By Marc Lawrence — With Thanksgiving dinner behind us it’s on to the final month of the 2020 NFL season. It’s also time to examine how teams have fared in games this season against winning opposition. Those with positive numbers generally fare well in December and on into the playoffs. Those who have struggled will likely continue to do so. Somewhat surprising, the Green Bay Packers are winless (0-2 SUATS) versus winning foes this season, while ugliness surrounds the likes of the Houston Texans (0-5 SU, 1-4 ATS) and the LA Chargers (0-5 SU, 2-3 ATS) this campaign. For a complete listing of every team and their season record in games vs. winning opponents click here.
Be Careful What You Wish For
ESPN reports after the College Football Playoff selection committee made it clear in each of its past two rankings that BYU’s weak schedule was dragging it down, athletic director Tom Holmoe said Thursday that there was “no question” he felt a greater sense of urgency to try to quickly schedule another quality opponent for the No. 13 Cougars. The “incredible opportunity” arose this week, when BYU was able to replace Liberty as Coastal Carolina’s opponent on Saturday after COVID-19 issues prevented the Flames from playing in the game. “Thanks to the Sun Belt Conference and Coastal Carolina, who said let’s go,” Holmoe said. “They didn’t have to play that game. No way they had to play that game. There’s a lot of struggles and trials to try to put together a game like that, and we couldn’t have done it without them. I’ve said this all season long, it takes two to tango. We’re just grateful the Sun Belt and Coastal said, ‘Yes, let’s go.'” The question is will BYU regret that they got what they wished for?
Grinding Out The Profits
From this week’s PLAYBOOK Football Newsletter: Our INCREDIBLE STAT OF THE WEEK in this week’s issue is a beauty as it calls out the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers are 16-1 SUATS at home off a win when facing a non-division opponent coming off consecutive wins, including 13-0 SUATS the last 13 occurrences. That’s not good news for the Washington Football Team this Sunday.
