College Football pick'em 2017- Gameplay and scoring thread

[Dereich]

For now, Mississippi State over Ole Miss

[Dereich]

Unfortunately I'm, still unable to get all my picks in, but here is what I need for today.

November 24


Northern Illinois at Central Michigan

Western Michigan at Toledo

Miami(FL) at Pittsburgh

Navy at Houston

Ohio at Buffalo

South Florida at UCF

Iowa at Nebraska

Virginia Tech at Virginia

Texas Tech at Texas

One note: I was going to pick Virginia as an upset, but my phone messed it up three times...so I guess its fate telling me to keep VA Tech.

[Dereich]

Sorry for the split-up; travelling has made it hard to sit down and finish this.

November 25


Alabama at Auburn

West Virginia at Oklahoma

Wisconsin at Minnesota

Georgia at Georgia Tech

Notre Dame at Stanford

Penn State at Maryland

Washington State at Washington

Michigan State at Rutgers

Northwestern at Illinois

Arizona at Arizona State

Colorado at Utah

Iowa State at Kansas State

Tulane at SMU

Ohio State at Michigan

Indiana at Purdue

Louisville at Kentucky

Florida State at Florida

Boston College at Syracuse

Duke at Wake Forest

Appalachian State at Georgia State

Southern Mississippi at Marshall

Old Dominion at Middle Tennessee

Arkansas State at Louisiana Monroe

North Carolina at NC State

Boise State at Fresno State

Vanderbilt at Tennessee

Oregon State at Oregon

Clemson at South Carolina

Texas A&M at LSU

UT San Antonio at Louisiana Tech

BYU at Hawaii

Air Force at Utah State

Bret Bielema is out at Arkansas. Any thoughts where he may end up and who will be his replacement?

Word is that if Auburn loses the Iron Bowl, Malzahn will be taking the Arkansas job. He has plenty of Arkansas ties, he'd get to have a degree of influence over the selection of his new boss (the Arky AD), and its certainly less volatile than Auburn, so it'd be an understandable move...but not a very ambitious one. If Auburn wins, they probably go to the playoff and Malzahn gets an extension. Big stakes tomorrow!

-RIP in advance Sumlin, who is getting mega fired this weekend.

-After that UCF/USF game, the trash that is UF/FSU will look even worse. Almost glad for the season to end.

-Michigan and Auburn are America's teams, just for a few hours. Nobody good on this earth wants a boring repeat of the playoffs we've had the last few years, with yet another Bama championship and Ohio State getting in despite not deserving it. Especially with THESE OSU and Bama teams, which are playing even less exciting football (take your pick of "can only throw the football to one player!" or "can only throw the ball well for two quarters per season!") than normal. Go blue, war eagle.

[Dereich]

Feels like last year's championship game. I WANT to believe, but I just can't yet. I won't until the time reads 0:00 and Auburn still leads. GO AND WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME AUBURN.

EDIT: AUBURNS GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME

[Dereich]

My best guess as to the final rankings will be: (Bold is the most likely team/seeding)

1. Georgia if they win the SEC Championship/Oklahoma if they win the Big Twelve Championship/Clemson (or Miami (FL)) if they win the ACC Championship.

2. Wisconsin if they win the Big Ten/Oklahoma if they win Big Twelve/Miami(FL) (or Clemson) if they win the ACC/USC if they win the PAC-12.

3. Ohio State if they win the Big Ten/Alabama.

4. Auburn if they win the SEC/Alabama/TCU if they win the Big Twelve/UCF if they win the AAC/USC if they win the PAC-12.

So your most likely scenario is

1. Georgia
2. Clemson
3. Alabama
4. USC

That leaves me with some questions:

Why do you consider Georgia winning to be likely two weeks after Auburn blew them out? Why would you put them at #1?

Just....everything about USC:
-What happens to Ohio State to allow USC to jump them? Does a meteor hit their bus on the way home?
-Why would USC jump a Notre Dame that blew them out?
-I assume in your scenario TCU beats Oklahoma; why would you think USC gets in over TCU? TCU's championship win would be against a better team.

Any particular reason you think a championship-less Alabama only drops 1 or 2 spots from a not-that-close loss and then doesn't drop further after championships?

[Dereich]

Dan Mullen...completely tragic

I'm going to be sick.

Is this an upset because Mullen has left Miss St., or an upset because Mullen is who Florida has gone with?

Florida is a better job than Mississippi State, so I see why Mullen would leave...but Florida had theoretically better options who will be available and not cost as much money (Kevin Sumlin, Todd Graham, maybe Charlie Strong if he were interested).

Someone who failed at Texas A&M, someone who failed at Arizona State, and someone who failed at Texas. Those are your "better options" for one of the top ten programs in the country? Dan Mullen may have been a backup option...but only because he doesn't score the insane number of points that Florida was looking for. In terms of coaching and availability, he's one of the most impressive people in the sport. Getting Mississippi State to the level that Mullen has gotten them to is nothing short of a miracle. Florida fans might be unhappy...but only because they had to resort to their consensus third choice after Chip decided to stay on the west coast and Frost decided to go home to Mama Nebraska.

[Dereich]

Stanford at USC

Memphis at UCF

North Texas at Florida Atlantic

TCU at Oklahoma

Georgia at Auburn

Fresno State at Boise State

Miami(FL) at Clemson

Ohio State at Wisconsin

Army at Navy

Home teams roll. I'll be rooting for Wisky, Auburn, Miami, and Oklahoma for an orderly playoff without Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson.

-I just don't see how Georgia scores enough on Auburn to win. Auburn's defensive line is their biggest strength and they showed very well that they outclass Georgia's offensive line. I see no reason the Auburn defense won't bottle up Georgia's only offensive weapons again this game and I don't trust Jake Fromm to win the game on his lonesome for Georgia. Kerryon Johnson might be out, but even if he is Stidham is more than good enough to make up some of that through the air. Easy Auburn win.

-Take the over in UCF/Memphis, whatever that over may be.

-Clemson-Miami will be an interesting one. Clemson's offense is secretly not great and Miami's defense against them will be a really interesting matchup...but then there's the other side of the ball. I don't see how Miami scores a bunch on the Clemson defense unless Malik Rosier has a perfect JT-Barrett-at-Penn-State kind of game. If Miami DOES win, it's on the turnover chain and good field position from 3-and-outs.

-I don't see what Stanford or TCU will have done to change much from their prior matchups with USC and Oklahoma. But USC and Oklahoma both depend so much on their QB that I suppose a bad game from Darnold or Mayfield could change things.

-Wisconsin is my upset pick because I don't like Ohio State, they've been wildly inconsistent while Wisky has been VERY consistent, and it makes the playoff discussion much easier.

BONUS PICK: FSU rolls ULM to get to our 36th consecutive bowl!!! Take ULM in that game though; the spread last I saw was 21 and FSU doesn't score fast enough (especially since ULM can put up some points) to make covering the spread seem likely. Unfortunately, this does help Alabama.

[Dereich]

8-team playoff makes no sense. There are never 8 teams who could legitimately be considered in contention for being the best team in the country. Often, there aren't even 4 teams who meet that description.

I agree. Additionally, this year an 8 team playoff would probably mean that Clemson, Auburn, and Oklahoma would be in the playoff even if they lost their championship game. What is the point of the championships if that would be the case?

Also, even with eight teams undefeated UCF would still be nowhere near a playoff berth. Life is unfair for the G5.

[Dereich]

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

All true. But there are a few other things to consider:

1. Jimbo might just want a change of scenery. Not many coaches are long-term prospects and it's much more difficult to maintain a program than it is to sweep in and start fresh. By staying, Jimbo has to try to make radical changes while burdened by what he and his coaches have been doing and saying for years. Going somewhere new, tearing down someone else's system, and then building your own is something Jimbo has done before and probably likes doing.

2. Jimbo's burned some important bridges at FSU. The administration, the fan base, and most of the boosters are still behind him, of course. Even if his buyout wasn't ridiculous, there wouldn't be a serious risk to Jimbo's job this year or probably even next year. But Jimbo has made some enemies in the biggest boosters. He ALWAYS pushes for more; more money for himself and better facilities for the school. Since Jimbo has come FSU has put in new football locker rooms, new football dorms, new coaches offices, a new indoor practice facility, and led the push to renovate the areas around the stadium and refocus Tallahassee nightlife around it. But he's still asking for more and its rankling the big money men. He made multiple statements in press conferences this year saying essentially that the boosters are cheap and unwilling to invest in what he wants. What he wants is a new $100 million football only facility and he wants it NOW. From what I understand, it'll probably be made, but not for as much money and not for a few years. Conflict with the boosters and A&M oil money for new projects might be something he values highly.

3. He probably didn't want the A&M job, but he's been backed into a corner. Word is, he was actually looking for the Auburn job and was using the A&M opportunity to drum up offers. His wife is from Birmingham and because of custody issues and how he values time with his kids, he needs her to agree to move. Plus, Auburn can pay more and is still in a great recruiting spot. Because Gus didn't lose to Georgia or Auburn, it's likely Gus will be extended and will not be going to Arkansas. Now he's sort of left hanging with only A&M willing to pay.

4. If Jimbo stays, he HAS to fire his assistants. He's made it clear in the past that he really considers a lot of his assistants to be personal friends, and several stuck by him during his divorce instead of leaving for different jobs. Some people are putting that forward as a reason he might want to leave; he could take some of his assistants with him or at least not have to fire them himself.

Note: Jimbo's stalling has now cost FSU three of its top recruits this week and because of his antics most of us are now ready to see Jimbo move on. Apparently, FSU recruiting has been completely stopped for the last two weeks or so and I can't imagine the players are doing much practicing for the ULM game either.

One of the most frustrating things about Jimbo as a coach has been his yearly flirtations with other schools for raises while at the same time loudly praising the loyalty of his coaches and demanding the same from the fans. A booster at his weekly radio show brought up Jimbo's lack of loyalty yesterday and was forcibly removed. Jimbo says he'll be coaching the ULM game tomorrow, but I doubt it.

If and when Jimbo leaves, the top targets are Willie Taggart at Oregon and Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech, in that order. They've already started the screening and background check process in advance. Most of the fans want Taggart and expect to get him.

[Dereich]

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.

[Dereich]

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.

Oregon currently has its best recruiting class ever. With early signing day a month away, even with a new coach Taggart would leave Oregon better than he found it.

According to some of the biggest names in the business, Curry was going rogue to finalize the deal with Leach and was fired to stop that deal. Tennessee football has gone 100% Game of Thrones, with the Haslams, Curry, Phil Fulmer, and Beverly Davenport as your players all trying to secretly off each other. Since those powerbrokers who got Curry fired were apparently the ones pushing for Schiano and Doeren, it seems unlikely that Tennessee looks for someone fun like Leach. It's a shame; I would have liked to see him shake up the SEC.

[Dereich]

FSU Twitter slowly devolves into madness as everyone begins focusing on whether Jimbo just threw away his Christmas tree or not. Thanks for keeping everyone distracted Tennessee!

[Dereich]

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

Thanks for the memories CJF.

[Dereich]

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)

Let's go down the list:

Mark Stoops: No. He Hasn't done well enough at Kentucky, especially for a destination program like FSU. Stoops has barely avoided the hot seat for the last few years and has barely eked out bowl seasons in the worst division in the P5. Stoops has maybe done well enough to move up, but not well enough to move THAT far up. This is the most realistic name on your list and would probably be the 6th or 7th person on the FSU list, when the administration was starting to get desperate. 

Gus Malzahn: Gus has no ties to Florida, is at a destination job, and is due for an extension and raise at Auburn. If he decided to leave and didn't want to go home to Arkansas he'd probably be looked at, but he's not good enough to get in a massive bidding war over or to be made THE #1 priority.

Ed Orgeron: LaughingChildren.jpg  NEVER. Oregeron was a failure at Ole Miss, is at another of the top-10 programs in the country, lost to TROY this year despite amazing talent, and is at his dream job. Even if he was for sure a good coach, he wouldn't be targeted as he wouldn't want to leave.

Dabo Swinney: Lateral transfer. Dabo is already paid $6 million a year and is beloved by Clemson. Nobody but Bama could pry him away, and that wouldn't come cheap even for them.

My guess is that the list would be something like this in this order:

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

[Dereich]

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)

I’m not a fan of your list either. It’s like you named just random names. I think they’ll focus their search on Willie Taggert. Dark horse selection could be Lane Kiffin or Jeremy Pruitt.

Kiffin's a hard one to nail down. It's clear he's a good coach...but its also clear from his twitter that he's still wildly immature. I doubt FSU would go there, just like the other schools on the carousel.

Pruitt on paper looks great, but there were some...issues...with his departure from Tallahassee in 2013 that make his hiring very unlikely. He left essentially in the dead of night after promising to stay, there were rumors of (several) affairs that make his wife unlikely to want to come back, and his personality was so grating that he wasn't making many friends anyway.

And I mostly agree with everything you said Serious_Username; the list gets questionable after 2 or 3 people. But there might be other unknown possibilities; FSU is easy to win at and can pay with the best of them. The one thing I disagree with is the "pressure cooker" thing. It makes sense, to be sure...but there isn't really evidence of it. FSU has only had two coaches in the last 40 years and gave Bobby 5 or 6 bad years before he was eased out. FSU hasn't had a coach face a serious hot seat for a generation. The possibility exists, to be sure, but its not like FSU is like Florida or Auburn and will drop a coach at the drop of a hat or something. That's part of what makes FSU such an attractive job; you're basically secure unless you seriously mess up.

Taggart is my personal pick; I think he could out-recruit Mullen and Richt, for one. And USF's success this year is from his players.

[Dereich]

Hot take: even with a win today, Miami cannot stake a claim to being the best team in the country and should not be invited to the College Football Playoff. Sadly, they almost certainly would be.

A 1 loss Miami with wins over 9 bowl team, three of which are in the final top 25, and an ACC championship can reasonably claim to be the fourth best team in the country. They don't need to claim to be the best unless they beat two more. You're right that they wouldn't have a good claim to make the BCS championship, but letting teams like Miami is the whole point of the playoff.

EDIT: maybe even 4 top 25 teams if the committee is kind to Toledo when they win the MAC

[Dereich]

September 21

Temple at South Florida - Given, think it could be closer than expected though


September 22

Virginia at Boise State - Boise State almost beat Washington State and would've if they knew how to manage time

Utah at Arizona
- gut says Arizona, think it could be a close one

September 23

NC State at Florida State - FSU isn't at tip top shape but meh

Texas Tech at Houston - eh kind of a hard one, I think TTU will pull it out

Texas A&M at Arkansas - Another hard one, after watching TCU - Arkansas I think A&M narrowly wins it

Ohio at Eastern Michigan - no comment

UCF at Maryland - Maryland is the best they have been in a while this year

Alabama at Vanderbilt - Sorry ER Vanderbilt is good this year but not that good

USC at California - I want to believe in the upset but nah

TCU at Oklahoma State (UPSET!!!) Yes I'm a TCU  fan for those who don't know, I feel great about this game

Toledo at Miami(FL) - Miami (FL) is going to be good this year

Duke at North Carolina - Duke narrowly wins it IMO

Louisiana Tech at South Carolina - OK Dereich, you think South Carolina will win this one at least, right?

Cincinnati at Navy - All of the military teams are great this year

Michigan at Purdue - I hate Michigan but you know how it goes

Syracuse at LSU - Easy pick I think, LSU wins

Mississippi State at Georgia - Georgia will win the SEC East and maybe even the SEC, yes I said it.

Penn State at Iowa - History and all but not from an Iowa that beat UNT 31-14

Florida at Kentucky - Florida isn't that great this year but it's Kentucky

Southern Illinois at Memphis - Memphis is good, dont know much about Southern Illinois

Notre Dame at Michigan State - Fire Brian Kelly please

Washington at Colorado - Pretty obvious one I think

UCLA at Stanford - RIP Stanford this week but UCLA is even more overrated than Stanford is

No way is Georgia beating Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

Well at least I got one thing right lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opT_JGssUVk

[Dereich]

A terrible night of football. The college football rich got richer and the poor stayed poor. The only positive is that one of Bama or Ohio State won't make the playoff...though even that is sour since Bama Jr. will be in.

My guess:

1. Clemson
2. Georgia
3. Oklahoma
4. Ohio State

The committee has said they focus on wins and not losses; the quality of Bama's loss and the terribleness of OSU's loss won't matter as much as they should. Fresno State's loss makes Bama's schedule even worse, with only two top 25 wins vs three for OSU. And, if it comes down to a tie, the championship thing should make the difference.

[Dereich]

If it makes anyone feel better, at least we won’t have to see Ohio State get destroyed again. Alabama-Clemson should be a great matchup and Oklahoma-Georgia is intriguing. This could be the best playoffs yet.

Frankly that won't be difficult, as every playoff to date has had at least two blowouts.

[Dereich]

So Arizona State has officially hired former NFL head coach  Herm Edwards as their next head coach.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/arizona-state-names-herm-edwards-coach-announces-new-nfl-approach-to-program/

The Arizona State press statement on his hiring was really really weird; it sounds like the ASU administration knows nothing about football and thinks they were hiring a new CEO for some kind of marketing firm or something. The full release is here, but this is what it reads like:



Oh, also, apparently Edwards doesn't know that the Arizona State mascot is the sun devils? All in all, its a very weird situation that is likely to go very very poorly.

[Dereich]

Ohio State was robbed.

I agree with you...but don't lose by 31 to a mediocre Iowa.

[Dereich]

Willie Taggart hired by FSU.

https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-football-fsu-noles/2017/12/5/16725180/willie-taggart-florida-state-hired-head-coach-sources-oregon-recruiting-usf

Absolutely shameful that I fell behind and didn't post this first.

Anyway, it was a good hire! FSU's recruiting class will stop bleeding out and we're still better than Tennessee.

[Dereich]

http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2017/12/reports_alabama_dc_jeremy_prui_1.html

Alabama DC Jeremy Pruitt heading to Tennessee.

Good luck to them with that. He's a good coach, to be sure, but from the locker room problems he had at Georgia to the affairs he (allegedly) had at FSU, he could be an off-the-field problem. Also, he doesn't know what asparagus is. I don't think he's the one who can lead Tennessee back to greatness, but I don't think ANYONE who they could have gotten can do that in the recruiting hinterlands of Knoxville.

[Dereich]

December 16

New Orleans Bowl (in New Orleans)
Troy at North Texas

Las Vegas Bowl (in Las Vegas)
Boise State at Oregon

December 19

Boca Raton Bowl (in Boca Raton, Florida)
Akron at Florida Atlantic

December 20

Frisco Bowl (in Frisco, Texas)
Louisiana Tech at SMU

December 21

Gasparilla Bowl (in Saint Petersburg, Florida)
Temple at Florida International

December 22

[Bahamas Bowl (in Nassau, Bahamas)
UAB at Ohio

December 23

Birmingham Bowl (In Birmingham, Alabama)
Texas Tech at South Florida

Armed Forces Bowl (in Fort Worth)
San Diego State at Army

Dollar General Bowl
Appalachian State at Toledo

December 24

Hawaii Bowl
Fresno State at Houston

December 26

Heart of Dallas Bowl (in Dallas)
Utah at West Virginia

Cactus Bowl (in Phoenix)
Kansas State at UCLA

December 27

Independence Bowl (in Shreveport)
Southern Mississippi at Florida State

Pinstripe Bowl (in New York City)
Iowa at Boston College

Foster Farms Bowl
Arizona at Purdue

Texas Bowl
Texas at Missouri

December 28

Military Bowl (in Annapolis)
Virginia at Navy

Camping World Bowl (in Orlando)
Virginia Tech at Oklahoma State

Alamo Bowl (in San Antonio)
Stanford at TCU

Holiday Bowl (in San Diego)
Washington State at Michigan State

December 29

Belk Bowl (in Charlotte)
Wake Forest at Texas A&M

Sun Bowl (in El Paso)
NC State at Arizona State

Music City Bowl (in Nashville)
Kentucky at Northwestern

Cotton Bowl
Ohio State at USC

December 30

Taxslayer Bowl (in Jacksonville)
Louisville at Mississippi State

Liberty Bowl (in Memphis)
Iowa State at Memphis

Fiesta Bowl (in Glendale, Arizona)
Washington at Penn State

Orange Bowl (in Miami)
Wisconsin at Miami

January 1

Outback Bowl (in Tampa)
Michigan at South Carolina

Peach Bowl (in Atlanta)
UCF at Auburn

Citrus Bowl (in Orlando)
Notre Dame at LSU

College Football Playoff-Rose Bowl (in Pasadena, California)
Georgia at Oklahoma

College Football Playoff-Sugar Bowl (in New Orleans)
Clemson at Alabama

College Football Playoff National Championship Game (in Atlanta)
Georgia/Oklahoma winner vs Clemson/Alabama winner

[Dereich]

All SEC Championship *vomits*

Go Bama *double vomits*