The Loop

Our sure-thing, stone-cold lock, college football/golf cross-sport parlay of the week: Dawgs on top

November 13, 2019
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You thought I went into hiding last week, didn't you? Well, considering my record on these parlays (it's 0-for-however many I've made), you'd be right to think that. But that's not why there was no STSCLCFBGCSP last week, it's because the PGA Tour was off. Definitely not because I stink at these.

The last time we did this dance, yet again I came tantalizingly close to finally hitting, but it wasn't meant to be. Charles Howell III made a hell of a run at the top 20 at the WGC-HSBC Champions, but two back-nine bogeys on Sunday, in addition to no back-nine birdies, sealed his fate. He finished T-36, while his Oklahoma State Cowboys covered the three-point spread against TCU, winning, 34-27. That same week, I also had a bet on Xander Schauffele to win, and he lost in a playoff to Rory McIlroy. Why do bad things happen to good people?

The lesson so far this year? Parlays are the worst, especially cross-sport ones where one of the sports is golf. Was it foolish to think one of these would ever hit? Yes. Is that going to stop me? Absolutely not. To the pick!

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PGA Tour: Keith Mitchell to finish top 20 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic

AND

CFB: Georgia Bulldogs (-2.5) @ Auburn Tigers

Parlay odds: +951 (a $10 bet would win you $95.05, returning $105.05)

The PGA Tour makes its return this week with the Mayakoba Golf Classic, where former University of Georgia Bulldog Keith Mitchell has gone T-68 and T-65 in his two career appearances. Not exactly "top 20" type stuff. However, he did open with a first-round 66 in each of those starts, and in 2018 he closed with a 65. It's whatever else happened in between that sent him sailing down the leader board.

Given how well our expert handicappers have done this year (go read up), I'm going to roll with one of them, FanDuel's Brandon Gdula, in backing Mitchell this week. Gdula likes him at 100/1 to win, but I'd much rather have him at top 20, especially in a parlay. Mitchell's most recent start at the Zozo resulted in a T-27, a sign he may finally be trending back to his late-winter, early-spring form from a season ago.

As for his Dawgs, who got some great news on Tuesday night when they were slotted fourth in the CFP rankings, they've got a big one this week. The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry is always a tight contest, and this year could be tighter than ever. You might not find two more evenly matched teams than No. 12 Auburn and No. 4 Georgia right now:

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This has the makings of an all-time classic, and though Auburn has a distinct home-field advantage at Jordan-Hare, I do think Georgia survives in what will more-than likely be a field-goal game. Who do I trust in a field-goal game? Let's go with Georgia folk hero Rodrigo Blankenship, who has had a down year and is still 19 for 22 with 89 points accounted for, tied for the second-most in the nation among kickers. Auburn kicker Anders Carlson is 12 for 17 with a long of 48, just for comparison. I expect a 20-17 final. This ain't LSU-Bama, folks.