ETBLITZ POWER PICKS! | Final picks before the College Football Bowl Pick-Off

Well, if you came to the “store” for high school football, sadly, it’s all over.

One ETBlitz.com-area team did reach a state championship game: the Kilgore High School Bulldogs, in the UIL’s Class 4A, Division I playoffs.

We would like to congratulate Kilgore on a great season, as we did in our Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz Team of the Week (GOUDARZI & YOUNG / ETBLITZ TEAM OF THE WEEK | One more time for the KHS Bulldogs), and in other stories, and we’d also like to congratulate each of the 12 teams that won one of the UIL state championships. Congratulations, and now everyone will be 0-0 again in August. By the way, that’s only about eight months away.

For now, we’ll finish out football season, all the way to the Super Bowl. This will be the first weekend that we don’t have high school football, and we don’t like that, but we do enjoy college and the NFL. And, you know, we’ve got some things to decide.

THE COLLEGE BOWL PICK-OFF

We’ll have our regular picks this week, and then on Monday on the site, we’ll have our College Football Bowl Pick-Off. It’ll include all of our regular panel, plus those who qualified by entering the Cyclone Stampede.

Watch your e-mail or Facebook Messenger, if you entered. We’ll be contacting you in the next 24 hours to tell you if you’re in.

If you made the pick-off, you can expect a list of the remaining college bowl games (no NFL in that one) in your e-mail. Simply fill out the teams you believe will win, and, like in the Stampede, the tiebreakers at the bottom.

The winner gets to enjoy an ETBlitz.com Tailgate Party Pack, with all kinds of things, including a huge amount of Dr. Pepper products, a custom-made charcuterie board, a surprise that I’m NOT going to give away here, and my favorite: a pack that anyone would love from Clower Meat Market. And you can bet there will be some OILFIELD SAUSAGE involved there.

It makes me want to win – but I can’t. 😊 Our panel (and I’m one – oh, and I’m the owner) is ineligible to win the prize. So one of our guests, regardless if they actually have the best record at the end or not, will take home that party pack. You don’t have to beat our panel – you only have to beat the other guest pickers.

THE PANEL, & THE STANDINGS

For any of you guys who haven’t followed all year, our panel looks like this:

• DENNIS JACOBS, who has, for over 15 years, been my photographer of record for Kilgore High School sports. Dennis is also an instructor for Kilgore Independent School District. And he’s about the nicest person you’ll ever meet. Seriously.
• JOE HALE, a sportswriter for over 40 years, most of that spent here in the East Texas region, who’s quite good at picking the winners of games. Keep reading where we list the standings, and you’ll see what I mean.
• DERECK BORDERS, my tackle-spotter for football season, a taxidermist, a dad, now a granddad, a school board member for KISD, and most of all, my friend. And he’s an expert at all three (even though the lifelong Aggie struggles whether to pick Texas A&M to win or lose).
• JENNA LUCAS, my wife, who also serves as executive editor for ETBlitz, is our business manager, an RN and nurse educator in the 30^th year of her career, and regardless of the picks record, probably the smartest person I know.
• JACOB LUCAS, my son, a former athlete himself, one of our ETBlitz videographers, and now a student at the University of Alabama, where he works in the athletic department.
• ASHTYN LUCAS, my youngest; a dancer, a dance teacher, a student at Kilgore College, my social media “advisor” and now, a columnist here on ETBlitz.com. Her column, “Ashtyn’s World,” has honestly been a big hit. Here’s one of them: ASHTYN’S WORLD | Come with me to the wonderful world of New Caney.
• ALEX NABOR, also a student at KC, and a photographer for us that has covered more sports before his 21^st birthday than most people have SEEN before their own 21^st birthday. Alex began years ago, when he was a media student for Amy Bates at Kilgore High School, shooting for me, and before long, he turned a hobby into a career. Seriously, we’re proud of Alex and his work, and so glad that you can see it regularly on this very site.
• CLAYTON FLETCHER, our assistant editor, who loves just about every sport. We started ETBlitz.com together in October, 2023 following my departure from “the other place,” and it’s been successful; we’ll leave it at that. So glad to be able to bring you all what we believe is the best total coverage of 2024, but looking forward to our second full calendar year beginning next week.
• RONNIE SARTORS, our elder statesman of photography, and a gentleman whom most coaches in East Texas recognize when he arrives with his camera. Ronnie shoots on his own, shoots for ETBlitz, and from time to time, for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. When I see a Sartors photo, I always recognize the work. It is impeccable.
• Me. I haven’t had the best year of “prognosticating.” I normally do much better. But it is what it is. Ever heard that phrase?

Let’s talk about those standings.

Last week, Jacob and I each went 15-4 in a bit-shorter week (we normally pick 21 games). Those were the best records of the week.

Joe went 14-5, and Ashtyn went 13-6. Jenna, Dereck, and Ronnie each went 12-7. Alex and Dennis each went 11-8. And Clayton, trying to pick upsets, went 10-9.

The overall standings look like this: in 355 games picked, Joe has an overall record of 264-91. That’s darn good. Or dang good, however you want to say it. He doesn’t even have 100 losses!

Ashtyn is in second place, at 251-104, and Dereck is a game behind her at 250-105.

Then it’s Jacob, with a 243-112 record. Ronnie has a 238-107 record, but he has 10 games less, total, than the rest of us, because he came in a week after we began.

I’m sitting at 240-115, and then Dennis is at 236-119. Clayton sits at 229-126; Alex at 227-128; and Jenna at 222-133.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

I left out Wednesday’s Christmas Day NFL games and some of the earlier bowl games; we’re just picking up with Saturday morning’s games and continuing through “Monday Night Football.”

Following the conclusion of “MNF,” we’ll have the College Football Bowl Pick-Off list on the site, so you guys can see who our guests are, and their picks will be on a grid, just like the one for our panel below.

For now, though, here are this week’s  games, followed by our panel’s picks in the pretty little green-tinted grid.

ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!

Saturday, Dec. 28-Monday, Dec. 30, 2024

COLLEGE GAMES

Saturday’s games

Wasabi Fenway Bowl (Fenway Park, Boston): UConn (8-4) vs. North Carolina (6-6), 10 a.m., ESPN

Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl (New York / Yankee Stadium): Boston College (7-5) vs. Nebraska (6-6), 11 a.m., ABC

Pop-Tarts Bowl (Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Fla.): Iowa State (10-3) vs. Miami (10-2), 2:30 p.m., ABC

Arizona Bowl (Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Ariz.): Miami (Ohio) (8-5) vs. Colorado State (8-4), 3:30 p.m., CW Network

Go Bowling Military Bowl (Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, Annapolis, Md.): East Carolina (7-5) vs. North Carolina State (6-6), 4:45 p.m., ESPN

Valero Alamo Bowl (Alamodome, San Antonio): BYU (10-2) vs. Colorado (9-3), 6:30 p.m., ABC

Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl (Shreveport): Louisiana Tech (5-7) vs. Army (11-2) 8:15 p.m., ESPN

Monday’s game

Transperfect Music City Bowl (Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.): Iowa (6-3) vs. Missouri (9-3), 1:30 p.m., ESPN

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NFL GAMES

Saturday’s games

Los Angeles Chargers (9-6) at New England (3-12), noon, NFL Network

Denver (9-6) at Cincinnati (7-8), 3:30 p.m., NFL Network

Arizona (7-8) at Los Angeles Rams (9-6), 7 p.m., NFL Network

Sunday’s games

New York Jets (4-11) at Buffalo (12-3), noon, CBS

Las Vegas (3-12) at New Orleans (5-10), noon, FOX

Indianapolis (7-8) at New York Giants (2-13), noon, FOX

Dallas (7-8) at Philadelphia (12-3), noon, FOX

Carolina (4-11) at Tampa Bay (8-7), noon, CBS

Tennessee (3-12) at Jacksonville (3-12), noon, CBS

Miami (7-8) at Cleveland (3-12), 3:05 p.m., CBS

Green Bay (11-4) at Minnesota (13-2), 3:25 p.m., FOX

Atlanta (8-7) at Washington (10-5), 7:20 p.m., NBC / Peacock

Monday’s game

Detroit (13-2) at San Francisco (6-9), 7:15 p.m., ABC / ESPN

MITCH	DENNIS	JOE	DERECK	JENNA	JACOB	ASHTYN	ALEX	CLAYTON	RONNIE
N. Carolina	N. Carolina	N. Carolina	N. Carolina	UConn	UConn	UConn	UConn	UConn	N. Carolina
Nebraska	BC	Nebraska	Nebraska	BC	BC	Nebraska	BC	BC	BC
Miami	Miami	Miami	Iowa St	Iowa St	Iowa St	Iowa St	Miami	Miami	Miami
Miami, OH	CSU	Miami, OH	Miami, OH	CSU	CSU	Miami, OH	CSU	Miami, OH	Miami, OH
NC State	NC State	NC State	NC State	E. Carolina	NC State	E. Carolina	E. Carolina	E. Carolina	NC State
Colorado	BYU	Colorado	BYU	BYU	Colorado	BYU	BYU	Colorado	Colorado
La Tech	Army	Army	Army	Army	Army	Army	Army	Army	Army
Missouri	Iowa	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri
LAC	LAC	LAC	LAC	LAC	LAC	LAC	LAC	LAC	LAC
Denver	Denver	Cincinnati	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver
LAR	LAR	LAR	LAR	LAR	LAR	LAR	LAR	LAR	LAR
Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo
N. Orleans	N. Orleans	Las Vegas	N. Orleans	N. Orleans	N. Orleans	N. Orleans	N. Orleans	N. Orleans	N. Orleans
NYG	Indy	Indy	Indy	Indy	Indy	Indy	Indy	Indy	Indy
Philly	Philly	Dallas	Philly	Dallas	Philly	Philly	Philly	Philly	Philly
Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay
J’ville	J’ville	J’ville	Tennessee	J’ville	J’ville	J’ville	J’ville	J’ville	J’ville
Miami	Miami	Miami	Miami	Miami	Miami	Miami	Miami	Miami	Miami
Minnesota	Minnesota	Green Bay	Green Bay	Green Bay	Minnesota	Minnesota	Minnesota	Minnesota	Minnesota
Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington	Washington
SF	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	SF	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit