Week 13 CFB ‘Expert’ Picks

I don’t blame Nick Saban. His team was up 35-7 with just three minutes to go before halftime and while they weren’t going to blow that lead against Mississippi State, there was really no need to remove his starting QB before halftime. Who benches their starters before halftime? Then again, Baylor blew a 28-3 lead against Oklahoma also on Saturday so the unpredictability of every game can’t be doubted.

What happened to Tua Tagovailoa last Saturday afternoon was a fluke, Hip injuries such as the one he sustained are seemingly rare in football. Tua’s injured ankle didn’t seem to impair him throughout the game, on the play, nor did it cause this injury.

So what’s next for Alabama and it’s star quarterback?

The Crimson Tide will crush Western Carolina this weekend and seem likely to beat Auburn in two weeks though now that’s far from a certainty. Even if they do win out though, it seems hard-pressed to put them in the College Football Playoff.

In fact, given the scenarios, I’d likely rank an 11-1 ‘Bama team behind:

-A 1-loss Georgia team who beat LSU in the SEC Championship Game.
-A 1-loss Ohio State team if Penn State or Michigan trips them up.
-A 1-loss Pac-12 team assuming Oregon and Utah don’t lose before the conference championship game.
-A 1-loss Oklahoma team coming off a Big 12 Championship.

Sorry Alabama fans…it’s likely your team will be playing in the Sugar Bowl against potentially Oklahoma. That could still be fun, right?

As for Tua, his draft status will likely plummet from top of the first round in April’s draft to the latter half. The best case scenario would be for him to be drafted by a team such as New England where he can sit behind a veteran for a year or two, get healthy, and learn the playbook.

Last Saturday, one injury seemingly changed the course of the 2019 college football season. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again anytime soon.

On to the picks, where I continue to maintain my lead both straight up and against the spread!

Guest Picker Records:
Week 9: Jason “Chief” Carter: 6-4 SU, 4-6 ATS
Week 10: JROD: 5-5 SU, 4-6 ATS
Week 11: Boogie: 7-5 SU, 5-7 ATS
Week 12: Big George: 8-3 SU, 4-7 ATS

Our guest pickers have struggled ATS these last four weeks…can Daily Blender Super Fan “The Berg” break that trend?

In honor of Berg and his tireless efforts to support brain tumor awareness, this week I’ll donate $1.50 for every correct SU pick from this week’s pickers to his charity, The Burg and the Burb. It may not be a lot of money…but every dollar counts so pick ’em well boys!

DONATE HERE

Week 13 Picks

This Week’s Bold Predictions

EC: The two Arizona schools (sorry NAU – you don’t count in this one) have lost a combined 9 games in-a-row and I’d be surprised if that changes this weekend against two CFP contenders, Oregon and Utah. But I won’t be surprised when both schools keep their games close enough to put real scares into the Ducks and Utes. Could either the Sun Devils or Wildcats get momentum heading into next week’s ‘Suck Bowl’ Territorial Cup game? Either way, after watching UofA play since early-October, I’m ready for their season to mercifully end.

JB: The return of Chase Young gives the Buckeyes some extra pep in a slightly watered down match up against Penn State. The Buckeyes go up big against the Lions early and never look back in a tune up for a suddenly intriguing showdown against the Wolverines the following week. 

SM: Syracuse continues their momentum from destroying Duke on the road last week by beating Louisville also on the road this weekend. If you want to put a few bucks on it, you can get great value at near 3/1.

WF: Oregon State, playing with a chip on their shoulder, will go into Pullman and sneak a win out. They contain Wazzu’s Max Borghi and they’ll be playing air raid containment all game, like they did against ASU. The Battle of the 5-5s isn’t that predictable, but I don’t think Stanford wins carry much weight this year.

THE BERG: Georgia continues to ride the momentum and wins this week by a TD over Texas A&M. They will go on to win the SEC championship in an upset over LSU and do even better by winning the 2019-20 National Championship!
One additional bold prediction is that Kevin Sumlin gets fired at the end of the year and UArizona promotes (interim-DC) Chuck Cecil as their next head coach.

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