2016-17 #CFBPlayoff Championship pick big board megapost! #BowlMania #Bama #Clemson

Well we’ve got one game left in this season, and I have to wonder where the season went.  Seems like yesterday we were kicking off the season knowing this would be Tennessee’s year (again), or Leonard Fournette’s Heisman to lose (again), and it was surely [insert your team]’s year to make a big splash.  But many months later we sit here and look at this remaining game on the schedule and see a rematch from last year.  No complaints from me with this matchup of course, so let’s get on with it.  It is time for our annual championship big board megapost, and we will be updating all the way through kickoff on Monday night so check back for the latest!

Our experts are currently sitting at 25-20 in favor of Alabama over Clemson straight up.  For gamblers, we are at 3-2 in favor of Alabama laying the points.  2 experts are on the under.

Lee Corso: Headgear pick!
Alabama over Clemson

JA Adande: ATH 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Andrea Adelson: 1/9/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Charles Arbuckle: CFB Daily 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

RJ Bell: TheHerdNow Podcast 1/7/2017
Either take Alabama ML or Clemson+ the points! The public is on Clemson ML and Alabama-the points.

Mike Bellotti: CFB Daily 1/4/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Skip Bayless: Undisputed 1/2/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Mack Brown: espn.com 1/9/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Kevin Carter: Film Room 1/6/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Stanford Steve Coughlin: espn.com 1/6/2017
Clemson over Alabama
Clemson+6.5 vs Alabama

Colin Cowherd: The Herd 1/6/2017
Alabama over Clemson (by 8, on The Herd 1/9/2017)
Alabama-6 vs Clemson
Clemson+6.5 vs Alabama (TheHerdNow podcast 1/7/2016)

Tim Cowlishaw: ATH 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Heather Dinich: espn.com 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Dusty Dvoracek: CFB Daily 1/4/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Chris Fallica: espn.com 1/6/2017
Clemson over Alabama
Clemson+6.5 vs Alabama

Bruce Feldman: Russillo & Kanell 1/9/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Paul Finebaum: (Champ Drive 1/8/2017)
Alabama over Clemson

Pat Forde: WTF Podcast 12/23
Alabama over Clemson

Joey Galloway: Outback Bowl halftime 1/2/2017
Alabama over Clemson

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Mike Golic: M&M 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson
Clemson+6.5 vs Alabama

Mike Greenberg:
Clemson over Ohio St (M&M 1/9/2017)

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Kirk Herbstreit:
Clemson over Alabama (Preseason pick!)

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Desmond Howard: Champ Drive 1/9/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Brock Huard: espn.com 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Jennifer’s Pick:
Clemson over Alabama

Danny Kanell:
Clemson over Alabama (Champ Drive 12/4)
Alabama over Clemson (Outback Bowl halftime 1/2/2017)
Clemson over Alabama (Champ Drive 1/8/2017)

Joel Klatt: Undisputed 1/2/2017
Alabama over Clemson

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Matt Leinart: Twitter 12/31
Clemson over Alabama

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Tom Luginbill:
Clemson over Alabama (Finebaum 1/5/2017)

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Ivan Maisel: espn.com 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Mark May: markmayday.com
Alabama over Clemson

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Greg McElroy: Finebaum 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Booger McFarland: (Booger & Burns 1/5/2017)
Clemson over Alabama

Ryan McGee: espn.com 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Brett McMurphy: espn.com 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Todd McShay: espn.com 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson
Alabama vs Clemson under 51 (R&K 1/9/2017)

Jesse Palmer: CFB Live 1/9/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Rufus Peabody: Twitter 1/3/2017
No play on either side, predicts it right on the number

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David Pollack: Champ Drive 1/9/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Samantha Ponder: Twitter 1/5/2017
Clemson over Alabama

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Ryen Russillo: R&K 1/9/2017
Clemson over Alabama

Stephen A. Smith: Gameday 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Marcus Spears: SEC Nation 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Phil Steele: Behind the Bets 1/6/2017
Clemson vs Alabama under 51 (Behind the Bets 1/6/2017)

Tim Tebow: SEC Nation 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Scott Van Pelt: WINNERS 1/5/2017
Alabama over Clemson
Alabama-6.5 vs Clemson

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Jonathan Vilma: CFB Live 1/9/2017
Alabama over Clemson

Dan Wetzel: WTF Podcast 12/23
Alabama over Clemson

Week 4 2016: College Gameday review!

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the portion of today where we take a minute to reflect on this morning’s edition of College Gameday!  Today’s edition of Gameday was broadcasting to your television set live from Knoxville, Tennessee for the big matchup between Tennessee and Florida.  Florida was riding an 11 game losing streak in this rivalry; one of the great rivalries in college football.

Let’s dive right into #GamedaySigns because there were a LOT of good ones today.  Lots of funny Tebow references, good old fashioned insults, and hilarious vague minutiae about players and coaches.

This was one of my favorites, although kids might not even know what this means these days.

I think they call this throwin’ shade.

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/779681002918518784

https://twitter.com/DrFratter/status/779675003113639936

And by request of @TheGamedayBaby…

We got a dose of the Sam Ponder outfit of the week, which means it is time for the @GamedayJen official Sam Ponder outfit of the week review brought to you by the Home Depot!  This week Jen liked the Sam Ponder outfit as usual.  “I really like the vest.  I’m excited to see the Sam Ponder fall outfit season.  She always has a good boot game”.

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Gene W had a really nice segment on the influx of Aussie rules football players coming into college football as punters.  For those of you not from Down Under, they call it footie.  Anyways, there was a funny question segment at the end with an Aussie about American college gridiron football (or football as we call it for those of you Down Under).  Check it out below.

Onto my weekly complaint about the You Had One Job segment.  Still no online video of the funniest segment of the week.  Please tweet @jimmyg44 and let him know we need this.

This week’s Harambe watch was pretty impressive, and the Harambe memes were dank.  Let’s start off with this gem from last night apparently.  I’m confused by the “too” portion of this sign.

https://twitter.com/CFBGamedaySigns/status/779684636033163265

Also…

And of course…

The investigation into the death of Harambe by yours truly continued this week.  In week 1 all evidence from Gameday signs pointed towards Les Miles and/or Colin Kaepernick killing Harambe.  In week 2 things took a turn, and the prime suspect was Butch Jones.  After Butch Jones was cleared, week 3 saw accusations that Dalvin Cook killed Harambe.  However things have taken a shocking turn in week 4, as we have reliable evidence via #GamedaySigns that Jim McElwain killed Harambe.  You may have to look hard, but in the Tweet below the evidence is indisputable.

The best segment of the week was brought to you by new College Gameday castmember Jen Lada about how a family from Auburn and a family from LSU came together under extraordinary circumstances.  Just watch the video because I can’t do it any justice.

In reference to Jen Lada showing back up, @GamedayJen said “I’m still not sure about her”.  So we will be monitoring that situation closely.

Christiain McCaffrey had a segment which I believe is the OFFICIAL start of his Heisman campaign this year.  This piece was about the football camp he runs for kids with Down’s Syndrome.  Not only is McCaffrey lighting it up on the field, but he seems like a great guy off the field and a great story.  He’s going to need exposure like this to have any chance at a Heisman since he plays all of his games at 4AM or whenever most weeks.

When it came time to get down to the business of picking games, we were alerted to the news that we had TWO guest pickers this week.  Former Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer and former Florida coach Steve Spurrier were our special guests today.  I’m still convinced Spurrier is laying the groundwork for joining Gameday at some point in the future after he appeared last year, and I for one would welcome him.  Anyways, another unusual circumstance is that they picked ELEVEN games this morning as opposed to a usual batch of about 8.  Combine that with two celebrity pickers and it made for a long picking segment.  Of course, normally I would love a long picking segment, but some of us had a fresh omelette sitting on the breakfast table right as they started picking games.  The sacrifices I make for this website…

Back to picking games.  Both coaches were light hearted and had some good input on the upcoming slate of games.  To nobody’s surprise Fulmer took Tennessee while Spurrier took Florida.  Desmond and Kirk both took Tennessee while Pollack had taken Florida earlier in the show before his exit.  @TheGamedayBaby also went with Tennessee, boldly proclaiming that she was born to end Florida’s streak.  @GamedayJen took Tennessee too, leaving it lopsided from our panel of experts favoring Tennessee.  When it came time for Corso to make his pick, Smokey the dog was ready on set for Corso’s pick.  Corso loved on the dog before telling him that he was sorry, because this was purely business.  Corso threw on the Gator headgear as Smokey made a quick exit, and just like that it was time for kickoff.

 

Week 3 2016: College Gameday review! #CFB #LOUvsFSU #FSUvsLOU

Welcome back everyone.  The morning games are wrapping up including some nice upsets, which means it is now time for the weekly College Gameday review!  This week’s edition was broadcasting live from Louisville, Kentucky for the matchup between #2 Florida State and #10 Louisville.  This matchup between top ten teams is included in today’s fun fact that this is the first time ever that the top 3 ranked teams all play true road games against ranked opponents.  That means if the top 3 get upset, Michigan could slide all the way up to #1 for basically showing up this season. Their resume includes wins over Hawaii, UCF, and a likely win against Colorado today to beef up that schedule for a possible #1 ranking.

Today’s show opened up with a quick tribute to former Louisville head coach Lee Corso, who coached there from 1969 to 1972.  The highlight of this tribute was Corso’s glorious sideburns during his tenure at Louisville.  I assume shortly after this photo was taken that he went to meet up with Potsie and the gang down at Arnold’s.

corso-sideburns

Early on in the show Sam Ponder was brought in which brings us to the @GAMEDAYJEN OFFICIAL SAM PONDER OUTFIT REVIEW OF THE WEEK!  She was sporting a nice outfit of which Jen said “Ooooooo!  The skirt is nice!”

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A curious addition to the Gameday was presented today in new reporter Jen Lada.  Possible Sam Ponder rival?  Or replacing Tom Rinaldi?

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She presented the story of Cuyler Duncan.  Duncan is the former member of the Silver Spurs at the University of Texas, who take care of mascot Bevo.  He is a die hard Texas fan who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and given possibly days-to-weeks to live at the time.  As his story spread through the internet, various video messages and phone calls came in to him from notable names such as Vince Young, Colt McCoy, Mack Brown, Quan Cosby, Matthew Mcconaughey, and President Obama.  He began his fight against cancer and after enduring chemo began to recover enough that he attended his first Texas game since the diagnosis.  He is now returned to work and continuing life where he left off before the diagnosis.  Check out the full video below.

Former College Gameday host Chris Fowler made a cameo return today since he was calling the noon game with Kirk Herbstreit on-site.  They previewed the Louisville/FSU matchup today, and it was great to have him back.  Due to the rain moving in, they broadcasted from under a tent, no doubt to protect Herbstreit’s hairpiece.

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#YHOJ was back again this week, and still no video online… Grrrrrr.

Rece Davis ran the gauntlet with George Whitfield again… Grrrrrr.

During this segment, the Gameday crew did a quick relocation to inside the stadium since Herbie was going to be calling the game immediately following the show.  Also because the entire crowd behind Gameday would probably be gone by kickoff.  I love it when Gameday goes inside the stadiums.  They used to do this somewhat regularly many years ago and it always had a really fun feel to it.

Let’s stop down for a minute and review some Gameday signs.  For starters, Detective Cole collected more evidence this week in the hunt for who REALLY killed Harambe.  In week 2, the prime suspect in Harambe’s death was Butch Jones.  In week 1 it was alleged that Les Miles and Colin Kaepernick killed Harambe.  This week’s lead is that Dalvin Cook killed Harambe.

Other signs included this high effort submission:

This one was all over social media starting yesterday:

Other submissions for your review:

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Waffle Stomp FSU
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FSU Hates Harambe
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Harambe for Heisman

And of course:

I am glad to say that we saw the return of maybe the greatest recurring segment every season.  That would be when walk-ons get scholarships.  There’s a lot of sappy stories and feel-good segments peppered in throughout the whole season, but this is one that needs to happen every year because it truly delivers time and time again.

Today’s celebrity guest picker was Laila Ali; daughter of the late Muhammad Ali who was being honored at Louisville today.  She provided good energy compared to many celebrity pickers and seemed to be genuinely into this thing.  When it came time to pick the big game, Desmond went with the surprise upset pick in Louisville.  To nobody’s surprise Laila picked Louisville as well.  When it came time for Corso to make his headgear pick, the tension was high.  He had never picked Louisville, and has a fondness in his heart for picking FSU where got his start in coaching.  Since he spent time at both schools, who would win out?  He pulled the trigger on the upset pick today, going with Louisville over FSU.  @GamedayJen and @TheGamedayBaby both went with Louisville as well.  Seems like the whole world was against FSU today, and apparently it was the right move given today’s result.  Fun stuff and a great show today to get us all ready for a great slate of games today.