Enter weekly pick 'em contest, win prizes – Sioux Falls Argus Leader
Clearly, my faith in Georgia’s ability to take the proverbial next step was seriously misplaced. This does a nice job capturing what happened between the hedges Saturday:
Honestly, the outcome of that game was probably just as much the result of Alabama being a really, really good football team, though Ole Miss getting curb-stomped by the Gators certainly adds some intrigue.
Everything else last week was pretty balanced, except for in Brookings, where SDSU whiffed — badly — in the Dakota Marker game.
In terms of the standings, David Nicholson continues to tear it up. He went 9-1 last week to retake the throne from Mick Garry, who slipped a bit last week. Nicholson’s weekly bugaboo comes in the LOTW section, where he’s a robust 1-3 thus far. I thought he had it last weekend with #HottyToddy in the Swamp, but apparently, chaos shall reign in the SEC this season.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Matt Zimmer and Ian Frazer maintained perfection with their locks of the week. Zimmer’s strategy appears to be playing it safe, while Frazer…well, I’m not entirely sure how he’s playing it, but it’s working.
On the fan side, Rusty (8 of 10), bliss (8 of 10), JimVanderW (9 of 10) and Jacks (9 of 10) are in a four-way tie for first place. Impressively, they’ve only missed three games through the first weeks of the season (Though, with an overall record of 26-14, I suppose most anything’s “impressive.”)
Now, it’s your turn! Follow this here link to our UPickEm.com page and make your picks by 11 a.m. on Saturday for the chance to win a $75 gift card. At the end of the NFL season, the person with the best record will receive a $75 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings. The second place finisher will receive a $25 gift card. So, come back every week to enter your picks!
Below are the Argus Sports staff’s picks. As always, come for the picks, stay for the locks. You shan’t be disappointed.
–Brian Haenchen
STANDINGS
Dave Nicholson: 32-8, LOTW: 1-3 (LW: 9-1, 1-0)
Mick Garry: 30-10, LOTW: 0-4 (LW: 7-3, 0-1)
Matt Zimmer: 28-12, LOTW: 4-0 (LW: 7-3, 1-0)
Brian Haenchen: 26-14, LOTW: 2-2 (LW: 7-3, 1-0)
Ian Frazer: 25-15, LOTW: 4-0 (LW: 5-5, 1-0)
COLLEGE GAMES
Indiana State at South Dakota State
- Frazer: South Dakota State
- Garry: South Dakota State
- Haenchen: South Dakota State
- Nicholson: South Dakota State
- Zimmer: South Dakota State
South Dakota at Western Illinois
- Frazer: Western Illinois
- Garry: Western Illinois
- Haenchen: Western Illinois
- Nicholson: Western Illinois
- Zimmer: Western Illinois
Augustana at Minnesota State
- Frazer: Minnesota State
- Garry: Minnesota State
- Haenchen: Minnesota State
- Nicholson: Minnesota State
- Zimmer: Minnesota State
Winona State at Sioux Falls
- Frazer: USF
- Garry: USF
- Haenchen: USF
- Nicholson: USF
- Zimmer: USF
Indiana at Penn State
- Frazer: Indiana
- Garry: Penn State
- Haenchen: Indiana (Them Hoosiers almost knocked off THE Ohio State University. Therefore, I’m going with your standard #PrisonerOfTheMoment pick.)
- Nicholson: Penn State (As an IU grad, the Hoosier in me hates to pick the Nittany Lions, but QB Nate Sudfield is on the mend so take the home team.)
- Zimmer: Penn State
No. 11 Florida at Missouri
- Frazer: Missouri
- Garry: Florida
- Haenchen: Missouri (Florida’s defense is real good…but so is Missouri’s. I’m not entirely sold on the Gators, namely because of their offense. I think the magic of #Locktober continues for at least another week and the Tigers squeak out a huge win.)
- Nicholson: Florida (This pick is to prove whether mojo exists or not. I’ve bet against the Gators two weeks in a row and lost both times.)
- Zimmer: Florida
No. 23 Cal at No. 5 Utah
- Frazer: Utah
- Garry: Utah
- Haenchen: Cal
- Nicholson: Utah (Still salty that former Utah golden boy Alex Smith can’t hold the jockstrap of former Golden Bear Aaron Rodgers, the Utes exact some revenge against Cal at home.)
- Zimmer: Utah
NFL GAMES
Seahawks at Bengals
- Frazer: Bengals
- Garry: Bengals
- Haenchen: Seahawks
- Nicholson: Bengals (Never bet against the Ginger Ninja at home, if for no other reason than you get to say the words, “Ginger Ninja.”)
- Zimmer: Bengals
49ers at Giants
- Frazer: Giants
- Garry: Giants
- Haenchen: Giants
- Nicholson: Giants
- Zimmer: Giants
Steelers at Chargers
- Frazer: Steelers
- Garry: Chargers
- Haenchen: Steelers
- Nicholson: Chargers
- Zimmer: Chargers
LOCK OF THE WEEK
Frazer: I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, but people have been a bit down on Texas lately. There was this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and a bunch of other stuff that I’m probably missing. Saturday’s Red River Showdown is probably going to be forecast as a romp for Oklahoma over Charlie Strong’s boys. But you know what, I say SCREW ALL THAT, because the Longhorns are going to kill it here. They may score less than the Sooners, they may give up more points than the Sooners, they may turn the ball over more than the Sooners, but I DON’T CARE. What I think is going to happen is the Horns are going to be up two scores in late in the fourth quarter and Oklahoma is going to be down to the Texas 30 and when Baker Mayfield drops back on third and 7 Kris Boyd is going to come in and crush him on a corner blitz, forcing a fumble for the backbreaking scoop-and-score. And then Boyd will take out his phone and tweet about it. On the field. Texas over Oklahoma
Garry: St. Louis Rams over Green Bay Packers. The surprisingly spry Rams are representing St. Louis, a city of a little more than 300,000 but within a metropolitan area of almost 3 million. So you think a town like Green Bay, with a population of about 100,000, can take on an area that populous? Think again. The Rams will win this game by a score of 34-26. Rams over Packers
Haenchen: Georgia Tech’s option offense let me down against the Irish earlier this year. Last week, Air Force let me down. Therefore, I’m going full #AnchorsAweigh this week (Ken Niumatalolo’s squad runs the option, and bulldozed the Falcons). Bon voyage to the Irish’s playoff hopes. Navy over Notre Dame
Nicholson: Almost exactly 50 years ago, Ivy League rivals Princeton and Colgate collided in what has never been called a classic matchup. By game’s end, the Tigers of Princeton had tuned up Colgate by a score of 27-0. People still don’t talk about it to this day. This weekend’s matchup between the two schools might follow the same story, but will no doubt dominate the conversation at sumptuous cocktail parties on campus. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m 32-8 so far this year, which is amazing. But I’m just 1-3 in Locks of the Week, so the Princeton pick above is my way of changing things up. Princeton over Colgate
Zimmer: Chiefs over Bears
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