RAS - NCAA Football - Week 2 Final Report
-- NEXT UPDATE will be before 10:00pm Pacific on Sunday, September 5th.
We are early with this weeks report due to extra preperation time and no game tapes to review. UCLA did not make it as an official RAS play due to injuries on defense. One starting DL and one starting LB are out as well as one backup LB. A few others are nicked up. I still expect a good overall showing but will keep it only as an early look. Five of our six released plays thus far have seen line moves of at least a point. I recommend placing all wagers as early as possible.
Week 2 recap of plays:
Sunday Night Early Looks (recommended as 1/2 UNIT plays)
Northwestern +7.5
Washington State -1
Vanderbilt +5
UCLA -1
Official RAS Plays (recommended as 1 UNIT plays)
Eastern Michigan -6
Vanderbilt +4
BYU/Notre Dame Over 44
Two official RAS plays for Saturday:
Vanderbilt +4 over South Carolina - 9:30am Pacific (Saturday)
This game is of immeasurable importance to the Commodores. They have 7 "winnable" games this year and there has been much talk about the prospects of them reaching a bowl game for the first time in 22 years. Don't laugh now, but they do have a chance. It all starts with this opening game. Vandy has suffered through two years of futility under 3rd year coach Bobby Johnson (2-10 in both of first two seasons). He has fielded some of the youngest SEC teams you could imagine but this year is what they have been working towards. Vandy returns 10 starters on offense and 11 starters on defense! Vandy features an offensive and defensive lineman who were named to the preseason all-SEC team. Starting QB Jay Cutler is a legitimate NFL prospect. He has received rave reviews in fall practices for better decision making. The receiving group is said to be much improved as well. Running back duo of Kwane Doster and Norval McKenzie remains in tact. The defense features SEC sack leader Jovan Haye, stud LB Moses Osemwegie (126 tackles, 10.5 for loss last year) and 9 other returning starters. For the first time in a while, Vandy has competitive SEC team. Excitement and expectations are high.
South Carolina is coming off back to back 5-7 seasons. Their offense has struggled the last two seasons and even with 9 returning starters back it is hard to foresee major improvement with QB Pinkins still the starter. He is for the most part an inconsistent passer and decision maker. He completed only 50.3% of his passes last year. Head coach Holtz made some coaching changes since last season. He has named himself as offensive coordinator and has brought in former Cincinnati head coach Rick Minter as his new defensive coordinator. Minter will be the third coordinator in three years as the Gamecocks miss former DC Charlie Strong who moved on to Florida prior to last season after great success here. They allowed 26.2ppg last season which is the most in the Holtz era. Eight starters are back but the losses were key performers LB Garrison (leading tackler), CB Robinson (1st round draft choice), and CB Eiland (6th round draft choice). The secondary remains suspect.
Vanderbilt should have confidence heading into this game. They actually outgained the Gamecocks 456-to-379 in last years meeting in Columbia. SC capitalized on two turnovers deep in Vandy territory to take a 21-3 early lead. Vandy fought back but eventually lost 35-24 finishing with a -3 turnover ratio. Quote from Lou Holtz after the game, "I went to Skip when we were up 28-10 and said we can't stop them, you will have to control it on offense." With almost everyone back and now playing at home a year later they must feel they have a good chance of turning the tables.
There has to at least be a fair chance that South Carolina is looking ahead to their huge home opener vs Georgia next week. Meanwhile, this could not be any bigger of a game for Vandy who has a BYE following this. If South Carolina does not show major improvement from last season and bring their A game, they will lose this game outright. The Gamecocks ended last season with 4 straight losses and are just 3-7 ATS (0-2 ATS on road) in the role of the favorite in past two seasons. They are also 1-4-1 ATS in season openers under Holtz. Even with extremely young teams, the Commodores are 5-2-2 ATS as a home dog under Bobby Johnson. One of those ties was a heartbreaking 7 point OT loss to bowl bound Georgia Tech last season. Bobby Johnson is a good coach who will have his team ready to play. He is also a Columbia native which only gives him even more desire to win this game. Take the points.
Vanderbilt 1 UNIT
Continued...
-- NEXT UPDATE will be before 10:00pm Pacific on Sunday, September 5th.
We are early with this weeks report due to extra preperation time and no game tapes to review. UCLA did not make it as an official RAS play due to injuries on defense. One starting DL and one starting LB are out as well as one backup LB. A few others are nicked up. I still expect a good overall showing but will keep it only as an early look. Five of our six released plays thus far have seen line moves of at least a point. I recommend placing all wagers as early as possible.
Week 2 recap of plays:
Sunday Night Early Looks (recommended as 1/2 UNIT plays)
Northwestern +7.5
Washington State -1
Vanderbilt +5
UCLA -1
Official RAS Plays (recommended as 1 UNIT plays)
Eastern Michigan -6
Vanderbilt +4
BYU/Notre Dame Over 44
Two official RAS plays for Saturday:
Vanderbilt +4 over South Carolina - 9:30am Pacific (Saturday)
This game is of immeasurable importance to the Commodores. They have 7 "winnable" games this year and there has been much talk about the prospects of them reaching a bowl game for the first time in 22 years. Don't laugh now, but they do have a chance. It all starts with this opening game. Vandy has suffered through two years of futility under 3rd year coach Bobby Johnson (2-10 in both of first two seasons). He has fielded some of the youngest SEC teams you could imagine but this year is what they have been working towards. Vandy returns 10 starters on offense and 11 starters on defense! Vandy features an offensive and defensive lineman who were named to the preseason all-SEC team. Starting QB Jay Cutler is a legitimate NFL prospect. He has received rave reviews in fall practices for better decision making. The receiving group is said to be much improved as well. Running back duo of Kwane Doster and Norval McKenzie remains in tact. The defense features SEC sack leader Jovan Haye, stud LB Moses Osemwegie (126 tackles, 10.5 for loss last year) and 9 other returning starters. For the first time in a while, Vandy has competitive SEC team. Excitement and expectations are high.
South Carolina is coming off back to back 5-7 seasons. Their offense has struggled the last two seasons and even with 9 returning starters back it is hard to foresee major improvement with QB Pinkins still the starter. He is for the most part an inconsistent passer and decision maker. He completed only 50.3% of his passes last year. Head coach Holtz made some coaching changes since last season. He has named himself as offensive coordinator and has brought in former Cincinnati head coach Rick Minter as his new defensive coordinator. Minter will be the third coordinator in three years as the Gamecocks miss former DC Charlie Strong who moved on to Florida prior to last season after great success here. They allowed 26.2ppg last season which is the most in the Holtz era. Eight starters are back but the losses were key performers LB Garrison (leading tackler), CB Robinson (1st round draft choice), and CB Eiland (6th round draft choice). The secondary remains suspect.
Vanderbilt should have confidence heading into this game. They actually outgained the Gamecocks 456-to-379 in last years meeting in Columbia. SC capitalized on two turnovers deep in Vandy territory to take a 21-3 early lead. Vandy fought back but eventually lost 35-24 finishing with a -3 turnover ratio. Quote from Lou Holtz after the game, "I went to Skip when we were up 28-10 and said we can't stop them, you will have to control it on offense." With almost everyone back and now playing at home a year later they must feel they have a good chance of turning the tables.
There has to at least be a fair chance that South Carolina is looking ahead to their huge home opener vs Georgia next week. Meanwhile, this could not be any bigger of a game for Vandy who has a BYE following this. If South Carolina does not show major improvement from last season and bring their A game, they will lose this game outright. The Gamecocks ended last season with 4 straight losses and are just 3-7 ATS (0-2 ATS on road) in the role of the favorite in past two seasons. They are also 1-4-1 ATS in season openers under Holtz. Even with extremely young teams, the Commodores are 5-2-2 ATS as a home dog under Bobby Johnson. One of those ties was a heartbreaking 7 point OT loss to bowl bound Georgia Tech last season. Bobby Johnson is a good coach who will have his team ready to play. He is also a Columbia native which only gives him even more desire to win this game. Take the points.
Vanderbilt 1 UNIT
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