Occasionally, sports betting sites like to offer markets on obscure Division 2 and semi-pro football and basketball games. The bookmakers don’t select the contests randomly, however – they make sure that even if the battle is not broadcast on cable or DirecTV that their speculators can still tune-in to an online stream.
But you won’t find “North-by-Southeast-West Delaware Tech” on a Reddit feed. Instead, the games are usually streamed on social media – on Facebook or YouTube.
Imagine if a top-division college football game – a Saturday night scrum between the Power-5 and the hottest Group-of-5 conference in the country – could only be viewed on Facebook. How many old, grizzled handicappers wouldn’t even be able to watch, since they don’t know how to use social media. It would be a practical joke on an entire community of aging college football fans!
Ha, ha! Ah ha ha. Heh…heh. Cough.
Oregon State and Hawaii are set for an intriguing battle at Aloha Stadium at midnight EST, the “bailout” contest for speculators who were unlucky in the afternoon. But it won’t be on network TV. Or national cable TV. Or regional cable TV. Instead, due to a comedy of errors by OSU brass and stubborn administration on both sides, the Rainbow Warriors vs Beavers contest will be streamed on Facebook only.
Halawa locals can tune-in on Spectrum PPV to hear 2 of the best announcers in the business. For everyone else, it’s social media or bust.
People generally only like to gamble on games they can watch. I’d imagine the betting-action demographics will skew slightly “millennial” for the midnight melee.
Who: Oregon State Beavers at Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
When: Sunday, September 8th, 12 AM (Midnight EST on Saturday night)
Where: Aloha Stadium, Halawa, HI
Lines: OSU (+7) at Hawaii (-7) / O/U Total: (78)
I’ll say frankly that Oregon State surprised the heck out of me last week. Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State Cowboys have built an entire genre of pigskin around scoring 75+ points vs weak out-of-conference patsies (last year it was Southwest Missouri State) and I figured it was “in the bag” that OSU (the “other” OSU) would wallop Oregon State by a similar margin.
Nope…for maybe the 1st time ever, Oklahoma State beat an also-ran from a weaker league by a more-or-less ordinary margin of 16 points, losing my wager against a substantial point spread. Curses!
But we can’t just knock the Cowboys for the result – we have to credit the Beavers for hanging in there. In fact, Oregon State actually led after the 1st quarter as veteran QB Jake Luton thrived behind a solid running game and decent pass-protection. WR Isaiah Hodgins had a marvelous day against the Cowboys:
The look on Isaiah Hodgins face when I asked him and Jake Luton to chat on the radio after the 52-36 loss to the Cowboys was not surprising. He looked so disappointed about the outcome of the contest but knew he had an obligation to talk to the media about the performance of the offense and what the loss meant.
You can’t blame Hodgins for the opening season loss to Oklahoma State. He had nine catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns. The connection between Hodgins and Quarterback Jake Luton was pretty evident from the start of the game. He also showed his speed and strength going up to grab the football.
It’s a positive sign for the Beaver program that players are upset about a competitive loss to a marquee Big 12 opponent. However, it’s not a positive that the defense is still pretty poor. Gundy’s “NASCAR”-style unit didn’t get its customary 900 yards passing in Week 1, but the Cowboys rushed for about 350 yards on about 50 carries.
It won’t get easier to play defense against the Rainbow Warriors, who not only have a great thing going with a well-balanced Run & Shoot attack, but come prepared with 2 excellent QBs in Cole McDonald and mega-talented youngster Chevan Cordeiro. The decision to put Cordeiro in the game against Arizona in Week 1 felt like Nick Rolovich kicking over the board after McDonald got careless and served-up a few interceptions to the Wildcat defense. But it turned out to be a brilliant move as Cordeiro’s quick, smart feet converted 1st down after 1st down and ultimately made the difference in a suspenseful game.
Hawaii’s defense is still a workmanlike unit, but the fact that the Warriors can turn it over that many times and still hold up against a Power-5 opponent is a sign of major progress.
It is hard to beat a team when you can’t stop them, and while Hawaii’s overall level of talent has not grown to that of a middle or upper-tier Pac-12 roster, the Rainbows are hot with the football and good enough to harass Oregon State when the Beavers have the ball…especially considering the pressure Rolovich’s offense can put on an enemy QB.
Add the fact that Hawaii has a decent little pass rush on home turf, and we’re looking at a likely game-breaking turnover or 4th-down miss for OSU in the 4th quarter that gives UH a 2-touchdown victory.
Take the hosts to cover in Saturday night’s bailout game.