Motivational disability
The professionally disabled are always in tune with possible emotional situations. This time of the football season offers more possibilities than usual, like a bad-game team looking to bounce back, or rivalry games of college football and NFL division games. Texas and Texas A&M play this weekend and I think back to a year ago when No. 2 Texas was a 27-point favorite over the Aggies.
However, A&M coach Dennis Franchione made an unexpected wrinkle, going with a Wishbone and running straight to the Longhorns. They ran extremely well and almost managed the surprise, eventually losing but easily covering themselves. The Aggies were excited not only to face the nation’s undefeated No. 2 team, but also one of their state rivals. They played with more excitement that day.
You can even find players and coaches talking about emotions the week before a game. I used this last week when North Carolina soccer rivals UNC and NC State met. It was a classic case of an end-of-season game with one team in decline and another playing with fire. NC State under Chuck Amato has gone from a 10-win season in 2002 to the 3-7 mark last week. They were a typical example of a team that has packed into the season and here they were FAVORED against a conference and state rival. Remember that many bad teams that do not go to a bowl game may focus on a rivalry game at the end of the season as their bowl.
Look at some of the facts that go into that game: NC State has lost EVERY road game played this year by 6 points or more. They haven’t scored more than 24 points in any game this season. They have been overtaken in 8 of the last 9 weeks. NC State has had fewer than 225 passing yards in all but one game all season. The Wolfpack does not deserve to be favored along the way by anyone. Under Amato NC State is 1-11 against the spread as a favorite!
Say what you want about Tar Heel’s talent, they continue to play hard week after week. Outgoing head coach John Bunting should receive another great effort from his team this week in his last home game. Bunting is 4-1 straight against Amato, including upsets from the past two years as double-digit underdogs. The dog is 10-4 ATS in this series and the Tar Heels have won 10 of 13 games outright. I was expecting a supreme effort from the home team and once again the Heels won the game as a dog.
This can also happen in the NFL, especially with divisional games. All NFL head coaches emphasize to their players how important division games are, even if they don’t publicly admit it. I had San Francisco on Sunday against Seattle, the NFC West rival. Seattle was coming off an emotional victory over the Rams on a last-second field goal, sweeping the Rams giving Seattle a two-game divisional cushion. Plus, they still had backup quarterback Seneca Wallace playing and RB Shaun Alexander was coming back after a long layoff. Players like this can’t be expected to be in midseason form and Alexander was not a factor (37 carries on 17 carries).
Seattle the last few years has been great at home, but very different on the road. They fought to beat a bad Detroit team 9-6. They were crushed at Chicago 37-6, beat St Louis 30-28 on a field goal in the final second and lost at Kansas City 35-28. So in four away games they haven’t beaten an opponent by more than 3 points. San Fran was on a 2-game win streak as a DOG each time, and the defense has allowed 3, 13 and 14 points in the last three games. Seattle’s defense has been poor most of the season. These teams are much more equal than the line suggests.
They had 416 yards, the season’s high. The 49ers scored their 17th offensive touchdown of the season against Seattle. San Francisco scored 17 offensive touchdowns throughout the past year. “It’s amazing when you can win, the confidence you can build,” defensive team captain Bryant Young said. “Wow, what a victory.” And what an easy cover!