Despite having over $17,000 in the 6th race-7th race daily double pool on Wednesday at Hollywood Park, nobody managed to hit the consecutive races. Now sure, a couple of longshots came in, but with 11 horses in one race and 6 in the other creating only 66 potential results, not having even a $2 ticket on the winning combination is just astounding. Both pick 3’s and the pick 4 through those races were hit. Best ending to a rivalry game this season was the underappreciated Beehive Bowl. If you missed BYU’s last-play TD to quell Utah’s upset bid you can see it here…. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnJbeswDpVg

Wichita State, an Elite Eight team last year, is undefeated. One of the teams the Shockers beat was LSU, yet Wichita is ranked 17th and 22nd in the two major bowls, lower than the #10 & #12 ranked Bengal Tigers. So why even play the games? When Chris Sceflo was named Tulane head coach eight years ago Rich Rodriguez, then a Tulane assistant, was devastated. Rodriguez got the job at his alma mater West Virginia, where he is now heavily in demand. Sceflo was fired this week. We’ve all probably benefited from missed opportunities in the past, and Rodriguez probably did in this instance.

We’ll be hearing all about the bowl game screwings in the next few weeks. Sure Wyoming deserves a bowl berth over New Mexico, as the Cowboys beat the Lobos on the field and finished ahead of them in the conference standings. But guess what, the name of the bowl is the New Mexico Bowl. The bowl games are not there to be fair, they are there to please sponsors and sell tickets. The bowl system is not a meritocracy, it is…well, we don’t really know what it is.

Colt Brennan is fabulous, and Hawaii has played tough at Alabama and at Boise, but have to look at Oregon State here, as the Beavers have better numbers in just about every major defensive statistical category against a higher level of competition than the Rainbow Warriors. Hawaii couldn’t put away a mediocre Purdue team that didn’t want to be there last weekend. Respect the home in Honolulu angle, and it is tough to know what each team will bring with their bowl positions locked in, but taking the points with the Pac Ten athletes of OSU makes sense here.

Be sure to check out our colleague Dave Fobare’s hotline at 1-770-618-8700. Free picks daily are on that free 24-hour recorded message. The Falcons have beefed up their defense impressively in the past couple of offseasons but injuries have devastated that side of the ball. The weakened D has been unable to overcome an offense that has a horrendously unproductive passing game. There’s a lot of heat on Michael Vick, and he isn’t responding gracefully, but personnel decisions at receiver have been dreadful. When owner Arthur Blank said after the loss to the Saints, "We have three first-round draft choices at wide receiver and none of them can catch the ball.'' Blank wasn’t even talking about the disastrous Peerless Price deal, in which they gave up a first round draft pick and a $10 million signing bonus to the former Buffalo Bill. Vick’s confidence is shot. As teams scheme to stop the Falcons solid running attack, Atlanta should have receivers wide open on every play. Yet they enjoy nothing of the sort and average a subpar 5.3 yards per pass attempt (30th in the league). Redskins offense has struggled all year and is just getting worse. Skins are averaging 12.3 points and 261 yards the past three games. Atlanta’s defense is getting healthier this week. Tough to see either team lighting it up offensively. Look to the under.

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