THE CHOPPING BLOCK: Week 5 picks
By BRANDON HURLEY
Sports Editor
The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. And I’ll say it, I have an addiction… to fantasy football.
I’m in five leagues this year and I’ve come to realize it’s too stressful and too time consuming to maintain.
Trying to juggle five different fantasy drafts in a span a week and a half should have been my first indicator. I used to look forward to draft day like it was Christmas, but this year, I dreaded each one. Losing two and a half hours five different times combing through guys that won’t ever see the field is no longer my idea of fun.
Once the games started, I could barely remember who I had on each team, which made checking my scores every so often stressful as well.
But now I transition to my biggest gripe – luck and injuries.
Fantasy football, no matter how many people tell you is primarily based on luck. Managing five teams lends to a strong possibility of several teams getting derailed by injuries.
And the injuries have come early and often this year, along with underperforming athletes.
Now that I’ve acknowledged I have a problem, it’s time to cut back. Next year, I think I’ll stick with two leagues, then we’ll see if I’m a little more stress free.
Well, I had a pretty poor week on the college front last week, missing six of the nine picks while I did a pretty good job in the high school realm. I went 9-7-1 on the week and I better turn it around soon.
We had several contestants do much better than me, including a perfect score.
Congratulations is in store for Pam Davis of Grand Junction, who easily captured first place in week four of the Bee’s Football Contest after going a perfect 17-of-17 in correct winners, the first perfect score of this season.
R.J. Wright of Scranton captured second place with 15 correct winners with just two incorrect picks.
Kenna Marquardt of Jefferson won the third-place tie-breaker with 14 correct picks and a predicted total score of 826, which was closest to the actual total score of 1,013. Calvin Skalla of Jefferson and Kim Bergstrom of Paton also picked 14 correct winners to tie for third-place, but were bested in the tie-breaker.
There were 61 total entries in week four.
Hold on, grab a seat and see if you can do better than me in week five (I’m betting you will).
Here we go, my week five picks:
SEASON RECORD: 40-27-1
1. Iowa Falls-Alden (2-2) at Greene County (0-4)
It’s homecoming against a squad that’s faced a weak schedule and doesn’t have an explosive offense. The Rams pick up their first win of the year.
2. Boone (3-1) at Gilbert (4-0)
Who knew this would be a big-time matchup entering the season? It’s a battle for district two supremacy and I’m taking Gilbert.
3. Perry (2-2) at Dallas Center-Grimes (3-1)
DC-G pulled off an impressive victory over Ballard last week and Perry isn’t nearly as good as their record shows.
4. Webster City (3-1) at Ballard (3-1)
Ballard will still have a hangover from their first loss of the season and the Webster City rush offense is really, really clicking right now.
5. Winterset (1-3) at Carroll (4-0)
The powerful and strong offense of Carroll continues to roll.
6. Kuemper Catholic (3-1) at Underwood (3-1)
Underwood in a close battle.
7. Boyer Valley (3-1) at Glidden-Ralston (2-2)
The Wildcats have found their mojo agan and will have no trouble with Boyer Valley.
8. Madrid (4-0) at Ogden (1-3)
The Tiger rush offense and Michael Santi will be just a little too much for the Bulldogs in an intra-county rivalry.
COLLEGE
9. San Jose State vs. Iowa State (-6)
The Clones have to pick up a win somewhere, and they covered last week, so I think they can do it again Saturday.
10. Iowa at Rutgers (+13)
An embarrassing, pitiful loss to North Dakota State is still lingering and the Hawks can’t cover the 13 points, though they still win.
11. #20 Nebraska (-7.5) at Northwestern
The Wildcats are baaad and Nebraska is fresh off a big win against Oregon. Give me the Huskers with a very favorable point spread.
12. #11 Wisconsin (+6) at #8 Michigan State
The Spartans look to be a force once again this year but I think the Badgers make this a game and cover, even if they don’t come out with the win.
13. Colorado State at Minnesota (-16.5)
CSU is trash and even though the Gophers may not be as good as everyone expected this fall, they can still easily cover against the Rams.
14. Penn State at #4 Michigan (-18.5)
I think Penn State will struggle to score in this one and it shouldn’t be close.
15. #23 Florida (+10) at #15 Tennessee
The Vols are getting too much praise here. This rivalry has been pretty one-sided over the last few years and it will continue.
16. #16 Georgia at #19 Ole Miss (-7)
If Ole Miss could actually put a whole game together they’d be in the top five. Georgia is only ranked because of their brand name. Rebels win easy
17. #7 Stanford (-3) at UCLA
This line started with UCLA as the favorite, but Christian McCaffery is an athletic freak. The Cardinal win big to take control of the Pac 12.
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