ETB POWER PICKS! | CFP resumes tonight, NFL playoffs this weekend! / Presented by COZY COFFEE STATION
OK, I HAVE to ask this.
Raise your hand if, on your prediction of the final four left standing in the College Football Playoff, you had Miami, Indiana, Ole Freakin’ Miss and Oregon.
Before you even put your hands up, just don’t, because you’re lying.
I can believe SOME of you MIGHT have said Ole Miss, because of coach Lane Kiffin — who is no longer the Rebels’ coach, and now coaches one of their biggest rivals (LSU).
And I can believe SOME of you MIGHT have said Oregon, simply because the Big Ten is SO BAD that it wouldn’t be shocking for them to slip through.
But don’t any of you come at me with Miami, who was at best the favorite to finish third in the ACC behind Florida State and Clemson, and I don’t want to hear ANY of the Indiana stuff. None of you seriously had Indiana to get this far!! Come ON! No one picked that! This isn’t basketball!!
No matter who picked them or how, this is the hand we’re dealt.
Miami quarterback Carson Beck is back in the playoffs; the last time we saw him, he was suiting up for Georgia. But he withdrew from the NFL Draft, and had a bit of a reboot. Beck led the Hurricanes to an upset of Texas A&M in the first round (in College Station; impressive), then of defending national champion Ohio State in round two. Beck has tended to throw a lot of interceptions in his collegiate career. If he can avoid it tonight, the Hurricanes can do something they haven’t since 2002: play for the national championship.
Ole Miss has a nice offense, even without Kiffin at the helm, and a defense the Rebels and their fans call the “Landsharks.” It’s a bit bizarre to see the fans putting their hands to their foreheads, mimicking a fin, I guess, when Oxford, Mississippi is not that far from Memphis — but a LONG way from the Gulf of America.
Rebels QB Trinidad Chambliss has thrown for 3,660 yards, 21 touchdowns and only three picks — just three — all season. I’m beginning to be a believer. And how ridiculous Kiffin must feel, leaving the Rebels before their playoff run. I’d have told LSU to wait, and I’d be there after. If they wanted me, they could have me AFTER the playoffs. I promise you, they would not have said no.
That game is tonight at 6:30 in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, in Arizona. The other semifinal is in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta tomorrow night, and it’s Oregon taking on Indiana.
The Hoosiers looked good in taking down my dysfunctional Alabama team, and they do have a mental edge, knowing they’ve defeated Oregon once already this season.
It’s said often that it’s hard to beat the same team twice in a season. We’ll see if that holds true Friday night.
And then Saturday and Sunday, it’s the first round of the NFL’s playoffs. I want to rant about how unfair it is for teams that are 8-9 to be hosting teams with 12 wins. But right now, the league gives its division champions home field for winning those titles, and that’s just the way it is. So, for example, Carolina — who barely got into the playoffs and needed help from Atlanta to do so — is hosting double-digit-win Los Angeles Rams.
Our panel, who picked hundreds of games through high school football season, is back to pick what’s left of the season, so we’ll be trying to predict the outcomes of the College Football Playoff and the Super Bowl.
Y’all feel free to pick along with us. Write down your picks and see how you do.
I’m adding up our numbers to let you know the exact standings, so I’ll be back with that momentarily.
While I’m doing so, let’s re-introduce our panel.
And here, officially, are this week’s games…
ETBLITZ.COM POWER PICKS
Thursday, Jan. 8-Monday, Jan. 12, 2026
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
Thursday’s game
VRBO Fiesta Bowl – State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona
No. 10 Miami vs. No. 6 Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
Friday’s game
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 1 Indiana, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
+++++
NFL PLAYOFFS
Saturday, Jan. 10
NFC Wild Card Games
Los Angeles Rams (12-5) at Carolina (8-9), 3:30 p.m., FOX
Green Bay (9-7-1) at Chicago (11-6), 7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday, Jan. 11
AFC Wild Card Game
Buffalo (12-5) at Jacksonville (13-4), noon, CBS
NFC Wild Card Game
San Francisco (12-5) at Philadelphia (11-6), 3:30 p.m., FOX
AFC Wild Card Game
Los Angeles Chargers (11-6) at New England (14-3), 7 p.m., NBC / Peacock
Monday, Jan. 12
AFC Wild Card Game
Houston (12-5) at Pittsburgh (10-7), 7:15 p.m., ABC / ESPN
| Mitch | Joe | Dennis | Jenna | Ashtyn | Jacob | Alex | Clayton | Jeremy | Billy | Dereck | |
| Miami vs. Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Miami | Miami | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Miami | Ole Miss | Miami | Ole Miss | Miami |
| Oregon vs. Indiana | Indiana | Indiana | Indiana | Indiana | Indiana | Indiana | Oregon | Indiana | Indiana | Indiana | Indiana |
| L.A. Rams at Carolina | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | Carolina | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | L.A. Rams | Carolina |
| Green Bay at Chicago | Chicago | Chicago | GB | Chicago | Chicago | Chicago | Chicago | GB | GB | GB | Chicago |
| Buffalo at Jacksonville | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | J’ville | J’ville | Buffalo | Buffalo | Buffalo | J’ville | Buffalo | Buffalo |
| San Francisco at Philadelphia | Philly | Philly | Philly | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF |
| L.A. Chargers at New England | New England | New England | New England | New England | New England | New England | New England | L.A. Chargers | L.A. Chargers | L.A. Chargers | New England |
| Houston at Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Houston | Houston | Houston | Houston | Pittsburgh | Houston | Houston | Pittsburgh | Houston | Houston |