STS Prediction Contest - Week 5 Results

So many emotions during the Clemson game this past weekend. Pixar should do an Inside Out style movie about what goes on inside the Clemson fan’s mind during a game like this.

Here’s your recap of Week 5 in the STS Prediction Contest!

Week 5 Matchups

Actual score: 42-36 Clemson

My pick: 38-30 Lousiville

Average Clemson Points Prediction (Mean): 35.09

Average Louisville Points Prediction (Mean): 32.64

I have never been more happy to be wrong than I was after this game. The thing is, I wasn’t even all that wrong. I felt like the offense would struggle, and it did for long stretches of time but managed to make big plays when they needed them. I thought the defensive depth would get exposed, and it did as Louisville mostly had their way in the second half with our defense. What I did not anticipate was that our SPECIAL TEAMS were actually not bad! How about that, winning the special teams battle may have made the difference in this game!

You all saw the game and I’m still recovering mentally from watching it so yeah, thank the effing lord we pulled it out but the team still has a lot of stuff they need to work on if the goal is a national title. Watson’s accuracy has been really off this season. He made some good throws this game but he was off on many others and I feel as though he fixates and doesn’t go through reads or something or he’s just making bad decisions. I’m not an analyst so I’m not sure what it is but if this continues, can he even really go pro after this season?

He’s still got some good elusiveness in the pocket but he hasn’t shown the deep ball accuracy or any sort of accuracy that he showed last year and he’s forcing the ball a lot. He’d get drafted, I think, but definitely not on Day 1 and maybe not on Day 2 either, based on his performance so far. His performance does matter. He doesn’t have the prototypical quarterback size so he can’t play mediocre and still expect to go in Round 1 (see Jake Locker, among others).

Actual score: 44-6 Washington

My pick: 34-28 Washington

Average Washington Points Prediction (Mean): 24.87

Average Stanford State Points Prediction (Mean): 23.84

Mother of pearl folks, I did not expect an epic smackdown in this top 10 showdown. With Utah also going down this weekend, I guess Washington is in the driver’s seat for the the Pac-12 title and a possible spot in the playoffs if they can run the table. I still can’t name a single person on their team but watch them win it all now.

Actual score: 14-7 Michigan

My pick: 31-13 Michigan

Average Michigan Points Prediction (Mean): 29.21

Average Wisconsin Points Prediction (Mean): 20.04

I predicted a Michigan blowout and by golly I was right. Michigan DOUBLED the score of their opponent. Definite blowout.

But really, what a boring game this must have been. I didn’t watch it and I’m glad I didn’t. 14-7? Yuck. Say what you want about Clemson’s performance in their game but it was anything but boring.

We can’t be too surprised by such a boring performance, though. What do you expect by a team coached by a man who wears khaki pants every day?

Actual score: 34-31 Tennessee

My pick: 35-21 Tennessee

Average Tennessee Points Prediction (Mean): 28.84

Average Georgia Points Prediction (Mean): 20.55

2016’s hottest club is Tennessee football. These games have everything! Consistently being down by double-digits early, looking completely lost on offense and defense, somehow still being undefeated and multiple Hail Mary touchdowns in the last 10 seconds of a game.

Folks, I think Tennessee might be the team of destiny this year. They fall behind by double digits in almost every game this year and somehow find ways to win. They’re going to run the table by beating Alabama on three straight Hail Mary touchdown passes (with 2 onside kick recoveries sandwiched in between) and beat Clemson in the national title game when we fumble a kneel-down in the victory formation and they recover and throw a 99 yard Hail Mary touchdown pass that involves 20-30 laterals, fans on the field and a blimp crash landing on the field.

Tennessee won this game on a Hail Mary after being down by double digits AGAIN. Just look at this:

You thought the Clemson game was full of the feels? Imagine how these fan bases felt. A fumble recovery puts Tennessee up late in the game. A Hail Mary with TEN SECONDS LEFT puts Georgia up! A Hail Mary with NO TIME LEFT vaults Tennessee ahead for the win. Holy cow. I can’t even imagine.

P.S. - I’m upset that they didn’t get to kick the extra point so my Tennessee score prediction would be exactly on. For shame. Let ‘em play refs.

Actual score: 37-35 UNC

My pick: 41-34 UNC

Average UNC Points Prediction (Mean): 31.61

Average FSU Points Prediction (Mean): 37.66

This was a great game to see because it gives us the key for beating FSU in an away game - score more points than them.

Mitch Trubisky carved up FSU through the air - 31/38, 405 yards 3 TDs 0 Ints. Normally, I’d be all like yay because Deshaun is better than Mitch Trubisky. Now, well, he might be, but he sure hasn’t played like it YET. Let’s get it going Deshaun!

UNC started this game hot (like Clemson... kinda) but after Elijah Hood went down I thought, uh oh, this might affect their ability to put the game away. Well, they did have trouble putting away FSU but miraculously came back to beat them on a career-long 54-yard field goal. They needed to drive for that field goal with only 23 seconds left to win the game after a missed extra point resulted in them being down 1 after a late FSU TD. What the heck is with all the missed extra points? I swear if I have a son one day I’m going to teach him to play soccer and be a football kicker too. Seems like an easy way to get a scholarship - don’t suck at kicking.

By the way, FSU might have lost 2 now but don’t think for a second that beating them in Doak is going to be any easier than it would have been if they were still undefeated. Dalvin Cook can and will punish us if we don’t play disciplined or if our defense is gassed. Francois is only going to get better. We won’t have the home crowd behind us this time to bail us out.

Hey, the Coastal doesn’t suck anymore! UNC and Miami give us two potential contenders in the Coastal to join Clemson and Louisville. We’re arguably the best conference right now, y’all. What a world!

Standings

A CHANGE AT THE TOP.

Here are the overall top scorers after five weeks:

We have a new leader! Congratulations to clemsonHobo! Next time you see a disheveled Clemson fan living on the streets, be nice, he may actually be a college football savant.

Also, I count at least 30 people who could be considered legitimate contenders for the title in this inaugural contest, so keep on predicting!

And here are the weekly top scorers for this week:

The average score this week was 19.24, a nice improvement over last week’s 15.77.

You can access the full standings and results here.

The results are sorted alphabetically to make it easier for you to find yourself. The tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet will navigate among the overall results and the results for each individual week.

As always, if you notice any scoring errors or have any other comments or questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments.