Gary “The Gut” Goombah – Week 2, 2025

Gary “The Gut” Goombah – Week 2, 2025

The opening weekend picks were….. not good. Labor Day came and went, and now we’re working overtime to recoup our losses. Can Gary get back in the winner’s circle?

Week 1 Recap

#1 Texas Longhorns (+1.5) over #3 Ohio State Buckeyes – The Buckeyes defended their home field, winning 14-7. Result: Lost.

#24 Tennessee Volunteers (-13.5) over Syracuse Orange – The Vols looked really solid in their opening victory. Final Score: Tennessee 45-26. Result: WON!

#8 Alabama Crimson Tide (-13.5) over Florida St. Seminoles – What in the world was Gary thinking with this one? The Noles played well. The Tide looked overmatched. Final Score: Florida St. 31-17. Result: Lost

#4 Clemson Tigers (-4.5) over #9 LSU Tigers – This may have been the best game of the opening weekend. Both teams looked the part. They both look like top ten CFP teams. LSU won on the road in this one, as Clemson’s big-play WR Antonio Williams was injured. Final Score: LSU 17-10. Result: Lost

Portland St. (+44.5) over BYU Cougars – Gary picked Portland based solely on the fact that they were getting 44.5 points. Final Score: BYU won 69-0. This was the biggest margin of victory in BYU’s school history. Geez louise. “The Gut” regrets this pick. Result: Lost

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-2.5) over Miami Hurricanes – Check that! This may have been the best game of the opening weekend. The old rivals met in Hard Rock Stadium and it was really good, especially for an opening game. Miami hung on, 27-24. Result: Lost

---

Week 1 Results: 1-5 (16.7%) Overall; (1-5 NCAA)
Season Results: same

---

Gary’s Week 2 Selections

NCAA Selections

Iowa Hawkeyes (+3.5) at Iowa St. Cyclones – The 72nd battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy will likely be like many of the previous 71 contests: boring and low-scoring. Iowa is getting points. The Hawkeyes are 4-1-1 ATS in their last six in Ames. Last 20 Cy-Hawks: 17-3 to the under! That might be the best bet here. O/U is 42.5. PICK: Iowa and the under

Duke Blue Devils (+2.5) over Illinois Fighting Illini – As much as we love the Illini, we don’t think they are as good as the “experts”. Duke is at home on a sleepy Saturday morning. PICK: Duke

Missouri Tigers (-6.5) over Kansas Jayhawks – The Border War returns for the first time since 2011. PICK: Missouri at home

West Virginia (-3.5) over Ohio Bobcats

San Diego St. Aztecs (+1.5) over Washington St. Cougars – Gary is going with a Marc Lawrence special, who wrote “Pick Against Wazzu as a favorite vs SDSU”. Sure enough, the Cougs are slight faves. PICK: San Diego St.

USC Trojans (-28.5) over Georgia Southern

Michigan Wolverines (+5.5) over Oklahoma Sooners – Gary was kind of shocked that not only were the Wolverines underdogs, but that the point spread was 5.5 points. Why? I guess Michigan isn’t getting much love because of their freshman phenom quarterback Bryce Underwood in his first road start. However, the Sooners haven’t been very hot for awhile now under hot-seat HC Brent Venables. PICK: Michigan

NFL Kickoff Selections

Detroit Lions (+2.5) over Green Bay Packers – Let’s not forget the Lions still have HC Dan Campbell, QB Jared Goff, and an NFC contending team. Yet they are opening ‘dogs at GB. “The Gut” is going against Marc Lawrence’s selection here, as stated in his 2025 Playbook Magazine. Marc went with “Play Against Detroit at Green Bay”. Gary disagrees. PICK: Detroit

San Francisco 49ers (-1.5) over Seattle Seahawks – The 49ers look to rebound this year, starting with their rivals up north in Washington. PICK: San Francisco

Jacksonville Jaguars (-3.5) over Carolina Panthers – The Jags can cover this small spread. PICK: Jacksonville

Buffalo Bills (+1.5) over Baltimore Ravens – The Bills are getting points at home. Sure, the opponent is the Ravens. No matter. PICK: Buffalo

Chicago Bears (+1.5) over Minnesota Vikings – Frankly, we’re surprised the Vikings are favored on MNF. The Bears will win HC Ben Johnson’s first game as an NFL head coach. PICK: Chicago

---

Well, that’s it for Week 2. Needless to say, Gary “The Gut” needs a big weekend to get back in the black. The opening weekend is always tough, but wow! Now we have the same problem with the NFL kicking off. There’s no current data to go off of yet, but Gary is counting on his expertise. He went with seven college and five pro selections. We’ll see how he does with this dirty dozen. Good luck to all!

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