For the fourth time in eight weeks, Harry Gagnon went 6-1 with his ‘Cuseboy entry of seven NFL and college picks in the Golden Nugget’s Ultimate Football Challenge. That awesome achievement helped him jump from a tie for 13th overall into a tie for third place with three others in the contest, which has a total of 282 entrants this season.
Gagnon’s only miss in Week 8 of the Ultimate Football Challenge was the Michigan State Spartans, who fell 28-7 to the Penn State Nittany Lions as 6.5-point home underdogs last Saturday. Otherwise, he had college Sportsbooks on the Wyoming Cowboys (-14), Hawaii Warriors (-10), Washington State Cougars (+14) and Louisville Cardinals (+3.5). Gagnon also had a pair of winning NFL picks in the Philadelphia Eagles (+1.5) and Los Angeles Rams (-13) to improve to 37-18-1 (67.3 percent) with nine weeks left.
Team Odds Shark’s “Cousin Sal” Iacono also fared well in Week 8 with a 5-2 mark to move into a tie for 67th place at 31-24-1. Sal’s two losers were in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals (+10.5) and Kansas City Chiefs (+4). The Szokoli brothers – Darren and Brian – went 3-4 and 2-5, respectively, and they are both tied for 198th at 26-29-1.
In Sportsbook’s College Pick’em, Clay Travis went 4-3 and sits at 26-30 with just two weeks to go. The college-only football contest pays out the top 10, and the leader is 38-18 after a 4-3 week. Two 7-0 weeks likely would not be enough for Travis to cash.
Of Team Odds Shark’s eight entries in the NFL-only SuperContest and Circa Sports Million, there is one that currently has a winning record and seven residing below the .500 mark. Odds Shark’s own Joe Osborne went 1-4 in Week 8 of the Circa Sports Million but is still 20-19-1 overall. The team’s other three entries in that contest had losing weeks as well, with Kris Abbott and Joe Fortenbaugh going 2-3 and Pamela Maldonado finishing 1-4 like Osborne. The quarterly Sportsbook of $143,750 went 17-2-1 the last four weeks and won that prize with the Miami Dolphins (+14) on Monday night.
Tony Riccobono was the team’s lone bright spot in the SuperContest with a 3-2 record. Jon Anik, Frank Schwab and Paulo Antunes combined to go 3-12 between them.
