Paul Prattles On

Welcome Back! There was only 1 game this week, but it was a great one! See below for the brief recap.  My blogs from here on out will be a little abbreviated, as we have ended the regular season and get into the bowl season. My TWIF Notes (Mondays) and Odds and Ends (Wednesdays) will be sporadic as we get into the holiday season, as there just won't be quite as much to talk about. But my Power Rankings (Tuesdays) will disappear after tomorrow, and reappear after the final bowl game on January 4. But I will continue to do Paul's Picks on Thursdays for all the games up through the following Wednesday. I will continue to announce on Twitter (@pbanderson) and on Facebook when I have made a new post, and of course you can always bookmark this page and check back often.  On to the recap! FBS Game Navy defeated Army 17-13, and it was everything you hoped the game would be. The Black Knights dominated the 1st half, moving for 3 scoring drives while holding the Midshipmen to only a sin...

Welcome Back! This past week was not good- my 2nd worst week of the season- as I was 6-5, or .545. This makes me 631-217 overall, a 74.4% winning percentage. At this rate, I'll be lucky to finish at 75%. Last year, I finished at 71.8%, which was  WAY  below my usual average (I'm usually around 75%).  You should know that I only only pick who wins, not against the spread.  I'm not into gambling, and I certainly wouldn't use my picks to gamble with (if you do, that's on  YOU! ). I don't have inside information, I don't scour injury reports, I don't have a research staff, and this isn't my full time job; it's just a hobby, but I have been following college football for right around 50 years, and I've seen a lot of it.  My goal each year is to be correct 80% of the time over a full season, but I've never actually achieved that.  Most years, I'm right around 75%, but I think my high has been close to 78%, with last year perhaps being my wo...

Welcome Back! This will be somewhat abbreviated this week. I have kept the conference feature because there is still one nonconference game to play- Army vs Navy! After next week, I will replace that with how each conference is doing in the bowl games. This will be the last time the intra-conference feature will appear, and the same goes for my update on my preseason playoff picks, obviously.  Which Conference is Best? With the regular season completed, all of the non-conference games have been played, except one: Army vs. Navy.  1. SEC 48-8 .857 2. Big Ten 32-9 .781 3. Big 12 23-7 .767 4. ACC 33-20 .622 5. MWC 30-19 .612 6. AAC 24-19 .558 7. Sun Belt 21-19 .525 8. Independents 34-36 .486 9. Pac 12 16-19 .457 10. MAC 21-26 .449 11. CUSA 24-32 .429 12. FCS 12-104 .103 Now the above includes the record against all competition.  What if we narrow it down to just FBS competition?  Does that change the standings?  Let's see... 1. SEC 35-7 .833 2. Big Ten 25-9 .735 3....

Welcome Back! With only the conference championship games being played, there wasn't a lot of movement, of course, but there was some. What I want to take a few moments to see is how my rankings compare with the final CFP rankings. As I looked at the 2 side-by-side, there were an awful lot of similarities. We agreed on 9 of the top 10 (remember, mine is a formula, not a committee), and 22 of the top 25. However, once we get outside the top 9, there is quite a difference in placement. Our top 4 is the same, but I have UGA and Michigan reversed. My rankings have Baylor at #5 ahead of Notre Dame and Ohio State (because of the extra points from playing an extra game). Other than those 2 differences, our top 9s are the same! The biggest difference comes at the #10 spot- my formula has Arkansas, which is #21 in the CFP- but my 11-12-13 are 12-10-11 in the CFP. My 15 is #14 in the CFP, and we agree on #16. My 19 is #17, my 20 is #18, and my 24 is #22. For the most part, we agree on the ti...