Paul Prattles On

What a fantastic experience at the Georgia-Florida game!  My eldest son took me to the game for my birthday/Christmas present this year, and it was a blast.  I had not been since my senior year at UGA, in 1985.  The stadium sure was a lot nicer than I remembered (I know, it was rebuilt and upgraded), and construction was everywhere on the city streets, but the biggest impression was the two huge video boards (that were actually 6).  We were able to watch 3 games in the lead-up to the pregame show, and they did a fairly nice job of keeping us up-to-date statistically throughout the game.  They also showed the TV feed during the game, so we saw all the replays. Stephen and I weren't able to leave North Georgia until around 10:00 pm on Friday night, so we didn't arrive at our motel in Kingsland, Ga until about 3 am.  After a brief night's sleep, and watching ESPN Gameday, we headed for Jacksonville.  The ride was only about 35 minutes, but the park-and-ride lot we planned to

Week 9 is shaping up to be an exciting week!  First, my oldest son got us tickets for the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville!  It will be my first time at the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party as a fan!  Last time I attended was as a member of the UGA Redcoat Band my senior year:1985.  During my four years in the band, Georgia went 3-1 against Florida.  My freshman year, Herschel Walker ran for 289 yards in just under 3 quarters in the 44-0 victory.  Many said this was the game that clinched the Heisman Trophy for him.  My sophomore year, we won 10-9 with John Lastinger under center and Terry Hoage leading the defense.  My junior year was the only loss, 27-0.  (I had to look it up because I had blocked that game out of my mind.)  My senior year, Florida had just been ranked #1 for the first time in their history.  Their reign at the top lasted all of one week as the Dawgs crushed them 24-3 behind the running of Tim Worley and Keith Henderson.  Great times! There are also s

Here are my power rankings after week 8 of the college football season.  As we move closer to November, some teams are beginning to separate themselves, both at the top and at the bottom.  A few reminders: 1) These are my rankings, and no one else's.  While my formula isn't perfect, I'm enjoying seeing how it works.  I have a few tweaks planned for next year already, and may make more. 2) Wins count a lot, losses a little, and not playing count as nothing, so you will see a team that has a bye week drop in the standings.  You will also see teams that lose move up, and teams that win move down.  A lot depends on how the teams around them did.  This will all even out over the course of the season (I hope), except that the hurricanes caused several cancellations.  This is another tweak I will need to make to my formula.  This week, my formula has USC unbelievably high after they moved up following a loss.  This is due to the fact that a lot of teams ahead of them had a bye l

Since I judged a marching band event all day Saturday, I was not able to watch any football.  However, I am aware of how the games played out, so I will give my impressions of the results and the conference standings. Memphis is steadily heading toward a showdown with either UCF or USF in the AAC conference championship game.  Their win over Houston on Thursday night (and over Navy the previous week) gives them the clear advantage.  Iowa State continues to impress, as they have seemingly taken a huge step by winning on the road again.  Their game against TCU this weekend will go a long way in determining whether this is just a nice story. Similarly to Iowa State, Rutgers is also surging, having now won 2 straight conference games.  They now travel to Michigan to face a disappointed (and disappointing) team.  Can they continue their good run?  Syracuse is another team that has vastly improved this year, but they were unable to overcome Miami.  FSU has really fallen on hard times, an

When I decided to retire, I knew I would need additional income, since my pension wouldn't be enough to cover all my expenses.  I decided to substitute teach, but I knew that could be unpredictable, so I agreed to teach in the after school program at a local elementary school.  This provided a steady 12 hours per week, Monday through Thursday, unless there are breaks or holidays, but since this is hourly work, I don't get paid if school is not in session, as so happened when the remnants of Hurricane Irma came through.  Anyway, I was only scheduled to work on Thursday this week (Friday and Monday are Fall Break), but got called in on Monday at 6:45 (Report time in Lumpkin County is 7:30, as school starts at 7:45), Tuesday at 7:10, and Wednesday at 7:20 (but only for a half-day, starting at 9:15- the teacher has 1st period planning).  This is a rather long account to explain why I haven't posted my thoughts from Week 7, my Power Rankings, or my picks for Week 8 yet.  So tod

Last week was a crazy week! We had upsets and near upsets galore, and that played havoc with my picks.  Especially since I picked the wrong upsets!  Last week, I was 42-16, or 72.4%.  Overall, through 6 weeks, I'm 314-84, for a respectable 78.9%.  Chances are, I won't be able to get back up to 80%, but I'm sure going to try!  Here are my picks for this week: Troy over S Alabama - Troy has upset LSU, and their only loss is to Boise St the opening weekend.  S Alabama is only 1-4, their lone win over FCS Alabama A&M. Louisiana over Texas St .- Texas St's lone win is over an FCS foe, and UL is at home. Clemson over Syracuse - Clemson is one of the best teams, if not THE best; Syracuse is not.  Not even close. Wash St over Cal - The Cougars have established themselves as one of the best teams in the PAC12.  Cal has faded since it reached conference play. TCU over Kansas St - The Horned Frogs better be on upset alert, as the Wildcats are certainly capable of

Here are my power rankings after week 6 of the college football season.  As we move deeper into October, some teams are beginning to separate themselves, both at the top and at the bottom.  A few reminders: 1) These are my rankings, and no one else's.  While my formula isn't perfect, I'm enjoying seeing how it works.  I have a few tweaks planned for next year already, and may make more. 2) Wins count a lot, losses a little, and not playing count as nothing, so you will see a team that has a bye week drop in the standings.  You will also see teams that lose move up, and teams that win move down.  A lot depends on how the teams around them did.  This will all even out over the course of the season (I hope), except that the hurricanes caused several cancellations.  This is another tweak I will need to make to my formula. 3)  The plus or minus after the team is how many spaces they moved up or down from last week.  An E means they stayed in the same place. 4) Because of ho

Week 6 was thought by most to be a kind of "sleepy" weekend, with not much action expected.  However, there were several upsets and near upsets.  My impressions this week will be based more on results than on games I actually watched.  I judged a marching band event all day Saturday, so I only saw the end of the 8:00 games.  However, I did record the Georgia game and watched it Sunday afternoon. Georgia again played very well.  The offense played especially well, moving the ball seemingly at will.  And they had a lot of will!  My only quibble with how the Dawgs played is that they didn't seem to get much pressure on the Vandy QB.  Georgia continues to establish itself as the team to beat in the SEC East. Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn are the only SEC teams without a conference loss.  Florida can still win the East by defeating Georgia on October 28, but they would need to win the rest of their games, or hope for another loss by the Dawgs.  The West most likely will com

I had a pretty good week last week.  I finished 46-8, or 85.2%!  Overall, I am 272-68, clinging at exactly 80%.  My goal every year is to finish at 80% or above for the year, but I believe the best I have ever done is between 76-78%.  On with this week's picks! Ark St over Ga Southern- Ark St is a good team, perhaps best in the Sun Belt.  GSU is not... Louisville over NC State- should be a good, close game Memphis over UConn- easy pick here Boise St over BYU- but BYU could pull the upset, as Boise St is not their usual self; then again, neither is BYU UGA over Vandy- could be a let down game, and UGA almost always struggles at Vandy, but I think they'll remember last year's loss and remain focused Clemson over Wake Forest- though Wake could keep it close for 3 quarters; not enough depth Oklahoma over Iowa St- Okie is one of the best teams in the nation; Iowa St is one of the best teams in Ames, Iowa Penn State over Northwestern- I think PSU will stumble sometime t

Here are my power rankings after week 5 of the college football season.  As we enter into October, some teams are beginning to separate themselves, both at the top and at the bottom.  A few reminders: 1) These are my rankings, and no one else's.  While my formula isn't perfect, I'm enjoying seeing how it works.  I have a few tweaks planned for next year already, and may make more. 2) Wins count a lot, losses a little, and not playing count as nothing, so you will see a team that has a bye week drop in the standings.  This will all even out over the course of the season (I hope), except that the hurricanes caused several cancellations.  This is another tweak I will need to make to my formula. 3)  The plus or minus after the team is how many spaces they moved up or down from last week.  An E means they stayed in the same place. 4) Because of how my formula is set up, there are a lot of ties for positions.  Hopefully, this will diminish as the season wears on.  I'm al

It was another exciting week of college football, with several surprises, but mostly expected results.  I was able to watch quite a few games this past weekend, but this coming Saturday, October 7, I'll be judging a marching band competition, so my impressions will be based mostly on the scores of the games and a few highlights I might happen to see. In the SEC, it is obvious now that Mississippi State's domination of LSU was more a function of LSU being bad than it was of MSU being good.  LSU's loss to Troy, even though it is a very good Sun Belt Conference team, illustrates how far they have fallen.  Since it's victory over LSU, Mississippi State has been routed by Georgia and Auburn, a clear indication that they are NOT the second best team in the SEC, as many writers thought. Georgia and Alabama continued to dominate conference foes, winning 41-0 and 66-3 respectively.  At this point, it looks like these two are headed for a collision in the SECCG, but Florida a