The 150th Edition of College Football - Discussion and Pick 'Em Thread

[Donerail]

https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/08/06/top-25-preseason-rankings-polls-alabama-clemson Sports Illustrated made the interesting choice to put Alabama at #1 over Clemson.

And for a dumb reason too - because they were good in years past.

Reasonable decision, wrong reasoning from SI. Clemson lost a ton of starters in the front seven — the new guys are also extremely good, but they're not gonna be quite as good as a D-line that saw three guys picked in the first round of the draft. Venables will still put together a good unit, the offense is basically returning everybody, and they're still gonna crush the ACC, but I think it's reasonable to drop them behind Alabama & Georgia just bc the defense will be very good instead of godly.

[Donerail]

Are we still straight-up this year or are we doing ATS?

[Donerail]

Florida vs. Miami
Arizona @ Hawai'i
UCLA @ Cincinnati
Georgia Tech @ Clemson
Utah @ BYU
Wisconsin @ USF
UMass @ Rutgers
Colorado State vs Colorado
Akron @ Illinois
Indiana State @ Kansas
Toledo @ Kentucky
Ole Miss @ Memphis
South Carolina vs UNC
Duke vs Alabama
Northwestern @ Stanford
Virginia Tech @ Boston College
California vs UC Davis
Georgia @ Vanderbilt
Oregon vs Auburn
Virginia @ Pittsburgh
Fresno State @ USC
Houston @ Oklahoma
Notre Dame @ Louisville

FCS:
Youngstown State @ Samford
Towson @ The Citadel

[Donerail]

Which will be a bigger blowout, Duke/Bama or GT/Clemson?

Tech-Clemson. I think Saban respects Cutcliffe and won't try to embarrass him. I don't think Dabo respects anyone.

[Donerail]

I'll post my picks in the next day or so, pumped for the season to start!  Quick roll call on whom everyone roots for??

I, of course, cheer for the ever-frustrating Illinois Fighting Illini.

I, uh, well,
vanderbilt

[Donerail]

If you need to get your college football fix (Saturday is so far away), the Coffeyville CC Red Ravens are playing at the #2 Iowa Western CC Reivers. http://goreivers.com/information/reiver-sports-network?bfplayvid=134445

[Donerail]

Hawaii's gonna go 2-1 against the Pac-12, you truly love to see it.

Not feeling great about Arizona's bowl chances — the back half of their season is Washington, at USC, at Stanford, (Oregon State which they should win), at Oregon, Utah, at ASU. Not a fun lineup to have to slog through.

[Donerail]

(also, besides all the things that ER points out, it is going to get very ugly and very unpleasant very quickly — line right now is UGA by three touchdowns. get your free Dr. Pepper in the morning and then make sure to look away)

[Donerail]

S! E! C! S! E! C!

[Donerail]

Army @ Michigan
Syracuse @ Maryland
Old Dominion @ VA Tech
UAB @ Akron
WVU @ Mizzou
Vandy @ Purdue
USF @ Georgia Tech
Texas A&M @ Clemson
Nebraska @ Colorado
Illinois @ UConn
SDSU @ UCLA
UCF @ FAU
North Texas @ SMU
BYU @ Tennessee
Coastal Carolina @ Kansas
WKU @ FIU
LSU @ Texas
Arkansas @ Ole Miss
Miami @ UNC
Arkansas State @ UNLV
Cal @ Washington
Stanford @ USC
Oregon State @ Hawai’i

FCS:
The Citadel @ Elon
Chattanooga @ Jacksonville State

[Donerail]

I can't be the only one who thinks if the troops wanted to they could put together a football team and dominate the B1G TEN

[Donerail]

Well folks UNC is our only hope to defeat Clemson, prepare your energy for the inevitable!

This, of course, means they're gonna lose to Wofford.

[Donerail]

Friday, September 13th

UNC @ Wake Forest
Kansas @ Boston College

Saturday, September 14th

Ohio State @ Indiana
Pittsburgh @ Penn State
Chattanooga @ Tennessee
Kansas State @ Mississippi State
NC State @ West Virginia
Maryland @ Temple
Air Force @ Colorado
Stanford @ UCF
USC @ BYU
Arizona State @ Michigan State
Iowa @ Iowa State
North Texas @ California
Idaho @ Wyoming
Buffalo @ Liberty
Southern Miss. @ Troy
Florida @ Kentucky
Texas State @ SMU
Clemson @ Syracuse
TCU @ Purdue
Florida State @ Virginia
Texas Tech @ Arizona

FCS:

Towson @ Maine
Austin Peay @ Mercer

[Donerail]

Appeared at his press conference standing today. Utterly bizarre piece of performance art.

[Donerail]

The refs did make a minor error in the UNC game but it really didn't matter. Before the runner stepped out of bounds, the referee signaled that his forward progress was stopped and the play was dead. They should have stopped the clock to move the chains for the first down, but the ref failed to signal to the game clock operator to stop the clock, allowing it to expire.

However, they signaled that forward progress was stopped with two seconds left in the game. Under the 3-second spike rule, you cannot stop the clock by spiking the ball with less than three seconds left, so UNC would've had to get everyone lined up and call a play before the chains are moved and the ref spots the ball, then snap it with exactly one second on the clock. They're definitely not getting that play off, so your outcome is functionally the same.

[Donerail]

Minnesota was real lucky to escape Georgia Southern.

And Fresno, and SDSU... bit of a pattern here, no?

[Donerail]

Friday, September 20th
Utah @ USC
Air Force @ Boise State

Saturday, September 21st
Michigan @ Wisconsin
California @ Ole Miss
Michigan State @ Northwestern
Auburn @ Texas A&M
UCF @ Pitt
Washington @ BYU
SMU @ TCU
Louisville @ Florida State
Appalachian State @ North Carolina
Central Michigan @ Miami (FL)
Kentucky @ Mississippi State
South Carolina @ Missouri
West Virginia @ Kansas
Oregon @ Stanford
Oklahoma State @ Texas
UTSA @ North Texas
Notre Dame @ Georgia
Nebraska @ Illinois
Colorado @ Arizona State
UCLA @ Washington State
Utah State @ San Diego State

FCS:
Villanova @ Towson
Northern Arizona @ Illinois State

[Donerail]

looks like the pac 12 is gonna be out of the playoff again....

12-0 Arizona State when

[Donerail]

Cal the best team in the Pac-12, just like we all expected

[Donerail]

Friday, September 27th:
Arizona State @ Cal

Saturday, September 28th:
Texas Tech @ Oklahoma
The Medill School of Journalism @ Wisconsin
Rutgers @ Michigan
Texas A&M @ Arkansas
Kansas @ TCU
Central Michigan @ Western Michigan
Clemson @ UNC
Ole Miss @ Alabama
UVA @ Notre Dame
USC @ Washington
Indiana @ Michigan State
Wake Forest @ Boston College
Iowa State @ Baylor
Minnesota @ Purdue
Mississippi State @ Auburn
Kansas State @ Oklahoma State
Stanford @ Oregon State
NC State @ Florida State
Kentucky @ South Carolina
Washington State @ Utah
UCLA @ Arizona
Hawai’i @ Nevada

EDITED 9:27 bc apparently Tate is out

FCS:
Montana @ UC Davis
Northern Iowa @ Weber State

[Donerail]

My home team bias might be getting out of hand.

Eh, the only home team pick I'd really disagree with you on is BC over Wake (maybe Purdue if Sindelar's still out?). It's... not a great week, all in all.

[Donerail]

Nice knowing you, Justin Fuente. Move over Coach Pruitt. There's a new #1 on the hot seat.

What happened to Fuente?

Virginia tech getting destroyed by Duke

Plus a losing record last season (including a bad loss to ODU), plus a loss to a very bad BC team this year, plus trailing for much of the game this season against Furman... I doubt Fuente goes anywhere this season b/c his buyout is $15 million, but it's clearly not working out.

[Donerail]

Now that Maryland has figured out how to beat cupcake teams like Howard and Texas, they just need to step it up against their tougher out-of-conference opponents from the Big Ten

[Donerail]

Sjoyce is 15 out of 16 so far today; he's only missed Montana over UC Davis.

dfw did help me out with a pretty lopsided slate this week

[Donerail]

Friday, October 4th
UCF @ Cincinnati
New Mexico @ San Jose State

Saturday, October 5th
Iowa @ Michigan
Tulane @ Army
Maryland @ Rutgers
TCU @ Iowa State
South Florida @ UConn (with a prediction: Strong's done if they lose)
Boston College @ Louisville
Eastern Michigan @ Central Michigan
Auburn @ Florida
Baylor @ Kansas State
Western Michigan @ Toledo
Ball State @ Northern Illinois
Arkansas State @ Georgia State
Air Force @ Navy
Virginia Tech @ Miami (FL)
Northwestern @ Nebraska
Arizona @ Colorado
Michigan State @ Ohio State
Vanderbilt @ Ole Miss
California @ Oregon
Pittsburgh @ Duke
Oregon State @ UCLA

FCS:
Furman @ Samford
Youngstown State @ Northern Iowa