Last week I told the forum I didn't trust the Tigers off the misleading victory down in Gainesville against the Gators. Vanderbilt is clearly nothing special on either side of the ball but managed to basically hang around all day before the Tigers finally put the Commodores down 24-14 falling woefully short of covering the 24 point spread. On a personal note, I totally passed on the game. We had one bad football team going up against a underacheiving group. What is so bizzarre is this Missouri team is still in the hunt for the division title. Talk about fraudulent. I love the Tigers but in no way should they be in that position. Just a sorry state of the division, particularly with both Florida and South Carolina down at the same time. It is my opinion if this Mizzou team squared off against the eventual winner from the other side it would be like a crime scene with the beating they would have to endure.
Now it is onto week 10 and the Kentucky Wildcats come to Columbia. I will be candid as always, Missouri could be in trouble. The reason I say this is because I know for a stone cold fact they don't respect this Kentucky club. They have handled them in the past and do not feel threatened. You might ask, how can a team that has clearly been struggling overlook anyone. Particularly a Wildcat outfit that has gamely battled some tough competition of late. Well, too often we forget we are dealing with kids here. It can be maddeningly difficult for a staff to get their teams collective minds right. This staff is working hard to do just that. I suspect Steckel will have his defense ready to rumble. His marine approach frankly intimidates the hell out of most in his unit and they tend to listen. He can be slow to adjust to in game situations, just look back at the Auburn game last year, but as for game prep he is sound as hell. The defense should show up. I always have questions about our secondary and they will get challenged big time saturday. On the offensive side despite his recent skids QB Maty Mauk is showing no dent in his confidence level. He is often not on the same page with his wideouts and that can be maddening. It's my opinion he misses last years group and this year the guys are having a helluva lot more trouble getting separation resulting in smaller windows for Mauk to hit. And the stubborn fact is accuracy is not his forte, not yet anyway. The Tigers are not geared to line up in the I and run a power attack. Just not tooled that way with Murphy and Hansbrough carrying the ball. They will continue to spread things out, use some wide splits and hope Mauk and his receivers can get on the same wave length.
What's my bottom line with Mizzou this week. Looks like a number pretty much right on to me. I expect a competitive game to the end. Right now I lean the Tigers laying less than a touchdown.
Okay, on the business side. As always I open up the books and show my football numbers on a weekly basis. I had a poster last week claim I was "batting .500 for the season." Well, no. As is often the case that is simply not true. As any veteran sports bettor will tell you the bottom line is units. Are you making any damn money or not! Right now in football we are up 13.25 units. Is this short of expectations? Frankly yes. Last year we made exactly 100 units profit when all was said and done so clearly I need to finish with a strong kick. And I fully expect to. In the college game we are at 43-37, +5.5 units. The Triple Stars stand at 6-3. In the NFL the record is at 28-27, +7.75 units. The triples are 7-2. In fact over the last two NFL seasons the Triples have hit at a 80% clip. 28 of the last 35. Now I am going to state once again, for the umpteenth time. When I became a pro on this site I had clients wanting only the Triples. I also had clients who wanted action, the more the bettor. I make every effort to please everyone. Some guys only play the Triples and laugh all the way to the bank. For the others I also release singles. Obviously they won't have the same results. Wouldnt that be a beautiful thing. Whether or not a guy plays them all is his own decison. BUT, obviously my record reflects ALL games released. Not just the big ones. So even with the singles factored in we are up 13.25 units. I guarantee you there are sites out there at this point of the season that would trade their left nut to be up any units at this point of the season. You know it and I know it. As of right now I have my NFL Triple Star Game of the Week up and loaded. No, it is not a lock. I don't deal in that garbage. But like I have shown, I've hit on 80% of the things the last two seasons so the success rate is solid.
Many thanks as always and best of luck with your action this weekend.