The ESPN College Pick Em game goes into Week 2 this weekend! There will be ten games to pick every Saturday. Each week you assign a confidence total for each game from 1-10 points. If you win, you get that many points. Simple, right?
Now that you've got the hang of it, this year we are going to offer a little prize. The winner of the group this season will win FREE access to RotoBaller's college football DFS premium tools for the 2023 season, including lineup optimizers for DFS and real-time answers to your questions in the Discord. We have a pretty good turnout of 33 entries. You have a one-in-33 chance of winning, so set your lineups every week!
ESPNfan7491154570 led the way in week 1 with 54 points out of 55 possible! The only one they missed was Rutgers beating Boston College. XLVIII finished second with 49 points. Fred Smoot Boat Rentals and jphowell09 tied for third with 47 points. Rounding out the top five were two veterans of this group. 2pretty4orange and lbockenek finished with 45 points in week 1. I was a respectable 7-3 in week 1, but finished with just 38 points. Those confidence points are really important!
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College Football Pick Em Overview
This article will be for the confidence game mode. You can also read my against-the-spread picks here every week for every game so you know how I'm leaning for that version of the game. Each week, I will recap who's dominating the group before I get into the picks. If you're going to beat everyone, all of the readers will know about it!
Let's get to the countdown! I will count them up from least confident (1) to most (10). You know, for dramatic effect. If I do change my pick or points sometime during the week, I will try to update the article or post it on Twitter. Otherwise, you know all of my picks each week. Good luck out there.
(1) Kentucky over Florida
I'm really on the fence about this one. Is Kentucky better than Utah? I think SEC homers could certainly make that argument. Objectively, I could make the case as well. I may end up changing this one. Florida's defense looked good and Anthony Richardson looks like he has made great strides since last season. I like Kentucky, but winning this in the Swamp could be too much to ask.
(2) Wake Forest over Vanderbilt
Wake looked good, but VMI is not a very good barometer. On the other hand, Vanderbilt's offense has looked like a well-oiled machine in ravaging Hawaii and Elon. The Phoenix did put up a fight, but I think Vanderbilt is going to give Wake all they can handle. They had a lot of key injuries on offense last year, which explains why they were such a disaster at the end of last year.
(3) Iowa State over Iowa
That Iowa offense looked terrible in the opener against South Dakota State. Some of it was probably the Jackrabbit D, but most was an inefficient and ineffective quarterback. If Iowa State is ever going to beat the Hawkeyes again, it would be this year. I'm a little nervous about Iowa State not playing a decent opponent in the opener, but wow, Iowa looked bad.
(4) Tennessee over Pittsburgh
Yes, I realize what I'm saying, but the Vols have been working towards this for a while. Josh Heupel has finally rounded that offense into the vision that he saw. Hendon Hooker has proven to be the perfect quarterback for this. Nothing against West Virginia, but Pitt was lucky to win that game and the Vols' roster looks MUCH better than the Mountaineers on paper. Tennessee still needs that big win to signify a turning of the corner. This could be it.
(5) Oklahoma State over Arizona State
The Sun Devils looked good in the opener, but it was against Northern Arizona. The Pokes looked great in the first half, but the defense in the second half scared me enough to move this down the list. Central Michigan is a good team, but I tend to think that the Sun Devils are at least as good on offense and are undoubtedly better on defense. Arizona State does worry me some, but instead of switching the pick I just lowered the bet.
(6) Baylor over BYU
We didn't learn much about the Bears against Albany, but BYU could be without both of their starting receivers. The Baylor starting offense looked efficient against the Great Danes, but again, they weren't tested. For now, I'm enough of a believer in the Bears that I'm willing to keep this game relatively high. If BYU looks at or close to full strength, I might move it down.
(7) Houston over Texas Tech
The Red Raiders beat Houston last year, but the teams seem to be headed in opposite directions. Don't be shocked or worried about Houston's close call in Week 1. UTSA is good enough to beat them, and definitely good enough to beat Texas Tech if they got the chance. Houston probably walks away with this like most thought they would last week.
(8) Wisconsin over Washington State
The Cougars had trouble with FCS Idaho in the opener. Wisconsin is...uh...not Idaho. I don't see a scenario where this ends well for Wazzu.
(9) USC over Stanford
USC definitely showed off in the opener. Of course, they can't help it against a team like Rice. We are finally seeing Stanford know what they want and they are learning how to do it. USC looked like they already had the kinks worked out. This looks like a rough game for the Cardinal.
(10) Alabama over Texas
Alabama hasn't missed a beat. Texas hasn't had a beat in like a decade now. This almost feels too easy, but I guess a ten-pointer is supposed to be.