Protect Your Unit Week 5 Picks Thread

(DISCLAIMER: This game is for entertainment purposes only. No actual money is being wagered.)

You know, I used to put a lot more effort into this.

I used to write big, complicated stories for each week’s post. But lately work has intruded, and I’ve already dug up all the great old stories and pop culture references I know about, like the Houston-Tulsa 100-point game that Dr. Phil played in. So nowadays, I pretty much just get to the picks.

But, since people enjoyed the historical data from last week, I’ve compiled another set. What are some of the superlative bets in PYU history? This goes back to 2013, when I began managing the game via protectyouru.net. I still have all the old data, so I can look up certain interesting things. Here’s a list:

POINT SPREAD BETS

Biggest pointspead/Biggest cover (favorite): -57. dsidwell31, Florida State-Idaho, 2013. It covered; FSU won 80-14.

Biggest pointspread (underdog): +60. jthoma11, Savannah State-Miami, 2013. (Excluding the infamous “Tulane +99.9” cockup.) Miami won 77-7 in a game that was shortened by mutual consent.

Biggest cover (underdog): +52.5. dsidwell31 and LrdNorman, South Carolina State-Clemson, 2013. Clemson won 52-13.

Biggest outright upset in terms of point spread: zls44, Texas A&M +23.5 at Auburn, 2014. A&M won 41-38, upsetting the #3 Tigers.

OVER UNDER BETS

Biggest over/Biggest over win: 87.5, mmmmsnouts, Texas Tech-Baylor, 2015. Baylor won 63-35.

Smallest under/Smallest under win: 36.5, GaryStephen (hey, that’s me), Virginia Tech-Boston College, 2015. Virginia Tech won 26-10.

MONEY LINE BETS

Biggest underdog ever: +433333. ulhothot and GaryStephen, Savannah State to beat Georgia Southern, 2016. Georgia Southern won 54-0. And that was their best performance; they also lost 83-9 and 77-9 games in Statesboro. We haven’t mentioned their games with Troy (66-3), Colorado State (65-13), and Oklahoma State (84-0), and several other ugly blowouts. Perhaps as a result, Savannah State has decided to drop back to Division II.

Biggest underdog ever (FBS team): +100000. zls44 and GaryStephen, Southern Mississippi to beat Alabama, 2014. Bama won 52-12.

Biggest underdog who won: +2300. ulhothot, Kentucky to beat Louisville, 2016. They did, 41-38. I bet he took no joy from it.

Biggest favorite ever: -899999. zls44, Alabama to beat Georgia State, 2013. The Tide won a mere 45-3 in Georgia State’s fourth season of football, and first at the FBS level. Way to stick your neck out.

Biggest favorite who lost: -1650. kendom took Auburn in the aforementioned Texas A&M-Auburn game in 2014.

Let me know if there’s any more of these you’re curious about. I can do a query.

This week’s picks, as of 6:45 AM Friday 10:45 AM Saturday:

As always, use this thread to discuss this week’s action, lobby for awards, talk up your picks, or discuss whatever’s on your mind college football wise.