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The ESPN College Pick Em game goes into Week 6 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!
It was a bad week across the group this week, but my 22-point disaster still ranked as one of the worst. 2pretty4orange led the way with 35 points this week. Keep in mind that there were only 45 possible points this week. Bret8821 finished second with 34 points. San Diego's Finest, cnbaker, and callahanm328 all tied with 33 points. Five more broke the 30-point barrier.
Fred Smoot Boat Rentals still leads the way with 212 points. HumbleBee is now seven points back. ryan_peoples2 sits in third with 204 points. jphowell09 has 203 and he is the only other one over 200. lbockenek rounds out the top five with 199 points. ertlt is three points behind her. Bret8821 moves into seventh with 193 points. San Diego's Finest is one point behind him. 2pretty4orange, callahanm328, and randybthesly1 are all tied for ninth with 189 points. There is some separation at the top, but there is still only 33 points separating the top ten.
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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) Kansas over TCU
The Jayhawks are 5-0 and Gameday is going to be in Lawrence. I know from experience how much of a party town Lawrence is when the football team is good. Add Gameday to that mix and this is going to be a blast! I won't be going down for this one, but I see Kansas finding another way to win. Maybe just on electricity alone. The TCU team speed is going to be an issue, but the Kansas defense has been very good at times. I'm content betting the minimum on the team I want to see win.
(2) Iowa State over Kansas State
The Cyclones have the lowest percentage among teams that I think have a nice change at an upset, so I'm trying to steal some points on the field here. Iowa State's defense did a great job on Jalon Daniels last week. Adrian Martinez is a better passer, but their rushing abilities are about the same. If this game were in Manhattan I would pick K-State. They likely still win, but the Cyclones at least have a puncher's chance in Ames. Going against the 87% for a chance at a few extra points is a gamble I'm willing to make.
(3) Utah over UCLA
Utah doesn't turn the ball over like Washington did. I don't know that the UCLA offense is good enough to win on that alone. I do know that this is going to be a battle and I might end up moving it down. Utah is being picked at a rate that I think three points is a solid wager here. I would guess that most have them higher than I do. I might flip to UCLA at the Rose Bowl, but for now, I think Utah's chances of winning are too much for me to take that stand. If the public starts going heavier on Utah, it will incentivize a flip more.
(4) Notre Dame over BYU
The Irish have proven that their defense is still strong. The offense looks better under Drew Pyne. Honestly, I'm just not that impressed with BYU. Injuries have decimated the receiving corps and the defense just allowed 50 combined points to Utah State and Wyoming – offenses that have been stuck in neutral. I don't see the Cougars going to South Bend and winning this.
(5) USC over Washington State
USC is not invincible, especially defensively. The Washington State defense has been very good sans a four-minute lapse against the Ducks. The Washington State defense is good enough to execute the way Oregon State did, but this being on the road still has me leaning towards USC. I don't trust it. The Trojans have looked painfully average at times – something they shouldn't be given the exorbitant amount of money they paid to bring the offense together. This is a winnable game for Wazzu, so I'm moving it out of the top half. There's enough that I don't trust about this.
(6) North Carolina State over Florida State
Both NC State and Wake lost to Clemson, but Wake just beat Florida State, so this is an easy Wolfpack win, right? It's not that simple. FSU only getting 10% of public support has me thinking about flipping this. The North Carolina State offense is not an elite unit like Wake is at times. If this game were in Tallahassee, I would seriously consider the Seminoles. NC State needs to take some shots in this game though. I was shocked that they didn't against Clemson.
(7) Texas over Oklahoma
I'm a fan, but I'm not dumb. Texas is a long ways ahead of Oklahoma right now, especially on defense. We usually show up for the Texas game. The Longhorns haven't won by more than a touchdown in this series since 2013. I have a feeling this is going to be closer to the 2005 game when Vince Young went berserk on the OU defense. The only saving grace is that Texas doesn't have a true dual threat like Adrian Martinez or Max Duggan. However, our secondary is still going to get torched. Xavier Worthy is in for a monster game here and so is whoever starts at quarterback for the Longhorns. Our four-game winning streak in this series is over and we are in for our first three-loss season since 2014. This will also be Oklahoma's longest losing streak since 1998.
(8) North Carolina over Miami
Josh Downs is back for the Tarheels and finally appears to be completely healthy. Drake Maye is proving to have a pretty good arm on him as well. The Hurricanes' secondary is going to have a lot of issues in this one. Did the bye week help? It does for most teams, but this is a sloppy Miami team right now in the midst of a quarterback controversy that just lost to Middle Tennessee State. That feels like too much to overcome, even at home.
(9) UTSA over Western Kentucky
These teams treated us to two of the better games of the 2021 season last year. In the first game, UTSA came from behind and won a game that featured 98 points. The CUSA Championship game last year was a defensive battle. The teams only combined for 90 points and UTSA won by a more comfortable margin of eight points. This is not your 2021 Hilltoppers team. Bailey Zappe is in Boston (and should be starting) and the offense has predictably taken a step back. Meanwhile, UTSA has possibly the most experienced offense in the country. They're winning this one at home as well.
(10) Tennessee over LSU
A young Auburn team also had LSU on the ropes last week before a couple of back-breaking errors. Tennessee won't make those kind of slips to lose this game. This is not night in Death Valley. It's a day game. The LSU defense isn't going to be able to keep up with the Tennessee offense.
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