2018-19 NCAA Football (Weeks 12 & 13)

Week 12
Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (3) Notre Dame, (4) Michigan, (5) Georgia, (6) Oklahoma, (7) LSU, (8) Washington State, (10) Ohio State (shaky again but got the W), (11) Central Florida, (13) Florida, (14) Penn State, (15) Texas, (17) Kentucky, (18) Washington, (19) Utah, (21) Mississippi State, (22) Northwestern, (23) Utah State, (25) Boise State

Bad beat
(12) Syracuse (Notre Dame seems to have caught everyone at their peak ranking, right?)

(16) Iowa State (great at hanging around, just okay at actually getting wins)

(24) Cincinnati (not sure why they're ranked)

Not so good
(9) West Virginia (I knew WVU would score, didn't occur to me that Okla St would keep up, bad loss)

(20) Boston College (to Florida State? C'mon, man, blew a great chance to drop a beatdown on a conference rival)

Week 13
Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (3) Notre Dame, (5) Georgia, (6) Oklahoma, (9) Central Florida, (10) Ohio State, (11) Florida, (12) Penn State, (14) Texas, (15) Kentucky, (16) Washington, (17) Utah, (18) Mississippi State, (19) Northwestern, (20) Syracuse, (22) Texas A&M (23) Boise State, (25) Iowa State

Bad beat
(7) LSU (7 OT's on the road? Okay, I'm gonna let that go, that's not a bad L)

Not so good
(4) Michigan (all you gotta do was beat Notre Dame and/or Ohio State; sorry, but 0-2 means you had a bad year)
(8) Washington State (hmmm, home field in a snow storm, still couldn't get it done?)
(13) West Virginia (needed to beat OU, didn't get it done)
(21) Utah State (good year, but they needed that win on the road)
(24) Pittsburgh (why were they ranked?)


Next week
Pac-12: (17) Utah @ (11) Washington (I gotta go with Washington)
Big 12: (14) Texas @ (5) Oklahoma (I see a Sooner revenge beatdown coming)
American: Memphis @ (8) Central Florida (Memphis keeps game close, UCF lost their QB, gonna be tough for UCF to keep that winning streak going)
SEC: (1) Alabama @ (5) Georgia (UGA beat Kentucky 34-17, I'd say Bama is similarly better than Georgia)
Mountain West: (25) Fresno State @ (23) Boise State (I'll go with Fresno to avenge their loss to BSU this year)
ACC: (2) Clemson @ Pittsburgh (if Pitt beats Clemson I'll eat my hat)
Big 10: (21) Northwestern @ (6) Ohio State (Buckeyes have had a lot of shaky games this year, but I'd be surprised if Northwestern gave them much of a game)
Drake @ (23) Iowa State (Look for Iowa State to run up the score)


My rankings
1) Alabama (if they lose to UGA, they're still in the playoff--who the hell else is gonna win 29-0 at LSU?)
2) Clemson (can they beat Alabama? I have no idea but I gotta at least think they've got a shot)
3) Oklahoma (wouldn't beat Alabama but that offense would at least give them an interesting game)
4) Georgia (if they can beat Bama, they're in...I don't think they will but they're gonna get a shot at it)
5) Notre Dame (yeah, they're undefeated, but I don't think they'd beat OU or UGA, so I have them #5)
6) Central Florida (may not be any good, especially down a starting QB, but I'd rather see them in than anyone else)
7) Ohio State (this is solely because somebody has to be #7; don't forget: got lucky against TCU, Penn State, Michigan State, farted around with Nebraska (who is not good), probably should've lost to Maryland, got rolled by Purdue; since I was never particularly impressed with Michigan, I'm struggling to see how the Buckeyes would even come close to having a chance to Alabama)
8) who cares? (I'd go with Washington if they handle their business this weekend, I got no need for LSU, Michigan, Florida, Penn State--this is why God invented a 4-team playoff! Don't mess with a good thing!)

2018-19 NFL (Weeks 9 & 10)

Week 9
Games I watched (some of):
Raiders 3-34 Niners
Dang, Raiders made NFL debut of 4th string QB Nick Mullens a memorable one. That dude was great! Raiders D is just awful, Derek Carr looks utterly lost out there, the Raiders don't do anything well, Gruden's return is reminding me a lot of Hue Jackson's exit. The Raiders have future considerations, the Niners are just killing tim til they get their franchise QB back next year. 

Falcons 38-24 Redskins
A little surprised to see the Falcons looking so comfortable on grass, especially the defense, but they kept making plays. The Redskins are an up/down team and they were down today, still hanging around in the East but I still expect the Eagles to take the division.

Rams 35-45 Saints
Fun game! Back and forth, Saints fumbled, felt that was gonna make all the difference, Rams miss on the fake FG (uhh, I thought he got it, not sure why he got such an unfriendly spot), and suddenly its NO's game all over again. The Rams made a game of it in the 2nd half, but Saints stole it late like always. Homefield could make all the difference if/when these teams meet in the playoffs.

Packers 17-31 Pats
Loved the Pats going high tempo early, thought they'd do a little more of that (it was successful). Dug the way the Packers hung around, though. Close game til the Packers had a 4th quarter fumble and that was all the Pats needed to pull ahead. Pats are good but not great, Packers can be good but are mostly mediocre.


Results (surprising):
Steelers 24-17 Ravens
I should not have been surprised but I really thought the Ravens would move the ball on the Steeler D. The Steelers have moments on D and that offense can always get hot but I'm not sold on this Steelers squad, I think the Chiefs and Chargers (and Colts, maybe Pats) can beat them.


Other results (not surprising):
Bills 9-41 Bears
Trubisky has a habit of piling up numbers on sloppy teams. Bills D is solid, but the O-line (still!) is the ongoing problem.

Chiefs 37-21 Browns
The Chiefs scoring points, the Browns not keeping up (but scoring some because the Chiefs D is pretty sorry), yeah, totally predictable, one of those games that was exactly what you thought was gonna happen.

Jets 6-13 Dolphins
Dolphins are better than the Jets, division teams are either the hardest or the easiest, this was one of those easiest games. With the Ravens and Bengals mailing it in, feels like the Dolphins could hang around the playoff race but I figure the Chargers and Titans/Texans snag the wild cards. The Jets suck.

Lions 9-24 Vikings
I still believe the Vikings are one of the best teams in the NFC and could be ready to stun the Rams or Saints or Eagles in the post-season. The Lions kinda seem like they're getting better but not really...which is what the Lions have kinda always been, right?

Bucs 28-42 Panthers
Bucs can score...but rarely more than the other team. The Panthers are really good when they put their minds to it, gonna be a tough out in the playoffs.

Texans 19-17 Broncos
Still not sure about the Texans, at their best they look pretty good but still not scary. But a W at Denver is another nice win for them. The Broncos are in a tail spin, that D is still good enough to play spoiler but they're out of the playoff hunt.

Chargers 25-17 Seahawks
I definitely underestimated the Chargers, they just keep chugging along, look like they can beat anybody on any given Sunday, I'm skeptical of them in the post-season, but they look well on their way to getting there--finishing ahead of the Chiefs is still on the table. I've been way more impressed with the Seahawks, too, great QB and good coach can keep a team alive, I reckon.

Titans 28-14 Cowboys
The Titans are on the high side of mediocre, the Cowboys on the lower. This result seemed about right to me.


Week 10

Games I watched (some of):
Panthers 21-52 Steelers
This game was already ridiculously out of hand before I turned it on, but this score wasn't that shocking. When the Panthers don't got it, they pack it in quick; when the Steelers are feeling it, they can run it up on anyone. So that's what happened.

Saints 51-14 Bengals
I was impressed with the Saints. You see that score and you'd probably assume there were defensive plays and special teams and turnovers, etc., but not really; the Saints just scored every time they touched the ball, their offense was absolutely flawless.

Pats 10-34 Titans
Titans came out ready to play, jumped on the Pats early and kept them discombobulated (think we've seen the secret to beating the Pats, right? Score early), and looked good doing it. Titans are a pretty-good team and the Pats have regular missteps, the sheer dominance was eye-opening but the result isn't that shocking.

Cowboys 27-20 Eagles
Just kept waiting for the Eagles to step up and take the W but they did not. The Cowboys looked pretty good on both sides, why don't they look like that more often? I still think the Eagles win the division but time is running out.


Results (surprising):
Bills 41-10 Jets
Jets suck, man. Yup, even worse than the Bills. Buffalo's problem is having no QB behind no O-line, otherwise they're pretty good; the Jets problem is they don't know how to win, so you can't really even tell what the problem is (I kinda like the rookie QB actually, I don't think he's the problem).

Giants 27-23 Niners
Ehh, this wasn't that shocking, except that I thought the Niners would relish the chance to play a crappy offense in a primetime game and they blew their shot at a good W; that said, neither of these teams need to win, so Niners probably did better by fumbling the W away. Even when they win, the Giants are still doing it wrong.


Other results (not so surprising):
Lions 22-34 Bears
The Bears are getting better, the Lions are standing still.

Falcons 16-28 Browns
The Falcons looked good on the road against the Redskins, but against the revitalized Browns, they never got their offense going. Hue Jackson is gone, long live the new Hue.

Jags 26-29 Colts
This looks right to me. The Colts are about a FG better than the Jags, even though the Jags have looked pretty awful for the last month or so.

Cards 14-26 Chiefs
Seems like the Chiefs kinda took the week over and still easily beat the Cards.

Redskins 16-3 Bucs
This sounds right to me. The Bucs can score on anyone, the Redskins can lose to anyone, so of course the Redskins would easily shut down the Bucs on the road.

Chargers 20-6 Raiders
Yup, the predictable game of the week.

Dolphins 12-31 Packers
The Dolphins are not built for the road and certainly not for mid-Autumn Wisconsin, the Packers needed a W like this to kick start them for the rest of the season, they're still in the playoff hunt. The Dolphins are, too. (But I'm not seeing it for either team)

Seahawks 31-36 Rams
The Rams are better but the Seahawks gave them a good game. I'm more impressed with the Seahawks than I expected going into this season. The Rams are still the best in the league but it feels liker they've overheated and may go limping into the post-season.

2018-19 NCAA Football (Weeks 10 & 11)

Week 10 

Games I watched (some of):
(6) UGA 34-17 (9) UK
Yeah, that's about right (I predicted 31-13 before the game). You can break the game down to two plays: UGA's opening punt return and UGA 60-yard run up the middle for a TD in the 2nd half. UGA had two big plays, UK had none, rest of the game was roughly even. UK's defense is legit but UGA's O-line is just better, UGA's offense just so much more efficient, UGA winning by 2 TD's was predictable and obvious from UGA's first drive.

(13) West Virginia 42-41 (17) Texas
Great finish! Fun game! Back and forth all the way through, WVA goes for the 2-pointer at the buzzer, great stuff!

(1) Alabama 29-0 (3) LSU
Yeah, just kept waiting for LSU to do anything, something, nah, nothing. LSU's defense put up a game effort but the offense was dead on arrival. Tide uber alles.


Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (4) Notre Dame, (5) Michigan, (6) Georgia, (7) Oklahoma, (8) Washington State, (10) Ohio State (sorta, Nebraska is not good), (12) Central Florida, (13) West Virginia, (18) Mississippi State, (19) Syracuse, (21) North Carolina State, (22) Boston College, (23) Fresno State, (24) Iowa State


Bad beat
(3) LSU (hey, man, Bama's good)
(9) Kentucky (man, they ain't as good as UGA, UK managed to filter up this high, they should still probably finish top 20)
(16) Texas (tough loss but WVA is good)


Not so good
(11) Florida (dang, they got rolled at home by Missou? Weird)
(14) Penn State (I can't help thinking Penn State has all they need to be better than they are, if they ever put it together, I think they can beat anyone, so to get straight pounded by Michigan is not a good look)
(15) Utah (lame loss on the road)
(16) Iowa (lame loss on the road (although Purdue does have a coupla crazy good W's this year))
(20) Texas A&M (to have a good season you gotta beat a weak Auburn team on the road)
(25) Virginia (sorry performance at home to Pitt)


Week 11

Games I watched (some of):

(11) Kentucky 7-24 Tennessee
(Well, on the radio) UT had big plays all through the 1st half, including a hail mary at the buzzer. These are exactly the kinds of plays that UK's defense staved off throughout the year, but the Vols rained on UK. UT piled on early in the 2nd half, then kinda cruised as UK's offense sputtered.

(Guess I mostly watched soccer and basketball this weekend)


Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Alabama, (2) Clemson, (3) Notre Dame, (4) Michigan, (5) Georgia, (6) Oklahoma, (7) LSU, (8) Washington State, (9) West Virginia, (12) Central Florida, (13) Syracuse, (15) Florida, (19) Texas, (20) Penn State, (22) Iowa State


Bad beat
(16) Mississippi State (hey, man, Bama's good)
(17) Boston College (Clemson is rounding into shape)
(24) Auburn (I thought Auburn might give them a bit of a game, but UGA handled them pretty easily)


Not so good
(11) Kentucky (if UK were as good as we thought, they would've handled a so-so UT squad, instead Vols gashed that defense, UK got exposed)
(14) North Carolina State (L at home to Wake Forest on prime time? Not good)
(21) Iowa (L at home to Northwestern? Kinda surprising)
(23) Fresno State (you gotta win conference games on the road to stay ranked)


Next week's matches:
Middle Tennessee State - (17) Kentucky (Wildcats can still have a great season if they finish strong, this game might bury them)
(12) Syracuse - (3) Notre Dame (doubt this will be much of a game, we'll see)
(24) Cincinnati - (11) Central Florida (UCF's toughest match of the year, I guess)
(16) Iowa State - (15) Texas (these two should be fun)