Paul Prattles On

Welcome Back! Note : Look below the Power Rankings for my picks for the Tuesday games. The Power Rankings are much improved this year, and so far I'm pretty happy with how they are working.  They are still far from perfect, but they're much better than when I first introduced them 2 years ago.  If you've been following me for 2 years, then you'll know that the 1st year was marred by too many ties in the rankings.  Last year was better, but there were still too many ties.  This week, ties have returned, as I dropped a preseason rating that really separated the teams.  I'm looking at a change for next season that may minimize these even more.  One other thing I'm happy about is that my rankings contain no "knee jerk" reactions.  One loss won't drop a team 30 spots, nor will a big win move them that far. First, a few clarifications about the rankings.  I assign a point value to each win and loss.  Depending on how far away ...

Welcome back! What an exciting weekend of college football- close games, big upsets, and blowouts (of course).  There were expected outcomes, and there were some surprises. Here is how the games turned out, and some thoughts on each (or at least most). Teams who won against FCS competition, exactly as expected: Alabama over Western Carolina 66-3 Auburn over Samford 52-0 North Carolina over Mercer 56-3 Vanderbilt over East Tennessee State 38-0 Kentucky over UT Martin 50-7 Mississippi State over Abilene Christian 45-7 FBS vs FBS games On Tuesday, Eastern Michigan destroyed Northern Illinois 45-17 to reach bowl eligibility for the 2nd consecutive year.  The Eagles, 6-5/3-4, close the season on Friday against Kent State.  The Huskies fell to 4-7/3-4, and will miss a bowl for the 1st time since 2017. Ohio blew out Bowling Green 66-24, and the Bobcats, at 5-6/4-3, need a win @Akron on Tue...

Welcome back! Last week was fantastic, as I went 46-9 for a .836 win percentage.  Overall, I am 547-162, which is still 77.2%.  Still not too bad, but I'm below 80%, and I'm afraid I'll probably stay there for the rest of the season.  My goal now is to stay above 75%!  There are a few interesting games this week, as most teams have finished their non-conference slate, but there are several "meh" games as well.  Sometimes, though, it's a "down" week like this that producesthe most shockers.  There are 6 games against FCS programs this week. NOTE : See Tuesday's Power Rankings for my picks for the Tuesday and Wednesday games. On to the predictions! Thursday, November 14 NC State @ Georgia Tech - The Wolfpack have lost4 straight, and 5 of 6, and none of the losses have been competitive, the closest one being ...