must look at our picks before losing your rent money?

We have told you time and again that you should not use these picks to make real wagers, because we sure don’t.  So, why is it that we have dozens of visits from web addresses in Nevada, Delaware, Ontario, and Europe, the places where there are legal storefront sports books?

We have figured out the answer.  Something in the way we select teams has been tipping off the smart bettors.  They know something about our picks we ourselves do not know.  Maybe when we select an NFC West game, and they believe the opposite will be true, they wager more knowing they will be correct, and we will not.  Or, maybe when we select a money line parlay, they take each of the individual components and wager against our selection?

Our more likely, a couple dozen poor souls do not heed our advice and go ahead and use this site as their reference.  When we say “poor” souls, we are hiting the nail on the head, because our picks have been mediocre to this point.

With that in mind, remember that a broken clock is still correct twice a day, and we figure that eventually our broken clock will tell the correct time this year–maybe this week.

We are expanding our picks this week, because in our crazy mixed-up brains, the five of us believe we know things that the books do not.  We believe we have isolated some decent picks this week.  For your sake, we hope you know better.

Sides

10/1/2015
Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Cincinnati	Miami	-6.5	Miami
Oklahoma	West Virginia	7	Oklahoma
Florida	Ole Miss	-7.5	Florida
Middle Tenn.	Vanderbilt	1.5	Middle Tenn.
New Mexico	N. Mexico St.	12.5	New Mexico
Pittsburgh	Baltimore	-3	Pittsburgh
Carolina	Tampa Bay	3	Carolina

10-Point Teasers

	Home	Visitor	Teaser	Pick
1	Charlotte	Temple	-12.5	Temple
	Penn St.	Army	15	Penn St.
	Kent St.	Miami (O)	0.5	Kent St.
2	Northwestern	Minnesota	-6	Northwestern
	Wisconsin	Iowa	16.5	Iowa
	Oklahoma St.	Kansas St.	17.5	Kansas St.
3	Georgia	Alabama	12	Alabama
	Duke	Boston College	17	Boston College
	Middle Tennessee	Vanderbilt	-8.5	Middle Tennessee
4	Missouri	South Carolina	12.5	South Carolina
	Tennessee	Arkansas	16.5	Arkansas
	Maryland	Michigan	-6	Michigan
5	Miami (@London)	N. Y. Jets	-11.5	Miami
	Arizona	St. Louis	-3	Arizona
	Seattle	Detroit	Pk.	Seattle

Money Line Parlays

Money Line Parlay	5 teams at 43-20		$315 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Indianapolis	Jacksonville		Indianapolis
San Diego	Cleveland		San Diego
Denver	Minnesota		Denver
Arizona	St. Louis		Arizona
Seattle	Detroit		Seattle
Money Line Parlay	4 teams at 11-10		$210 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
BYU	Connecticut		BYU
Kent St.	Miami (O)		Kent St.
Oklahoma	West Virginia		Oklahoma
Michigan	Maryland		Michigan
Money Line Parlay	3 teams at 1-1		$200 payout on $100
Favorite	Underdog		Must Win
Iowa St.	Kansas		Iowa St.
Northwestern	Minnesota		Northwestern
Southern Miss.	North Texas		Southern Miss.

 

Selections Against The Spread–September 24-28, 2015

Today, we expand our fun nonsense with three different types of selections to lose you money quicker than if you throw it away playing one weekend fantasy games.  Before you throw away good money thinking you can be that one person in 20 million that makes a million dollars, and before you decide to lose it in the conventional way by playing the stock market, consider losing it this much more entertaining way.

Pardon us whilst we remove tongues from cheeks.

Seriously, just remember that these selections are worth less than what you pay for them.  Use these only as something to either endorse your prior beliefs of convince you to pocket that extra change in your wallet and buy some nice flowers for your utmost.

Today, we have decided to go with five sides picks, seven 10-point teasers, and one stupendous Money Line parlay.

Did we mention this: DO NOT use these picks as your guide to lose all your money this weekend.  How much will the PiRates wager this weekend?  A big fat 0.  We have chosen to go the flowers route; the payoff is so wonderful.

 

Sides

Home	Visitor	Line	Our Pick
Syracuse	LSU	24.5	Syracuse
Carolina	New Orleans	3	Carolina
N. Y. Giants	Washington	3	N. Y. Giants
Baltimore	Cincinnati	2.5	Baltimore
Cleveland	Oakland	3	Cleveland

10-Point Teasers

	Home	Visitor	Teaser	Pick
1	Washington	California	-14	Washington
	Baylor	Rice	44.5	Rice
	Charlotte	Florida Atlantic	-21.5	Charlotte
2	Syracuse	LSU	-34.5	Syracuse
	Michigan	BYU	15.5	BYU
	Kentucky	Missouri	12.5	Missouri
3	Virginia	Boise St.	7.5	Boise St.
	Notre Dame	Masachusetts	19	Notre Dame
	Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	15	Ole Miss
4	Dallas	Atlanta	10	Atlanta
	Carolina	New Orleans	-7	Carolina
	St. Louis	Pittsburgh	10	Pittsburgh
5	Miami	Buffalo	12.5	Buffalo
	N. Y. Giants	Washington	-7	N. Y. Giants
	Houston	Tampa Bay	-3	Houston
6	Seattle	Chicago	25.5	Chicago
	New England	Jacksonville	4.5	New England
	Baltimore	Cincinnati	12.5	Cincinnati
7	Cleveland	Oakland	-7	Cleveland
	Green Bay	Kansas City	-2.5	Green Bay
	Minnesota	San Diego	11	San Diego

Money Line Parlay

For those two or three of you that have read this far and do not know what a Money Line parlay is, we will tell you, but we will also wonder why you have read this far in the first place.

The Money Line allows you to select the winner of a particular game without having to worry about a point spread.  However, since it is obvious that the favorite has a better chance to win the game than the underdog, you must pay a premium when you select the favorite to win the game.  For example, this week New England is an overwhelming favorite to beat Jacksonville.  The Money Line allows you to wager on New England to win the game by just one point and return money to you.  However, the Money Line odds for this game at most Las Vegas books is: New England -1400 and Jacksonville +800.  What this means is for every $1,400 you wager on New England at -1400, you can win $100 more than you wager.  So, if you put down $1,400 on New England on a Money Line wager, you receive $1,500 if New England wins (Your original $1,400 plus $100 profit, which is a return on your investment of 7.1%).  If you believe Jacksonville will upset the Patriots in Foxboro on Sunday and wager just $100 on the Jaguars to win the game, you stand to receive $900 (Your original $100 plus $800 profit) if Jacksonville wins.

A Money Line Parlay allows you to combine multiple games into one wager.  Let’s say that you have 3 favorites you believe will all win and feel confident enough to lay down cash for one combined wager.  For an example let’s use a possible 4-team Money Line Parlay for Sunday.

Houston is currently -280 vs. Tampa Bay

New England is currently -1400 vs. Jacksonville

Seattle is currently -1600 vs. Chicago

Green Bay is currently -320 vs. Kansas City

If you believe Houston, New England, Seattle, and Green Bay are certain winners and combine these four games into one wager, our parlay calculator says that for every $100 you wager, you will get back $203 (Your original $100 plus $103 profit) if the four teams all win.  If just one of the four loses or ties, then you lose your $100.

Just for fun, what if you think New England and Seattle will win with 100% belief in your mind?  What if you combine -1400 and -1600 into one wager?  The payout on $100 wagered would be just $114.  That is obviously a 14% return on your investment.  Now remember that in your mind this is 100% winnable.  Where else can you return 14% on an investment in one weekend?  Ah, this is why there are so many broke individuals in Las Vegas, and why the books and casinos can build new and improved versions every few years.  Who do you think wins the majority of these wagers?

Now that you have been warned, here is our super-duper 8-team Money Line Parlay for this week.  This returns at a rate slightly better than 3-2 if it wins.  For every $100 you wager on this parlay, if all eight teams win, your return is $251 (Your original $100 plus $151 profit).

And, here it is:

Money Line Parlay	8-team Parlay	3-2 odds	$151 payout for $100
Favorite	Underdog	Odds	Must Win
Nebraska	Southern Miss.	-1400	Nebraska
Houston	Texas St.	-800	Houston
Penn St.	San Diego St.	-800	Penn St.
Western Kentucky	Miami (O)	-1150	West Virginia
Georgia Southern	Idaho	-750	Georgia Southern
South Carolina	Central Florida	-650	South Carolina
Oregon	Utah	-500	Oregon
Northwestern	Ball St.	-1200	Northwestern

Did we mention that we strongly advise you not to wager real money on any of our recommendations?  Consider how much you paid for this information.  The sharpest of the sharp bettors make consistent profit during football season.  Do they look at our recommendations?  Okay, Billy, if you are reading this, please let us know.