Not just "another Saturday night"

[Dr. Jack]

Not just "another Saturday night"
by "The Animal"

Guys and Gals, We hope to use this segment to use as a weekly column recapping the previous weekend and offer some football insights and observations from “The Animal”. In the case of this past weekends, it will be very therapeutic for this author, following a two-day stretch in which I personally did nothing right for my personal bank account and my beloved and diehard clients. Well almost nothing.

On Saturday night “The Animal” was the scoreboard operator at 1-866-3733-866. For the first six hours of the shift, nothing too exciting as I personally milked in winners on South Florida and Toledo and both weren’t without some serious sweat. But those were like a walk in the park compared to what lied ahead in the wee hours of the morning.

While most of you already had your head hitting the pillow, “The Animal” was hard at work urging Arizona State, Fresno State, and Hawaii to get the job done early Sunday morning. Arizona State (+1) led Oregon State 13-9 with under four minutes remaining. Oregon State began their final possession at their own 18-yard line. Earlier in the 2nd half, the Beavers were feeble at moving the pigskin. But of course we are talking “prevent defense” from the Sun Devils or what I call “prevention from covering”. Sure enough, Oregon State marched down the field in Elway-like fashion and eventually had 1st down and goal at the Arizona State 9-yard line. Following two in-completions, Oregon State’s quarterback was sacked back at the 35-yard line. Using time management resembling an 11th grade dropout preparing for finals, the Beavers were unable to get off the final play. “The Animal” pointed to the sky and said “thank you big guy”.

But the work had just begun. “The Animal” caught an attractive line just before kickoff of Fresno State –22 ½ points. Following countless missed opportunities, Fresno State finally went up 24-0 midway through the 4th quarter. But “prevent defense” prevailed again as SMU looked more like FSU and the Mustangs galloped past the Bulldogs in Secretariat like fashion and eventually scored with under four minutes remaining. Time for an update. Following a trip to the office fridge, I glance up only to see somehow SMU has the ball again in Fresno territory. Trying to find the red flair to put an ‘L’ next to my Fresno State wager, I notice the Mustangs are inside the Bulldogs’ 15-yard line. Within seconds, they are at the five-yard line with :07 remaining. My immediate though was “this is a killer for teasers”. But then the the football Gods were on my side. The SMU quarterback threw into the end zone and it was intercepted by a Fresno State defender. Once out of the end zone, we certainly expected him to slide down inside his own 10-yard line. But then, out of nowhere, with the mental image of Scottie Pippen launching a meaningless three-pointer at the buzzer, the Bulldog defensive back increased his speed. By the time he reached his own 40-yard line, the gun had sounded. But rather than run out of bounds, he went toward the middle of the field, and dodged several would-be tacklers. “The Animal” began chanting “it can’t be”. He barely avoided being tripped up at the SMU 20-yard line and from that point on….clear sailing into the utopia known as TD-LAND. Fresno State 30 SMU 7 and no extra-point necessary in my mind.

By now Hawaii was underway. 21 points were scored the first four minutes between Nevada and the Warriors. By the end of the first quarter, Hawaii had 42 points and the time was 1:20AM (ET). It was a 75-minute first quarter, but I didn’t care because I was “roasting the pig” with the guys in the plaid shirts. The easy Hawaii cover was secure just after 4:00AM (ET).

A momentary reprieve until a bloody NFL Sunday. But it was fun while it lasted! Mark “The Animal” http://www.animalssportspicks.com