College Football pick'em 2017- Gameplay and scoring thread

[Del Tachi]

Oregon State
Ohio State
Colorado
Washington
Iowa
Texas
North Carolina
South Carolina
Michigan
Northwestern
Alabama
LSU
Texas A&M
Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech

[Del Tachi]

September 16

Air Force at Michgan
Oklahoma State at Pittsburgh
Baylor at Duke
Clemson at Louisville
Wisconsin at BYU
Tennessee at Florida
SMU at TCU
Purdue at Missouri
Oregon State at Washington State
Colorado State at Alabama
LSU at Mississippi State
Kansas State at Vanderbilt
Kentucky at South Carolina
Arizona State at Texas Tech
Texas at USC
Stanford at San Diego State
Ole Miss at California

[Del Tachi]

Despite the fact that Athens is only an hour away, UGA has a hard time finding its way to Atlanta.  With the East being as volatile this year as any, I'm not ready to call UGA a favorite (especially when I think they're still very over-ranked) and I think Florida and Kentucky will be surprises.  However, if I had to guess:

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

Yeah, Kentucky will beat Alabama.

No, Mississippi State will beat lose to Vanderbilt Florida.

Which would likely mean a 12-1 Mississippi State and an 11-1 Alabama (neither of which would be a Conference champion) would have solid arguments to go to the Playoff. 


Anyway, my picks for week 4:

September 21
Temple at South Florida

September 22
Virginia at Boise State
Utah at Arizona

September 23
NC State at Florida State
Texas Tech at Houston
Texas A&M at Arkansas
Ohio at Eastern Michigan
UCF at Maryland
Alabama at Vanderbilt
USC at California
TCU at Oklahoma State
Toledo at Miami (FL)
Duke at UNC
Louisiana Tech at South Carolina
Cincinnati at Navy
Michigan at Purdue
Syracuse at LSU
Mississippi State at Georgia
Penn State at Iowa
Florida at Kentucky
Southern Illinois at Memphis
Notre Dame at Michigan State
Washington at Colorado
UCLA at Stanford

[Del Tachi]

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

Yeah, Kentucky will beat Alabama.

No, Mississippi State will beat lose to Vanderbilt Florida.

Which would likely mean a 12-1 Mississippi State and an 11-1 Alabama (neither of which would be a Conference champion) would have solid arguments to go to the Playoff.

If we beat Georgia, Auburn, Alabama (!) and everyone else on our schedule, and then turn around and lose to Florida of all teams, I would blow a gasket. 

On the other hand, it would be classic Mississippi State.

Yes it would be, which is why it is my current prediction haha

Also, I moved to Athens last month.  So I'm very excited to be a Mississippi State fan going into this week.

[Del Tachi]

September 28
Texas at Iowa State


September 29
Miami(FL) at Duke
Nebraska at Illinois
USC at Washington State


September 30
Indiana at Penn State
Oklahoma State at Texas Tech
California at Oregon
Arizona State at Stanford
Iowa at Michigan State
Maryland at Minnesota
Northwestern at Wisconsin
Vanderbilt at Florida
Houston at Temple
Syracuse at NC State
Georgia at Tennessee
Florida State at Wake Forest
Eastern Michigan at Kentucky
Miami(OH) at Notre Dame
Mississippi State at Auburn
Marshall at Cincinnati
Memphis at UCF
South Carolina at Texas A&M
Clemson at Virginia Tech
Mississippi at Alabama
Northern Illinois at San Diego State
Colorado at UCLA

[Del Tachi]

While I gave up on the pick-em' a few weeks ago, I'll go ahead and share my current prediction for the playoff:

1) Undefeated ACC champion (Miami)
2) One loss Big 12 champion (Oklahoma)
3) One loss SEC champion (Georgia)
4) One loss non-SEC champion (Alabama)

With Auburn, Clemson and Ohio State being the first 3 out (not really sure of the order though)

[Del Tachi]

While I gave up on the pick-em' a few weeks ago, I'll go ahead and share my current prediction for the playoff:

1) Undefeated ACC champion (Miami)
2) One loss Big 12 champion (Oklahoma)
3) One loss SEC champion (Georgia)
4) One loss non-SEC champion (Alabama)

With Auburn, Clemson and Ohio State being the first 3 out (not really sure of the order though)

If Georgia loses to Alabama, or if Alabama loses to Auburn, it's possible Auburn gets in instead.

Ohio State is out, and I'm confident Clemson will beat Miami(FL) in the ACC Championship game.

Alabama loses to Auburn in the Iron Bowl; then Auburn loses the rematch to UGA in Atlanta.

It'd be hard to take a 10-3 Auburn over an 11-1 Alabama for the #4 spot in that scenario. 

[Del Tachi]

I have a hard time picking between Ohio St/Alabama.  Alabama only has one rivalry loss in to what was the hottest team in the country a week ago.  Ohio State definitely has more quality wins, but the 55-24 loss to Iowa is a big black eye for the Buckeyes.

Interestingly, Georgia/Oklahoma to the Sugar and Ohio State to the Rose would reflect the traditional conference tie-ins associated with those bowls...hmmm....

And honestly Georgia deserves to be #1.  Clemson has a terrible loss, and UGA came back to beat a more talented team on a bigger stage.

My vote (if I was a committee member) would be:

1) Georgia
2) Clemson
3) Oklahoma
4) Alabama

[Del Tachi]

yay TCU finished in the top 10 on AP

Also, UCF can claim all of the national titles they want, LOL

I mean, it doesn't actually matter. No matter who claims the "mythical national championship", Alabama won the College Football Playoff.

To be perfectly fair, I'm sure Alabama has claimed some national titles in the past without necessarily being #1 in the final AP poll. It's more of an oddity of college football than anything else.

Not necessarily #1 in the final AP poll? Think more outrageously! Alabama officially claims one from 1941 where they were ranked #20!

That team was also chosen by the Houlgate system and won the Cotton Bowl. Many teams claim national championships from that era because there was no single system that declared a national champion like we have in the CFP now.

Yes, but Alabama is known as an especially egregious offender considering that they claim eight disputed national championship titles.  And they could probably get away with this too, but not when their fans go around spouting off "#17" all day long.


No matter what happened in the CFP final, UGA had a better season than Alabama all around.  One game decided on a last-minute mistake in overtime doesn't change that.  I'm the most upset with this result because some will say that it vindicates the committee's decison to pick Alabama over Ohio St or other marginal teams, thus giving increased weight to "eye tests" in the future. 

If we're going to decide who gets to go to the playoff based on eye tests alone, what even is the point of competition?  Alabama played a weak schedule, lost their biggest game of the regular season, struggled severely against the likes of powerhouses like Texas A&M (7-6) and Mississippi State (9-4), and was not a Conference champion - they didn't deserve it. 

An Ohio State (or even Wisconsin, Miami, USC, etc for that matter) would have played-up to the occasion if selected for the playoff just like Alabama did.  I don't consider Bama's win validation for the Committee's decision. 

EDIT:  And Georgia has the same number of wins as Alabama and an SEC title to boot, if UCF can do it I say we claim the national championship too.  The more controversy the better.