2021 College Football Discussion and Pick'em Thread

[Terry the Fat Shark]

Week 14 (and Army vs Navy)

Friday, December 3rd

Conference USA Championship Game

Western Kentucky @ #22 UTSA 7 PM EST CBSSN

PAC 12 Championship Game

#11 Oregon vs #19 Utah at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV 8 PM EST ABC

Saturday, December 4th

Big 12 Championship Game

#8 Baylor vs #7 Oklahoma State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX Noon EST ABC

MAC Championship Game

Kent State vs Northern Illinois at Ford Field in Detroit, MI Noon EST ESPN

Mountain West Championship Game

Utah State vs #21 San Diego State at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA 3 PM EST FOX

Sun Belt Championship Game

Appalachian State @ Louisiana 3:30 PM EST ESPN

SEC Championship Game

#1 Georgia vs #3 Alabama at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA 4 PM EST CBS

AAC Championship Game

#24 Houston @ #4 Cincinnati 4 PM EST ABC

ACC Championship Game

#17 Pittsburgh vs #18 Wake Forest at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC 8 PM EST ABC

Big Ten Championship Game

#5 Michigan vs #16 Iowa at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN 8 PM EST FOX

SICKOS Game of the Week

USC @ California 11 PM EST FS1

Saturday, December 11

Army vs Navy at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ 3 PM EST CBS

 

[Dereich]

I would be fired up for a playoff of

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Oklahoma State
4. Cincinnati

That's the ideal. And very possible! 

I am realizing that achieving this means that for the first time in my life I will have to root for Georgia. That's an uncomfortable but necessary thing just this once.

[NewYorkExpress]

UTSA

Oregon (It's really hard to win the same matchup two weeks out of three)

Oklahoma State

Northern Illinois

San Diego State

Louisiana

Georgia (Alabama has been really good all season, but Georgia has just been on another level all season)

Cincinnati (I know the Bearcats are probably favored, but given the pressure on Cincinnati to become the first Group of Five team to make the Playoff, I'd go as far as to say the Bearcats are technically underdogs)

Pittsburgh (Wake Forest has disappointed in recent weeks. I think that trend continues, as an ACC Championship and New Years's Six bowl slips through their fingers)

Michigan (An Iowa win wouldn't shock me, given Jim Harbaugh's record against ranked opponents)

USC

Army

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 13 RESULTS

With two games (Bedlam and Louisville-Kentucky) still in play, Illiniwek and I currently lead with 15-8, with three people at 14-9.  The group of players has all four pick combinations of the two remaining games, so the pick'em is wide open.

I got both games right and won the week at 17-8.  This means that all of the regular players have won at least one week this season -- and we still haven't had a tie for first.  Full results:

17 GeorgiaModerate
16 Illiniwek, NY Express
15 ExtremeRepublican, Terry
14 Donerail, JGibson
11 Dereich

There were 8 unanimous picks:

Cincinnati-East Carolina
Liberty-Army (wrong)
Wake Forest-Boston College
Arizona State-Arizona
Alabama-Auburn (almost wrong)
Virginia-Virginia Tech (wrong)
Oregon-Oregon State
Wisconsin-Minnesota (wrong)

And 7 games with a single dissenter (* = dissenter was right):

Central Michigan-Eastern Michigan
UAB-UTEP
Arkansas-Missouri
Iowa State-TCU
NC State-North Carolina
Ohio State-Michigan (*)
Marshall-Western Kentucky (*)

And in the Egg Bowl (not part of the official standings):

4 Golden eggs (correct pick)
3 Rotten eggs (wrong pick)
1 Raw egg (no pick)

Donerail now has an overall lead of five games with only the conference championships, bowl games, and playoffs left, which will be difficult (but perhaps not impossible) to overcome.  However, there's a tight race for second place, currently a 3-way tie.  Year to date (324 games):

207 Donerail
202 Dereich, GeorgiaModerate, NY Express
196 Terry
195 ExtremeRepublican
180 Illiniwek
175 JGibson
92 Dingo Joe
24 Orwell

[Хahar 🤔]

That was a really fun game to be at! Ultimately Bryan Harsin just wanted to lose more than Alabama did. Gus would have won that one.

I felt like Auburn should have gone for two and the win in the first OT.  When you're the less talented team on your backup QB, it's better to put it all on one play than extend it.

Yeah, everyone knew it except him, apparently. Auburn could have won by scoring once from the three; even after they survived the next overtime, they needed not only to score from the three but also to stop Alabama from doing the same. They weren't able to do it, of course. Playing to extend the game might work if you're at Boise State playing UNLV, but it doesn't work against Alabama. Auburn has been Alabama time and time again by making the most of low-probability events, but he systematically excluded any possibility of that happening this time.

The fourth quarter and overtime makes the total yardage numbers and particularly Bryce Young's numbers look a lot better than they were, but there's a reason Alabama had three points 59 minutes into the game. Auburn's players showed up. It's too bad the coaches didn't.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I would be fired up for a playoff of

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Oklahoma State
4. Cincinnati

That's the ideal. And very possible! 

I am realizing that achieving this means that for the first time in my life I will have to root for Georgia. That's an uncomfortable but necessary thing just this once.

2 meh teams with coaches that I hate and 2 little guys that are fun to support but i don't actually like and would hate to see them etch their name in history. Ugh. Notre Dame would be another in the first category, not that they'd even have a chance.

I guess I'd go for Michigan but it wouldn't be very passionate.

[Terry the Fat Shark]

https://twitter.com/mzenitz/status/1465058106791153668

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1465055977896566791

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1465056704635228160

Folks....

[Terry the Fat Shark]

https://twitter.com/ColinCowherd/status/1465060021205491717

More fuel to the fire!

[Terry the Fat Shark]

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1465060828831494150

It's official! Lincoln Riley to USC!

[7,052,770]

Yikes LSU got cucked by USC...

[Dereich]

I wonder how smug Riley felt inside yesterday at his press conference when he answered the question about his future by saying that he wasn't going to leave for LSU.

[pikachu]

Unless Chip really figured out something this season (he has not), this next decade+ is gonna suck so much lol

[Greedo punched first]

Will the 2022 UCLA-Alabama State game be only on the Pac 12 Los Angeles regional network?

[GeorgiaModerate]

In the new AP poll, Michigan jumped all the way to #2 and Cincinnati moved past Alabama to #3.

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Cincinnati
4. Alabama
5. Oklahoma State
6. Notre Dame
7. Ohio State
8. Ole Miss
9. Baylor
10. Oregon

Other non-P5:

12. BYU
16. Houston
19. San Diego State
20. Louisiana

UTSA fell out after losing decisively to North Texas.

[7,052,770]

There really shouldn't be a ranked G5 school other than Cincinnati and maybe BYU at like #23.

Louisiana? Seriously? Does anyone think Louisiana is better than any SEC school other than Vanderbilt? Didn't think so. Let's not forget they lost handily to a 5-7 Texas team.

[NewYorkExpress]

Can I take my accolades for predicting Lincoln Riley to USC?

[NewYorkExpress]

Looking at who will be the next coach at Oklahoma:

My guesses:

Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury (It looks like this is who the Sooners want to hire)

Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda

Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy

Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell

UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn

Houston Head Coach Dana Holgorsen

[Donerail]

Week 14/15

Friday, December 3rd

Western Kentucky @ #22 UTSA — absolute bs that the #3 offense in the country isn't ranked, do NOT ask me about "defense" #rankWestern T O P S TOPS TOPS TOPS

2 Oregon 2 Utah — Friday night in VEGAS babyyyyy let's get STUPID

Saturday, December 4th
#8 Baylor vs #7 Oklahoma State — Ok St has the best (non-UGA) defense in the country, is the reality we all live in and have to accept. Very funny. Also going to be very funny when 2-loss Baylor gets disemboweled by said UGA defense b/c the Committee puts them in over Cincy or whatever

Kent read, kent write, kent State vs Northern Illinois — really like Sean Lewis, should get some play at a bigger job soon

Utah State vs #21 San Diego State — Utah State has genuinely been one of the more inspiring turnaround stories of the year; that program was in real rough shape when Anderson took over and now they're in the championship game in his first year. Probably not gonna win, but no shame in losing to a team led by the Heisman frontrunner

Appalachian State @ Louisiana — to Harry's point, I would not take Louisiana over any SEC teams except Vandy and maybe this sorry-ass LSU program. App State (quietly 10-2, really should've beaten Miami), however...

#1 Georgia vs #3 Alabama

#24 Houston @ #4 Cincinnati — I've decided to become a Cincy #believer again, definitely one of the four (or five) best teams in the country and UGA-Mich-Bama-Cincy is probably the best playoff you could reasonably put together in this system. Nevertheless, Dana loves to ruin things for people so this is absolutely not a given

#17 Pittsburgh vs #18 Wake Forest — ACC Champion Pitt. ACC Champion Wake Forest. Bizarre world. Also; fun. Take the over.

#5 Michigan vs #16 Iowa — messed up if they don't open the roof in Lucas Oil and give this game the atmosphere it truly deserves. PREDICTION: Michigan 8 – 4 Iowa.

USC @ California — Love that this is literally a sickos game, at least on Cal's side. Also love that both these teams lost last week so this literally doesn't matter. And it's in its own special timeslot so we all get to see it, no excuses.

Saturday, December 11th

Army vs Navy

[7,052,770]

Looking at who will be the next coach at Oklahoma:

My guesses:

Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury (It looks like this is who the Sooners want to hire)

Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda

Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy

Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell

UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn

Houston Head Coach Dana Holgorsen

Don't forget Josh Heupel, who played and coached there.

[Terry the Fat Shark]

Do we want to pick all of the bowls or just the after Christmas ones (including the playoff matchups)? There are 26 matchups after Christmas, there are 41 matchups with all.

[NewYorkExpress]

Do we want to pick all of the bowls or just the after Christmas ones (including the playoff matchups)? There are 26 matchups after Christmas, there are 41 matchups with all.

I vote for picking all forty-one (if only because that might actually give me a chance to catch Donerail).

[Ancestral Republican]

Looking at who will be the next coach at Oklahoma:

My guesses:

Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury (It looks like this is who the Sooners want to hire)

Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda

Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy

Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell

UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn

Houston Head Coach Dana Holgorsen

Gundy going to Oklahoma is about as likely as Saban to Auburn or, like, Belichick to UCONN.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Do we want to pick all of the bowls or just the after Christmas ones (including the playoff matchups)? There are 26 matchups after Christmas, there are 41 matchups with all.

I vote for picking all forty-one (if only because that might actually give me a chance to catch Donerail).

I do too, but how about splitting it into two pre- and post-Christmas "weeks"?  Those would be more manageable (for both the players and the scorekeeper).

[Dereich]

Do we want to pick all of the bowls or just the after Christmas ones (including the playoff matchups)? There are 26 matchups after Christmas, there are 41 matchups with all.

I vote for picking all forty-one (if only because that might actually give me a chance to catch Donerail).

The pick'em should be like the original CFB championship system; the champ is decided pre-bowls and the bowls are just extra fun. Bowls are weird and, especially with the pre-Christmas ones, hard to predict since they have no stakes and its impossible to tell if the teams will show up or not. They shouldn't count for the standings.

[NewYorkExpress]

Do we want to pick all of the bowls or just the after Christmas ones (including the playoff matchups)? There are 26 matchups after Christmas, there are 41 matchups with all.

I vote for picking all forty-one (if only because that might actually give me a chance to catch Donerail).

I do too, but how about splitting it into two pre- and post-Christmas "weeks"?  Those would be more manageable (for both the players and the scorekeeper).

This seems fair to me.

Do we want to pick all of the bowls or just the after Christmas ones (including the playoff matchups)? There are 26 matchups after Christmas, there are 41 matchups with all.

I vote for picking all forty-one (if only because that might actually give me a chance to catch Donerail).

The pick'em should be like the original CFB championship system; the champ is decided pre-bowls and the bowls are just extra fun. Bowls are weird and, especially with the pre-Christmas ones, hard to predict since they have no stakes and its impossible to tell if the teams will show up or not. They shouldn't count for the standings.

If that's your argument, then why don't we just do just the playoff and the championship game then?