College Football pick'em 2017- Gameplay and scoring thread

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

I really need to stop picking Utah to win...

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Miami's going to be ranked 2 in all polls, right? Undefeated, P5, back to back quality wins, ND and UGA both lost. There isn't another team that could be #2.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Ohio at Akron

November 15

Western Michigan at Northern Illinois

November 17

Middle Tennessee at Western Kentucky
UNLV at New Mexico

November 18

TCU at Texas Tech
Michigan at Wisconsin
UCLA at USC
Maryland at Michigan State
Nebraska at Penn State
Kansas State at Oklahoma State
Mississippi State at Arkansas
Purdue at Iowa
Minnesota at Northwestern
Texas A&M at Mississippi
Texas at West Virginia
Arizona at Oregon
California at Stanford
Rutgers at Indiana
UCF at Temple
SMU at Memphis
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech
Fresno State at Wyoming
Kentucky at Georgia
Navy at Notre Dame
Georgia Tech at Duke
Syracuse at Louisville
UAB at Florida
Army at North Texas
LSU at Tennessee
Florida International at Florida Atlantic
Marshall at Texas San Antonio
NC State at Wake Forest
Missouri at Vanderbilt
Air Force at Boise State

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Dare to dream: UAB vaults over confused and headless Florida for a great end to their first year back. Someone is choking on their cupcake this week and Florida is my bet.

My preferred fancystats (S&P+)  have UAB as a better team and favored to win by two scores on a neutral field. Massey composite has them within 10 spots (roughly a toss up, maybe UF by 3). FEI has Florida better, but only by about 13 spots (same as Massey). 

I'd pick UAB straight up, let alone against the spread, which is right around - 10.5 UF last I googled.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

FAU is a better win than Purdue. The Owls are a top-30 team.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

FAU is a better win than Purdue. The Owls are a top-30 team.

The point is that how poorly they played against Purdue (and Illinois) should disqualify Wisconsin unless they win out.

I disagree. The game wasn't nearly as close as the score would indicate. Wisconsin gained almost 500 yards offense and allowed less than 300. It was only as close as it is because of some poor turnover luck for Wisc.

I'm not saying that Wisconsin hasn't played a poor schedule - it's bad. But FAU is actually a better win than folks would expect!

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/11/21/report-lsu-victory-would-not-save-kevin-sumlins-job/

Apparently Kevin Sumlin will be fired after the Texas A&M/LSU game, and Jimbo Fisher is the Aggies top choice to replace him.

This would appear to solve a lot of problems for both Texas A&M and Florida State...

This is going to turn out the same way the Saban to Texas rumors turned out.

In other words, Jimbo is using A&M to leverage a raise out of FSU.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

PAC-12 Championship Game (in Santa Clara, California)

Stanford at USC (Stanford comes in blazing hot and is a completely different team than they were at the start of the season)

December 2

AAC Championship Game
Memphis at UCF (This should be UCF's shot at the playoff, but instead it's their shot at a NY6 bowl. Hopefully they get a good matchup)

Conference USA Championship Game

North Texas at Florida Atlantic (Kiffin gets it done)

Big Twelve Championship Game (in Arlington, Texas)

TCU at Oklahoma (UO is too much for a talented TCU squad)

SEC Championship Game (in Atlanta)

Georgia at Auburn (UA wins the rematch, but in less convincing fashion)

Mountain West Championship Game

Fresno State at Boise State (Fresno beats Boise's worst team in a while)

ACC Championship Game (in Charlotte)

Miami(FL) at Clemson (The U plays to its opponents. I think they squeak it out on the strength of the turnover chain)

Big Ten Championship Game (in Indianapolis)

Ohio State at Wisconsin (just by virtue of each team's game against UM, I have to give it to Wisconsin. Michigan had no business hanging with OSU with John O'Korn at QB and Wisconsin ground Michigan into dust)

December 9

Army at Navy (in Philadelphia) (Army's best team in decades manages to get it done against Navy.)

Missed a week due to a heavy work schedule.

@NYE: Are you able to split out bowl pick-em results from total season results when the time comes?

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Jimbo really can't be considering leaving for Texas A&M, right? Florida State has to be a top-10 job in the nation, with the great facilities, top tier talent and a great program history. I get the personal issues angle, but I also think FSU gives him a much better shot at a national championship

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

So Tennessee just fired its AD only 8 months in. Just remember, no matter how bad your program is, at least its not Tennessee bad.

Does this make the rumored Leach hire more or less likely, I wonder. More likely if Leach asked for a new AD to hire him, so that the new guy isn't working with the old guy's coach; less likely if the boosters forced Currie out due to frustration with the hiring process. Regardless, this whole thing is a cluster and is horribly reflective of UT.

This is even more embarrassing than the will-he-wont-he Harbaugh saga at UM, except UM got it's man and UT is just a dumpster fire.

Also, thanks for taking the time to write about Fisher. A lot to unpack there and some really good info. The recruiting must be infinitely frustrating as a fan, considering the three guys who left were all pretty well thought of. The UA angle is a really good one that I hadn't thought of. Jimbo really must've been banking on Arky landing Gus...

I also really feel for Oregon if FSU snags Taggart. They would have barely missed out on a reunion with Chip Kelly and would be pushed into an awful cycle for hiring a new coach. Wouldn't surprise me to see them target Brohm if Taggart leaves. Brohm would be a great cultural fit for Oregon with his offensive skills.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Leach would have been an ace hire after all of the Schiano madness. Boosters pushing out an AD over a good hire like that, after fans essentially vetoed another coach is going to make it really hard to find a quality coach who'll put up with this crap. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tennessee just drop the interim tag from Brady "clapclapclap" Hoke.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Apparently Fullmer will be named AD this afternoon.



https://mobile.twitter.com/JimmyHyams/status/936670257493790720

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Taggart
Fuente
Franklin or Frost (apparently they've extended feelers to both. Put them together since its so unlikely)
Campbell
Babers
Brahm
Sumlin

Of these, I would put the best odds on the first two (obviously).

Willie Taggart has more Florida ties than Oregon ties, but then again with Oregon's Nike money, they can afford to get in a bidding war.

Fuente is who I'd put my money on, but VT is a good gig. The program has some good traditions and a winning culture, but it's less of a pressure cooker than the FSU job.

Franklin won't leave PSU and Frost to Nebraska is as good as done, according to most insiders.

I hate to admit it, but I'm not familiar with Campbell, so skip!

Babers is building something at Syracuse, but I don't think FSU needs to roll the dice on a hire that could pretty easily flame out. Same with Brohm, honestly. Plus a lot of folks connected with Brohm insist that the only job he'll leave Purdue for is Louisville.

I'd be shocked if Sumlin just traded places with Jimbo. He's a pretty clear downgrade in coaching ability and 'crootin.

Taggart and Fuente have to be the clear frontrunners, but there might be a dark horse (Neal Brown has done some good stuff at Troy and has more of a record than Brohm or Babers, for instance. Chad Morris at SMU is always a hot commodity and Memphis's Mike Norvell can likely make the leap to a bigger program).

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

@Dereich: right, my bad. I probably shouldn't have used the term pressure cooker. Florida State definitely doesn't fit into that category. I'd meant that it's probably a higher stress and higher expectations job than Fuente's current position at VT. it's not the same type of job as Tennessee or Michigan, where the HC is perpetually under a microscope.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Jimbo out! Beloved assistant/D Line coach Odell Haggins will be interim for tomorrow.

Thanks for the memories CJF.

I knew it!!!

If I'm FSU, I'd chase someone like Mark Stoops (Head Coach, Kentucky), Gus Malzahn (Head Coach, Auburn), Ed Orgeron (Head Coach, LSU) and Dabo Swinney (Head Coach, Clemson)

Lol at this list. There is zero cance of Gus or Dabo leaving their respective positions (maybe except for Dabo to Alabama) for what is at best a lateral transfer, Orgeron is pretty unproven (lol Troy) and Stoops is nowhere near accomplished enough.

Jimbo leaving FSU is a big shocker though (at least to me, who doesn't follow FSU internals at all). I don't know why he would take what looks like a step down to go to TAMU unless he's going to try to pull a Mullen and get an offer from one of the highest-tier SEC schools. Was he pushed out by boosters he didn't get along with or something, like Bielema at Wisconsin? And that's not even the strangest story of the last week, and the season isn't even over! Jeez.

Bielema left Wisconsin because he needed more money to pay for his wife, that’s the real reason. Love how that “karma” tweet came back to bite her lol

Maybe this, I'm not plugged into Wisc football at all, but the prevailing reason at the time was that he was frustrated with Wisconsin's low assistant coach salary pool and the school's restrictive 'crootin rules (at least relative to the SEC). There was also some degree of tension that Alvarez was still exerting influence; Bielema apparently wanted more free reign.

Regardless, it definitely wasn't boosters pushing him out.

Also, Jen Bielema was kind of a b*tch with that tweet.