25 observations from the football wagering world.

1. There have been a number of teams that have surprised me, both positively, and negatively, this college football season. But none more than Florida. The Gators had seven players taken in the NFL draft and I expected their defense to be down significantly. But they appear to only be down moderately, and that offense can make up for a the occasional defensive lapses that are come with inexperience. Remember that Florida had a lot of playmakers that were banged up heading into the rout of Tennessee. Percy Harvin didn’t look dinged up to me.

2. I expected Oklahoma State would be pretty good, yet Bobby Reid has been replaced at QB, their new defense is worse than the old, and their blowout losses to Georgia and Troy are made even uglier by the fact that neither the Bulldogs nor the Trojans have done anything notable otherwise.

3. Troy’s rout of Okie State kicked off a huge week for Sun Belt football (there’s a phrase that’s never been uttered before). Florida Atlantic enjoyed a 7-0 turnover edge in their field goal win over Minnesota, while Arkansas State waxed SMU 45-28.

4. I was a little negative on Boston College heading into the season and have been proven wrong. Some people I respect in college football weren’t sure Jeff Jagodzinski would be a good fit as a college head coach, and there were spring practice (new offensive line coach quits) and fall practice (offensive line looked like a disaster) problems. But 3-0 in conference play looks like a good fit to me. Steve Logan, always creative offensively at East Carolina, put his NFL Europe coaching experience to good use as his charges were more than ready for Jon Tenuta’s zone blitzes, usually so problematic for opponents of Georgia Tech.

5. BC doesn’t have another conference game until October 25th. They’re already 3-0 in conference play and they’re now as good as 7-0, as their next four outings are home games against Army, Massachusetts, Bowling Green, and a trip to Notre Dame.

6. Conversely, six teams in the Pac Ten have nothing but conference games remaining. The only exceptions in that conference are USC, Stanford, and UCLA’s games with Notre Dame (lucky them) and Washington taking advantage of the 13th game for visitors to Hawaii. The Pac Ten plays a full round robin schedule, the only major conference other than the Big East (which has only 8 teams) to do so.

7. I expected Notre Dame would be down but I didn’t expect this. No offense TD’s since the 2nd quarter of the Sugar Bowl. There has been no production at all out of players recruited by Charlie Weis.

8. Top 5 teams all covered the spread last weekend in college football. Mostly by large margins.

9. Arkansas’ injury problems go deeper than Marcus Monk, who is back at practice but unlikely to play this weekend. Ben Cleveland looks to be headed to a redshirt year. The tight end showed some real flashes last year and would have helped make the Hogs attack a little less one-dimensional.

10. South Florida didn’t play Saturday, but Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News dropped USF from No. 10 to No. 17 on his AP ballot after Auburn, who USF upset the previous week, lost to Mississippi State. So you don’t play and you drop 7 spots? Keep in mind this is the poll that is part of the BCS system.

11. Somewhere, Marty Schottenheimer is smiling.

12. I’m no web page usability expert, but the NFL.com redesign is either terrible, or I was just used to the old one.

13.And all those college athletic department websites that were created in partnership with CSTV aren’t any better. I really expected those to improve this year and they’re as unwieldy as when they started.

14. The BBC reports that despite online gambling being legal in Britain, it has not led to an increase in the number of people who gamble.

15 .Maybe the Vikings can be recast as a rugby team. Minnesota is terrific on the ground both offensively and defensively, on a yards per rush basis, they’re outperforming opponents 4.4 to 3.1. That’s similar to last year, where they averaged 4.1 yards per rush on offense while allowing only 2.8. They permitted an incredible 62 rushing yards per game on the ground last year. The problems are through the air. With a 40.2 QB rating after the first two games, Tarvaris Jackson’s 4 interceptions cost them the game on Sunday. He may not play on Sunday due to injury. Minny’s pass defense is ranked 26th in the league, and that includes the opportunity to play against Joey Harrington. Their pass D was last in the league last year. Things look good on the ground in Minnesota, but until they can compete through the air…..

16. Remember that there were people who thought the Falcons would be better off without Michael Vick. Atlanta signed Byron Leftwich, but it is meaningful that Leftwich was on the market for three weeks without much interest.

17. Tom Brady has 12 incomplete passes in the Patriots first two games. 3 of those he threw away. 3 were drops.

18. And you think you’ve made bad investments. Purchased for $16 million, The Green Monkey ran a dull third in a maiden race at Belmont. An unnamed Hall of Fame trainer told Daily Racing Form’s Steve Crist “He’s going to be a maiden a very long time. Actually, I doubt we’ll see him race again.”

19. Even in the computer age, some solid complimentary selection phones still exist. Call Dave Fobare’s hotline at 1-770-618-8700 for free selections. Erik Scheponik and Matty Baiungo broadcast their analysis at 1-404-250-7555.

20. What’s Conference USA got against Memphis? The Tigers open conference play on the road for the tenth consecutive year when they visit Central Florida’s new stadium on Saturday.

21. In a court of law, Isaiah Thomas says that white men shouldn’t call women “bitch” and “’ho,” but black guys can.

22. The major media has been slow to pick up on the fact that fantasy football, rotisserie baseball, and the like might get swept up in anti-gambling legislation, but that’s mentioned in this interesting Baltimore Sun commentary.

23. Lost in the carnage of UCLA’s bizarre 44-6 laydown to banged-up-beyond-belief Utah was the fact that it was a rare 50+ point non-cover. UCLA actually took money, and were bet up to be a 15½-point favorite. The whipping occurred 10 days to the week of another UCLA performance, this one the largest cover in history, a 73-point spreadbeater in a 66-3 win at Texas as 10-point dogs 1997.

24. Tank Johnson has signed with the Cowboys. Calvin Hill, Dallas Cowboys Director of Player Babysitting and Life Skills blames hip hop for the problems of so many players.

25. It isn’t a terribly compelling weekend of football. The most attractive college game this week is tough to isolate. The only matchups between Top 25 teams are in the SEC with South Carolina-LSU and Georgia-Alabama. The most attractive NFL game this week is easily the Cowboys and Bears, but that’s the only game between teams who were each in the postseason last year. Oh well, some weeks are just better than others, I guess.

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