Gary “The Gut” Goombah – Week 17, 2025
Welcome back ladies and gentlemen. The college bowl season is upon us. We already had several games, although most of them were dog games. Ya know? These were really bad matchups with .500 teams that are barely recognizable to the average fan. However, now we start moving into the heavy schedule.
Gary will attempt to pick many of these games, including the CFP Playoff games, by the point spread, just like our usual weekly selections that you’ve been reading about all season. All spreads will be taken from the Chicago Sun-Times as of publication date. First, let’s recap last week.
Week 16 Recap
NCAA Selection – all odds taken from the Chicago Sun-Times
Navy Midshipmen (-6.5) over Army Black Knights – Army kept it close, but Navy ultimately prevailed 17-16. Result: Lost
Gary’s “Lucky Seven” NFL Selections
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-4.5) over Atlanta Falcons on TNF – Tampa blew this game, at home. The Buccaneers led 28-14 before giving up 15 unanswered points to lose to the division rival Falcons 29-28. Result: Lost
Denver Broncos (+2.5) over Green Bay Packers – Final Score: Denver 34-26. Result: WON!
Kansas City Chiefs (-4.5) over Los Angeles Chargers – Kansas City really disappointed many people this year, including Gary “The Gut”. Final Score: L.A. Chargers 16-13. Result: Lost
Las Vegas Raiders (+11.5) over Philadelphia Eagles – Final Score: Philadelphia won 31-0. Result: Lost
Tennessee Titans (+12.5) over San Francisco 49ers – Final Score: San Francisco won, and covered by the hook, winning 37-24. Result: Lost
Indianapolis Colts (+13.5) over Seattle Seahawks – Final Score: Seattle won 18-16. Result: WON!
New York Jets (+13.5) over Jacksonville Jaguars – Final Score: Jacksonville won by twenty eight points, 48-20. Result: Lost
Gary’s monthlong winning streak came to a crashing halt. As you can see, Gary’s underdog philosophy did NOT work out. “The Gut” went only 1-3 on his four underdog picks. Overall, it was a poor weekend in the Goombah household.
Week 16 Results: 2-6 (25%) Overall; (0-1 NCAA, 2-5 NFL)
Season Results: 98-114-1 (46.0%) Overall; (50-60 NCAA, 48-54-1 NFL, with 2-0-1 on “Lock of the Week”)
Gary “The Gut” Goombah’s Week 17 Selections
NCAA Selections – all odds taken from Friday’s Chicago Sun-Times
CFP Playoff – 1st Round – These games are largely boring. The two mismatches look like blowouts before they even take the field. As for the other two games with powerhouse programs, these are solid games, but OU vs Bama is a rematch, at the same location as earlier this year. How much better would Notre Dame be in any of these matchups? By the way, Notre Dame was HOSED! I am firmly in the belief that ND was robbed. I would pick them to beat any of these eight playoff qualifiers except probably Oregon. I’d maybe pick the Ducks over the Irish if it were at Oregon. Other than this, I’d feel strongly about Notre Dame winning all of these other matchups, including rematches vs Miami and Texas A&M. In fact, I was planning on picking Notre Dame to possibly win the National Championship this year. It’s a shame that they were not included, as we all know they deserved it, as far as they are indeed one of the twelve best teams. Their two losses were by a total of four points, and now they’ve won ten straight games, and not only won, but dominated. Boo to the “committee” that picked some of these other bozo teams. It was indeed bias. Complete and total bias FOR the SEC and AGAINST the Catholic University of Notre Dame, punished because they haven’t joined the crowd by being in a conference. Make no mistake, there is an anti-Catholic bias, especially by invested partners ESPN and ABC.
Oklahoma Sooners (+1.5) over Alabama Crimson Tide
Texas A&M Aggies (-3.5) over Miami Hurricanes
Ole Miss Rebels (-17.5) over Tulane Green Wave
Oregon Ducks (-21.5) over James Madison Dukes
Bowls
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Washington St. Cougars (+2.5) over Utah State Aggies
Boca Raton Bowl: Toledo Rockets (+7.5) over Louisville Cardinals
New Orleans Bowl: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (-4.5) over Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Frisco Bowl: UNLV Rebels (-4.5) over Ohio Bobcats
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (+1.5) over Cal Golden Bears
GameAbove Sports Bowl: Northwestern Wildcats (-10.5) over Central Michigan Chippewas
Rate Bowl: Minnesota Golden Gophers (-2.5) over New Mexico Lobos
First Responder Bowl: UTSA Roadrunners (-8.5) over FIU Panthers
Gary’s “Lucky Seven” NFL Selections
Chicago Bears (+1.5) over Green Bay Packers – I can’t believe the Bears are home ‘dogs on Saturday night! This is quite a gambling opportunity. “The Gut” plans to take advantage. Get your bankroll ready. PICK: Chicago
Tennessee Titans (+3.5) over Kansas City Chiefs – K.C. has nothing left to play for, and no Pat Mahomes. PICK: Tennessee
Houston Texans (-14.5) over Las Vegas Raiders – Initially, Gary was going to pick Las Vegas, just because of the high spread. Then he thought about it….. Houston’s defense is so good, and Vegas is just plain bad. They’ll be lucky to lose 34-17. This might be a blowout. PICK: Houston
Detroit Lions (-6.5) over Pittsburgh Steelers – Detroit is at home. Gary is happy the spread is under 7. PICK: Detroit
San Francisco 49ers (-5.5) over Indianapolis Colts – We love Phil Rivers, but Indy is dumpy now. PICK: San Francisco
Los Angeles Chargers (+1.5) over Dallas Cowboys – What are we missing here? Why are the Cowboys favorites over the impressive Chargers? L.A. is hot, winning six of seven. PICK: L.A. Chargers
Jacksonville Jaguars (+3) over Denver Broncos – The Jags have won five in a row. In the NFL, this is “sizzling”. PICK: Jacksonville
We’ll be back again next week with our final selections in the 2025 calendar year.
“Whether rich or poor, thou shalt gamble more – Gary “The Gut” Goombah’s mantra
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