NCAA football

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 7

Here they are folks, the ten games for which you will predict the outcome. There are some major games, and one Division 2 game I threw in for fun. You see, it’s homecoming week at my alma mater Truman State. So while the big guys at Mizzou try to improve in the SEC by beating the Bulldogs from Georgia, 90 miles to the North the Bulldogs of Truman will try to improve in the GVC against the Cardinals. Karen picked the tie breaker game, which is also the Pillow Fight of the Week. Two 1-4 teams play in the Big Easy.

So, happy guessing to you. Remember, guess the winner of all ten games, as well as the score in the tie breaker.

1. #2 Auburn @ #3 Mississippi State
2. #13 Georgia @ #23 Mizzou  
3. Texas @ #11 Oklahoma
4. #12 Oregon @ #18 UCLA
5. USC @ #10 Arizona
6. Rice @ Army
7. VMI @ Navy
8. Penn State @ Michigan
9. William Jewel College  (2-3) @ Truman State (4-1)
10. Tie Breaker: UConn @ Tulane

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 6

Here it is, sports fans. And this week has some really big games involving many top 25 teams facing each other. Maybe someone will get a better score than last week’s 6 correct. So, without further ado (other than reminding you to check the rules found here: https://wanderersviews.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/peters-pack-of-pickled-pigskin-picks-week-5-2/

One change: the deadline this week is Thursday, Oct.2 @ 10:30PM EDT/7:30 PDT, when the tie breaker game is played in Oregon.

So, here are your choices:

1. #6 Texas A&M @ #12 Mississippi State – ESPN says this game and the next have Mississippians hoping they will “showcase a positive image of the state.” Unless the two Mississippi teams lose by huge margins.

2. #3 Alabama @ #11 Ole Miss

3. #14 Stanford @ #9 Notre Dame – I think this is the only top 25 game between teams not in the same conference. Look for a good game.

4. #4 Oklahoma @ #25 TCU – This one may be more exciting than the annual Red River game between Oklahoma and that other team from Texas.

5. Navy @ Air Force – The first battle of the big three military schools. Who will win?

6. Boise State @ Nevada – I have to include this one now that a certain Idahoan has joined the fun.

7. #19 Nebraska @ #10 Michigan State – This one is the big game in the B1G 10 this week.

8. Purdue @ Illinois – This one is the Pillow Fight of the B1G 10. Chas’ alma mater has a good chance of winning this one.

9. Pillow Fight: UMass (0-5) @ Miami, Ohio (0-5) – The real question is, which of these teams can overcome mediocrity?

10. Tie Breaker Arizona @ #2 Oregon – I get to pick the tie breaker this week. I know, my team doesn’t stand a chance.

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 4

Here are the choices for the 4th week of Pickled pigskin Picks.  The first game is Thursday night (sorry, Chas) so pick early (7:30pm EDT Thursday). Let’s get to it.

1. #5 Auburn @ #20 Kansas State (Thursday night football in the prairie)
2. #4 Oklahoma @ West Virginia (This is supposed to be the Big 12 game of the week)
3. #14 South Carolina @ Vanderbilt (Hopefully this won’t be as close a call for Chas’ Roosters)
4. Florida @ #3 Alabama (Normally this would be a close game, but the Gators have lost their bite lately)
5. Army @ Wake Forest (For AJ)
6. Rutgers @ Navy (For the rest of us)
7. Southern Illinois @ Purdue (So Chas can pick his alma mater for a win)
8. Louisiana-Lafayette @ Boise State (So Mumsee can pretend she is playing with us)
9. California @ Arizona (For yours truly, though the Bears make it hard for Arizona to BEAR DOWN!)
10. TB: #22 Clemson @ #1 Florida State (Pick the winner and the score)

Remember: This week’s deadline is Thursday @ 7:30pm EDT!!

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks Week-3

Prognosticators of the pigskin parade, here is your periodical opportunity to portray your penchant for predicting; your proof that you prefer to pretend you know more than your partners in the blogosphere. Ten games, one winner.

This week I tried to get teams from all over the country, so I hope everyone has a team they like below. The big game is in the SEC: Georgia and South Carolina.  The tie breaker was chosen by last week’s winner, Ricky Weaver. So far, he has done the winning while the rest of us do the whining.

So without further ado, here are the choices:

1. #6 Georgia @ #24 South Carolina

2. #9 USC @ Boston College

3. Boise State @ Connecticut

4. UCF @ #20 Missouri

5. Navy @ Texas State

6. Iowa State @ Iowa

7. Kentucky @ Florida

8. #12 UCLA vs. Texas*

9. Nevada @ Arizona

10. TB: Tennessee @ #4 Oklahoma Winner and final score

Entries due by 12 noon (EDT) Saturday, Sep. 13. Play on.

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks Week 2

It’s time again. This must be David vs. Goliath week in college football. Most of the top teams are playing the smaller Division 1 schools. You know, the ones who actually have a playoff at the end of the season? So, there were not a lot of the teams we all like playing big boys, so there is a little more variety for you. All three of the major military schools are in the contest this week. The tie breaker was chosen by last week’s winner, Ricky Weaver. He is from Texas, after all, so two Texas schools are it, even though one of them is Div. 1AA.

1. Buffalo @ Army (to please those who don’t like Navy)

2. Navy @ Temple (and of course we say GO NAVY!)

3. Air Force @ Wyoming (might as well include the flyboys)

4. #8 Michigan State @ #3 Oregon (B1G 10 vs. PAC 12-could be the game of the week!)

5. Michigan @ #17 Notre Dame (Can the Wolverines overcome Irish with “Touchdown Jesus” looking on?)

6. #15 USC @ #11 Stanford (Unless there’s another earthquake, this will be what’s shaking on the Left Coast.)

7. Colorado State @ Boise State (maybe mumsee can get this one)

8. East Carolina @ #9 South Carolina (An easy one for Chas’ Roosters?)

9. #18 Ole Miss @ Vanderbilt (The only SEC game that won’t be a blowout. Maybe.)

10. Tie Breaker: SMU @ North Texas (pick winner and final score)

*All entries must be in by 12:00PM EST on Saturday.

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 1

You asked for it (well, Chas did, at least), and here it is: The Weekly NCAA College Football Challenge. Or as it was dubbed last year: Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks. So, you know the rules. You pick the winner of nine D-1 gridiron contests, as well as the winner and score in the tiebreaker game, which will be the game involving Arizona each week, unless they have a bye. Or maybe this year we’ll do a rotating tie breaker, letting the weekly winners pick which game it will be. Yeah, something different this time.

 So, without any further ado or reckless rambling, here are the games for Week 1 8/28 – 9/1. (Numbers are the ranking in the AP Top 25 poll.)

  1. #21 Texas A&M @ #9 South Carolina

  2. Boise State vs. #18 Ole Miss

  3. #5 Ohio State @ Navy

  4. West Virginia vs. #2 Alabama

  5. Arkansas @ #6 Auburn

  6. #16 Clemson @ #12 Georgia

  7. Idaho @ Florida

  8. #1 Florida State vs. Oklahoma State

  9. #14 Wisconsin vs. #13 LSU

       10. TB UNLV @ Arizona – Guess winner and score.

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News/Politics 1-7-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Huh. And I just read in the NY Times that Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with Benghazi, and wasn’t even there according to the Times reporter. Go figure… 🙄

From FoxNews  “The U.S. government is trying to apprehend an al Qaeda terrorist wanted for his role in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack that killed four Americans.

 The suspect, Muhammad Jamal, was imprisoned in Egypt last fall and in September was being held by the Egyptian government. His current whereabouts could not be confirmed, said U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. One official said Jamal remains in Egyptian custody, contrary to reports that he was in Yemen.

Jamal was labeled a designated terrorist by the United Nations Oct. 18, identifying him and the group he formed, the Muhammad Jamal Network, as linked to the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack.”

Just further proof that the Times piece was nothing more than an attempt to provide cover for the Hillary 2016 team.

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2. Once again Democrats seeking to be all-inclusive almost let the fox into the hen-house. Just like with the Brotherhood, they’re enabling questionable people, assisting them, and taking their advice.

From TheFreeBeacon  “The representative of a human rights group headed by a designated al Qaeda terrorist was denied a visa by the State Department after being invited by congressional Democrats to discuss drone strikes.

Mohammad Al Ahmady, the Yemen director for Geneva-based NGO Al Karama, was expected to brief Reps. Alan Grayson (D., Fla.), Barbara Lee (D., Calif.), and Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) the morning of the Nov. 19, according to press release from Grayson’s office.

Ahmady, who also serves as a top official in an al Qaeda-linked Yemeni political party, did not attend because of visa issues. The State Department said it could not comment on visa matters.

Several Al Karama officials have faced terrorism allegations. Al Karama’s founder and current president Abdul Rahman Naimi was designated as a terrorist and al Qaeda supporter by the U.S. Treasury Department in December, along with the group’s Yemen representative Abdulwahab Al-Humayqani. Al Karama’s legal director, Rachid Mesli, is currently wanted for terrorism charges in Algeria.”

And it gets worse. These people are involved with AQ in Iraq and Syria, as well as funding them. In the case of Iraq, they sent as much as 2 million a month to the very people our soldiers were fighting. 

Now they all play dumb and blame each other for their blunder. Typical.

Click the text and read the whole thing. This wasn’t an accident. This is the type of people Democrats and the president regularly take advice from. And the UN is considering their application for “consultant” status as well.

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3. Here’s an interesting read on the percent of men arrested before the age of 23. If this is accurate, it’s over 40%. I think more details on how this was figured would be helpful because those numbers are pretty shocking. Or is this the chickens of a fatherless society coming home to roost? And how much is the result of the failed “War on Drugs?”

From TheHuffPost  “A large number of American men have already been arrested by the time they’re in their early 20s, according to a new report.

The study, published on Monday in the journal Crime & Delinquency, found that nearly half (49 percent) of African-American men and 40 percent of white men have been arrested by the age of 23, “which can hurt their ability to find work, go to school and participate fully in their communities,” according to a press release.

The research was based on an analysis of national survey data from 1997 to 2008 of teenagers and young adults. The arrests included minor crimes like truancy as well as serious violent crimes. It excluded traffic offenses.”

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4. Looks like the talking heads at MSNBC are getting a much-needed babysitter so they stop embarrassing the network, as if that alone is their problem. But don’t be too optimistic, his previous babysitting job was as executive producer for Keith Olbermann, and we all know how well that turned out…. 🙂

From NationalReview  “MSNBC, the left-leaning cable-news network, has settled on one solution to its recent problems. It now has an executive reviewing scripts before they go on the air. The role, which has fallen to Rich Stockwell, a former executive producer of The Ed Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann who now oversees special projects at the network, was created as several of the network’s hosts have, to the embarrassment of network brass, conducted a master class in political incorrectness. In recent months, Alec Baldwin, Martin Bashir, and, most recently, Melissa Harris-Perry have awkwardly crashed into the trinity of sexual orientation, gender, and race, leading many to wonder if there are any adults in charge at MSNBC.

There is one such adult, actually, and her name is Rachel Maddow. Though she provides the network’s ideological vision — MSNBC president Phil Griffin has called her “our quarterback” — she’s neither an executive nor a manager. Griffin, who wears both hats, is, from all appearances, letting the inmates run the asylum. Meanwhile, the network that Griffin has labeled “the place for progressives” is experiencing a free fall in its ratings, which are down 29 percent from 2012. A decline was expected after a presidential-election year, but MSNBC’s competitors did not suffer as acutely. Fox News was down only 5 percent in total viewers (it suffered far more in the coveted 25–54 demographic, where the network has persistently struggled); CNN’s numbers, under the stewardship of newly installed president Jeff Zucker, remained flat.

Apologies are rare in the world of television, but they have come from MSNBC at a regular clip in recent months. “Anti-gay slurs are wrong,” Baldwin said in late November. Days before, he had accosted a photographer who was following his family and allegedly hurled an anti-gay slur in his direction. The same day Baldwin issued his apology, Martin Bashir took to the air with a clumsy pontification about Sarah Palin, slavery, and human excrement. By early December, both Baldwin and Bashir had announced that they were leaving the network.

The dust had hardly settled before Tulane professor cum MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry was tearfully apologizing to “families formed through transracial adoption.” She had led a holiday humor segment on December 30 that used as its jumping-off point a Romney-family photo. Harris-Perry said the segment took an “unexpected” turn as her guests poked fun at Mitt Romney’s adopted African-American grandson.”

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5. We have a winner! After Auburn pulled a Kansas City and blew a big lead, FSU wins the national championship 34-31.

From MSN/FoxSports  “For all Jameis Winston had done as a redshirt freshman for Florida State, he never had to pull the Seminoles from the brink of defeat.

In the biggest game of the year, down by four with 79 seconds left, the Heisman Trophy winner put together the drive of his life, and the Seminoles proved they could take a punch to win a championship.

Winston threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left and No. 1 Florida State beat No. 2 Auburn 34-31 to win the BCS national title game on Monday night.”

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 14

This is it. This is the week that decides who gets the big money BCS bowl games and who has to settle for a “Never-Heard-of-it” Bowl. I have selected the eight conference championship games for the week, as well as two Big 12 games that have significance for some of our regulars. The tie breaker will be the SEC game between Mizzou and Auburn. Choose well. Just remember- in that game you have to name the school, not just the mascot, because both teams are Tigers. Oh, and pick before Friday @ 7:00PM EST, since that is when the MAC game is. So, without further ado, here are your choices:

1. ACC- Duke vs Florida State

2. B1G- Ohio State vs Michigan State

3. PAC 12- #7 Stanford @ #11 Arizona State

4. MAC- Bowling Green vs Northern Illinois

5. SWAC- Southern vs Jackson State

6. MWC- Utah State @ #23 Fresno State

7. Big 12- Texas vs Baylor

8. Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State

9. Rice vs Marshall

10. SEC- Mizzou vs Auburn – TIE BREAKER: Guess the winner and the score.

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* Administrator’s note-

I would like to extend my gratitude to Peter for putting this together for us every week. It’s been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for your time and effort. 🙂

And we will have one last contest for this season when the Bowl Games start. And I mean the good ones, not the early ones that no one cares about.  🙂

* Also I changed one game because tonight is too soon to start it. Not enough will have a chance to make their picks. So Louis/Cinncy has been removed, and I’ve added Rice/Marshall. If you’ve already picked, post your new choice and I’ll fix it. Sorry for the confusion.

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 13

Here ye, here ye!

’Tis Rivalry Week in the realm of the college gridiron. All over the nation, football fans will don the colors of their chosen team, and trash talk anyone in the opposing team’s gear. Orange and Blue Tigers will face a Crimson challenge. Other Tigers will face Raiders and Roosters. Trojans host Bruins; Wolverines take on some Nuts from Ohio. Sun Devils try to burn Wildcats that took down not-so-mighty Ducks. Hawkeyes face Cornhuskers. Boilermakers visit Hoosiers.  Rebels take on Bulldogs. And the Gators will try to make something out of a dismal season while hosting the #2 Seminoles. Most of these are in the same state. Most don’t care what happens during the rest of the season, as long as they win this game.

And you get to guess the winners in the ten rivalry games below. Trash talk all you want, but remember, this is a family-friendly blog.

 1. #1 Alabama @ #4 Auburn – This is the Civil War of the South. They even sabotage trees in this one.

  2. #2 Florida State @ Florida – Normally, this is a big game. For Florida it is. For FSU, a loss would take them out of the national championship. Yeah, I guess it is a bog game.

  3. #3 Ohio State @ Michigan – How do you take a team named for a nut seriously? Michigan does.

  4. #21 Texas A&M @ #5 Missouri – Not a major rivalry, but the two teams that went from Big 12 to SEC play an important game for both of them.

  5. #6 Clemson @ #10 South Carolina – Chas has been mentioning this one all year. Now it’s here.

  6. #22 UCLA @ #23 USC – The I-10, PAC-12 game of the week. Hey, in what other game does the “visiting” team get penalized for wearing their home jersey?

  7. Iowa @ Nebraska – What is a Hawkeye? I lived and Iowa and can’t answer that. But Iowa grows a lot of corn. Will they get husked in Lincoln?

  8. Ole Miss @ Mississippi State – Why is the University of Mississippi called “Ole” Miss? They don’t act like elderly spinsters on the field.

  9. Purdue @ Indiana – A dismal year for Purdue. I’m not calling this a pillow fight, but how often is Purdue worse than its cross state rival?

 10. Tie Breaker: Arizona @ #12 Arizona State – Pick winner and score. After last Saturday, anything could happen in this one. And it often doesn’t matter what either team’s record is, they both want this one big. But ASU has more to lose by losing.

Play on, fans. Just get your picks in by Thursday 7:30 PM EST, when the two Misses play. Don’t “Miss” out.

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 12

‘Tis almost the season to be jolly, Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Football to some is but folly, Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Boo to them and their opinions, Fa-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la!

Let’s have fun and forget those minions! Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Okay, so I should keep to teaching Spanish instead of writing carols. Or picking games for people to try and guess the winners. Sorry to say the games are coming to an end. Next week is rivalry week, and after that are the conference playoffs. I suppose that will be all for our little contest.

And my apologies for the picks, but games involving blog favorites were not very challenging this week. I mean, Alabama and Florida State are playing push over teams (no offense to those from Chattanooga and Idaho).There are a couple of big games to choose, though. The Big 12 and the SEC have important games, and Wisconsin and Minnesota face off, with both being in the Top 25! That hasn’t happened in a long time. Finally, the Pillow Fight features two B1G 10 teams that haven’t won a conference game all year. In fact, Illinois has lost its last 20 conference games.

Pick early, but not often. The first game is scheduled for Friday night at 9:30 PM EST, as the Midshipmen take on the Spartans. No, not Michigan State, but San Jose State.

  1. Navy @ San Jose State

  2. #4 Baylor @ #10 Oklahoma State

  3. #8 Missouri @ #24 Ole Miss

  4. #12 Texas A&M @ #22 LSU

  5. Brigham Young @ Notre Dame

  6. #19 Wisconsin @ #25 Minnesota

  7. Duke @ Wake Forest

  8. Boise State @ San Diego State

  9. Pillow Fight: Illinois @ Purdue

 10. Tie Breaker: #5 Oregon @ Arizona– winner and final score.