GAME PICKS: WEEK 10
Happy November 1! By some measure, we're entering the sweet spot on the sports calendar.
MY 2024 RECORD: 213-81 overall (18-10 last week)
55-17 MAC (4-2 LW)
128-33 Top 25 (12-2 LW)
39-33 in additional picks (2-6 LW)
MAC GAMES
TOLEDO OVER EASTERN MICHIGAN. EMU’s inconsistency is the only consistent thing it has going on right now, and Toledo’s got the pieces to win big. Not sure if EMU will be able to match if Toledo plays with efficiency.
AKRON OVER BUFFALO. Do I 100% believe in this pick? No, but I like this to be a closer game than I might’ve thought it could be a few weeks ago. Maybe Akron surprises here, who knows?
TOP 25
It’s November now, which means it’s time to eat 5,000 grams of sugar from all of yesterday’s Halloween candy and not go to the gym immediately after. Let’s see what kind of candy we got from each house, and how everybody spent their favorite holiday. [Not sure who needs to read this, but: These are just jokes.]
#24 ILLINOIS OVER MINNESOTA. Bret Bielema, dressed as Bluto from Popeye the Sailorman, gave out pistachios. All kinds. Shelled, unshelled. Salted, no salt. Spicy mango. Lemon pepper. Caribbean jerk. Barbecue. Wait a minute what’s the brand of these things? P.J. Fleck, of course, was dressed like Popeye the Sailorman.
#21 ARMY OVER AIR FORCE. Honorably, no costumes here.
#19 OLE MISS OVER ARKANSAS. Sam Pittman sometimes does Halloween. He likes it, but doesn’t always have the time. Last time he went all-in with the costumes and whatnot, he was Bubba Ray Dudley. But that was a long time ago, now he just has whatever funny shirt was purchased for him that year to wear around the house. This year is a mix of both though as he got a “Vote for Pedro” shirt, so he’s been rocking that.
#18 PITT OVER SMU. Pat Narduzzi has homemade cookies, bags them up and passes them out. He knows you’re not supposed to do that sort of thing, but if you want to throw them, well, he figures that turns into a ‘you’ problem. Rhett Lashlee didn’t want to spend too much time with it, but he’s still recruiting even when he isn’t, which is why he wore one of those Spiderman hoodies where the hood turns into a full-on mask.
#17 KANSAS STATE OVER HOUSTON. Chris Klieman is too busy to do Halloween. There’s a bowl out front with a “take one” sign. Willie Fritz wears his “hippie costume,” whatever that means.
#15 BOISE STATE OVER SAN DIEGO STATE. Ashton Jeanty gave out French candy that you can’t EASILY find in the States. We’ve got Haribo gummy bears, but what about LES CROCO? Not sure if he got paid to do this, but Sean Lewis was a Minion this year.
UNDEFEATED #13 INDIANA OVER MICHIGAN STATE. When kids come up to Curt Cignetti’s house, he, dressed as the ‘Who do you think you are? I am!’ guy, is already seated in his favorite lawn chair right in the middle of the walkway.
Children, full of joy: “TRICK OR-”
Curt Cignetti, Google him: “Got a pen? You’re gonna want to write this down.” (/proceeds to give them 90 seconds of sound financial advice that’d help them be able to retire at the age of 45.)
#11 IOWA STATE OVER TEXAS TECH. Matt Campbell dressed up as a doctor again. It’s pretty much the only costume he’s ever worn as an adult. Just one big white jacket, a fake stethoscope, and a clipboard. throw it on over whatever he’s got on (he’s already wearing khakis 90% of the time) and boom, ready to go. Honestly, I don’t hate it either. Somehow he gave out Wonder Balls this year?
ALSO #11 CLEMSON OVER LOUISVILLE. So Dabo Swinney and Mike Gundy did this weird thing where they dressed up as each other for Halloween? I don’t really get it either, but 2024’s seen weirder things (not many, though). Jeff Brohm hasn’t dressed up for Halloween since the 5th grade, but does like to watch Halloween on Halloween morning every year.
#10 TEXAS A&M OVER SOUTH CAROLINA. Mike Elko doesn’t really get into the Halloween stuff. He’ll pass out little candies, but he’ll give you real Elko-sized fistfuls of candies. Dude’s got a killer home theater so the movies sort of rock for his regular home environment.
#7 TENNESSEE OVER KENTUCKY. Josh Hueppel let his players dress him up as The Joker this year, but he got to pick which version of Joker he got to be. His choice: the Jack Nicholson version. Hueppel only passes out candy bars. No licorice, no Fun Dip. 100 Grand, Butterfinger, Twix, Snickers, Reese’s Fast Break — just bars.
DUKE OVER #5 MIAMI. Mario Cristobal loves Halloween, but he likes that he can still get away with wearing his shark onesie pajamas as a costume. Manny Diaz usually doesn’t get into the Halloween spirit, but Miami week is probably incredibly personal to him, and he should probably come off the bus dressed as a grim reaper.
#4 OHIO STATE OVER #3 PENN STATE. James Franklin did not give out Halloween candy this year. Little rusty hammers? Absolutely. Those kids are going to need it one day, and you can’t rely on other people’s fathers all the time. Ryan Day dressed as
#2 GEORGIA OVER FLORIDA. Kirby Smart doesn’t recognize Halloween which means Billy Napier doesn’t have to.
#1 OREGON OVER MICHIGAN. Dan Lanning was the Oregon Duck for Halloween this year. He and the social media team would try to do a funny social media post by tricking the players that they and the Duck would gang up on coach Lanning for a pie-in-the-face level of prank. Then Lanning reveals himself to the players and pies them. Sherrone Moore didn’t dress-up, but he at least wore a jack-o-lantern sweater.
EIGHT ADDITIONAL PICKS
My personal rule here: No boring picks. I’ll define that however I wish.
VANDERBILT OVER AUBURN.
WASHINGTON OVER USC.
WISCONSIN OVER IOWA.
VIRGINIA TECH OVER SYRACUSE.
OKLAHOMA STATE OVER ARIZONA STATE.
BAYLOR OVER TCU.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN OVER SOUTH ALABAMA.
UL-MONROE OVER MARSHALL.
