2021 Prediction Results

With only one game left in the regular season (Army-Navy), and bowl games now set, I thought I'd take a look back at my predictions for the season and see just how right (or wrong) I was.

Final NY6 Predictions

Now that the regular season and championship weekend are in the books, we can finally make the final predictions for the New Year's Six.  Let's see how accurate this ends up being in the next 12-15 hours.

Championship Weekend Update: CFP and NY6 Picture

 As promised in my Sunday post, a better look-ahead for this season's CFP/NY6 picture, based on the penultimate rankings.

New Year's Six Projections

In the past, I would take the weekly CFP rankings and project the New Year's Six bowls.  I think that fell to the side last year because the COVID schedule was so crazy, and then I just forgot about it this year.

I tried to project out the bowls based on last week's rankings, but there were so many teams bunched up in the top that had yet to play each other.  Now, with only conference championship games remaining, it's much easier, although I will hedge my bets with two scenarios.

2021 Season: Championship Weekend and CFP/NY6 Look-Ahead

After watching yesterday's rivalry games, my biggest takeaway was one word: WOW!  Not only did some games FINALLY go the other way, but our setup for Championship Weekend is nothing short of spectacular!

History of the ACC Wheel of Destiny, 2021 edition

Every year, it seems like the ACC divisional races get rather complicated and we spend a bunch of time parsing through the tiebreaker scenarios.  But how often has the conference actually needed to use tiebreakers, and how far have they gone?

This post is an updated version of a post created a couple of years ago.

2021 Week 13 wrap-up

Finally, all of the conference championship games have been set.  And uva still sucks.

ACC Championship:  Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-1) vs. Pitt Panthers (7-1)
Saturday, 8 PM, ABC.

SEC Championship:  Georgia Bulldogs (8-0) vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (7-1)
Saturday, 4 PM, CBS.

Big Ten Championship:  Michigan Wolverines (8-1) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (7-2)
Saturday, 8 PM, FOX.

Pac-12 Championship:  Oregon Ducks (7-2) vs. Utah Utes (8-1)
Friday, 8 PM, ABC.

Big 12 Championship: Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-1) vs. Baylor Bears (7-2)
Saturday, 12 PM, ABC.

All of the divisional champs clinched their berths by having the best record in their respective divisions.

The only tiebreaker needed was for the second spot in the Big 12, where Baylor and Oklahoma had the same record but Baylor had the head-to-head.

2021 Black Friday update

We still have a full slate of Saturday games, but thanks to the extended holiday weekend, we had a decent set of Friday games that helped shape the conference races.  While no one was able to clinch a championship game berth, every division with multiple contenders managed to narrow that number down to two.

2021 Week 13 - What to watch?

Here is a list of all of the Power 5 games where there is something on the line (other than just rivalry trophies) -- be it conference championship berths or bowl eligibility.  Saturday matchups have been updated due to Friday results.

2021 Week 12 wrap-up

We're down to just one more week of the regular season, and all of the P5 conferences except the Big Ten have at least one spot of their championship game clinched.   We have 5 spots out of 10 clinched, and still have some room next week for some chaos.

The big news in our blogosphere is that VT parted ways with Justin Fuente.  It's somewhat bittersweet as I really wanted him to succeed, but it just wasn't happening.  But this does mean that Brad Cornelsen won't be in Blacksburg much longer.

Anti-Chaos Theory: Divisions Edition

One of the greatest parts of college football is cheering for chaos.  Whether that's to keep more teams alive from a national title race, a conference race, or simply bowl eligibility, the more chaotic, the more fun!  On the flip side, an anti-climactic story can be a major bummer. Which led me to wonder: how possible is it that the book gets written for 2021's FBS Divisions BEFORE the last week of the regular season?

2021 Week 11 wrap-up

We are hitting the home stretch, and a lot of races are coming down to the last two weeks.

ACC Wheel of Destiny - Coastal Chaos

We're down to the last two and a half weeks of the season, there are at most 7 games that can determine who goes to Charlotte to represent the ACC Coastal.

Let's breakdown everyone's chances.

2021 Season Reactions: Early November Thoughts

 With the first set of CFP Rankings out, and a set of games using those rankings played, I figured I'd dig into my first "thought" post since the end of September.

2021 Week 10 update

Seriously, VT, just fire Brad Cornelsen already.

2021 week 9 wrap up

Happy Halloween!  We already have a division winner!  Meanwhile, a nice treat from Virginia Tech would be to fire Brad Cornelsen.

2021 Week 8 wrap-up

We've already got the first team eliminated from conference contention!  And we could have the first division wrapped up by Halloween.  Virginia Tech needs to fire Brad Cornelsen.

2021 Week 7 wrap-up

Some folks are starting to compare this season to the insanity of 2007.  I don't think we're quite there, but it could also be due to the rest of the world having gone crazy over the last two years so it seems relatively normal.  Virginia Tech could start regaining some of the normal by firing Brad Cornelson.

2021 Week 6 wrap up

Alabama lost!  Now the landscape is truly wide open.  Although, for comfort, it would be nice for them to lose another one.

2021 Week 5 wrap-up

This season is getting crazy, y'all.  We're not quite at 2007 levels, but it might be getting close.  Or we have the usual ACC cycle of play infecting the entire college football landscape.  We'll start tracking bowl eligibility next week.

FBS expectations over FCS

I was sitting in Lane Stadium watching the fourth quarter of the Virginia Tech game against Richmond, and I was still nervous that we were only up by 11 points and the starting QB was still in the game.

And then I realized, I've been through this before.  Too many times.

2021 Season Reactions: September Thoughts

 Even though we still have one more game to go in the month of September (a Thursday night 9/30 clash between UVA and Miami), we can basically say that the first month of College Football 2021 is in the books.

2021 Week 4 wrap-up

This season continues to prove that no one knows anything.  Looks like almost everything is fair game this year.

2021 Week 3 wrap-up

 Oh hi there.  We're a little late getting started on the weekly wrap-ups, and there's already some significant action in the books for college football this year.

Overall, as the sport bounces back from the odd COVID season of 2020, it looks like everyone is a little rusty.  Well, Alabama is still chugging along, ruining the fun for everyone.  But almost everyone else has shown some weakness.  We're just a few upsets away from another 2007-like season.

2021 Season Predictions

 After an eventful off-season that could end up changing the whole outlook of the sport as we know it, we're finally at the 1-week point before games begin! And with that, comes another round of pre-season predictions!

New CFP Coming???

 Anyone with an eye on the continually-developing world of college football should be well-aware of the news from a few days ago.  An expanded College Football Playoff may be on the horizon!

Perception vs. Reality: Team-Specific Tidbit Edition

 With the college football season now less than 100 days away, I wanted to wrap up this offseason post series before we get to the 2021 Season speculation in the months ahead. And to close: a handful of claims about specific teams.

Perception vs Reality: Same old CFP Teams

Welcome back to another round of "Perception vs Reality." This time, we'll tackle the criticism of the CFP era's seemingly narrow group of teams - as well as the question "do only a handful of teams have a shot?"

Perception vs Reality: ACC Championship Game

 I'm starting a new series of posts that look at common arguments across college football and weigh in on how accurate they truly are. And in many cases, we'll see that perception does not always equal reality!

Luck of the Irish...and other NY6 Teams

I've been toying around with this "lucky" idea for a while, and what better time to post it than St. Patty's Day! 

Goodbye 2020: College Football Edition

 A phrase many people enjoyed shouting a few weeks ago: Goodbye 2020!  And with the National Championship a week and a half behind us, we can say the same thing for the college football season (though not necessarily with as much sheer joy).

2020 Bowl Season Look-Back

 First off, Happy 2021 to all!  I hope that it's full of prosperity, happiness, and much closer to normal than 2020 was!