Category Archives: Picks

Pick It And Stick It: It’s A Big One To Finger

This weekend sees the culmination of what looks to be another Cinderella season for my obvious homer cheered Kansas State Wildcats.  They head to Morgantown this weekend to take on the hobbling West Virginia Mountaineers.  This is make it or break time for both programs and Saturday’s game will determine who will stay on the national stage and who will steep back down into the conference championship race. Oh there’s some other games going on this weekend, but this is the big one for me and for most of the nation (Big 12 nation, okay?). Continue reading Pick It And Stick It: It’s A Big One To Finger

Pick It And Stick It: Finding Some Seeds

It’s Sunflower Showdown weekend! While it’s nice that Charlie Weiss is trying to get his Kansas kids up for the game and refocus rivalry juice toward Manhattan, Bill Snyder has been doing that exact thing for much of his tenure. But we can get into that later. There’s a wealth of great games this weekend both inside and outside the Big 12. We’ll know much more where teams will be seeded in the national championship race after this weekend. Time to Pick It and Stick It. Continue reading Pick It And Stick It: Finding Some Seeds

Pick It and Stick It: Bye Bye Love

It’s a little late but why the hell not.  I’m going to dump out another Pick It and Stick It.  It’s a bye week for Kansas State and this week’s games are hardly that interesting.  But I poked and prodded around and found a couple of good reasons to flap my gums about the weekend’s games.   Much to no one’s surprise, the games I’m into this weekend are from the Big 12. Continue reading Pick It and Stick It: Bye Bye Love

Pick It And Stick It: Sensory Overload Weekend

Ho man, finally we get into the meat of college football.  Last week, it was trap time.  Now it’s the real deal.  I can’t keep my homer-ism down.  I’m  full tilt on Kansas State vs Oklahoma this weekend.  And what’s about to launch me out of my chair is that we are also treated to Notre Dame vs Michigan.  It’s a shame they are on at the same time.  Yup, it’s gonna to be a massive weekend and I’ll try to pick and stick my way through it. Continue reading Pick It And Stick It: Sensory Overload Weekend

Pick It And Stick It: It’s A Trap!

Hey it’s another week of college football and it’s that time of the week for me to stick my finger where my mouth is and preview the weekend’s onslaught of college football rebellion. For me this week, it’s all about trap games. I’m looking at it from the guise of my Purple Yeti colored pride (Kansas State for the uninitiated) and there’s a chance a trap could be sprung. The rest of the weekend is somewhat ho-hum with a couple of primo matchups and that’s about it. We also get what I believe is the opening of conference play between Kansas and TCU. Let’s kick on the hyperdrive.

So I mentioned that Kansas State may be rolling into a trap game. First off, what’s a trap game? Usually it’s with an opponent that you are supposed to beat but certain circumstances make it ripe for an upset. Kansas State’s trap scenario is two-fold. First off, Kansas State plays North Texas whose head coach is Dan McCartney. Yup the same McCartney that was Iowa State’s head coach and actually beat the Snyder led Cats twice in his run. Second, the following week’s game for Kansas State is in Norman against Oklahoma. Could there be a situation where Kansas State overlooks North Texas while getting ready for Oklahoma?

The short answer is yes. Kansas State already had their trap type scenario play out in the first week of the season (and you could really look at last year too) with a way too close game against an FCS opponent. I think Bill Snyder likes to run these games as a sort of pre-season type match up. You get vanilla things that help get some real game time experience for some young players. You’ll more than likely see this again against North Texas, but it should be enough to top North Texas. McCartney does not have the kind of talent he had at Iowa State. Bill Snyder (who was an assistant at North Texas for a short time) already has his whole team bought into his system and his system demands discipline at a cosmic rate. Kansas State should win this one pretty easily but I would not be surprised if it will be close for most of the game.

The game starts late and I will miss because of a Passion Pit show (hopefully the football gods will forgive me), but I will be able to watch a couple of games before hand. The most interesting one for me, will be the opening Big 12 game of the year and the opening Big 12 game for TCU when TCU heads to Lawrence. Pretty much everyone is giving TCU the game this week. I’m going to do that too. There’s alot of things I’m looking for, however. How will Kansas State alum and TCU head coach Gary Patterson handle the first game for TCU? Will Casey Pachall keep his astronomic QB passer rating up? Will Charlie Weiss have his kids bounce back from an embarrassing loss last week? Will the Kansas players give up in the 2nd quarter? Will the stadium be empty at halftime? All interesting questions and I think we know the answer to all of them.

So the rest of the slate is pretty limp. I’ll miss out on the evening games because of concert, which is a shame because it’s got USC at Stanford as well as Notre Dame at Michigan State and Florida at Tennessee, the only Top 25 match ups of the week. So let’s pick it right now and hopefully I won’t have to stick it. I’m going with Stanford in the upset because of the media hype around USC as well as their poor performance in a win on the road to Syracuse. Pac 12 needs to come down a bit. Michigan State is the Big 10’s only hope and we’ll see them beat my 2nd favorite team in Notre Dame because the Fighting Irish will be too busy celebrating the ACC move and they struggled pretty hard against Purdue. Finally I have Tennessee over Florida because it’s time for that program to come back. All home picks, I know.

I can’t wait for this weekend of games. There’s a special treat coming up too. I’m going to try this new-fangled live blogging thing that just came out from WordPress. What will be in there? I have no clue. Probably pics and snarky remarks that will end up on the Twitter feed at @kccgd. But hey, it will be fun and you should join me. I’ll have one screen on TCU at Kansas and will channel surf the rest. Who knows? There may be some cartoons or infomercials popping up in the live blog. Tune in and find out!

Pick It and Stick It: We’ve Gone To Preview Mode

Why preview mode?  Because I’m tired of doing the ole cut and paste from the Yahoo Fantasy College Football Pick’Em, that’s why.  But I certainly don’t want to leave a gap in the ole coverage of this weekend’s game.  Yeah, I missed last weekend, but it was Labor Day so I didn’t really work.  I’m ready to stick it this week, so let’s find out what I think about this weekend’s games.  Follow along on the the ESPN Schedule. Continue reading Pick It and Stick It: We’ve Gone To Preview Mode

Dart Board Predictions 2012: Just Make Sure You Don’t Touch Anybody

Yup it’s time I wing them again.  I don’t like making things ultra official and professional (note the website) and I will follow that same lack of format for another Pick It and Stick It Special.  It’s Dart Board Predictions time!  I don’t keep track so if you want to hit me up on the Twitterz (twitter.com/kccgd) or email ([email protected]) and let me know just how smart or dumb I am.  So with that out of the way, let’s sharpen up the darts and start tossing.  Get out of the way.

  • I for some reason kept picking Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden to kick the bucket on the field.  I was wrong on both shots (but there’s a chance with Bobby still).  This year I will predict that NO ONE will die on the field.  Practice field doesn’t count.  I know about the sickle cell.
  • After capping off the offseason with a newly announced college football playoffs, college presidents will realize the folly of their way and go back the BCS system.  The robots will be replaced by committee members.
  • Brent Musburger starts to fade as he delves into dementia not unlike Keith Jackson 10 years ago.  The only difference, he will still shill and sound super excited.
  • Hey I picked a Big 12 Champion, so who will that champion play?  Pretty easy, it’s BCS bowl bound for Oklahoma against Virginia Tech because Frank Beamer.
  • So that means that the Hokies will win the ACC again and I’m not sure anyone will really care.
  • With the WAC shutting down, you’ll see other lower tier conferences going away.  I’m looking at you Sun Belt.
  • Charlie Weiss will get so frustrated at Kansas, that his front butt will lash out and strike a player.  Unlike his almost twin in old head coach Mark Mangino, no one will seem to care about it.  Poor blowhard Weiss.
  • The Big East will be renamed to The Big after they finish this year announcing new members Hawaii and Japan.
  • Texas A&M and Missouri do okay in the SEC this year.  After they get done cleaning up the table when the big boys are done.
  • Mike Leech trades his sword in for a bow and arrow and starts pegging apples at Washington State.  This somehow inspires Wazzu to double their wins to 2.
  • USC will walk into the Pac 12 as the favorite and will more than likely walk out the winner.  Oregon lost so much except those tasty uniforms.
  • But Matt Barkley will not win the Heisman Trophy.  The consolation?  The next contestant on The Bachelor.
  • Who will win the Heisman?  It’s a quarterback sport anymore so I think it will be someone from the that position.  I see Geno Smith nailing with Collin Klein coming in second.  Such a homer pick.
  • Speaking of Kansas State, Bill Snyder will live through the year and see a bowl win finally.  Maybe in the Beef O’Bradys Bowl.
  • Craig James will spew out some nonsense and get accepted to the Green Party’s ticket for president alongside Rosanne Barr.
  • I really do think this may be Michigan’s year for a Big 10 title. Unfortunately as soon as they step on that stage, they will instantly be overhyped and lose out in the Rose Bowl.
  • About 100 more players will be suspended due to mysterious ‘team rules’ epidemic going around.
  • I will not win Pick It and Stick It again this year.  I’m hedging my bet right now and will be saying ‘Called It!’ in December.
  • USC will face LSU and win in the BCS National Championship Game.  Only because USC did me so well in EA Sports NCAA College Football and LSU just doesn’t have it, much to the chagrin of everything SEC.
  • Finally, super predictor Phil Steele will rip off most of my predictions from this column and discredit everything else he did in 2012.

Bowl Pick It and Stick It 2011: A Day Late But Not A Dollar Short

Yup, I waited another day because the BCS Championship game was the last one on the docket for the Stick It series and it didn’t make sense to hype it up any more than it has been.  Plus, I was recovering from drowning my sorrows brought upon me by Kansas State’s loss in the Cotton Bowl.  So let’s wrap up this year’s Bowl Pick It and Stick It in style:  by not talking about the title game.  More on that in a second but first let us go over the final standings:

Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It 2011: A Day Late But Not A Dollar Short

Bowl Pick It and Stick It 2011: A Happily Bloated New Year’s

It’s weird getting ready to sit down and watch college football on January 2nd versus watching it on New Year’s Day.  Usually, I would stumble over late to a friend’s house to kick off the new year by watching football, gloming myself with food, getting drunk, playing some board games, and being as lazy as humanly possible.  This year, it’s watching everything online, eating some food, and not making a singular play on a game of boards.  The good thing is that I can adjust.  Unfortunately, the adjustments don’t look so hot for my Bowl Pick It and Stick It Standings.  Let’s take a look:

Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It 2011: A Happily Bloated New Year’s

Bowl Pick It and Stick It 2011: Twas The Day After Christmas

And all through the house, we had present unwrapping hangovers with eggnog thirst doused.  Oh wait, it’s not a poem I’m writing here, it’s the Bowl Pick It and Stick standings update!  Christmas scored well with me and I hope the holiday was in your top 5.  There was just a sprinkle of games in the last week, with the brunt of the bowls starting this afternoon with Missouri and North Carolina in the Independence Bowl.  So, with confidence points teetering the scores wildly, how did everyone in the pick set do?  Let’s find out.

Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It 2011: Twas The Day After Christmas

Bowl Pick It and Stick It: Puttering Off To A Tiny Start

Alrighty, we are back after a major kick off to the bowl season!  Um, okay it wasn’t that major.  We had three bowls Saturday and that was about it.  The weekend’s bouts featured on of the funniest sounding bowl names (Idaho Potato) as well as one of the funniest sounding matchups (San Diego State vs Louisiana Lafayette).  Only one game was a dud but the others provided some late game excitement.  I didn’t really watch them as much because of real day job work, but I caught enough of it to be happy bowl season started.  Let’s look at the standings:

Continue reading Bowl Pick It and Stick It: Puttering Off To A Tiny Start

Pick It Standings 2011 Week 14: The Final Placement

It’s the final, final week of Pick It and Stick It (more on that in a couple of weeks).  Did I produce a herculean effort much like Oklahoma State over the weekend to jump into the third place?  Or did I hang off the edge and shed a bucket full of crocodile tears?  We’ll find out soon enough.  We also found out how the BCS system works in fine detail, speaking of Oklahoma State.  Now that the regular season Pick It and Stick It is over, we are kicking up the Bowl Pick It and Stick It, with a twist you may be familiar with.  All that and more inside.

Continue reading Pick It Standings 2011 Week 14: The Final Placement

PIck It and Stick It 2011 Week 14: The Final Flingdown

Yessir, it’s the last regular season week of college football!  We have tons of conference championships, but we also have a fairly stacked Big 12 schedule.  I’m sure that won’t happen as soon as they conference actually goes back to 12, but it’s nice to enjoy Farmageddon and Bedlam while the title games are going on.  Bedlam is bigger, though, and I’m pulling for a major breakthrough for Oklahoma State so they can go the BCS National Championship Game.  Much like I’m pulling for a miracle in the picks this week.  I’m not asking for much, just for third place.  So let’s find out what the picks are:

Continue reading PIck It and Stick It 2011 Week 14: The Final Flingdown

Pick It Standings 2011 Week 13: Locked Shut Early

We have one more week to go, but things are pretty much locked up by now.  On the Pick It and Stick It side, Bryce Brown for Heisman pretty much has it locked up.  BCS wise, it looks like the heavens and earth have shaken and bubbled up a rematch between LSU and Alabama for the BCS National Championship Game.  Ugh.  At least for the BCS there is an outside chance for Oklahoma State to throw a wrench into the gears.  So let’s take a look at the standings for the next to last time this year.

Continue reading Pick It Standings 2011 Week 13: Locked Shut Early

Pick It and Stick It 2011 Week 13: Plucking One Out

Ho man, am I stuffed.  I never thought that I would be as stuffed as I was away from the family on the Thanksgiving as I am now.  I know for certain that Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays out there now.  Family is really getting together with friends and loved ones.  Thanksgiving is a reason to get together with family and totally gorge yourself.  I need to hit the gym pronto but first I will go over the Pick It and Stick It for this week.  It’s some doozies and I mostly excited that great games come one after the other.  It was like the second, third, and fourth helpings for me on Thanksgiving.  Here’s the pick set:

Continue reading Pick It and Stick It 2011 Week 13: Plucking One Out