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Odds and Ends 10/21/26

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Welcome Back! Before I begin, there is 1 Wednesday game this week: Wednesday, October 21 New Mexico State @ Sam Houston - The Aggies lead this brief series 2-1, but each team is undefeated at home.Both teams are off to rough starts, with NMSU at 2-4/1-1, routing WKU but getting routed in turn by FIU 2 weeks ago. The Bearkats have been even worse at 1-5/0-2 with no FBS wins and 13-point loss to WKU. Aggies win. Odds and Ends As you have probably heard, the CFP is 95% of the way to approval of a 24-team playoff starting next year. While I'm not of fan of this expansion, I understand it's inevitable. My one push is that all 10 conference champions be included, not just the P4 and one G6 team. Why? In my mind, it's all about access. As it stands now, 23 slots will be filled from a pool of 64 teams (the P4 conferences plus Notre Dame). That means the 74 remaining teams (the G6 plus UConn) are fighting for 1 spot. Not what I would call even odds, or in any way "fair". B...
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Power Rankings 10/20/26

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Welcome Back! Before we get into our regularly scheduled program, there are 2 games tonight! Here are my picks: Tuesday, October 20 Middle Tennessee @ FIU - The Blue Raiders have doubled up the Panthers, leading the series 14-7, but the 2005 win by the Panthers in their first ever meeting has been vacated, making the score 14-6. However< FIU has won the last 2, both by double digits. The Panthers are 3-0 at home and are on a 5-game home winning streak, while MTSU is 0-3 on the road, and they've won only 3 games away from home in the last 4 seasons. FIU wins. Missouri State @ Delaware - Even though both teams joined CUSA (and the FBS) last season together, they have never met in football. Both teams are 2-4 overall, but the Bears are 1-1 in CUSA with a loss at WKU and a win last week over KSU, while the Fightin' Blue Hens are 0-2 in the conference, losing to Liberty and at MTSU. Mo State is 0-3 on the road; the Blue Hens are 2-1 at home. Delaware gets it done.  South Alabama ...
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TWIF Notes 10/19/26

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Welcome Back! I thought 2 weeks ago was pure chaos, but this past weekend had even more upsets, including 5 of the top 7 teams in the AP Poll losing. That had never happened before this weekend. There is so much to talk about, but I'll just try to hit the high (or low) points. Here are my thoughts from Week 7. 1. Colorado State fired their DC a few weeks ago in the midst of giving up 56 points, but this past Thursday, they lost to Texas State by a score of 66-27. Not sure the DC was the problem... 2. Tulane came off the mat and eliminated Memphis from CFP consideration with a 31-17 win over the Tigers. That leaves UTSA (6-1/3-0) as the American Conference's best hope to snag a CFP bid, but one more loss likely eliminates the Roadrunners. This result likely opens the door a bit wider for JMU, Boise State, and New Mexico. Can they seize the opportunity, or will they stumble and let someone like NDSU or Oregon State sneak in? 3. Ohio State defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 19-15, and ...
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Paul's Picks 2026 Week 7

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Welcome Back! It was bound to happen. I finally had a poor week, my worst week so far (not counting Week Zero). I finished at  37-21 for a winning percentage of 63.8%. Overall, I am 359-89, or 80.1%, a drop of 2.5% from the week before. There is no way I will sustain 80% for the year, but maybe I can stay above 75% this year. There are only 62 games in total this week, 4 more than last week. By and large, conference contests are the majority of the games this week, which makes picking a winner that much more difficult (as I just demonstrated...). And I'm off to a 1-3 start. Sigh... There are a lot of fantastic games this weekend, so... on with the picks! Thursday, October 15 East Carolina @ UAB - The Blazers won 4 of the 1st 6 in this series, from 1998-2006, but the Pirates have won the last 7 to take a 9-4 lead. UAB is 3-3/1-1, and just 1 win shy of matching last season's 4 wins, and they've actually looked decent, with their 2 biggest losses on the road at Illinois and Me...
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