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PrintThe college football podcast enters its second week, and with audio issues significantly reduced from the pilot episode, it appears the show is slowly building some momentum.
Good thing, because we’re exactly one week away from kickoff.
In this edition, hosts Adam Burke and Matt Lindeman break down the importance of power ratings and explain both how to make them and how to apply them. Lindeman, a bit of a power ratings junkie, comes off as liking them a bit too much—but stops short of saying he sleeps with them at night.
“It’s the most effective way of accurately lining every team in college football,” Lindeman said early in the show. “I think a lot of people get into a guessing game when it comes to trying to make numbers. They don’t have an idea of the general strength of each team relative to one another, and that’s one thing power ratings help eliminate.
“You can pair up two teams and look at your ratings and can get a general idea of where that number should be. Obviously, if you know what a number should be, you can spot bad numbers and appropriately assess your edge.”
Later in the show, Burke and Lindeman break down a handful of matchups from the Thursday and Friday slate of games, including the following:
- Washington State at BYU -13.5
- Boise State at Michigan State -7
- Tennessee -3.5 vs. NC State
- Texas A&M -7.5 at Louisiana Tech
- South Carolina -7 at Vanderbilt
You can listen to the full show by clicking here.
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About the hosts
Burke is a Cleveland-based college football handicapper. Lindeman, originally from Lexington, Ky., works at a Las Vegas sportsbook after moving to Sin City earlier this year.
Neither host is affiliated with BTB and both are unpaid podcasters. If you have a better gig for them and actually want to pay them, feel free to try luring them away. (It won’t work!)
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The correction section
Mistakes are inevitable. It’s a live show being hosted by two people who have real day jobs and do this as a hobby.
Nonetheless, we’ll still try to correct them.
Late in the show, Burke lamented Boise State’s inability to win regular-season games against power-conference teams. “They went to Georgia last year and lost. That was a really tough spot for them,” Burke said.
Boise State, of course, defeated the Bulldogs 35-21 and covered as 3-point favorites. (In previous seasons, Boise State also pulled off victories against Virginia Tech and Oregon.)
We can’t be too hard on Burke, though. He correctly remembered the final score of a UConn-Fordham game earlier in the podcast, which in our view negates the original error.
