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The last game of the season can be meaningful for college football teams in need of respect.
Sayonara
From a handicapping perspective, this especially holds true when our squad that is about to check out meets these 'value laden' criteria:
a) they must have won 2 or fewer games last season
b) they are on the road, without rest, in their season finale
c) they own a win percentage of .200 > this season
d) their opponent's win percentage is .444 < this season
By combining all the factors above our ‘see ya later’ sad sacks are a nifty 36-21-1 ATS since 1980.
There are two qualifying ‘Sayonara’ teams on this season’s schedule:
Oct. 22 - UNLV at San Diego State
Oct. 29 - UAB at Central Florida
By simply going up against a foe that allows 27.5 > PPG, and making sure we allow < 34 PPG, we improve our numbers to 19-7-1 ATS. And by making sure our opponent did not win two games ago by 10 or more points, we ratchet our record up to 19-4-1 ATS.
UNLV qualifies this week.
While neither the Rebels nor the Blazers will be bowling this season, this year’s teams certainly improved leaps and bounds over last year’s editions. A season-ending pointspread win would be the Saki-making statement to that effect!