-Originally published 12/4/20-
We’re in the home stretch with a couple weeks left in the regular season for College Football. Clemson and Notre Dame are basically locked into the ACC Championship game and Alabama and Florida are near locks for the SEC Championship. The Big 12 isn’t quite set and the Big 10 and Pac-12 are still toss ups with covid cancels wreaked havoc in their shortened schedules.
Week 2 Picks: 7-1
Week 3 Picks: 7-2
Week 4 Picks: 12-5
Week 5 Picks: 11-5
Week 6 Picks: 8-3
Week 7 Picks: 7-6
Week 8 Picks: 9-7
Week 9 Picks: 15-4
Week 10 Picks: 11-6
Week 11 Picks: 14-1
Week 12 Picks: 12-2
Week 13 Picks:10-3
Cumulative: 123-45
Friday, December 4th
#25 Louisiana (8-1) @ Appalachian State (7-2) – 8:30pm, ESPN
Pick: Appalachian State
The Sun Belt on Friday night pulls through with another big matchup. App State has lost their two big matchups this season, 17-7 to Marshall and 34-23 to Coastal Carolina, but this is still a loaded team. Louisiana has developed a solid offense after relying on defense and special teams to win early in the season. It should be close, but I think App State pulls it out on a field goal late.
Saturday, December 5th – Early Afternoon
#4 Ohio State (4-0) @ Michigan State (2-3) – Noon, ABC
Pick: Ohio State
#5 Texas A&M (6-1) @ Auburn (5-3) – Noon, ESPN
Pick: Texas A&M
#15 Oklahoma State (6-2) @ TCU (4-4) – Noon, ESPN2
Pick: Oklahoma State
W. Carolina (0-2) @ #17 North Carolina (6-3) – Noon, ACCN
Pick: North Carolina
Rice (1-2) @ #21 Marshall (7-0) – Noon, ESPN+
Pick: Marshall
Liberty (9-1) @ #18 Coastal Carolina (7-0) – 2pm, ESPNU
Pick: Coastal Carolina
Syracuse (1-9) @ #2 Notre Dame (9-0) – 2:30pm, NBC
Pick: Norte Dame
Aright then, a slate full of almost upsets fills the early afternoon games this Saturday. Michigan State will be able to move the ball against OSU and the defense will be the best the Buckeyes have played so far. It will be competitive for a half before Ohio State is able to pull away. I don’t like Auburn at all. They were destroyed by Georgia and Alabama, embarrassed by South Carolina, survived Arkansas and snuck by Ole Miss. Sophomore QB Bo Mix has shrunk this season while Kellen Mond has finally gotten it together in his senior year for the Aggies (1,573 yds, 16 Td, 2 Ind, 3 sacks taken). TCU will play Oklahoma State close and could knock the Cowboys out of the Big 12 Championship race if they aren’t careful. OSU has struggled to put teams away with the last three wins coming by less than a touchdown. North Carolina played Notre Dame tough, but the poor defense couldn’t stop the Irish from bleeding the clock and pushing in a late touchdown to seal the game last week. Somehow they get a cupcake this weekend. Liberty was two weeks ago 15-14 against NC State dropping them out of the top-25. The Flames QB Malik Willis has over 2,000 yards passing and 20 passing touchdowns and 800 yards rushing and 10 rushing touchdowns this season. This game is in danger of being cancelled due to covid cases at Liberty, if that’s the case BYU may step in and play Coastal. That would be the most entertaining game of the afternoon and I’d expect the Cougars to pull out a close game. Marshall and Notre Dame will roll.
Saturday, December 5th – Mid-Afternoon
#6 Florida (7-1) @ Tennessee (2-5) – 3:30pm, CBS
Pick: Florida
West Virginia (5-3) @ #9 Iowa State (7-2) – 3:30pm, ESPN
Pick: West Virginia
#12 Indiana (5-1) @ # 16 Wisconsin (2-1) – 3:30pm, ABC
Pick: Wisconsin
#19 Iowa (4-2) @ Illinois (2-3) – 3:30pm, FS1
Pick: Iowa
#24 Tulsa (5-1) @ Navy (3-5) – 3:30pm, ESPN2
Pick: Tulsa
Vanderbilt (0-8) @ #8 Georgia (6-2) – 4:00pm, SECN
Pick: Georgia
Stanford (1-2) @ #22 Washington (3-0) – 4:00pm, FOX
Pick: Washington
What a loaded schedule we have in the afternoon slot. Georgia will roll behind JT Daniels at QB and Florida’s Kyle Trask should add to his 34 touchdowns on the yard by torching the Vols. It’s still worth flipping the channel to check in on both of those guys. Florida will playing Alabama for a shot at the playoffs and Georgia can still make a New Year’s Day bowl and JT will probably get Heisman preseason hype for 2021 depending on how this season finishes.
After closes losses to Purdue and Northwestern early in the season, Iowa has rattled off 4 straight wins with three coming by 20 or more points. Illinois can pull an occasional upset but they won’t be winning any more games the rest of the season. Indiana suffered a huge blow with Michael Penix Jr tearing his ACL and ending his season. He’ll be a preseason Big 10 POTY candidate for 2021. Sophomore Jack Tuttle, transfer from Utah, takes over at QB and can hopefully keep the Hoosiers running at a high level. Wisconsin has had a hell of a time with covid cases and games getting cancelled. A monster matchup to keep Wisconsin in the Big 10 and playoff race. Another big game, Iowa State just needs to beat West Virginia to lock up a spot in the Big 12 conference game. WV fields the 4th best defense nationally in total yards (274 yds/game) and the best passing defense (161.5 yds/game) with Jarret Doege (2,219 pass/yds, 13 tds, 3 Int, 65.9% Comp) and Leddie Brown (897 rush/yds, 5.4 avg, 9 td) running a solid offense. This will be an excellent defensive battle and I think the Mountaineers with pull a major upset.
Tulsa will play a Navy squad that’s struggling this season. They’ve allowed 23+ points in every game this season. They’ll struggle to move the ball against Tulsa. Washington and USC and the lone undefeated Pac 12 teams with any shot for the playoffs.
Saturday, December 5th – Night Slate
#23 Oregon (3-1) @ California (0-3) – 7:00pm, ESPN
Pick: Oregon
#3 Clemson (8-1) @ Virginia Tech (4-5) – 7:30pm, ABC
Pick: Clemson
#1 Alabama (8-0) @ LSU (3-4) – 8:00pm, CBS
Pick: Alabama
#10 Miami @ (7-1) @ Duke (2-7) – 8:00pm, ACCN
Pick: Miami
Baylor (2-5) @ #11 Oklahoma (6-2) – 8:00pm, FOX
Pick: Oklahoma
In an odd occurrence, not a single one of the five night games featuring ranked teams should be close. Virginia Tech is falling apart and Trevor Lawrence looked awesome returning to action last week after a month off. Alabama will look to destroy LSU after getting embarrassed last year. Duke and Baylor don’t have the talent to hang with Miami and Oklahoma respectively. Oregon came up short in a strange goal line sequence in a foggy game against rival Oregon State last week. California has come up short a couple times this season, but the Ducks behind Sophomore QB Tyler Shough (1,158 pass/yds, 10 pass/td, 4 int, 65.8% comp, 203 rush/yds, 2 rush/tds) will take care of business.
Sunday, December 6th – 2020 weird Sunday games Slate
Washington (1-1) @ #20 USC (3-0) – 7:30pm, FS1
Pick: USC
Washington State has given over 500 yards of offense in two games so far and will struggle to slow down USC. Kedon Slovis (970 Yds, 5 tds, 2 Int, 70% comp) hasn’t put up staggering numbers by any count, but the Trojans and putting up over 470 yards of offense per contest and should stay undefeated.