Pointspread grassy knollers screamed bloody murder when it covered the pointspread, but we’re on board with Niners coach Mike Nolan’s call to kick a field goal on first down to cut the Cardinal lead to 34-27. Antonio Bryant caught a pass from Alex Smith on 4th and 12 down to the 11, but Bryant picked up a dim-witted personal foul to push it back to the 26. With only 40 seconds left, to try to run plays without timeouts from there would likely eat up all the time on the clock. The play from the 26 is to kick the field goal and then onside kick to try to Hail Mary in the TD (from the 11 it would have been end zone time. Nolan made the correct play strategically, as it is much more valuable to cut a lead to 7 with 34 seconds left than it is to cut to 3 with 8 or 12 seconds left. The Niners actually mounted a bit of a threat by recovering the onside kick and throwing into the end zone twice, but they couldn’t convert. Good move by the sharp Nolan, and one that more and more coaches are beginning to get correct.

Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Miami’s exodus to the ACC was supposed to effectively end the Big East as a viable football conference, but something interesting is happening. Louisville, West Virginia, Pitt, and Rutgers are all flying high with undefeated records. Interestingly, if Louisville beats Miami, as they are favored to do, all four of the Big East’s top four will have wins over ACC teams. A case can be made that as of this moment the Big East is the better conference, and most power ratings agree.

Tom O’Brien’s a sharp coach, and he coached his way to a win over a superior team in a multiple OT win over Clemson on Saturday. Clemson won yardage 490-322 but a kickoff return for a TD for the Eagles and a blocked extra point in the second OT secured the win for BC. The ACC office apologized to Clemson for a block in the back non-call on the kickoff return. That’s the kind of game that a well-coached team figures out how to win. But speaking to the modest accomplishments of the BC football program, that was the first home win over a Top 25 opponent for the Eagles in the 10 years of the O’Brien era.

The public likes to bet favorites and overs, so bookies naturally find themselves often rooting for underdogs and unders. Those on the other side of the counter likely had a pretty solid weekend. Discounting pushes, college and NFL underdogs combined to go 37-28 against the spread and unders were 38-27. The combined 75-55 mark for what is often the contrary side had favorite and over players licking their wounds.

Chuck Amato was hailed as the conquering hero when he returned to his alma mater to rescue NC State football, but things have gone really sour. Trying to explain away the first BCS team loss to a MAC opponent since 2004 he claimed Akron’s admission standards are substandard. In taking cheap shots against Akron’s academics, he ignored the rampant stupidity so frequently seen in the actions of his own team. Akron’s short dive play into the end zone following their full-field drive likely wouldn’t have happened had players not run off the NC State bench into the end zone to celebrate the Wolfpack’s TD with a minute left. When the officials see guys without helmets in the TD celebration they have no choice but to throw the flag. Amato and a penalized player shared a laugh and a handshake following his brief admonishing of the helmetless player’s action. That had to be galling to NC State partisans.

For a riposte to Amato’s comments from Akron Beacon-Journal columnist Terry Pluto visit http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/sports/colleges/university_of_akron/15506458.htm. And for a humorous animated treatment of Amato: http://www.newsobserver.com/1235/story/481010.html.
And while you’re at the Raleigh News-Observer site check out the fun that animator Grey Blackwell’s has with Coach K as well.

Huge win for the Buckeyes last Saturday, but what kind of mindset can they possibly have here? Ohio State is in the mother of all letdown situations here. Off of their statement win over Texas, they have Penn State on deck. Those happen to be the only two teams that beat the Buckeyes last season. Focus is a significant concern here. The Buckeyes are off a win in their latest Game of the Century and simply have bigger fish to fry. Cincinnati has overachieved over the past couple of years from a wins/losses standpoint. Mark D’Antonio’s 12-13 mark as Cincy coach is impressive, particularly when you consider how young his team was last season. The Bearcats started as many as 5 true freshmen on defense at points during the season. D’Antonio is well thought of in Columbus, and why shouldn’t he be? After all, he was the defensive coordinator of the Buckeyes national championship club. Tough to see Tressel looking to aggressively punch it in if the Buckeyes are up 27 late. Cincy gave up some big plays against Pitt, an 80-yard TD pass, a 55-yard TD pass, and a 57-yard INT return for a TD. While the Bearcats propensity to give up big plays is a concern against OSU’s sizzling offense and athletic defense, the questionable focus of OSU and Coach Tressel’s lack of interest in humiliating D’Antonio make UC the side here. Take the huge points with the Bearcats.

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The 49ers defense, which allowed 392 yards per game last year, was lit up by the Cardinals in their opening 34-27 loss. But Frisco has some pretty good young offensive talent themselves and there was 760 yards of total offense in that loss. The Rams game wasn’t as pedestrian as their 18-10 winning score over the Broncos suggests, as the two clubs combined for 579 yards of offense but poor work in the red zone and turnovers led to the teams needing to gain over 20 yards of offense for every point scored. Both teams figure to be able to move the ball against one another and we’ll look for this game to go over the total in Frisco.

Thanks for reading Sports & Gaming News this week. Good luck and be careful. For a free copy of our 2006 Maximum Profit Football Annual visit www.FootballAnnual.com You’ll also get a free email subscription to this Sports & Gaming News column when you arrange to get your free football annual by visiting www.FootballAnnual.com.