Predictions - 31 Oct

Upset picks are in italics.

College Football

Cincinnati at Tulane - Bearcats by 8
Tulsa at Memphis - Tigers by 43

NBA

Memphis at Indiana - Grizzlies by 4
Cleveland at Chicago - Bulls by 18
Philadelphia at Milwaukee - Bucks by 13
San Antonio at Phoenix - Suns by 1
Portland at Sacramento - Trail Blazers by 16
LA Clippers at LA Lakers - Clippers by 17

Prediction Results

College Football: 1-1 (.500) 397-145 overall (.732)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000) 26-57 overall (.313)
NFL: 1-0 (1.000) 81-40 overall (.669)
NBA: 4-1 (.800) 18-2 overall (.900)

Predictions - 30 Oct

Upset picks are in italics.

College Football

(2) Florida State at Louisville - Cardinals by 6
Troy at Georgia Southern - Eagles by 44

NFL

New Orleans at Carolina - Saints by 4

NBA

Washington at Orlando - Wizards by 9
Detroit at Minnesota - Timberwolves by 7
New York at Cleveland - Cavaliers by 17
Utah at Dallas - Mavericks by 19
Oklahoma City at LA Clippers - Clippers by 16

Prediction Results

NBA: 11-1 (.917) 14-1 overall (.933)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000)

NBA Predictions - 29 Oct

Upset picks are in italics.

Milwaukee at Charlotte - Hornets by 10
Philadelphia at Indiana - Pacers by 21
Brooklyn at Boston - Celtics by 3
Washington at Miami - Heat by 1
Atlanta at Toronto - Raptors by 8
Minnesota at Memphis - Grizzlies by 7
Chicago at New York - Knicks by 3
Detroit at Denver - Nuggets by 1
Houston at Utah - Rockets by 10
LA Lakers at Phoenix - Suns by 20
Golden State at Sacramento - Warriors by 5
Oklahoma City at Portland - Trail Blazers by 1

Prediction Results

NBA: 3-0 (1.000)

NFL Rankings - 28 Oct

The Denver Broncos held onto the top spot this week after winning their 4th straight game, this one by 14 points over the San Diego Chargers, who had been ranked #4 heading into the game, but were obviously not on the same level as the #1 team in the league. Their lone loss came in overtime at Seattle in week 4, and they are the only team to beat NFC-leading Arizona so far this year. Here are this week's full rankings:

				Rec		ProjRec		SOS
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Curr	Over	Seed
1	1	Denver	-18.6058	6	1	13	3	3	4	A1
2	3	Kansas City	-16.1631	4	3	10	6	2	7	A5
3	2	Indianapolis	-11.8825	5	3	10	6	10	15	A2
4	11	New England	-10.2287	6	2	10	6	23	12	A3
5	5	Baltimore	-10.226	5	3	10	6	30	23	A4
6	4	San Diego	-9.97218	5	3	9	7	9	2	A6
7	10	Arizona	-8.16838	6	1	11	5	6	13	N1
8	13	Miami	-7.67649	4	3	9	7	17	14
9	9	Philadelphia	-7.16568	5	2	10	6	21	18	N2
10	8	Seattle	-6.7825	4	3	9	7	8	10
11	7	Dallas	-6.55594	6	2	10	6	27	19	N5
12	14	Houston	-5.21319	4	4	9	7	14	20
13	6	Green Bay	-5.20127	5	3	10	6	22	27	N3
14	12	San Francisco	-5.18654	4	3	9	7	1	9
15	17	Buffalo	-4.43967	5	3	9	7	19	8
16	26	Pittsburgh	-2.70435	5	3	9	7	25	22
17	15	Detroit	-2.54244	6	2	10	6	31	26	N6
18	23	New Orleans	-2.46999	3	4	8	8	29	32	N4
19	20	Cleveland	-1.71625	4	3	9	7	28	25
20	16	NY Giants	-1.68387	3	4	8	8	12	17
21	19	Cincinnati	-0.54679	4.5	2.5	8.5	7.5	13	16
22	22	Washington	0.576361	3	5	7	9	15	21
23	21	Tennessee	3.810256	2	6	5	11	7	11
24	27	Minnesota	3.935394	3	5	7	9	24	30
25	18	Chicago	4.056828	3	5	7	9	16	24
26	29	Carolina	4.967998	3.5	4.5	7.5	8.5	20	28
27	31	Atlanta	5.21639	2	6	5	11	26	29
28	28	Oakland	5.668058	0	7	2	14	4	1
29	25	Jacksonville	5.69547	1	7	4	12	5	6
30	24	NY Jets	7.668527	1	7	3	13	11	3
31	30	St Louis	8.343378	2	5	4	12	18	5
32	32	Tampa Bay	14.19052	1	6	3	13	32	31

The Broncos will have a test this week when they travel to New England, where the Patriots have caught on fire of late. They are also riding a 4-game winning streak, during which they have averaged nearly 40 points per game. This is one of the most likely times for the Broncos to lose again this season, along with a trip to Kansas City right after Thanksgiving.

The Miami Dolphins also climbed into the top 10 this week, partially based on their own 14-point road win, and partially on the strength of their 13-point win over New England to open the season. The Dolphins looked bad in losing to Kansas City in week 3, but nearly beat Green Bay a couple weeks later, so they are a little tough to pin down. They get the chance to prove they belong this week against San Diego.

Green Bay's 4-game winning streak ended on Sunday, and it wasn't even close. The Saints, who had struggled all season, controlled the game from start to finish, and sent the Packers into their bye on a bad note. The Bears better watch out in 2 weeks, playing against a big rival coming off a bye and looking to make up for an embarrassing loss.

Playoff Predictions

Wild Card

(6) San Diego over (3) New England

(4) Baltimore over (5) Kansas City

(3) Green Bay over (6) Detroit

(4) New Orleans over (5) Dallas

Divisional Round

(1) Denver over (6) San Diego

(4) Baltimore over (2) Indianapolis

(1) Arizona over (4) New Orleans

(2) Philadelphia over (3) Green Bay

Conference Championships

(1) Denver over (4) Baltimore

(2) Philadelphia over (1) Arizona

Super Bowl

(1) Denver over (2) Philadelphia

College Football Playoff Picks

Ole Miss

Alabama

TCU

Michigan State

Alternates: Georgia, Marshall, Ohio State, Oklahoma

Predictions

NBA

Orlando at New Orleans - Pelicans by 3

Dallas at San Antonio - Spurs by 8

Houston at LA Lakers - Rockets by 10

Prediction Results

College Football: 39-10 (.796) 396-144 overall (.733)

Upsets: 2-2 (.500) 26-56 overall (.317)

NFL: 11-4 (.733) 80-40 overall (.667)

Upsets: 2-2 (.500) 9-12 overall (.429)

College Football Rankings - 26 Oct

Yet another #1 team has bitten the dust, allowing a new SEC team to occupy the top spot, the fourth different one already this season. The SEC dominance of the top 5 was broken up, however, by a TCU team that put up 82 points against Texas Tech yesterday, the most ever in a Big 12 conference game. Here are this week's full rankings:

				Rec		ProjRec		SOS
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Curr	Over
1	2	Alabama	-34.383	7	1	10	2	6	4
2	1	Ole Miss	-33.133	7	1	11	2	2	2
3	4	Georgia	-29.245	6	1	11	2	23	28
4	3	Auburn	-28.691	6	1	9	3	3	1
5	9	TCU	-27.97	6	1	10	2	117	92
6	5	Mississippi State	-27.451	7	0	10	2	10	6
7	6	Marshall	-25.193	8	0	12	1	121	103
8	8	Michigan State	-24.003	7	1	11	2	109	84
9	7	Ohio State	-23.783	6	1	10	2	78	81
10	11	Oklahoma	-21.815	5	2	9	3	8	44
11	13	Memphis	-21.099	4	3	9	3	26	98
12	12	Nebraska	-20.704	7	1	10	3	55	63
13	15	Arkansas	-20.592	4	4	6	6	12	3
14	14	Oregon	-20.255	7	1	11	2	50	59
15	16	LSU	-20.197	7	2	8	4	28	8
16	24	Georgia Southern	-20.085	6	2	9	3	103	121
17	10	Clemson	-20.03	6	2	9	3	21	52
18	28	Miami (FL)	-19.053	5	3	8	4	11	19
19	17	Baylor	-18.604	6	1	10	2	84	91
20	22	Kansas State	-17.073	6	1	9	3	77	42
21	23	West Virginia	-16.945	6	2	9	3	35	22
22	19	USC	-16.891	5	3	8	4	15	14
23	44	Wisconsin	-16.537	5	2	8	4	124	93
24	18	Louisville	-16.338	6	2	8	4	48	38
25	25	Texas A&M	-15.294	5	3	7	5	4	5
26	20	Florida State	-15.249	7	0	11	2	82	54
27	21	UCLA	-14.642	6	2	9	3	7	9
28	32	Arizona State	-13.961	6	1	10	3	30	35
29	49	Georgia Tech	-13.91	6	2	8	4	24	11
30	31	Louisiana Tech	-13.241	5	3	8	5	27	50
31	38	Boise State	-13.071	6	2	10	3	36	67
32	26	Utah	-12.808	6	1	9	3	51	29
33	39	Arizona	-12.628	6	1	9	3	53	51
34	30	Notre Dame	-11.922	6	1	8	4	60	23
35	27	Tennessee	-11.865	3	5	6	6	1	7
36	37	Stanford	-11.755	5	3	7	5	73	27
37	35	Duke	-11.617	6	1	10	3	104	105
38	40	South Carolina	-10.747	4	4	6	6	14	10
39	34	Missouri	-9.0176	6	2	8	4	56	32
40	41	Colorado State	-8.8176	7	1	10	2	94	104
41	36	Boston College	-7.732	5	3	7	5	65	49
42	33	East Carolina	-6.9995	6	1	9	3	126	119
43	57	UCF	-6.8794	5	2	9	3	90	123
44	29	Virginia Tech	-6.8708	4	4	6	6	22	34
45	48	Middle Tennessee	-6.7982	5	3	8	4	25	64
46	45	Houston	-6.7929	4	3	8	4	108	126
47	42	Arkansas State	-5.9826	4	3	8	4	66	107
48	46	Utah State	-5.6605	5	3	8	5	79	90
49	55	Nevada	-5.2744	5	3	8	5	47	78
50	60	Western Michigan	-5.1796	5	3	8	4	101	120
51	62	Rice	-5.0029	4	3	6	6	80	70
52	53	Minnesota	-5.0009	6	2	7	5	70	26
53	54	Florida	-4.9271	3	3	5	6	18	16
54	56	Navy	-4.7651	4	4	6	6	75	74
55	59	Western Kentucky	-4.097	4	3	7	5	72	80
56	61	Cincinnati	-3.7986	4	3	7	5	69	77
57	76	Louisiana-Lafayette	-3.7872	4	3	8	4	45	97
58	52	Temple	-3.6834	4	3	7	5	102	86
59	50	Virginia	-3.5531	5	3	6	6	88	30
60	51	UAB	-3.318	3	5	5	7	46	41
61	65	Penn State	-2.4039	4	3	7	5	62	71
62	64	San Jose State	-2.1132	3	4	5	7	43	56
63	66	South Alabama	-1.8144	5	2	7	5	111	83
64	69	Kentucky	-1.3263	5	3	6	6	86	21
65	77	Fresno State	-1.1669	3	5	6	6	20	65
66	75	North Carolina	-1.0778	3	5	5	7	17	12
67	74	North Carolina State	-0.8346	4	4	6	6	31	55
68	58	Brigham Young	-0.6402	4	4	6	6	42	76
69	79	Appalachian State	-0.5569	2	5	5	7	93	118
70	63	Washington	-0.4094	5	3	7	6	95	72
71	81	Northwestern	-0.3434	3	4	5	7	58	68
72	43	Pittsburgh	-0.2652	4	4	6	6	64	62
73	47	Maryland	-0.1596	5	3	7	5	41	39
74	84	Syracuse	0.08393	3	5	5	7	39	40
75	82	San Diego State	0.43241	4	3	6	6	116	102
76	68	Oregon State	0.7887	4	3	6	6	38	57
77	72	Iowa	0.87318	5	2	7	5	122	88
78	85	Air Force	1.01716	5	2	8	4	118	108
79	73	California	1.28893	4	4	5	7	49	45
80	83	Rutgers	1.30033	5	3	6	6	37	25
81	78	Michigan	1.45083	3	5	5	7	33	43
82	71	Washington State	1.98882	2	6	3	9	29	24
83	67	Akron	2.09012	4	4	7	6	105	122
84	86	Southern Miss	2.37388	3	5	5	7	9	13
85	89	Toledo	2.49194	5	3	8	5	112	117
86	90	Purdue	2.9162	3	5	4	8	71	60
87	92	Northern Illinois	2.92743	6	2	8	4	125	113
88	80	Texas	2.98216	3	5	4	8	44	36
89	70	Oklahoma State	3.30011	5	3	6	6	89	33
90	91	Florida Atlantic	3.54358	3	5	5	7	13	37
91	117	UTEP	3.9155	4	3	6	6	97	95
92	94	Colorado	4.36379	2	6	3	9	40	18
93	102	Ball State	4.62346	3	5	5	7	119	125
94	99	Central Michigan	4.96657	5	4	7	5	123	127
95	103	Illinois	5.21845	4	4	5	7	52	53
96	98	Bowling Green	5.31987	5	3	7	5	99	111
97	88	Florida International	5.71222	3	5	5	7	100	100
98	95	Iowa State	6.07509	2	5	4	8	54	46
99	100	Massachusetts	6.98781	2	7	4	8	120	124
100	93	North Texas	7.37862	2	6	4	8	113	115
101	105	Vanderbilt	7.47361	2	6	3	9	16	20
102	107	Texas State	7.5167	4	3	6	6	128	116
103	97	Indiana	7.79327	3	4	5	7	67	61
104	101	Miami (OH)	8.76022	2	7	3	9	87	101
105	112	Tulane	8.87849	2	5	3	9	74	58
106	108	Old Dominion	9.12228	3	5	4	8	59	79
107	104	Hawaii	9.16825	2	6	4	9	110	94
108	110	New Mexico	9.36167	2	5	4	8	106	89
109	96	Texas Tech	9.46271	3	5	4	8	19	17
110	109	Wyoming	9.56958	3	5	4	8	32	48
111	106	Ohio	10.1015	4	5	6	6	81	109
112	87	UTSA	10.3834	2	6	3	9	57	75
113	113	Wake Forest	11.6472	2	6	3	9	63	47
114	116	Idaho	11.7401	1	6	2	9	92	96
115	111	Buffalo	12.148	3	5	5	7	127	128
116	114	South Florida	12.6103	3	5	4	8	107	99
117	118	UNLV	12.6896	2	6	4	9	34	73
118	115	Kansas	13.7952	2	5	3	9	85	15
119	121	Connecticut	14.301	1	6	3	9	96	110
120	122	Army	15.292	2	5	4	8	114	114
121	120	Kent State	15.4455	1	7	2	10	91	106
122	119	Louisiana-Monroe	15.55	3	4	4	8	115	66
123	125	New Mexico State	15.836	2	6	3	9	98	112
124	123	Tulsa	16.4189	1	6	2	10	76	69
125	126	Troy	19.0874	1	7	2	10	61	85
126	124	Georgia State	21.0554	1	7	2	10	83	82
127	127	Eastern Michigan	21.6953	2	6	3	9	68	87
128	128	Southern Methodist	31.1593	0	7	1	11	5	31

Alabama rose to the top, not because they did anything incredible this week, but based on their entire season's work so far. Their opening win over West Virginia is looking better each week, they destroyed Texas A&M 59-0 two weeks ago, and their lone loss was by 6 points to the team they just replaced at #1. They have a week off to prepare for a showdown with LSU in Baton Rouge, where the Rebels fell yesterday.

Oklahoma rose into the top 10 this week despite being on the losing end of their game against Kansas State, but both of their losses have come against top 20 teams and by 4 points or fewer. The remainder of their schedule is pretty soft, with only Baylor posing a real threat, so the Sooners still have a shot at the conference title.

Miami rose into the top 25 this week after finally winning a road game, and winning it big. The Hurricanes went to Blacksburg and beat Virginia Tech 30-6 in a game that was supposed to be very close. Though they have lost 3 times, all 3 came against good teams (top 29), and all 3 came on the road, where they play only one more time this season.