Sunday, November 24, 2013

P62013: Week 13 Says HOLY CRAP WE HAVE A NEW LEADER

Games watched: Kent St.-Ohio (Tues, for as long as we could stand); Northern-Toleldo (Weds, til the 4th); Navy-San Jose (Fri, because we're junkies); Iowa-Michigan, Mich St.-Northwestern (2nd TV); BYU-ND, Nebraska-Penn St (look-ins); Texas A&M-LSU (2nd TV, mostly); Arizona-UCLA (snippets); Missouri-Ole Miss (2nd TV); Baylor-Okie St., Wash-Oregon St (until sleepy).

No burying the lead here: for the first time all season, someone besides the "Dirty Diapers"/"No F'n Clue" tandem has a piece of the Pick Six lead.

As a refresher, this husband/wife combo has dominated the standings, with five of the same teams. But they both have UCLA and Baylor, big losers Saturday night. Plus our fearless leader also had Texas A&M, who lost on the road for the first time with John Manziel at quarterback.

Put another way: he had three of the four biggest decliners of the week. (Along with Oregon who had an inexplicable meltdown at Arizona.)

Hello: Notre Dame, finally ranked again at 8-3 and with a big game against Stanford on Saturday night. Adios: Ole Miss, who got thumped at home by Mizzou.

Biggest gainers: Arizona State, up 6 for beating UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

So if you want to be the biggest gainer of the week: it helps to have ASU. Congrats to "LGNDE & Jimbo Fisher" for a +10 week and a boost to No. 4 in the standings, and also to "Prestige Worldwide," who is a Michigan fan but despite that pick also had a +10 week, and No. 7 in the standings.

Enough jibber-jabber, who made this game interesting for the first time since August?




It's a tie! "Sodeh" (might technically be pronounced So-Day, but "soda" is a much easier visual) and "No F'n Clue" come in at 92 points. "Nope. I'm a Frayed Knot." lurks in third with 90 points. Our erstwhile leader "Dirty Diapers" is down to sixth.

Top cat: Tigger in 5th. Top kid: "Lightning McQueen" in 10th. Top dog: Anna in 18th.

I'm way down in the fifties (rank, not points) thanks to Oregon's collapse and UCLA's crapout. I kinda hate the state of Arizona today. My cat has 25 points more than I do.

The links:

P62013 Scoreboard
Points for each team
AP Top 25 Poll

Next weekend is the last weekend of the regular season. Enjoy it, and enjoy your time on Thanksgiving with friends and family and assorted pets. Iowa plays Nebraska at 11am (Central) on Friday. Neither team is ranked but this is the biggest game of the year after Iowa State. There are a ton of other great intrastate rivalry games, including UCLA-USC, Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, Washington-Wash State, Oregon-Oregon State, and, of course, the Iron Bowl. Happy Thanskgiving everyone.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

P62013: Week 12 Pretty Much Wrote My Obituary

Games watched: Northern-Ball St (Weds), Geo.Tech-Clemson (Thurs), UCLA-Washington (Fri), UCF-Temple (at the end), Miami-Duke, Texas-Okla.St (2nd TV), Michigan St-Nebraska, Auburn-Georgia (look-ins when it was interesting), South Carolina-Florida, Stanford-USC, Arizona St-Oregon St (some), San Jose St-Nevada (until sleepy). 

Both Notre Dame and Iowa bye'd, so it was a perfect opportunity to spend time away from the TV. We went to the Brookfield Zoo and worked on our animal identification with "Lizzie Bear." As it turned out, the 11am games were pretty boring so I didn't miss anything.

Once we got home and I started watching the 2:30 games, I wished I hadn't. Texas looked like it was in early season "get killed by BYU" mode. Nebraska was terrible against Michigan State. Miami lost to Duke. In football. I knew it was bad when the announcer said: "The Miami defense just has no answer for this Duke rushing offense!" A little bit later, a Duke RB stormed in for a TD late in the fourth quarter, giving Duke a two-possession lead. At that point, I announced my Pick Six was officially dead.

UCLA beat Washington on Thursday, South Carolina eventually got past Florida, and Oregon eventually got back on track vs. Utah (although it took a while). With only three ranked teams, you'll find my pickset way down in the standings.

Who's out: Texas, Miami and Georgia, because this happened:



That was the most important catch of the day, since it happened on 4th and 18. But this was the best catch of the day:



Who's in: USC (who deserves it, the way they've been playing lately), Ole Miss (because sure why not another SEC team) and Duke, who also deserves it. I still think Minnesota deserves it more.

Best week: Not much changed in the poll, so not much changed in the standings. In a quiet week, +5 was good enough to tie for the best performance, so congrats to "Huskers Du" and Anna.

Enough jibber jabber, who's winning?


"Dirty Diapers" remains two points off a perfect game. This is like watching Nebraska in the 90s or Florida State in the early 2000s. The dominance is so complete.

The links:

P62013 Scoreboard
Points for each team
AP Top 25 Poll

Top kitty: Tigger at 5th. Top kid: "Lightning McQueen" at 6th (tie). Top dog: "Quarter Dog" at 14th (tie).

Sunday, November 10, 2013

P62013: Week 11 Just Kinda Checked Out

Games watched: Oregon-Stanford (Thurs); Baylor-Okla (Thurs, 2nd TV); Iowa-Purdue; Minnesota-Penn St (flip); Indiana-Illinois (sometimes); Michigan-Nebraska; Miami-Va Tech (occasionally); ND-Pitt; Alabama-LSU (2nd TV); UCLA-Arizona (most).

It's late on a long weekend and I'm very tired. Apologies for the drive-thru version of the Pick Six. (At least you can understand me when I speak and I give correct change.)

Out: Texas Tech and Notre Dame. T-Tech continues their Northwestern impersonation. ND lost to 4-4 Pittsburgh.

In: Texas (deservedly so) and Georgia. Now, I hate Minnesota, so take this with the proper perspective: Georgia being ranked at 6-3 ahead of 8-2 Minnesota is an absolute fucking joke. Frankly I don't think 7-2 Miami should even be ranked after losing by about 80 points in two straight weeks.

I had three road wins: Nebraska @inexplicably bad Michigan, UCLA @ Arizona and Texas @ wherever they were, West Virginia I think. However, those were my only three wins, as Oregon got their wings clipped in the Tree of Stanford (I am tired but still punny) and Miami started doing their best Texas Tech impersonation.

Best week: Biggest movers were Wisconsin, Michigan State and Texas. Congrats to "sodeh" and "Prestige Worldwide." Sodeh is all the way up to 4th, congrats! And Prestige is knocking on the top 10.


Enough jibber jabber, who's winning? You know:


"Dirty Diapers" keeps rolling. No comment, check the scoreboard below.

The links:

P62013 Scoreboard
Points for each team
AP Top 25 Poll

Top kitty: Tigger at 5th. Top kid: "Lightning McQueen" at 7th (tie). Top dog: "Quarter Dog" at 19th (tie). I might be in 36th place, but at least I'm still tied for the household lead!

Sunday, November 03, 2013

P62013: Week 10 Is Thinking About the Endgame

Games watched: Wisconsin-Iowa; Miss. St-South Carolina (2nd TV); Illinois-Penn St (2nd TV, late); Naval Academy-Notre Dame; Florida-Georgia (some); Michigan-Michigan St. (2nd TV); Northwestern-Nebraska (late); Miami-Florida State; Tennessee-Mizzou (early); Oklahoma St.-Texas Tech (2nd TV); Colorado-UCLA (flip); Nevada-Fresno State (a quarter or so before going to sleep). 

Not much happened in the poll, to be honest. Miami got killed by Florida State, as many expected, and they dropped seven spots. Sparty beat Meech handily and moves up six spots. Michigan drops out. ND eked past a so-so Navy team (I seriously thought we got past this in the Charlie years) and is ranked again at 7-2. Texas Tech lost at home and dropped 10, but you don't care because you don't have Texas Tech in the game. The top 6 stayed the same.

Best week: you needed to have both Michigan State and ND, plus a couple other winners. And this week, that means ... Sports Illustrated magazine.

Undefeated watch: Here's the gang of eight:
ACC: Florida State and Miami.
Big Ten: Ohio State.
Big XII: Baylor.
Mountain West: Fresno State.
Mid-American: Northern Illinois.
SEC: Alabama.
Pac 12: Oregon.

So these seven conferences can all produce an undefeated champion. A lot can happen in the last three weeks, but that would make for some interesting conversations at bowl time.

Enough jibber jabber, who's winning? Sigh:



Like last week, "Dirty Diapers" is just three points off a perfect set. I've never seen that in November. I don't know how you compete with that.

The links:

P62013 Scoreboard
Points for each team
AP Top 25 Poll

Top kitty: Tigger at 7th. Top kid: "Lightning McQueen" at 11th. Top dog: "Quarter Dog" at 22nd.

This week: don't wait til Saturday to tune in to college football. Two of the biggest games of the season take place on Thursday night: Group "A" battle Stanford vs. Oregon and Big XII matchup Oklahoma vs. Baylor. Plus on Saturday, two great conferene matchups: LSU vs. Alabama in the SEC and Virginia Tech vs. Miami in the ACC.