Mike Kern’s Fraud Five – Week 3 Edition

September 18, 2022 –

Cause some weeks are way easier than others.

Nebraska — Over and over again. Good thing the Huskers got rid of Scott Frost. But it will take time to recuperate. Kind of like Temple with Rod Carey. They lost 49-14 at home to Oklahoma, which once upon a time was their big-time rival. After playing the Sooners real close a year ago. Good thing they scored first, and last.

Kansas State — Lost 17-10 at home to Tulane, which was a 14-point underdog. At least the Wildcats led by three at halftime.

Arizona State — Lost at home to Eastern Michigan, a 20-point dog, by nine. Herm Edwards could be in trouble. Next up is Utah. At least it’s also at home, for whatever that means. Also, for whatever it’s worth, it’s the fourth time in recent years that this MAC “power” has beaten a Power Conference team. It was Rutgers in 2017, Purdue in ’18 and Illinois the year after that. Anyway, the Eagles never trailed in this one. It was their first ever win over a PAC-12 opponent.

Northwestern — Lost to FCS Southern Illinois, 31-24. So much for that big win in Dublin over Nebraska.

Auburn — It’s OK to lose to Penn State, even at home, where you were a 3-point doggie. Still, 41-12 seems excessive. And Nits pretty much stopped trying real hard in the fourth quarter.

Houston — I thought the Cougars were supposed to be good. Oh well. After losing to Texas Tech they went down again, this time 48-30 at home to Kansas, which is 3-0 for first time since 2009. Good thing Cougars led early by 14. And yes, they were favored by a little over a touchdown.

Brigham Young — Didn’t necessarily expect these Cougars to win at Oregon, where they were 3-point dogs, even though Oregon had lost by 46 earlier to Georgia and they were ranked 12th. But it was 38-7 after three quarters. Final was 41-20. So much for whatever. Hey, Ducks were ranked No. 25, if that counts.

And in the Almost category

UCLA — Needed a short field goal on the final play to outlast South Alabama, 32-31. Good thing Chip Kelly can coach. The Jaguars are now 1-11 against Power Five teams since moving up to FBS in 2011. That victory came against Mississippi State to open the 2016 season. There were 29,000 at the Rose Bowl, the second-worst crowd for the Bruins since they moved their games their in 1982. So much for the history lesson.

I probably left somebody out, but I’ll try to do better next week.

Oops, almost forgot. Appalachian State, fresh off its upset at Texas A&M, needed a 53-yard pass on the last play to beat Troy, 32-28, in the Sun Belt. Now that would have been a letdown. And it was also brought to my attention that Purdue, after taking the lead at Syracuse with 51 seconds left, was hit with not one but two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after scoring that TD and was forced to kickoff from its own 10. After the Orange started at midfield, they ended up winning (32-29) on a 25-yard pass with 7 seconds remaining. And the drive was aided by two more Purdue penalties, a holding call and a pass interference. So I guess that’s fairly fraudulent too. But it was almost a pick-‘em game, so there is that. By the way, for those of you who follow this stuff, Syracuse is now 7-1 in their last eight home games against the spread. Research.

So, was that thorough enough for you?

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