Welcome back, college sports fans, to episode 730 which is our first ever featuring all three leagues we follow: football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball. Yesterday was opening day with over 340 basketball games. Our eyes may be crossed from watching games, tracking scores, and balancing our data, but we are back and ready for more, albeit a much more manageable schedule today.
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We’ll start, as we always will, with football. It’s November which could be renamed (after all it means “ninth month”) to MACNation! I know we just had a month of midweek games featuring Conference USA (with a couple of Sun Belt games scattered on top), and those were great. The creator of these games, which feature conferences that are typically lower-tier Group of 6, on national television with no other football competition, was the MAC, aka the Mid-American Conference. We know that fall is officially here when the weather starts to turn, the leaves start to change, and the MAC plays on Tuesdays. Our early game, at 7:00 (all times Eastern) should not be close. Ohio (6-2/60) travels to Akron (1-7/169) and should win easily; however, Akron has little to play for, since they have already been eliminated from bowl consideration, other than to mess up someone else’s season. The Zips should put a good fight for a while, but the superior Ohio team should prevail and cover the Vegas spread of OHIO-14.5. That game will be on ESPN2.
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The better of the two games which will air on ESPN at 8:00, has two very equally matched teams when Miami OH (5-3/86) hosts Buffalo (5-3/87). The winner earns a (probable) bowl bid. This looks like one of those games where mistakes make the difference and that the last team with the ball has the advantage. Vegas has MIAO-5.5, but the standard GCR model has BUFF to win, although the new model in test mode has MIAO-4.0. For our prediction accuracy tracking, we are predicting Buffalo to win and cover.
| Time (ET) | Games of November 3rd | Conference | Vegas | GCR | Cover | TV |
| 7:00 | Ohio (6-2/60) at Akron (1-7/169) | MAC | OHIO -14.5 | OHIO | OHIO | ESPN2 |
| 8:00 | Buffalo (5-3/87) at Miami OH (5-3/86) | MAC | MIAO -5.5 | BUFF | BUFF | ESPN |
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So far in about a day and a half of basketball, 305 of the men’s teams have played a game. A couple are playing their second tonight, but even with just 29 games on the slate today, we are nearing 100% participation. The 46 teams playing for the first time today (ignoring non-Division I (ND1) teams denoted as — as a conference), will bring us to 351 of the 365. As a reminder, despite our best efforts, we have to wait until both teams have played two games before we can provide a prediction. That means that every game today is still listed as NPre. Here is today’s slate:
| Time | MBB November 3rd (All Times Eastern) | Conf | Pred | TV |
| 6:00 | Wofford (0-0/306) / Tennessee (0-0/306) | SoCon/SEC | NPre | SEC Network |
| 7:00 | Wagner (0-0/306) / Boston College (0-0/306) | NEC/ACC | NPre | ACC Extra |
| 7:00 | Hampton (0-0/306) / Georgia Tech (0-0/306) | CAA/ACC | NPre | ACC Extra |
| 7:00 | Milligan (—) / Greensboro (0-0/306) | —/SoCon | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Manhattan (0-0/306) / Kentucky (0-0/306) | MAAC/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 7:00 | Coppin St (0-0/306) / Virginia Tech (0-0/306) | MEAC/ACC | NPre | ACC Extra |
| 7:00 | Holy Cross (0-0/306) / Rhode Island (0-0/306) | PAT/A10 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Warren Wilson (—) / NC A&T (0-0/306) | —/CAA | NPre | FloCollege |
| 7:00 | Stetson (0-1/95) / South Carolina (0-0/306) | ASUN/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 7:00 | Fort Wayne (0-0/306) / Duquesne (0-0/306) | HOR/A10 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:30 | Sam Houston (0-0/306) / Alabama (0-0/306) | USA/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 7:30 | Drexel (0-0/306) / Virginia (0-0/306) | CAA/ACC | NPre | ACC Network |
| 8:00 | Lipscomb (0-1/43) / Iowa (0-0/306) | ASUN/B10 | NPre | Big Ten Network |
| 8:00 | Alabama St (0-0/306) / Texas A&M (0-0/306) | SWAC/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 8:00 | Lincoln MO (—) / Missouri St (0-0/306) | —/USA | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:00 | Cleveland St (0-0/306) / Missouri (0-0/306) | HOR/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 8:00 | LA Chr (—) / Houston Chr (0-0/306) | —/SLAN | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:00 | South Dakota St (0-0/306) / Kansas St (0-0/306) | SUM/B12 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:00 | New Orleans (0-0/306) / LSU (0-0/306) | SLAN/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 8:00 | Ark Pine Bluff (0-0/306) / Arkansas (0-0/306) | SWAC/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 8:00 | IA Cornell (—) / N Iowa (0-0/306) | —/MVC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:30 | Regis Coll (—) / Wyoming (0-0/306) | —/MTW | NPre | MW+ |
| 8:30 | W New Mexico (—) / New Mexico St (0-0/306) | —/USA | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 10:00 | Lewis/Clark (—) / Portland St (0-0/306) | —/SKY | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 10:00 | Bethesda (—) / Pacific (0-0/306) | —/WCC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 10:00 | N Arizona (0-0/306) / UNLV (0-0/306) | SKY/MTW | NPre | MW+ |
| 10:00 | North Florida (0-0/306) / CA Baptist (0-0/306) | ASUN/BW | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 10:00 | Fullerton (0-0/306) / San Diego St (0-0/306) | BW/P12 | NPre | YouTube |
| 10:00 | Chapman (—) / UC Irvine (0-0/306) | —/BW | NPre | ESPN+ |
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Through opening day, 259 of the 363 women’s teams have at least one game played. The same prediction rules apply for the women, but at least all 41 games today feature teams playing their first game of the season. With ND1 game, that means we will have 327 with a game under their belt by the end of the day. These first couple of weeks will be a bit of a slog. We tend not to have much commentary about games before we have critical mass. We really do not care about the human polls (or other computer rankings). So far, a bunch of teams are 1-0, and many are 0-1 which does not tell us a great deal. Here is today’s slate:
| Time | WBB November 3rd (all times Eastern) | Conf | Pred | TV |
| 11:00am | Chrls So (0-0/260) / East Carolina (0-0/260) | BSO/AAC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 2:00 | Stanislaus (0-0) / Bakersfield (0-0/260) | —/BW | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 6:00 | C Connecticut (0-0/260) / VCU (0-0/260) | NEC/A10 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 6:00 | Barton (0-0) / Wilmington (0-0/260) | —/CAA | NPre | FloCollege |
| 6:00 | Sacred Heart (0-0/260) / Syracuse (0-0/260) | MAAC/ACC | NPre | ACC Extra |
| 6:00 | Morrisville (0-0) / Colgate (0-0/260) | —/PAT | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 6:00 | Swarthmore (0-0) / Penn (0-0/260) | —/IVY | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 6:30 | Florida A&M (0-0/260) / UCF (0-0/260) | SWAC/B12 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 6:30 | Valparaiso (0-0/260) / Michigan St (0-0/260) | MVC/B10 | NPre | B1G+ |
| 7:00 | Green Bay (0-0/260) / Duke (0-0/260) | HOR/ACC | NPre | ACC Extra |
| 7:00 | E Illinois (0-0/260) / Drake (0-0/260) | OVC/MVC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Fla Gulf Coast (0-0/260) / Indiana (0-0/260) | ASUN/B10 | NPre | B1G+ |
| 7:00 | Evansville (0-0/260) / Depaul (0-0/260) | MVC/BE | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | St Peters (0-0/260) / Pittsburgh (0-0/260) | MAAC/ACC | NPre | ACC Extra |
| 7:00 | Xavier LA (0-0) / Louisiana (0-0/260) | —/SUN | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Mercyhurst (0-0/260) / Seton Hall (0-0/260) | NEC/BE | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Clarke (0-0) / W Illinois (0-0/260) | —/OVC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Rhode Island (0-0/260) / West Virginia (0-0/260) | A10/B12 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Stonehill (0-0/260) / Providence (0-0/260) | NEC/BE | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | West Florida (0-0/260) / E Tenn St (0-0/260) | UAC/SoCon | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Judson (0-0) / SIUE (0-0/260) | —/OVC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | IL Springfield (0-0) / S Illinois (0-0/260) | —/MVC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | Jacksonville (0-0/260) / FIU (0-0/260) | ASUN/USA | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:30 | MS Valley (0-0/260) / Marquette (0-0/260) | SWAC/BE | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:30 | North Alabama (0-0/260) / Mississippi St (0-0/260) | UAC/SEC | NPre | SEC+ |
| 7:30 | Le Moyne (0-0/260) / SMU (0-0/260) | NEC/ACC | NPre | ACC Extra |
| 7:30 | Omaha (0-0/260) / Kansas (0-0/260) | SUM/B12 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:30 | Bradley (0-0/260) / Wisconsin (0-0/260) | MVC/B10 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:30 | Oral Roberts (0-0/260) / TCU (0-0/260) | SUM/B12 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:30 | Incarnate Word (0-0/260) / Tulsa (0-0/260) | SLAN/AAC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 7:30 | Sacramento St (0-0/260) / Arlington (0-0/260) | BW/UAC | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:00 | Milwaukee (0-0/260) / Northwestern (0-0/260) | HOR/B10 | NPre | B1G+ |
| 8:00 | Wright St (0-0/260) / Loyola Chicago (0-0/260) | HOR/A10 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:00 | E Washington (0-0/260) / Utah (0-0/260) | SKY/B12 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:00 | Westminster UT (0-0) / Weber St (0-0/260) | —/SKY | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 8:00 | Park Gilbert (0-0) / Utah Valley (0-0/260) | —/BW | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 9:00 | MT Western (0-0) / Montana (0-0/260) | —/SKY | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 9:00 | Idaho St (0-0/260) / BYU (0-0/260) | SKY/B12 | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 9:00 | La Sierra (0-0) / Northridge (0-0/260) | —/BW | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 9:00 | Santa Cruz (0-0) / Santa Barbara (0-0/260) | —/BW | NPre | ESPN+ |
| 9:00 | Occidental (0-0) / UC Riverside (0-0/260) | —/BW | NPre | ESPN+ |
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That’s it for this episode. Tune in later today for the GCR October Conference Comparisons, which goes beyond straight wins and losses using our algorithm to show which conferences are at the top, and which ones are struggling. Until then, thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing with others, JoJo and G.
