Tight race, we are all separated by a single point 1st-2nd-3rd.  Should make for a good finish!  Dan and Bill if they get hot can move up and bump one or more of us out as well!

It's MACtion season.  I live pretty close to Kent and Akron.  I've gone to some of their weekday home games.  Akron actually has a pretty nice stadium, but they have a pretty bad football team.

Don't think I'm going tonight as I want to watch all 3 games that are on.

Can the 1-8 Zips win tonight?  Akron's only win so far this year came against FCS St Francis week 1 and the Zips have only won a total of 3 games the 3 previous seasons.

But I'll tell you, Akron has been close in a couple games.  And Eastern Mich is a vulnerable favorite.

Eastern Michigan is 0-4 ATS this year as a favorite and have lost 2 of those 4 straight up (Buffalo and NIU). They also needed a come-from-behind effort to beat UMass. Akron has covered 2 of their last 3 and 4 of their last 6. Akron had a legitimate shot to beat another poor MAC favorite in Central Michigan a few weeks ago and earlier had a shot at beating Bowling Green.  The underdog has won straight up in 5 of E Mich's last 7 games.

Go Zips!

So, in an OT situation - will Herschel Walker and Rafael Warnock each be given the ball on the 25 - with an opportunity for one first down?  If the Dec. 6 runoff (playoff?) doesn't produce a clear winner - will they be given the same set of rules - only being required to "go for 2" if they score?  (Keith Jackson voice) It's a nail-biter of a donnybrook down on the farm, sports fans!

@rusty 

Whoa Nellie! I would move it back to the 35 and make them kick for it.

@rusty

Such a waste of time and money to have an election that doesn't produce a winner when a simple spelling contest would have sufficed.

@porkchopbob Better a spelling bee than armwrestling!  😉 "I'm Herschel Walker and I am be spelling many words correctly."

Herschel and Bill Bates were teammates on the Cowboys in the late 1980s.  I'd love to hear some of the talk around practice back then.  I liked Bill Bates when I was a kid.  Of course I loved Herschel.  Not sure what kind of politician he is and don't care, but man, he was a great football player. "Oh you Herschel Walker"

Posted by: @nebish

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USC is just fun to hate so I'd love to see UCLA beat them and actually I'd be plenty happy to see UCLA and Kelly and DTR finally make it to the mountain top. 

ASU could be tricky this week they have shown some offense for sure. Beat UW at home a few weeks back. I think UCLA will win, but might be a good one. 

Thanks for the love nebbish.  It's fun hating them too.  Both defenses stink.  If UCLA is forced to stop sc on some key drives (hopefully not one towards the end of the game), the Bruins are in trouble.  I hope UCLA can pound the rock to keep it out of Williams's hands (he and Bryce Young are the best QBs in the country).  Lots of long drives needed by the Bruins.

GO BRUINS!  BEAT SC!

PS: One of the biggest reasons to hate the trojans: their stupid band.

Well the Bruins committed 4 turnovers.  Can't beat sc when you do that.  They did get a defensive stop at the end of the game with 2 minutes and all timeouts left but unfortunately, threw an INT and it was basically over then.

Another good week for me - one to go!  

Posted by: @stratdal

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Well the Bruins committed 4 turnovers.  Can't beat sc when you do that.  They did get a defensive stop at the end of the game with 2 minutes and all timeouts left but unfortunately, threw an INT and it was basically over then.

You have to admit that was a great game. But I had a rooting interest in it.

1. I can't stand USC. Ever since any Big Ten team would go out to The Rose Bowl in the 70s and 80s and lose. USC was often the main culprit.

2. As a Michigan fan, I wanted them to lose so they would have two losses and be out of the national championship picture. Same thing when TCU won Saturday on the last play of the game.

I don't think Michigan has a chance to beat Ohio State Saturday and a one loss USC team looks a lot better than a one loss Michigan team. TCU will get in if they win out. Then they will get killed by whoever they play in the championship.

@ sang

You beat me by one game!  On a week you tied your lowest score and I had tied my best score ~ you win!

Yes - bad week for me - went to bed knowing that last game would either give me the win or a tie ... glad it went the right way ... 🤣 

You were 7 down and had tied me during the day ... by mostly picking underdogs.  Another strange week of college football.

Amazing that it went down to the last game - thanks again for setting it all up.

I'm just glad that I (as always) beat @DanB ... 

Who knows what would have happened if Wharfy had actually made picks each week - he was way ahead for a while.

You all looking forward to some championship week football?  Got a Friday matinee of Akron at Buffalo if anyone is interested in that, then two title games tonight.

Kind of a fun day Saturday. The best game was TCU/K State. Most of the other ones were not too interesting. I was watching the MAC game though. 

I really hope TCU gets in the final four. They played one more game than the teams that didn't play for their conference title. 

Saban can say what he wants about them getting in but they did lose twice (albeit close games) but TCU deserves it. Are they better than Alabama? Hell no but they did what they had to do.

I saw this thing that the selection committee can't consider ruling out a rematch in the semis. As in, it is possible that Michigan could play Ohio State again in the first game? Probably not. I doubt that will happen. I think OSU gets in as a four and has to play Alabama. Of course, OSU could play Michigan in the Championship Game. 

Well the bowl season starts today. There is one team with a losing record but there are 18 teams if my count is correct that are 6-6. You need to be a die hard to watch some of these.

I've watched all 8 so far and watched the MEAC vs SWAC Celebration Bowl too.  The Celebration Bowl may've been the best one of them all.  Boise - North Texas was good.  BYU-SMU wasn;t bad.  BYU had a lot of guys out and SMU had a few.  The 5-7 Rice team played one hell of a 3rd Q to get back in the game, but then faded again.  Friday night Incarnate Word at North Dakota State was really good.

The bowls are getting bad.  There are too many and too many teams qualify.  But they make money for ESPN so they are not going to cut bowls unless they can't find sponsors. Schools lose money on the bowls but they still want to go.  With the transfer portal in full effect and the NFL opt outs some of these teams are severely downgraded.  The NFL opt outs are out of control.  There are guys opting out who may not even get drafted.  It happened last year too, starting QB for Nevada, #1 tackler for Auburn, good all-purpose RB for Washington St, etc etc etc all opted out of their bowl games "to prepare for the NFL draft" and then never even got drafted.  I think now it is a status thing like "I'm going to the League bro I'm not playing this game" and then some guys just don't want to practice for 2 weeks so they quit.

Cincinnati was awful.  Their top 6 receivers either opted out for NFL or transferred.  But their D had every starter buy 1 play and their D got uncharacteristically ran over.  Louisville wasn't in much better shape, but Cincy clearly did not take their bowl prep seriously.  Florida, to me, it looked like Florida wanted to be there and play the game, their D, despite being down multiple players gave good effort. D played good enough to win, but the O was starting a QB who had never played before and there was no familiarity or capability out of that unit.  Washington State was a shell of themselves vs a highly motivated Fresno team.  Those were ugly noncompetitive games.  But I don't know what would change it, nothing.  Somebody said this is why we need to expand the playoff.  A playoff for a 6-6 Florida, 9-3 Cincinnati and 7-5 Washington State teams?  What are we talking about a 64 team tournament?  Never happening.  Paying the players to play the games is about the only thing that would make them better, but the sponsors aren't going to pony up an extra couple hundred grand for that.  ESPN isn't going to do that.  The schools already lose money on the bowls so they aren't doing that.  NIL to play the bowl?  None of that is working either.  The bowls are broken and it isn't the first year ,but it gets worse and worse every year.

Who does everyone like in the semis Saturday?

I like Georgia to cover. I think they will win it all. Don't want that to happen but I think it will. I almost feel bad for Ryan Day for some reason but since it is Ohio St. I just can't. 😉 

The Meeechigan game scares me. I don't know why but probably because I want the Wolverines to win. 

I don't know how much anyone has followed TCU and Meeechigan this year but TCU has had the tendency of winning close games and you could make the argument that they are lucky to be where they are. 

I have no idea why, but UM keeps games close in the first half and then blows the doors off the opponent in the second half.  Makes me as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockers at halftime. Losing Blake Corum scared me but they are pretty well rounded so I guess it isn't as dire as I first thought.

I think the overs are too high. If Vegas is correct both games should be high scoring and hence, exciting. 

Fun way to close out the year!

I usually bet a lot of dogs during the bowls but I have both favorites in the CFP. Both at -6 1/2. Got Georgia there when it dipped from -7 and I bought a point on Michigan. I think Georgia rolls Ohio State and Michigan eventually wears down TCU. Both are strong second half teams, I just feel Michigan's D will carry the day.

I have no idea why, but UM keeps games close in the first half and then blows the doors off the opponent in the second half.

Very true.  I started betting a lot of 1H lines this year so I paid more attention to how teams perform 1H vs 2H.  Michigan has been a OUTSTANDING 2H team this year. 

These games are the least interesting to me.  I just don't need it or want all the hype around them.  I get burned out on the college football and every year need to move on.  I have enjoyed most of the bowl games, say all of them.  These big playoff games I watch out of some kind of obligation.  I never ever drink during college football games during the season.  I like taking in the game clear mind and rationale.  Today I'm getting fucking drunk, no care what happens or why in either game.

TCU playing really well so far, good for them! Looks like Michigan has dug too deep a hole this time. Had Tennessee on the money line last night Bama earlier today, wasn't so sure about that one when K State was up 10-0. I see Georgia has dropped to-5 later, a lot of late play on the Buckeyes. I still like Georgia, we'll see I guess.

My friend and his father from Chicago and Detroit respectively flew out to see the Meeechigan/TCU game. Both huge UM fans. Yesterday's game a total debacle. Some of the calls were horrible. The trick play in the red zone? Running the ball ALL the time when it didn't work?

McCarthy's play was awful. 

I will say both of the semi games were at least exciting. The first two games were duds.

Go Horned Frogs!  Beat the Dawgs!

@stratdal Dawgs n' Frawgs!  UGA didn't beat OSU ... they just didn't lose!

I think the thing that surprised me the most about the semi-final games were how porous the defenses were. Some of that goes to the talent on the offenses but not all.

I think it would really be something if TCU won it all. 12 1/2 point dogs against the Dawgs.

Georgia 65 TCU 7.  Anyone here make it past halftime?  I could not.........

@robslob I fell asleep during Georgia's first possession of the 2nd half.  Did UGA leave the starters in for the entire game?  

A slight aside:  Fans whined and bitched for years for a play-off system.  I KNEW that such a system would likely produce more whining!  A CHAMPIONSHIP game - any sport - should be between the two best teams.  This will probably never actually happen.  Some conferences are just so loaded with good teams while others feature some rather middling talent.  The Conference Championship games are supposed to be the first stage in the play-off system (this rarely pans out).  The  teams in the "loaded" conferences get thinned out.  Several of the teams that fall off are generally way better than the survivors in other conferences.  Teams like TCU and OSU lost games late in the season.  I'll tip my hat to OSU for almost derailing Georgia.  Not to rip on them, but I've seen middle school kickers who could've nailed that final field goal!  Last night's poor showing by TCU was a clear demonstration that they were in a game that they didn't belong in.  

As passionate as I am about college football, the first game of the year ... anybody vs anybody Northwestern vs Nebraska, Austin Peay vs Western Kentucky, doesn't matter. The start of the season is so much better than the end and there is nothing anybody can do to make it more appealing to me. They can and will make it worse, but the end is just uninspiring and bring to me. It's the meat, the chase that I love. When it's over, it's just over. I hate the presentation, all the BS, all the hype, the over production, all the player promos, the over exposure of the national championship and playoff. It all sucks. I'm glad it's over. I convinced my wife to let me turn it off in the 2Q.

@rusty

Totally agree. All the whining about a champ or BCS slights missed what's fun about college football - the regular season inter-conference rivalries, the traditions, the upsets. The national champ was kind of irrelevant, just an arbitrary crown determined by a vote after the fact. But fans wanted something tangible, like the NCAA basketball tourney. Well, now they have it and, well, it's fine I guess but not any better.

Money has soured college football, even if you love it that's apparent. The bowls used to mean something, even when they added 50 more bowls for schools that didn't make the cut, the big bowls were still the draw. Like you said, these programs aren't on equal footing and they shouldn't be - they are still schools first. That's what's fun about it, when David upsets Goliath. Now there's an arms race between schools, building bigger practice facilities to attract recruits who are now making more money than their instructors (never mind that many state's highest paid public employee is a football coach).

But you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. It's just going to snowball from here.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy college football. I went to a game at UW's Camp Randall for the first time in about 20 years since I lived next door as a student. There's really nothing like walking through a neighborhood that smells like brats and beer on a cool October morning, going through the tunnel into the stadium, the band emerging from the tunnel like a war party. The stadium experience thankfully hasn't changed much, which is good. So maybe all the other stuff doesn't really matter, students 15 yeas from now won't know the difference. But who even knows what college itself will look like 15 years from now? That's another thread, I guess...