Mike Kern’s Fraud Five – Week 7 Edition

October 16, 2022 –

Mike Kern’s Fraud Five. And then some, just because we try to be thorough, fair or whatever.

Notre Dame — We suspected there was going to be growing pains with new coach, but you really shouldn’t be losing at home to a Stanford team that had dropped 11 straight to FBS opponents. But I guess if you can lose to Marshall at home anything is possible. My condolences to Mr. Harv.

Penn State — I suppose we’ve seen this game before. Maybe too many of them in recent years. No, the Nits weren’t necessarily supposed to win at Michigan. They rarely are. But you were hoping that this could be the time. Instead, they got rolled, after things were somehow close at halftime. Oh well.

Minnesota — I guess the Gophers, who get Penn State next, aren’t really that good. Or maybe Illinois is better than we thought. Either way, Minny was favored by a touchdown and lost by 12.

Dodgers — For all they’ve done they’ve only won the whole thing once, and that was in a COVID shortened season. So much for those 11 wins. And we could throw the Mets and Braves in here too. And soon the Yankees could join them. Don’t you just love the baseball postseason, which in the last three years has given you the Nats and the Braves going from wild cards to champions.

Wisconsin — I know we’re nit-picking a little here, but some weeks you do what you have to. Badgers, who’ve been through a lot, were favored by a touchdown at Michigan State, which is not good. They lost, but at least it went into double overtime.

James Madison — Again, walking a fine line. But the Dukes were favored by a dozen at Georgia Southern, which isn’t bad, trying to become the first team to start 6-0 in their first season of FBS. They lost, by a TD. Nothing egregious, just still worth noting.

Kent State — The Golden Flashes weren’t supposed to win at Toledo, which admittedly isn’t Ohio State. Yet they were up 28-7 early in the second period. They lost, 52-31. Hard to do.

Temple — In that same vein, and followers know I rarely point out my alma mater, the Owls were three-TD dogs at Central Florida. They trailed 14-13 midway through the second quarter. The Knights won the rest of the game, 56-zip, piling up over 700 yards. I knew things weren’t going to be easy trying to recover from the forgettable Rod Carey era, but I don’t know if I was expecting something like this. I touted the Owls to win more than two and a half games (the Vegas line), since I figured they couldn’t lose to Lafayette or UMass. Hope I was right. But can you blame me for having my doubts?