College Football 2018-19

You can't give the ball away against a good team like Northwestern and hope to win.

@AggieMatt I was sick of the "row the boat" slogan about a day after it started here and totally agree that it shouldn't be on the helmets. Fleck is all rah rah bark and no real bite.

 

Some Big Uns:

Friday:

#6 Okahoma at #13 West Virginia: @FulhamDC Still not sure how WVU lost to Ok State last week, they were in control and looking good for 3 1/2 quarters. This will be a fun one to watch, pulling for the Mountaineers, but think OU will make one more play.

#25 Washington at #8 Washington State: Huskies disappointing season could be helped by ruining the Coogs playoff hopes in the Apple Cup. Going with the 'Stache (Wazzu's QB Mishew) to keep the dream season going.

Saturday:

#4 Michigan at #10 Ohio State: Anyone see Urban Meyer on the sidelines against Maryland? That looked like a man in serious physical distress. Meatchicken will run the ball all over the Buckeyes and get the monkey off of Harbuagh's back.

Auburn at #1 Alabama; Iron Bowl should be a rout. Only question is the health of Tua. Auburn is a mess for what their expectations were, not sure what happened to the QB Stidham, but he regressed severely.

#7 LSU at #22 Texas A&M: Matt, you can expand, but I'm going with your Aggies in a mild upset.

#21 Utah State at #23 Boise State: Don't know much about it, but the other Aggies only loss was at Sparty in which they outplayed the hosts. That said, when in doubt go with the home team on the Blue Turf.

Hotseat Game of the Week:

#3 Notre Dame at USC: SC's roster is chalk full of 4 and 5 star guys that have no semblance of a team. Clay Helton just signed an extension in Feb (which really shocked everyone out here, so Lynn Swann's tenure as AD is in doubt as well), but there are plenty of Alumni with extremely deep pockets and their checkbooks ready. The loss to UCLA was brutal, but getting embarrassed by the Irish (which they will) on National TV could be the final nail.

* Heart goes out to McKensie Milton, The UCF QB that is so fun to watch play. Really hope he has a full recovery for his senior season.

 

Can’t really count tonight’s picks since the games are already under way, but I’d have picked OU and UDub. OU, because in a game where possessions are paramount and I don’t trust either team defensively, I trust the Sooners to protect the ball better. UW because the series is woefully one sided and there’s rarely an upset unless the Coogs are favored. Mike Leach is great at making bad teams good but I’m pretty sure he’s never won a division title, much less a conference championship.

Michigan @ Ohio St - Wolverines defense should be too much and Ohio St is too erratic.

Auburn @ Alabama - Joe, Auburn’s problem has been their o-line and inability to run the ball this year. Can’t see them giving Bama much of a game this year.

LSU @ A&M - this game is the litmus test for Fisher’s 2018 season. We’re 0-6 in this game since joining the SEC and it’s been because we’ve come up short in physicalty and toughness every time. I don’t think that will be the case this time but the game will come down to whether Burrow can exploit our Achilles heel, our secondary. I’ll pick LSU, but I won’t be surprised if we win. They’ve made a BIG deal internally about restoring this rivalry and winning this game. Sounds like the motivation on our end is through the roof whereas I don’t think LSU views it the same way...yet.

Utah St @ Boise St - outside of the game Joe mentioned, I haven’t seen a second of either team playing this year. I refuse to watch Boise home games. So since I’m guessing, I’ll take Boise.

I’m sure there will be an upset but nothing jumps out at me. I get burned every time I pick them, but I’ll take Maryland over Penn St. Only one of these teams sees this game as a rivalry and it’s the team that’s been overcoming adversity since the offseason. The Terps need this one for what would have seemed like an improbable bowl bid 4 months ago and they’ve got to be feeling more confident after almost knocking off Ohio St.

 

@HatterDon Do everyone a favor and check in on @AggieMatt. 7 OTs for his beloved Aggies before finally beating LSU 74-72? It might not of been survivable without a visit from the paramedics.

 

I've been a bit late to the party almost every week with the picks. But, I'm looking great in our office pool. I need Oklahoma to sneak in at the 4 spot and I will have 5 of the top 6. I hope. I needed Ohio St to win, but I'm not sure I would have picked it happening.

 

Lol, no I survived. Maybe it’s because I thought we’d lost it twice before tying it, but it wasn’t as stressful as you’d think. Kind of a house money deal. That was hands down, the most insane game I’ve ever seen.

Wonder how much fault Holgerson took for that OU loss? He outsmarted himself with his foolishness (passing up an early fg on 4th and 6 and the onside kick with 4 minutes left).

Couple of mental notes:
I will not pick Maryland for an upset, unless it’s against Texas. And I will not pick Harbaugh in a big game. Not before he’s won at least 2 in a row first. He’d better hope Meyer leaves for health reasons or the faithful will eventually have to turn on the prodigal son and send him and his stupid khakis packing.

 

Matt, I think you're right on Harbaugh. Even with a great season (2 losses to top 6 teams) with one of those being Ohio St every year will not make it for that fan base. It would have been better if they lost to Indiana and still beat Ohio St. I would hate to be in his off-season workout plan this year though. IF, BIG IF, Harbaugh had just a little Saban in him, they would win every game next year by 20.

 

I’ll do the rest later, but give me the Snarlin’ Pups over the Young People. Tough to beat a team twice in a season but UDub is as healthy as they’ve been all year. They’re probably the best in the conference in the trenches, defensively and they can run the ball.

 

You got the con Matt, I’m all out of time this morning. I got Bama, Ohio State (hope the bad Buckeyes show up and Northwestern wins), Clemson, Land Thieves, and Memphis to end UCF’s streak

 

Agree with you with one exception.

Bama over UGA - Bama’s better than last year, the Dawg’s aren’t. Think the Tide win by 14-17.

Ohio St over Northwestern - did the Buckeyes turn a corner v Michigan or is there another Purdue or Maryland game in them? On this stage, I think the Cats get overmatched by a focused OSU.

Clemson over Pitt - easily

Texas over Oklahoma - was planning on taking OU here but the Horns have been treated like an afterthought this week. Historically, that doesn’t go well for the Sooners. It’s not like Texas didn’t win the first one or that OU didn’t give up 189 points...in November.

And Memphis over UCF - they should have beat them earlier in the year but fell apart in the 2nd half and blew a big lead. Think the Tigers get it done on the 2nd try, especially with Milton out.

 

What a great year for the Big Sky -- 3 of the final 8 in the FCS playoffs. With UC Davis playing Eastern Washington next (Weber State is the other one), only 2 have a chance to go to the final 4. Go Aggies !

 

Was helping my bro in law move, so saw none of the games, but heard a crazy stat on Sunday. Georgia was either tied or ahead of Alabama 119 of 124 minutes between last year and this but it 0-2.

The top 3 was obvious, and don’t have a problem with OU getting the last spot. Really found it interesting that Georgia finished above Ohio State for #5. The committee used the Purdue loss as the reason, but won’t admit that the Urban Liar situation factored in...sure it didn’t.

@sacffc Thanks for pointing out that at least there is some great football being played out here in the west, because the PAC 12 is a disaster at the moment. @nevzter Not sure if UCDavis is hosting or traveling, but if it’s a road game they will have to contend with the red turf (makes Boise’s blue turf look palatable.

 

Unfortunately @SoCalJoe, the part I left out of my previous post about UC Davis is that they played on that red turf on November 10, and Eastern Washington won 59 - 20 in wintry weather. And they're back there again on Saturday and it's supposed to be bad weather again. Nevertheless, go Aggies! Tonight we find out (Maine at Weber State) who will be awaiting the winner.

 

An amazing performance by UC Davis today and what a tough way to lose. After getting blown out 4 weeks ago, they went ahead by a point after a 2-point conversion with 1:13. But then Eastern Washington drove the length of the field to win it.

It wasn't snowing but it was 20 degrees at game time. It's been at least 20 years since the temperature was at 20 or below (at any time of the day) in Davis. So, a heroic performance in very tough conditions. Well done, Aggies.

 

@sacffc Looking forward to the Eastern Washington v North Dakota State championship game on the 5th, should be an entertaining game.

Playoffs are a day away for the D1, and while Alabama and Clemson should meet again, whether or not the underdogs will cover the huge spreads is probably the talking points:

#2 Clemson v #3 Notre Dame at Jerry's World (Clemson giving 12.5). Clemson was rocked by the loss of their All-American D Tackle Dexter Lawrence for testing positive for some banned substance, and that should certainly help the Irish run the ball. Can the Irish with all this prep time devise ways to confuse Clemson's other Lawrence (frosh QB Trevor Lawrence) into turnovers. If the Irish can win the turnover battle I think they'll cover, while losing the game by 7-10 points.

#1 Alabama v #4 oklahoma in Miami (Bama giving 14). Kyler Murray is the type of QB that has given Bama trouble, and he should make plenty of plays. However, OU's D is going to get pummeled on the ground. Tua's ankle is the biggest question for the Tide. 2 TDs is a lot of points, but still think Bama will end up covering.

 

We are stuck in dynasty central.

North Dakota State won the FCS aka DII for the 7th time in 8 years, beating Eastern Washington.

Tonight #1 Alabama v #2 Clemson from Santa Clara. Not sure who decided that putting the game outdoors in NoCal in Jan. was a good idea, but they might luck out and get the game in between rain storms. Going with Bama (shocker ), but Clemson is one of the few teams not intimidated by the Tide. Just can’t see a true freshman at QB getting the better of Tua & Saban.

 

This Clemson team is flat out good and Alabama just got a whooped. We now know the talking heads missed the story line when Clemson ripped apart Notre Dame. It wasn’t that Notre Dame didn’t deserve to be there it was Clemson is just crushing it right now. Hats off to Clemson they deserve it.

 

Clemson are deserved champions. They WERE better than Bama...THIS time...