SE++ BOWL PICK'EMS PART I: FUCK YOU FORUMS STOP DELETING MY SHIT
A couple of notes up front. First, as is tradition around these parts, every game during the bowl pick'ems are Against the Spread. None of that weak Straight Up bullshit this time. Betting on bowl games is for Sickos, so we are treating you like the pure Sickos that you are and making you put down some real picks.
Second, the College Football Playoffs get scored a little differently, as they are worth an escalating series of points. The first round and quarterfinal games are worth 2 points each, with the semifinals worth 4 points and the national championship game worth 8. That way you're never really out of it, unless your name is Magell I guess.
Bowl Games
South Alabama (-9.5) vs. Western Michigan - LIVE FROM MONTGOMERY, IT'S THE IS4S SALUTE TO VETERANS BOWL! I learned from the Fullcast this week that this is the former Camelia Bowl, and suddenly it makes sense why they're starting this thing at 9:00 PM EST in order to hide it from God.
Memphis (-1.5) vs. West Virginia - LIVE FROM FRISCO, IT'S THE SCOOTER'S COFFEE FRISCO BOWL! Scooter's Coffee is the country's second-largest drive-thru coffee chain, which is impressive since I've never heard of it. I guess Scooters hasn't made its way out to Los Angeles yet, so we're just stuck with our Starbucks and Dunkin and Dutch Bros and like 5000 artisanal coffee shops floating around (I have been to so many coffee shops in the last year because my girlfriend loves coffee. Did you know there is a style called hot sand coffee that uses hot sand to make coffee? Because I know that now.)
Western Kentucky vs. James Madison (-7.5) - LIVE FROM BOCA RATON, IT'S THE BOCA RATON BOWL! This game doesn't have a sponsor, so I'm forced to actually talk about the game real quick, ugh. Western Kentucky coach Todd Helton does not seem long for the job, not because he is untalented but because he keeps getting passed over for jobs at higher jobs, and he might need to think of a new strategy to move up in the coaching world. JMU took a step back this year, but it was at least an understandable one given their head coach and best players left after last season.
California (-2.5) vs. #24 Nevada-Las Vegas - LIVE FROM LOS ANGELES, IT'S THE ART OF SPORT LA BOWL PRESENTED BY GRONK! First off, Art of Sport is apparently an actual company and is a subsidiary of Starco Brands. Another subsidiary of Starco Brands is Whipshots, which is vodka infused whipped cream, and I think that gives you a pretty good idea of what we're dealing with here. Gronk is all over this bowl, with most of the website dedicated to him; there is even a Gronk 101 video for people who have no idea who Rob Gronkowski is. The future tight ends coach for UNC is usually a good sport when it comes to this game, and that's why it brings me no joy that we will be subjecting him to UC Berkeley football.
Georgia Southern (-5.5) vs. Sam Houston State - LIVE FROM NEW ORLEANS, IT'S THE R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL! I have a newfound affinity for the city of New Orleans after visiting it for the first time in September, and now I want the New Orleans Bowl to make changes to the game to better incorporate the culture of the city. The team that gets the most beads in an hour on Bourbon Street should win the opening coin toss! A halftime po'boy eating contest should give a team a free 35-yard field goal attempt! There should be a funeral procession that crosses the field in the third quarter! (The people are in play and made up of former New Orleans Saints defenders who played under Gregg Williams, so they will hunt for injuries). The post-game Gatorade bath should be replaced with a batch Sazerac cocktail! The possibilities are endless here.
Ohio (-1.5) vs. Jacksonville State - LIVE FROM ORLANDO, IT'S THE STAFFDNA CURE BOWL! I am pleased to report that StaffDNA is not, in fact, one of those terrible organizations that harvests DNA from people to tell them their ancestry but is really just waiting to sell that DNA on the dark web for a profit. They're just a more harmless health care jobs marketplace. I am not in the healthcare industry so I cannot say whether this thing is good or not, but there's a pretty good chance the CEO of this company is not in imminent danger.
Tulane vs. Florida (-11.5) - LIVE FROM TAMPA, IT'S THE UNION HOME MORTGAGE GASPARILLA BOWL! As the name implies, Union Home Mortgage is a money-lending company, so your mileage on how evil they are may vary, but this is still the same Gasparilla Bowl you know and love. For those who don't know, Gasparilla is a Tampa celebration of all things pirate, named after famous pirate Joe Gaspar, and it is appropriate that we play this game at Raymond James Stadium. Unlike with the New Orleans Bowl, however, I don't think we should incorporate this tradition into the game, mostly because I don't want to know what it looks like when Florida tries to pillage Tulane.
College Football Playoff First Round
Indiana (#10) @ Notre Dame (#7) (-7.5) - THE INDIANA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! I think the College Football Playoff committee got a lot of things right with this bracket given the parameters they were given, and this game is one example of it. Getting to schedule two teams that play in the same state but rarely play each other (their last meeting was in 1991, and the previous meeting before THAT was in 1958). It's also a great juxtaposition of two stories, as you have an upstart Indiana team that has never played a game with this much stakes in their entire history facing perhaps the most important historical team in college football in Notre Dame. It's a great matchup and should be a lot of fun.
Southern Methodist (#11) @ Pennsylvania State (#6) (-8.5) - Another thing the committee got right: not punishing SMU for losing a conference championship game and elevating a three-loss Alabama team into the playoffs simply because they are Alabama. The Mustangs have been one of the better stories of the season, making the ACC Championship in their first year in the conference despite not taking anything in revenue from the conference, and it feels like a poignant capstone to their journey back from the Death Penalty for them to make the first 12-team playoff. On the flip side, James Franklin's entire Penn State tenure has been building to this moment when he can lead his team to the first loss by a home team in the playoffs.
Clemson (#12) @ Texas (#5) (-10.5) - Did you know these two programs have never faced each other before? That's crazy, right? I don't think this Clemson team is good enough to win this game, but I do think they will reveal something about Texas and whether they are a legitimate contender or a pretender who was not really tested throughout the season. One of those can go far, while the other is in danger of getting run over by a very mean Arizona State in the next round.
Tennessee (#9) @ Ohio State (#8) (-7.5) - A perfect matchup between a fanbase that is excited to be here and get a chance at moving on and another that is ready to murder their coach if he doesn't win this game by 50 points. The winner heads off to Pasadena for a matchup with Oregon, which for Ohio State would be a runback of their highly-entertaining game back in October, while Tennessee fans would love to get to meet up with their friends from Eugene. No joke, the Oregon/Tennessee friendship is one of those fun college football things that transcends geography.
GAME OF THE CENTURY OF THE WEEK
#22 Army (-6.5) vs. Navy - OH DID YOU THINK WE WERE DONE WITH THE REGULAR SEASON? FUCK YOU IT'S THE THIRD ROUND OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF TROPHY! Winner of this game gets the trophy after Air Force took a year off from being competitive. Army is coming off an American Athletic Conference Championship win in their first season in the conference, but Navy would love nothing more than to knock off their military brethren and win their first CIC Trophy since 2019.
Go here to enter your choices:
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Posts
And of course Alleged Rapist Patricia just has to tag along
Duke steals Mensah, UNC hires a stunt coach. Both sides bad.
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
The 2007 Backyard Bowl is when I truly understood that the world isn't a fairy tale
well, the 2001 Yankees losing in the WS. But still
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
More importantly, lmao https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/42923468/in-choosing-unc-bill-belichick-chose-himself
Steam
lol
Lmao
Yeah I expect him to really enjoy the TP and NIL stuff
He doesn’t need to worry about building a network of High School programs/coaches who will steer their dudes his way, which was key for like Saban and Meyer, and he can really just be another version of what Sanders is doing
But it exists now.
So you'll see a familiar sight of Mercenary Football players dropping in for a season or two like years past for the Pats.
Only this time? It'll be to get drafted to the Pros/picked up by better Power 5 Conference Teams that'll actually have a shot at winning a Natty.
Meanwhile Belichek will get crabbier and crabbier until he takes his ball and goes home.
---
TL;DR - North Carolina will *never* win a National Championship under Billiam.
YMMV when it comes to all the Coachspeak of "Building a Legacy" and "Doing it the Right Way".
Even with the TP and NIL stuff in order to be the best (which is what he always wants to be) you have to build relationships.
BB claims he never had a 400page list of demands, and that it was made up by media
hmm
I'm not sure whether I believe BB not having a manifesto, even if he didn't give it to UNC
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
He is denying the length of the document, and not the document itself.
For sure, I’m just trying to think through what’s appealing to him* about college football in 2024 vs anytime from 1975 or whenever he started thru 2023
And I think it’s the lack of a salary cap and everyone on 1-year contracts (functionally since you can just bench guys you no longer like without worrying about the salary cap implications and have giant rosters)
Bill likes GMing more than coaching now, it seems, which is why he can’t get an NFL job (which btw is the *- what’s really appealing to him is he wants a job and can’t get one on his terms in the NFL)
College coaches just aren’t as dependent on their recruiting networks as they have been…seemingly for now
"Bill, was the manifesto 400 pages?"
"That's a lie and anyone who said it doesn't know what the hell they're talking about."
"Was it 350 pages?"
"Next question!"
Steam
Steam
At the same time, anything that keeps Matt Patricia away from the Bears is probably a good thing.
Also UNC is set up such that the AD doesn’t have much power, it’s the Board of Trustees and that group basically works at the impulsive whims of some rich racist douchebag
He did this with the Jets before , right?
It's going to be just like that. LMFAO, Duke is fucking laughing their ass off at those marks down the way in North Carolina.
3DS: 2981-5304-3227
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Should have been Jeanty
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Jeanty would've been my pick but watching the kid get emotional made it worth it to me for him to win it.
Steam
Steam
I think the best solution may be to have players be able to enter the portal starting in January, but they can’t decide to go to a new team until May? Idk, the whole thing feels hard.
3DS: 2981-5304-3227
No info at this time as to where he’s going but speculation is he’ll get 7 figures
I expected this, but I’m still disappointed
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
My guess is Oregon or USC. Don't know if the Ducks saw enough out of Moore to hand the reigns over, not sure how Lanning will handle that, but there were a few games you would have expected him to get in some drives (hello Purdue) where no backups went in.
3DS: 2981-5304-3227
So much tun being everyone else’s QB training facility and coach developmental program
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I think a better weather take is "overmatched teams will fold much faster in shitty conditions", and on paper, SMU should be overmatched against PSU. Add in it being a windy, cold, and slightly wet day, and PSU pulls away midway through the third.
Also, SMU is only ranked 11th so Franklin will crush them as is his Scorpion to non Top 5 Frogs.