Author Archives: ASimPerson

2018 World Cup Update: That’s a Wrap

Qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup is complete.

Knocked out since October: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Greece, Italy, and Ireland.

Qualified: Australia, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Peru, Croatia, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark.

211 teams entered the qualifying tournament, starting with East Timor and Mongolia playing back on March 12, 2015. 979 days later, only 32 remain. The first team eliminated was Mongolia on March 17, 2015. The first team to qualify (other than the hosts) was Brazil, on March 27, 2017. The last team eliminated was New Zealand on November 15, 2017, and the last team to qualify was Peru, on the same date.

The status page with all teams has been updated for the final time.

This concludes our coverage of World Cup 2018 qualification. We’ll be back in two years, likely for the final time as the 48-team World Cup will render the drama of qualification obsolete.

Bowl Predictions 2017: Week 4

They’re all right here. Let’s have a chat real quick about the logic this week.

Concerning the playoff, well here was my thought process. I have Alabama defeating Georgia in the SEC championship, Clemson defeating Miami, and Oklahoma defeating TCU or Oklahoma State. So there’s your top three. If Wisconsin beats Ohio State, then they’ll be in as well. But… what if they don’t? Obviously, if we’ve learned anything this season, counting on a particular version of the Buckeyes to show up for any game is fraught with danger, but nonetheless I like the Buckeyes to win. Surveying the other teams who would’ve just lost (like Georgia) versus the Big Ten champion, even a two-loss champion, well, it was hard to leave the Buckeyes out. Their reward, of course, would be getting to play Alabama, so good luck with that.

In other news, I just barely had enough teams. With the Big Ten still probably getting three teams into the Playoff-affiliated bowls, this leaves the rest of the Big Ten’s bowls sorely wanting. And that’s pretty much how you get UCLA in the Pinstripe Bowl. Elsewhere, I had to abandon my Texas-Texas A&M bowl game, but hey, there’s always next year (or next week).

Otherwise, things are getting progressively more real. Expect even more details next week, which is when I start looking for actual news to inform my predictions instead of, you know, guesses.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 11

Posting this way late, so this is going to be a lot of LIGHTNING ROUND. But rest assured, this is a pretty great lineup for Week 11!

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Michigan State @ Ohio State (FOX): Oh geez this is actually at 9:00 AM? We’re off to a pretty good start. I’ll be distracted by my own game, but still. The line on this is making the Buckeyes an insane 17 point favorite or something, which, hey, is possible but sure doesn’t seem probable right now, you know? But this site isn’t about gambling advice, and I think ti’s well established that I pick the winners. So, yeah, I got the Buckeyes here.
  • Florida @ South Carolina (CBS): You what you could be watching instead of this? The game before this or the game I’ll take about next. Taking the Gamecocks.
  • Oklahoma State @ Iowa State (ABC/ESPN2): So how about that state of Iowa this year, eh? We should’ve seen it coming when Iowa State-Iowa went to double overtime back in September, I guess. Reason says stick with the Pokes, but a view of this season at the moment says go with the Cyclones.
  • North Carolina State @ Boston College (ABC/ESPN2): I still like the Wolfpack.
  • Arkansas @ Louisiana State (ESPN): Okay, so maybe the Novembert mystique has worn off.
  • Nebraska @ Minnesota (FS1): This is definitely a matchup of two Big Ten West teams that aren’t Wisconsin or Iowa. Uh, Gophers?
  • Connecticut @ Central Florida (ESPNU): UCF.
  • Texas Tech vs. Baylor (@Arlington, TX; FOX/RSN): Red Raiders.
  • Louisiana-Lafayette @ Mississippi (SEC): Ole Miss… probably.
  • Rutgers @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): Nittany Lions.
  • Duke @ Army (CBSS): Army.

12:20: Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech (ACC): What to even say? I warned you about Charlottesville? That was probably our worst played game of the season and we paid dearly for it.
Moving on this week, though, I can’t figure if playing VPI the week after they got pasted by Miami is a good thing or not. Either way, what I want to see from the Jackets today is just a sense of urgency, a sense that hey, we have to seize our chances for the first this season and do what it takes to win. This team is essentially three plays away from being undefeated. It’s time to harness those feelings and use them toward something productive.

3:00: Wake Forest @ Syracuse (ACC/RSN): The ‘Cuse.

3:30:

  • Iowa @ Wisconsin (ABC): Oh hey, it’s the two relevant Big Ten teams. First, there’s this year’s version of #PutPittIn in Iowa, and then there’s Wisconsin, who is undefeated but sports a best win at the moment of… Northwestern. Nonetheless, Iowa hasn’t showed much outside of Kinnick Stadium (i.e., the place where highly ranked Big Ten east teams go to die), so I’m sticking with the Badgers here.
  • Georgia @ Auburn (CBS): I’m going with Georgia here but pulling hard for Auburn.
  • Florida State @ Clemson (ESPN): Well, uh, FSU looked kinda okay last week? Uh, yeah, stick to Iowa-Wisconsin or UGA-Auburn.
  • West Virginia @ Kansas State (ESPN2): This might also be fun, actually, in the sense this is about as far apart as two teams can be in the Big 12 and still be playing the same sport. I think this is a tossup, but I still like WVU here.
  • Virginia @ Louisville (ESPNU): Lamar Jackson should be able to do enough to win here.
  • Michigan @ Maryland (BTN): Michigan.
  • Southern Methodist @ Navy (CBSS): This could be a sneaky good game. SMU is better on paper this year, but I’m going with the Midshipmen at home.

 4:00:

  • Southern California @ Colorado (FOX): USC.
  • Kentucky @ Vanderbilt (SEC): Kentucky.

5:30: Washington State @ Utah (Pac12): Wazzu has looked terrible on the road, so… Utes? Not sure about this one.

6:30: Western Kentucky @ Marshall (beIN): Hilltoppers.

7:00:

  • Alabama @ Mississippi State (ESPN): Bama.
  • Purdue @ Northwestern (ESPN2): Purdue.
  • New Mexico @ Texas A&M (ESPNU): TAMU.
  • Tulane @ East Carolina (CBSS): Tulane!

7:30: Tennessee @ Missouri (SEC): Tigers!

8:00:

  • Notre Dame @ Miami (ABC): Why did I essentially skip to here? Because I’m pressed for time and want to go to bed, but also because that’s you’ll be doing. This is the irresistible force and immovable object game of the week. This is also when I think Miami’s penchant for playing it close as long as humanly possible is going to bite them. I’m going with the Domers.
  • Texas Christian @ Oklahoma (FOX): If for some reason ND-Miami isn’t working out, flip to FOX. If there’s one team in the Big 12 that could possibly contain Baker Mayfield at home, it’s TCU. But Mayfield is also playing out of his mind right now, so it’s hard to pick against him.

9:30: Arizona State @ California-Los Angeles (Pac12): UCLA.

10:00: Oregon State @ Arizona (ESPN2): Zona.

10:15: Wyoming @ Air Force (ESPNU): Wyoming.

10:30: Boise State @ Colorado State (CBSS): Rams.

2018 World Cup Update: The Final Countdown

All right folks, it’s time to see this through for the last nine World Cup qualification spots.

AFC-CONCACAF Playoff
Australia and Honduras will rack up some frequent flyer miles. The first leg will take place November 10th in San Pedro Sula, then the squads will face each other again in Sydney five days later. The winner on cumulative goals will advance, with the away goals rule applying. (The away goals rule is essentially a first tiebreaker: if the cumulative score is a draw, then the team that scored more away goals wins.)

CONMEBOL-OFC Playoff
Not to be outdone, Peru will fly to New Zealand, with the first match taking place on November 11th, and the return four days later in Lima. The same rules apply.

CAF
Nigeria and Egypt have already qualified out of Africa, so that leaves three groups to be decided.

Group A
On the next matchday, November 11th, Tunisia will advance if they win or draw against Libya, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo loses to draws against Guinea.

Group C
Morocco and Ivory Coast play each other on November 11th. Ahead by a point, Morocco can advance with a win or draw, but Ivory Coast can only advance with a win.

Group D
Group D is the wackiest for sure, since the original Senegal-South Africa match is being replayed due to South Africa using an ineligible player. That replay will happen on November 10th in South Africa, and then the teams will meet again four days later in Dakar. Senegal leads the rest of the group by two points, so they will clinch if they defeat South Africa on Friday. Any other result means the group will still be wide open, and we’ll update this post once we know more.

UEFA
And so the last four spots will be contested by eight European teams. Let’s take a quick look. As with the other playoffs, these are two-legged ties where the cumulative results matter, with the away goals rule applying.

  • Northern Ireland and Switzerland will playoff on November 9th and 12th
  • Croatia and Greece will playoff on November 9th and 12th.
  • Sweden and Italy will playoff on November 10th and 13th.
  • Denmark and Ireland will playoff on November 11th and 14th.

That’s pretty much it! By this time next week, the field will be completely set.