"May Day May Day, We’re Going Down”
Written by Wendi
In a high stakes game to make the ACC Championship game, Clemson traveled to face a feisty Pittsburgh Panther team that was coming off a two-game losing streak. Will the losing streak continue for Pitt? Well, almost. Pitt took their first lead of the game with under three minutes left in the game. Clemson would need a field goal to tie and take it into overtime. But that wasn’t good enough for Clemson’s quarterback. He decided to break out a 50-yard run for a touchdown to regain the lead 24-20 with under half a minute left in the game. The Tigers won as time expired on the Panthers.
Navy is a good team without having to play a good team. We saw what Notre Dame did to them a few weeks back. Well, Tulane did the same thing to Navy. Tulane had more than triple the amount of offense yardage than Navy. Navy lost their third game in blowout fashion, this time 35-0. Tulane secured its spot in the AAC Championship game with that win.
It took a fourth quarter spark to get some offense going in the FAU and Temple game. So, if you happened to be napping during that game, I hope you woke up to the see the fourth quarter. FAU was leading 7-3 at the half. There were more points scored in the fourth quarter than in the first three quarters combined. With FAU storming back to tie the game to send it to overtime, it was all for naught. FAU couldn’t do anything and Temple won with a field goal 18-15. Oh by the way, FAU just fired their head coach Tom Herman after two years there. I remember when he got fired at Texas years ago.
Not sure if it is the time zone difference or being in sunny California but where has THAT Syracuse team been? The Orange had a big 27-7 lead at the half against the Cal Bears. Cal tried to come back but fell short, 33-25.
I hear Hawaii is a nice place to live/visit. If only their football team was good. Utah State rolled 55-10.
Say what you want, but the Big 12 will always been known for offense and no defense. Between Baylor and West Virginia, there were over 1,000 yards of offense. Both teams were sitting at five wins and needed a win to become bowl eligible. Baylor was the victor 49-35. West Virginia will have a hard time getting their 6th win with UCF and Texas Tech still left to play.
Even though Maryland only punted once against Rutgers, it wasn’t enough to win. Maryland had a missed field goal and failed to convert several 4th downs. Rutgers won 31-17.
After losing to Houston the week prior, Kansas State was not able to get that monkey of it’s back as they fell at home against Arizona State 24-14. The Sun Devils were able to capitalize off of three Wildcats’ turnovers. Despite the score, it wasn’t even close.
After being tied at 10 at the half, it was all Iowa State over Cincinnati. The Cyclones were able to make the necessary adjustment at halftime and came out blazing on offense for a final of 34-17. Cincinnati has now dropped three straight games and Iowa State is looking for some chaos in the Big 12 to have a shot at a Conference Championship.
Georgia was able to rebound from Ole Miss beating them last week as Carson Beck did not turn the ball over at all against Tennessee as he had been lately. Tennessee jumped out to a quick 10-0 score in the first quarter, but as usual, Georgia came back to win 31-17 and held the Vols scoreless in the second half.
FUN FACT: There are now THREE undefeated teams since BYU lost to Kansas Saturday night. Those teams are Army, Oregon, and Indiana.
On to Pick’ems…
With the first two games going our way (unless your name is Marc), it went downhill fast for some of us after that…and boy did it keep giving blows for others. There were only a few that had a good week after scoring over 40 points.
Six out of the fourteen of you at some point on Saturday had at least a four-game losing streak. Some had five, and some even a six-game losing streak. If you came out of the losing end of this week, you can kiss any chance at the top 3 goodbye. Sam & I are tied for first place and have an 11-point lead over second place and a 16-point lead over third place. Everyone else is on the outside looking in. Now all I need to do is ground Samuel so he can’t do his picks this week.
With David only getting 26 points, it dropped him tremendously and will need everyone ahead of him to fail miserably. David, what happened? You only won three games? Were you competing with Marc this week on who can win the fewest games? I remember getting a text from you Friday night saying Adam hadn’t done his picks yet and you said "it’s not like it matters”. Well David, I’m sure Adam is feeling the same way about yours right now. David will need to hope that Mike M. and Cindy will forget to make their picks this week.
Cindy had a bit of a struggle over the weekend and will need to recover some of the ground she lost to secure a spot in the top 3 from here on out. I will go ahead and address the elephant in the room. We finally have someone with the last name "Meggers” in the top 3 thanks to a tie in first. Can Mike M. keep the momentum going? In a tough week, he was able to get 43 points.
We have two more weeks in the regular season and one more week for the conference championships so for David, Mike H., Megan and maybe even Rick, there is a glimmer of hope to hit third place for some money, but a lot of things will need to go your way. As for everyone else, it’s time to hang it up and wish for getting the most points for the week to win any money.
Most points for the week: Sam and Evelyn tying for 45 points meant neither of them won the $10 so $20 will go to this week’s winner unless there is another tie.
Least points for the week: Marc only winning two of his games netted him 14 points.
Best pick of the week: Sam, Evelyn, and Mike H. picking Syracuse over Cal meant a lot of lost some big points. Sam, Mike M., and Megan picked Rutgers to beat Maryland. Marc and Megan picked Arizona State to beat K-State.
Worst pick of the week: All of Marc’s picks…except Baylor and Arizona State…I guess he was playing opposite day??
Here are the rankings after Week 12:
1. Sam – 461 points
2. Wendi – 461 points
3. Cindie – 450 points
4. Mike M. – 445 points
5. David – 437 points
6. Mike H. – 432 points
7. Megan – 430 points
8. Rick – 426 points
9. Noah – 422 points
10. Adam – 415 points
11. Kim – 415 points
12. Sean – 412 points
13. Evelyn – 412 points
14. Marc – 403 points
There is a 58-point difference from first to last place.
