Our college football writers and management tried something fun this week: we decided to make our own picks to see how we do. Since we didn’t decide until partway through the week and we needed to figure out exactly how we’d do things, I didn’t get it set up in time to publish before the games. I will be doing that from now on.
However, I am going to share with you how we did this week. So, without further ado…
College Football Picks: The Who
There are six CSM staff members who have put themselves up for possible ridicule or respect. The co-GMs of college football are here, both Jordan and myself. The other four who are contributing are Kyle, Ben, Dylan, and Josh.
We Agreed
This week, the majority of the games were ones in which we all six agreed upon. Of the 21 games in which Top 25 teams played, we were in agreement about 17 of them. Also, the vast majority of those–fifteen of them–we picked the winners. Here’s the rundown:
(1) Alabama over Southern Miss
(2) Georgia over Vanderbilt
(3) Oregon over Arizona
(4) Oklahoma over West Virginia
(5) Iowa over Colorado State
(6) Penn State over Villanova
(10) Ohio State over Akron
(11) Florida overTennessee
(15) BYU over So Florida
(17) Coastal Carolina over UMass
(19) Michigan over Rutgers
(20) Michigan State over Nebraska
(22) Fresno St over UNLV
(23) Auburn over Georgia State
(24) UCLA over Stanford
In contrast, there were two game we agreed upon that we lost:
(21) UNC lost to Georgia Tech
(9) Clemson lost to NC State
Part of the conversation in our group chat concerning the Clemson/NC State game was very interesting:
Ben: I was so close to picking NC State over Clemson, but I opted out.
Gretch: There are more upsets this year than there have been, it seems.
Ben: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s going to be one of those years where almost every week somebody significant is getting knocked off.
Gretch: Exactly.
We Disagreed
As is often the case, the four games that we were split about gave the most interesting results:
Notre Dame (12) over Wisconsin (18)
I was not at all surprised to find that there was dissention among the ranks when it came to this game. Heck, I would be surprised if, among any cross-section of college football insiders, there is not dissention when it comes to Notre Dame. I also don’t believe it truly matters who they are playing at the time. I’ve been an unapologetic Notre Dame fan since birth; I also am very aware that they are incredibly polarizing.
In this case, Kyle and Dylan picked Wisconsin to beat Notre Dame at Soldier Field in Chicago. However, Ben, Josh, Jordan, and I all picked Notre Dame to win.
Baylor over Iowa State (14)
Kyle was the lone wolf to go out on a limb and pick unranked Baylor to upset Iowa State. Here is another conversation from our group chat:
Ben: Kyle, I was slightly tempted to also take Baylor over Iowa State, but I didn’t do it. What was the tipping point for you?
Kyle: Home field, Iowa State’s tendency to play down to competition instead of being consistent, and just the pure fact that the Big 12 refuses to go according to plan. The conference always kills itself.
Ben: Makes sense to me. I can totally see that game going either way.
So, kudos to Kyle for going out on a limb and taking a game away from the rest of us.
Arkansas (16) over Texas A&M (7)
This time, Dylan and Kyle went for the higher seeded Texas A&M to win over Arkansas. However, Arkansas upset the Aggies, giving Josh, Ben, Jordan and I a win.
Oklahoma State over Kansas St (25)
Kyle again went for it alone, picking the ranked Kansas St. to win. The rest of us picked Oklahoma St. with the upset.
College Football Picks: Conclusion
I appreciate the fact that both Kyle and Dylan took some chances against the grain. For each of them, some paid off and some didn’t.
OUR RECORDS
| Ben | 18-3 |
| Gretch | 18-3 |
| Jordan | 18-3 |
| Josh | 18-3 |
| Dylan | 16-5 |
| Kyle | 16-5 |
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