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The ESPN College Pick Em game goes into Week 9 this weekend! There will be ten games to pick every Saturday. Each week you assign a confidence total for each game from 1-10 points. If you win, you get that many points. Simple, right? Now that you've got the hang of it, this year we are going to offer a little prize. The winner of the group this season will win FREE access to RotoBaller's college football DFS premium tools for the 2023 season. We have a pretty good turnout of 33 entries. You have a one-in-33 chance of winning, so set your lineups every week!
Last week was a rough week for all involved. The Syndicate was once again the only one in the group to hit 40 points. jphowell09 was one point back. Fred Smoot Boat Rentals had 37 points. Everyone else was under 35 with only four more above 30. The good week by jphowell09 gives him a ten-point lead over ryan_peoples2. That's the largest lead for anyone this season. HumbleBee is in third with 306 points. Fred Smoot Boat Rentals and lbockenek round out the top five at 304 points.
The Syndicate has climbed up to sixth with 297 points after two league-leading weeks. ertlt sits in seventh with 293. San Diego's Finest and Kev Shep are tied for eighth with 287 points. XLVIII rounds out the top ten a couple of points back. The separation between 10 and 11 is up to six points, which is also the highest of the season. 35 points separates the top ten, which is about the average for the last few weeks.
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College Football Pick Em Overview
This article will be for the confidence game mode. You can also read my against-the-spread picks here every week for every game so you know how I'm leaning for that version of the game. Each week, I will recap who's dominating the group before I get into the picks. If you're going to beat everyone, all of the readers will know about it!
Let's get to the countdown! I will count them up from least confident (1) to most (10). You know, for dramatic effect. If I do change my pick or points sometime during the week, I will try to update the article or post it on Twitter. Otherwise, you know all of my picks each week. Good luck out there. This looks like a tough week. There are some close ones on there, but that's what makes this fun!
(1) Central Florida over Cincinnati
This is the only toss-up in the field this week. It feels loaded with easy picks. Cincinnati's inability to put teams away after jumping out to leads is going to hurt them at some point. It could be here against an explosive offense. This is me trying to gain some ground here. UCF is the team that has the best chance of pulling the upset.
(2) Jackson State over Southern
I'm not going to pretend to know much about either team here because I don't. Due to the elite talent that Deion Sanders is bringing into Jackson, I'm picking them.
(3) Mississippi over Texas A&M
Every QB who has taken a snap for the Aggies has struggled this year. Therefore, the whole offense has struggled. Ole Miss has the defense to make the Aggies look good, but not if they don't get the QB situation settled. I doubt that happens in one game, but stranger things have happened. That's keeping this game a little lower on my list.
(4) Oklahoma State over Kansas State
The way the Cowboys' defense dominated the second half against Texas has me feeling like they are the best team in the conference right now. They might get a rematch with TCU. If they do, I feel like they would hang on this time. An experienced quarterback like Adrian Martinez could be a problem for Oklahoma State, but not enough to lose this game.
(5) South Carolina over Missouri
Beating Kentucky and A&M in back-to-back weeks is a big deal regardless of the injuries mounting for either team. Mizzou almost lost to Vanderbilt and hasn't looked good since their win over Louisiana Tech in the opener. They played a sloppy game against Abilene Christian as well. I may end up moving this one up due to Missouri looking worse by the week.
(6) Tennessee over Kentucky
This feels a bit like a trap for the Vols. However, they showed up to play in Death Valley the week before Bama over what turns out to be a pretty solid LSU team. I think they show up here in the rivalry as well, especially at home.
(7) Syracuse over Notre Dame
Notre Dame has struggled to move the ball against good defenses. Syracuse has a very good defense. If they can turn over Clemson five times, the Irish are in for one hell of a struggle here. The score may be close, but Syracuse has a way of winning by ten and still dominating the game.
(8) UCLA over Stanford
The only team that the Stanford defense has really been able to limit is Notre Dame. UCLA is a good team that ran into a buzzsaw in Eugene. I haven't soured on the Bruins. I think they bounce back in a big way back in the Rose Bowl.
(9) Illinois over Nebraska
Nebraska had problems with run defense against Purdue in their last game. If they can't control Chase Brown, they are going to lose in spectacular fashion. The Illini defense is very strong. I might end up moving this down since Nebraska's defense improved drastically after their first bye. If that happens again and Nebraska hangs around, it could be a problem for the Illini.
(10) Ohio State over Penn State
Right now, the Buckeyes look like the best team in the country. This offense is stacked with NFL talent and the defense has played well in every game so far after getting gouged in the Rose Bowl by Utah with their NFL players not participating. Penn State slaughtering a Minnesota team without Tanner Morgan and Chris Autman-Bell doesn't impress me that much.
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