"Trick or Treat”
Written by Wendi
Happy Halloween folks! As October rolls to an end, this is where the pretenders and the contenders separate themselves. Afterall, they do say Championships are won in November. Let’s do a roundabout on the games we are probably glad weren’t on the picks. Did anyone predict Kansas would beat Oklahoma? The Big 12 is up for grabs right now. How about Indiana scaring Penn State? Arizona beating Oregon State? USC almost losing to Cal. Washington having a close call against Stanford. Georgia Tech handing North Carolina their second straight loss? Auburn beating Mississippi State…Oh, wait! It took overtime for Miami to put away a two-win Virginia team that upset UNC last week. I can keep going but you get my point. Some of those games would have had us changing our undies in the fourth quarter.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. And no, not Alabama. Dabo Swiney & Co are having all sorts of problems in Clemson. Maybe a quarterback change is needed? At some point, you have to rethink your scheme because this one isn’t working. Clemson fell to NC State 24-17 and now sit at 4-4 for the season and host Notre Dame this weekend.
As much as I try and keep giving UCF the benefit of the doubt, they just aren’t any good. Turnovers have been their biggest issue this year. West Virginia was able to capitalize off the four turnovers and won 41-28. The UCF Knights have dropped their last five games and will face off in the pillow fight of the week against Cincinnati this weekend.
We all knew Georgia would have no problem beating Florida without Brock Bowers. As much as I love an upset, I was still hopeful, but it didn’t happen. Georgia rolled 43-20. Speaking of rolling, how ‘bout those Ducks! I don’t know about you, but I am starting to buy into the Bo Nix hype. Afterall, my team is probably going to be in a bit of a bind so I need to start looking for a new team to root for. Ok, maybe that was a bit hard to type and laugh but Oregon is looking pretty good. They have not slowed down any and won against a pretty stout Utah Defense on the road.
Duke laid a goose egg against Louisville 23-0. I am looking forward to seeing Florida State and Louisville play if they both make the ACC Championship Game …if they can both win out. Iowa State had no problems beating Baylor 30-18. I am getting tired of seeing Baylor on the picks. I pick against them, they win. I pick them, they lose. They are the new "Texas” for me.
Troy traveled to Texas State and won outright 31-13. If not for the four turnovers for Texas State, the game would have probably had a different outcome. Troy scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Tennessee and Kentucky had a back and forth game for most of the 60 minutes. Kentucky never had the lead and just couldn’t keep drives going.
I would recap the game against Washington State and Arizona State but the Pac 12 isn’t any good. They were overhyped. USC is a bust, Washington has been struggling the last several weeks. Outside of Oregon, it looks like a top heavy SEC. Sorry Sean.
FUN FACT: The College Football Playoff rankings come out tomorrow. (Oct 31)
On to Pick em’s…
Well, a bunch of us started pretty crappy. At least there was more green than red on the scoresheet. I lost my 9 & 10 off the bat. But if you haven’t noticed the last couple of weeks, I Just don’t care. Noah, you can thank me later and split the money with me. HAHA! Noah has a huge 21-point lead and it will take a lot to dethrone him at this point.
Even though Mom, Marc and Cindy had a great week, they did not move at all in the rankings. Do you know what that means? That means that you were so terrible it didn’t matter if you had a good week. All joking aside, it was a pretty impressive week if you scored 40 or more.
Cindy is trying to get a jump on Sean, but Sean has cast a spell stating "YOU SHALL NOT PASS” (Lord of the Rings reference). I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Stemple just quitting the picks all together and stopped submitting them. David did say that Stemple was doing great on the ESPN picks. What happened here?
Megan sunk as quietly to 6th as she quietly moved to 3rd. Hey Megan, did you wave to Mike as you moved down? David, Mike, and Adam are hoping I have another "I don’t care” week so one of them can take up the second spot. Sam is right behind trying to move up as well.
Can Noah keep the big lead after this week or will he crack under the pressure like I did? Can David finally make a move or fall further? But the big question is, can Cindy get out of 11th place?
I have a feeling that some folks are going to start throwing out some desperate Hail Mary’s to catch up but will only make them fall further.
Most points for the week: Mom & Marc tied for 43 points which means neither got the $20 rollover from last week. Which means, this week will be $30 unless there is yet ANOTHER tie!
Least points for the week: Megan only got 22 points. It seems like she didn’t care either. Has anyone done a welfare check on Sean and Jacob lately?
Best pick of the week: Mom nailing 7 points on NC State to beat Clemson. Who knew? But it was probably an accident and she stuck with it.
Worst pick of the week: Megan going 8 on Duke did her no favors.
Here are the rankings:
1.Noah - 338 points
2. Wendi -317 points
3. Adam - 315 points
4. Mike - 313 points
5. David - 312 points
6. Sam - 309 points
6. Megan - 309 points
7. Evelyn - 299points
8. Marc - 290 points
9. Sean - 282 points
10. Cindy – 279 points
11. Stemple - 264 points
Good luck this week! There is a 74-point difference from first to last.
