As the college football season enters its second full month, we begin to see the cream rise to the top. Only 14 unbeaten teams remain in FBS, so let’s take a quick look at each of them.

#1 Alabama is the most un-Nick Saban team in the history of Nick Saban teams at Alabama. The Tide, known for running the ball and superb defense throughout Saban’s tenure, finds themselves #1 in the country in scoring…offense, at 54.2 points per game, and #10 in the country in passing offense, at 335.8 yards per game. For perspective, no team at Alabama under Saban has ever finished higher than #28 nationally in passing offense. Best win to this point: 45-23 against Texas A&M.

#2 Georgia hasn’t missed a beat in the running game with the departures of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. The Dawgs average 250.4 yards per game on the ground; Georgia averaged 258.4 per game last year. Losing Roquan Smith hasn’t hurt too much, either: UGA is 6th in total defense, at 275.6 yards per game. Best win: 41-17 at South Carolina.

#3 Ohio State didn’t miss Urban Meyer too much during his three game suspension, winning all three by double digits. Dwayne Haskins leads an offense averaging 557 yards per game, good for fourth nationally. The Buckeyes own two of the most impressive victories of all the unbeatens by virtue of their win in Happy Valley over Penn State last week and a 40-28 win over TCU in a neutral-site game. Best win: 27-26 at Penn State.

#4 Clemson is playing with fire. The Tigers sneaked by Syracuse in their last game and potentially lost their newly-crowned starting quarterback in the process. This seems to be a constant with Clemson under Dabo Swinney, however; since 2015, Clemson is 15-3 in games decided by single digits. Sometimes just continuing to win is good enough; the Tigers went 7-1 in such games in their national championship year of 2016. Best win: 28-26 at Texas A&M.

#5 LSU is the only team that has beaten two other teams that were ranked in the top ten at the time they played them: then-#8 Miami and then-#7 Auburn. This despite only ranking 77th in the country in total offense (396.6 yards per game) and 32nd in total defense (333.8 YPG). Can the Bayou Bengals keep it up? The next four games will tell the tale: at Florida, then home against Georgia, Mississippi State, and Alabama. Best win: 22-21 at Auburn.

#6 Notre Dame is for real. The Irish have already beaten Michigan and Stanford, neither of which has lost otherwise. One problem: the Irish have only played once away from Notre Dame Stadium to this point. The schedule appears manageable, however; among the teams left to play, only Virginia Tech is ranked. Could the Irish find themselves in the College Football Playoff for the first time? Best win: 38-17 against Stanford.

#7 Oklahoma isn’t exactly saying “Baker who?”, but it’s a lot easier to handle Baker Mayfield’s moving on to Cleveland when you have the second-rated quarterback in the country in Kyler Murray, with a passing efficiency rating of 231.6. For perspective, Mayfield’s passing efficiency rating last year (which not only led the nation, but set a NCAA FBS record) was 198.9. Just sayin’. Best win: 66-33 against Baylor.

#9 West Virginia is regretting losing that non-conference matchup with NC State due to Hurricane Florence. Without it, the non-conference schedule doesn’t look nearly as good (a win against Tennessee this year doesn’t hold nearly the cache it would historically). That being said, the Mountaineers have done well in conference thus far, but everything points to the end of the schedule: at Texas, TCU, at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma. Best win: 42-34 at Texas Tech.

#12 UCF has the longest winning streak in the country, at 17 games. The Knights lost their entire coaching staff, but the nucleus remains from last year’s unbeaten squad. UCF is winning games by an average of 32 points per game, third-highest in the country. Again, it appears that the schedule will be what holds the Knights out of a realistic shot at the playoff; none of their wins are over teams with a winning record, and of the remaining teams on the schedule, none are currently ranked. Best win: 45-14 against Pittsburgh.

#13 Kentucky is winning with a solid defense. The Wildcats are 2nd in the country in passing efficiency defense, which leads to only giving up 12.6 points per game, tied for third nationally. The Cats also have Benny Snell, who is 7th in the country in rushing yards per game (127.8). With three conference wins already under their belt, Big Blue Nation is headed for their best SEC East finish (they’ve never been higher than 3rd since divisional play began in 1992). Best win: 27-16 at Florida.

#21 Colorado is waiting for someone to play. Of the Buffaloes’ four opponents, they’re a combined 1-16. The standout for CU has to be wide receiver Laviska Shenault; he leads the country in receptions per game (9.5) and receiving yards per game (145.3), and is fifth in receiving yards despite having only played in four games thus far (all players above him have either 5 or 6 games). Best win: uh…let’s say 33-28 at Nebraska.

#23 NC State is wishing they’d played West Virginia (see the Mountaineers’ entry above). A win over them would probably have moved the Wolfpack into the top 15. NC State is ninth in the country in passing offense (342.3 ypg), and is surprisingly good at third-down conversions (59.3%, third nationally). Defensively, they stiffen their necks in the red zone (T-5th in the country in red zone defense), which leads to only giving up 15.3 points per game. Best win: 35-21 against Virginia.

Cincinnati is extremely stingy. The Bearcats are only giving up 12.2 points per game, second-best in the nation, and are 7th in total defense, at 276 yards per game. But again, this is a team whose biggest tests lie in front of it, especially in November, when back-to-back games against USF and UCF loom… Best win: 34-30 against Ohio.

South Florida has two wins over Power 5 schools (Illinois and Georgia Tech). Coach Charlie Strong (remember him, Texas fans?) and grad transfer QB Blake Barnett (remember him, Alabama fans?) lead a team that doesn’t do anything flashy, but gets the job done. Perhaps their best trait is their pass defense, where they rank 13th in raw passing yards per game, and 4th in pass efficiency defense. Best win: 49-38 over Georgia Tech.

In small-school news, we go back to the Dakotas for a game that has been played more times than all but four rivalries. The Black Hills Brawl is the annual matchup between the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (with the awesome mascot name of the Hardrockers) and Black Hills State University. The teams have met 132 times, with the first official meeting in 1900. The series stands 62-59-11 in favor of South Dakota Mines, although Black Hills won last year’s game 25-24 and has dominated the series in the past 30 years, going 25-9 in that span. A little mental arithmetic will tell you that must mean the schools sometimes play twice in one year, and this has been the case several seasons, including most recently in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2011. In 1917, the teams played three times against each other!

Congratulations to Bamarock, who wins week 5 with 187 points! Crimson Gator was second with 183, and Jeff4Bama and AllySun tied for third with 182.

Standings after five weeks:

1st	AllySun	1119
2nd	Crimson Gator	1118
3rd	JagRag	1114
T-4th	bamaken	1113
T-4th	El Dude-arino	1113
6th	Paul Herron	1110
7th	BEVO	1100
8th	AUBrian	1099
9th	Jeff4Bama	1095
T-10th	Ragnor	1093
T-10th	Liquid Heat	1093

This weekend features twenty games and three ranked-versus-ranked games, including the famous “Red River Rivalry” between Oklahoma and Texas at the Cotton Bowl. The first games are Saturday, October 6 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

In 2004, ESPN developed a metric known as the Football Power Index, or FPI for short, to forecast the results of college football games and seasons. When evaluating an individual matchup, the FPI determines the favorite and their likelihood of winning as a percentage. In last week’s Virginia Tech – Old Dominion game, the FPI calculated that Virginia Tech had a 98.2% chance of winning. There were many reasons for thinking this – Virginia Tech is a Power 5 school, while Old Dominion is in Conference USA; the Hokies were undefeated, while the Monarchs were winless (including a painful 52-10 loss to Liberty in the first game of the season); the Monarchs had only been playing football in the modern era since 2009 and as an FBS program since 2014; ODU would have to play their backup quarterback after the first series of the game; the list could go on and on. But that’s why they play the games. In perhaps the biggest upset the season will see, the Monarchs shocked Virginia Tech 49-35, rolling up 632 yards of offense along the way. ODU’s upset of the 28.5-point favorite Hokies marked the biggest upset in the history of the FPI metric. You just never know…

Meanwhile, in Norman, Oklahoma, Army was looking to make history of its own. The Black Knights hadn’t beaten a ranked team since 1972, and hadn’t won against a top-10 team since 1963. But Saturday night they gave the Sooners everything they could handle before succumbing 28-21 in overtime. Army outgained Oklahoma 379-355, held onto the ball for nearly three-quarters of the game (44:41), converted 13 of 21 third-down attempts, and ran 87 total plays to the Sooners’ 40 (the third-fewest number of plays OU has ever run in a game, and the fewest in a win by a team this year). Army had not one, but two 16-play touchdown drives.  They stopped Oklahoma on fourth-and-1 with 12:23 to go in the game, then methodically took over ten minutes off of the clock driving down the field until a costly interception gave the ball back to Oklahoma, who promptly missed a field goal to win at the buzzer before getting the victory in extra time. The game was on pay-per-view, and may very well have been worth the price of admission!

Out in Eugene, Oregon fans had to be wondering what happened. The Ducks were handily beating Stanford, 24-7. Three minutes were left in the third quarter, and Oregon wide receiver Jaylon Redd appeared to have taken the ball into the end zone for another score to put the game out of reach. However, replay ruled that he was out of bounds before crossing the goal line, putting the ball back at the one. Three plays later, a bad snap turned into a scoop-and-score for Stanford linebacker Joey Alfieri to make it 24-14. Despite that, and allowing another quick Stanford score afterwards, Oregon had another chance to put the game away with a minute and a half to go. One first down would have done it; instead, a costly fumble gave the ball back to the Cardinal, who drove down the field and kicked a game-tying field goal with no time left to send the game to overtime. The extra period was all Stanford, as Oregon’s defense couldn’t stop the Cardinal passing game. Quarterback K. J. Costello got the final 23 of his 327 passing yards on a touchdown strike to Colby Parkinson, and the Stanford defense stopped the Quack Attack to preserve the improbable 38-31 triumph. How improbable? Back to ESPN’s win probability statistics we go. At the moment before the first-and-goal play following the replay that overturned the touchdown, FPI calculated the Ducks’ chances of victory at 99%.

In small-school news, Illinois State wants to make the Missouri Valley Football Conference a three-team race! The FCS Redbirds, who are now 3-0 on the young season, went to Colorado State this weekend and knocked off the Rams, 35-19. Illinois State, which was picked to finish fifth in its own conference in the preseason media poll, took home a tidy $375,000 check for their trouble as well. The Missouri Valley Football Conference is the home to perennial power and current FCS #1 North Dakota State, but it’s also got South Dakota State, which is ranked #3 in FCS. Those two teams play this weekend in a rivalry game for the Dakota Marker, a model replica of the historic border markers that were placed when the Dakota Territory was split into the two states between 1891 and 1892. Don’t assume that the Bison will automatically win this game, either – South Dakota State has won two of the last three meetings. Illinois State gets their shot against these two back-to-back, on October 20 (NDSU) and 27 (SDSU).

Congratulations to El Dude-arino, who wins week 4 with 249 points! In second place was verntroyer, who had 244 points, and BEVO was third with 240 points.

Standings after four weeks:

1st	AllySun	937
T-2nd	El Dude-arino	935
T-2nd	JagRag	935
T-2nd	Crimson Gator	935
5th	Paul Herron	933
6th	bamaken	932
7th	JagAL	930
8th	BEVO	926
9th	AUBrian	924
10th	verntroyer	920

We’re finally into the thick of the conference slate, and with that comes more ranked-versus-ranked matchups! Five such games are on the lineup this week, so make your picks wisely! The first game this weekend is North Carolina at Miami (FL), Thursday, September 24 @ 8 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

You have seen me discuss the concept of “paycheck games” often in this space: a team from a Group of 5 league or FCS is paid a large sum to come to a Power 5 school’s stadium for a game. Generally, the formula goes “little school comes in, little school gets drubbed by big school, little school licks its wounds and subsidizes its athletic department.” Sometimes, however, you get teams that don’t go along with the script. Take Troy, for example. The Trojans took a $1.15 million payday from Nebraska, took a trip to Lincoln, then took a 24-19 win back home to Troy. They’ve now pulled off $2 million worth of “paycheck game” upsets in the last two years (having earned $985,000 last year for beating LSU). While Troy celebrates, Nebraska ponders unfamiliar territory, as the Cornhuskers are 0-2 for the first time since 1957. They might not be in this position if their season opener against Akron hadn’t been canceled. Then again, Akron beat Northwestern 39-34 this weekend (their first win over a Big Ten team since 1894!), so one never can be too sure…

At this point in the season, most teams have played three games, and it’s interesting to see some of the gaudy statistics that some teams have piled up. For example:

• Alabama, who normally is one of the highest-ranked teams in scoring defense, currently leads the nation in scoring offense, at 56.7 points per game. (Bama is 8th in the country in scoring defense, at 9.3 points per game, so it’s not like the Tide has fallen off of the map there.)
• Texas Tech is the national leader in yards per game, at 624.4. While the Red Raiders also lead the country in passing offense, they are gaining 175.7 per game on the ground as well.
• One can argue about the quality of the Power 5 opponents they’ve faced, but Ohio State has played all Power 5 opposition to this point, and the Buckeyes have rolled up 608 yards and 56.3 points per game against them.
• The national leader in scoring defense? Stanford, at 7.7 points per game. The Cardinal have not allowed more than ten points in a game so far this year.
• You might think the nation’s best quarterback in terms of passing efficiency might be Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, or Will Grier from West Virginia, or Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray, or perhaps even someone like Georgia’s Jake Fromm. While all four of those are in the top six, the #1 spot actually belongs to Anthony Brown from Boston College, who sports a nifty 240.2 rating.
• There’s a reason that Kansas has been able to win two games after losing to Nicholls State in their opener: turnovers. The Jayhawks are ballhawks, sporting a +12 turnover margin after three games. Only one other team (Fresno State) has even gained twelve turnovers this season.

In small-school news, the FCS Davidson Wildcats met the Division III Guilford Quakers last Thursday night.  The teams proceeded to go full ham for the next 60 minutes, resulting in a 91-61 Davidson win. Here are just three of the records that were broken:

• Davidson gained 964 total yards, breaking the 27-year-old FCS record held by Weber State and the school record, which was set 72 years ago. (Guilford gained 698 yards of their own – pretty good for a Division III school playing two levels up!)
• 685 of of the Wildcats’ yards were rushing yards, which breaks the FCS record by four yards. (Their old school record of 587 rushing yards was set in 1921.) Davidson scored 10 rushing touchdowns.
• Davidson averaged 15.5 yards per play, destroying their school record of 8.3 per play, set in 1979. Contributing to that were eight – count ’em, eight – touchdown plays of 50 yards or more!

Congratulations to JagRag, who wins week 3 in a tie-breaker over AllySun! Both finished with 215 points. Ralphie, bamaken, and Crimson Gator each finished with 213 points.

Standings after three weeks:

1st	AllySun	705
2nd	bamaken	701
T-3rd	JagAL	699
T-3rd	JagRag	699
T-3rd	Crimson Gator	699
T-3rd	Paul Herron	699
7th	AUBrian	691
T-8th	El Dude-arino	686
T-8th	Jeff4Bama	686
T-8th	BEVO	686

The upcoming weekend is a big one points-wise, as not many top-25 matchups are on the list. But the conference season has begun in earnest, so the games should be getting tougher for the ranked teams! The first game this week is Florida Atlantic at Central Florida, Friday, September 21st @ 7 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

Major college football now has two 900-win teams. Michigan has 944 wins, far and away the most all-time, but their arch-rival is #2 on the list. Ohio State, with a 52-3 win over Rutgers, notched its 900th all-time win. The Buckeyes will probably have some company soon, however. Texas has 899 wins, and Nebraska and Alabama both have 893, so it’s safe to say that this year will include several 900th-win celebrations.

Speaking of the Crimson Tide, Alabama is #1 again. That’s not anything new, but the significance of it is. This week’s AP Poll marks the 106th time that Alabama has been at the top. That passes Ohio State for the most weeks at #1 in the 82-year history of the poll. Alabama certainly has a storied tradition, but the really amazing thing is how many of these appearances have occurred under current coach Nick Saban. The Tide first reached #1 under Saban on November 2, 2008 – incidentally, also after a win over Arkansas State – and have done so another 74 times since. Alabama’s 75 appearances at #1 under Saban would rank sixth all-time in and of itself – just another in a long line of incredible statistics associated with the Tide’s current dynasty.

A couple of long streaks were snapped this weekend. Kentucky broke a thirty-one game losing streak against Florida, the fourth-longest in history, with a 27-16 win in Gainesville Saturday night. The Wildcats had not won in Gainesville since 1979. With the win, there are no uninterrupted series in which one team even has a current 20-game streak over the other. The longest currently-active streak overall is 24, held by Texas A&M over TCU, but the teams have not played each other since 2001.  Also, Kansas broke a 46-game road losing skid by defeating Central Michigan 31-7 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It was the second-longest road losing streak in college football history, behind only a 48-game string by FCS Idaho State that ended in 2014.  Before Saturday, the Jayhawks had not won on the road since September 12, 2009.

In small-school news, a traditional local D2 power has made its way up to FCS. North Alabama won three Division 2 national titles and played for two others, but made the leap to FCS this year, playing as an independent; they will be part of the Big South Conference starting next year. UNA’s tenure in FCS has started well – they are 2-0, with wins over Southern Utah and Alabama A&M – but this weekend will be a much stiffer test. The Lions make the trip to Fargo to take on the North Dakota State Bison, who won eight national titles in Division 2 before moving to the FCS, where they’ve won another six, including last year’s. The 14 national titles North Dakota State claims since the poll era began is by far the most of any team currently in the FCS.

Congratulations to bamaken, who wins week two with 273 points! There was a three-way tie for second between GO PONIES!, Paul Herron, and AllySun, who each had 270 points.

Standings after two weeks:

1st	AllySun	490
T-2nd	bamaken	488
T-2nd	JagAL	488
4th	Paul Herron	487
5th	Crimson Gator	486
6th	JagRag	484
7th	AUBrian	481
8th	Jeff4Bama	480
T-8th	BEVO	480
T-8th	Ragnor	480

An interesting mix of conference and non-conference games dot the lineup this weekend, including top-15 matchups in Auburn and Arlington (yes, the Ohio State/TCU game is at JerryWorld, not TCU’s Amon Carter Stadium), so it looks to be a great football weekend! The first games are Saturday, September 15 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

When analysts looked at the Atlantic Coast Conference this off-season, the question raised was simply, “who’s going to stand a chance against Clemson?” Several answers were brought up: Miami, Florida State, even North Carolina State. Not too many people mentioned the fellows from Blacksburg, Virginia. Virginia Tech only had three starters coming back on defense and some questions to be answered on the offensive end as well, but there might be a few more believers after their impressive showing on Labor Day evening, as they went to Tallahassee and emerged 24-3 victors over Florida State. That young Hokies defense forced five turnovers and held the Seminoles without a touchdown in a home game for the first time since 2008. In classic Virginia Tech fashion, they also blocked a punt and returned it for a score. While it doesn’t cement their status as top contenders behind Clemson in the ACC, it’s certainly a big step in the right direction.

West Virginia has a proud football tradition. The Mountaineers have been playing football since 1891, and in their existence have amassed 745 wins, good for 14th in the nation. However, they hold the dubious distinction as the program with the most wins that has never won a national championship or a Heisman Trophy. WVU has had a few close calls (a loss against Notre Dame in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl prevented a 12-0 season and a probable title, and 2007’s heartbreaking 13-9 loss to Pitt while ranked #2 by the AP and #1 by the coaches poll eliminated them from contention), but has never grabbed the brass ring. Neither has a Mountaineer ever lifted the bronze statue – Major Harris came closest by finishing 3rd in 1989’s Heisman voting. Could 2018 be the year they get off the schneid? Will Grier might have a lot to say about it. The West Virginia QB threw for 429 yards and five touchdowns in a 40-14 demolition of Tennessee. Grier threw for 275 yards and four of the touchdowns in the second half alone. With the wide-open playing style of the Big Twelve season ahead, Grier will have plenty of opportunities to further impress Heisman voters – and plenty of chances to continue moving the Mountaineers up in the polls.

In small-school news, you always know that it’s going to happen at some point during the season, and usually multiple times. A lower-division team is going to take down an FBS opponent. Nicholls State (a small school in Thibodaux, Louisiana) took a trip to Lawrence, Kansas and beat the Jayhawks 26-23 in overtime. East Carolina was tripped up by North Carolina A&T, 28-23. Temple was beaten by Villanova, 19-17. Northern Arizona beat UTEP 30-10. (The Lumberjacks beat the Miners. This game should be played with a dual-bladed axe for a trophy!)

Congratulations to JagAL, who wins week 1 via tie-breaker over Crimson Gator and AllySun!  All three finished with 220 points. BEVO finished one point behind with 219, and Rocky Tide and Pachyderm each had 218 points.

Twenty-three games are on the slate this week, including some nice non-conference matchups. It’s a big point weekend! The first game this week is TCU at SMU (the “Battle for the Iron Skillet”), Friday, September 8 @ 8 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

It’s hard to believe, but the college football regular season (minus Army/Navy) is complete, and now it’s time to announce the winners of the 2017 e-Systems College Football Pool!  In the closest finish in pool history, congratulations to the overall winner:

Crimson Gator

Crimson Gator  finished the season with 2,599 points.  Just one point behind, Paul Herron finished In second place with 2,598 points, and AUBrian and AllySun were one more point behind in third, with 2,597 points.  Congratulations to each of these players for their tremendous performances!  Each will receive a special prize for their accomplishment.

Crimson Gator started a little slowly, but after week two they only finished outside of the top eight in a week twice. They won week 9, and have the unique distinction this year of picking perfectly in two separate weeks (8 and 14); strangely enough, due to tie-breakers, they were not the weekly winner either time. In another first, and a testament to how tight this year’s competition was, they never held the overall lead until the very end. Starting with week 9 they were in second place consistently behind various other players, until a perfect 7-0 performance in week 14 allowed them to eke out a win by the slimmest of margins. But a win is a win, and it is in fact their second overall win since I’ve kept records (they also won in 2011). Congratulations again to Crimson Gator!

In the first half of the game (weeks 1-7), the top three performers were AllySun (1,468 points), Bamarock (1,465), and Paul Herron (1,464).  In the second half of the game (weeks 8-14), the top three were Crimson Gator (1,144), Jeff4Bama (1,141), and AUBrian (1,140). Congratulations!

The player who picked the most games correctly (228 out of 273 –83.516% correct) was AllySun.  Crimson Gator was second with 227 games correct, and AUBrian, JagRag, and WarTiger91 were next with 226 games. Great job to each of these consistent pickers!

There were three multiple-week winners this year. WarTiger91 won in both weeks 3 and 7, Bamarock won weeks 6 and 8, and pachyderm won back-to-back in weeks 10 and 11.  Well done!  In addition to Crimson Gator’s week 9 win, other weekly winners included: Paul Herron (1), JagRag (2), G8rBamaLvr (4), BoomBoomTX (5), Jeff4Bama (12), JagAL (13), and AllySun (14). Congrats to all of the weekly winners!

The tie-breaker award, which goes to the player who did the best overall in picking tie-breaker amounts over the season, was won by Publius, who was off by only 156 points total over all 14 weeks!  In second was AUBrian (170), and AllySun (179) was third.  Good job!

There were ten perfectly-picked weeks this year! In addition to the aforementioned two perfect weeks by Crimson Gator, others with perfect weeks were JagRag (week 2), Bamarock, Paul Herron, G8rBamaLvr, Ralphie, Jeff4Bama, pachyderm (all in week 8), and AllySun (week 14). Props to all the perfect pickers!

How did we all do?

Picks: 4,659 / 5,779 (80.619%)
Points: 53,829 / 61,869 (87.005%)
Best week as a group, by picks: week 8 (314 / 340 – 92.353%)
Best week as a group, by points: week 8 (2,980 / 3,060 – 97.386%)
Six weeks with 80+% of picks correct
Five weeks with 90+% of possible points gained
Ten perfect weeks
Twenty-seven weeks with all but one pick correct

Everyone will receive a prize for participating this year! If you aren’t sure that we have your current mailing address for shipping, please respond to this e-mail and we will update our records.

On behalf of all of us at e-Systems, thank you again for participating in our 14^th annual College Football Pool. We love the  college football season, as I’m sure you all do, and we hope that this pool continues to add another level of interest and excitement as you watch games and talk about the results with your friends and co-workers!  As I mentioned before, this was the closest race in pool history, coming down to the last few games on Championship Saturday; it was a lot of fun to watch it all unfold. I hope that all of you will join us in 2018, when we’ll do it all again! In the meantime, we hope you will think of e-Systems for all your custom application and system needs.  We’re just as much fun to work with!

The College Football Playoff top four has been set, and with no small amount of controversy – well, regarding the fourth position, anyway. Once again, Ohio State found themselves in the middle of the sea of opinion as to whether they were deserving of a playoff berth. The CFP has only been around for four years, but I don’t think any program will have a stranger history with the playoff selection committee any time soon. In 2014, they needed a massive 59-0 win in the Big Ten championship game just to get to the fourth spot – and that propelled them to a national title. 2015 saw a Buckeye team that lost just once, by a field goal, to the eventual Big Ten champs Michigan State, get left out of the playoff entirely. In 2016, Ohio State, without a conference title and with a loss against the eventual Big Ten champs in Penn State, leapfrogged the two-loss Nittany Lions into the top four. And now 2017 – and the Buckeyes found themselves somewhat on the other side of the argument from the previous year. It turns out that a Big Ten title won in sluggish fashion over Wisconsin wasn’t enough in the committee’s eyes to overcome a 31-point loss to a 7-5 Iowa team and an Alabama team that had no conference title but “passed the eye test”. If you’re a Buckeye fan, this much is guaranteed – the playoff selection show is appointment viewing and always provides the highest of drama.

Bowl season is upon us, and with it comes several weeks of interesting matchups, battles for conference supremacy, and programs attempting to springboard into the next season with a big win.  How do you, the viewer, attempt to figure out what game to watch? Let me help you out!

If you want to watch the teams with the fewest combined losses, watch: the Celebration Bowl on December 16. Ah, you thought I’d say one of the semifinal games, right? Both of those games feature two one-loss teams. The Celebration Bowl, which serves as the de facto national championship of historically black colleges and universities, pits undefeated North Carolina A&T vs. one-loss Grambling.

If you like your “neutral site games” in name only, watch: the Boca Raton Bowl on December 19, or the Orange Bowl on December 30. Florida Atlantic plays against Akron in its own home stadium in Boca Raton, and Miami faces Wisconsin at their home field, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

If you want to watch the finish to an improbable season, watch: the Bahamas Bowl on December 22. UAB, which didn’t even have a team last year, plays Ohio in an attempt to win its ninth game this season.

If you tend to scream “run the ball”, watch: the Armed Forces Bowl on December 23. San Diego State features the nation’s leading rusher in Rashaad Penny (2,027 yards); Army leads the country in rushing yards per game (368.1) and has completed just eighteen passes all year.

If you want a really good matchup of conference runner-ups, watch: the Alamo Bowl on December 28. Stanford came up just short against USC in the Pac-12 title game, and TCU ran into the buzzsaw that is Oklahoma’s offense in the Big Twleve championship, but these are two solid teams.

If you want to watch a team that’s really happy to be in a bowl, watch: the Arizona Bowl on December 29. New Mexico State hasn’t been to a bowl game since 1960, the longest streak in FBS. The Aggies will gladly take a trip across the Arizona state line to play Utah State.

If you want a game that seems set about 1,400 miles too far east, watch: the Cotton Bowl on December 29.  The classic Big Ten/Pac-12 matchup of USC and Ohio State really seems like it should take place in Pasadena instead of Arlington, Texas, doesn’t it?

If you want teams who want a better finish to their season in a big bowl game, watch: the Fiesta Bowl on December 30. Washington and Penn State both made New Years’ Six bowl games last year (the Huskies to the playoff in the Peach Bowl; the Nittany Lions to the Rose Bowl), only to end with a loss. This year, one gets a measure of redemption.

In small-school news, the Division III semifinals are this weekend, and the final four have a combined record of fifty-one wins, zero losses. Mount Union, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Brockport play this weekend for the opportunity to make it to the Stagg Bowl, the Division III national championship game. The game is named after Amos Alonzo Stagg, the famous coach at the University of Chicago and the University of the Pacific. This year’s edition of the Stagg Bowl is the last scheduled at Salem, Virginia, where it has been held since 1993. Shenandoah, Texas, and Canton, Ohio, are scheduled to host the next four Stagg Bowls.

Congratulations to AllySun, who wins week 14 in a tie-breaker over Crimson Gator! Both picked the seven games perfectly for a total of 28 points. Paul Herron was next with 27 points, and BoomBoomTX and Jeff4Bama each had 25 points.

Stay tuned for the season wrap-up and the announcement of the winners!

If you want to right now, there’s lots to talk about regarding college football. Conference championship games, coaching hirings and firings, who will make it into the playoff, and so on. But in the interest of time and getting this email out, I’ll keep it short – and focus on something completely different. That is, the status of our pick ‘em game itself.

First, the week 13 winners! This week’s winner is JagAL, with 213 points! Jeff4Bama was second with 204 points, and WarTiger91 had 203 points.

Now, to the overall standings after 13 weeks:

1st	AUBrian	2573
T-2nd	Paul Herron	2571
T-2nd	Crimson Gator	2571
4th	AllySun	2569
5th	Bamarock	2567
6th	JagRag	2560
7th	WarTiger91	2558
8th	Jeff4Bama	2557
9th	pachyderm	2517
10th	G8rBamaLvr	2508

This leader board is unprecedented. In all the time that I have administered the pool and kept records, I can never remember as close a race entering week 14 as we have here. Usually, the conference championship weekend is something of a “victory lap” for the winner – just remember to get your picks in, and you’re good. That is not the case this year. With five people within six points of the lead, and eight within 16 points, this game is far from finished. Based upon how bold our pickers are feeling, and with college football providing its usual drama, anything can happen! Even with only seven games on the slate, every point matters!

So with that, the first game on the list this weekend is the Pac-12 Championship Game. It’s Stanford against USC, Friday, December 1 @ 8 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

The Florida – Florida State game has, in the last three decades, been one of the fiercer rivalries in the country. The Gators and Seminoles have played many games with national implications on the line – and in fact, played twice in the 1996 season, once for the national title. (The Seminoles won the regular season game 24-21, but the Gators took the rematch 52-20, and the trophy with it.) The names of the players in the series stand out, some on a single-name basis: Charlie Ward. Danny Wuerffel. Tebow. Jameis. This edition? Well, this edition is different. Both teams enter the game with losing records. The Gators cannot go to a bowl game, but they can play spoiler to an incredible streak by Florida State – if Florida wins, Florida State (without a lot of help) will miss a bowl game for the first time in 36 years, the longest such streak in the nation by over a decade.

Speaking of Florida rivalry games, we’ve finally reached the one a lot of people have been waiting for: South Florida-UCF. The 9-1 Bulls and 10-0 Knights meet for just the ninth time, but this one is easily the biggest in the history of the game. The American’s East division is on the line, making this only one of two rivalry games played this week where the winner advances to its conference title game (the other is the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn). UCF’s offense is the highest-scoring in the country, averaging 48.2 points per game. South Florida is no slouch there themselves, averaging almost 38 a game, propelled by a rushing attack that averages almost 280 yards a game. The coaching matchup is intriguing as well – USF’s Charlie Strong is proving that there is life after the crucible at Texas, while UCF’s Scott Frost is on all the trendy “up-and-coming” lists. It should make for a great “War on I-4”.

The University of Idaho doesn’t have a particularly strong college football tradition. The Vandals have an all-time record of 459-609-26. They’ve only been to three bowl games in their history, and have only had two winning seasons since 2000. However, they’re about to make college football history. After this week’s game against New Mexico State and next week’s season finale against Georgia State, Idaho will officially move from FBS football to FCS, becoming the first team in history to do so. The move was necessitated by the Sun Belt Conference essentially showing the Vandals the door. Idaho (and fellow pariah New Mexico State) are well outside the geographic boundaries of the conference, and it decided to move forward as a ten-team league. Idaho, not seeing interest from any other FBS conference, faced the music and made the historic decision. The Vandals will play in the Big Sky Conference next year, thus making this paragraph our last reference ever to Idaho football not in the “small school news” section. Maybe next year we’ll check in on the Vandals and see how they’re doing in their new digs.

Speaking of which, in small-school news: the FCS playoff field is out, and people are complaining. Of course, with a playoff field, there’s always some grief about who got in at whose expense, but a seemingly-egregious case can be made for Austin Peay. The Governors had an 8-4 record overall, which on the face of it sounds okay, if not superb. However, three of those losses were to FBS teams Cincinnati, Miami (OH), and UCF; Austin Peay was 8-1 against FCS competition. They compiled a 7-1 record in the Ohio Valley Conference, their only loss coming to FCS #2 Jacksonville State. The “guarantee” games against FBS competition are big for two reasons: helping supplement the athletic budget, and recruiting. Austin Peay’s decision to play three such games may have cost them a chance at playing for a national championship.

Congratulations to Jeff4Bama, who wins week 12 with 269 points! Bamarock was second with 267, and BEVO, BoomBoomTX, and Publius each had 261 points.

Standings after twelve weeks:

1st	AllySun	2379
2nd	Crimson Gator	2375
3rd	AUBrian	2373
4th	Paul Herron	2371
5th	Bamarock	2366
6th	JagRag	2365
7th	WarTiger91	2355
T-8th	Jeff4Bama	2353
T-8th	pachyderm	2353
10th	G8rBamaLvr	2318

Rivalry week is historically one of the hardest weeks to pick, and with such a tight race at the top, all the games take on an even greater importance! Happy Thanksgiving to all, and remember that your first game this week is Thanksgiving night. It’s the 114^th renewal of the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and it kicks off Thursday, November 23^rd @ 7:30 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!

Approximately 9 PM Central Time on Saturday night, the college football world was on the verge of seeing something that had happened just once in the history of the game.  Since the advent of the AP poll in 1936, only one time had the teams ranked #1, #2, and #3 in the AP poll all been defeated on the same day. In fact, it happened on New Year’s Day 1966, when #1 Michigan State lost to #5 UCLA, #2 Arkansas lost to LSU, and #3 Nebraska lost to #4 Alabama in a series of events that propelled the Crimson Tide to a national title.  Almost Fifty-two years later, Alabama found itself teetering on the wrong side of history.   #2 Georgia had been beaten 40-17 by Auburn earlier in the day, Miami was in the process of wrapping up a 41-8 win over #3 Notre Dame, and #1 Alabama was losing in the fourth quarter against Mississippi State.  The Tide came back to win 31-24 and avoided becoming a historical footnote. Given that #6 TCU and #9 Washington also lost this past weekend, it lends power to the old adage…the college football season doesn’t really begin until November comes around.

With only two weekends left in the regular season, it’s a good time to take stock of all of the conference races. So, in a nutshell, here’s how everything stands:

American: In the East, only UCF and South Florida can win the division. If South Florida wins its game against Tulsa this week, the season finale between the Knights and Bulls determines the division winner.  In the West, Memphis wins the division if it wins one of its last two games against SMU and East Carolina; Houston needs two losses by the Tigers in addition to winning out themselves.

ACC: this one’s easy. It’s Clemson (the Atlantic winner) against Miami (the Coastal winner) in the ACC championship game.

Big Twelve: Oklahoma, at 6-1 and with tie-breakers over TCU and Oklahoma State, can clinch a spot in the Big Twelve championship game with one more win. The second spot is trickier.  In their tie-breaker order, TCU, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia have 5-2 marks. Of the three, only TCU controls its destiny; two wins and they’re in.

Big Ten: Wisconsin has won the West.  In the East, Ohio State has a one-game lead, but it’s not decided yet; with a loss to Michigan in the season finale, there exists the possibility for a four-way tie between Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State! If that happens, and I understand my Big Ten divisional tie-breakers correctly, the winner of the division would be…Ohio State. Well, never mind. They need to lose twice for anyone else to have a chance.

Conference USA: with one more win, Florida Atlantic clinches the East division; Florida International needs to win out, including beating FAU this week, and have the Owls lose against Charlotte as well. In the West, North Texas is the division champion.

MAC: in the East, Ohio and Akron control their own destinies; win out and they’re in.  Tonight’s tilt between the Bobcats and Zips is of utmost importance.  In the West, Toledo and Northern Illinois are tied, but the Rockets have the tie-breaker over NIU due to a 27-17 win, so the Huskies need another Toledo loss to have a chance.

Mountain West: In the Mountain division, Boise State can lock up a championship berth with a win in either of their final two games. Wyoming needs the Broncos to lose twice in order to make it. In the West Division, Fresno State has a one-game lead over San Diego State and the tie-breaker over the Aztecs, but must still play Boise State and Wyoming. San Diego State needs two Bulldog losses and wins over Nevada and New Mexico.

Pac-12: the South’s representative is USC.  In the North, things are much more up in the air. Washington State wins the division with a win in the Apple Cup over rival Washington. If the Huskies win that game, the outcome of the division rests on the result of the Big Game between Stanford and Cal. A Cardinal win sends them to the title game; a loss means Washington goes.

SEC: Georgia has won the East.  The West all comes down to the Iron Bowl; the winner between Alabama and Auburn takes the crown.

Sun Belt: what, no championship game?  Nope, not until next year. In the meantime, four teams have one loss in-conference: Troy (to South Alabama), Georgia State (to Troy), Appalachian State (to Louisiana Monroe), and Arkansas State (to South Alabama). Games yet to be played among those four teams: App State/Georgia State and Arkansas State/Troy.  If things break just right, Louisiana (who currently has two conference losses), could also be in the mix; there exists the possibility of a five-way tie at the end of the season!

In small-school news, it’s rivalry week! This is the last weekend of the FCS regular season, and just like the big boys, many teams historically reserve it for classic long-standing games. Some of them you’ve heard mentioned in this space before: Harvard-Yale in the 134^th playing of “The Game” and Lafayette-Lehigh in the 153^rd meeting of “The Rivalry”, the most-played game in college football history, to name two.  Here’s four more happening this weekend that have both regional and historic importance.

• Richmond plays William & Mary in the 128^th edition of the “Capital Cup”; named for the trophy that echoes the status of Richmond and Williamsburg as the historical capitals of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
• Out west, Montana makes the three-hour trip from Missoula to Bozeman to face Montana State in the 116^th edition of their rivalry. The winner receives the “Great Divide” trophy, named both for the geographic feature separating the schools as well as the nature of the rivalry itself.
• In Vermillion, South Dakota, the 113^th game in the South Dakota Showdown will happen between the South Dakota Coyotes and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. South Dakota State has won the last eight meetings, but if the Coyotes can win, they’ll tie the overall series 53-53-7.
• Finally, there’s the annual matchup between Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State. While the game has only been played a small number of times (this weekend will be the 53^rd) compared to the other games mentioned, the game is most well-known for the trophy – Chief Caddo, a 7 ½ foot tall, 330-pound wood carving of a Native American chief whose tribe (the Caddo) were responsible for settling the area where both schools are located. He has been given to the winner of the game since 1961.

Congratulations to pachyderm, who wins week 11 (and thus, back-to-back weeks!) with 160 points! JagAL was second with 155 points, and AUBrian and AllySun tied for third with 154.

Standings after eleven weeks:

1st	AllySun	2123
T-2nd	Paul Herron	2117
T-2nd	Crimson Gator	2117
4th	AUBrian	2114
5th	JagRag	2106
6th	pachyderm	2101
7th	Bamarock	2099
8th	WarTiger91	2097
9th	Jeff4Bama	2084
T-10th	bamaken	2066
T-10th	G8rBamaLvr	2066

There are twenty. Three. Games. To pick this weekend. What does that mean? Well, there aren’t many ranked-vs.-ranked games (one, in fact). But for a race this close, it means that one big upset could mean the difference between glory and “wait till next year”. Pick carefully! The first game this weekend is Tulsa at South Florida, Thursday, November 16 @ 7:30 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!