"All I Saw Was Red”
Written by Wendi
If you were like me, I stayed up late licking my wounds from the carnage I was dealt and tuned into the Arizona St vs Washington game in Seattle. I was shocked to see the score 7-3 to start the 4th quarter in the Sun Devils’ favor. Arizona State’s record was 1-5 going into this game. Even though I always like an upset, Washington was able to score twelve points to win 15-7. I am not sure what happened, but it was a sloppy win for the Huskies. Also, if you were not paying attention, a 1-5 Virginia team traveled to Chapel Hill and knocked off 10th ranked North Carolina at home 31-27. Yikes. What is with these 1-5 teams? Glad they were not on the picks.
In what was shaped to be one of the biggest games of the season, 7th ranked Penn St traveled to 3rd ranked Ohio St. In typical Big Ten fashion, the game was low scoring. Penn St struggled with only 1 of 16 on 3rd down conversions and could not continue offensive drives. Buckeyes won 20-12 and looks like they will go into "The Game” at the end of the season undefeated again to face a possible undefeated Michigan team to determine the Big Ten East Champ. Of course, barring any upsets.
Tennessee jumped to a quick 13-0 head start in the first quarter. But with the help of the officials (yeah I said it), Bama was able to pull away and win 34-20. The win that Texas had over Bama earlier in the season does not look as good as it once did for Texas. Speaking of, did anyone happen to see the struggle win against Houston? Texas was on upset alert late in the game. Texas went on to win 31-24. Yep, they are definitely back (rolls eyes).
After getting hammered last week 44-11 by TCU, BYU recovered well and won 27-14 at home against Texas Tech. I am not sure what the final count on turnovers for Tech, but I counted at least five. TCU had problems of their own against Kansas State. It was all Wildcats 41-3. TCU now knows what BYU felt like last week.
There was a thrilling ending in Norfolk, VA as Old Dominion scored a TD with under a minute left in the game to take the lead over Appalachian State. I know a few people went high and really needed this App St. win. But the Monarchs won 28-21.
After the last couple of weeks of Pac 12 Action, I am really starting to think that conference is not as good as it was advertised earlier in the season. After losing to Utah for the fourth time in a row, USC has checked themselves out of the playoffs. After being down two scores, the Trojans came roaring back to take the lead with under two minutes left in the game. But they left too much time on the clock for the Utes and fell flat on defense. Utah was able to get in field goal range and won 34-32. Maybe, just maybe, Caleb Williams should focus on football and not Dr. Pepper and Wendy’s commercials.
And Clemson, really? I have nothing else to say about that.
FUN FACT: There are only 9 undefeated teams left.
On to the Pick em’s…
Well, that was fun wasn’t it? I think we all need a bye week on picks. It’s only fair right? I mean teams get bye weeks. Out of 120 total boxes on the weekly scoresheet, only 50 were green. Not even half. And yes, I counted. There was a lot of red. Holy smokes. If any of you went to bed and slept soundly, I applaud you.
A lot of theories have been going around as to what is going on behind the scenes. It was quite evident as David switched 5 people’s picks Saturday afternoon. Maybe it was accidental or maybe he was hoping no one would have noticed. Either way, it has fueled those conspiracy theories even more.
There was a leaked video of Sean complaining about conspiracy theories and injuries. But after all was said and done, he came out a winner for the week and dug out of the bottom spot to 10th place. But don’t clap for him just yet, it was a 3-way tie for first. Megan and Noah didn’t want Sean to get all the glory and blocked him from getting any prize money which means this week’s winner will get $20 unless there is another tie.
Sam excelled in his own football games on Saturday which led David to think Sam would have taken the prize money. Sam had a 55-yard TD and a tackle for loss. The last time he made a TD, he won first place for that week. Noah is trying to assert his dominance at first place by stretching his lead a bit further from the rest of the pack. He now has a six-point lead over me sitting at second. I need him to have a bad week.
Don’t look now but Megan is quietly in third place. Mike decided to check himself out of third with his lowly 17 points and fell to 5th place. We all knew it wouldn’t last. Will he continue to fall this week? Mom finished second for the week and went up a spot. Or did she? Or is it because Cindy keeps going down forcing everyone else to go up?
Stemple has found himself at rock bottom since Sean decided to have a good week. Good news Stemple! You can only go up from here. That is if you decide to. David is still sitting in 6th place waiting for the opportunity, but it just isn’t going his way as of late. Sam will pass you if you blink David. Adam is still sitting outside of the top three waiting for his chance. Maybe we need to tell him to start being aggressive. It worked pretty good for Cindy. NOT!
But I will say this. There is a big gap between 7th and 8th place. At this point in the season, if you are 8th and below, your chances are slim to none on seeing yourself in the top 3 spots. Your only chance is with the weekly prize money. Choose your picks wisely from here on out.
Most points for the week: Sean, Megan and Noah tied with 30 points for the week. It’s a shame no prize money was to be had but congrats on the win. It was a brutal week.
Least points for the week: Marc should be counting his lucky stars with that Miami win. Without it, he would only have one win at 7 points. But he managed to scrape up 13 points for the week which is a low for this season.
Best pick of the week: Sean had two good picks. He nailed his Oklahoma State and Old Dominion pick. Nope, not adding you David for your Utah pick over USC.
Worst pick of the week: All of us big losers going big on USC.
Here are the rankings:
1.Noah - 298 points
2. Wendi -292 points
3. Megan - 287 points
4. Adam - 280 points
5. Mike - 278 points
6. David - 275 points
7. Sam - 273 points
8. Evelyn - 256 points
9. Marc - 247 points
10. Sean - 246 points
11. Cindy – 239 points
12. Stemple - 235 points
Good luck this week! There is a 63-point difference from first to last.
