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No. 19 Oklahoma (-1.5) at No. 23 Tennessee, Saturday, 6:00 pm ET, ESPN (or Neyland, c’mon, man)
Kevin: A big game for both teams and their respective coaching staffs. I don’t think anyone knows how this one will turn out, and I’ve changed my mind about it several times already this week. Things are lining up for a chaotic Saturday with a spotty weather forecast, and rain would favor the run heavy Vols. I still take the Sooners -1.5 though, with a heavy heart.
John: This is tough. Back in the day, I’d go with the “emotional hedge” approach and take the Sooners with the following rationale: The world loses more than half its bets, so odds are I’ll lose this one. Which means if I take OU, the Sooners will NOT win by 2 or more. Which means the Vols would have a HUGE chance at the outright W. So, in essence, I’d be paying real money to assure the Vols get a real look.
But the problem with the emotional hedge is the dreaded OU one-point win. You know how it’s sometimes easier to absorb a blowout loss as opposed to a heartbreaker? Well nothing’s worse than losing a heartbreaker plus $110. Or whatever your denomination is. And that’s happened to me a fair amount of times through the years, these “insult to injury” losses as I call them.
Which is why I abandoned the emotional hedge long ago. Take the points and those glorious underdogs, then hope and pray the Vols are back for real.
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