Ryan Horvat, BetQL

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Paid for by NHTSA. College picks, NFL picks. We'll do so right now. With the host of BetMGM tonight, via BeckQL, he joins us each and every football Friday. And that, of course, is Ryan Horvat. Ryan, appreciate the time as always. Happy 2024. What's happening, my man? Happy New Year, Zach.

I hope you enjoyed the holidays. Hopefully you're going to continue to enjoy the holidays because these bowl games, you know, especially with some steam, you never know what's going on with some line movement, right? Like Notre Dame, for example. I'm sporting the ND shirt today because it's a really bad number. I bet them as 11 and a half point favorites. Turns out Sam Hartman doesn't play in this game. Audrick Estime doesn't play in this game. And it doesn't really matter what number you got because they just won by 30 points.

So that didn't really matter. But I'm excited for the college football playoff, man. I'm really excited to watch some games that actually matter, these New Year's games. And it's the best time of the year, in my opinion. Yeah, probably for what you do, you're not going to like my comment.

I equate the bowl season outside of the college football playoffs to the NBA regular season. Like, I have no clue who's showing up. I have no clue who gives a rat's ass. And as someone that bets, it's almost a turn off because you have no clue what's going to happen.

Like, I hate... I made a bet last night in the NBA regular season. I don't remember the last time I bet in the NBA regular season. It was Pistons' money line just because everyone in the world was getting on in.

It was like 800, plus 800, 850, whatever it was. But it's so tough to bet these games because there's all these opt-outs, the transfer portal, and guys are going to the NFL as well. Yeah, absolutely. Like tonight, for example, Missouri and Ohio State, we still have no idea. Now, I don't expect Marvin Harrison to play in this game. If he doesn't practice, I probably wouldn't risk the injury, but there's still not any confirmation, which is funny, which is why the number keeps bouncing from five and a half back to four and a half. If he gets ruled out, which I expect, it's probably going to be six. So if you like Missouri, you wait for the six, and it's all just a big guessing game, and sometimes it doesn't really matter. That's why, again, with the playoff, at least we know the motivation for those four teams. Everybody's going to be out there.

Everybody that's healthy, at least. Alrighty, Ryan Horvath, let's start off with the college football playoff. 5 p.m. Eastern, New Year's Day. So after all the partying, after all the food you're eating, you're going to sit down on the couch, you're going to do what we do best as men. And we're going to watch these games, and we're going to stuff our face with foods, and we're going to make a lot of bets, and hopefully we're going to win them. Alabama, Michigan. Michigan being a two-point favorite. I think this is begging you, begging everybody to plus the two points with Alabama. Oh, you give Nick Saban a month? Of course he's going to win the game.

Blah, blah, blah, blah. Of course Alabama could win this game, but I'm not picking them. I like Michigan. I think Michigan wins the game 23 to 20. Give me Michigan in a very uncomfortable line of two points, laying the two.

How about you? I love it, and this is a perfect opportunity for anybody that followed the advice before the LSU game where you had the Jayden Daniels Heisman future, still at 8 to 1, and you had Alabama 14 to 1. And I really like Michigan in this spot. If Alabama happens to win, that's fine with me. More money coming my way if they get through the winner of the Texas and Washington game, of course.

But here's the only thing that concerns me. I also like Michigan. I'm going to say a lower-scoring game. I think it correlates with an under, so I'll say 17-13. Michigan runs the ball on 55% of their plays this season, which is the fifth-highest rate among Power 5 schools. And J.J. McCarthy, he only attempted eight passes in that November game against Penn State. And if you look, he had a 69.7 passing grade in these last couple matchups. He hasn't really done a whole lot.

Also, I wonder how healthy he is, but now he's had some time off. I think he's going to have to make some big-time throws in this game, but I think he's going to. I know he didn't last year against TCU. Also, Michigan, they've been really good against these quarterbacks that can move a little bit, except for Max Duggan last year, college football playoff.

That was the last quarterback to go over 60 rushing yards. I just don't see it happening again. I think they're going to be able to contain Millrow in this game. I like Michigan on the money line.

I also like the under, but I'm fine with the two points as well. Alrighty, Texas and Washington, 845 p.m. Eastern. I think this is a high-scoring affair. There's going to be a ton of offense between Quinn Ewers and Michael Penix Jr. I think Washington continues to get disrespected.

I know Texas, every Tom, Dick, and Harry this week is going to tell you Ryan Horvat. It's the differences, the trenches. Texas is so much better in the trenches. I heard for a week, gotta take Oregon. Gotta take Oregon. Oregon, a 9, 9.5 point favorite up against Washington. I just think that this is another spot where Washington gets disrespected.

I don't know why they're getting disrespected. I love Sark. I like Quinn Ewers.

I love Kalen Dubor. I like Michael Penix, so I want to see a great game here. It's going to be a high-scoring affair. I would probably, what I'll do here is I'm going to plus the four 4.5 points and I do think that Washington is going to win the game outright and they continue to play that disrespect card.

Completely agree. I'm going to go with Washington here. I think it's going to actually be a little bit lower scoring than a lot of people expect. I can see this being 28-24 maybe.

Maybe 35-32. I just, you know, exactly what you said and I bet Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game because I thought that that was the best offensive line in the country. Turns out Washington's offensive line is pretty damn good. Top five in the country and that's the one way that you could affect what Michael Penix does.

Texas is going to have to get some pressure in this game. Penix only completes 47% of his passes when he's outside the pocket, which is 84th among FBS quarterbacks. Also only completes, I believe 59% of his passes against the blitz, which is outside the top 50. But the good thing is that offensive line that I just talked about top five and Texas also just doesn't blitz a whole lot.

Just 35% of drop backs, which is 73rd in the country. So I think we're going to see Michael Penix with a clean pocket going against that Texas secondary, which is still a little bit shaky. So I think that Washington's live in this game.

And again, I mean, I don't think they're going to get bullied in the trenches. They did it against Oregon. And again, I like Sark, man. I really like Kalen DeBoer. So I'm not going to say Kalen DeBoer and Washington has the coaching advantage, but I trust them a little bit more in this spot here. So give me the points with Washington. I think this might be a classic game, kind of like USC Texas years ago when it was Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush against Vince Young and all those guys. I think it's going to be back and forth. So I'll take anything over a field goal here with Washington, who I think has just been disrespected all season long because of the conference that they played in.

You could always watch our show, youtube.com slash CBS Sports Radio. Ryan Horvat is here with us and Horvat, the YouTube chat is popping off. And usually when that happens, they like want to say like down with Horvat.

What another dumb pick by Ryan Horvat. They're actually giving you some praise and they're actually saying you look like someone. Have you ever got that? You look like Jake Elliott, the former Memphis kicker who's the kicker for the Eagles right now. That's who Craig in the YouTube chat, youtube.com slash CBS Sports Radio saying you look just like Jake Elliott. You know, I've never got that one, but I could see it, especially not a bad cop. So it's not it's not and I'll take it because and his wife is very good looking to Jake Elliott. Yeah, he makes a little bit more money.

Maybe maybe we could get maybe we could get in like in his range if we have a really good college football playoff and we hit all three of our NFL picks. I believe we went two and one last week. So parlay home, but I'm glad to hear man because I went back home and now I'm used to the East Coast living in DC living in Maryland, you know, kind of like split in time. I found my barber. I went back home my neighbor Chicago out of business.

He's retired after years. So I went to and I hate to admit this. Well, I'm not going to actually hey every sponsor could be a future sponsor. So I'm not going to name where I went. But um, man. Yeah, it was rough the back. You look a little rough this week. You look like you could, you know, you look like you want to wear a hat, but you don't want to wear a hat.

That and the fact that I've I've got so much sodium and garlic and butter and Italian. I went back home. So there was a lot of deep dish pizza and now that's what that's one name I will drop because man didn't get much better than portillo. What did they the guy that was cutting your hair. He was like blindfolded. It looked like he took a chunk out of your head right here. Yeah, I was calling him Devin Leary outside of today because he was just he missed the target. It wasn't good, man. Tommy DeVito the last two weeks.

Yeah, the cutlets were burnt. 100% Ryan Horvat here with us. Cue me my NFL music. Let's get to some NFL picks. Horvat has been really hot as of late. So since you have the hot hand, we'll let you go first. What is the first play for Ryan Horvat? All right. I appreciate it.

Let's actually you know what? Let's go to the Giants here at five and a half. So we get Tyrod Taylor here.

Tommy DeVito was a really fun story for a couple weeks, but I just think this is an obvious upgrade with Taylor being healthy. And I really like this Rams team. I don't want to be cliche guy, but nobody wants to see this Rams team in the playoffs because right now they're trending towards being a top five offense.

Kyron Williams might be the top fantasy back next season, especially if Arthur Smith continues to not use Bijan Robinson, but this Rams offense second in DVOA the last six games. They're five and one during that stretch. They've scored at least 28 points in five straight games. I feel like now is the time to fade them because you have the Giants who are going to look to play spoiler and you have Brian Daybal coming off a loss.

He's 10 and five after a loss. I'm not the biggest trends guy, but also we get the Rams. They're not going to be in the dome here.

I'm hoping for some windy conditions. So give me the points actually with the Giants. Also the Giants at home, their defensive splits much better. Not that they're a top five defense, but I think they could keep this a little bit closer. So I'll take New York plus five and a half. All right. So Horvat goes Giants plus five and a half.

I'm going to take a dog to start off as well. And that dog is going up against an NFC East team. And that's the Philadelphia Eagles. I think the Eagles have a lot of team chemistry problems right now. I do believe Philadelphia is going to win this game. But even though Jonathan Gannon was wrong in how he departed Philadelphia, I do think the players in Arizona like Jonathan Gannon. And this is a big game for him.

So I think they're going to be there at the start. Give a good first half effort and maybe it gets away in the second half in the fourth quarter. Kyler Murray in this game is massive. And I just think Philadelphia is missing that team chemistry that they had from a year ago. Philly wins the game, but the spread is too big. I'm not taking the Eagles by 12 points up against any team right now in the NFL. So give me the cards plus 12 right out of the gate. I agree. I'm going to pick.

I'm going to do something I haven't done in a couple of weeks here. I'm going to take a favorite and I'm going to take a big favorite. I'll take the Bills. I got them at 13. I still like them at 14.

Anything over 14 and a half is probably a different story. But two touchdowns I think is fair. It's a revenge game. They lost to the Pats earlier this season and they've dominated though. If you look at they've won four straight games in their division by 12 points. They probably need to win out to get themselves in a situation where they're a playoff team.

I mean that game against Miami could be big. We might get winter conditions. I was going to say windy conditions. We might get winter conditions looking at the radar right now in Buffalo.

I just want freezing conditions in this game. I think right now, man, I love what the Bills have been able to do since they've moved on from Ken Dorsey. They're averaging over 30 points per game. Cook's been cooking with the run game and I think they're going to be able to run the ball against the Pats here. I know it's been a fun story with the Pats and Bailey Zappi the last couple weeks. No, it has been horrible. They're winning games and they're screwing up the tank. I'm annoyed.

Exactly. Well, I think I got some good news for you this week. I think Buffalo beats up on them. I think they win this game by 17 plus points. So I like the Bills.

Alrighty, you go back into the favorite well, so will I. It looks like Will Levis is in line to start this week for Tennessee. CJ Stroud though is back and getting CJ Stroud back is spectacular news for the Houston Texans. I will take the Texans at home to win the game and I like Houston to cover the four point spread. So give me the Texans laying for you. Your final pick Ryan Horvath.

All right, I'm going to go with a while. I like the total a little bit more. I like the over in Lions Cowboys, but I'm actually going to take the points here with the Lions. You look at the DVOA numbers, these teams six and seven. So they're both top 10 with the Lions barely get past Minnesota last week. Nick Mullins threw for over 400 yards against that secondary. I know the Cowboys have some fleas, especially on the road this season. They've been much better at home, but I'm looking at the injury report here. I just I think that the Lions are going to have some success in the middle of the field right now. The only thing I'm worried about with Dallas is the middle of the field and you look at what the tight ends are doing right now for Detroit. I mean, I think that this is going to be a really big game here for Jared Goff if they're able to keep him clean. I mean, that's the thing like Dallas right now is number one in pass rush win rate. But I think if Goff's able to get rid of the ball quick, you know, use your tight ends.

You St. Brown. That's the other area where Dallas is really struggling right now is covering the slot position. If you stick St. Brown in the slot, you have Laporta, obviously your tight end position. I think he's going to go over his forty six and a half receiving yards. I think St. Brown has at least seven receptions and I think Detroit keeps this game close. We get a lot of points. So I like the Lions and I like the over here. All right. The last game that I'm going to pick. You know what?

Give me a dog here. And it's basically a pick them. I was going to avoid this game. I was thinking about taking the Saints plus two and a half against Tampa. But I don't want to have to root for Derek Carr.

I can't stand him. And I was thinking about going Atlanta plus two and a half. But Arthur Smith really does annoy me because he's messed up their season. I will go with Green Bay plus a point. They're going up against Jaron Hall and the Minnesota Vikings. This game is at Minnesota.

Vegas clearly doesn't have a feel on it. So I'll just take the dog in this one, even though it's basically a pick them. But give me the pack with Jordan Love plus a point. Oh, I think you should have won Atlanta. I think you should redo the pick.

I'm not going to do that. I think I think you should go Atlanta. I really do like Atlanta. I worry a little bit about the Jordan Love Green Bay pick here only because Jair Alexander that suspension. Yeah, it's good point. Now we need to see we may see Preston Smith trying to cover Justin Jefferson down the field. Now, like you said, though, the Vikings around their what, fourth quarterback this season.

So we'll see how that plays out. Sometimes you got to be uncomfortable to win money. And this is an uncomfortable pick. And I feel uncomfortable going with the Packers. So you know what?

They have me just I have them right where I want them. So John, John's plus five and a half for Horvath bills minus 14. Did you make your final pick?

Yes. Plus five and a half. Yeah, we're going to go with the Lions plus five and a half. But we do like the over a little bit more there. Gotcha.

And I go with the Cardinals plus 12, the Texans minus four, and then the fighting Jordan loves plus one, which Horvath clearly doesn't love that pick. Ryan Horvath, happy new year. Appreciate you doing this as always. Thanks so much, Zach. Enjoy the new year.

All right. That is Ryan Horvath from Ben MGM tonight via Beck QL. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come back with our Ask the Pros question.

But first up with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here is Dexter Henry. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour.

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