Blame enough to go around

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“Have you ever noticed that the better the coach, the more likely he is to be blamed when things don’t go well? “

The Big Geek had crept into the hallway of the spacious department making almost perfect choices. It was break time, I guess, as I could see the nerds lounging outside the war room.

GG wasn’t really interested in my answer to a rhetorical question. He continued:

“Now a teacher will give a student an ‘F’, but you never hear the teacher blame himself for not preparing the student well. No awareness.

“A few things,” I say. “I think even observers who aren’t coaches can recognize when players aren’t performing; generally a lack of consistency. They block, tackle or pass one game well, not the next. Or maybe one game, and not the next. And I also suspect that even the coach who bears the blame publicly has something else to say about it in team meetings and on the training ground, maybe to assistant coaches and players as well.

“Also,” I continued, “I think a successful coach can afford to take responsibility when things go wrong. But if it happens too often, the people pulling the strings are likely to believe that the coach is to blame and decide to change.

He handed in the results of last week’s predictions. I looked at them and then at him. “I guess sometimes there’s enough blame for everyone, and sometimes it’s out of your hands.”

“Well,” he said, then shook his head and started walking up the hallway to the executive suite.

Last week, the boys were 5-3 on the winners (straight), 2-5 ATS and 5-2 on the over-under.

For the year, the Nerds are 69-24 (74.2%) to pick the winners, 45-40 (52.9%) against the bet line and 48-37 (56.5%) on the or.

Here are the predictions and results of last week (recordings entering the matches) of the Southeast Conference matches with the distribution of points and our information:

Mississippi State (5-4 overall, 3-3 SEC) at Auburn (6-3, 3-2). Auburn favored by 5½ points (-5 ½), plus-minus 51. PREDICTION: Auburn 30, Mississippi State 28. RESULT: Mississippi State 43, Auburn 34. Bad on winner, right on line and or.

Samford (4-5) at Florida (4-5, 2-5). No line. PREDICTION: Florida 42, Samford 14. RESULT: Florida 70, Samford 52. Correct for the winner.

Georgia (9-0, 7-0) at Tennessee (5-4, 3-3). Georgia -20 ½, or 56. PREDICTION: Georgia 38, Tennessee 17. RESULT: Georgia 41, Tennessee 10. Right on winner and or, wrong ATS.

South Carolina (5-4, 2-4) at Missouri (4-5, 1-4). Pick it (row is even), or 55. PREDICTION: SC 31, Missouri 28. RESULT: Good score, poor winner, Missouri 31, SC 28. Also wrong against the row, just on the or.

Texas A&M (7-2, 4-2) at Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2). Texas A&M -2 ½, or 55 ½. PREDICTION: Texas A&M 38, Ole Miss 27. RESULT: Ole Miss 29, Texas A&M 19. Wrong on all, winner, against spread, and or.

Kentucky (6-3, 4-3) vs. Vanderbilt (2-7, 0-5). Kentucky -21, or 52 ½. PREDICTION: Kentucky 31, Vanderbilt 9. RESULT: Kentucky 34, Vanderbilt 17. Right on the winner and or, wrong on the line.

Arkansas (6-3, 2-3) at LSU (4-5, 2-4). Arkansas -2 ½, or 59. PREDICTION: Arkansas 28, LSU 21. RESULT: All correct – win, ATS, and or.

New Mexico State (1-8) at Alabama (8-1, 5-1). Alabama 52, or 67 ½. PREDICTION: Alabama 63, State of New Mexico 14. RESULT: Alabama 59, State of New Mexico 3. Good against winner, bad against line and or.

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