ET POWER PICKS! | Who’s winning? Who’s out? Cowboys done? Can A&M win on the road?
Wow, this week – it’s just a lot.
- Kilgore (9-2) vs. Needville (7-4) in the UIL Class 4A, Division I playoffs at Sheldon ISD Panther Stadium, or C.E. King, or that “other” Houston stadium – the one with the big blue panther lit up on the back. Whatever you want to call it, coach Clint Fuller and the Bulldogs have a second, or area, round game there on Friday night, a 7 p.m. kickoff. Loser is done for 2024, winner moves on to play either Lindale (6-5) or Navasota (6-5). It’s also a rematch of a playoff game last year, and that was the big debut of Kayson Brooks. Remember this? It was one of our first articles on the site: WHAT’S CAUSING ALL THIS? / By MITCH LUCAS | Introducing Kayson Brooks.
- Gilmer (8-3) vs. Sunnyvale (8-3), a 4A-DII Thursday night (tonight) game at Sulphur Springs, also starting at 7. The Buckeyes beat Sunnyvale (which sort of sounds like a town from a movie) by just three the last time they played. These teams seem evenly-matched. We’ll find out tonight how “even” it is.
- Troup (8-3) vs. DeKalb (10-1), Friday night at 7 p.m. at Pine Tree ISD’s Pirate Stadium, a short drive for coach Sam Wells and the Troup Tigers, who are hot right now. Will DeKalb cool them off, or get their season ended?
- Overton (9-2) vs. Mart (9-2), a 2A-DII second-round game at Kemp ISD. I’ve never been to Kemp, or to Kemp ISD. But here’s hoping the stadium can contain this game, as big a rematch as there is in the state this weekend. Mart eliminated a less-experienced Overton team last year, and it felt like the Mustangs had more to do. This year, they get a rematch. Overton’s got a lot of firepower. I’m calling it now: Mustangs shock a lot of the state and knock out Mart. We’ll see.
- College continues like a bullet toward the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, and we’re a little more than a week away from a HUGE showdown at Kyle Field between Texas A&M and Texas – in the Southeastern Conference, as strange as that sounds. Now, can they both win this week and make that happen? Texas has a bit easier road this Saturday, as the ‘Horns are home vs. Kentucky. A&M has to go to Auburn, and while this Auburn team is NOTHING like Auburn normally is, the Tigers have a big advantage at home, where it seems they play 50 games a year. Someone should look into that, by the way.
- The Dallas Cowboys … nevermind.
- Coach Demeco Ryans and the Houston Texans host Tennessee, and real Super Bowl contenders take care of visiting teams when the visiting teams have only two wins on the year. Let’s see how the Texans handle it. Quarterback C.J. Stroud seems to have taken a baby step back from his brilliant season in 2023. If the Texans are going to make playoff noise, they need him to get “it” back and play better down the stretch, as we finish the NFL’s regular season.
THE CYCLONE STAMPEDE
Now, this article features our picks, and how we see things. If you’re looking for the Cyclone Stampede picks contest, it’s here: CYCLONE STAMPEDE PICKS CONTEST, WEEK TWO | Correct picks in the HS playoffs, the college games and NFL can get you an ETBlitz tailgate pack, and you have until 6:59 p.m. tonight to enter. If you miss that deadline, then enter next week. What you’re doing is entering hoping to win and qualify for our College Football Pick-Off when the college bowl games start. So you still have some time, but a warning: everyone won’t qualify the final week.
The instructions are at that click, but to reiterate: go to the link, jot down your picks of who’s going to win those 21 games (the same games we pick below), write down your three tiebreakers that are at the bottom on the list, and send all of that to us on Facebook Messenger, or e-mail me at mlucas@etblitz.com.
THE PANEL
As it turned out, we’ve got a good one.
Joe Hale is a 40-plus-year veteran of East Texas sportswriting. If you’ve picked up the Longview News-Journal or looked at ETBlitz.com at any point in the last, oh, say 42 years, you’ve probably read one of Joe’s stories.
Dennis Jacobs is our Kilgore High School photographer, and he’s way more than that – he’s also an instructor at KISD, a noted fan of high school football both here and in Mississippi, and about the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.
Dereck Borders is my best friend, my football traveling companion, my tackle-spotter, and now once again a granddad – congratulations to Dereck and Beverly on that, and on the marriage of youngest daughter Sydni to Bodee Lammers, whom you can see when you turn rodeo on your TV set (they don’t call it a TV set anymore, do they?). He’s also a member of the KISD school board, a taxidermist, and he’s gotten pretty good at picking these games.
My wife Jenna is on the panel; Jenna is our executive editor here at ETBlitz.com, as well as our chief financial officer, doubles as a photographer when we need her, and has had a three-decade career as a nurse. She’s been guilty of being a bit of a homer in her picks this year, but we’re sure our local teams don’t mind.
My son, Jacob, and daughter, Ashtyn, are both picking once again this year – they’ve been picking winners / losers for me for over a decade. Jacob now is a Creative Media major at the University of Alabama, where he works in the athletic department. Ashtyn is a student at Kilgore College, teaches dance, and as I said a week or so ago, lives to beat Jacob in anything. So she’s loving life right now, as she’s second in our overall record (see more below).
Rounding out our panel are Alex Nabor, Clayton Fletcher and Ronnie Sartors. If you’ve been in East Texas more than five minutes, you’ve likely seen Ronnie at a game or 20; he’s been shooting for many years, with his own Sport Shot Photography, and we’re blessed to have his extraordinary talent as a part of ETBlitz. Clayton is my assistant editor, and has never met an upset he didn’t like to pick (although Kentucky over Texas is a bit insane, my friend).
And what can I say about Alex that I haven’t said? He’s about to turn 20, is a student at Kilgore College, and his talent with a camera is unreal; we’ve featured his work in Alex’s Art, and he is just willing to go anywhere we send him, which has taken him to many a big game in his young career.
As for me, my name is Mitch Lucas – I was the sports editor at the Kilgore News Herald for 21 ½ years, until we formed ETBlitz.com in October, 2023. If you can name it, I’ve covered it in 32 years, and I never complain about my job. It’s been a fun ride.
THE STANDINGS
Well, here’s where it gets awkward, because Joe is getting ready to lap the field.
He won the week last week, with an 18-3 record, and he’s got an overall record of 192-62, in 254 games we’ve picked so far this season.
Ashtyn is in second – she went 15-6 a week ago, and is 180-74. That’s right: Joe is 12 games in front of his nearest opponent in our picks. He’s the man. It’s going to be hard to catch him.
Dereck went 14-7 last week, and is third overall, with a record of 176-78. I’m in fourth all by my lonesome at 172-82, and I went 16-5 last week. But I’ve not had my best year, to be sure.
Jacob went 16-5 last week and has come out of nowhere to rise up to fourth, with a record of 170-84. Clayton is right behind, at 169-85, after going 13-8 last week – step it up, young man.
Ronnie has 167 wins and 77 losses – he started a week late, so he’s picked a few less games than the rest of us.
Dennis is 166-88, and actually normally wins this contest quite a bit. He went 15-6 last week.
Alex sits at 157-97 after going 13-8 a week ago, and Jenna went 14-7 last week, and has a 155-99 overall record.
THE GAMES
Here are the 21 games for this week, followed by our picks. Please don’t take these too seriously – I say that every week, but if we’ve picked against your team, then it’s absolutely nothing personal. We don’t plot it. 😊We’re only trying to pick who we think will win. Heck, I’ve even picked against Alabama before, and as many of you know, I went to Alabama. We’re not charged with picking who we like; we’re charged with picking who will win. Sometimes, they don’t sync.
ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS!
Thursday, Nov. 21 through Monday, Nov. 24, 2024
HIGH SCHOOL GAMES
Thursday
Class 4A, Division II area playoff: Gilmer (8-3) vs. Sunnyvale (8-3), Sulphur Springs, 7 p.m.
Friday
Class 3A, Division II area playoff: Troup (8-3) vs. Dekalb (10-1),Friday night, at Pine Tree Pirate Stadium, at 7 p.m.
Class 2A, Division II area playoff: Overton (9-2) vs. Mart (9-2), Friday night at Kemp High School, 7 p.m.
Class 4A, Division I area playoff: Chapel Hill (8-3) vs. Worthing (11-0), Thursday, Turner Stadium, 7 p.m.
Class 4A, Division I area playoff: Pine Tree (10-1) vs. Stafford (7-4),Bruce Field, Athens, 7:30 p.m.
Class 4A, Division II area playoff: Carthage (10-1) vs. Krum (9-2), Thursday, Melissa ISD Stadium, 7 p.m.
Class 4A, Division I area playoff: Kilgore (9-2) vs. Needville (7-4), Sheldon ISD Panther Stadium, 7 p.m.
COLLEGE GAMES
Saturday
Kentucky (4-6) at No. 3 Texas (9-1), 2:30 p.m., ABC
No. 15 Texas A&M (8-2) at Auburn (4-6), TBA
No. 14 SMU (9-1) at Virginia (5-5), 11 a.m., ESPN2
Baylor (6-4) at Houston (4-6), TBA
Texas Tech (6-4) at Oklahoma State (3-7), TBA
Arizona (4-6) at TCU (6-4), TBA
No. 5 Indiana (10-0) at No. 2 Ohio State (9-1), 11 a.m., FOX
NFL GAMES
Thursday
Pittsburgh (8-2) at Cleveland (2-8), 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday
Dallas (3-7) at Washington (7-4), noon, FOX
Minnesota (8-2) at Chicago (4-6), noon, FOX
Tennessee (2-8) at Houston (7-4), noon, CBS
Arizona (6-4) at Seattle (5-5), 3:25 p.m., FOX
Philadelphia (8-2) at L.A. Rams (5-5), 7:20 p.m., NBC
Monday
Baltimore (7-4) at L.A. Chargers (7-3), 7:15 p.m., ABC, ESPN
| MITCH | DENNIS | JOE | DERECK | JENNA | JACOB | ASHTYN | ALEX | CLAYTON | RONNIE |
| Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | Gilmer | Sunnyvale | Gilmer | Gilmer |
| Troup | DeKalb | DeKalb | DeKalb | Troup | DeKalb | DeKalb | DeKalb | Troup | DeKalb |
| Overton | Overton | Overton | Mart | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton | Overton |
| Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill | Worthing | Worthing | Worthing | Worthing | Worthing | Worthing | Worthing |
| Stafford | Pine Tree | Pine Tree | Pine Tree | Pine Tree | Pine Tree | Pine Tree | Pine Tree | Pine Tree | Pine Tree |
| Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage | Carthage |
| Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore | Kilgore |
| Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Kentucky | Texas |
| A&M | A&M | A&M | A&M | Auburn | Auburn | A&M | A&M | A&M | Auburn |
| SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU | SMU |
| Houston | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor | Baylor |
| Okla. State | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Tech | Okla. State | Tech |
| TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU |
| Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State | Indiana | Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State | Indiana | Ohio State |
| Pittsburgh | Cleveland | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh |
| Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Washington | Dallas |
| Chicago | Chicago | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota |
| Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston |
| Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | Arizona | Arizona | Arizona | Seattle |
| L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | Philly | Philly | Philly | L.A. Rams | Philly | Philly | Philly | Philly |
| Chargers | Chargers | Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore | Chargers | Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore | Baltimore |