Happy Thanksgiving
Written by Wendi
A lot of these games were too close for my comfort. I am sure you thought the same thing throughout the day on Saturday.
Down by 8 points late in the fourth quarter against Pittsburg, Duke managed to score a touchdown and converted a two-point conversion to make it a two point game. An onside kick was coming with 49 seconds left to go. For those who picked Pittsburg, it was "Ok Pitt, you have one job”. Pitt did its job and won 28-26.
In a thrilling end to the TCU and Baylor game, I am sure we all thought that TCU would not get lined up that quickly and get the snap off in time to make the field goal with zero timeouts. But, they did as time expired and the field goal was good. That kept TCU undefeated and launched them into the Big 12 title game. How do they keeping getting so lucky?
What happened to ECU’s somewhat decent defense? I know Houston can score some points but didn’t expect the score to be 42-3 as the final. Without their starting quarterback, Louisville still found a way to beat NC State who has been without their starting quarterback for a while now and will not have him back this season. There wasn’t a lot of offense early in the game but NC State had a costly turnover in the fourth quarter to seal the win for Louisville 25-10.
Minnesota dominated Iowa and should have won the game. They outgained Iowa in just about every category. Expect that one that bites you in the butt. Turnovers. Two of the last three possessions for Minnesota resulted in a fumble and an interception. Minnesota fumbled at Iowa’s 13-yard line and the INT was at Iowa’s 33-yard line. Iowa was able to avoid the loss and won 13-10.
David found himself in a little pickle with the Stanford and Cal game. He needed Cal to lose as I had six points on them. Only to realize Adam had five on Stanford. I think David realized he wasn’t in Kansas anymore and needed to adjust his strategy to stay on top. As the fourth quarter started Cal was down by 11 points but momentum shifted as Cal had a fumble recovery for a TD which put them up by three after another TD they had just prior to that. Cal outlasted Stanford 27-20.
There are not too many games in the Big 12 that you see with under a total of 25 points combined. The Texas Tech and Iowa State game only had 24. Iowa State had 422 yards to Texas Tech’s 246 yards. Why the big difference when Iowa State lost? Well, Iowa State missed two field goals and just couldn’t keep drives going. Texas Tech won 14-10.
Oklahoma and Arkansas finally decide to show up and play ball now? Arkansas dominated Ole Miss from start to finish. Ole Miss had 703 total yards but that pesky turnover number (three of them) gets you every time. Ole Miss scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter while they held Arkansas scoreless but it was not enough to overcome the big deficit they had and Arkansas won 42-27. Oklahoma had a field day with their rival Oklahoma State. Just like what I mentioned above, when you dominate the game in all phases but have four turnovers, that just isn’t good business. Spencer Sanders threw four interceptions and the Sooners won 28-13.
In a classic shootout at the Rose Bowl, UCLA had a chance to take the lead with under two minutes left to play after holding USC and forcing them to punt for the first time that night. But, when you have your two-minute drills, quarterbacks tend to force plays when they shouldn’t because you have no timeouts. That happened here while UCLA was driving about midfield. UCLA’s quarterback threw an INT to seal the win for USC 48-45.
FUN FACT: Vandy stormed the field after beating Florida…..I mean I guess you could call that a big win for Vandy, who also beat Kentucky last week.
On to the pick’ems…
Well, look who is back on top? I will be taking calls all week if anyone needs advice on their picks. Hours are Monday-Friday 8am-4pm CT. But I won’t take calls from a 321-area code. Those are spam calls.
Things are heating up for the top 3 spots with only two weeks left to go. Can Adam, David, and myself hang on or will Megan or possibly Cindy be able to catch up and win some money? David needs Adam and I to have a bad week, but the problem is that when we do, he also has a bad week.
Mom went from having two great weeks to a really bad week. She was just bragging to Sam and I about making her move up. Well apparently, Saturday was opposite day because she went down. Sean had a decent week, but still sits four points behind a nine-year-old. Unless Sam or Sean forgets to do their picks one week, Noah has zero chances of moving out of last place as Sean is 30 points ahead of him. If Stemple has another bad week, Sam may be able to pass him as well.
Mike and Marc need perfect weeks while the rest of us need to only net about 20 points to reach third place. (Highly unlikely)
All I know is that on Saturday night I was talking to Cindy about how I can stay ahead of David while she is just worried about passing Megan and Mom to control fourth place. That is like comparing apples to oranges. But, you did pass mom. Or should I say, mom passed you going down?
Most points for the week: I somehow managed to snag 36 points, which put me in the lead by one point.
Least points for the week: Stemple and Mom found themselves at the bottom again tied at 24.
Best pick of the week: Adam, Megan, Sam and Marc going Oklahoma over Oklahoma State. It took big balls to go that high for Megan and Adam. It kept them both still vying for a chance for some prize money.
Worst pick of the week: All of us big dummies going big points on the Lane Trane at Ole Miss. That hurt all of us. The least number of points was 7 on that game. To be fair, David did warn us but even he did not heed his own advice.
Here are the rankings:
1.Wendi - 449 points
2.David - 448 points
3.Adam - 446 points
4.Megan - 435 points
5.Cindy - 428 points
6.Mom - 421 points
7.Mike - 417 points
8.Marc - 407 points
9.Stemple - 406 points
10.Sam - 398 points
11.Sean - 394 points
12. Noah - 364 points
Good luck this week! There is an 85-point difference from first to last.
