The Wiz of Odds

Game of the Weak

Mike Hlas is an award-winning columnist with the Cedar Rapids Gazette and force behind The Hlog. Each week he will break down the biggest mismatches in college football. Considering the increasing number of Bowl Championship Series teams scheduling games against cupcake opponents, Mike's task is more complex than carrying all the boxes out of Lehman Brothers.

Last week, R.C. Slocum was inducted into Texas A&M’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He got a standing ovation from the fans at the Miami-A&M game in College Station.

The irony was thick. Slocum was fired in 2002 after the Aggies went 6-6. But in his 14 seasons as the coach, the team never had a losing season. His record was 123-47-2, and he won four conference titles. Slocum was replaced by Dennis Franchione, whose five-year record was 32-29. He got shown the door last year, and has been replaced by former Slocum assistant Mike Sherman.

Last Saturday, the Aggies got thumped by Miami, 41-23, to slip to 1-2. It was A&M's second home loss in a row (the other was to Arkansas State). The Aggies lost only four home games in the 1990s.

It’s not the first time a team wanted to go to the "next level," with a coaching change only to see that next level be two steps down. While the Big 12 is full of dynamic football programs, once-mighty A&M is no longer among them. The Aggies are last in the Big 12 in a multitude of statistical categories, including total offense and total defense.

That said, Army at Texas A&M is our Game of the Weak. The visitors have no shortage of football problems themselves. They enter with an 0-3 mark, with the defeats all at home, to lowly Temple, I-AA New Hampshire and Akron. The Black Knights have a total of 20 points.

Army is 17-79 this decade and hasn’t been to a bowl game since 1996. It hasn’t won a road game in two years. In 2003, it became the first I-A team to go 0-13.

Like A&M, Army was once a college football brand-name. But it was much longer ago. The Black Knights were national-champions from 1944 through 1946. They had 14 finishes in the final AP rankings. They were the stuff of college lore.

Now they’re a team that loses at home to Temple. And they face a team that lost at home to Arkansas State.

A&M is famous for its “12th Man.” It may want to expand to 13 or 14.

Crystal Ball

Double D, Boston Herald: It's time to Wake up and lay the points. The Demon Deacons of Wake Forest are the play against Navy.

Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News: Oklahoma is going to beat Texas Christian, but the Horned Frogs are going to keep it close.

Tim Sullivan, New York Post: Talk all you want about TCU. Oklahoma is getting ready to take the Horned Frogs out behind he woodshed.

Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News: Ready to rebound after an 0-5 week. He's taking Virginia Tech, which has won 11 of its last 17 on artificial turf, to cover against Nebraska. In the Pacific 10, he likes UCLA to cover against Fresno State.

National Championship Issue: Imagine that. Duke is not only favored against Virginia, the Blue Devils will cover the spread.

Heisman Pundit: We welcome our newest prognosticator to the fold. Look out Mississippi because Tim Tebow is due for a breakout game.

Detroit News: Angelique S. Chengelis, Eric Lacy, Dave Goricki and Bob Wojnowski are split on the Wisconsin-Michigan game.

Phil Steele: His top 25 forecast calls for Georgia to take care of business against Alabama.

Tony Barnhart, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A victory over Alabama could move Georgia back into the No. 1 spot. Bulldogs 21, Crimson Tide 17.

Matt Youmans, Las Vegas Review-Journal: Georgia coach Mark Richt is 1-5 against the spread at home after consecutive away games. Take Alabama and the seven points.

John Werner, Waco Tribune-Herald: Oustide of Colorado stumbling to Florida State in Jacksonville, this is shaping up as a good weekend for the Big 12.

A Rocky Top Tour Stop

Dan Rubenstein, the SI Tour Guy, traveled to Knoxville last Saturday to catch a ride with the Vol Navy before the Florida-Tennessee game. Read all about his trip in the Tour Guy Road Notes and check out his weekly podcast on Solid Verbal. His guest this week was Andy Gray of SI.com.

Dan's work is featured each week on SI On Campus. Clemson fans, be on your best behavior. Dan is coming to town this Saturday.

USC's Loss Is Talk Radio's Gain

USC's stunning loss at Corvallis will be topic No. 1 tonight on "Sports Overnight America" on the Sports Byline USA Radio Network. Lonnie White of the Los Angeles Times is scheduled to be our guest beginning at midnight (Pacific).

Listen live by clicking here and give us a call at 800-878-7529. If you're in the military, the show is broadcast over the American Forces Network, available in 177 countries and U.S. territories along with all the Navy ships at sea.

Sports Byline will also carry Saturday's broadcast of the Tennessee-Auburn game beginning at noon (Pacific). Click the listen live link above to hear the broadcast.

And if you're looking for a guest for your radio show or podcast, drop me an email at dawizofodds (at) aol.com.

Rebirth of the Sacred Acre

Here is ESPN's E:60 segment on Parkersburg, the small Iowa town that was devastated by an EF-5 tornado on May 27. The twister, which at times was more than a mile wide, packed winds of 205 miles per hour and stayed on the ground for 43 miles. It claimed six lives in Parkersburg and two in neighboring New Hartford.

I was in Iowa the day the storm hit, and the next morning traveled to Parkersburg for the Los Angeles Times, my former employer. Aplington-Parkersburg High, one of the pillars of the community, was destroyed, and the Falcons' football field — known as the Sacred Acre — was strewn with debris.

Ed Thomas' football team is a source of pride for the community. Four current NFL players — centers Casey Wiegmann of the Denver Broncos and Brad Meester of Jacksonville Jaguars and defensive ends Jared DeVries of the Detroit Lions and Aaron Kampman of the Green Bay Packers — attended Aplington-Parkerburg High, a remarkable achievement for a school with an enrollment of only 240.

The twister may have swept away property, but the spirit and resolve of the people is stronger than ever.

Rich People Have Problems, Too

T. Boone Pickens, whose first book "The First Billion Is the Hardest" is a best seller, says his hedge funds are down $1 billion for the year.

"It's my toughest run in 10 years," the Oklahoma State alumnus told the Wall Street Journal.

This being the era of trickle-down economics, there is considerable concern in Stillwater. University spokesman Gary Shutt said Wednesday that work on the $180 million renovation of Boone Pickens Stadium will continue. But last month, athletic director Mike Holder announced that the building of a new football practice facility would be delayed.

Pickens, the most powerful booster in college athletics, has been involved in several controversial moves involving Oklahoma State. He donated $165 million to the university on Dec. 30, 2005, in an apparent move to avoid taxes. The New York Times later reported that the money spent less than an hour in a university charity account before it was transferred to a hedge fund that is controlled by Pickens.

"Sadly, it's another case of a rich man manipulating charity for his own benefit," attorney and former IRS agent Marcus Owens told the Times.

Then there was the "Gift of a Lifetime," which critics labeled a "Death Pool." Twenty-eight individuals in age from 65 to 85 were selected. They were under no financial obligation and only needed to pass a physical exam. OSU Athletics, Inc. took out a $20 million loan to pay insurance premiums, and each time an individual in the program dies, Oklahoma State is set to be paid $10 million. When all 28 have died, Oklahoma State will have been paid $280 million.

Pickens said he got the idea from churches that were generating revenue from life insurance policies purchased for aging members.

And don't forget the eminent domain case brought by Oklahoma State against 87 property owners just north of campus. The university, using Pickens' bankroll, demanded the properties because it wanted to build an athletic village. The big guys won, of course, and work continues to prepare the 80-acre site for the village.