The Fraud Five by Mike Kern – Week 6 Edition

The Fraud Five

By Mike Kern

October 6, 2019

The latest installment. And let me tell you some weeks are harder than others. This was one of those times. So I maybe had to bend some of my standards a little to fill things out. Anyway, here goes:

Iowa – It’s OK to lose at Michigan, especially now that the Jim Harbaughs appear to be less than what some of us, including yours truly, might have been expecting to this point. But I don’t think it’s asking too much to at least score more than three points.

Oklahoma State – It might not be OK to lose at Texas Tech, as a 10-point favorite, coming off a home win over Kansas State that got you into the Top 25. I know, it happens. Welcome to much of the reasoning/logic behind FF.

Army – Rarely pick on the service academies. But while it might be OK to lose to Tulane, even at home, it might not be OK to give up 42 points in the process. Good thing the Cadets scored twice in the closing three minutes (once on a fumble return) to only lose by nine.

TCU – It might be OK to lose at Iowa State, as a slight underdog, but 49-24 still seems somewhat excessive.

Miami – It’s not OK to lose to Virginia Tech, which was coming off a 41-10 loss to Duke, at home. And the Hurricanes did fall behind 28-0. I’ll give them credit for coming back to tie late, but the visitors were able to drive for the winning touchdown to keep the Hokies out of FF. Truth is, neither team is all that. How the once-relevant have plunged.

Kansas State – It’s OK to lose to Baylor, even at home, but maybe not by 31-12 in what was more or less a pick’em game. It hasn’t taken my man Matt Rhule that long to get Baylor back to being a factor. Good for him. The Bears don’t get Oklahoma and Texas (both in beautiful downtown Waco, by the way, back-to-back) until November. So it could get even more interesting by then.

Dishonorable Mention: UCLA. I know the Bruins aren’t Alabama, or maybe even North Alabama, but they were favored by a TD at home over Oregon State. Which of course is still Oregon State. So I actually thought Chip Kelly had a real chance to do something in this one. Sorry. Silly me. Your final was 48-31. He now gets a well deserved bye before heading to Stanford. Good thing he doesn’t get Utah and Southern Cal for another five weeks, although both are away on consecutive Saturdays.

See, maybe that wasn’t so taxing of an exercise after all. And is the season really almost halfway over?

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