The ESPN College Pick Em game goes into Week 3 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. We have a pretty good turnout of 33 entries. You have a one-in-33 chance of winning, so set your lineups every week!
It was a rough week for the group as a whole this week. M_T_Clark led the way with 43 out of a possible 55 points. callahamm328 was one point behind Clark. HumbleBee was one point behind that. San Diego's Finest, ryan_peoples2, and cnbaker were the only other ones to reach 40.
M_T_Clark's good week was enough to vault him into first place with 85 points in two weeks. HumbleBee, jphowell09, and Fred Smoot Boat Rentals are just one point back. lbockenek and ryan_peoples2 are one point behind that. XLVIII sits in sole possession of 7th with 82 points. callahanm328 sits in eighth with 80. San Diego's Finest, randybthesly1, and Geoffafa round out the top ten with 79 points.
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) LSU over Mississippi State
I feel like right now Mississippi State is the more organized team, but will that equal a win in Death Valley in what will be a night game for a half? I've already changed this one twice. Mississippi State is capable of winning this, but will they? After what they did to Memphis, I'm inclined to say yes. LSU was right with Florida State and the game should have went to overtime. We can argue that FSU is better than both Memphis and Arizona. I'll give the Tigers the edge at home.
(2) North Carolina State over Texas Tech
How good are the Red Raiders? They beat a Houston team that beat a good UTSA team in San Antonio. Then Tech takes out Houston. We haven't learned much from watching NC State so far, but I do know that Devin Leary is just as good as last year. I moved this down because Tech is going to give them a fight, but I still think NC State wins this.
(3) Miami over Texas A&M
Just ask Miami how good Appalachian State is. The Hurricanes went up to Boone a couple of years ago and likely should have lost that game. There is NFL talent on both sides of the ball here, but Miami is just more put together right now. That counts this early in the season.
(4) BYU over Oregon
BYU's win over Baylor was pretty impressive, especially when you consider many talking heads were talking about Baylor winning the Big 12(10). Just ask A&M what a high preseason ranking based on talent alone means. Georgia wiped the field with Oregon, but that came as a surprise to no one east of the Rocky Mountains and north of Crater Lake. The point is that we really don't know much about Oregon. However, I do know a lot about Bo Nix and I feel like we have a grasp on BYU, who doesn't have a slew of transfers starting on this team. That makes a difference, as we see with each passing week.
(5) Penn State over Auburn
Tank Bigsby is one of the best backs in a conference full of them. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with Sean Clifford, but we may not see it. He is taking that step that Christian Hackenburg and Trace McSorely never did. Western Kentucky transfer Mitchell Tinsley looks like a keeper. I still have questions about T.J. Finley, and as long as I do, I can't really pick Auburn in a game like this where Clifford wont lose it on his own.
(6) Central Florida over Florida Atlantic
FAU losing to Ohio has moved them down my list a little. UCF lost to a pretty good Louisville team. N'Kosi Perry is in the same vein as Malik Cunningham, but he doesn't have the supporting cast to take this one against this UCF offense.
(7) Michigan State over Washington
Yeah, the Pac 12 may not be getting much respect, but respect is earned. Washington looks better this year with Indiana transfer Michael Penix calling the shots, but Penix has his own nightmares about this Michigan State defense. The Huskies are getting better, but they aren't there yet.
(8) Appalachian State over Troy
I may end up moving this one down. How many times do we see it...team beats a highly-ranked national team, comes back home and loses to their rival. Appalachian State feels immune to those kind of letdowns, but this one still has me nervous. I could go all the way down to six with this one.
(9) Minnesota over Colorado
This is the easiest one on here. Colorado is going to be monumentally bad this year. Mohamed Ibrahim and the Gophers are going to do nothing to make that prediction look false.
(10) Oklahoma over Nebraska
If Oklahoma can't win this game, I deserve to lose ten points. I feel like Nebraska's firing of Scott Frost to fire up the team might work, but not enough for them to win this game. I'm either going to the top or the bottom of the standings with this one, which is kind of the point.