Welcome back, oh great and wonderful, to episode 718, another Friday of college football! A quick recap of last night’s games. We talked about how playing in Boone is a bad idea for good teams and James Madison (7-1/24) found that out as they lost in overtime to App St (5-2/77). The GCR missed those predictions. Also in overtime, Memphis (6-2/48) took down East Carolina (3-4/110). The GCR picked the winner, but not the cover. Liberty (6-1/21) not only broke a 3-game skid against Kennesaw St (1-6/77) in a blowout 34-6 but also became (at least temporarily) the highest ranked Group of 6 team in the GCR. Their one loss? James Madison 20-13 back on September 5th. That G6 auto bid spot is getting pretty steamy. The GCR got that game correct so 4-3 straight up and 4-3 against the spread heading into tonight.
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As our title describes, there are a septet of games tonight. The details are below, and we do apologize for an early and abbreviated Expectation, but both JoJo and G are hitting the road pretty early this afternoon. Lots to do. Most of the games are among middle of the road teams, although still most definitely worth watching, but Air Force (5-1/48) who is 8th in the GCR G6 ranking invades Wyoming (4-3/88) who is just outside the G6 GCR Top 25 (at 28th). A road win here could put the Falcons in the hunt for the G6 spot. We are a little bit frustrated with the playoff predictions as most are already assuming Boise St (5-1/31), 4th in the GCR G6. We gone on record many times about how idiotic the preseason polls are. BOIS lost to Oregon in Week 1 34-27. The Ducks have lost twice this season, so the value of that loss has diminished. In early predictions, we have them losing twice more (to Ohio St and Northwestern). Boise St, in those same early predictions will lose to San Diego St. In the meantime, Liberty and James Madison should win out. Air Force could lose to New Mexico, who should also beat North Dakota St (3rd right now) but lose to UNLV. The G6 is what it should be at this point: chaotic. Just as the Core 4 should be. Football (high school, college, or pro) has the fewest games played during the season of any sport, which means it has the most important regular season of any sport. I’m all for the fun of guessing or fantasizing (if, pick a team here, wins out, do they have a chance at a, fill in the blank here with bowl game, playoff spot, etc.) That’s part of what makes this game fun. Games are roughly a week apart – there’s lots of time for speculation and analysis. It’s when we take that speculation and create a team that must lose their “assumed” championship or playoff spot and other, equally or more deserving teams, have to “earn” the right to replace the assumed team or group. We see it every year, and, quite frankly, it’s frustrating to us. We are humbled that even a single person takes the time to read our content, and we are very proud that we have no bias in our rankings. If a team earns a “good” GCR rating, they’ve earned it against the exact same rules that every other team has. We don’t have a preseason ranking. First, that requires too many assumptions and some type of bias. Second, even if we did, it would have no impact on the season. Instead, we play a fun, but inaccurate, preseason strength of schedule game just to help us all get ready for football again (not that anyone needs it). Once the last “preseason” post is published, that data is ignored. All teams start with an 0-0 record tied for first (or last) place. Everything is earned. If your team’s name is Ohio St or Alabama or FIU or Purdue – everything is earned. Thank you for letting us rant.
| Time (ET) | Games of October 23rd | Conference | Vegas | GCR | Cover | TV |
| 5:00 | NC Central (2-5/229) at Delaware St (4-3/204) | MEAC | DEST -5.5 | DEST | DEST | ESPN2 |
| 7:00 | Duke (4-2/44) at Virginia (4-3/54) | ACC | VIR -2.5 | DUKE | DUKE | ESPN |
| 7:00 | UMASS (4-3/79) at UCONN (3-3/96) | MAC/IND | UCON -14.5 | pick | UMAS | CBS Sports |
| 7:00 | Yale (3-2/155) at Penn (2-3/173) | IVY | YALE -6.0 | YALE | YALE | ESPNU |
| 8:30 | Army (4-2/69) at Tulsa (4-3/81) | AAC | TULS -1.5 | ARMY | ARMY | ESPN2 |
| 9:00 | Air Force (5-1/48) at Wyoming (4-3/88) | MWC | AF -6.5 | AF | AF | The CW |
| 10:30 | NC St (3-3/83) at Stanford (3-4/87) | ACC | NCST -6.5 | NCST | STAN | ESPN |
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That’s it for today. Let us know what you think about our diatribe (content or anything). Thanks for reading, commenting, and sharing. Tune in tomorrow for a full Saturday slate, JoJo and G
