Paul Prattles On

Welcome Back! Before I get to this week's interesting tidbits, there is a game being played tonight. Wednesday, October 9 New Mexico State @ Jacksonville State - The Aggies won the contest last year, 20-17 in Las Cruces, but while both teams combined for a 19-9 record last year, this year they are 3-7, with NMSU 0-2 in CUSA. The Gamecocks plastered Kennesaw State last week to win their conference opener, and they should get to 2-0 in CUSA with this win. JSU wins. OOC games are starting to dwindle away as all teams move into their conference schedules. Of course, Notre Dame, UConn, and UMass have to play somebody, as does Oregon State and Washington State, so there will be some throughout the season. However, I have stopped updating the Inter-conference results and will pull them back out at the end of the year. Instead, I will talk about each of the conference races. Conference Call Army leads at 4-0, but Navy is right behind at 3-0. Tulane and Charlotte are 2-0, and UNT is 1-0. Al

Welcome Back! Before I present my Power Rankings, this week starts those maddening mid-week games. Here is my pick for tonight's game. Tuesday, October 8 FIU @ Liberty - The Flames have won both prior meetings, 36-34 in Lynchburg in 2020, and 38-6 last year in Miami. The Panthers have been inconsistent this year, beating CMU and La Tech, but losing to FAU (by 18) and to an FCS team. They've been held to 20 points or less 3 times, which is bad news when facing Liberty. LU has held all 3 opponents to 24 points or less, and have scored at least 28 in each (FIU has allowed 31+ in 3 games). Oh, and the Flames have been off for the last 2 weeks due to their game at App State being canceled because of Hurricane Helene. Liberty wins easily. Power Rankings I had a lot of movement in the PR this week, as we are starting to see some wins and losses pile up.  Last week, I eliminated my preseason points, so that has greatly affected these rankings. That means the rankings are based solely o

Welcome Back! What an exciting 6th weekend of college football! We had so much that was unexpected- upsets, blowouts- it's what makes college football the greatest game ever. It just defies explanation. For the 1st time this season, there were no games against FCS teams. Here are my thoughts on the FBS vs FBS games. Texas State the weekend started with a 38-17 win over fellow SBC West foe Troy . The win pushes the Bobcats to 3-2/1-0, while the Trojans become the 1st team to lose 2 SBC games, and Troy still doesn't have an FBS win. At 1-5, the Trojans have already lost as many games as in the last 2 years combined, as they get a much needed off week this week. Sam Houston moves to 2-0 in CUSA with a 41-21 win over UTEP . The Bearkats, at 5-1, have 2 more wins than they achieved all of last year, have won 8 of their last 10 games, and are 1 win from being eligible for their 1st bowl as an FBS team. The Miners are 0-5, and may not win any games except vs FBS newcomer Kennesaw Sta

Welcome Back! I had my worst week so far, going 36-19, a winning percentage of 65.5% (under 2/3). There are only 49 games in total this week, the fewest since Week Zero, so I sure hope I do a lot better. Games are much harder to predict once we move into conference play, where there are all these rivalries. Overall, I am 281-79, a percentage of 78.1%, and a decrease of 2.2% from last week. I've finally dropped below 80% overall, but I can still reach my "realistic" goal of 75%. So... on with the picks! Thursday, October 3 Texas State @ Troy - The Trojans lead this series by an astounding 13-1, winning the last 12, including 9 since 2013. The Bobcats got their lone win in 1997, and have never beaten the Trojans in Troy in 8 tries. TSU started the season with high hopes, but after a rout of UTSA in game #2, they lost by 3 to Arizona State, then by 1 to Sam Houston, who was 3-9 last year. Troy was expected to take a step back from their 11-3 season last year, but they've