Here's your weekly reminder to lock in your picks in our Rocky Top Talk 2011 group over at Fun Office Pools. Weekly winners receive a $10 gift card to Gameday Depot, which means it's never too late to sign up. If you're new here and confused by the language, every week we pick 20 matchups straight up, and assign confidence points to each pick (20 for your most confident choice, 1 for least confident).
16-4 at 183 points (out of 210 possible) was good enough to win last week for danmarcel. Last year's champion Grayhound is still atop the overall 2011 leaderboard by just four points, currently averaging 172.5 points per week. Here's how our community is feeling about this week's action (as of Wednesday night):
- In what should be the last Thursday night letdown game, 96% like Florida State at Boston College. The next four Thursdays: Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, North Carolina at Virginia Tech, Texas at Texas A&M, West Virginia at South Florida.
- I've read "The Tussle in Tuscaloosa" a couple of different places for this week's big game. Tussle doesn't sound nearly violent enough. Whatever you call it, 61% currently favor Alabama at an average of 6.7 confidence points. The 39% of us who like LSU straight up (including yours truly) are slightly more confident, giving the Tigers an average of 8.4 confidence points.
- That's actually the second closest matchup of the week according to our community. Your winner is Missouri at Baylor, with 55% taking the Bears. Elsewhere in close calls: 63% like Ole Miss on the road at Kentucky in a somebody has to win game, and 76% take Texas over Texas Tech.
- In the next closest group, 86% ride with Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 84% like Michigan at Iowa, 82% take North Carolina at NC State, and 84% like Virginia at Maryland. Four road teams getting love from our community in potential trap games.
- Our community is not buying Vandy in Gainesville, with 90% taking the Gators. And to no surprise after seeing them in person last week, South Carolina gets no love and no confidence from our readers, with 92% taking Arkansas. Two matchups currently sit at 100%: West Virginia over Louisville, and of course, the Vols over MTSU.