Paul Prattles On

Welcome Back So far in the early bowls and CFP games (and the Army-Navy game), I am a miserable 5-7 (41.7%), making me 675-224 overall with a winning percentage of 75.1% (down 0.4% from last week). You should know that I often root against my picks, as I rarely go with my heart- I almost always pick the team I think will win, not the one I hope wins. So now we have more bowl games, and the CFP Quarterfinals to go, as well as the semifinals and the final. Full disclaimer- I'm usually around 50% for bowls, as they are notoriously difficult to predict, due to coaching changes, opt-outs, etc. In other words, don't bet the house based on my picks; it's all a crapshoot anyway, but I'm going to give it the ol' College Try! So...on with the picks! Monday, December 22 Washington State vs Utah State (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl- Boise, ID)  - The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl has been around since 1997, first as the Humanitarian Bowl (1997-2004, 2007-2010), then the Micron PC Bowl (2...

Welcome Back Last week, for the Conference Championship Games, I was only 5-4 (55.6%), making me 670-217 overall with a winning percentage of 75.5% (down 0.2% from last week). You should know that I often root against my picks, as I rarely go with my heart- I almost always pick the team I think will win, not the one I hope wins. So now we have the final game of the regular season, and the beginning of the bowls. Full disclaimer- I'm usually around 50% for bowls, as they are notoriously difficult to predict, due to coaching changes, opt-outs, etc. In other words, don't bet the house based on my picks; it's all a crapshoot anyway, but I'm going to give it the ol' College Try! So...on with the picks! Saturday, December 13 Army vs Navy (Baltimore, MD)  - This is annually one of the most entertaining games of the year, but I have often had to miss it for one reason or another. Perhaps I'll get to watch this year. The Midshipmen lead the series 63-55-7, and it's a...

Welcome Back! The season is finally over except for the shouting (so much shouting...). And the Army-Navy game. And the bowls. And the CFP. You know what? It's not even close to being over! But even though there is still just a bit more of the college football season to go, this will end my season schedule of 4 blogs per week.  In this column, I will take a full accounting of my preseason conference and CFP predictions, and will analyze how I did in comparison to the preseason magazines. But don't worry; I will still do my early Bowl Picks and my pick for the Army-Navy Game later this week. As in years past, I will probably break down the bowl picks into 2 or 3 columns (since there are so many), and then do my semifinals picks and the Championship Game pick separately. Let me start out with how my Power Rankings would have chosen the CFP.  I also have Indiana at #1, and they would play the winner of #8 Vanderbilt and #9 Ole Miss.  I also have Ohio State at #2, and they wo...

Welcome Back Last week I had a fantastic week, as I was 54-13 (80.6%), making me 665-213 overall with a winning percentage of 75.7% (up 0.4% from last week).  This week is Championship Week, as the 9 conference championship games will be played- 4 on Friday and 5 on Saturday. Though there are 6 rematches within the 9 games, there are some fantastic matchups so...  On with the picks! Friday, December 5 Kennesaw State @ Jacksonville State - The Gamecocks (8-4) and Owls (9-3) played on Nov 15 in Jacksonville, with JSU coming out on top by a score of 35-26. The win pulled the Gamecocks even with KSU in the series with 3 wins apiece, but JSU is now 2-1 in games played in Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium. This is s return trip to the CUSA Championship Game for Jax State in just their 2nd year of eligibility, and this is obviously Kennesaw State's 1st appearance, as this is their 1st year of eligibility. The Gamecocks were able to exact revenge on WKU in the CG after losing to the H...

Welcome Back! As expected, my Power Rankings did pretty well in predicting the committee rankings! My top 5 were all in the top 5 and in the 12-team bracket, I have 9 of the 12 (I have Vandy, North Texas and Utah instead of Ole Miss, Tulane and Oklahoma). Of the Committee's top 25, I have all 22 in my top 25. Where we differ is mostly in the 20s, specifically 20, 21, and 22. Respectively, the committee has Tulane (#28 in my rankings), Houston (#43 in mine), and Georgia Tech (#33). Teams in my Top 25 that the committee left out were USF, LSU, and Missouri. Not too shabby! Interconference results The season is finally over, and this is how each conference did in non-conference play. Overall 1) SEC 56-8/.875 2) Big Ten 44-10/.815 3) Big 12 38-10/.792 4) Independents 19-5/.792 5) American 34-20/.630 6) ACC 42-26/.618 7) MWC 26-22/.542 8) SBC 27-29/.482 9) CUSA 19-29/.396 10) Pac 12 8-16/.333 11) MAC 16-36/.308 vs FBS 1) SEC 41-8/.837 2) Independents 18-5/.783 3) Big Ten 30-10/.750 4) B...

Welcome Back! Ten of the top 12 have changed, as we had no teams move more than 17 spots, with 122 teams staying within 9 spots of where they were last week. Here is how far the teams moved: Less than 10 spots- 122 teams (26 moved 0 or 1 spot) +5 from last week 10-19 spots- 14 (-2) 20-29 spots- 0 (-3) 30-39 spots- 0 (same) The biggest mover up was Cal at +17, and down was UTSA at -17. I did a little bit of a deeper dive to compare the conferences, and this is what I came up with: SEC Highest Ranked Team: #4 Georgia Lowest Ranked Team: #86 Arkansas Range: 82 Median Rank: 23 Average Rank: 33.8125 Big Ten Highest Ranked Team: #1 Ohio State Lowest Ranked Team: #110 Purdue Range: 109 Median Rank: 50.5 Average Rank: 48.44 Big 12 Highest Ranked Team: #5 Texas Tech Lowest Ranked Team: #126 Oklahoma State Range: 121 Median Rank: 40.5 Average Rank: 49.9375 ACC Highest Ranked Team: #14 Miami, Fl Lowest Ranked Team: #120 Boston College Range: 106 Median Rank: 48 Average Rank: 60.235 American Confe...