Greetings oh great and wonderful sports fans! October snow in the north, wildfires in the west, and hurricanes in the south and east. Covid numbers continuing to climb and too many ugly election contests to count, but there is good news. We get to watch college football this weekend!!! 20 of the GCR top 25 are playing, but there’s just one game that features 2 (hint: it is the game of the week). Not to mention 4 debut teams (New Mexico, Colorado St, SEMO, and S Illinois) will bring the total to 119.
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First, in the pre-Saturday games, there isn’t a lot to choose from with 6 games. The most intriguing is Minnesota (102) at Maryland (90) both coming off a first game loss and needing a win to stay relevant in a shortened season. But the game of the week is tonight at 7:30 (all times Eastern) or in 1 minute from the writing of this paragraph, with South Alabama (77) at Ga Southern (59). The Jaguars are second in the Sun Belt West and the Eagles are tied for 3rd chasing Coastal Carolina (14) in the East. Vegas likes Ga Southern -3.5 and the GCR agrees 61.9%
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The early Saturday games have Boston College (30) at Clemson (2) – can the Tigers keep pouring points on unwitting opponents?, and an important Big 12 game with Kansas St (22) visiting West Virginia (52) – interesting because Kansas St is undefeated in the conference along with Oklahoma St (4) and because the GCR picks the Wildcats while Vegas likes the Mountaineers. But the game to watch is Memphis (31) at Cincinnati (10). The Bearcats are the only undefeated AAC team and the Tigers with just 1 loss would throw a monkey wrench in the Group of 5 automatic NY6 bowl bid. Vegas thinks they can stay perfect -6.5 and the GCR agrees 63.9%.
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Midafternoon gives a us a bunch of choices but the best include Texas (50) at Oklahoma St (4), Virginia Tech (21) at Louisville (55), and UAB at LA Tech. The game of the week is the one between 2 undefeated teams (granted both are 1-0, but still) when Indiana (20) coming off a win over Penn State (95) traveling to New Jersey to face Rutgers (9) who beat Michigan St (101). I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for underdogs and both of these teams qualify. With just one game each the GCR can’t predict, but Vegas is having trouble as well. The website I use has yet to post a line. I think that is absolutely wonderful and cannot wait to see this game.
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The evening games feature a couple of SEC matchups that are interesting: Arkansas (57) will try to continue its 2020 magic at Texas A&M (12) and Missouri (49) will take on Florida (33) in the Swamp 21 days after their last game. But the game I want to watch is Virginia (27) who despite being 1-4 is in the top 30 (with one of the most ridiculous schedules out there – compare theirs and Notre Dame’s – seriously it makes one wonder if the ACC created schedules based on who they wanted in the championship (I’m not accusing, I’m wondering) – faces another tough game against UNC (7). GCR says the Tar Heels will add to the Cavalier misery 62.3% and Vegas agrees -7.
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At the end of this post, you’ll see all the games the GCR predicted for this week, always for entertainment purposes, so have fun. But first, here’s the results from last week and the expectation for this week.
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Once again, the GCR is shifting to higher percentages and seeing fewer 50% decile or toss up games. To beat the expectation, the GCR needs to go 19-8 so wish it luck. Last week, it eked out a statistical tie at 18-9. With no further ado, here are all the predicted games for this week.
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Enjoy and have a great weekend. BTW, South Alabama jumped out in front with a FG leading 3-0 with the ball and 2:42 left in the first. Thank you for reading. Please comment and, if you’d like, share with others, G.
