CFB - W7 Rewind, W8 Preview - Wait, what?! Did that just happen?!

I mean, there was quite a bit of excitement this weekend.  But if you only saw one thing all weekend (year?), I hope it was the end of the Michigan game.  Here are your Week 7 highlights:

• Is Stanford the hottest team in the country, dismantling UCLA.  That McCaffrey dude is reaaaal good.
• Auburn holds off an scrappy Kentucky team.  Is it possible that the Tigers (pre-season sleeper national title contenders) will finish last in the SEC West?
• Ohio St may have finally found, or should I say decided on, their quarterback.
• Will Baylor face a defense that will hold them to under 50 points this year?
• Explain to me again why I stayed up to watch Utah vs. AZST?
• Clemson looks really good, and only have FSU (at home) as any real contender.  Still, there's a clemsoning out there somewhere...
• Alabama seems to be finding its way, which is shaping up to be another SEC West showdown between Alabama and LSU.
• I told you so.  Apparently Ole Miss thought all they needed to do was beat Alabama and the road would be paved in gold.
• USC put up an impressive fight, but those Fighting Irish were just too good.
• Seriously though, exactly how are you going to talk to your kids about an undefeated Iowa?
• Lastly, a few more quick game notes.  Pitt beat a GT team that seems to have lost their way.  Miami bounces back and beats VT.  Rutgers got their first Big Ten win against Indiana. Only 15 points were scored in the Mizzou v. Georgia game.  And lastly, Oregon WON.

However, finally, and commanding a paragraph unto itself...the Michigan vs. Michigan St. game.  If you're living under a rock and you've somehow failed to see the end of this game, go ahead, take a moment, and watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-kD_8QZM9k

Michigan St. literally had a 0.2% chance to win with 10 seconds left to play and Michigan punting in that moment.  Have you seen a worse way to lose?  This face pretty much explains it all...

So with Week 7 complete, which is sure to be an incredibly, nay, impossible week to top this year.  I bring you possibly the weakest slate of games yet.  Here are the Week 8 previews:

• #3 Utah plays USC.   Yes, that's nationally number three ranked Utah playing an unranked USC. 
• TAMU travels to Ole Miss.  Will the Rebels right the ship.  Will Kyle Allen throw more TDs to Ole Miss players or TAMU players?
• Tennessee travels to Alabama which is sure to turn out well for those Vols fans.
• Clemson travels to Miami, could this be a possible clemsoning???  Nahhhh, it's Miami.
• Washington, who is sneaky good, travels to Stanford, who is not so sneaky really good.

Yup, that's about it.  Pretty light Week 8.

Vandy and Florida update

• Mr. Derek Mason, I have just one question for you.  At what point do you ask yourself, maybe we should try a different QB?  Is 3 INTs and a fumble not enough?  This week Mizzou travels to Vandy for Homecoming weekend.  The over/under (points scored) on this game is 34.  And honestly, I'd take the under.
• LSU looked really good in the first half, but if it weren't for another mad-hatter fake field goal, this game could have easily gone to OT.  Hey, at least we (Gators) didn't get blown out.  So there's that.  This week Florida is on a bye.

Top 4 surprising things that have a better chance of occurring than Mich St. had to win that game:

• Having twins
• Being born with extra fingers or toes
• Dating a millionaire
• Getting audited by the IRS

If there was ever a weekend to accumulate some brownie points, this is the weekend.  Your DDD for this week: 6:00p CST

Maybe not as exciting as the last two weeks, but should be another fun weekend of college football.  Enjoy Week 8!

CFB - W6 Rewind, W7 Preview - Just when you thought it couldn't get better...

Last week we had some very exciting football:

• The upset of the week (year?) with Texas over Oklahoma.  Certainly solidifying Charlie Strong's job, maybe even for the year.  Was this a fluke game, or is Texas actually turning it around?

• Coming in a close second was Tenn over Georgia.  Saddest part about this game was watching Chubb's injury.  If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and do not google it.  It was bad.

• Could there be a team with more heart break losses than Nebraska this year?  Losing on a last second field goal to Wisconsin.

• And leave it to the ACC to bring us one of the ugliest wins of the season.  Boston College losses to Wake 3-0.  Yes, this is a football score, not baseball.  Wake Forest literally won this game with only 5 first downs.  But wait, there's more.  BC had the ball at the 1 yard line with 17 seconds left, no timeouts, and chose to RUN THE BALL.  Leaving them with no time to kick the game tying field goal.  HUH?

• Lastly, Mich St narrowly beats Rutgers (who spiked the ball on the final drive on 4th down...).  Mich St has now beaten Rutgers, Purdue by a combined 10 points, as they look ahead to the "big brother" school who has rattled off 3 straight shut outs.

This week, just when you think it couldn't get better, we have even more exciting matchups:

• Thurs (tonight) starts out strong with Auburn at Kentucky (is Kentucky legit, will Auburn turn it around?), and Pac 12 showdown with UCLA at Stanford.

• Iowa at Northwestern for the (ugly) battle of the Big Ten West.

• West Virginia travels to Baylor, will the mountaineers be able to hold Baylor to under 64 points...their AVERAGE points scored this season?

• Watch out Ole Miss, that Memphis team is sneaky good.

• SEC West showdown at 2:30p with Alabama traveling to face an undefeated TAMU team.

• Game day is in Ann Arbor this week, with the showdown of the two Michigan programs.  This will be Harbaugh's first rival game, will Mich St be able to do what Northwestern couldn't and...score any points?

• Florida travels to (the real) Death Valley to face a fairly untested LSU team.  We know they can run behind Heisman front-runner Leo Fournette (who only ran for 158 yards last week), but can they throw?  Or rather, will they throw?  One thing is for sure, with Will Grier's suspension (PEDs, really?!), Florida's best offense is certainly their defense.

• Notre Dame travels to the much hated USC.  Will USC be better or worse now that they don't have a drunk coach calling their plays?

• And finally, Ohio St. travels to Penn St.  Ohio St. still can't decide on a quarterback, and that Penn St. offense looks atrocious.  Still, this could be closer than people are expecting with a pretty decent Penn St. defense at home.

Your DDD this week: 230p CST

Should be a very exciting Week 7!

CFB - W4 Rewind, W5 Preview - Where were you back in 2004?

Personally, I had just graduated from undergrad and was starting my new job.  Man that sure does feel like a looooong time ago.  Oh, and also the last time Tennessee beat Florida!  GO GATORS!

Week 4 REWIND - PAC-12 represent

• If you didn't see the TCU vs. Texas Tech game, you really missed out!  Talk about a shoot out.
• Notre Dame and Georgia take care of business against some lesser out of conference opponents.
• LSU struggles on the road at the carrier dome...though, when you have Leo Fournette, you don't really ever struggle.
• PAC-12 really opened some eyes with UCLA crushing Arizona, Utah crushing Oregon, and USC crushing Arizona St.  What was supposed to be an entertaining late saturday night slate of games quickly was trumped by the Law and Order marathon that was on TV.
• Oh Bielema, you've done it again.  How in the world did you choke that win away again?!
• Is Duke really good or is Georgia Tech just over rated?  Something tells me both, but GT really better get their act together, and quick.
• Michigan only allowed 105 offensive yards to BYU.  That's hardly even the length of a football field.
• Kentucky now has TWO conference wins!  This week against Mizzou.
• Maryland looks bad...realllllll bad.
• Will Virginia Tech schedule ECU ever again?
• Louisville finally gets their first win of the season!  Woot!  Hey, even if it is against Samford (a southern conference baptist school), a win is a win.
• Mississippi St. defense looks legit.  That was an impressive win against Auburn, but don't count those tigers out just yet!

Week 5 PREVIEW - A pretty good slate of games this week, with a potential conference championship preview

• Notre Dame vs. Clemson - easily the toughest test for Notre Dame yet, with a very stout Clemson defense.
• Alabama vs. Georgia - so much on the line here.  If Alabama loses, they are almost assuredly out of the playoff picture.  But if Georgia loses, will we still see a re-match in the conference championship?
• Miss St. vs. TAMU - A theme of the week, high powered TAMU offense against a very stingy MSU defense.
• Ole Miss vs. Florida - Do I hear redemption?
• Baylor vs. Texas Tech - Almost without question another shoot out.  The over/under is 87.5!!!
• Michigan vs. Maryland - will Maryland score any points?
• Iowa vs. Wisconsin and Minnesota vs. Northwestern - Big Ten West will start to really take shape!
• West Virginia vs. Oklahoma - start the morning off with a some heavy hitting Big 12 action
• Air Force vs. Navy - in the first battle of the service academies
• Arkansas vs. Tennessee - is this a must win for...both teams/coaches?

DDD this week: 2:30 pm.  Most of the early games you can catch up on highlights, but this is when the Alabama game starts.  Then you have a very strong slate of games starting from 6p to 7p.

Vandy and Florida update:

• Vandy's defense looks to be hitting their stride, holding an Ole Miss offense to only 27 points, 7 of which coming from a short field after a blocked punt!
• Vandy travels to Murfreesboro, TN this week for MTSU's homecoming game.  This may be closer than people would hope...
• Florida pulls out a late 4th quarter comeback, scoring two touchdowns in less than 5 mins with three 4th down conversions!  Oh my!
• Florida hosts Ole Miss this week in The Swamp; will most certainly be the battle of the Ole Miss offense vs. Florida defense.  Will Florida find redemption and be able to do to Ole Miss what they did to them back in 2008?  Maybe Chad Kelly will give a speech like Tebow afterwords...

Gonna be a great Week 5!

The Top 4 Most Disgusting Foods:
1.  Rocky Mountain oysters (seriously, who in their right mind?!)
2.  Haggis
3.  Lutefisk
4.  Escamole

College Football - Week 3 REWIND - Apparently, QBs are really important, who knew?

This week we learned that it is kind of important to have an at least competent QB, who knew?  For Week 3, I bring you the tale of the quarterbacks:

• Notre Dame, lose your starting RB and QB? No problem.  That defense really came to play with an impressive showing against the yellow jackets.
• Meanwhile, ND's old QB, Everett Golson and Florida St scored 7, count them, 7 offensive points against Boston College.
• LSU rolls, literally, all over that Muschamp "redefined" Auburn defense.  But really, who needs a QB when you have Leo Fournette?
• Lambert found his groove, going 24-25 passing as Georgia dismantles South Carolina.
• Maybe Northwestern's win over Stanford wasn't a fluke, as they get a win over a pretty good Duke team.
• Speaking of, Stanford's QB put up 41 against that "vaunted" USC defense, leading them to an impressive win.
• Texas found their QB in Heard, but seemed to lose their kicker along the way, missing the final TD extra point to lose.
• OSU has 3 highly recruited QBs, one of which now plays wide receiver (embarrassment of riches much?), but still managed to struggle against Northern Illinois.
• Miami, you were literally up 33-10 with 9 mins left to go.
• Oh Arkansas, my how far you've fallen, losing for a second week in a row, this week to the red raiders of Texas Tech....

But, the game of the night of course, Ole Miss's impressive (?) win against #2 Alabama.  It is hard, if not impossible, to argue that this was the biggest win of the season thus far.  However, just how much credit can you give Ole Miss when:

• Alabama coughed up the ball 5 times
• Alabama dominated TOP (58%)
• Alabama had nearly twice as many first downs
• Alabama had more offensive yards
• Ole Miss was the recipient of the luckiest TD all season

And yet, Ole Miss still only won by 6.  Now I'm not saying Ole Miss isn't a great team, that offensive line is fierce, and that receiving core may be the best in the country...but I will go out on a limb (?) and say they don't go undefeated and will double down and say they are not the team from the West making the trip to Atlanta in December.

Still, Ole Miss brought us the pleasure of seeing this all night.

Vandy and Florida update:

• Vandy drops 47 on Austin Peay that lost by 46 to southern miss, so I guess Vandy is at least as good as the golden eagles?  However, just what do we make of Clemson only beating Louisville by 3?  Wondering where I'm going with this?  Well...remember, Houston put up 34 against that Louisville team to win by 3.  So does that mean Houston is as good as Clemson, or Clemson is as good as Houston?  Either way, that Vandy trip to houston is gonna be ugly.
• Florida makes it 29 straight against that feline school north of Tennessee.  Now I watched this game, but multiple times I wondered, am I simply watching a replay from last year?

Gonna be a great Week 4, be on the look out for my Week 4 Preview on Friday!

The Top 4 Best Tailgates:
1.  The Grove
2.  Indy 500
3.  The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party
4.  <Insert your vote for #4 in the comments below>

College Football - Week 2 REWIND - Teams on the Rise, SEC on Alert

What a weekend of football!

Here are some highlights from week 2:

• Michigan St. looks strong, real strong.  And Oregon, miss Mariota yet?
• SEC had a down week to say the least, leaving us with plenty of questions.
• Michigan looks like they are finally turning things around.
• Houston upsets Louisville, leaving Vandy fans to wonder, will we even see 2 wins this year??
• The Irish pull out a close one against Virginia, but lose Zaire for the season.  Gotta feel bad for those Damers.
• BYU pulled out another stunner against Boise St.
• Oh, and Texas fired their AD.

If you missed it, the SEC looked turrible (with a couple exceptions) this past weekend:

• Jacksonville St almost beat Auburn, which would have easily been the biggest upset since App St. against Michigan many moons ago.
• Ok, riddle me this.  How do you throw for 412 yards and only score 10 offensive points?  A football field is only 100 yards.  The answer is, Bielema ball.  Arkansas loses to Toledo.
• ECU makes it close in Gainesville, with some ugly play by the Gators, only to be best described by McElwain as "embarrasing."
• Tennessee.  Oh Rocky Top, you'll always be, plaaaaying not to lossssssse.  Good ole Rocky Top, can't hold onto a 14 point 4th quarter leaaaaaaaad.
• And finally, Mizzou squeaks out a close one against Arky St.  Though to be fair, Arky St. is a pretty good Sun Belt team...

Oh, and I called it.  Kentucky over South Carolina.

Teams on the Rise:
TAMU
USC
Ole Miss
Mich St
Ga Tech

Teams on Alert:
All of the SEC (except Bama, TAMU, and Ole Miss)
Baylor
Louisville (if not already)

Vandy and Florida update:

• Vandy looked "better" than they did against WKU.  Their defense looks legit.  So does their offense.  And by that I mean, expect a pick-six and/or INT in the redzone every game.
• Florida's discipline, or lack-there-of, was highlighted against ECU.  They have much to improve this week if they want to avoid a similar fate as the gamecocks against the wildcats this weekend.

The Top 4 Shows of All Time:
1.  Breaking Bad
2.  Lost
3.  West Wing
4.  The Wire

Domestic Duty Deadline for Week 2

What's that saying, plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery?

I'm going to "borrow" a concept from my friends at Solid Verbal, the concept of "Window of Opportunity (WOO)."

This is the idea that if you have some domestic duties to attend to on Saturday, like going to home depot, maybe even bed bath and beyond if you have time, then it'd be best to accomplish these tasks prior to the "important" games on Saturday.

In other words, if you're not one of those crazy college football fans that posts up in front of a TV from the start of GameDay to the end of pacific coast games, then this is the time I'd advise you begin to make your way to one of those color tube objects.

For our purposes, we'll call it the Domestic Duty Deadline.  It will make a regular appearance on my Weekly previews.

This week, Domestic Duty Deadline: 5:00pm CDT.  That's the start of the Tennessee at Oklahoma game.  Most weeks it won't be this late, so start banking some of those brownie points now, to cash in later on into the season.

CFB - Week 2 Preview - The state of Oregon vs. the state of Michigan

Week 2 leaves quite a bit to be desired, but there's still plenty to watch for this weekend.

Games with major implications:

• Notre Dame at Virginia:  Notre Dame looks really good, but don't look past Virginia.  UCLA might have dismantled Virginia last week, but that was way more about UCLA's new freshman QB.  Virginia has a good defense, a heck of a lot better than Texas' (my how far you've fallen Coach Strong).

• Tennessee at Oklahoma:  Could a team have more hype around it in the SEC than Tennessee?  The game is actually a pick'em, and will be a true litmus test for both teams.  Oklahoma should win this game, but don't count Tennessee out (did I just say that?).

• LSU at Mississippi St:  Ever since the SEC started allowing cowbells back into Starkville in 2010, the stadium has developed a reputation, well at least for being loud that is.  Anyway, this is LSU's first game (last week against McNeese St was canceled due to weather), its on the road, and they are starting a QB that is pretty unproven (to say the least).

The state of Michigan vs state of Oregon:

• Oregon at Michigan State:  The "biggest" game of the weekend.  Spartan Defense against Duck Offense, which will prevail?  You'll want to be in front of a color tube for this one.

• Oregon St at Michigan:  Let's not forget the "other" Oregon and Michigan teams.  Just so happens Oregon St is also traveling to the state of Michigan this week, except this one shouldn't be nearly as close.

Games that may be better than you expect:

• Houston at Louisville:  Houston is better than people realize, and that Louisville play calling last week was terrible.  I'm not saying Houston wins, but it could get spicy.  Seriously, those uniforms tho...

• Kentucky at South Carolina:  This is my upset special of the week.  Kentucky pulled off an insane upset last year at home (3 TDs in the final 8 mins including a pick-six to win), but this year Kentucky is much improved.  If that South Carolina defense holds strong, the Gamecocks should walk away from Columbia with a win.  But that's a big IF.

• Boise St at BYU:  Losing Taysom Hill for the season was a big loss to college football, not just BYU.  However, don't count them out just yet.  Boise St defense looked stout against Washington last week, but BYU is a whole other test.

Game of the week not worth watching:

• Army (who lost to Fordham) at UCONN (who beat villanova 20 - 15).  'Nuff said.

Vandy and Florida games:

• UGA at Vandy:  Georgia, for some unknown reason, has struggled at Vandy in recent years. barely winning in 2011, and losing in 2013.  This one, however, should be no contest.  I'm pretty sure UGA will score more than 14 against that Vandy defense, and a little birdie told me that UGA's defense is better than WKU's.  This one could be ugly.

• ECU at Florida:  ECU isn't as good as they've been in years past, and Florida looks like they might finally have an offense.  However, there are still quite a few unanswered questions down in Gainesville.  If I were a betting man...I'm not sure Florida covers 20.5 points this week.

If you're looking to watch your team play, here's the full slate of TV/Streaming schedule to catch your game:
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/9/10/9297653/ncaa-football-tv-schedule-2015-streaming-online

Enjoy the games this week!

College Football - Week 1 REWIND - Those uniforms tho...

College football is BACK!

Week 1 answered some questions, left others unanswered, but mostly gave us a taste for what is sure to be an exciting football season!

Here are some highlights from the weekend:

• Is Notre Dame that good...or Texas really that bad?  My guess, a mixture of both
• LSU fans were left wanting as they missed out on a beat down of McNeese St
• Stanford still hasn't figured out how to play offense since "Suck for Luck" was a popular motto in Indiana
• Vandy answered all of our questions.  And by that I mean, if you picked the under 3.5 wins on the season, you're sittin pretty
• SEC had a strong showing, now with a record 10 teams in the AP top 25
• Ohio State isn't perfect, except for when the ball is in this guy's hands:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq6ComNZ_Vs

We had some "unexpected" losses this weekend...though, shouldn't we have known better?

• Kansas.  It's the Missouri valley conference.  Really?
• Army lost to a Patriot League team (Fordham)
• Go Temple, screw you Franklin
• Could it be any more heartbreaking than to lose on a last minute hail mary?  Condolences to all those Big Red fans

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Vandy has now been eliminated from the CFB playoff race...
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/13602944/eliminator-week-1-already-eliminated-cfb-playoff-race

But seriously, the highlight of the weekend was Louisville.  Those uniforms tho...

In the spirit of the CFB Playoff, each week I will bring you my own Top 4.  This week, my:
Top 4 Condiments:
1.  BBQ Sauce
2.  Ketchup
3.  Ranch
4.  Tobasco

1 week down, 13 more to go, and I'll leave you with this ridiculous leap.

Picks have posted - Lock time establish

Yahoo finally got their stuff together and have posted the first week's picks, and boy what a plethora of exciting games...

• Army vs. Fordham
• Buffalo vs. Albany
• Iowa St. vs. Northern Iowa

(my apologies in advance if you attended one of these fine institutions)

Never-the-less, this also means the first week's deadline is up.  Make your picks by:

5:55pm CDT this FRIDAY!

More to come on this week's picks.  And if you haven't already signed up, please see previous posts below for directions on how to sign up!

Would you like to play for some $$$?

$$$ College Crazies $$$ - College Pick'em Money League - 2015

Want to put your college football pick'em skills to good work and win some jelly beans ($$$) for your efforts?

You are cordially invited to join us for this year's Pick'em league for $$$ (MONEY).  Last year the winner won nearly $80 (congrats Dan B)!

This is a separate league from the regular confidence pick'em league; you can play in both.  As always, feel free to invite any of your friends/family that would want to play for some $.

• Buy-in: $20
• Format:  Spread only
• Picks Lock:  5 mins before first game of week
• We will drop your lowest week's score of the season.

Payouts:

• 1st and 2nd Final Standings
• Each week we will also pay out to the winner of that week ($5) <- very fun week to week

Follow the directions below to sign up.
In order to join the group, just go to College Football Pick'em, and click the "Join Group" button. From there, enter the following information...

• Group ID#: 7015
• Password: dores

DWhit

PS - if you join the group, it is assumed that you are in for the $20 buy-in.  I will start collecting after the first week.

A couple of notes about the College Football Pick'em game

A couple of notes about the pick'em game if you want to know more:

1. This group uses confidence based scoring, you make your picks by selecting the winner for that game AND how many confidence points you want on the game. Its like betting more money (points) on the games you're most confident will win.  If you're not sure how this works, please email me!
2. Picks are locked 5 mins before the first game of the week.  IMPORTANT - the first game could be on Thurs or Fri (like the first week) - so be sure to check your picks early in the week (mon or tues).  The good thing is when the picks are locked, you can see everyone's picks for fun taunting during the weekend.
3. We will drop each team's lowest week's score this year.
4. When you sign up, there is a choice to “Allow the commissioner to edit your picks” – I would highly recommend selecting this option – it is a good fail safe because it will allow me to make picks for you in the event that you find yourself away from your computer at 11:55am just before the start of the first game.  Even having some picks is better than none.

Sign up to play! 13th year, "College Crazies!" Yahoo College Football Pick'em

13th year! "College Crazies!" Dustin Whittier is Challenging YOU to College Football Pick 'em on Yahoo! Sports

It's that time of year again...  College Football Pick'em time! (skip to the highlighted area for directions to sign up)

• Most of you know the drill.  This is a weekly fantasy college football competition.  It is FREE to play.  You only have to make your picks once a week, and it only takes 5 mins!  

• This year, I will be sending my weekly recaps via this blog site.  So check back often (or subscribe) for the best of the weekend's football action, highlights of picks gone right, and shout-outs to the picks gone terribly wrong. 

Follow the directions below to sign up.  The first set of picks will be published on Monday, August 31st!  First college football game is next Thursday, September 4th.  #AnchorDown

(Those that played last year may have already received an automated invite from Yahoo)

• In order to join the group, just go to College Football Pick'em, and click the "Join Group" button. From there, enter the following information...

• Group ID#: 7000
• Password: dores

ENJOY!!!  Hope to see everyone signed up, the more teams the better - so as always, feel free to forward this to friends and family!  Email me if you have any questions.  13 years in a row strong and we continue to have great competition each year.  So bring your A-game.

PS - for those that were in the MONEY group last year (and those interested in a money group), I will be setting up a separate group to manage that league.  If you're interested, send me an email.

-DWhit

Welcome to College Football Mania

For 13 years, I have organized a weekly fantasy football College Pick'em league.  It all started with a group of Vanderbilt students, and some family, who were crazy about college football.  Thus, the namesake "College Crazies!"

Take college football, the best time of the year (Fall) and toss in a little friendly competition and rivalry, and you have 13 years of fun with over 50 participants most years.

This year, I am finally "gettin with the times" and moving my posts and weekly recaps to this blog site.

a) this cuts down on the often times wordy weekly emails that you receive
2) you can simply subscribe to the blog site for updates

I'll still be running the blog site and emails much the same.  

But wait, there's more!  This year we'll have some guest writers who will be highlighting particular games, conferences, football trends, or even just general commentary for your reading (and procrastinating) pleasure.

Hope you enjoy.  And feel free to leave comments!

Are you ready for some football?

-DWhit