The Official 2019-2020 Season Football Thread

[|iR|Focalor]

My pick for Mondays game:

10. UCF

Probably a no brainer. Last I heard, UCF was doing pretty good. They're at 9-3 this year, their losses being to Cincinatti, Pitt, and Tulsa, all of which were close games (within 3 points or less).

Marshall's at 8-4 on the season, with one of those losses being to the leader in their conference, Cincinatti, who UCF also lost to... but not by 38 points like Marshall did.

[|iR|Focalor]

(Reposting/combining)

Winners for Saturday Dec 21:

3. Alcorn State - 44, North Carolina A&T - 64

4. C. Michigan - 11, San Diego State - 48

5. Liberty - 23, Georgia Southern - 16

6. SMU - 28,  Florida Atlantic - 52

7. FIU - 26,  Arkansas State - 34

8. (19)Boise State - 7, Washington - 38

9. (20)Appalachian State - 31,  UAB - 17
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Current scores:
Focalor: 6
Haunted: 3

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Anyone else wanna participate? Join in! Check the bowl schedule HERE. Rules are simple: Post your picks at any time BEFORE that game starts, you can't get credit for any pick posted with a timestamp after the start time of the game. Also, DO NOT edit your pick posts, otherwise it will say it has been edited, and all picks in that post made for games starting before the edit timestamp will be rendered invalid.

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Games for Sunday Dec 22: (eastern time)

***NONE***

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Games for Monday Dec 23: (eastern time)

10. Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl - 2:30pm - ESPN - UCF vs Marshall

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[|iR|Focalor]

I was running all over town finishing up Xmas shopping much of the day yesterday so I didn't really get to actually watch any of the games other than the end of the FIU vs Arkansas State game. That one could've gone either way. When I tuned in, FIU was down by 1 point and getting ready to kick a FG and go up by 2... but maybe due to the pissing rain and wind, it missed to the left. Ark State got the ball and threw a miraculous lucky bomb for more than 50 yds. A few runs later, they passed for about another 12yds into the end zone. They went up by 9 with a little over 3mins left on the clock. Should've been more than enough time to get a TD and then try for an extra 2, but FIU couldn't manage to pass the ball well enough to make it happen and they ended up throwing an INT on a 4th down attempt. Wahmp wahmp wah, Game over.

I guess I'm just gonna make picks as we go along rather than doing them all at once.

[haunted]

Yup, 10. UCF

Normally I would've went with Arkansas state, but I gave FIU the benefit of the doubt. They beat Miami's recruits after all, even if Miami hasn't lived up to expectations for quite awhile now.

[|iR|Focalor]

Winners for Monday Dec 23:

10. UCF - 48, Marshall - 25

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Current scores:
Focalor: 7
Haunted: 4

------------------------------------------------------

Anyone else wanna participate? Join in! Check the bowl schedule HERE.

Rules are simple:
1. Post your picks at any time BEFORE that game starts, you can't get credit for any pick posted with a timestamp after the start time of the game.
2. DO NOT edit your pick posts, otherwise it will say it has been edited, and all picks in that post made for games starting before the edit timestamp will be rendered invalid.
3. All picks are worth 1 point. CFP Semi-final picks are worth 2 points. If BOTH of your CFP Semi-final picks are correct, you get a 1 point bonus (5 points total). National Championship picks are worth 3 points.

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Games for Tuesday Dec 24: (eastern time)

11. SoFi Hawaii Bowl - 8pm - ESPN - Hawaii vs BYU

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Games for Wednesday Dec 25: (eastern time)

 
*Christmas Day*
***NONE***

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Games for Thursday Dec 26: (eastern time)

12. Walk-On's Independence Bowl - 4pm - ESPN - Louisiana Tech vs Miami
13. Quick Lane Bowl - 8pm - ESPN - Pitt vs Eastern Michigan

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Games for Friday Dec 27: (Eastern time)

14. Military Bowl - Noon - ESPN - North Carolina vs Temple
15. New Era Pinstripe Bowl - 3:20pm - ESPN - Michigan State vs Wake Forest
16. Academy Sports & Outdoors Texas Bowl - 6:45pm - ESPN - (25)Oklahoma State vs Texas A&M
17. SDCCU Holiday Bowl - 8pm - FS1 - (22)USC vs (16)Iowa
18. Cheez-It Bowl - 10:15pm - ESPN - Air Force vs Washington State

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Games for Saturday Dec 28: (eastern time)

19. Goodyear Cotton Bowl - Noon - ESPN - (17)Memphis vs (10)Penn State
20. Camping World Bowl - Noon - ABC - (15)Notre Dame vs Iowa State
21. Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (*CFP Semi-final game, 2pts) - 4pm - ESPN - (4)Oklahoma vs (1)LSU
22. Playstation Fiesta Bowl (*CFP Semi-final game, 2pts) - 8pm - ESPN - (3)Clemson vs (2)Ohio State

(*1 pt bonus if BOTH CFP Semi-final picks are correct)

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[|iR|Focalor]

I updated the game rules a little, making picks for the playoff semifinals and finals worth more as well as adding a bonus for picking both semifinal winners correctly.

Holy shit, I was laughing my ass off at Marshall during that 1st quarter. That batted up interception... then the incredible long rushing gain that ended in a fumble and turnover. Every time they'd do something good, something horrible would happen, lol.

As for the Christmas Eve game in Honolulu, I'm not familiar with Hawaii this year or BYU. Haven't watched very many games at all this year actually, even the UGA games. Just been too busy doing other things or too tired to stay up and watch. Used to, I'd occasionally watch the Hawaii games late at night in bed. Haven't seen ANY this year.

Did a little research though (ignoring the "experts" and looking at scores through the season for myself), and apparently Hawaii played 13 regular season games. Kinda odd, because I know Georgia only ever plays 12 regular season games, same for the rest of the SEC, same for the ACC (as far as I know). I only noticed that because their overall record right now is 9-5... which made me go, "wait... how do they have 14 total games BEFORE a bowl game?" Well, Hawaii apparently went to the Mountain West conference championship game against Boise State but lost 31 to 10, who they had ALREADY lost to in the regular season as well. Their other loses were to Washington (who just beat Boise State on Saturday night), Fresno State (38 to 41), and Air Force (26 to 56, ...jeez, lol).

BYU is at 7-5, although they didn't have a conference championship game to attend like Hawaii did, so comparing regular season losses only, Hawaii has 4 loses, BYU has 5 loses. However... BYU did beat Boise State. They also played Tennessee back in early September and narrowly beat them in double OT by 3. They lost to Washington as well. But Washington was pretty good this year... for a PAC12 and Mountain West kinda team. They also lost to Toledo (21 to 28), USF (23 to 27), and San Diego State (3 to 13).

To me, that kinda says BYU is the better team. They might have 1 more regular season loss, but their losses are by a narrower margin, and certainly not by 30 fuckin' points to Air Force.

So I'm picking:
11. BYU

I looked at the experts opinions and they seem to clearly favor BYU as well. We'll see.

[haunted]

I'm not too familiar with them either. I think the last time I watched Hawaii was their bowl game last season lol. From your post, BYU will probably win. They're more consistent against better teams. Hawaii usually has a pretty good passing offense though as long as they're not against a good secondary. If I found stats supporting something obvious like BYU being a low scoring team and allowing more passing yards than they should, then maybe I'd consider Hawaii winning in Honolulu.

[haunted]

BYU is 35th in passing yards allowed. That's good. I'm more on the fence with this one than I should be haha. I'll decide later.

[|iR|Focalor]

Just got home from the Chinese place...

The old lady and I wanted to do Mexican tonight, but I rode all over hell's half acre to 50 different Mexican restaurants and none of them were open. Then I remembered how in The Christmas Story, the dogs ate the moms turkey, so they had to have Christmas dinner at the chinese restaurant. I guess the Chinese don't give a damn about Jesus, so they stay open December 24th and 25th. It's almost like they don't even think that the American worldview of religion and tradition is the most important worldview in the entire world. Those silly bastards.

I'll go ahead and consider BYU your pick. It's just after halftime at the moment and Hawaii is leading by 7. I kinda figured. I wasn't very confident that BYU would be in complete control of the show. I forget what the Vegas odds were, something like -140, but in my estimation, BYU realistically had only about a 51% chance of winning, a total coin flip of fate basically. Probably been a damn good game so far. Gonna go watch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[|iR|Focalor]

You posted this in the politics thread.

Ah fuck. I did it again. The game started at 8pm didn't it? I know this won't count, but I would've went Hawaii halfway to have something different than you. Lol. Im sure byu is dominating anyway.

I would've called it a valid pick for BYU only because the last brief post you made only mentioned BYU. But alas, they shit the bed. All they needed was a measly TWO fuckin' yards! Count em, ONE, TWO! What do they do? They THROW it to a receiver not even past the 1st down marker, and he DOESN'T CATCH IT! Honestly, it would've been better to snap the ball and just stand there waiting to get sacked, because at least then the clock keeps running. Boneheaded coaching. Good game though I guess. Although it's kinda like watching peewee league football. The way Hawaii's QB was hucking the ball up so often in desperate attempts to gain 40 and 50 yards in one whack... only works because BYU isn't that good on defense. From what the announcers were saying, Hawaii had a horrible track record for turnovers this year, and with desperate jump-ball throws like that, I can see why.

My picks for Thursday:
12. Miami
13. Pitt

[|iR|Focalor]

Winners for Tuesday Dec 24:

11. Hawaii - 38, BYU - 34

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Current scores:
Focalor: 7
Haunted: 4

------------------------------------------------------

Anyone else wanna participate? Join in! Check the bowl schedule HERE.

Rules are simple:
1. Post your picks at any time BEFORE that game starts, you can't get credit for any pick posted with a timestamp after the start time of the game.
2. DO NOT edit your pick posts, otherwise it will say it has been edited, and all picks in that post made for games starting before the edit timestamp will be rendered invalid.
3. All picks are worth 1 point. CFP Semi-final picks are worth 2 points. If BOTH of your CFP Semi-final picks are correct, you get a 1 point bonus (5 points total). National Championship picks are worth 3 points.

------------------------------------------------------

Games for Wednesday Dec 25: (eastern time)

 
*Christmas Day*
***NONE***

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Games for Thursday Dec 26: (eastern time)

12. Walk-On's Independence Bowl - 4pm - ESPN - Louisiana Tech vs Miami
13. Quick Lane Bowl - 8pm - ESPN - Pitt vs Eastern Michigan

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Games for Friday Dec 27: (Eastern time)

14. Military Bowl - Noon - ESPN - North Carolina vs Temple
15. New Era Pinstripe Bowl - 3:20pm - ESPN - Michigan State vs Wake Forest
16. Academy Sports & Outdoors Texas Bowl - 6:45pm - ESPN - (25)Oklahoma State vs Texas A&M
17. SDCCU Holiday Bowl - 8pm - FS1 - (22)USC vs (16)Iowa
18. Cheez-It Bowl - 10:15pm - ESPN - Air Force vs Washington State

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Games for Saturday Dec 28: (eastern time)

19. Goodyear Cotton Bowl - Noon - ESPN - (17)Memphis vs (10)Penn State
20. Camping World Bowl - Noon - ABC - (15)Notre Dame vs Iowa State
21. Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (*CFP Semi-final game, 2pts) - 4pm - ESPN - (4)Oklahoma vs (1)LSU
22. Playstation Fiesta Bowl (*CFP Semi-final game, 2pts) - 8pm - ESPN - (3)Clemson vs (2)Ohio State

(*1 pt bonus if BOTH CFP Semi-final picks are correct)

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[haunted]

I said that I would've picked Hawaii accidentally posting in the politics thread, then checked the score directly after and it was 28-24 3 mins left in the 2nd quarter. Immediately thought focalor probably thinks I'm a douche trying to pull a fast one here. 

The only thing I saw from that game was a replay of the missed field goal that many claim was good.  Did you catch it? I never saw a good angle of it. Plan on actually watching games starting tomorrow

[|iR|Focalor]

Yeah. The ball passed completely over the range of the uprights, so it was an awfully high kick. The angle they showed on TV wasn't entirely the best one. But supposedly the official on that side of the uprights was looking straight up at the ball, and I'm assuming the ball must've crossed directly over the centerline of the upright pole, which means it's no good (I guess the logic being that if it were down in the range of the posts, it would've likely bounced off the post and been no good, I dunno). And like they said on TV, because it was beyond the range of the goalposts, it was non-reviewable by rule.

Which is strange. Almost sounds like laziness to me. If you CAN review it and get it completely right, why not do it?

[haunted]

Ok. That's pretty much what I was thinking too. All I could say afterward was that was really close (assuming the uprights went up indefinitely into the sky).

I pick Pitt and Miami for today.

[|iR|Focalor]

I wanna do something similar with the NFL playoffs this year too. I don't think it'll work to do it a completed bracket kinda thing, because it's just too confusing to keep track of who would play who in the event of a win, or a loss by someone else (seeding rules or whatever is in play). So I guess a week to week pick-em thing is the only viable option for it.

Another idea I just had: We could start with a set number of "tokens/chips", wager them on individual picks, and wins would net a 1/1 payout, maybe even some other payout based on one sources odds (I'd prefer the simpler 1/1 payout for all games, but if anyone else prefers to do it based on real-world sportsbook odds, I'll gladly go with that). Probably also set a max wager limit to keep someone from winning a ridiculous overly advantageous amount all at once, as well as a minimum wager per pick to prevent someone from just not wagering anything and winning the tally due to other players frequent losses that leave them below the starting value.

example: 1 token wager minimum, 3 token wager max. Maybe even raise the max wager limit by 1 every week as it goes from wild card (3 max) to divisionals (4 max) to conference (5 max) to Superbowl (6 max)?

If someone loses ALL their tokens or earns a negative balance, we can do a "house loan" where they get a number of chips based on the max betting limits across all games for that week, or maybe just some other pre-set value. Loans would be paid back weekly if possible,... I dunno it's complicated, if we do wagers like this, hopefully no one goes into the negatives at all, but I guess we could always just wait and figure out a system for it at the time if it occurs.

My picks for today were:
12. Miami
13. Pitt

For tomorrow, I'm gonna say:
14. North Carolina
15. Wake Forest
16. Texas A&M
17. Iowa
18. Air Force

Friday, I'm saying:
19. Penn State
20. Notre Dame
21. LSU
22. Clemson

If I thought Oklahoma had a fair shot against LSU, I might pick them. I don't, so I can't.

Same for Ohio State. If I thought Ohio State had an average chance of winning, I might pick them. But I think Ohio State is gonna get beaten BADLY. Looking at Clemson's schedule this year, yeah, they've played some easy competition here and there, but they've beaten everyone except North Carolina (21-20) by large margins. I haven't done the actual math, but just by looking at the scores they've had this year, I'd guess their average overall margin of victory on the year is about 40 points. FOUR-TEEEEEEE! And no one's put up more than 20 points against them all year (again, NC), the average probably being about 10 pts against. That's what you call winning.

Was North Carolina having a really good day? Was Clemson having a really off day? Was that one game a significant statement about Clemsons abilities, or do the other 12 games they've played this year where they've absolutely OBLITERATED their opponents render such considerations about that one game largely meaningless? Eh, I dunno.

If it's LSU vs Clemson for the National Championship as I think it will be... LSU is gonna have to play their best defensively to win it. And if they do, it should be one hell of a game.