2022 College Football Discussion & Pick'em Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/Bulldawgs247/status/1602664720040955911

RIP.

[NewYorkExpress]

Purdue has named Illinois Defensive Coordinator Ryan Walters as their new Head Coach.

Given how well Illinois did this year, this has the potential to be a fantastic hire for Purdue.

[NewYorkExpress]

Kent State is naming Minnesota Associate Head Coach Kenni Burns as their new Head Coach.

This is definitely a great hire, as Burns had success in the MAC with P.J Fleck's Western Michigan teams, but Kent State is a very tough place to win more than three or four games a season, let alone get to bowl eligibility.

[NewYorkExpress]

North Texas has named Washington State Offensive Coordinator Eric Morris as their new Head Coach.

Morris has roots in Texas, having been a star wide receiver for Mike Leach at Texas Tech, and was a successful head coach at Incarnate Word as well.

However, North Texas is about to get a lot tougher competition as they head from Conference USA to the AAC (and the annual conference rivalry with SMU).

[NewYorkExpress]

Taking Southern Miss over Rice (that's the one I'm missing, right?)

[NewYorkExpress]

Mississippi State is promoting Defensive Coordiantor Zach Arnett to Head Coach.

Probably the best hire, but I thought they'd at least kick the tires on an outside candidate.

[NewYorkExpress]

Bobby Petrino is going to be UNLV's Offensive Coordinator.  Bobby in Las Vegas?  What could go wrong?

Clearly Barry Odom has already cracked.

[NewYorkExpress]

Bowling Green

Buffalo
Utah State
East Carolina
Wisconsin

UCF
Arkansas
Oregon
Ole Miss

Minnesota
Florida State
Texas (by the way, you got the matchup wrong. Texas is playing Washington in the Alamo Bowl, not Wisconsin)

NC State
UCLA
South Carolina
Wyoming
Clemson

Mississippi State
Iowa
Kansas State
Michigan
Georgia
LSU
Utah

[NewYorkExpress]

Navy is promoting Defensive Coordinator Brian Newberry to fill their vacancy at Head Coach.

[NewYorkExpress]

Taking Tulane over USC (that's the one I'm missing, right?).

[NewYorkExpress]

PRE-CHRISTMAS BOWL RESULTS

NY Express took first place at 12-4, a game ahead of Dereich and me.  Full results:

12 NY Express
11 Dereich, GeorgiaModerate
10 Grumps, Illiniwek, JGibson
9 Donerail
8 Harry, Terry
7 ExtremeR

There were two unanimous picks:

Baylor-Air Force (wrong)
Houston-Louisiana

And four games with a single dissenter:

Southern Miss-Rice
Boise State-North Texas
Marshall-UConn
San Diego State-Middle Tennessee (dissenter was right)

Overall, Illiniwek has a 5-game lead going into the final slate (except for the championship game, which we will also pick).  Year to date (351 games):

230 Illiniwek
225 GeorgiaModerate
224 Dereich
219 ExtremeRepublican
218 Terry
217 Donerail
216 Harry
202 Grumps
198 NY Express
197 JGibson
144 ultraviolet
117 CalamityBlue
86 Thomas D
54 Storr
37 Ishan
12 Orwell

Just a reminder that last year at this point I was in fourth place, six games behind Donerail, and made up five games in the post-Christmas bowls.

Finally won a week! Shame it's going to be too little, too late.

[NewYorkExpress]

I think Georgia will win, but TCU is going to make this a competitive game.

Taking the Bulldogs here, 31-21.

[NewYorkExpress]

Congratulations GeorgiaModerate on winning two years in a row!!!!

[NewYorkExpress]

Congratulations GeorgiaModerate on winning two years in a row!!!!

I didn't win last year; I was a game behind going into the championship (exactly the reverse of this year -- I had a 6-game deficit and made up 5).  Donerail picked Georgia, so I had to pick Alabama to have a chance to tie even though I expected UGA to win.  But I was more than happy to lose on that one.

Yeah, but Georgia won, so in a way you did win.

[NewYorkExpress]

Bobby Petrino is up to his old tricks. Mere weeks after agreeing to be UNLV's offensive coordinator, he's now agreed to take the same position at Texas A&M.

[NewYorkExpress]

I feel like neither Texas nor Oklahoma having better than +2000 odds seems off.

Texas in particular has a non-conference schedule that sets up nicely for them to make the playoff if they manage to win the Big Twelve, with their road trip to Alabama.

[NewYorkExpress]

I feel like neither Texas nor Oklahoma having better than +2000 odds seems off.

Texas in particular has a non-conference schedule that sets up nicely for them to make the playoff if they manage to win the Big Twelve, with their road trip to Alabama.

The Alabama game makes Texas less likely to make the playoffs, not more. A one loss Texas Big12 champ makes it, TCU should make that clear. But a two loss Big 12 champ? Probably not. The playoffs, especially when its only 4 teams, rewards Power 5 schools with easier schedules. 2023 Georgia tops the chart in part because their OOC schedule is vs UT Martin, vs Ball State, vs UAB, and @ GA Tech all of which will feature Georgia as at least 3 score favorites. 

You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. Given how well Texas played Alabama this past year, I think they beat Alabama thus upcoming year.