Welcome back oh great and wonderful college football fans. The final game of the 2024 regular season is this weekend when Army and Navy meet for the 125th time. Navy leads the series 62-55-7 and has the longest winning streak at 14 (2002-2015) but Army has taken the last two battles. I think it’s important to stop and remember that none of these athletes will be playing in the NFL (at least until their 6-year commitment is served). None of these kids are eligible for NIL money. There is no transfer portal. Their days are regimented from 5:00am to bedtime so the “normal” college experience is not available. For all of this sacrifice they earn the right to represent the U.S. as officers in their respective branch (including the Marines for the Naval Academy). While we all hope and pray for lasting peace, there is no guarantee for these brave young men. They will answer the call if it comes. These men are not playing for money or fame. They are already representing the best this country has to offer. For no other reason, the entire country should take 3-4 hours out of one of the busiest Saturdays of the year (I know the winter holidays are a toll on everyone) and cheer these teams. Army (11-1/14) joined the American Conference this year and was one of 5 conference champions to accomplish the feat in that inaugural year. Navy (8-3/47) has been in the AAC for years, but they will retain this special post-championship game slot, and it will not be an official conference game. The game should be enough as it is making the result secondary, but, alas, someone will win the game. Vegas thinks Army-6.0 will take the title and the GCR agrees 57% and to cover.
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The FCS also has its quarterfinals this week with the first game tonight (Friday) at 9:00 (all times Eastern) when Idaho (10-3/141) of the Big Sky Conference travels to conference colleague Montana St (13-0/92), the only undefeated FCS team. The same trip was taken October 12 with the hometown Bobcats winning 38-7. I don’t expect this game to be remarkably different. Vegas has MTST-14.5 and the GCR agrees 83% and to cover.
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The other 3 games are tomorrow and should be good ones. The surprise game is Socon’s Mercer (11-2/128) at Missouri Valley’s North Dakota St (11-2/143) where Vegas has the Bison-23.5, but the GCR thinks the boys from Macon, GA will take the upset 51%.
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There are 2 bowls tomorrow. Instead of including them here, the two of us (I doubled the size of the GCR staff with the official “hiring” at the same pay as I get ($0) of my math-major daughter) agreed that the bowl season is unique and will get a separate post. During the next month or so, every day there is a bowl or playoff game, there will be a post that day. The predictions will include all previously played games.
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and sharing with others. Here are the games for this post. See you tomorrow, G.
| Time | Away Team (Record/ GCR Rank) | Conf (Rec) | Home Team (Record/ GCR Rank) | Conf (Rec) | Vegas | GCR Win | GCR Cover |
| 3:00 | Navy (8-3/47) – N | AAC (6-2) | Army (11-1/14) – N | AAC (8-0) | ARMY-6.0 | ARMY 57% | ARMY |
| FCS Playoff Games | |||||||
| FRI 9:00 | Idaho (10-3/ 141) | SKY (6-2) | Montana St (13-0/92) | SKY (8-0) | MTST-14.5 | MTST 83% | MTST |
| 12:00 | Incarnate Word (11-2/ 131) | SLAN (7-0) | South Dakota St (11-2/ 118) | MVC (7-1) | SDKS-20.5 | SDKS 58% | IW |
| 3:00 | UC Davis (11-2/138) | SKY (7-1) | South Dakota (10-2/ 130) | MVC (7-1) | SDAK-5.5 | SDAK 58% | SDAK |
| 3:30 | Mercer (11-2/128) | SoCon (7-1) | North Dakota St (11-2/ 143) | MVC (7-1) | NDST-23.5 | MERC 51% | MERC |
