As Minnie Pearl would say, “Well, how-dee!” and welcome to the 2019-2020 Yahoo! College Football Pick’em Challenge!

We’re only five (5) days away from opening kickoff (Miami-Fla vs Florida on Saturday, August 24th) and I’m sure y’all have been wondering, “What’s the delay???”

You want the truth?

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!

Well, truth be known, I’ve been trying to figure out just what went wrong last season.

I mean, I successfully predicted three (3) out of the four (4) playoff teams (stupid Notre Dame), but predicted my beloved Crimson Tide to win all the marbles (stupid Clemson).

Besides the luck of the Irish, I just couldn’t figure out what happened!

Then, I remembered the equation…

(ignoring the aberration in 2014 with Ohio State winning), the formula goes like this:

2015: Alabama
2016: Clemson
2017: Alabama
2018: Clemson

So, we all know what that means!

It’s OUR turn again!!! Roll Tide!

So, to reiterate: The 2019/2020 season belongs to: Ala-Freakin-Bama!!!

My Bama Boys are so eager for vengeance, they’re gonna make the Avengers look like a bunch of powder puffs!

Sorry to be anticlimactic, but now that you know the University of Alabama (#WhereLegendsAreMade) is gonna win it all, here are my predictions* for this season’s College Football Playoffs:

Bama, of course; Clemson University, as defending champs; the University of Michigan; and the University of Oklahoma.

People, it might as well be set in stone, the Crimson Tide WILL be your 2019/2020 National Champions!

That there calls for a Roll Tide!

Face it: It’s all over, but the crying!

And, since your dreadfully appalling team has 0% chance of defeating my Crimson Tide, you might as well attempt to beat me at the Yahoo! College Football Pick’em Challenge…

To take your shot, visit http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college to join one (or preferably both) of the challenge groups:

PB I: Group ID #5423; password: nola (all lower case)

It doesn’t take a lot to compete in this group, as even weak, little nerds and frail, little old ladies can supposedly pick a winner. This group is for cheese Balls and weenies. Simply choose the game winners…straight up and use confidence points based on how strongly you feel your prediction will come true. The higher your confidence, the higher the points you should use.

PB II: Group ID #5424; password: nola (again, all lower case)

This is the group for manly men and strong women. It requires using confidence points AND picking against the spread. With this group, you not only use confidence points, but you do so against “the line” as determined by the Vegas odds-makers. Here, you use your confidence points based on how strongly you feel a team will (or will not) cover “the spread.”

If there is no line or the line is “Off,” it becomes just like PB I…just pick the winner & choose how many points to assign.

If the “favorite” team wins over the “underdog” by exactly the line set by Vegas, it’s called a “push” and no one gets any points. (Sorry, that’s the “house” playing the odds.)

Again, this is uncomplicated enough that even ABUURN fans can figure it out! (That’s Auburn fans for those spelling-challenged individuals.)

As always, if you have any questions, contact me at: dallastide at g mail dot com (without any spaces or underscores).

Roll Tide!

* As a bonus, and FWIW, the University of Georgia is looking stout and, although I doubt it, they could present a challenge to my beloved Crimson Tide. Also, should Michigan and/or Oklahoma fall late, I believe it’s possible the Boise State Broncos could sneak in, as the CFP Committee is desperate to get a Group of Five team in…but we shall see; we shall see.

Be sure to invite other college football fans to join us.

Roll Tide, Roll!

University of Kentucky for the WIN!!!!!

Wait - did I say that out loud!?!?!?

my pick has historically done poorly, so this year i am picking Alabama, and with a 2nd login will be selecting Clemson.

More interesting bet would be Alabama and Clemson vs the field

Saw where Bama and Clemson were co 5-2 favorites in Vegas....Georgia next at 11-2 i think, and OU at 8-1. I would think based on those odds that the field would be a very slight Vegas favorite over Bama and Clemson.

Geaux Tigers!!!

Well, since my Tide is out, Geaux Tigers!


On a tangent, it's been said (via a Facebook post) that "Alabama has lost this year to the Clemson Tigers, the LSU Tigers, and the Auburn Tigers. I bet Nick Saban can't walk past a box of Frosted Flakes without losing his mind!"

I just hope we don't have to play the Memphis Tigers in a Bowl game this year!!!

^^^^^LOL! ROLL TIDE ROLL! Guess I'm rooting for LSU this year!

I am hearing that there is a chance that Alabama plays my Golden Gophers in the Outback Bowl this year. While I don't think the Gophers would beat Alabama, I think it would be good to go up against a good SEC team to see where the program is and where it still needs to go.

Can't understand why y'all Bama fans would root for LSU instead of Georgia after you lost to LSU, but didn't even play Georgia. Must just be sticking with the favorite is all I can figure.

Because I live in Georgia and catch a lot of grief from my GA friends for my Alabama support. If GA manages to beat LSU, will they make it to the championship?

Geaux Georgia!!!

I'm open to play whomever...I just hope we show up and not pull a "don't care" like we did against Utah and OU previously!

The way I see it, if UGA beats LSU and since LSU has already beaten us, that just puts us further down in the SEC rankings.

Frankly, whether it's LSU or UGA, I really don't care...just so long as it's an SEC team as National Champs!

#RollTide!
#GeauxTigers!
#GoBulldogs!

This isn't the same Alabama team as the past. Alabama lost to the only two ranked teams they played and their strength of schedule was pretty weak. Too many FCS type schools (NM State, Southern Miss, WCU, Duke). Ok, maybe the powerhouse football school of Duke is ACC. The committee had to rank Virginia or Clemson wouldn't have played a ranked a ranked opponent this year.

Minnesota beat one of the three ranked teams they played this year, so I think it would be a closer game than many would realize. Plus, I'm guessing there will be a few Alabama players that sit out of the bowl since it won't matter and don't want to get hurt for their NFL goal.

Don't worry......if Bama loses, they'll play that card again.

Bama cared tons against OU....they just got outplayed. Period.

I have an idea...if you're Alabama and "don't care" about non-playoff bowl bids, quit accepting them. If a coach paid $8 million plus a year can't get his team "motivated" to play in bowl games, it sounds like he's overpaid.

Please don't take my comments as a slight towards Utah or OU.

You are correct OU definitely outplayed Bama (as did Utah), but both Bama teams had their wind taken out of their sails (i.e. the close loss to Florida in the SEC CG and the infamous "kick-six" in the last regular season game at Auburn) just deflated/demoralized them.

That's not an excuse; it's just the reality of having high hopes and having the ladder pulled out from under you.

Should they have played for school and personal pride? Yes, and some (most) did, but there were those who just didn't play with heart.

Again, I don't want my statements to be construed as defaming Utah or OU. Both of their teams played with heart and certainly outplayed Bama.

Not everyone on the team has the "don't care" attitude, so don't lump-sum them all together.

I think this is evidenced by the number of players who sit out bowl games. It's not that they don't want to win; they just don't want to win badly enough to risk getting hurt and losing their spot in the NFL draft.

And, FWIW, I don't think it's a coaching/motivation thing as much as it's certain players. Coaches coach; players have to play.

Yes, $8 mil is a lot of money (I'd be willing to force myself to live on that pay for a few years or so), but he's only one coach. All the other coaches have to have the winning attitude, as do all the players.

ALL good teams get demoralized by losses.....bouncing back from that is part of the game.

I have the utmost respect for Saban and Bama and what they've done the last decade. I do get tired of the excuses when they do lose (which isn't often). Tua wasn't 100% against LSU (ok.....maybe he wasn't...but he was 85 or 90 percent and that's called football...and LSU dominated that game anyway....Bama was never truly in that game). We weren't motivated (baloney, but even if true....the coach's and players' faults).

Bama is too good for people (the media mainly) to make excuses for them when they fail (again, which isn't often).

There are entirely too many tigers in the SEC. And Clemson is close enough. Even our local high school's rival school is a tiger. I am not pulling for any tigers at this point. Jalen, you go out there and get it all.

I agree with you regarding "bouncing back from [a demoralizing loss] is part of the game."

Unfortunately, Bama hasn't shown a lot of resiliency in bouncing back after a loss. (Maybe that's because we haven't lost a lot in Saban's tenure and we've just not learned that aspect of the game.)

I VEHEMENTLY disagree with your assertion that "LSU dominated that game." Based on the stat's (https://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup?gameId=401110842), they had a grand total of 18 yards more than we did. The biggest difference in the game was we had two turnovers (an unforced fumble on our opening drive and an interception right before the end of the half) and we committed seven (7) penalties. [We also had a punt attempt that went through the punter's hands (another unforced error) and LSU recovered in our territory.] And, we were an onside kick recovery away from making all the LSU players, coaches, and fans quite a bit nervous.

I also agree "Bama is too good...to make excuses when they fail." I would, however, contend explaining factual things that happen(ed) is not making excuses (i.e. saying "We didn't play our best" isn't making an excuse; it's stating a fact). Us not playing our best doesn't take anything away from the opposing team(s); it's just sometimes the truth.

My BIGGEST frustration with Bama is losing to teams (especially, those that are statistically inferior) when we don't perform at our best. I mean, it's one thing to get outplayed and lose to a better team (I still don't like it), but it's even worse (in my opinion) when you lose because you make fundamental errors (turnovers, penalties, etc.) and help your opponent beat you.

When we play our best, I have no trouble admitting we were outplayed/outcoached by a better team; when we don't play our best, it leaves me wondering what could have been. Us lamenting that "what if" is not necessarily an excuse.

That having been said, kudos to Utah, OU, LSU, and (even) Auburn. They performed well. We did not.

I understand frustration when you feel your team doesn't play to their potential--in last year's playoff game, i thought OU didn't even show up against Bama until midway through the 2nd quarter, and it was kind of too late by then.

As for the LSU game.....we can agree to disagree. I watched that game in its entirety and at no point did i think Bama might win. When Burrow needed to score, he marched them down the field and scored, usually in about 90 seconds.

And as far as "ifs" go....if LSU doesn't go brain-dead with 90 seconds to go and a 46-34 lead and let a receiver get open BEHIND them for a quick score, then that's your final score......46-34, and no one is talking about how "close" that game was.

Agreed...agree to disagree. YOU may not have thought Bama might win, but every Bama fan did!!!

Burrow did march his team up and down the field...pretty much at will - and there were some quick scores, but based on TOP, most took significantly longer than 90 seconds. And, that's to LSU's credit. They kept our offense on the side lines to prevent us from scoring. Their best defense was a prolific offense.

Also, agreed. I don't care who you are, as a defensive player, WHY would you ever let your man get behind you???

And, as a Bama "homer," OF COURSE we were "talking about how 'close' that game was."