Fab 4 picks
What the bleep is happening this year?
I mean really?
We have been doing this for a hot minute now, and we are mired in our most depressing Fab 4 picks run ever. We had multiple years over 60%. We’ve never finished season under 50%.
Right now — after last Saturday’s debacle that was so bad the Titanic had to look away — we are closer to 40% than break-even.
We are the Hugh Freeze of picking right now.
Ouch.
N.C. State plus-5.5 over FSU. Yep, things are so bad we’re dabbling in the unpredictable realm that is the ACC. This is a home game for N.C. State against a name opponent on a Friday night before the Thanksgiving break. Did I mention that FSU is 0-3 straight up and against the number in road games this season?
Vandy-Kentucky over 52. It’s Diego Pavia’s final home game in his program-changing time with the Commodores. You have to believe the coaches want to send him out with some fireworks. Now know that UK freshman QB1 Cutter Boley has looked the part of a star since taking over as the starter. And Boley faces a poor-tackling Vandy secondary that made Arch Manning looks like Peyton and Ashton Daniels look like Jayden. Points, people.
Houston minus-1 over TCU. The Cougars are 8-2. The Cougars are still alive for a possible Big 12 title game appearance. The Cougars had an open date last week. Now know that TCU is a one-dimensional offense that can not run the football.
Arizona State minus-6.5 over Colorado. This is simply a bet against the dumpster fire Coach Prime is flaming in Boulder. Colorado is being outgained on average by almost 90 yards per game, and the divide in yards per rush is staggering. Colorado is averaging 3.5 yards a carry, which is 112th nationally among 136 FBS teams. Colorado is even worse at stopping the run, allowing 5.0 yards per gain, which is 117th in the FBS.
Fingers crossed.
Last week: 1-4 against the spread (20%)
This season: 28-35 against the spread (44.4%)
Baseball’s big day
ESPN’s continued push to corner the market in live sports continued Wednesday.
MLB announced a new national broadcasting TV deal with ESPN getting the majority of it.
NBC will take over “Sunday Night Baseball,” which assuredly will be dominated by Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox games, as well as the first round of the playoffs.
Netflix gets into the baseball bundle with an Opening Day prime-time game (Giants-Yankees), the Home Run Derby and the “Field of Dreams” game (Phillies-Twins).
ESPN, however, will be wall-to-wall MLB this summer. ESPN will get out-of-market rights to all 30 MLB teams and in-market rights to six franchises — Cleveland, San Diego, Minnesota, Arizona, Colorado and Seattle.
The three-year deal will pay MLB $1.65 billion from ESPN, $600 million from NBC and $150 million from Netflix over that time.
Man, talk about a win-win. ESPN opted out of its MLB deal and agreed to a new deal with way more broadcast offerings for the same price.
MLB can claim a W by going from no national deal with the Worldwide Leader to a monster, multi-billion-dollar deal that includes ESPN.
And ESPN continued to stack streaming options because as part of this deal, ESPN gets the prime online chip of MLB.TV with all the out-of-market games.
ESPN did not announce how it would market or push MLB.TV, but Disney adding items to its streaming salad bar will only increase the price down the road, right?
Hoops troop
SEC hoops is back. Alabama toppled top-10 Illinois in Chicago on Wednesday night. I think the SEC gets 12 bids. Thoughts?
OK, that was a gig at MocsColts’ unending SEC bashing, which is fine, and so far this season warranted.
And it’s completely fair and almost assuredly right that the Big Ten has looked the part of Power Conference 1 to this point.
Granted, it’s impossibly silly to start truly examining bracket matters before Thanksgiving. Heck, even before MLK Day if we’re being honest.
Still, this CBSsports.com projection has the Big Ten with 12 teams and the SEC with 11.
But both sides of this coin can be true.
The SEC can be down, especially compared to last season, and still warrant 10, 11 or even 12 bids.
Because at its core, last year’s conference likely will never be replicated in the modern era of water-downed expansion.
Although with the almost-certain expansion of the tournament down the road and the likelihood of conferences adding more programs, a conference may get 14 teams in a single bracket.
But the eye test of last year’s SEC was incredible.
And this year’s SEC — Alabama’s win Wednesday notwithstanding — is not that.
Nor should we expect it to be, honestly.
This and that
— Shedeur Sanders will start this week for Cleveland, becoming the 42nd Browns QB1 in the last 26 seasons. That’s hard to imagine, friends. In that same time span, the Packers (8), the Patriots and Chargers (10 each) have had 28 starting QBs combined.
— The Braves re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias. I’m actually OK with that, but if that’s the “big move” of this offseason, 2026 is going to be a long summer in the South.
— This college football ranking has Georgia’s Gunner Stockton as QB1 among QB1s. And you know what? I think I agree. This is not a Heisman ballot or a draft board — oh, draft boards, I look forward to reuniting my friends — but a ranked list of which college QBs are just playing the best.
— Rules, people. Here’s Paschall’s weekly college football picks column with an eye-catcher of JTC’s Florida Gators upsetting Tennessee Saturday night in The Swamp. OMG, if that happens the Heupel haters will be in full throat.
— Rules, people. Here’s Hargis and his prep sports team with a primer before Friday night’s next round of the march to state title dreams.
Today’s questions
It’s an anything goes Thursday — the ol’ AGT to the teenage folks — and we’re open for business.
We’ll start here: Better playoff bet right now, Miami or Alabama? Discuss.
We’ll continue here: If Kiffin is not available, who should Florida, LSU and Auburn hire? (Discuss, and I got something along these lines for Friday’s bag.)
SEC March Madness bids over/under 10.5? Go.
As for today, Nov. 20, let’s review:
We’re a week from Thanksgiving. Yay us.
Joe Biden is 83 today.
On this day in 1984, McDonald’s made its 50 billionth hamburger.
Wow. That’s 40-plus years ago, and that number has to be multiple times that now.
Who/what makes the Rushmore of fast-food restaurant “mascots” beyond Ronald?
Go and remember the mailbag.