The Official 2019-2020 Season Football Thread

[adz1La]

  sup foc

[|iR|Focalor]

And I predict that LSU will ABSO-FUCKIN-LUTELY DESTROY Georgia in the SEC Championship next weekend. OR... Georgia will really surprise me and keep it a close competitive game... but will still lose, regardless. So if they lose, I won't be too shocked or upset. And if they win, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Out of anyone else projected to get a spot in the playoffs, I think LSU is the only team Georgia can't beat. In other words, I think whoever wins the SEC Championship will go on to win it all.

Like I said,... Congratulations on the LSU Tigers becoming... or going to be becoming... the 2020 National Champs. I ain't mad. The better team definitely won. Georgia didn't deserve it this year at all. After losing to fucking SOUTH CAROLINA of all teams, and barely holding off Auburn and Texas A&M from coming back late in the games, I knew LSU was gonna trash them. As long as SOMEONE from the SEC wins it all... who ISN'T named Nick Saban.

I still say Georgia would've trashed Ohio State though. Whoever they play is probably gonna trash them. I'm sorry, but if Justin Fields was actually worth a shit, he'd be QB at Georgia. He had several opportunities to prove his worth, and Fromm was clearly better... and Fromm isn't "good" either.

My team had a path to the big one, and they got the shit kicked out of them. Not mad though. On the contrary, I'm quite content and happy. Alabama didn't win their division. Alabama also got butt-fucked out of their yearly SEC Championship-less bypass route to the playoffs. What's not to like in this best of all possible worlds?

#5 Georgia takes on #7 Baylor in the Sugar Bowl on January 1st. Not a big playoff bowl, but certainly not a bullshit consolation prize either. Kinda sucks that they have to play Baylor though. Probably won't be a very good game.

Michigan vs Alabama on Jan 1st. LOL. I'm almost positive Alabama is gonna pound the living shit out of them, but it would be soooooooo funny if Michigan actually won. For at least 5 minutes anyway. After that people would start talking shit about how great Michigan is... and we can't have that bullshit. So Alabama had damn well BETTER win.

Penn State vs Memphis in the Cotton Bowl, Dec 28.  Penn State isn't totally terrible. Why they gotta pair them with fuckin' Memphis? Many... no, MOST... of the matchups this year look to be fucking boring and easily predictable.

Wake Forest going to a bowl game? Really? If you say so, hehe. Way to go Wake Forest.  (Apparently they went 8-4 this year. Wow.)

Playoff predictions: Clemson demolishes Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. LSU handily beats Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl. I don't forsee that LSU will dismantle them like they did Georgia, but I don't forsee Oklahoma ever holding a lead at any point in the game after the 1st quarter either. Finally, LSU will crush Clemson fairly easily to win the National Championship.

How about a photo montage in honor of my least favorite team. Fuck you, Alabama. Fuck you, Nick Saban. And I hope you take that in the tender, kind and loving way in which I meant it.

 

[|iR|Focalor]

Also... 

Anybody up for a casual bowl season pick'em kinda bracket kinda game kinda whatchamacallit kinda thing? Just go through all the bowl games and pick who you think will win. No spreads, nothing complicated like that, just pick the winners. No prizes, no money, just for fun. 1 point per correct prediction.

You can print out an easy reference sheet here:
https://fbschedules.com/bowls/2019-20-bowl-schedule.pdf

Print it, circle your predictions, post them in a post here when you're ready. Deadline for valid submissions is December 20th at 2pm Eastern (start time of 1st game of bowl season).

[haunted]

I'm down that'll be fun. Here's what I thought when I saw the ACC's bowls.

The ACC is really close in talent. The teams 8-4 to 6-6 are essentially the same tier. As someone who follows the acc closer than most, Virginia, north Carolina, Virginia tech, and pitt are the 4 best teams. Then comes Louisville/wake, then fsu/boston college. I think that's very accurate in that order. And here are the matchups they made:

Virginia vs Florida is a semi decent game that Florida will win. There's nothing odd about this game. Virginia is better than people think, although I'd be disappointed a tad as a gator fan that they don't get to play someone on the uhh...  penn state level.

UNC v. Temple. No comment other than UNC is currently a 83% favorite.

Boston college v. Cincinnati. They gave the over-ranked 2nd best group of 5 team a closer but very winnable game.

Wake forest v. Michigan state. They gave possibly the only underrated big 10 team a shot at a slightly overrated wake forest team that is plagued with injuries.

Pittsburgh v. Eastern Michigan. Same situation as NC.

Virginia tech v. Kentucky. Partially similar situation to Virginia Florida. Decent matchup Kentucky favored.

FSU v. Arizona State. It's an alright matchup probably,  but I bet FSU will lose.

Louisville Tennessee. Tennessee slightly favored but this one looks very reasonable.

Miami Louisiana. Miami favored.

It would be perfect if they swapped bc/wake with unc/pitt, but nope, lets do our literal best to make the acc look bad and the big 10 and group of 5 look good. 

[adz1La]

Clemson scares the shit out of me

[Sgt. Dick]

They are a big unknown, they have been blowing everyone out since the UNC game early in the season.
I think that they are really good, but it is hard to be sure how good they are because of their opponents.

[haunted]

That's true. The ACC IS underrated though. Let's say that their score is a 4 or 5 out of 10 right now. Sports media and rankings would have you believe their in the negatives. But, Clemson has a different issue... If you feel my little acc hierarchy holds any merit, there's an asterisk by the teams they have played in the regular season below:

1.
Virginia
Virginia tech
Pittsburgh
UNC*

2.
Wake Forest*
Louisville*

3.
Boston college*
FSU*
Miami

Considering the ACC is already in a slump that's fairly shitty relative to other top teams, including non-playoff. But you can't fault then too much. I mean they have Texas a&m and SC on their schedule. In a different year that schedule would've been a tough one.

I still think OSU's schedule is suspect and overly praised. I know what Clemson's schedule is, but I also know that they've defied the media narrative numerous times now (mostly about how they won't be able to handle juggernaut Alabama) in every playoff game.

[Sgt. Dick]

I did not mean that the ACC does not have quality teams, I meant that no one else is close to Clemson.  Clemson would be at least a 2 TD favorite against anyone in the ACC.  UNC played Clemson close, but if they played again I doubt that it would be the same.

Clemson has played some good teams and blew out almost everyone.  Clemson has not played a top 10 quality team, so it is a unknown how good they really are. 

I was happy to see the Clemson/Ohio St. matchup because both of those teams scare me.   I hate Ohio St., so I hope Clemson dominated them.

I like Clemson, but I am pulling for the SEC.  I would like to see LSU against a banged up Clemson. 

[|iR|Focalor]

Also... 

Anybody up for a casual bowl season pick'em kinda bracket kinda game kinda whatchamacallit kinda thing? Just go through all the bowl games and pick who you think will win. No spreads, nothing complicated like that, just pick the winners. No prizes, no money, just for fun. 1 point per correct prediction.

You can print out an easy reference sheet here:
https://fbschedules.com/bowls/2019-20-bowl-schedule.pdf

Print it, circle your predictions, post them in a post here when you're ready. Deadline for valid submissions is December 20th at 2pm Eastern (start time of 1st game of bowl season).

BOWL SEASON STARTS TODAY!

I didn't fill out my sheet yet, I guess nobody else did either. Maybe I'll finish it later. Really the only "rules" to this "game" is that you must post your predictions here BEFORE the start time of the game. Also, just to make this easier to keep track of, put a number by the pick in order of how they appear on that PDF list.

So since today is Buffalo vs Charlotte and Utah State vs Kent State, I'll just go ahead and pick those two and do the rest later.

1. Charlotte
2. Utah State

[haunted]

Buffalo and Utah State for me. I've been busy all day and have no idea if they've started yet. Hopefully I can finish one also

[|iR|Focalor]

Can't count your 1st pick as the game was underway when you posted.

Winners yesterday were:
1. Buffalo
2. Kent State

Therefore, everyone's still at 0.

Both my picks yesterday were wrong. Learned a lesson there. I tried to be mister wise ass and look up the favorites through a google search and pick that way. Some CBS sports pages predicted that Charlotte and Utah State were the clear favorites to win. And personally, if I hadn't looked at that shit and would've been picking on my own, I would've picked Buffalo and Kent State... who actually won yesterday. Like I've said numerous times in football threads... I really doubt these "expert" analysts actually pay attention to the games played throughout the season. Most of them seem to parrot one anothers comments and only pay attention to the one or two highlight clips they've seen on TV.

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Todays games are: (eastern time)

3. Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl - Noon - ABC - Alcorn State vs North Carolina A&T
4. New Mexico Bowl - 2pm - ESPN - Central Michigan vs San Diego State
5. FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl - 2:30pm - CBSSN - Liberty vs Georgia Southern
6. Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl - 3:30pm - ABC - SMU vs Florida Atlantic
7. Camellia Bowl - 5:30pm - ESPN - FIU vs Arkansas State
8. Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl - 7:30pm - ABC - (19)Boise State vs Washington
9. R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl - 9pm - ESPN - (20)Appalachian State vs UAB

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My picks
3. North Carolina A&T
4. Central Michigan
5. Liberty
6. Florida Atlantic
7. Arkansas State
8. Washington
9. Appalachian State

Notes:

3. I wanna pick Alcorn State, but this is a rematch from last year, and NC A&T won last year, so they might repeat.

5. I wanted to pick Ga Southern...  They've been to 2 bowl games before, vs Bowling Green in 2015 and vs Eastern Michigan in 2018, and they won both. But my chicken bones, tea leaves, and tarot cards are telling me the undefeated bowl record ends today. Plus, I've seen them play before. Their passing offense tends to struggle against competent opponents.

8. That's a hard one. Will probably be the best game of the day. Washingtons QB is Jacob Eason. Might sound familiar. Like Justin Fields at Ohio State, he's another Georgia non-starting QB who was behind Jake Fromm, was recruited with high hopes, but never materialized as the great Georgia QB he was prophesied to become. He was relegated to the role of 3rd string QB (just a bench warmer, pretty much). So he jumped ship and went to Washington. Out there, he doesn't have to face an SEC defense every week, so he can do some damage. And Boise State has supposedly been beaten up at QB all season, playing their 2nd and even the 3rd QB at times. They can (and may) totally still win it though. They tend to be well practiced at running hurry up offense and use it effectively.

[haunted]

No worries. I had lost bets picking buffalo would lose twice earlier this year in parlays, and actually noticed that buffalo beat temple and eastern Michigan when I looked up the ACC's bowl games (UNC and Pittsburgh's bowl opponents, the teams I mentioned that got fucked with their bowl matchups). I recall Utah State making it closer with wake Forest and just assumed it was enough to beat Kent State. I think app state and Clemson are when I saw Charlotte get destroyed. Speaking of app, looks like they could've gotten a better bowl game also.

[haunted]

3. North Carolina A&T
4. Central Michigan
5. Georgia Southern
6. SMU
7. FIU
8. Washington
9. Appalachian State

NC Att v alcorn I have NO idea. Picking Georgia southern was my least confident pick.

[|iR|Focalor]

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.

[|iR|Focalor]

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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(I'll try to keep this kind of format for the duration of the game, with upcoming scheduled games in yellow and a daily results post with the winners in green.)