Hartley vs. The Humans: Week 15 — For All The Marbles

I’ve been pretty crappy about posting the recaps during the week, and for that I apologize. Hartley won last week with an impressive 4-3 record. The Humans, thanks again to another sub-par effort by Katie, finished 4-10, evening up the overall standings as we head to the final regular season week of college football.

So this is it. It’s Championship weekend, where conference winners, BCS title contenders and Hartley vs. the Humans victors will be decided. This is for bragging rights, folks.

As always, the spreads are courtesy of 5Dimes.

 

Auburn (-2) vs. Missouri

Brian: Surely Auburn can’t lose to Missouri, right? The Tigers had a miracle answered in two consecutive games with the Hail Mary catch against Georgia (Prayer in Jordan Hare) and the 109-yard field goal miss for touchdown against Alabama (War Damn Miracle). As a fan of rhymes, I like the Prayer in Jordan Hare better myself. Surely a team this blessed can’t fall on its face and lose to Missouri when a shot at a national title is at stake, right?!? Wrong. Missouri – yes, Missouri – the come-from-nowhere team in the SEC East (even though it’s the most western school in the SEC) takes the conference crown and gets a chance to play for the national title if…

Katie: After the last few weeks of truly dismal picking, I’m a little afraid of how bad these picks are going to be this week. So on that note, I’m going with Auburn to beat the spread here. Hopefully by a lot.

Hartley:

 

Ohio State (-5.5) vs. Michigan State

Brian: The Buckeyes need to win just one more game and chances are they play for the national title. That one game, though, is against a strong Sparty team at Michigan State. While Ohio State has a 24-game winning streak, it still has yet to beat a top-10 ranked team in that stretch. Michigan State in ranked No. 10. That streak continues. Sparty wins and BCS chaos ensues.

Katie: I’m going to go with Michigan State to beat the spread but Ohio State to win because I really, really want total BCS chaos in the last year before the mini-playoffs start. It’ll be funny if tOSU is held out of the BCS by a one loss SEC team (Auburn), assuming AU wins by a lot.

Hartley:

Duke vs. Florida State (-29)

Brian: Seminoles, rejoice! Jameis Winston didn’t commit rape!!!! Or, well, he didn’t get charged with rape by a comedic state attorney at the press conference, so who knows what he did or didn’t do. But whatever happened, he’ll play on Saturday for a chance to get him and the Noles in the BCS title game. Florida State has been crushing opponents by 30 points after the first quarter. Surely Duke won’t do anything, right? RIGHT!?!!
I’m taking Duke. I don’t know if the Blue Devils will win (probably not), but they’ll beat the spread, and I’m opening the door for a historic upset.

Katie: That is an embarrassingly huge spread for a conference championship game. Granted, Jameis Winston might need a big win to make Heisman voters forget what he may or may not have done last year. And Duke typically is truly terrible in football. Still, I’m going to go with Duke to beat the spread.

Hartley:

 

Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State (-9.5)

Brian: Oklahoma State has a very, VERY long shot at getting into the BCS title game. The Cowboys needs Florida State, Ohio State and Auburn to lose, and then hope a win against Oklahoma will vault them past Alabama and the other new one-loss teams. Sorry, Gundy, you lost to West Virginia. You don’t get any confidence from me. Oklahoma beats the spread.

Katie: I keep forgetting the Big 12 is still a thing. I’m going with Oklahoma here for nostalgia’s sake. Anybody remember when this game would have been important? Teams would have to be deemed ineligible for a Big 12 team (OSU or Baylor) to make it to the BCS championship.

Hartley:

Stanford vs. Arizona State (-3)

Brian: Oregon didn’t want the Rose Bowl, and so they’re out. Now it’s up to the Cardinal and the Sun Devils to see who will play in the Granddaddy of Them All. Since neither team has any shot at the Crystal Football, I don’t care about this game that much, so Stanford. Why not?

Katie: Stanford usually is better than ASU, so I’m going with the Cardinal here.

Hartley:

Brian: Props to the Pac-12 for the best looking conference championship logo. SEC takes runner-up. In DFL is the ACC. What the hell is that crap?

Tiebreaker!

That’s right. In case Hartley and the Humans tie again this week, we created a tiebreaker to figure out the season winner. It’s simple: Which two teams do you think will play for the BCS title? The Humans get one point per correct team and Hartley gets two per correct pick.

Brian: With Ohio State, Auburn and Oklahoma State – and maybe Florida State (?) – losing, my BCS title game prediction is … Alabama vs. Florida State. Because there’s no justice in the world, Alabama will stay ahead of Missouri and there’s no way the college football gods keep Alabama out of the title game. Sigh…

Katie: Florida State vs. THE Ohio State University

Hartley: With Hartley picking Florida State to cover, he guarantees the Seminoles are in. But which is the other team? Ohio State? Auburn? Missouri? With his picks, all could still be in the running…

But it’s FSU/Ohio State for the BCS game.

To recap everything:

Brian:         Missouri        Michigan St.       Duke              Oklahoma       Stanford
Katie:          Auburn          Michigan St.        Duke              Oklahoma       Stanford
Hartley:    Missouri        Ohio State            Florida St.   Oklahoma       Arizona St.

Tiebreaker:

Brian: Florida State vs. Alabama
Katie: Florida State vs. Ohio State
Hartley: Florida State vs. Ohio State

Savor the final week of college football, everybody!