ETBLITZ POWER PICKS | Who you got: Ragin’ Red or blue & yellow Bulldogs? How will everybody else in ET do? Our best guesses right here
It’s finally Kilgore-Chapel Hill week.
All sorts of other things happening, but in the local circle, Friday’s Kilgore-CHHS playoff showdown in Forney – the fourth straight year for the two teams to meet in the postseason – is the center of the sports world.
And there are other East Texas teams still left in the UIL football playoffs: Longview, Carthage, Van, Daingerfield, Liberty-Eylau, Malakoff, and Joaquin.
Conveniently, for you guys, we put the playoff arrangements for all of those teams, along with ticket and broadcast information, right here: PLAYOFF SCHEDULE & BRACKETS | For round four of the high school football playoffs. Kilgore-Chapel Hill info is at that link, as well.
And if you’re a college football fan, you might know there are some major conference championship games this weekend, and the outcomes of those games will have a huge bearing, obviously, on the College Football Playoff – this is the first year for 12 teams to get in.
In the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys have actually won back-to-back games, and Houston is right in the thick of things in the AFC playoff race.
Our panel does its very best to pick the winners of these games below, as we have for 296 games so far this season. Check out our picks, then click this link, CYCLONE STAMPEDE, WEEK FOUR! | Send in your picks to enter before this week’s games, and enter the Cyclone Stampede Picks Contest for a shot at the ETBlitz Tailgate Party Pack.
THE PANEL & THE STANDINGS
We’ve got a great panel for our picks, but we’ve got a run-away in our own picks contest.
Joe Hale, a 40-plus-year veteran sportswriter whose work you’ve seen here on ETBlitz and before that, for many years at the Longview News-Journal, has taken the lead and put a stranglehold on it. Joe went 16-5 last week – not his best week, but not bad – and is 223-73 overall this season. That’s really ridiculous, when you think about it.
Ashtyn Lucas, my daughter, is a student at Kilgore College, a dancer, and a contributor to this site, is in second place behind Joe, but he’s pulled away. Ashtyn is 212-84 this season.
My friend and Kilgore ISD school board member Dereck Borders is third (206-90), and Ronnie Sartors, our fantastic freelance photographer who is also on assignment with Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, is 201-85 – he started a week after the rest of the panel, so he has picked 10 fewer games.
My son, Jacob Lucas, is our videographer and a student at the University of Alabama, where he’s majoring in creative media. Jacob is the only other member of the panel with at least 200 wins: he’s 200-96.
I’ve got a 199-97 record, and Dennis Jacobs, our Kilgore High School photographer and an instructor in KISD, is 197-99.
Clayton Fletcher, our assistant editor, is 190-106. Jenna Lucas, our executive editor and CFO, is 185-111, and Alex Nabor, also a KC student and an unbelievably-talented photographer, is 184-112.
Last week, Ashtyn had the best record, having picked winners in 19 of 21 games correctly.
Ronnie and Dennis each went 18-3, tied for the second-best record last week. Jenna, Dereck, Jacob, and myself all each went 17-4. Joe and Alex each went 16-5, and Clayton went 11-10 – trying too hard to pick upsets, my friend.
THE GAMES
Here are the games we’ll be attempting to pick winners of. And don’t be hurt if we don’t pick your favorite team: it’s all in fun, I promise.
Note: if you’re viewing this on your phone, when you scroll down to the picks grid, you’ll need to turn your phone horizontally and then scroll left and right to see different people’s picks.
ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!
Thursday, December 5-Monday, December 9, 2024
HIGH SCHOOL GAMES
High school games
Kilgore (11-2) vs. Chapel Hill (10-3), UIL Class 4A, Division I Region 3 finals: Friday, 7:30 p.m., City Bank Stadium, Forney
Carthage vs. Van, UIL Class 4A, Division II Region 2 finals: Friday, 7 p.m., Pine Tree ISD Pirate Stadium
Liberty Eylau (11-2) vs. Malakoff (13-0), UIL Class 3A-Division I Region 2 finals: Friday, 7 p.m., at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium, Tyler
Daingerfield (8-5) vs. Woodville (11-2), UIL Class 3A-Division II Region 3 finals: Friday, 7 p.m., Palestine ISD Wildcat Stadium
Longview (11-2) vs. DeSoto (11-2), UIL Class 6A, Division II Region 2 finals: Saturday, 3 p.m., McLane Stadium
COLLEGE GAMES
Friday’s games
CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP: Western Kentucky (8-4) at Jacksonville State (8-4), 6 p.m., AmFirst Stadium, Jacksonville, AL; CBS Sports Network
MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 20 UNLV (10-2) at No. 10 Boise State (11-1), 7 p.m., Albertsons Stadium, Boise, ID; FOX
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP: Tulane (9-3) vs. No. 24 Army (10-1), 7 p.m., Michie Stadium, West Point, NY; ABC
Saturday’s games
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 16 Iowa State (10-2) vs. No. 15 Arizona State (10-2), 11 a.m., AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX; ABC
MID-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP: Ohio (8-4) vs. Miami (Ohio, 9-3), 11 a.m., Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.; ESPN
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 5 Georgia (10-2) vs. No. 2 Texas (11-1), 3 p.m., Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Ga.; ABC
SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP: Marshall (9-3) at Louisiana (10-2), 6:30 p.m.; Cajun Field, Lafayette, La.; ESPN
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 3 Penn State (11-1) vs. No. 1 Oregon (12-0), 7 p.m.; Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind.; CBS
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 17 Clemson (9-3) vs. No. 8 SMU (11-1), 7 p.m.; Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte; ABC
NFL GAMES
Thursday’s game
Green Bay (9-3) at Detroit (11-1), 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday’s games
Atlanta (6-6) at Minnesota (10-2), noon, FOX
Cleveland (4-8) at Pittsburgh (9-3), noon, CBS
Seattle (7-5) at Arizona (6-6), 3:05 p.m. CBS
Buffalo (10-2) at L.A. Rams (6-6), 3:25 p.m., FOX
L.A. Chargers (8-4) at Kansas City (11-1), 7:20 p.m. NBC
Monday’s game
Cincinnati (4-8) at Dallas (5-7), 7:15 p.m., ESPN
| MITCH | DENNIS | JOE | DERECK | JENNA | JACOB | ASHTYN | ALEX | CLAYTON | RONNIE |
| Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage |
| Malakoff | Malakoff | Malakoff | Malakoff | L-E | Malakoff | Malakoff | Malakoff | L-E | Malakoff |
| Woodville | Woodville | Daingerfield | Woodville | Daingerfield | Woodville | Woodville | Woodville | Woodville | Daingerfield |
| Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore |
| DeSoto | DeSoto | DeSoto | DeSoto | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | Longview | DeSoto |
| J’ville St. | J’ville St. | J’ville St. | J’ville St. | J’ville St. | W. KY | W. KY | J’ville St. | W. KY | W. KY. |
| Boise St. | Boise St. | Boise St. | Boise St. | Boise St. | Boise St. | UNLV | Boise St. | Boise St. | Boise St. |
| Tulane | Army | Army | Army | Army | Army | Army | Army | Army | Army |
| Arizona St. | Arizona St. | Arizona St. | Iowa St. | Iowa St. | Arizona St. | Iowa St. | Arizona St. | Arizona St. | Arizona St. |
| Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami | Ohio | Miami | Miami |
| Georgia | Georgia | Texas | Georgia | Texas | Georgia | Texas | Texas | Georgia | Texas |
| Louisiana | Louisiana | Louisiana | Louisiana | Louisiana | Louisiana | Louisiana | Louisiana | Marshall | Louisiana |
| Oregon | Oregon | Oregon | Oregon | Oregon | Oregon | Oregon | Oregon | Penn St. | Oregon |
| SMU | SMU | SMU | Clemson | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU |
| Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit | Detroit |
| Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnessota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota |
| Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh |
| Arizona | Arizona | Arizona | Seattle | Seattle | Arizona | Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | Arizona |
| L.A. Rams | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo |
| K. City | K. City | K. City | K.City | K. City | K. City | K. City | K. City | K. City | K. City |
| Dallas | Dallas | Cincinnati | Cincinnati | Dallas | Cincinnati | Dallas | Cincinnati | Dallas | Dallas |
