Week 10 Pick'em Games - Week 9 Results

[EMan]

I freely admit it. I know OU is in the midst of a rebuilding project and if I’m honest with myself, I would’ve been surprised if the Sooners ran the table this year. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t in full tilt CFP mode with each passing win, but let’s face it, going undefeated in college football is hard! Very hard! And especially difficult for a team still trying to put all the pieces in place after being gutted less than 2 seasons ago. Almost always at some point in the season, you’re going to throw out a stinker. Why that is, no one knows. I suppose if you did know why you could make a lot of money! But alas, that secret remains a mystery to us all. And to play Captain Obvious, Oklahoma’s game against Kansas on Saturday was a major league stinker! We could all cite play after play that could’ve turned that game in OU’s favor, but it only adds to the frustration of losing a game you should’ve won. Sure, there were some extenuating circumstances, such as losing Stutsman and Williams on the defensive side and Walker on the offensive side. Those were some huge losses. Not to mention the hour-long lightning delay that allowed Kansas to regroup after OU has seized the momentum. But all that aside, OU still should’ve won. So many of the game-changing plays were self-inflicted wounds. A Pick 6 on the first series? And that’s AFTER the defense got a 4th down stop! Grab the momentum, then immediately give it back. Then there were three personal foul penalties on ONE drive, with the last one coming on a 3rd down stop at the one! And was upgraded to a targeting call! Talk about aiding a drive! But even through all of that, OU still had the ball with a first down at the KU 38-yd line with 2:29 to go after an Ethan Downs interception. Get a first down, and the game is essentially over. But unfortunately, the Sooners played not to lose instead of playing to win and failed to even get close to picking up a first down. One valuable lesson I learned long ago, playing “not to lose” tends to cost you more often than not. And then on the ensuing punt, what was the Sooner defender doing? He bought into the short kick deception by the Kansas punt returner hook, line and sinker, allowing the ball to bounce harmlessly into the end zone. Instead of being pinned inside the 5, KU had it on their 20. And of course, probably the biggest late game play was letting a Jayhawk receiver get wide open on 4th and six. Stop Kansas on that play and it’s an OU victory. But that’s not what happened, and instead Sooner fans were left playing the “What if” game. Bottom line, OU played a poor game. And there’s plenty of blame to go around. This was a total team loss. Now you have to pick yourself up and get back to work. This one will sting for a good while, but you can’t let one loss turn into two or more. Guess we’ll see what this team is made of over the next few weeks, but one thing is for sure, the Chinamen are not happy right now!

Meanwhile over in our Week 9 Pick’em contest, at least one player found a sliver lining in an otherwise dreary college football Saturday. SoonerTroll2 was spot on with his high-value picks this week and cruised to a 25-point win over his closest pursuers. Nice week Troll! You nailed every game from #8 through #20. That’s always going to have you hovering toward the top of our weekly leader board. Enjoy kicking your feet up in the Pick’em throne room for the next week. Our runner ups this week saw a pair of players both clock in with 163-point efforts to tie for second, formulaS and yours truly, EMan. And yes, the streak is broken! I did in fact get the 20-point game correct this week for the first time all season. 1-and-8! Woohoo! But if truth be known, I didn’t get it right, my one-year-old granddaughter made my pick for me this week. Desperate times call for desperate measures! Anyway, rounding out the rest of our Top Five this week we find another pair of players tied for fourth, Ky Sooner and gcruse7. Well done, one and all!

Turning our attention to the overall standings through Week 9, OU-Native managed to hold on to his extremely precarious lead, but he obviously has zero margin for error, as Soonerator has closed the gap to a single solitary point. It can’t get much closer than this as we come out of the backstretch and start to make the turn for home. But this is much more than a 2-horse race. Sitting in third this week is Bixby_Sooner, only 16 points back, followed by IMAsooner, 22-points off the lead, and OUcharlie 60-points off the pace. You can see all the year-to-date standings by clicking HERE.

So, now we move on the Week 10 and hopefully we can put the Sooner loss in the rear-view mirror. It’s Bedlam this Saturday, and the Sooners better be ready to play! Deadline for submittals this week will be 11 AM, Saturday, November 4th. You can access this week’s games by clicking on the “EMan’s Pick’em Contest” button at the top of the board, or by clicking HERE. This week our lineup includes:

Ohio St. @ Rutgers
Penn St. @ Maryland
Wisconsin @ Indiana
BYU @ West Virginia
Oklahoma @ Oklahoma St.
Arkansas @ Florida
Iowa @ Northwestern
LSU @ Alabama
Kansas St. @ Texas*
Washington @ USC
Miami (FL) @ No. Carolina St.
Notre Dame @ Clemson
Texas A&M @ Mississippi
Charlotte @ Tulsa
Kentucky @ Miss. St.
Nebraska @ Michigan St.
Illinois @ Minnesota
Georgia Tech @ Virginia
UCLA @ Arizona
Kansas @ Iowa St.

Once again, remember to make sure you get your picks in by 11 AM on Saturday, November 4th. As a reminder, you can always go back before the deadline and change any pick you’ve made. Just use the “Review Pick” button on the Pick’em page to edit your selections. Good luck! And may your darts fly true!

[Echo]

Congratulations Troll....your turn to shine. There were some unexpected bumps in the road that kicked us in the teeth and one that broke our hearts.

[OU Chinaman]

...great job soonerTroll2. Difficult slate of games, and you did outstanding.

[MHSooner]

Way to go SoonerTroll2! I bombed as usual.

Thanks E-man for running the pickem.

[Bronco]

Eman, I am really curious how your 1 year old granddaughter could pick the number 20 game. Our grandkids could barely walk and couldn’t talk at all. Unless she’s pushing two. Even then. I believe you, but it must have been like a aouji board.

[Bronco]

Eman, I am really curious how your 1 year old granddaughter could pick the number 20 game. Our grandkids could barely walk and couldn’t talk at all. Unless she’s pushing two. Even then. I believe you, but it must have been like a aouji board.

Ouija board

[EMan]

Eman, I am really curious how your 1 year old granddaughter could pick the number 20 game. Our grandkids could barely walk and couldn’t talk at all. Unless she’s pushing two. Even then. I believe you, but it must have been like a aouji board.

I understand. What we did was lay out two items in front of her, equally distant apart, and designated one as Iowa St and the other as Baylor. Whichever one she touched first would be the team I took.

[Bronco]

Eman, I am really curious how your 1 year old granddaughter could pick the number 20 game. Our grandkids could barely walk and couldn’t talk at all. Unless she’s pushing two. Even then. I believe you, but it must have been like a aouji board.

I understand. What we did was lay out two items in front of her, equally distant apart, and designated one as Iowa St and the other as Baylor. Whichever one she touched first would be the team I took.

OK, I’ll buy it.

[EMan]

Don't forget to get your picks in for this week. Here's who's in so far...

Aries
Bixby_Sooner
Blue
Bronco
Charliedontsurf
Chiefs16
Echo
EMan
Fiascosdad
Fly
MHSooner
Oklahombre
OldTimer
OU Chinaman
OU_Tom2
OUcharlie
poh302
Sooner42
Soonerator
SwampSooner
TheComedian
walt
White River
whitefeather
WishBone

[EMan]

If you're not on the list below, you're not in yet. Be sure to get your picks in for this week...

Aries
Bixby_Sooner
Blue
Bronco
bvillesooner2
Charliedontsurf
Chiefs16
cushcreekmont
Echo
EMan
Fiascosdad
Fly
formulaS
gcruse7
JoeSooner
KySooner
MHSooner
Oklahombre
OldTimer
OU Chinaman
OU Guy
OU_Tom2
OUcharlie
pippen
poh302
SD-OU
Sooner42
Soonerator
SoonerLynx
SwampSooner
TheComedian
Triple Option
walt
White River
whitefeather
WishBone

[OU Chinaman]

...EMan, My Pick'em shows OKLAHOM Won & I was awarded 6 points???

[EMan]

...EMan, My Pick'em shows OKLAHOM Won & I was awarded 6 points???

Yep, I corrected it. My mouse on this computer sometimes jams and I accidentally clicked OU. Thanks for the heads up.