The Saturday free play was ugly as Iowa State was no match for Oklahoma State. Give the Cowboys credit for being ready to play, which I did not think they would be off last week’s smashing at the hands of Texas. The Cyclones lost their QB during the game, but that didn’t impact the result at all. Bad pick, and the college free plays are now 7-4 for the season.
On the service side, I was on Northwestern, Kansas State and Stanford, so I did a great job finding outright underdog winners. But I did a rotten job on the chalk I played, and the result is a very nondescript overall day and week. My play on SMU was just plain stupid on my part, and it’s tough to win when making really bad decisions such as that one. I’ve still got one game pending, and I can really use a winner on that one.
Time for a look at my free opinion for Sunday in the NFL. Going back to the start of the season, I don’t know that anyone could have predicted just how miserable things would be for the Tennessee Titans. Maybe it was a hangover from the disappointing finish to the 2008 season. Maybe it was a pass defense that suddenly turned into a sieve, with the absence on the front line of Albert Haynesworth proving to be more damaging than anticipated. Maybe it was uninspired QB play by an aging Kerry Collins. Pick any or all of those ingredients or some others I didn’t even mention, and it added up to an 0-6 start and what amounts to a lost season.
The brutal start to the season may actually be the catalyst that makes Tennessee a good value play now. They finally have a win under their belts and that should give them some energy and confidence as they to the Bay for a duel with the 49ers.
The Titans would clearly have been the favorite in this game if we rewind the clock to September. I still think they’re the better football team. The 49ers are a hard working bunch and they’re very much in the muddled NFC West picture. But I don’t think they’re especially talented and with the Titans finally going into a game off something positive, I see them having a very good chance to win this contest. I’ll go with the Titans plus the points for this week’s free NFL play.
Back on Monday with some notes from the college weekend.
