Football Predictions - 3 thru 9 Nov

Upset picks are in italics.

Tuesday

Ohio at Akron - Bobcats by 10

Buffalo at Miami (OH) - Redhawks by 9

Wednesday

Ball State at UMass - Minutemen by 9.5

Toledo at Sacramento State - Rockets by 13

Central Michigan vs. Eastern Michigan - Eagles by 0.5

Thursday

UTSA at FAU - Roadrunners by 2.5

James Madison at Southern Miss - Dukes by 12

Jacksonville at Baltimore - Jaguars by 12

Friday

Virginia Tech at SMU - Mustangs by 6.5

South Florida at East Carolina - Bulls by 0.5

Nebraska at Illinois - Cornhuskers by 1

(22) New Mexico at Nevada - Lobos by 7

TCU at (24) Arizona - Wildcats by 11

Saturday

(7) BYU at (3) Utah - Utes by 10

(5) UCLA at Minnesota - Bruins by 9.5

(10) Texas at (19) Missouri - Tigers by 2

Iowa State at Baylor - Bears by 14

Clemson at Syracuse - Orange by 1

Florida State at Boston College - Seminoles by 2.5

North Carolina at UConn - Tar Heels by 2

Tulsa at Tulane - Green Wave by 0.5

Duke at NC State - Blue Devils by 3.5

Maryland at Purdue - Boilermakers by 11.5

Arkansas at Auburn - Tigers by 13

Oklahoma State at Kansas State - Cowboys by 4

Old Dominion at Coastal Carolina - Chanticleers by 15

Georgia State at App State - Mountaineers by 3

Texas A&M at (23) South Carolina - Gamecocks by 8.5

UL Monroe at Arkansas State - Red Wolves by 19.5

Delaware at Kennesaw State - Owls by 3

(9) Alabama at (15) LSU - Tigers by 6

Oregon at (11) Ohio State - Buckeyes by 12

Merrimack at (14) Wake Forest - Demon Deacons by 38

Cincinnati at (17) Houston - Cougars by 17.5

Penn State at Washington - Huskies by 2

Charlotte at UAB - Blazers by 13

Temple at Navy - Midshipmen by 11.5

Marshall at Georgia Southern - Eagles by 15.5

Western Kentucky at Middle Tennessee - Blue Raiders by 6

UCF at Kansas - Jayhawks by 3

Rice at North Texas - Mean Green by 17.5

Northern Illinois at San Jose State - Spartans by 18

Missouri State at FIU - Golden Panthers by 11

Louisiana Tech at Troy - Bulldogs by 5

Vanderbilt at Mississippi State - Bulldogs by 16

Rutgers at Wisconsin - Badgers by 20.5

South Alabama at Louisiana - Ragin Cajuns by 11

(20) Boise State at Colorado State - Broncos by 14.5

(8) Kentucky at (16) Tennessee - Volunteers by 8

Sam Houston at Jacksonville State - Gamecocks by 18.5

(1) Miami at (4) Notre Dame - Irish by 6

(2) Georgia at (12) Ole Miss - Rebels by 4.5

(21) Iowa at Northwestern - Wildcats by 7

Colorado at Arizona State - Sun Devils by 7.5

Louisville at Georgia Tech - Cardinals by 13

Michigan State at Michigan - Wolverines by 7.5

Air Force at Army - Black Knights by 8

Oklahoma at (25) Florida - Gators by 10

Liberty at New Mexico State - Flames by 15

West Virginia at (13) Texas Tech - Red Raiders by 15.5

Fresno State at Utah State - Bulldogs by 4.5

Hawaii at UTEP - Warriors by 0.5

Texas State at Oregon State - Beavers by 11

Wyoming at UNLV - Rebels by 11

Sunday

Cincinnati vs. Atlanta - Bengals by 6

Dallas at Indianapolis - Cowboys by 3

NY Jets at Kansas City - Chiefs by 6

Detroit at Miami - Lions by 7.5

Cleveland at New Orleans - Saints by 0.5

NY Giants at Philadelphia - Giants by 4.5

LA Rams at Washington - Rams by 6

Denver at Carolina - Broncos by 2

Houston at LA Chargers - Texans by 8

Arizona at Seattle - Seahawks by 11

Green Bay at New England - Patriots by 3.5

Las Vegas at San Francisco - 49ers by 8.5

Tampa Bay at Chicago - Bears by 4

Monday

Buffalo at Minnesota - Vikings by 2.5

Results

NCAA: 40-16 (.714) 455-167 overall (.732)

Upsets: 3-4 (.429) 39-75 overall (.342)

NFL: 9-5 (.643) 72-49 overall (.595)

Upsets: 1-2 (.333) 10-15 overall (.400)

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #14 - Edoardo Mangiarotti

Edoardo Mangiarotti

Italy

Fencing

Overall Ranks

#2 among Italian Olympians

#2 among Fencers

#1 among Italian Fencers

Olympic Results

1936

Team Epee - Gold

1948

Team Foil - Silver

Individual Epee - Bronze

Team Epee - Silver

1952

Individual Foil - Silver

Team Foil - Silver

Individual Epee - Gold

Team Epee - Gold

1956

Team Foil - Gold

Individual Epee - Bronze

Team Epee - Gold

1960

Team Foil - Silver

Team Epee - Gold

Total

Events - 14

Gold - 6

Silver - 5

Bronze - 2

Edoardo Mangiarotti was born on April 7, 1919 in Renate, Italy, to a father who was a 17-time national fencing champion. His father trained him from a young age to fence with his left hand, even though he was naturally right-handed, in order to make him a tougher opponent. He became the national junior champion when he was just 11, and made the national senior team at age 16.

At age 17, he competed in his first Olympics, traveling to Berlin for the team epee event. In the first round, he went 2-1 against Hungary, then went a perfect 3-0 against Czechoslovakia in the next round. He had 4 wins and 2 losses total in the semifinals, and Italy advanced to the final pool, having not lost a match. They used him in all 3 finals matches, and he rewarded them by going 7-1 in his bouts, and Italy dominated their way to the gold medal, and a new star was born. 

Because of World War II, he wouldn't have another chance to compete in the Olympics for 12 years, where he would compete in both the foil and the epee. He started out with the team foil event, where he went 9-1 through the early rounds, helping Italy to make the final pool. In the final pool, he went 8-2 overall, but Italy and France tied 8-8 in the final match, and the tiebreaker was decided by total touches, which gave France the gold medal by a count of 62-60. 

Next up was a chance to defend Italy's gold medal from 1936 in the team epee. In the first round, he struggled against Brazil, only going 2-2, but the rest of his team was a perfect 12-0, so they advanced easily. He made up for it by going 11-1 over the next two rounds, leading Italy back to the final pool. He went 9-3 in the final pool, but the rest of his team went 3-9 against France, and they ended up with another team silver medal.

That year, he also competed in the individual epee for the first time. He was given a first-round bye since he competed in the team final, then squeaked through the next two rounds with a record of 8-5 to advance to the final pool. In that pool, he started out by beating teammate Gino Cantone, but Cantone would only lose one other match, and ended up with the gold medal. Mangiarotti ended up at 5-4, which put him in a 4-way tie for second place, and he was tied on touches with Oswald Zappelli of Switzerland, but since he lost the head-to-head, he ended up with the bronze medal.

Four years later in Helsinki, he would have the best week of his career. He started out again with the team foil event, where they had won silver previously. He wasn't used much in the early rounds, but went 4-0 when he was. In the final, he was 6-2, but it once again wasn't enough, as France beat them 8-6 in their match, and Italy took home the silver again.

That year, he was also selected to compete in the individual foil event. He was completely perfect in the early rounds, going 11-0 on his way to the final pool. In the final pool, however, he ran into a juggernaut in Christian d'Oriola of France, the 4-time defending world champion, who won all 8 of his bouts to take the gold medal. Mangiarotti, in his first Olympic foil singles event, ended up with his second silver of the games.

In the team epee event, France was upset in the quarterfinal round, which opened up a clear path to gold for the Italians. Italy saved him until the final pool due to his busy schedule, but used him in all 3 finals matches, and he went 8-3 overall in those bouts, and Italy made it through the tournament without a lost match to win the gold medal, an honor he shared with his older brother, Dario, who was also on the team.

Both brothers also competed in the individual epee event. Edoardo went 14-2 through the early rounds as he won both of his pools to advance to the final, and his brother went 12-4. In the final pool, Edoardo went 7-2 against the 9 other finalists, which was good enough to earn him the gold medal, the first individual gold of his Olympic career, and his brother ended up winning the silver.

He was chosen to compete in the same 4 events in Melbourne in 1956. He was held out until the semifinals in the team foil event, and then struggled in that round, only going 3-4 as Italy beat Great Britain on a tiebreaker to advance to the final pool. He was much better in the final, going 9-3 overall, which was important, because they won all 3 matches either 9-7 or 8-8 with a tiebreaker, so losing even one more bout could have cost them the gold, but they did walk away on top.

In the individual foil event, he went 4-3 in his first round pool, which turned out not to be enough, as he was eliminated in a tiebreaker, and failed to reach the final pool and win a medal for the only time in his Olympic career.

Next, he tried to lead Italy to repeat as gold medalists in the team epee event. He was held out of the first round, then went 3-0 in the semifinal, which was once again fortuitous, because the team lost a match to Belgium without him, and advanced on a tiebreaker due to their large margin of victory over Hungary. He fenced in all three finals matches, and Italy dominated them all, while Mangiarotti went 8-3 in his bouts, and they successfully defended their gold medal.

He was also attempting to defend his individual epee gold that year. He was solid in the early rounds, going 10-3 on his way back to the final pool. In the final, he and his two Italian teammates, Carlo Pavesi and Giuseppe Delfino, each went 5-2, and this time ties were broken by tiebreaking matches rather than touches. The three each fenced each other again, and each won one and lost one, leaving another tie. After another round, Pavesi came out victorious, while Delfino beat Mangiarotti for the silver, leaving him with an individual bronze.

The next Olympics took place in Rome, and though he was going to be 41 years old, he still wanted to compete, and they allowed him to compete in the team events. They used him in the first round, where he went 1-1 against Romania, as Italy won 9-2. It was single elimination after that round, but he wasn't used again until the final, where he went 1-2 as Italy lost to the USSR and ended up with the silver medal.

They were going for their third straight gold in the team epee, which was his better discipline. He went 4-2 in their first round pool, but was only 1-2 against Sweden in the semifinals, which Italy won 9-3 overall. They held him out of the semifinals, then used him in the final against Great Britain, where he again went 1-2, but Italy still won the gold 9-5, earning Mangiarotti one final gold medal.

He retired the next year, and at the time of his retirement, he had 13 total medals, the most of any Olympian at the time, having just passed Paavo Nurmi, who had 12. His record would be broken at the next Olympics, but he still has the most medals ever among fencers, and is definitely one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #15 - Matti Nykanen

Matti Nykanen

Finland

Ski Jumping

Overall Ranks

#1 among Finnish Olympians

#1 among Ski Jumpers

Olympic Results

1984

Normal Hill - Silver

Large Hill - Gold

1988

Normal Hill - Gold

Large Hill - Gold

Large Hill Team - Gold

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 4

Silver - 1

Matti Ensio Nykanen was born on July 17, 1963 in Jyvaskyla, Finland, and made the national ski jumping team as soon as he turned 18. While he was still 18, he won the gold medal in the large hill at the World Championships, and by the time he was first eligible for the Olympics, he was already well-established as a great ski jumper.

His 1984 Olympics began with the normal hill event, where his chief competition was expected to be Jens Weissflog of East Germany, who was a year younger than Nykanen. The winner was determined by the combined score of two jumps, which were judged by distance and style. After the first jump, Nykanen had the lead with a score of 114.1, with Weissflog at 110.5 sitting in second.

Weather conditions weren't as good for the second round of jumps. Nykanen was the 57th of 58 jumpers to go, so he got to see exactly what was required of him to win. Weissflog took the lead on his jump, giving himself a final score of 215.2, so Nykanen just needed a 101.1 to win, but he came up just a couple of meters short on his jump, and ended up losing by 1.2 points and settling for the silver medal.

In the large hill event, Nykanen didn't allow the same thing to happen again. He took a huge lead in the first round, scoring a 119.1 on his first jump, 13.1 points ahead of Weissflog in second. In the second round, Weissflog took the lead over the nearest jumper by more than 10 points, but Nykanen was once again the penultimate jumper, and he only needed a 93.9 to win. Instead of playing it safe, he again posted the best jump of the round, and won the gold medal by a margin of 17.5 points, the largest margin in the history of ski jumping.

He returned to compete in Calgary in 1988, and he continued his dominance there. He started again with the normal hill, and this time, he left no doubt. He had a lead of 7.9 points after his first jump, then nearly matched his score on his second jump, giving him a dominant gold medal by a margin of 17 points, the second-largest in the history of the normal hill.

He was expected to repeat the performance in the large hill event, which he did. His first jump scored a 120.8, giving him a lead of 7.1 points after his first jump, and he basically just needed to land the second jump in order to win. Again, he posted the best score on the second jump, and came away with a win by 16.1 points, and another dominant gold.

That year, a new event was added to the Olympic program, the team large hill event. Each team had 4 jumpers, and each jumped twice, with the top 3 jumps from each round counting toward the country's score. Nykanen had the best jump of anyone in each round, and his teammates were good enough that the Finns won the gold medal by 8.9 points over Yugoslavia. With that win, Nykanen became the first ski jumper ever to win 3 gold medals at the same Olympics, just a day after becoming the first to win two.

He retired from ski jumping in 1990, and moved on to a singing career. Over the next three decades, he was married and divorced 6 times, and was charged with or found guilty of domestic violence or assault on at least half a dozen occasions. He also battled alcoholism through the rest of his life, and passed away in 2019 at the age of 55 due to pancreatitis and pneumonia.

Nykanen's personal life may have been a huge mess, but his athletic career was phenomenal. He is still the only ski jumper to win three gold medals at the same Olympics, and still holds the record for largest margin of victory in an Olympic ski jump event. His 4 career gold medals are the most ever for a ski jumper, leaving no doubt that he is one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

NCAA Football Rankings - 1 Nov

Notre Dame was a little underwhelming this week in beating Navy, and Miami was lucky to escape with a win against North Carolina, so the #1 spot passed again to a team on bye, this time LSU. The Tigers have lost twice, but both were on the road against teams that are currently ranked, and both were by a single possession. Utah finally put together an impressive win, which shot them into the top 10, while Baylor and South Carolina made big jumps into the top 25 after impressive wins. Here are my full current rankings:

						Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L
1	4	LSU	-22.42	6	2	9	3
2	1	Notre Dame	-21.78	7	1	11	1
3	3	Alabama	-21.64	6	2	9	3
4	2	Miami	-21.03	8	0	11	1
5	7	Georgia	-18.41	7	1	10	2
6	5	Ohio State	-17.95	6	2	9	3
7	10	Ole Miss	-17.92	6	2	9	3
8	9	Texas	-17.32	6	2	8	4
9	15	Utah	-16.6	8	0	11	1
10	6	UCLA	-16.31	8	0	11	1
11	12	Wake Forest	-15.82	7	1	10	2
12	14	Tennessee	-14.86	6	2	9	3
13	11	Houston	-14.79	6	2	9	3
14	8	Indiana	-14.36	8	1	10	2
15	24	Missouri	-14.28	6	2	8	4
16	22	Kentucky	-12.12	7	1	9	3
17	20	Texas Tech	-12.03	7	1	9	3
18	19	Arizona	-12	6	2	9	3
19	29	South Carolina	-11.93	5	3	7	5
20	39	Baylor	-11.87	5	3	7	5
21	13	BYU	-11.83	7	1	9	3
22	18	Boise State	-11.8	7	1	10	1
23	17	Oklahoma State	-11.68	5	3	8	4
24	27	Louisville	-11.28	5	3	7	5
25	21	Northwestern	-11.11	6	3	8	5
26	25	Oregon	-11.06	5	3	7	5
27	26	Florida	-10.84	5	3	8	4
28	33	Liberty	-10.83	7	1	11	1
29	16	Nebraska	-10.17	5	3	7	5
30	40	USC	-10.1	7	2	8	4
31	51	Iowa	-9.351	6	2	8	4
32	23	Wisconsin	-9.096	4	4	7	5
33	38	Texas A&M	-8.804	4	4	6	6
34	30	New Mexico	-8.209	7	1	10	2
35	42	North Carolina	-8.093	4	4	7	5
36	28	James Madison	-7.966	7	2	9	3
37	47	Duke	-7.749	6	2	7	5
38	31	Oregon State	-7.509	5	3	7	4
39	35	Mississippi St	-7.502	4	4	7	5
40	36	North Dakota State	-7.29	7	2	10	2
41	48	Penn State	-6.974	5	3	8	4
42	46	Auburn	-6.8	4	4	6	6
43	41	Pittsburgh	-6.583	6	3	8	4
44	53	Memphis	-6.395	7	2	9	3
45	34	Oklahoma	-6.196	4	4	5	7
46	45	TCU	-6.179	4	4	6	6
47	56	Clemson	-6.169	5	3	7	5
48	44	SMU	-5.946	6	2	8	4
49	43	North Texas	-5.625	6	2	9	3
50	50	UT San Antonio	-5.614	7	1	10	2
51	61	Fresno State	-5.446	5	3	7	4
52	58	Louisiana Tech	-4.959	6	2	9	3
53	32	UCF	-4.872	4	4	6	6
54	49	Virginia Tech	-4.803	6	2	8	4
55	37	Florida State	-4.658	3	5	5	7
56	55	Illinois	-4.129	5	3	6	6
57	82	Washington	-3.996	5	3	7	5
58	67	Texas State	-3.94	4	4	6	5
59	57	Purdue	-3.385	3	5	5	7
60	62	Michigan	-3.327	5	3	6	6
61	70	Iowa State	-3.085	4	4	6	6
62	59	South Florida	-2.972	6	2	8	4
63	54	Army	-2.751	5	3	8	4
64	76	Kansas	-2.726	3	5	4	8
65	52	Cincinnati	-2.596	5	3	6	6
66	74	Louisiana	-2.324	5	3	8	4
67	68	Kansas State	-2.221	4	4	5	7
68	63	Syracuse	-2.181	4	4	6	6
69	75	Georgia Southern	-1.928	4	4	6	6
70	60	Tulsa	-1.864	4	4	6	6
71	69	West Virginia	-1.822	5	3	6	6
72	85	Minnesota	-1.48	5	3	6	6
73	65	Virginia	-1.355	4	5	6	6
74	86	Jacksonville State	-1.13	6	2	9	3
75	66	West Michigan	-1.093	6	3	8	4
76	64	Michigan St	-1.012	2	6	4	8
77	71	Connecticut	-0.959	4	4	6	6
78	73	Toledo	-0.807	6	2	9	3
79	90	Arizona State	-0.128	4	4	5	7
80	80	Air Force	-0.109	6	2	8	4
81	81	Navy	0.722	2	6	4	8
82	79	Ohio	0.7507	6	2	9	3
83	91	NC State	0.8369	4	4	5	7
84	78	Arkansas	0.9198	3	5	4	8
85	72	Georgia State	1.3853	4	4	6	6
86	77	UNLV	1.8036	5	3	7	5
87	94	Colorado	1.9112	3	5	4	8
88	107	Coastal Carolina	2.0575	3	5	5	7
89	92	Florida Atlantic	2.2253	5	3	7	5
90	106	Delaware	2.6129	4	4	6	6
91	87	East Carolina	2.7114	4	4	6	6
92	84	Maryland	2.8821	2	6	3	9
93	97	Tulane	2.924	4	4	6	6
94	96	Arkansas State	3.009	4	4	6	6
95	98	Vanderbilt	3.256	3	5	3	9
96	83	Boston College	3.2628	4	4	5	7
97	93	Appalachian St	3.6118	5	3	7	5
98	89	South Alabama	3.6119	4	4	6	6
99	88	Florida Intl	3.6568	3	5	5	7
100	95	Miami (OH)	3.9018	5	3	7	5
101	99	Nevada	4.167	3	5	5	7
102	115	Utah State	4.2525	3	5	4	7
103	121	Kennesaw State	4.7421	2	6	4	8
104	102	UMass	5.1345	4	4	6	6
105	101	San Diego State	5.3414	4	5	5	6
106	125	Troy	5.4221	4	4	5	7
107	109	Stanford	5.8081	4	5	5	7
108	100	California	6.0378	3	6	4	8
109	105	UAB	6.0833	4	4	6	6
110	116	San Jose State	6.1667	4	5	6	7
111	104	Rutgers	6.342	2	6	3	9
112	112	Rice	6.5891	1	7	2	10
113	114	Temple	6.9691	2	6	3	9
114	122	Washington St	7.1049	1	8	2	9
115	113	Georgia Tech	7.1129	2	6	2	10
116	110	Mid Tennessee	7.3512	4	4	6	6
117	118	Wyoming	7.5011	5	3	6	6
118	119	Eastern Michigan	7.8361	4	5	5	7
119	111	Colorado State	7.8894	3	5	4	7
120	120	Buffalo	7.9344	5	3	7	5
121	117	Central Michigan	8.1446	3	5	5	7
122	129	Marshall	8.2339	5	3	7	5
123	108	West Kentucky	8.2829	3	5	4	8
124	131	Southern Miss	9.1659	3	5	4	8
125	103	New Mexico St	9.2315	3	5	4	8
126	124	Ball State	9.353	3	5	5	7
127	132	Missouri State	9.4428	3	5	4	8
128	127	Hawaii	9.9931	2	6	4	8
129	130	Bowling Green	10.955	2	7	3	9
130	123	Kent State	11.514	3	6	4	8
131	128	Sam Houston	11.974	1	7	2	10
132	126	Old Dominion	12.024	2	7	3	9
133	133	Charlotte	13.843	1	7	2	10
134	134	Akron	15.796	1	7	2	10
135	135	UTEP	15.803	1	7	2	10
136	136	Louisiana Monroe	17.359	1	7	2	10
137	137	Sacramento State	17.637	2	7	2	10
138	138	Northern Illinois	19.024	0	8	1	11