By Eddie Mayrose
Locks Wrap Up Season And Look To Go Bowling
This is it for the Lock family. The final week of prognostications before their NCAA Football Bowl 
selections in a few weeks. It’s been a successful season for the most part, especially since the firing of Gil Lock of Ryno Rife Sports Handicapping. With wife Jill and nephew Pad picking up the slack, the Locks have forged an impressive record while saving the dignity of the family name. Many were disappointed that Gil was not included in last week’s column; as they’d come to rely on him as a reverse indicator. Jill and Pad have taken their protests under advisement and may invite Gil back for the Bowl Season. With that decision still up in the air, here are the Locks of the Week for the final Saturday of the season.
Locks of the Week
Jill Locks (21-10)
Conference USA Football Championship
Houston -1 over East Carolina-
The Cougars, needing two straight wins for a Championhsip berth, responded by scoring 128 points while drubbing both Memphis and Rice. They’ll face defending champ East Carolina on the Pirates’ home turf; the main reason the line is so low. However, while the two didn’t meet in ’09, Houston did ring up over 600 yards of offense last year as the Cougars ran away with a 41-24 win at East Carolina. Houston QB Case Keenum leads the nation in total offense and will be too much for the Pirates to handle.
ACC Football Championship
Georgia Tech -1 over Clemson
- Georgia Tech escaped with a 30-27 win when the two met back in September and Clemson will be looking for revenge. However, that game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate as the Yellow Jackets ran for over 300 yards in dominating the line of scrimmage. Clemson may have the league’s best player in C.J. Spiller but he managed just 18 rushing yards last week in a loss to South Carolina. Don’t think Tech hasn’t watched that film a few times.
Big 12 Football Championship
Texas – 14 1/2 over Nebraska
- This doesn’t shape up to be much of a game. Texas has been rolling along unchallenged for most of the season and then got its wake up call last week courtesy of Texas A&M. There’s no way they won’t be ready Saturday which is very bad news for Nebraska.
Pad Locks (8-5)
San Jose State vs. Lousiana Tech over 46 1/2-
San Jose State is one of the nation’s most generous teams while Louisiana Tech reminds no one of the Steel Curtain. La. Tech may go over by themselves.
Boise State vs. New Mexico over 58 1/2-
This week’s “Arifemetic” lesson. Boise is favored by 47 points so, the line is telling you you’ll probably need just a TD from New Mex. Plus, I love the fact that Boise needs to run it up to lock up a BCS bid.
California -6 over Washington-
It’s been an up and down year for both teams but California has finally started playing consistently well and has a lot more talent than the Huskies even with Jahvid Best out of the lineup.
State would receive a bid to the 
season. The anticipation seems to have distracted fans from the fact that both have suffered lapses; especially the 
of playing for a National Championship. While 
as the league’s most important offensive player after leading blowout wins over Cal and USC. A slip vs. 
teams on its way to the third round of the D-3 playoffs. Operating behind an offensive line led by junior guard Ryan Lino (right), the Blue Jays have gained more than 400 yards in each game with a balanced attack run by QB Hewitt Tomlin. RB Andrew Kase has posted consecutive 100 yard games, as has WR Dan Crowley. Their last minute heroics vs Kentucky’s St. Thomas More in Saturday’s 31-29 victory put K Alex Lachman in position for a game winning 42 yard FG as time expired. They’ll have their hands full this week, however, taking on a Wesley team ranked third in the nation. If Lino and Company can continue their dominance and give Tomlin enough time to throw, Crowley should turn in another big game and it’s on to the Final Four for the Hops. 
game, Buckeye fullback Jim Otis blasts over the goal line to put the home team up 48-14. Yet, instead of opting to kick the extra point, Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes decides instead to attempt a two point conversion in order to hang the half century mark on his bitter enemy. Asked after the game why he went for two, Hayes famously responded, “Because they wouldn’t let us go for three.”
It had come down to this. A nine foot putt that would break a little bit to the left as it got to the hole. It was the kind of putt Tom Watson had been knocking in all week in writing one of the most incredible sports stories of the last decade. Seeking to become the oldest player in PGA history to win a major by a full thirteen years, Watson needed only to drain this short bender to raise the Claret Jug. Seemingly unfazed by the fact that his approach shot had been right at the flag before rolling off the back edge of the green, Watson decided to putt his ball rather than chip up, and failed to get it as close as he wanted. Sadly, his second putt never had a chance and he was off to a four hole playoff against fellow American, Stewart Cink. Somewhere between the eighteenth hole and the first playoff tee, however, Watson seemed to tire, as if suddenly realizing how old he actually is. He bogeyed the first to drop a shot back and drove his ball way left on the third, ensuring Cink’s first victory in a major. And just like that, the Open Championship became that novel we’ve all read; a terrific story with a terrible ending.