STONE COLD LOCKS WEEK 2

Stone Cold Locks 

By Bob Gaughan

2026 Record 2-3

2025 record 56-55

2024 record 67-44-1

2023 Record 82-71-3

2022 Record 68-41-2

2021 record 62-49

2020 record  52-52-4

2019 Record  62-41-2

2018 Record 72-50-3

Total: 523-406-15=56%

MR. OVER/UNDER: SAN FRANCISCO -13 over MIAMI

Who HATES the Chargers? It appears more people lost their Survivor Pool pick last week with the Chargers, than any other team. In some pools, as many as 25% had the Chargers. So much for week one in the NFL.

And what happened to all those defenses that are supposed to be better than the offenses at the beginning of the season? Chicago scored how many points, 59? In the Dallas/ Jersey Giants game, which I picked wrong, the Cowboys only had two possessions in the second half. TWO. That’s crazy!  What else is crazy? The Bills and Jets are tied for first place, before the Bill’s Thursday night game. New Orleans was down 21-points at the half, didn’t make a two-point conversion after a touchdown, and lost by only one. Yikes

Obviously now we know who all the good teams are, I say sarcastically. Seems to me, this week is just as challenging as last week, since we didn’t learn a whole lot last week. Wait, we did learn something last week, Miami sucks! Vegas is nothing to brag about, and they still beat the Dolphins by 14. Now Miami is back out west against the 49ers, a team that made the Rams look like Miami. This is the largest spread of the week at 13, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it goes to 14 or 15. San Fran has weapons and can score. Miami has, oppressive heat and hurricanes. Oh Yeah, a bad football team too. San Fran had the long trip back from Australia, but they’ve had 9-days to get comfortable with the Pacific Time Zone again. Name one position where Miami is better at than San Fran? You can’t. This game could be over with in the first Quarter. I don’t usually like larger spreads like this, but the 49ers are good and Miami isn’t. Welcome back San Fran.     

Man in Stripes: Houston -2.5 over Cincy

Well as of this writing,  we are a few hours away from Game 1 at Highmark Stadium, I can not wait, I will be in attendance, we don’t play Thursday games normally.. If you see this, Bills, Cook anytime, Cook over 69.5 rush, over 53.5, Gibbs td..Should be a great game!! First team to 40, at least!! 

Rough first week.. NAVY.. thank you for your no show.. Ugh..

Week 2 in the NFL IS always the week to jump on some good 0-1 team vs some over valued 1-0 teams.. We will head to Houston.. Texans played a very good game, a dropped int that would have sealed the game, 3 fumbles all going to the Bills, Houston very unlucky.. The Bengals were +3 in turnover margin, and had to eek out a 6 point win vs Tampa.. Cincy not good ATS on the road the last few years.. Houston D has to be looking to make amends after giving JA17 , 36 points..I love Burrow,  I just think this is a tough spot for them.. Are Bengals going to get to 2-0, do you see, Texans going 0-2.. That's a no and NO!!!Only have to give less than a FG too..  Roll with the Texans to get to 1-1 .. And good luck , enjoy the games.

MONO: WEST VIRGINIA +9.5 over VIRGINIA

We’re gonna stay on the Saturday slate this week with a primetime, neutral site rivalry game. Rich Rod’s West Virginia mountaineers head to Charlotte to take on long time rival Virginia. These teams haven’t met since 2002, and find themselves in different positions as respective programs. Rich Rod is back in his 2nd stint at WVU. This is year 2 as he is in the midst of a program rebuild. This game serves as a great measuring stick for where they’re at. Tony Elliot and the Cavaliers were a game away from the CFP last year and reloaded this season in hopes to get over the hump. This line is at 9.5 and I think it is spot on for action on both sides. Both teams are 2-0, with Virginia having a more impressive win over NC State in week 1 while WVU has beaten Coastal and FCS UT Martin. Rich Rod added former 4 star QB Michael Hawkins from Oklahoma in the portal this year. He has shined so far, and faces his toughest test under center for WVU. This is a guy who took over for Jackson Arnold a couple years ago and won a few games as a starter his freshman year. He is a true dual threat, dangerous both through the air and on the ground. I expect him to be able to extend and make some plays down the stretch to keep this one close. Virginia replaced super senior Chandler Morris with another college vet and transfer Beau Pribula. Pribula is a dangerous dual threat QB in his own right and is off to a terrific start to his season. It’s hard to know what you’re going to get based off of stats this early on. Team rankings are often skewed given the competition teams face early on. Virginia’s defense on paper is the better unit and WVU should have trouble stopping the run. With that said, I’m throwing that out of the window here. Rich Rod has preached toughness all summer, and his team has a chance to prove they’re bought in. There is some pride on the line in this one, and I think 9.5 may be a bit too much. I lean to the more experienced coach who has a chance to prove that West Virginia is back, or at least getting close. I’m taking WVU +9.5 in a game they might just win outright. They keep this one within the number and have a chance late.

Brutal: Utah State(+28.5) @ UTAH

  Last week we rode the "CyHawk War" to a field goal loss by the mighty Cyclones of Iowa State who were a 14 point dog, and almost beat Iowa!  This week we head to the Beehive State for the "Battle of the Brothers" between Utah and Utah State.  They first met way back in 1892, with The Agricultural College of Utah ( Utah State ) winning 12-0.  Since then, through the mid 20th Century "The Holy War" between Utah and BYU has supplanted and superseded "The Battle of the Brothers" as the preeminent football confrontation in the Beehive State.  Most years the teams do not play each other, because the bigger schools would rather play softer competition to fill out their schedule ( BYU turned down a bid from Utah State to make it a three-way this year, but instead opted for cream puff Utah Tech and paid them $450,000.00 to be creamed 63-7 in Provo ).  As in most years, that means there will be no "Beehive Boot" trophy awarded this year for a three-team competition like the "Commander-In-Chief's" Trophy between the three military academies. 

  Utah State started the year with a tough 29-17 loss to FCS Idaho State.  This was partly due to the Aggies throwing four interceptions, two of them being returned inside the redzone for touchdowns.  The Utah State defense played relatively well, giving up five field goals to the Bengals, but the turnovers were a killer.  Last week, Utah State played six more healthy starters that missed the Idaho State game and they came within the final drive of beating the Washington Huskies.  They lost 16-14, but they could easily have won.  The defense played well again and the offense looked a little more settled as it got healthier. 

  Utah has looked pretty strong this year despite losing 32 year tenure head coach Kyle Wittingham and a bunch of transfers to Ann Arbor, Michigan where they can count on The Big Ten to aid them in officiating decisions to beat up on lesser opponents like Western Michigan.  It has been a good year for #17 Utah so far, who last week won 66-14 over the Idaho Vandals who had more success sacking Rome in 455 AD ( the Western Roman Emperor of Rome, Petronius Maximus, cancelled a wedding between his son and the daughter of King Gaiseric of the Vandals, leading to the the justification for this total annihilation and the subsequent loss of power and influence of the Roman Empire in the Western World, begetting the further rise of the Eastern Roman sphere of influence from the Byzantine Empire based in Constantinople that lasted for over 1,100 years ). 

  Last week Utah beat Arkansas in Salt Lake City 43-10 in a game where the SEC team played as if they had landed on an alien planet in Rice-Eccles stadium  They seemed to have no motivation to play football in that environment.  I watched that game, and although Utah looked good, the Razorbacks looked unprepared, confused and their play calling was atrocious which all reflects badly on head coach Ryan Silverfield ( maybe the Little Rock braintrust should have swallowed their pride and given the job to interim coach "Easy Rider" Bobby Petrino for his second go-round at the job despite some heavy baggage ). 

  Utah State will not be as intimidated or unfamiliar with the surroundings in Salt Lake; they might have 10-15 thousand of their own fans amongst the crowd of 55,000 on Saturday.  This game is a true rivalry like last week's battle in Iowa.  Many of these players are familiar with each other from high school; their friends and families will be there, especially because they do not play every year. It is a real long shot to believe that the Aggies will beat the Utes, but over four converted touchdowns is just too much for a game with so many intangibles.  

  In the immortal words of Gerrit Graham's character Jeff in the 1980 cult classic "Used Cars," this spread "IS TOO F*&^ING HIGH!"   

Bob: New England -5.5 over Pittsburgh

Patriots have a big edge with 11 days off after playing opening night in Seattle. The Pats should have won that game but blew it in the fourth quarter. Drake Maye has had 11 days to stew about his three fourth quarter interceptions. I think he responds with a solid effort.  The Steelers come in 1-0 after a victory at home against Atlanta.  Let’s dig deeper into that win and you will see that the Steelers rushed for only three yards per carry and Aaron Rodgers threw for only 5 yards per pass attempt.  The Steelers offense was awful. The Steelers scored on a defensive touchdown to make the score look better. This seems to me to be a classic bounce back game for New England.  They are the better team at home and should beat an inferior Steelers team.