Category: Picks and Predictions

2019 Pac-12 Football Predictions: Can Oregon, Utah, or Washington make a run to the CFB Playoff Semifinals?

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With Fall camp right around the corner and with it the BEST time of the year approaching, it’s time to break down how I believe the Pac-12 conference will shape up in 2019.

I went game-by-game and tried to predict my share of upsets – yes, some of them are a bit surprising (i.e. Oregon State over ASU)…but to me for example, OSU is better than a 1-11 team and ASU historically doesn’t play well in Corvallis in the cold of November. I also had trouble picking middling teams winning road games. I’m sure I’ll be proven incorrect but as of now on paper, this is what I chose to go with.

Below you’ll see the schedule matrix along with a brief synopsis as I see it for each team this Fall.

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NBA Draft – Mocking the Lottery (with projected trades)

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It’s unfortunate to say this – but the NBA appears to be much more interesting now that the Golden State dynasty seems to have hit a wall with injuries and the potential departures of the injured Kevin Durant and possibly Klay Thompson. While the top three picks appear rather set in stone, I expect some trade activity starting at #4 in my mock NBA Draft Lottery:

1. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Zion Williamson (PF, Duke)
A slam dunk for the Pelicans franchise which, assuming new GM David Griffin manages it correctly, should be a prime Western Conference contender within 3 years. Zion projects as an All-Star talent and potential top-10 player in the league in several years IF he can remain healthy.

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Predicting Every Game of the 2019 NFL Schedule (June Edition)

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Cohen’s Corner is back for the first time in a month. I may not write as often these days (being on the radio every weekday for three hours is the culprit) but rest assured, I’ll be delivering plenty of NFL & CFB predictions this Fall as per usual.

For today’s column, this is an exercise I’ve enjoyed doing the last several seasons – picking every game throughout the season well in advance. Some of my game picks are a bit crazy but remember, the NFL is the most difficult sport to predict week-in, week-out in terms of surprising upsets. Heck, there’s a reason why NFL Survivor Pools are so difficult.
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Predicting 2019’s College GameDay Saturday Locations

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My favorite time of the year – college football season is only less than four months away! Even though my Cubbies are off to a fairly exciting start, I CANNOT WAIT for college football to start. And what’s even more awesome is that my two favorite teams, UofA (my alma mater) and Miami (my parent’s alma mater) play a week early on August 24th. Talk about heaven for this college football diehard!

With college football comes the best LIVE television show – ESPN’s College GameDay. I’ve been to the show a handful of times, in Tucson twice (2009 & 2015) as well as before the 2016 National Championship Game in Glendale.

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Looking at the college football schedule in 2019, at first glance, it’s very unimpressive. The lack of scintillating matchups, especially in the non-conference season, is noteworthy. While last year I thought I wouldn’t get 50% correct (I went 9-6 with a few freebies included), I’d almost venture to say that anything less than 75% correct in 2019 would be a disappointment.

Here are my best guesses as to where we’ll see Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, and of course the legend Lee Corso in 2019:

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2019 NFL Draft: Predicting the Top-10 Picks + More

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Just for kicks I put together a quick mock draft top-10 plus what I think my Packers will do with two picks in the first round and where I expect the remaining 1st round QBs to be selected. I wouldn’t be shocked if I got less than 3 of these picks correct…but I also couldn’t resist another chance at trying to predict what these NFL teams do. Enjoy and critique away!

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Cohen’s Corner NBA & NHL Playoff Predictions

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Here’s a quick blog post with my playoff picks in both sports. All 8 NHL first round playoff series have each played one game thus far…but when you see my picks, you’ll realize that these picks were made LONG before the games started.

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The Cohen’s Corner 2019 MLB Predictions

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If you’ve been reading Cohen’s Corner for long enough, you know that usually I like to make predictions. And with baseball season beginning this Thursday, here are my projected records for each team, playoff predictions, and award winners in each league! I may have absolutely no idea what I’m doing when it comes to projecting records…but it’s fun to try! Here goes nothing!

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March Madness 2019: Breaking down the bracket + my picks to win

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Here’s the main problem with March Madness office pools: they’re seemingly always won by Judy in Accounting who has watched exactly ZERO college basketball games this year and knows nothing about the sport. It’s insulting when those of us who follow the sport fairly closely get embarrassed by people who pick winners based on mascots.

These following words may be the kiss of death this season but at first glance it’s true: this bracket doesn’t look that difficult.

I’d be very surprised if we saw more than one team below a 2 seed in the Final Four. Heck, it wouldn’t shock me at all if all four #1s made it to Minneapolis.

So without spoiling much more of my bracket, here are a few thoughts and early round upset picks.

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Predicting the 2019 NFL Opening Day Starting QBs

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Last year this time I put together my predictions of Week 1 starting QBs on Opening Day in 2018 and got most of them right…just because there wasn’t that much movement in the offseason. If you thought last year had little QB drama outside of Kirk Cousins’ signing and a bunch of QBs drafted in the first round, wait until you see what 2019 will look like. Don’t expect many notable moves at all…outside of Nick Foles and a few rookies. However in 2020, I anticipate that nearly 1/3 of all teams will have new starters.

For now here are my predictions as to the QB landscape come early-September 2019…

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Predicting the NFL’s 2019-20 Playoff Teams + My Super Early Power Rankings

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I won’t pull any punches with this statement: Not only was Super Bowl LIII a big letdown, it was the most poorly played “big game” I’ve ever watched in the NFL. With the exception of the 2012 BCS Championship Game (in college football), Alabama 19-0 over LSU, I can’t remember watching two more incompetent offenses in a meaningful game. It was brutal.

The biggest takeaway for the long term from the boring and uneventful Super Bowl was how poorly Rams QB Jared Goff looked. His Super Bowl performance was reminiscent of 2016, Goff’s rookie season when he was coached by the lackluster Jeff Fisher. While the Rams should have a hell of a team in future years, will they be held back by Goff? I think that question will be on plenty of Rams’ fans minds going forward.

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