Who's ready for another wild weekend of winning or whining? All of us! Who learned our lesson last weekend? None of us! So, with that, the action didn't waste any time making the collective betting community yell with joy or pain.
Independence Bowl
Houston Cougars vs. Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
How's your bowl season going so far? The answer to that might depend on which side of this game you landed on. Houston was -6.5 but trailed most of the game as the Ragin Cajuns were up 16-6 at the half. Houston got back in this thing, though, and a win looked like a sure thing when the Cougars were facing a first and goal with only seconds remaining in a tie game. Take a knee and kick the game winner, right? Orrrrrrrrrrr. Do this.
TOUCHDOWN COOGS WITH 20 SECONDS LEFT!! Houston with their first lead of the game!! 23-16!!@sickoscommittee December 23, 2022
Look, I love an aggressive finish. I just don't love it if I've spent 50:40 seconds of game time quite certain I was going to be buying Santa a new sleigh with my winnings.
3 buckets of bowl season tears.
NFL Saturday
New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings have made things wildly complicated all year but that didn't stop y'all from deciding that Minnesota -4 felt like a safe number. 76% of the money was riding with Minnesota, but the Vikings weren't interested in giving everyone what they asked for on their Christmas list. They did, though, at least give us all a mini Christmas miracle in the form of a massive 61-yard field goal.
THE VIKINGS (-170 ML) WALK IT OFF WITH A 61 YARD FIELD GOAL 😱 (via @NFL)@br_betting December 24, 2022
This one was big for two reasons: It kept the Giants from clinching a playoff spot and -- more importantly to most of you reading this column -- it pushed the game over the total of 49.5. Admit it, we were all dreading some sort of wild tie that left us at 48 and wondering why we do this to ourselves every weekend. Hopefully every Santa's pockets got a little fuller with this one.
2 buckets of can't squeeze down that chimney with these stuffed pockets tears.
Cincinnati Bengals at New England Patriots
The New England PATriots ... Am I right? Ok, look ... getting the acronym worked in to a game because of missed extra points isn't as easy as it looks. The kicking game looked about as natural in this game as grandma will tomorrow when she tries out your new virtual reality headset. And, much like that chaotic moment, we can't look away. The Bengals found themselves up 22-0 after some missed extra point fun, but the Patriots finally got their fireplace up and running, getting hot late. I'm not sure what had Billy B going full Angry South Pole Elf; a missed extra point by the Patriots that kept the lead at 4 or a fumble in scoring territory almost immediately after that ensured New England would be on the losing side of this one.
Bill Belichick seeing another late fumble cost the Patriots the game@ActionNetworkHQ December 24, 2022
Look, we all know the Bengals were going to win this game, and the betting was heavy on Cincinnati. But that missed extra point not only changed the strategy for the rest of the game, it also kept the game total under 40.5. Vegas is like Santa, my friends. They always know.
4 buckets of PAT-gone-wrong tears.