Gary “The Gut” Goombah – Week 20, 2024-’25

Gary “The Gut” Goombah – Week 20, 2024-’25

Football season is nearing it’s end. And so are you, if you’ve been losing money left and right gambling on Gary’s stupid picks. Hopefully you’ve made better choices than the “Gut” has this season. Let’s recap Gary’s Week 19 before we move on to this weekend’s HUGE contests.

Gary’s Week 19 Selections

CFP Semifinals – (Thursday 1/9 & Friday 1/10)

ORANGE BOWL – Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-1.5) over Penn State Nittany Lions – Notre Dame performed admirably in their victory over Penn St. In the first half, it looked gloomy for the Irish as they trailed 10-0. Then starting QB Riley Leonard got hurt with a possible concussion, so as he entered the tent, his backup Steve Angeli led Notre Dame on a drive that put them on the scoreboard with a field goal before halftime. This 10-3 deficit still seemed dim, but the Irish outscored the Nittany Lions 24-14 in the second half to secure the win. Final Score: Notre Dame 27-24. Result: WON!

COTTON BOWL – Ohio State Buckeyes (-5.5) over Texas Longhorns – Final Score: Ohio State won 28-14. Result: WON!

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Gary’s “Pick 6” NFL Playoffs Selections – (Saturday 1/11, Sunday 1/12, and Monday 1/13)

Los Angeles Chargers (-2.5) over Houston Texans – The Texans routed the Chargers 32-12. Result: Lost

Pittsburgh Steelers (+9.5) over Baltimore Ravens – The Ravens won, as predicted, but they also covered the large point spread, winning 28-14. Result: Lost

Buffalo Bills (-8.5) over Denver Broncos – The Bills dominated the Broncos, as predicted. Final Score: Buffalo 31-7. NO QUARTER! Result: WON!

Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5) over Green Bay Packers – The Eagles won easy over the Packers. Final Score: Philadelphia 22-10. Result: WON!

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3) over Washington Redskins/Commanders – The Redskins are road warriors this season, improving to 6-3 as the away team. Final Score: Washington won 23-20. Result: Lost

Minnesota Vikings (-1.5) over Los Angeles Rams – Minnesota picked a bad week to go in a slump. They lost on the road to the Rams in Arizona, due to the L.A. wildfires. This might’ve been one of those situations in which the Rams were so highly motivated that they would have beaten anybody. Unfortunately for the Vikings, they were next in line to play them. Final Score: L.A. Rams won 27-9. Result: Lost

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Week 19 Results: 4-4 (50%) Overall; (2-0 NCAA including a perfect 2-0 in CFP which makes us 6-0 in the CFP overall!; 2-4 NFL)
Season Results: 102-103-2 (49.8%) Overall; ((51-47 (52.0%) NCAA, 6-0 in the CFP!; 51-55-2 (48.1%) NFL, 0-1 CFL))

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Gary’s Week 20 Selections

CFP National Championship – Monday, January 20, 2025 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, GA

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (+8.5) over Ohio State Buckeyes – Gary is going to take the underdog in the CFP National Championship. Notre Dame is 14-1 overall, while Ohio St. is 13-2. This is an unprecedented 16th game for a college team, as both schools played 12 regular season games, and neither had a first round bye, so they are now each playing their 4th CFP Playoff game. The Fighting Irish have been making their fans a ton o’ cash this season, going 12-3 ATS. The Buckeyes are no slouches either, going 9-6 ATS. Can Notre Dame win this game straight up? For sure. It might not be probable, but since when do we deal with “odds”? PICK: Notre Dame to cover the spread AND win straight up!

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AFC Divisional Round

Houston Texans (+8.5) over Kansas City Chiefs – The Chiefs (15-2 overall) are 11-0 in one-score games this year, which is just silly. Technically, this point spread is a hook over a one-score game, so…. so what? Houston is definitely able to go into Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium and win this game. So Gary “The Gut” is going to gamble on the underdog Texans to cover this “large-ish” point spread. PICK: Houston

Buffalo Bills (+1.5) over Baltimore Ravens – THE GAME OF THE YEAR!!! I believe both of these teams are teams of destiny. Unfortunately, one must lose. However, the winner of this contest is going to win the Super Bowl on February 9, 2025. Somewhat surprisingly, the Bills are home underdogs. You know what they say about home ‘dogs, right? Don’t anger them! CAUTION! Wild dogs may attack. Read, the Bills Mafia may attack the Ravens. Buffalo will go out and destroy the Ravens in Rich Stadium/Ralph Wilson Stadium/New Era Field/Bills Stadium/Highmark Stadium (I know, it’s just silly. Plus, they are building a New Highmark Stadium, ready for play in ’26). (* Borrowed from Dutch Lion’s 2024-’25 NFL Playoffs Preview). The Buffalo Bills will give “no quarter” to the Baltimore Ravens. (Thanks to L.A. Holmberg for the Led Zeppelin inspiration in a recent comment. “No Quarter” is clearly my favorite Zeppelin song. Simply incredible tune. Check out the Celebration Day performance below, which is my personal favorite version.) Needless to say, PICK: Buffalo

NFC Divisional Round

Detroit Lions (-8.5) over Washington Redskins/Commanders – Washington D.C. just can’t hang with Detroit. We’re not talking about cities here, we’re talkin’ football. Historically, sure, the District of Columbia can boast more football prowess than Detroit, but not currently. The current status (status? statuses? stati?) of these franchises is totally in favor of the Detroit Football Lions. Detroit is ready to kill the Commanders. The team name “Commanders” needs to change back to the Redskins, by the way. Commanders is lame. What do they command… absolutely nothing, hey! However, don’t forget that Washington has been road warriors this season, as noted above. Nevertheless, Gary is picking the Lions. PICK: Detroit

Los Angeles Rams (+6.5) over Philadelphia Eagles – Like Houston/K.C. above, Gary isn’t sure who he would pick straight up, but we’re dealing with point spreads here guys. With Matthew Stafford starting, the Rams are 6-0 S/U, 5-1 ATS since losing to the Eagles 37-20 on November 24. “That’s hot!” – Paris Hilton. Can the ‘Iggles’ cover all these points on a frigid, possibly snowy field in Philadelphia? Of course they could…. that is, they could. Gary is counting on the expert coaching of Sean McVay to carry the Rams to a victory, at least, an ATS victory. PICK: L.A. Rams

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Good luck everyone. I personally (the “Dutch Lion”) am going to gamble a parlay this weekend. I may take Gary’s advice and go with a four legged parlay of Bills, Rams, Lions, and Texans ATS. I’ll let you know in our next column which will be a Super Bowl Preview, our last Gary “The Gut” column of the season. Thanks for reading.

“Whether rich or poor, thou shalt gamble more” – Gary “The Gut” Goombah’s mantra