The Dirty Dozen and Bottom of the Barrel: When Karma Goes on the Attack
Karma can often be a slow moving, yet wonderfully fascinating thing when it works. And Karma, while sometime slow---rarely does not work.
I've made my utter contempt for the person shown in the cover photo this summer he re-affirmed what many people believed about him: He's got no actual soul....
And, for those of you who lived in a cave this summer---or are Ohio State fans....there was this little issue of Mr. Meyer overlooking---and then covering up for a now former Assistant Coach who had major issues and a rather lengthy history of domestic violence issues involving the coach and his wife.
Said coach just so happened to be the son of Meyer's....mentor, which led to the incidents being, well, overlooked.
But I digress...
Meyer drew Karma's ire with this behavior and in this case it would appear, Karma came back fairly quickly as Meyer and his aspiring National Championship contending Ohio State Buckeye's didn't just lose to unranked Purdue, they were, well, embarrassed...
Another good week for yours truly---a.k.a The Best Prognosticator you've likely never heard of. 10-2 last week....or 58-11 on the season. Either way, damn good numbers for someone who just does this because well, it's fun....
THE DIRTY DOZEN
1) Alabama 8-0: It's no fun when the same team wins all the time, is it? The Tide have looked pretty much infallible this season, nobody has really made them break much of a sweat..
No sweating this week, the Tide don't play.....
2) Clemson 7-0: Ready for another Clemson/Alabama game? The Tigers have improved almost every week and easily dumped the one ACC team who might have challenged them. Trevor Lawrence is getting better with experience and who's going to stop Travis Etienne??
This Week: at Florida State, My Pick: Clemson 31, FSU 27
3) Notre Dame 7-0: Yup, they're back......though it hasn't always been pretty, the Irish keep winning and the schedule sets up really, really well for them. Ian Book has been very good and the defense will always keep them in it. It's all that matters.
This Week: at Navy; My Pick: Notre Dame 31, Navy 21
4) Michigan 7-1: Solid win in a chippy game vs. Mich. State. The Wolverines are flat out awesome on defense, tops in the country giving up just over 200 yards a game. Shea Patterson has gotten better each week and the results bear that out.
This Week: BYE
5) LSU 7-1: Another not always so pretty team, but they win. To the surprise of many, Coach Ed Orgeron will be in line for Coach of the Year if LSU wins out.
This Week: BYE
6) Texas 7-1: Can we all finally agree the Longhorns under Tom Herman are back as a contender? They don't wow anyone on either side of the ball, but do the little things to win. Which is mostly about the coaching. Got it......
This Week: at Oklahoma State; My Pick: Texas 34, Oklahoma State 23
7) UCF 7-0: I'm still on the Knights bandwagon. 19 straight wins should mean something---it doesn't matter if you don't play the mostly overhyped teams from Power 5 conferences. UCF won without Mackenzie Milton and won pretty easily.
This Week: BYE
8) Oklahoma 6-1: The Sooners got at least a little of their Mojo back. A little. Nice win over TCU--the defense played better in the 2nd half. Offense continues to score at will....
This Week: vs. Kansas State; My Pick: Oklahoma 53, K-State 27
9) Georgia 6-1: Time to put up or shut-up. The Dawgs have lived this season mostly on reputation. And their season is still in their hands. They'll need to run the table to have a shot at the playoff....
This Week: vs. Florida; My Pick: UGA 26, Florida 24
10) Ohio State 7-1: I really want to drop these guys off the list. Karma being karma and all that. But I really think Dwayne Haskins is that good and the schedule is on their side....the season ender w/Michigan will mean everything.
This Week: BYE
11) Florida 6-1: So your saying there's a chance? The win over LSU looks better every week. So does the loss to Kentucky. If the offense produces at all, they can compete with anyone. The Cocktail Party this weekend will be their biggest game of the season. Period....
This Week: See #9
12) Kentucky 6-1: The Wildcats are almost a mirror image of Florida with a slightly worse offense. Outside Benny Snell, they struggle scoring. But with the nation's 12th ranked (statistically) defense, they can compete with anyone.
This Week: at Missouri; My Pick: Mizzou 31, Kentucky 29 UPSET !!!!!!!
THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL
The Barrel giveth---and the barrel taketh away....Congrats to the Nebraska Cornhuskers who got off the schnide--and summarily off the list with a big, big win this past weekend (yes, I picked it). And then there's our friends at UConn who, no, they didn't win, but they put up a fight vs. undefeated South Florida.
A couple of teams hovering near our list: Louisville, North Carolina, Tulsa, Oregon State and Western Kentucky....
5) Rutgers 1-7: Oh, pity the poor Scarlet Knights. How they survive in the Big 10, we do not know for they are not worthy of a Power 5 conference (at least this season). Arguably the worst offense in all the land, they likely will not win again this season.
This Week: BYE
4) Bowling Green 1-7: The good news, the Falcons have a new coach (Carl Pellini). The bad news, they still lost---49-14. So yeah, they have a long, long way to go.
This Week: vs. Kent State (Oct.30); My Pick: Kent State 13, Bowling Green 10 (yikes!)
3) UConn 1-6: What else can we say? This is a bad team that we're pretty sure South Florida played down to. But hey, the Huskies broke their string of giving up 50+ points in a game....so there's that...
This Week: vs. UMass; My Pick: UMass 50, UConn 35
2) UTEP 0-7: Down in the West Texas town of El Paso.....(look up old Marty Robbins songs). The Miners escape the basement because they actually put up a good fight in the loss to La. Tech. They actually have a chance to win a game this season. Just not this week.
This Week: vs. UAB; My Pick: UAB 41, UTEP 21
1) San Jose State 0-7: Welcome back Spartan fans. I suppose you could argue any of the above teams could fit here, and you wouldn't be wrong. SJSU almost won last week too, barely losing at San Diego State...so there's always a chance---and a few weeks before the season ends...
This Week: vs. UNLV; My Pick: UNLV 43, San Jose St 23
