This weekend on the college football calendar is typically reserved for conference championship games. Of course, nothing is normal in 2020.
We still have a few more weeks of regular season play, as leagues have had to shift numerous games around. There are even games being scheduled as we speak. Perhaps the biggest of that kind is a Group of Five Super Bowl of sorts: No. 13 BYU at No. 18 Coastal Carolina.
It is unfortunate that we didn’t get the nearly-scheduled BYU-Cincinnati game, but seeing the undefeated Cougars travel to face the fellow undefeated Chanticleers will be a blast, especially with College GameDay in town. Other big games include No. 4 Ohio State at Michigan State and No. 5 Texas A&M at Auburn, two games with real College Football Playoff ramification. No. 12 Indiana can keep its Big Ten Championship hopes alive at No. 16 Wisconsin.
There will be plenty of attention paid to those Big Ten games, especially. Ohio State needs both this weekend’s game and next weekend’s rivalry matchup with struggling Michigan to be played, or the Buckeyes won’t be eligible to play in Indianapolis, and the Hoosiers can potentially take their place. Of course, they need to beat the Spartans as well, to keep College Football Playoff aspirations alive.
Once again, Andrew McCarty remains on top, putting an extra game in between himself and second-place Matt Hladik after going 18-7 last week. 10 games separate the top five staff members in our contest, with just a few weeks left.
Tonight’s big Sun Belt game between Louisiana and Appalachian State is the first major split of the weekend. Other games between Texas and Kansas State, Nebraska and Purdue, Rutgers and Penn State, Mizzou and Arkansas, and Arizona State and UCLA are also viewed as tossups. We also have some bold upset picks, including one person going with Auburn to knock off Texas A&M, effectively ending the Aggies’ College Football Playoff hopes, and upstart Coastal Carolina doing the same to fellow undefeated Group of Five power BYU.
Here’s where things stand after last week’s picks:
1. Andrew McCarty: 200-65
2. Matt Hladik: 196-69
3. Dan Lyons: 193-72
4. Tzvi Machlin: 192-73
5. Alek Arend: 190-75
6. Chris Rosvoglou: 189-76
7. Andrew Holleran: 186-79
8. Matt Lombardi: 184-81
9. Steve Driscoll: 178-87
Here are our picks for Week 14 of the 2020 college football season:
Each week, we pick every college football game involving Power Five and/or ranked teams. Check back as we update our standings.