STONE COLD LOCKS WEEK 4

Stone Cold Locks 

By Bob Gaughan

2026 Record 7-8

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: 528-411-15=56%

MR. OVER/UNDER: BUFFALO -6.5 Over NEW ENGLAND

Two things were very ugly at the Bills/Chargers game last week. One was the play of the Bill’s offense. Second was the Bill’s uniforms. It looked like the team went to the Champion Outlet Store to get their uniforms.

The ugly grey with ridiculous Blue helmets was supposed to pay tribute to Western New York’s industrial roots and the Buffalo nickel. We all know a nickel isn’t worth much anymore and neither were those uniforms.  If anyone paid more than a nickel for one of those jersey’s, they still paid too much. As for Buffalo’s industrial roots, no wonder it doesn’t exist anymore.

A quick note to the fool who came up with those uniforms: The Bill’s colors are and have been Red, White and Blue for over 65-years. The colors of our nation’s flag are Red, White and Blue. The Buffalo Bills are the new America’s team. Next time get some white jerseys, with red stripes and blue stars. Show some damn patriotism. Our nation’s first capital was New York City. Many famous wars (battle of Saratoga) were fought in New York State. The Western migration came through Buffalo with the Erie Canal. We’re the only state that has hosted the Winter Olympics TWICE. Get your head out of your butt and create a uniform that Bill’s fans and the NFL can be proud of.

I don’t like any of the games this week. Sorry, got to be honest. Eleven games have a point spread of 3.5 or less. However, after playing like crap last week, the Bills take on the team they lost to at home last year, the Patriots. Division games can be dangerous, as New England won the division last year that the Bills had dominated. The Bills should consider this a revenge game and come out with guns a blazing. After their shoddy play last week, hopefully they’ll get their act together and beat an average Patriots team. It’s time for the Bills to get turnovers, and be a bully. Take Buffalo -6.5.

Man in Stripes: Navy/ Air Force under 23.5 1H

A horrible start so far.. I’m sorry, all we can do is dust ourselves off , get back on the horse.. Lets go to OLD RELIABLE..The Service Academies, throw in a lovely 10am start in Colorado  Springs,  lots of running, Navy a top 20 national team in run defense and we have the makings for a quick first half, with the clock moving , and  not a lot of points.. We will hold our noses here.. Short and sweet.. Lets get  in the winners circle finally, I might need a GPS to find it.. Good luck and enjoy the games!!!

MONO: MISSOURI +5.5 over FLORIDA

Man, Maryland sucks… anyways, we stay on the Saturday slate. The NCAA is a week to week league. Ole Miss prevailed against LSU 2 weeks ago and went into the swamp and got destroyed. Vegas knew it. Florida gets their signature win. Are they back? I say, not so fast. They get to follow up their biggest win in a few years with a road game against Eli Drinkwitz and the Missouri Tigers. Mizzou went into Starkville last week and couldn’t overcome the cowbells and Kamario Taylor. They hung tough for 50 mins and fell apart late to lose by a touchdown. The SEC is the toughest league in the country and they get to turn around and play the #8 ranked Gators. For me, this is a prime let down spot for the Gators. Mizzou will be the best defense Florida has faced so far and the Tigers QB has yet to turn the ball over. Now that I said it, he might throw 2 picks. But he might not, we won’t know until Saturday afternoon.. As we know in college sports, home field plays such a huge part in the outcome of games. Missouri isn’t the greatest home field advantage in the country, but it has seen its fair share of close games over the years, and I think this one goes the same way. Mizzou is getting 5.5, and like we’ve seen so far this year, the home dog is alive and well. Take Mizzou to keep this one close and potentially win outright. This one is decided by a late field goal either way. Take the Tigers +5.5.

Brutal: JAMES MADISON -18.5 OVER MARSHALL

This is a pure momentum play both in the short and long term.  Since coming to the FBS in 2022 the DUKES OF JMU have been highly successful in FBS and the Sun Belt Conference.  You could say they have been the best in the wave of promoted teams this century.  On the other hand, the Thundering Herd of Marshall have become an average to below average outfit in the last few decades. 

  At the beginning of the year, Marshall (3-1) was blown out in State College by PENN STATE, 45-0.  Since that payday, they have had some pretty unimpressive one score wins over some pretty unexceptional opposition. The Thundering Herd barely beat Middle Tennessee, 28-26 at home in Huntington, West Virginia, scraped by a very shorthanded Missouri State 30-24 in Springfield, MO and then last week at home should have lost but prevailed 36-35 over Ohio Valley FCS dweller Gardner-Webb who only made the trip from Boiling Springs, North Carolina for an easy payday, but then almost won.    

  It has been a long time since Marshall had a great programme, back in the early 1990's when they left the FCS and joined the MAC.  Those were the days of head coach Bob Pruitt, running back Doug Chapman, quarterbacks Chad Pennington, Byron Leftwich and a certain wide receiver named Randy Moss.  They then switched conferences several times and ended up in the Sun Belt where they have been nothing special.  They will always be a legendary story after their fatal plane crash that killed the entire football team in 1970, and they will always live on because of a well intentioned, but ultimately mediocre Hollywood movie starring Matthew McConaughey. 

  While it is great for some people to see the Florida Gators back on the national stage, certain people may be taking it as motivation for their own battles.  We bet the Gators' recent ascension really grinds the gears of intense head coach Billy Napier, despite what he might say to the press.  Billy was turfed out of Gainesville, Florida a few years ago with a big buyout and their recent success has to incentivize him now as the head man in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  To make JMU relevant on the national stage and get an invitation to the FBS playoff is his priority along with resurrecting his once stellar coaching reputation.  That revitalization is accomplished by getting headlines.  A lesser division team needs some blowouts to massage the playoff committee and this game is giving us a few indications that it might just be one.  Napier has inherited a program with legs.  First there was Curt Cignetti, who revived JMU into a winning team before going on to Indiana and  winning a National Championship.  Then there was Bob Chesney who had two big seasons at JMU before moving west to UCLA, where he has revived that team that just might be the second best team in the Big Ten this year.  Billy Napier does not want to be the coach who follows those two men with a contraction in success; he can taste that big school money again with a big year from the Dukes. 

  This season JAMES MADISON is 4-0, with some easy wins and an impressive 46-20 blowout of arch rival OLD DOMINION in Norfolk, Virginia last week.  With all things considered, ODU is a better team than Marshall, and the DUKES have them at home.  We do not usually like three plus score favorites, but the tea leaves, the entrails, the tarot cards and Moanna the Niagara Falls psychic are all predicting a big James Madison win. 

  We are laying 18.5 points and taking the alum of NFL Hall of Famer Charles Haley, journalist Jim Acosta, and Kathy J. Warden the current Northrop Grumman CEO and first female boss of a major defense contractor.  

  We are JAMES MADISON!

Bob: Cincinnati-Jacksonville OVER 51 ½

A battle of 2-1 teams Sunday in Cincinnati. I’m looking for a shoot out with two quarterbacks and offensives I respect. Of course, the Cincinnati offense led by Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins can light up a scoreboard.

The Bengals have averaged 27 points a game so far this year.  That number is more impressive when you consider they have played Houston and Pittsburgh, two of the better defenses.  Jacksonville comes in with statistically a better offense and is led by Trevor Lawrence.  Lawrence looks better to me this year. He’s thrown 7 TD’s and only 2 interceptions.  The Jags offense is loaded as well.  I think their receivers are under rated, led by Parker Washington.

The Jaguars defense is highly rated, but they haven’t faced an offense like this on the road. The Bengals defense looked better until Aaron Rodgers and a below average Pittsburgh offense scored 30 points on them last week. Let’s root for points and get the over with two explosive offenses.