Paul Prattles On

What a fantastic week of football!!! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, though I didn't get a chance to watch much.  I spent most of Saturday returning home from our Thanksgiving get-together, so I listened to several games on the radio.  Therefore, in today's blog, I thought I would review how my preseason conference predictions turned out.  These will be presented somewhat randomly, but I will list my predictions, and then where they finished in parentheses after each team.  Let's start with the SEC. SEC West 1) Alabama (1) 2) Auburn (1) 3) LSU (3) 4) Texas A&M (4) 5) Arkansas (7) 6) Ole Miss (6)      Miss St (4)- 4 right, top 1 SEC East 1) Florida (5) 2) Georgia (1) 3) Tennessee (7) 4) S Carolina (2) 5) Kentucky (3) 6) Missouri (3) 7) Vandy (6)-none right ACC Atlantic 1) FSU (6) 2) Clemson (1) 3) Louisville (3) 4) NC State (2) 5) Wake Forest (3) 6) Boston College (3)     Syracuse (7)- 1 right ACC Coastal 1) Miami (1) 2) Va Tech (2)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I am looking forward to getting together with family to celebrate all of our blessings.  May all your travels be blessed, and may you have much joy in the gathering of family and friends! Last week, I was 52-13, for a sterling 80%!  Overall, that raised me to 567-189, or 75%!  My goal of finishing the season at 75% is still possible.  On to this week's games. Tuesday games E Mich over Bowling Green (they won) Akron over Kent St (they won) Miami, Oh over Ball St (they won- off to a great start) Thursday Game Miss St over Ole Miss - While the Rebels are playing for bowl eligibility, the Bulldogs offense is just too strong for them to keep up with. Friday games Toledo over W Mich - The Broncos will put up a fight, but Toledo will clinch the division. N Illinois over C Mich - The Huskies will hold out hope for a Toledo loss, but I believe they'll be focused on taking down the Chippewas on the road. Miami, Fl over Pitt

Here are my power rankings after week 12 of the college football season.  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 how my formula is set up, there are a lot of ties for positions.  Hopefully, this will diminish as the season wears on

Once again, I didn't get much of a chance to watch a lot of football this weekend, as I had a funeral to attend out of town on Saturday.  However, I did get to listen to the first half of the Georgia game, and watch most of the second half.  I was very impressed with how the Dawgs rebounded from their loss last week, and pleased that Auburn didn't beat them twice, as they say.  Now, if they can just get past those pesky Yellow Jackets!  Tech surprisingly got blown out by Duke yesterday, but you can bet they'll be ready for the Bulldogs come Saturday. For the most part, the games were rather uneventful, though there were a few surprising results.  Texas finally got a quality win by winning on the road at West Virginia.  Fresno State solidified its season with a road win over a good Wyoming team.  BYU sunk to a new low by losing to UMass at home, which gives the Minutemen 4 wins in their last 5 games.  Georgia Southern finally won, which isn't all that surprising (since

It's been a rough few weeks here at my prediction center.  Last week I was 43-17, or 71.7%.  Overall, that drops me to 514-177, or 74.4%.  It's getting tougher and tougher to get to that 75% mark.  However, with so many top teams playing "cupcakes" this week, I'm hoping my percentage will improve.  Here are this week's picks: Tuesday Games (already played) C Mich over Kent St (they won) Ohio over Akron (they lost!) Wednesday Games Miami over E Mich - The Redhawks have a chance to qualify for a bowl for the 2nd straight year if they can win this game and at Ball St next Tuesday.  I believe they will. N Illinois over W Mich - These are 2 good MAC teams with much left to play for, but I'm going with the Huskies at home. Toledo over Bowling Green - The Rockets' shocking loss last week will have no lingering effects.  They'll crush the Falcons easily. Thursday Games Buffalo over Ball State - How the Cardinals beat UAB I'll never know. 

Here are my power rankings after week 11 of the college football season.  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 how my formula is set up, there are a lot of ties for positions.  Hopefully, this will diminish as the season wears on

That had to be one of the most disappointing games I have ever seen.  Not on par with the Falcons' Super Bowl collapse, but disappointing nonetheless.  Other than its opening drive, Georgia did next to nothing to help itself win, and much to help Auburn win.  The worst outcome is that I believe Georgia has lost its chance at the CFB Playoff. Stay with me here, and let me explain my thinking.  Let's say the Dawgs win their last two regular season games- no sure thing- against Kentucky and Georgia Tech.  If Auburn beats Alabama, in a fairly close game, then the rematch will be set.  However, I can see the committee taking a one-loss Alabama team over an SEC Champion one-loss Georgia.  The precedent was set last year in the Big Ten, where Ohio State was chosen over Big10 champion Penn State, mainly because of the Lion' 39 point loss to Michigan.  Similar circumstances here.  If Georgia meets Alabama, and wins, then it's more likely that no SEC team will make the playoff.

Last week was another poor week.  I finished 40-21, for a poor 65.6%.  That brings my overall record down to 471-160, or 74.6%.  It's going to be difficult to get back to 75% or more. Anyway, I remain undaunted, and forge ahead with this week's picks.  I had hoped to get these out earlier, but I ended up subbing every day, and worked the after school program 3 days.  Wednesday was only a half day, but we ended up going to Toccoa so my son could go to play practice at my other son's church.  So I didn't have a lot of time, and didn't get home until around 11 pm. Here's this week's picks: Tuesday Games Akron over Miami, Oh (they lost!) Buffalo over Bowling Green (they won) Wednesday Games WMU over Kent St (they won) Toledo over Ohio (they lost) C Mich over E Mich (they won) Thursday Games N Illinois over Ball St (they won) App St over Ga Southern (they won- poor Ga Southern...) Pitt over UNC (they lost) Friday Games Temple over Cin

Here are my power rankings after week 10 of the college football season.  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 how my formula is set up, there are a lot of ties for positions.  Hopefully, this will diminish as the season wears on

Wow!  We had another crazy week of college football: unexpected routs, big upsets, close games.  This week had it all.  I'm going to go through each conference alphabetically. The AAC East will come down to the USF at UCF game on Nov 24, even if one or both of them stumble beforehand.  Temple is still technically in the race, but they would need a minor miracle to make it happen.  In the AAC West, Memphis leads by one game over Houston, and holds the tiebreaker due to their 42-38 win on Oct 19.  Memphis is angling for a rematch against UCF in the title game, but they will need to play much better than the 13-40 result they had on Sept 30. The ACC is nearly decided.  Miami holds a 2-game lead on Virginia Tech and Virginia, and have already beaten Va Tech.  Virginia could win the Coastal Division, but would need to beat Louisville, Miami. and Va Tech, and hope Miami loses to Pitt on Nov 24.  The Atlantic is slightly more competitive, as Clemson and NC State both could win it, but

Sorry that this is so late, but I promise I did not make any changes.  I usually make my picks on Monday or Tuesday, which I did this week, but it's been a super busy week, so I've been unable to post them.  I had planned to post on Thursday, but Jackie wanted me to go to Alpharetta with her, and I did not make it home until almost midnight last night, and then Jackie needed the computer until 1 am.  So here we are; I know each of you has been waiting with baited breath! Last week, I was 38-18, or 67.9%, yet another mediocre week (and this week isn't starting off too hot, either...).  Overall, I am 431-139 for a fairly respectable 75.6%.  My new goal is to stay above 75%, since 80% seems out of reach.  So here we Go! Bowling Green over Kent St (they won) Ohio over Miami (they won) W Mich over C Mich (C Mich won) Toledo over N Illinois (they won) E Mich over Ball St (they won) Navy over Temple (Temple won by 8) Troy over Idaho (they won) Marshall over FAU

Here are my power rankings after week 9 of the college football season.  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 how my formula is set up, there are a lot of ties for positions.  Hopefully, this will diminish as the season wears on.