College Football Week 12 Musings; CFB Playoff Predictions; NBA Early Surprises

What did we learn this week in college football?

What did we learn this week in college football?

College Football Week 12 Musings; CFB Playoff Predictions; NBA Early Surprises

College Football Week 12 Musings; CFB Playoff Predictions; NBA Early Surprises
_Episode 52 of the Fantasy Sports Collective Podcast covers week twelve of college football season, then make conference…_share.transistor.fm

What did we learn this week in college football?

Not as much as I would have liked. There should be a rule against late-season snooze fests from Power 5 schools with championship aspirations. If you’re Northwestern or Kentucky or Duke, sure schedule a FBS school. But this week, firmly in November the weekend prior to Thanksgiving Florida State played North Alabama; Alabama played Chattanoga; Ole Miss played UL Monroe and LSU played Georgia State. These are September pre-conference games. There should be a rule against this, it’s not good for fans, TV contracts. Fortunately, Florida State paid a price by dropping in the AP poll with Washington jumping them, I expect the same when the playoff rankings are released on Tuesday.

So who looked good?

  • Georgia (#2), Michigan, Ohio State and Washington continued to look good. Oregon continues to blow out Pac 12 teams.

Which brings us to the most exciting slate of games of the year. The weekend starts on Friday with #11 Oregon State facing #6 Oregon in the “Civil War”. OSU is scrappy and this game is personal, so IF Oregon can get through this matchup, they’ll continue their march towards a possible playoff spot in beating Washington in the Pac 12 Title game.

The biggest game is Michigan vs. Ohio State Saturday morning. The winner is locked into a playoff spot.

Another sneaky important game is Alabama playing at Auburn. Alabama should roll but it’s a rivalry game, and anything is possible.

The following week is when the real fun starts with the conference title games. Here are my predictions of what happens the next 2 weeks.

  • Big 12 Title Game — Texas wins but is left to wait on the rest.
  • Big 10 Title Game — Ohio State beats Michigan soundly this week, to break a mini losing streak. Then Ohio State rolls Iowa in the Big 10 title game, they get the #1 overall seed. Michigan is left outside looking in, conspiracy theorists will say it’s an unspoken penalty for having a head coach nobody likes. I’ll call it the Draymond Effect.
  • Pac 12 — Oregon beats Washington creating chaos and anxiety for the ghost of the Pac 12 conference.
  • ACC — Florida State wins a tough game, leaving Louisville with 2 losses out.
  • SEC — Georgia soundly beats Alabama.

The playoff teams are Ohio State, Oregon, Florida State and Georgia. Texas cries foul but Oregon played a much tougher schedule and blew out most of it’s opponents, only losing on the road to Washington. Alabama complains that the SEC is so good but is hypocritical after playing a handful of patsies and failing to remember the SEC had a down year (vs. other power 5 conferences). The sole teams with a gripe in this scenario though are Michigan (1 loss to undefeated Ohio State) and Texas.

Did anybody see this story about Utah QB Cam Rising saying he’s returning for a 7th season? It will be his 3rd redshirt year. WTF?

The NBA season kicked off a month ago.

We’re 4 weeks into the NBA season, and teams have played approx. 15% of their regular season schedules. What’s been the most interesting so far?

The youth movement in Minnesota & OKC maybe finally maturing. ANT and SGA are bonafide stars, but the surrounding cast is gelling.

Minnesota maybe more shocking though after the KAT & Rudy Gobert pairing last year looked off, and their long history of incompetence. But they have the best record in the west 9–3, and they’re looking very good.

OKC on the other hand would be ahead of schedule. They still have 12 first rounders over the next 4 drafts that include multi-team swaps and a plethora of options going forward. Throw in Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey and Lu Dort, this team is good.

Who are the breakout Newcomers to the party?

  • #12 F Scottie Barnes — 38.65 PPG
  • #20 F/C Evan Mobley — 33.25 PPG
  • #23 F/C Chet Holmgren — 30.26 PPG — ROY Contender
  • #26 F/C Victor Wembenyana — 32.09 PPG — ROY Frontrunner
  • #34 F Auser Thompson — 27.69 PPG — ROY Contender