Paul Prattles On

Welcome Back! Last week I was only 15-5, or a very pedestrian 75%.  Overall, I am now 39-10, or 79.6%.  My goal every year is to finish at or above 80%, though I've never actually achieved that, but I almost always finish above 75%.  Last year I finished at 76.5% for the regular season, and 76.2% overall, which isn't too shabby.   I want to point out that my predictions come simply from 45+ years of watching and following college football.  I do not have the time (or staff!) to do massive research into depth charts, injuries, transfers, etc, and so, if I were you, I certainly wouldn't take my picks to Vegas (or wherever) and bet the mortgage with them!  My brothers and I have been predicting the games among ourselves off and on for many years, and I should point out that I haven't "won" in a while, but I also haven't finished last, either, so there's that.  Anyway... let's get to the picks! Thursday, September 24 UAB @ South Alabama - The Blazers ...

Welcome Back! Here at Odds and Ends, I plan to look at some stats, trends, storylines, etc. as they play out.  I will also give my opinion on some issues, but you can take that for what it's worth. LIR Let's start with the Last Interception Race (LIR).  In this space, I will be chronicling who has the most attempts without an interception.  This is a lot harder to keep up with with teams playing so sporadically!  After week 2, here are the top 5: 1. Sam Hartman, WF- 57 2. D'Eriq King, Miami- 54 3. Tyrell Pigrome, WKU- 48 4. Trevor Lawrence, Clem- 37 5. Grayson McCall, CCU- 34 I think this will be a fun race to watch!  I wonder how far we will get into the season until everyone has an interception?  This will also be an odd race to watch, as not everyone is starting the season at the same time, and not everyone is playing the same number of games. Conference Standings I will also be keeping up with how the conferences are faring in non-conference games. Here...

Welcome Back! Since 35 FBS teams played this past weekend- more than half- we had a lot more movement this week.  I should explain that I use a point system to come up with my preseason rankings, and as the season goes on, I will drop these off one by one.  In the past, I have done these one by one, but with the staggered starts this year, I may wait until all conferences have started playing and then drop them 2 or 3, maybe even 4, at a time.  The Big Ten has announced that they will start games the week of October 24, so I want to wait until November before dropping these, giving all teams a body of work, but maybe I'll just drop them all at once in mid-November.  The Pac 12 and MWC have also made rumblings about starting their season this fall.  If that happens, I will reinsert all of these conferences into the Power Rankings, just like the AP will begin to include them in the Top 25.  I think I will add the Big Ten in for next week, so you can see where...

Welcome Back! We had an exciting weekend of College Football!  Notre Dame and Miami continue to impress, and it looks like we may have all 10 conferences playing football by the end of the season!  Let's get to the reviews.  Please understand that future opponents are apt to change at a moment's notice. Friday, September 18 Coastal Carolina did what Georgia Southern could not a week ago and easily dispatched Campbell 43-21.  CCU is off to its best start in its brief FBS history (this is only CCU's 4th FBS season), but they have been 3-1 each of the last 2 seasons.  To best that, they will need to win their next 2 scheduled games: Ark St on Oct 3 and @ Louisiana Oct 17.  Good luck with that, Chanticleers! Saturday, September 19 Tulsa gave Oklahoma State all it could handle before succumbing 16-7 in the season opener for both teams.  The Golden Hurricane led 7-3 entering the 4th quarter, but couldn't close the deal.  OSU dives into Big 12 play with...

   Welcome Back! Last week I was a fantastic 17-3, or 85%!  Overall, I am now 24-5, or 82.8%.  My goal every year is to finish at or above 80%, though I've never actually achieved that, but I almost always finish above 75%.  Last year I finished at 76.5% for the regular season, and 76.2% overall, which isn't too shabby.   I want to point out that my predictions come simply from 45+ years of watching and following college football.  I do not have the time (or staff!) to do massive research into depth charts, injuries, transfers, etc, and so, if I were you, I certainly wouldn't take my picks to Vegas (or wherever) and bet the mortgage with them!  My brothers and I have been predicting the games among ourselves off and on for many years, and I should point out that I haven't "won" in a while, but I also haven't finished last, either, so there's that.  Anyway... let's get to the picks! Friday, September 18 Campbell @ Coastal Carolina - Last ...

   Welcome Back! Here at Odds and Ends, I plan to look at some stats, trends, storylines, etc. as they play out.  I will also give my opinion on some issues, but you can take that for what it's worth. LIR Let's start with the Last Interception Race (LIR).  In this space, I will be chronicling who has the most attempts without an interception.  This is a lot harder to keep up with with teams playing so sporadically!  After week 2, here are the top 5: 1. Chase Brice, Duke- 37 2. Sam Ehlinger, Texas- 33 T3. Jack Abraham, USM- 32 T3. Chance Lovertich, S Ala- 32 5. Frank Harris, UTSA- 31 I think this will be a fun race to watch!  I wonder how far we will get into the season until everyone has an interception?  This will also be an odd race to watch, as not everyone is starting the season at the same time, and not everyone is playing the same number of games. Conference Standings I will also be keeping up with how the conferences are faring in non-confe...

Welcome Back! Since 34 FBS teams played this past weekend- not quite half, but getting closer- we had a lot more movement this week.  I should explain that I use a point system to come up with my preseason rankings, and as the season goes on, I will drop these off one by one.  This year, I will begin dropping these off after the games on October 3rd, to allow each of the teams to at least play 2 games.  While I like to have a few more games happen before I start dropping these, it can't be helped this year.  One of the last ratings I will drop will be my coach bonus, as that one obviously affects the team all year.  However, with the resignation of the USM head coach, I have already dropped the coach bonus for Southern Miss.  What this all means is that a team may not move up when it wins, or move down when it loses.  A lot depends on what happens with the teams around them, and how far away from those teams they started.  For example, even though...