Tanks, Ships, Helicopters, and Football
Following the Conference Championship we now have an official winner on picks for the regular season. First off, congrats to Philip Kaltman. Philip had a rough year in overall picks compared to previous years, but Philip triumphed last weekend as the only person to correctly guess 8 out of 9 of the conference championship games. With only 1 remaining pick in the regular season no one can pass the current leader in overall picks. with 106 correct picks on the season, and an overall pick percentage of 57.61%, wsecor is our regular season champion. Despite some struggles early in the season, wsecor found his grove in the middle of the season and had a dominant performance in rivalry week that helped jump them to the top. There is a tie for second place which may be decided this week. BearJacket and mrbuzz1885 sit tied at 103 correct picks, we shall see if one can pass the other this week. I will update on that next week, but for now congrats to wsecor for his championship and best of luck to everyone in the postseason.
Also thanks to X7-GT who reminded me that I listed the incorrect mascot for Boise State. Boise State is the Broncos and not the Mustangs. Apologies.
Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
The conference championships have come and gone, and they were pretty boring for the most part. Army, Boise State, Arizona State, Ohio, Marshall, and Jacksonville State all ran away with their games handily.
That doesn’t mean there was no excitement. The SEC championship was poorly played by both uga and Texas, but it was still an exciting game that went to Overtime. Unfortunately, uga still won.
Clemson looked like they were going to run over SMU early, but the Mustangs were able to come back and tie the game with 9 seconds left on the clock. Clemson then managed to get a great kick return and pull off a quick play to hit a 55-yard FG as time expired.
Penn State played a great game, but some turnovers kept them from overcoming a speedy Oregon offense. The final score is not necessarily a reflection of how the entire game went.
Adam Cairns / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The playoff bracket is now finalized. Despite losing the ACC championship SMU still managed to sneak their way into the playoff. There is going to be a lot of critiques of the 2 ACC schools in the playoff, especially since it left out possibly the most prominent SEC school over the past 2 decades. SMU is going on the road to Penn State and Clemson gets the honor of facing down an upset Texas Longhorns team in Austin, Texas. One of the ACC teams needs to win if the ACC wants to be taken seriously. I don’t think either game is unwinnable so hopefully the Mustangs and Tigers are ready for this behemoth of a challenge.
There’s a lot to be said about the playoff, but for the most part I am happy with the result. This has been an up and down season for many teams. While there are clear favorites in the upcoming matchups, I don’t think any team is completely out matched against their set opponent. I’m looking forward to seeing the action on the field.
Danny Wild-Imagn Images
The time of year is here again. The matchup between the 2 greatest military academies in the world (sorry Air Force). This is a particularly big matchup for both teams. Army and Navy have their best records since 2018 and 2019 respectfully, and the highest total wins both teams have had since 1996. Army is the American Athletic Champion and is ranked in the top 25, which has only happened 4 times in the program’s history. Not only is the Commander and Chief trophy on the line, but both teams have big reasons they want to end their season on a win and ruin the season of their rival.
I expect this to be a fun game between two teams who know each other very well. I can’t wait to see which group comes out on top.
picks:
#19 Army Black Knights (-6.5) v Navy Midshipmen:
Played at North West Stadium in Landover, MD
Logan: If you watched the American Athletic Championship last week you got a good picture of what Army is about. The team is going to live and die by Bryson Daily’s ability to manage the offense. The thing that also surprised me last week was how good Army’s defense was. I expected Tulane’s offense to run over Army, but that was the exact opposite of what happened. I do expect Army to win, but keep in mind that the game should be low scoring considering the run heavy offenses of both teams. I’m still going to pick Army since I insulted them last week and they proved me wrong in a big way. Let’s go, Go Army Beat Navy!
Logan’s pick: Army