Instead of Texting Pick ‘Em: Week 6

Last week’s big winners in the ACC: Virginia, Boston College, Maryland. Big losers: North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State and Team Instead of Texting.

Jeremy and I both had mediocre weeks, although mine was more mediocre (3-4) than his (4-3). As such, he’s gained a game on me in the standings, cutting my season lead to three games. But I think I should get an extra half-win for predicting the end of Russell Wilson’s interception-less streak.

The most intriguing games Saturday carry forward two of the week’s top storylines: the ongoing drama surrounding Bobby Bowden’s future at Florida State and the emergence of Boston College as a potential conference title contender. Jeremy expects FSU to rally ’round the old man for a big win over Georgia Tech, while I just think the Yellow Jackets are better.

We’re both going with VT over BC. I’m not sure about Jeremy’s reasoning, but I’m suspicious of BC’s running game, and Virginia Tech needs to make a statement after nearly losing to Duke last week.

Elsewhere in the conference, Miami celebrates the end of college football’s toughest four-game stretch with its first cupcake, Florida A&M. North Carolina has dessert this week, too, in the form of Georgia Southern. I’m not sure they earned this sweet treat – the Tar Heels definitely didn’t clean their plates against Virginia last week.

On to the picks:

	Jimmy’s Picks (32-13)	Jeremy’s Picks (29-16)
Boston College at Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech
Georgia Southern at North Carolina	North Carolina	North Carolina
Indiana at Virginia	Indiana	Indiana
Duke at N.C. State	N.C. State	N.C. State
Maryland at Wake Forest	Wake Forest	Wake Forest
Florida A&M at Miami	Miami	Miami
Georgia Tech at Florida State	Georgia Tech	Florida State

Instead of Texting Pick’em: Week 5

Like the ACC in out-of-conference play, last week got ugly in the Instead of Texting picks race, at least for one of us anyway.

On the strength of a 6-2 record, Jimmy surged to a four-game lead in the standings. Meanwhile, I went a mediocre 4-4, whiffing on the two games where we differed (TCU at Clemson and Wake Forest at Boston College).

The ACC moves deeper into conference play this week, but the premier game is the Oklahoma-Miami matchup in primetime. Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford won’t start for the Sooners, giving the world another chance to admire Landry Jones’ porn-star mustache. We both like the ‘stache, but we also both like Miami to pull the upset at home and bring some semblance of respectability back to the ACC.

The rest of the schedule is a bit of snoozer, especially the noon games. We’ve both got N.C. State ending its recent hex in Winston-Salem, although Jimmy is guaranteeing Russell Wilson’s interception-free streak ends Saturday. The only other thing we’re split on is Florida State at Boston College. The consistently inconsistent Seminoles lost to South Florida last weekend, which means they’re due for a win this week. I’m betting the up-and-down trend stops against the Eagles, who will be playing in front of the home fans and the ESPN Gameday crew.

	Jimmy’s Picks (29-9)	Jeremy’s Picks (25-13)
Virginia at North Carolina	North Carolina	North Carolina
Clemson at Maryland	Clemson	Clemson
Virginia Tech at Duke	Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech
Florida State at Boston College	Florida State	Boston College
N.C. State at Wake Forest	N.C. State	N.C. State
Georgia Tech at Mississippi State	Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech
Oklahoma at Miami	Miami	Miami

Instead of Texting Pick’em: Week 4

As strange as it might seem this early in the season, the Coastal Division race faces a pivotal moment this weekend.

Virginia Tech, the preseason favorite to win the ACC, and Miami, the hottest team in the conference (and maybe the country), square off in Blacksburg on Saturday. After their first two wins over Florida State and Georgia Tech, the Hurricanes could run away with the division if they can knock off the Hokies this weekend. Both of us think VT won’t let that happen. That should probably make Miami fans happy since I’ve picked against the 2-0 ‘Canes in their other two games.

Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets are trying to avoid falling into a big hole in the division when they face undefeated North Carolina. The Ramblin’ Wreck has looked like a wreck in its last three halves of football, so Jimmy and I are each taking the Tar Heels.

As for the Instead of Texting picks race, Jimmy extended his lead to two games last week (thank you again, Miami). I’ve got a chance to break even with a couple of games this week — or fall even further behind.

	Jimmy’s Picks (23-7)	Jeremy’s Picks (21-9)
North Carolina at Georgia Tech	North Carolina	North Carolina
South Florida at Florida State	Florida State	Florida State
Wake Forest at Boston College	Boston College	Wake Forest
Miami at Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech
TCU at Clemson	TCU	Clemson
Rutgers at Maryland	Rutgers	Rutgers
Pittsburgh at N.C. State	N.C. State	N.C. State
N.C. Central at Duke	Duke	Duke
Virginia vs. Bye	Bye	Bye

Instead of Texting Pick ‘Em: Week 3

It’s a reasonably big week in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as we have the first interconference matchup of ranked teams. Georgia Tech travels to Coral Gables tonight to face Miami in a matchup of Coastal Division medium-heavies. The winner takes over the division lead, at least until Virginia Tech starts playing conference games.

Elsewhere in the ACC is a marquee basketball matchup between Duke and Kansas. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils and Jayhawks will be playing football. Virginia Tech welcomes Nebraska in another matchup of ranked teams. And East Carolina, the early leader in the North Carolina state championship race, plays at UNC

In the two-team Instead of Texting picks league, I’ve taken a commanding one-game lead on cellar-dweller Jeremy Ashton. We’ll see if I can put him away this week.

	Jimmy’s Picks (16-4)	Jeremy’s Picks (15-5)
Georgia Tech at Miami	Miami	Georgia Tech
Duke at Kansas	Kansas	Kansas
East Carolina at North Carolina	East Carolina	East Carolina
Boston College at Clemson	Clemson	Clemson
Nebraska at Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech
Middle Tennessee at Maryland	Maryland	Maryland
Virginia at Southern Mississippi	Southern Miss	Southern Miss
Gardner-Webb at N.C. State	N.C. State	N.C. State
Elon at Wake Forest	Wake	Wake
Florida State at Brigham Young	BYU	BYU

Instead of Texting Pick’em: Week 2

Unlike the ACC against nonconference opponents, we each cracked .500 with our first week of picks. Like most of the teams in the conference, though, we’ve still got plenty of room for improvement.

Jimmy has an early one-game lead thanks to his correct call on the big Alabama-Virginia Tech matchup. I’m hoping to catch up by relying on a simple principle: always pick against Duke.

Here are our Week 2 picks:

	Jimmy’s Picks (7-3)	Jeremy’s Picks (6-4)
Clemson at Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech
Duke at Army	Duke	Army
North Carolina at Connecticut	North Carolina	North Carolina
Stanford at Wake Forest	Stanford	Wake Forest
Marshall at Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech
Kent State at Boston College	Boston College	Boston College
TCU at Virginia	TCU	TCU
Jacksonville State at Florida State	Florida State	Florida State
Murray State at N.C. State	N.C. State	N.C. State

Instead of Texting Pick’em: Week 1

We couldn’t write a blog about ACC football without having a little friendly competition.

Each week, Jimmy and I will pick the winner for every game on the schedule. We’ll keep track of the results throughout the season to find out who’s the better college football prognosticator.

We missed the South Carolina-N.C. State game in our first round of picks because we got off to a bit of a late start. Sadly, neither one of us missed watching the actual game.

Without further ado, here are our picks for the week:

	Jimmy’s Picks	Jeremy’s Picks
Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech
Northeastern at Boston College	Boston College	Boston College
Baylor at Wake Forest	Baylor	Wake Forest
Middle Tennessee at Clemson	Clemson	Clemson
The Citadel at North Carolina	North Carolina	North Carolina
William & Mary at Virginia	Virginia	Virginia
Richmond at Duke	Duke	Richmond
Virginia Tech vs. Alabama	Alabama	Virginia Tech
Maryland at California	California	California
Miami at Florida State	Florida State	Florida State