Every so often we’ll take a break from analyzing real-life events and look back at some of our favorite sports movies with the intention of setting odds on the film’s pinnacle game. With the Alabama Crimson Tide taking on the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2018 National Championship, let’s breakdown another epic clash between two southern schools. Without further ado, the story of the 1997 Bourbon Bowl: The Waterboy.
The Waterboy is the story of the 1997 South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs. There wasn’t much hope heading into the season for a team that hadn’t won a game since 1994, but a local 31-year old waterboy named Bobby Boucher managed to channel years of pent-up anger and aggression into becoming one of the best linebackers the nation had ever seen.
Boucher’s tour de dominance across college football earned him and the Mud Dogs national recognition, as well as a trip to the Bourbon Bowl to take on Bobby’s previous employer: Coach Red Beaulieu and the University of Louisiana Cougars. This naturally begs the question: How would Vegas treat a national powerhouse taking on a perennial loser propped up by one generational talent in a #RevengeGame spot for the ages? Let’s take a look at a few key events from the movie to help set a line for the Mud Dogs’ ultimate showdown against the Cougars.
The Setup
“Bobby, did they ever catch that gorilla that busted out the zoo and punched you in the eye? … No Mama, the search continues.” – Mama Boucher and Bobby.
During Bobby’s first practice with the Mud Dogs, starting quarterback Gee Grenouille (essentially a homeless man’s Nathan Peterman) calls Bobby a moron. Boucher channels all the anger he’s felt from being made fun of and beheads Grenouille. Coach Klein immediately attempts to add Bobby to the team, but has two holdups:
- Bobby’s Mama believes “foosball” is one of the many crafts of the devil (along with: little girls, astronomy, Bobby’s future wife Vicky Vallencourt, Ben Franklin, and Dick Clark). Unable to convince Mama Boucher that college is in Bobby’s best interest, Klein revealed to Bobby the most-dangerous seven-word phrase in human history: What Mama don’t know won’t hurt her.
- Bobby was home schooled in high school, learning lessons such as “alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth but no toothbrush” and “happiness is magic rays of sunshine that come down when you’re feeling blue.” Coach Klein is forced to forge Bobby’s high school transcript since he was home schooled, a violation the NCAA of course missed in the free-rolling 90s.
With both Mama and Bobby’s schooling out of the picture, Klein finally had his game-changing middle linebacker capable of turning any shootout into trench warfare. Despite the defensive upgrade, bettors were understandably hesitant to back the least-profitable team in NCAA history.
“Bobby, you’re gonna have to do this by yourself … because there is nobody on this team that’s any good. Now look, I can’t stand losing any more. We’ve got to win one game. Can you go out there and make something happen?” – Coach Klein.
Klein used to be the brains behind some great Cougars teams in the 1970s, but wasn’t chosen as the program’s future head coach after Red decided to be a dick and steal Klein’s playbook. Despite being unable to ever rediscover the same offensive magic, he kept working hard and managed to mold Boucher into one of the nation’s most-feared defenders with a simple philosophy: Visualize and attack.
Bettors quickly developed a different motto for the Mud Dogs: Pound the under. Bobby’s ability to infiltrate backfields at will helped make his teammates better and shut down opposing offenses across the country:
Even with an NCAA record 16 sacks from Boucher, the Mud Dogs lost their season opener 14-7 to West Mississippi. What followed was one of the more dominant defensive stretches of football the nation had ever seen.
“She’s not the devil. She’s the most beautiful woman in the world!” – Bobby to Central Kentucky’s third-string quarterback.
Boucher managed to snap the Mud Dogs’ NCAA-record 41-game losing streak in Week 2 thanks to a game-ending safety to beat Central Kentucky 5-3. He’d go on to lead the team to an impressive 6-3 win over Clemson, as well as a 5-0 win over Louisville. Boucher’s dominance had the Mud Dogs one win over Iowa away from not only going undefeated against the spread, but also earning a berth in the long-elusive Bourbon Bowl.
The Hawkeyes were a 20-yard field goal away from ending the Mud Dogs’ Cinderella story, but Bobby managed to block the field goal and return it for a touchdown … or did he?
What if I told you Iowa got screwed out of the 1997 Bourbon Bowl? Bobby Boucher was down at the one-yard line on that field goal he took to the house fam: pic.twitter.com/n10NNugN2b
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) January 3, 2018
The NCAA didn’t allow instant replay until 2006, but Iowa was undoubtedly robbed of a chance to take the Mud Dogs to overtime after Boucher clearly fell short of the goal line. Iowa moneyline backers were rightfully enraged, but there was nothing anybody could do. The Mud Dogs were going to the Bourbon Bowl.
Despite the NCAA discovering his phony transcript, Bobby was allowed to play in the Bourbon Bowl after passing a high school equivalence exam. Leave it to the NCAA to choose TV ratings over teaching a program a lesson. Ultimately, Bobby would still miss the first half of the bowl after his mother feigned a sickness – but he was expected to be active as far as bookmakers were concerned.
The Spread
Boucher is compared to Zach Thomas and Greg Lloyd by Jimmy Johnson and Bill Cowher, respectively. Considering those linebackers combined to play in 12 Pro Bowls, it’s fair to say Boucher’s dominance placed him in the upper echelon of college football players. The Mud Dogs’ offense had struggled to reach double digits all season, but oddsmakers had to respect Boucher & Co., who had managed to keep some of the nation’s finest offenses completely out of the end zone all year.
Per our tools at Bet Labs, we know the largest spread between two top-five teams since 2003 was when No. 1 Alabama was favored by 12.5 points against No. 4 Washington in 2016. Additionally, we know the largest underdog in the midst of a 10-plus game win streak was when Georgia was an 11.5-point dog to LSU in 2011. Manti Te’o is the last linebacker to drag his punch-less offense to a national championship appearance, and the Crimson Tide were accordingly favored by 9.5 points over the Fighting Irish. Boucher’s defensive dominance and lack of intimate female encounters are both strikingly similar to Te’o, while the Mud Dogs’ ball-control offense was a worst version of Notre Dame’s 81st-ranked scoring unit.
The Cougars’ specific level of dominance is vague other than the fact it’s far from their first championship appearance. The Mud Dogs were far from a complete pushover given impressive non-conference wins over Clemson, Iowa, and Louisville. WITH Bobby in the lineup, this gives us a line of …
Cougars (-10.5) vs. Mud Dogs. Over/under: 24.5.
As expected, wise guys continued to pound a senior-laden Cougars team backed by their mastermind coach who had been to the big dance before. The public continued to follow the fairy tale Mud Dogs who hadn’t disappointed bettors yet. The under was a virtual lock for both sharps and fish alike, and the only real question was whether or not Boucher could reach his ridiculous player prop of 13.5 sacks.
The Result
Most mainland sports books crashed upon news breaking of Boucher’s absence shortly before game time. Initial respondents emptied their bank accounts on the Cougars at -10.5 and -900: When else do you get the chance to essentially bet on Bama vs. Georgia Southern, giving less than two TDs? At kickoff, offshore books had moved the Cougars up to 31.5-point favorites, signalling the waterboy was quite literally worth twice as much as the rest of his teammates combined.
The Cougars poured it on the over-matched Mud Dogs and built a 27-0 lead at the half. Thanks to a change of heart from Mama Boucher, the best player in the country made it back in time for the second half. Even with Boucher, bookmakers set the 2H line at Cougars -3 given the lack of offense the Mud Dogs displayed all season. The public gladly backed their ATS hero, and Bobby’s immediate impact sent shivers down the spines of Cougar backers across the nation:
The Mud Dogs, now bursting with confidence thanks to both the presence of Boucher and renewed offensive magic from Coach Klein, scored 24 unanswered points to cut the lead to 27-24 with just 0:14 remaining in the fourth quarter. Boucher & Co. managed to win outright for Mud Dog ML backers (+400) thanks to a ridiculous trick play that featured a 50-yard touchdown pass from Boucher to his quarterback.
“Pound the under,” may have finally failed bettors, but “You can do it!” would quickly become the new rallying cry for Mud Dog faithful around the country. Boucher’s Heisman trophy was eventually stripped and given to Charles Woodson after the NCAA finally figured out what was being put in the water at South Central Louisiana State University, but they’ll never be able to take away that 1997 Bourbon Bowl Championship and the celebration that followed.
