« UM's Gerald Willis III / All-America push: All abooaarrd! With hype video, my column; plus your 2019 Cooperstown ballot. Last day to vote!; also, Cowboys-Saints pick, Herald NFL QB rankings, Pix 'n Fantasy results, college State of the State rank & more | Main | Dolfan Satisfaction Meter: 15.6%; plus Fins beat Buffalo 21-17, improve to 6-6 with must-win; also, our new column on CFP final four, Canes to Pinstripe Bowl, latest Hot Button Top 10 (updated) & more »

NFL Week 13 picks: Dolphins-Bills and the rest; plus ranking College Championship Weekend matchups, your Cooperstown verdict (only 2 get in!), R.I.P. President Bush & more

GREG COTE'S RANDOM EVIDENCE BLOG: MIAMI. SPORTS. AND BEYOND.

Gbush1) It's SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1. Happy new month, all! Ready, set ... spend! 2) Former President George H.W. Bush passed away at 94 very early this morning. His politics and mine were not the same but I always respected his integrity. 3) Football is raging and the holidays are upon us. That means it's the perfect time to delight Dolfans you know with the gift of our 'Fins At 50' book. Check it out on Amazon. 4) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Canes' Gerald Willis/All-America campaign, Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and your vote, Herald NFL QB rankings, Pix 'n Fantasy results, college State of the State rank & more. 5) Join us on Twitter @gregcote. Also Facebook and Instagram.

PicksNFL WEEK 13 PICKS: DOLPHINS-BILLS, GAME OF WEEK, UPSETS AND THE REST: Our pinch-me season continues (despite Thursday night!). We rose to a robust .690 winning percentage overall for the season and a rollicking .582 against the spread with last week’s 11-4 mark outright and 10-5 vs. the Evil Betting Line. We bull’s-eyed yet another Upset of The Week with Bills beating Jaguars (“Aawwk!”), and had three more ‘dogs-with-points in Dolphins, Giants and Seahawks. But enough bragging. It's all about this week now. Thanksgiving is past. Bye weeks are done. That means the stretch run to the playoffs is upon is. All 16 games in Week 13 have some bearing on playoff aspiration, although some matchups -- like Dolphins-Bills -- are must-win-and-pray for teams hanging on the periphery. Will Miami get the must-win it needs? Visit Week 13 Gems for our latest picks, and Thursday Gem for the separate pick on last night's Saints-Cowboys game. It was a total misfire thinking the Dallas D would dominate Drew Brees in a low-scoring game. Nevertheless, sally forth! 

On UM's Gerald Willis All-America campaign: Hurricanes defensive tackle Gerald Willis III got snubbed by the All-ACC first team, but Miami nonetheless has chosen Willis to push for All-America  honors. He'd be the first Canes DT so honored since Warren Sapp in 1994, and I'm on board. To read my latest column, visit Why A Canes Defender Snubbed by ACC Deserves All-America Honors. And here is the UM's hype video for Willis' candidacy.

Other select most recent columns: Inside Lane on Road to Canton, Cooperstown / Tannehill's Litmus Test Is Pass or Fail. Also: Oh What We Had, And What We Lost (LeBron's return to Miami with Lakers) / Wade's World Bigger Than Hoops, And Good For Him / Honeymoon Over: How Collapsing Seasons Put Heat on Gase, Richt.

BIG SIX CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES RANKED BY NATIONAL INTEREST: The Canes, Gators and Noles are sitting this one out, but Conference Championship Weekend goes on. Our ranking of the Power 5 conference title games plus UCF in the AAC:

Champwknd1. No. 1 Alabama (13-0) beats No. 4 Georgia (11-2), 35-281 for SEC Championship: 'Bama was a 13 1/2-point pick but needed an epic rally led by backup QB Jalen Hurts and aided by a very dubious and failed late fake-punt call by Georgia.

2. No. 2 Clemson (13-0) beats No. 24 Pitt (7-6), 42-10 for ACC Championship: Clemson favored by 27 1/2 and it was the mismatch we all expected. If Pitt was league's second-best team, how sad for the ACC.

3. No. 5 Oklahoma (12-1) beats No. 14 Texas (9-4), 39-27 for Big 12 Championship, TX: Oklahoma the pick by 8 and covered, but will it be enough for the coveted CFP top four.

4. No. 6 Ohio State (12-1) beats No. 21 Northwestern (8-5), 45-24 for Big Ten Championship: OSU favored by 14 and won easily, but will Urban Meyer now leapfrog Sooners to make CFP?

5. No. 9 UCF (12-0) beats Memphis (8-5), 56-41 for AAC Championship: UCF a mere 3-point fave but needed huge home rally behind backup QB thanks to injury to star McKenzie Milton.

6. No. 11 Washington (10-3) beats No. 17 Utah (9-4), 10-3 for Pac-12 Championship: Washington was a 5-point favorite Friday night, and nobody outside of these two fan bases cared.

MarianoPOLL RESULT: RIVERA, BONDS GET IN ON YOUR BASEBALL HALL VOTE: We asked, "Who most deserves 2019 induction into Baseball Hall of Fame?," with the 13 of our curated finalists on the ballot and you getting five votes. The five-vote poll means the maximum total for any one player would be 20 percent if every voter cast all five votes. Therefore in our poll it would take a 15 percent vote to equate to the Hall's 75 percent minimum. (Are you getting all of this?) By that standard only Mariano Rivera and Barry Bonds got Cooperstown-level grades from you. Here are your top five overall from more than 3,500 votes cast, with the percentages indicating the share of ballots that included that player's name:

 

 
 
Competitive: Edgar Martinez 36.00% and Curt Schilling 30.45%. Far back: Fred McGriff 20.05%, Mike Mussina 19.65%, Todd Helton 16.65%, Larry Walker 16.65%, Andy Pettitte 15.50% and Omar Vizquel 15.40%.

Select other columns: NASCAR Needs A Next Big ThingDolfans, Your Team Is Not Easy To LoveNo More Excuses, Florida PanthersNFL 2018 Team RankingsDolphins? Heat? Nope. UM Football Owns This TownTo The Good-Guy Grinder In The ShadesTime to Flip the Old Narrative On Miami As a Sports TownCan Riley Rescue Heat From Purgatory? When 3 World Cup Legends Were Ours.

Revisit our blog often because we update and add to our latest posts throughout the day.

Twitter @gregcote

Comments