Last weekend was one where I was pretty pretty pretty bold with my picks.
Kansas has been playing well of late. I’m still not sold on the whole Sanders shtick in Colorado. Although son is a fine QB. So, picking the Jayhawks seemed logical. Which proved a correct assessment.
Plus, as with interest rates, it’s fun when Prime goes down.
North Carolina has been reeling. BC in November is not a nice place to play. And I’ve had Mack Brown atop my Dead Man Walking list for weeks now. BC won. Tar Heel AD Bubba Cunningham finally had enough of Brown, saying sayonara a few days after my pick played out.
Ohio State, Texas and Louisville were all pretty easy choices. But hey.
In the PAC2 title game, I came thissssssssssssss close to tabbing Oregon State. But I didn’t. Had the game finished 20 seconds earlier, I would have registered my second perfecto of the season. But it didn’t. A truly back and forth affair was my miss of the weekend.
5-1 for the weekend. 57-21 on the season.
Not bad.
This week’s winners:
North Carolina State @ North Carolina. In a sequel to Mack Brown’s decline at Texas, his plot demise was most similar in Chapel Hill. Without the natty. This will be his last game on the sideline, unless Bubba lets him coach in their bowl game. Which apparently is not the plan. The Brown firing adds an element of uncertainty to this rivalry renewal. Let’s win this one for coach, or when’s the portal open, It’s All Over, Baby Blue? Wolfpack’s also been disappointing. But a win gets them bowl eligible. Mack Brown suffers one more indignity and waves a sad adieu to Chapel Hill.
Texas @ Texas A&M. You think they’re foaming at the mouth in the Lone Star state awaiting this one, or what? Or what!!!!! Don’t bother knockin’, the house will be rockin’. And a full house. The cheapest tickets on the secondary market are currently $500 at minimum. Some good seats are available for ten times that much. If some petroleum dollars haven’t already changed hands to obtain them. I got a hunch. Aggies.
Tennessee @ Vanderbilt. The Commodores have been feisty, but have slipped back to the norm the last couple weeks against South Carolina and LSU after getting bowl eligible. I’d feel better about the West Enders at home, were breakout fave QB Diego Pavia in full health. Apparently he’s not. The Vols CFP hopes, slim as they might be, remain alive. At least on Rocky Top. Orange.
Purdue @ Indiana. CFP Selection Committee, you shall be on the clock. Curt Cignetti will be full pedal to the metal. IU.
Louisville @ Kentucky. Last year, with seventeen minutes left, playing on its own turf, the 8 point favorite Cardinals led by double digits. Then, in a microcosm of the season, Kentucky scored 24 points the rest of the way, U of L but 7. It’s now been over 2,500 days since U of L conquered UK on the gridiron. Too damn long. It shall be tough. How both teams will view this campaign in hindsight is what’s at stake. Cards break drought. Smiles along I64 after the W.
— c d kaplan