2015-16 Preseason predictions reviewed #cfb
Now is the time for us all to reflect back to the 2015 preseason where we can all look at our bold predictions (and yes, MANY were bold) and laugh at ourselves for thinking that we knew anything about anything when it came to predicting the 2015 season.
For starters, pretty much nobody was even close on any predictions for the playoff and/or championship. The best anyone did was Tom Luginbill, who correctly predicted two of the four teams in the playoff (Alabama and OU). Other than that, most people didn’t even get one team right.
On Heisman predictions, nobody even had Derrick Henry on their radar, so let’s move on.
Brad Edwards knocked the ball out of the park, going 7-2 on the season totals bets. Really impressive stuff. Chris Fallica also had a winning record at 9-7 on the totals.
Things are graded pretty arbitrarily below and not included in our official record, but we can still have some fun with it. Looking back, most people below tried to get pretty cute with their preseason picks (myself included), and cute usually doesn’t end up winning. Take a look below, have some laughs, and enjoy.
Lee Corso: Not even close, 0/4 playoff teams
WRONG SEC to have 2 teams or 0 teams in playoff
WRONG Notre Dame 8 wins
WRONG FSU over VaTech in ACC Championship
WRONG Baylor to win Big 12
WRONG Ohio St to win Big 10
WRONG Oregon to win Pac-12
WRONG LSU to win SEC
WRONG Leonard Fournette to win Heisman
0/4 Final Four: Ohio St over Oregon, LSU over Baylor
WRONG LSU over Ohio St for Championship
Kirk Herbstreit: 2 right predictions, 1 partial, 1/4 playoff teams
PARTIAL CREDIT Arizona St over Stanford in Pac-12 Championship
WRONG LSU over Tennessee in SEC Championship
RIGHT Notre Dame to go 10-2 (Twitter 8/24)
WRONG Ezekiel Elliott to win Heisman (8/26 Twitter)
WRONG Michigan 8 wins at most
WRONG GaTech over FSU to win ACC
RIGHT OU to win Big 12
WRONG Ohio St to win Big 10 over Wisconsin
1/4 Ohio St vs. OU, Ariz St vs. LSU
WRONG Ohio St vs. LSU
WRONG Ohio St to win Championship
Desmond Howard: 2 right, 1/4 playoff teams
Recycled his Brady Hoke hiring speech for Jim Harbaugh
WRONG Notre Dame 9 wins
WRONG VaTech to win ACC
WRONG TCU to win Big 12
RIGHT Michigan State to win Big 10
RIGHT Stanford to win Pac-12
WRONG TAMU to win SEC
0/4 Final Four: TCU, Mich St, Stanford, TAMU
WRONG Stanford wins championship
Jennifer’s Picks: 1 right, 0/4 playoff teams
RIGHT Clemson to win ACC
WRONG TCU to win Big 12
WRONG Ohio St to win Big 10 (but watch out for Michigan St!)
WRONG Arizona St to win Pac-12
WRONG Auburn to win SEC
WRONG SEC Champion to have 2 losses
0/4 Final Four: (1) Ohio St vs. (4) Mich St, (2) TCU vs. (3) Ariz St
WRONG TCU over Ohio St for Championship
Cole’s Picks: Couldn’t have been more wrong, 0/4 playoff teams
WRONG GaTech to win ACC
WRONG Auburn to win SEC
WRONG Texas to win Big 12
WRONG Ohio St to win Big 10
WRONG Oregon to win Pac-12
0/4 Final Four: Oregon, Auburn, Ohio St, Texas
WRONG Oregon over Texas, Auburn over Ohio St
WRONG Oregon over Auburn for Championship
Charles Arbuckle: 2 right predictions, 1 partial
RIGHT Duke under 9 wins
WRONG FSU wins ACC
WRONG No ACC in playoff
RIGHT Stanford over 9 wins
WRONG UCLA over USC
PARTIAL Stanford over UCLA in Pac-12 championship (wrong LA team)
Mike Bellotti: 1 right prediction, 1/4 playoff teams, 1/5 Heisman favorites
RIGHT Duke under 9 wins
WRONG FSU wins ACC
WRONG No ACC in playoff
WRONG Stanford under 9 wins
WRONG USC to win Pac-12
1/4 Final Four: (1) Ohio St, (2) TCU, (3) Alabama, (4) USC
1/5 Heisman Favorites: (1) Trevone Boykin, (2) Ezekiel Elliott, (3) Deshaun Watson, (4) Nick Chubb, (5) Cody Kessler
Kevin Carter: 1 right
RIGHT OU at least 9 wins
WRONG Baylor wins Big 12
WRONG Auburn best chance for SEC to make playoff
Stanford Steve Coughlin: 0/4 playoff teams
0/4 Final Four: Winner of USC/UCLA, Ohio St, Auburn, FSU
Colin Cowherd preseason over/unders: 1 right, 1 push
WRONG ND at 9 wins or less, trap bet
PUSH Arkansas over 8 wins
WRONG Michigan under 7.5 wins
WRONG USC over 9 wins
RIGHT Nebraska under 8 wins
Ed Cunningham: 1 right
RIGHT Notre Dame over 9 wins
WRONG Texas under 7 wins
Rece Davis: 1 right
RIGHT Louisville over 7.5 wins
WRONG USC over 9.5 wins
Heather Dinich: 0/4 playoff teams
0/4 Final Four: Auburn, Ohio St, TCU, USC
Chris Doering:
WRONG Miss St to go 6-6
Brad Edwards: 7 right
WRONG Vanderbilt under 3.5 wins (best bet)
RIGHT Tennessee over 8 wins (best bet)
RIGHT S. Carolina under 6.5 wins (best bet)
WRONG Arkansas 8-4
WRONG Auburn over 8 wins
RIGHT Georgia over 8 wins
RIGHT Kentucky under 5.5 wins
RIGHT LSU over 8.5 wins
RIGHT Ohio St over 11.5 wins
RIGHT FSU over 9.5 wins
WRONG Okla St to win Big 12
Chris Fallica: 9-7 on totals, 0/4 playoff teams
PUSH TAMU over 8 wins (best bet)
RIGHT Florida over 7 wins (best bet)
WRONG Alabama under 9.5 wins (best bet)
WRONG Arkansas 8-4
WRONG Auburn over 8 wins
RIGHT Georgia over 8 wins
WRONG Kentucky over 5.5 wins
WRONG LSU under 8.5 wins
RIGHT Ole Miss over 8.5 wins
RIGHT Miss St over 7 wins
WRONG Mizzou over 7.5 wins
RIGHT Ohio St over 11.5 wins
RIGHT FSU over 9.5 wins
RIGHT OU over 8.5 wins
WRONG Clemson under 9.5 wins
RIGHT Louisville over 7.5 wins
RIGHT USC under 9.5 wins
0/4 Final Four: Ohio St, UCLA, TAMU, Louisville
Paul Finebaum: 1/4 playoff teams
RIGHT One team possible to make playoff from SEC: Winner of Iron Bowl
WRONG TAMU to go 9-3
Pat Forde: 1/4 Playoff teams
1/4 Final Four: Ohio St, TCU, Alabama, UCLA
Joey Galloway: 2 right predictions
WRONG Ohio St undefeated
WRONG USC/UCLA meet undefeated
WRONG Michigan at 7 wins
WRONG Notre Dame under 9.5 wins
RIGHT OU over 8.5 wins
WRONG Clemson under 9.5 wins
RIGHT Louisville over 7.5 wins
WRONG USC over 9.5 wins
Mike Greenberg final four: 0/4 playoff teams (only picked three)
WRONG Ohio St
WRONG TCU
WRONG Georgia
Mike Golic final four: 0/4 playoff teams
WRONG Ohio St
WRONG TCU
WRONG LSU
WRONG Stanford
Danny Kanell: 3 right, 0/4 playoff teams
WRONG Notre Dame 9 wins
WRONG Texas over 7 wins
WRONG Ohio St to go undefeated
WRONG Michigan at 8 wins
RIGHT OU over 8.5 wins
RIGHT Clemson over 9.5 wins
RIGHT Louisville over 7.5 wins
WRONG USC over 9.5 wins
0/4 Final Four: Ohio St, UCLA, Baylor, Georgia
Tom Luginbill: 2/4 playoff teams
RIGHT Alabama best chance for SEC to make playoff
2/4 Final Four: (1) Ohio St, (2) OU, (3) Alabama, (4) USC
Trevor Matich: 1/4 playoff teams
1/4 Final Four: Ohio St, Oregon, Alabama, Baylor
WRONG Baylor to win championship
WRONG Seth Russell for Heisman
Greg McElroy: 1/4 playoff teams
WRONG Kentucky to go 6-6
WRONG S.Carolina to go 6-6
WRONG Miss St to go 6-6
WRONG Mizzou to 9-3
WRONG Tennessee to go 10-2
1/4 Four teams possible to make playoff from SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas
Ryan McGee: WRONG
WRONG SEC West winner has two losses
Brett McMurphy: WRONG
WRONG USC to make playoff
Todd McShay: 0/4 playoff teams
0/4 Final Four: LSU, TCU, Oregon, Ohio St
WRONG Oregon over Ohio St in championship
WRONG Trevone Boykin for Heisman
Jesse Palmer:
WRONG Tennessee to win SEC East
Ryen Russillo: 0/4 playoff teams
0/4 Final Four: Ohio St, USC, TCU, Auburn
Robert Smith: WRONG
WRONG Auburn to make playoff
Clint Stoerner:
WRONG Arkansas to go 9-3
Jason Sehorn: 1 right
RIGHT 10 wins for OU
WRONG TCU to win Big 12
Robert Smith: Oops
WRONG SEC to miss playoff
Phil Steele: 3 right, 1/4 playoff teams
WRONG Utah St 9 wins in regular season
WRONG Boise St to top the “Group of 5” in bowls
1/4 Final Four: Ohio St, Alabama, TCU, USC
WRONG Cody Kessler to win Heisman
RIGHT Miami Fl over 7 wins
WRONG VaTech over 8 wins
RIGHT LSU over 8.5 wins
RIGHT LSU starts 8-0 (we are crediting the McNeese St win)
Marcus Spears:
1/4 Four teams possible to make playoff from SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU
Matt Stichcomb:
WRONG Kentucky to go 9-3
Clint Stoerner:
WRONG Mizzou to go 8-4
Scott Van Pelt: 0/4 playoff teams
Ohio St
TCU
Mich St
USC
Dari Nowkhah Playoff Predictions: 0/4 playoff teams
(1) Ohio st over (4) Auburn
(2) TCU over (3) Stanford,
(2) TCU over (1) Ohio st 27-23
Georgia to win SEC East, not make playoff
Dari Nowkhah Heisman predictions: WRONG
1. Trevone Boykin
2. Nick Chubb
3. Cody Kessler
Dari Nowkhah Big 10 Predictions: WRONG
Ohio St to win Big 10
Michigan as sleeper
Minnesota overrated
Ezekiel Elliott Player of the Year
Dari Nowkhah SEC Predictions: WRONG
Auburn to win SEC
Arkansas as sleeper at 10 wins
Alabama overrated
Nick Chubb as player of the year
Dari Nowkhah ACC Predictions: WRONG
FSU to win ACC
UNC as sleeper
Louisville overrated
Justin Thomas as player of the year
Dari Nowkhah Big 12 Predictions: WRONG
TCU to win Big 12
KState as sleeper
Nobody is overrated
Trevone Boykin as player of the year
Dari Nowkhah Pac-12 Predictions: RIGHT (on the champion)
Stanford to win Pac-12
Utah as sleeper
Oregon overrated
Cody Kessler player of the year
Boise St undefeated
Mel Kiper Jr. Playoff Predictions: 0/4 playoff teams
(2) TCU over (3) USC
(4) Auburn over (1) Ohio St
(2) TCU over (4) Auburn
Mel Kiper Jr. Heisman Predictions: WRONG
1. Trevone Boykin
2. Ezekiel Elliott
3. Jeremy Johnson
Mel Kiper Jr. Big 10 Predictions: WRONG
Ohio St to win Big 10
Michigan as sleeper
Minnesota overrated
Ezekiel Elliott player of the year
Mel Kiper Jr. SEC Predictions: WRONG
Auburn to win SEC
Tennessee as sleeper
S. Carolina overrated
Nick Chubb player of the year
Mel Kiper Jr. ACC Predictions: WRONG
FSU to win ACC
UNC as sleeper
Miami (Fl) overrated
Deshaun Watson player of the year
Mel Kiper Jr. Big 12 Predictions: WRONG
TCU to win Big 12
Oklahoma St as sleeper
KState overrated
Trevone Boykin as player of the year
Mel Kiper Jr. PAC-12 Predictions: WRONG
USC to win Pac-12
Arizona St as sleeper
UCLA overrated
Cody Kessler player of the year
Mel Kiper Jr. miscellaneous predictions:
Boise St to lose 1 or 2 games
2015-16 Season results and champion Phil Steele! #cfb
The 2015-16 season of college football brought excitement and many hours wasted in front of the television, and it is with great sadness that we now enter the offseason. However, that also means that it is time to crown the 2015-16 GAMEDAYCOLE.COM SEASON CHAMPION!!! Competition was fierce this year, with 4,271 picks tracked this year and an average correct pick rate of 70.03% on the season. We had 33 competitors eligible for this year’s championship, and it is without further adieu that I present to you our 2015-16 season champion, Mr. Phil Steele!
Phil Steele: 2015-16 Champion
Mr. Steele finished off this season with a record of 597-174 straight up and 121-105-2 against the spread, which comes out to 77.03% straight up and 53.54% against the spread. I don’t know what his secret is to picking games. Maybe it is his computer. Maybe it is the mustache. Maybe it is the fact that he hasn’t slept since June due to football. Whatever it is, it works. Congratulations Phil. You can now add this to your long and impressive resume, and no doubt impress acquaintances at cocktail parties with this accolade.
There are plenty of other notes to get to for this season’s wrap up. As you may notice, Greg McElroy topped the straight up percentages on the year at 84.54% with a record of 82-15 on the year. While this is impressive and deserving of congratulations, he was hurt by the limited number of games he picked, and the fact that his picks are almost entirely SEC conference picks. Phil Steele had a much larger body of work, and combined with his win rate against the spread that was enough to vault him over McElroy on the season. Next year we will probably have a separate award for the experts focusing on a single conference, but it is too late to be starting that nonsense right now.
Lee Corso’s headgear picks on the year were his worst year on record. He went 6-12 on the year in the headgear picks due to some tough breaks and close losses on underdogs. Charley the Cat had a season on par with Coach Corso, and ended up squeezing out a 7-11 season to beat Corso on the year picking games. Gameday Jen had her best season on record, going 153-59 (72.17%) on the year, so watch out Phil; she is coming for you! Maybe next year we’ll have her pick against the spread and make us some money. Our Gameday guest celebrities had an abysmal year at 56.39% picking games straight up this year. Maybe you shouldn’t be trusting Rick Ross, the Philly Phanatic, or Eric Church for your betting advice after all.
You can see the full rankings below to see how everyone else did on the year. We will be putting together a recap of preseason predictions this week to see how great everyone’s preseason picks surely went, so keep an eye out for that and much more to come.
| Straight Up | SU % | ATS | ATS % | |
| Greg McElroy | 82-15 | 84.54% | ||
| Phil Steele | 597-174 | 77.03% | 121-105-2 | 53.54% |
| Paul Finebaum | 78-27 | 74.29% | ||
| Pat Forde | 256-89 | 73.99% | ||
| Andrea Adelson | 84-30 | 73.68% | ||
| Booger McFarland | 80-32 | 72.73% | ||
| Tim Tebow | 45-17 | 72.58% | ||
| Trevor Matich | 68-26 | 72.34% | 14-21-1 | 40.00% |
| Jennifer | 153-59 | 72.17% | ||
| Jason Sehorn | 82-33 | 71.30% | ||
| Kirk Herbstreit | 120-49 | 71.01% | ||
| Marcus Spears | 55-23 | 70.51% | ||
| Brad Edwards | 89-38 | 70.08% | 22-20-1 | 52.38% |
| Colin Cowherd | 73-32 | 69.52% | ||
| David Pollack | 71-32 | 68.93% | ||
| Joey Galloway | 93-43 | 68.38% | ||
| Robert Smith | 49-23 | 68.06% | 10-17-0 | 37.04% |
| Mark May | 23-11 | 67.65% | ||
| Kevin Carter | 38-19 | 66.67% | ||
| Jon Berger | 32-16 | 66.67% | ||
| Todd McShay | 33-17 | 66.00% | ||
| Danny Kanell | 88-47 | 65.19% | 20-23-0 | 46.51% |
| Desmond Howard | 111-60 | 64.91% | ||
| Chris Fallica | 77-42 | 64.71% | 71-67-3 | 51.45% |
| Lee Corso | 101-56 | 64.33% | ||
| Ryen Russillo | 46-27 | 63.01% | 23-19-0 | 54.76% |
| Scott Van Pelt | 5-3 | 62.50% | 34-35 | 49.28% |
| Joel Klatt | 105-64 | 62.13% | ||
| Celebrity Guests | 75-58 | 56.39% | ||
| Dari Nowhkah | 46-36 | 56.10% | 10-8-0 | 55.56% |
| Lou Holtz | 13-11 | 54.17% | ||
| Stanford Steve Coughlin | 42-37 | 53.16% | 40-44-3 | 48.19% |
| Season Average | 2925-1250 | 70.06% | 365-359-10 | 50.41% |
2015-16 Bowl season results! #CFBPlayoff #BowlMania
Welcome back ladies and gentlemen. With the fantastic CFB Playoff championship game in the books last night, that means the bowl season has ended. It is now time that we look back and review how all of our competitors did playing a little bit of Bowl Mania pick’em.
We had 12 of our expert predictors and prognosticators who picked enough of the bowl games to qualify for our championship competition this year. As with most things around here, it is all subjective and up to my judgment as to what to make of all of this mess. Not everyone picked the Celebration Bowl between NC A&T and Alcorn State. Some of us picked it, and it ended up being quite profitable. Not everyone had a qualifying CFB Playoff Championship pick, because some of them picked before the playoff and had Oklahoma playing in the championship game. And for some reason, Pat Forde refused to pick any bowl games involving 5-7 teams, but since he still picked most of them I have granted him a waiver. Without further adieu, I present to you this year’s Gamedaycole.com official bowl championship rankings.
Cole’s Picks: 32-10
Joey Galloway: 31-11
Chris Doering: 29-13
Phil Steele: 29-12 SU, 14-9 ATS
Jennifer’s Picks: 27-14
Todd McShay: 27-15
Pat Forde: 26-12
Ryen Russillo: 25-17
Danny Kanell: 24-18
Joel Klatt: 24-17
Mark Schlabach: 23-18
Dari Nowkhah: 22-20
As you can see, Cole’s picks came out on top this year coming in at 32-10. Not to toot my own too much, but I’m pretty good at picking bowl games. Pay no attention to last year’s results behind the curtain where I went 20-18 in Bowl Mania. Anyways, since I can’t very well give myself an award for picking bowl games (I guess I could since it is my site), we are proud to announce that Joey Galloway has won the 2015-16 Gamedaycole.com Bowl Season Championship at 31-11!
We had a grand total of 59 experts who participated in bowl season this year, and for the full results you can check out the list below to see how your favorite (or most hated) personality did during bowl season. Since my full list of bowl picks for all of these people is over 30 pages long, you’ll just have to take my word on it for now. Congratulations to everyone who participated this year.
Andrea Adelson: 1-1
Charles Arbuckle: 1-2
Skip Bayless: 1-2 SU, 1-0 ATS
Mike Bellotti: 3-2
Jon Berger: 7-1
Kevin Blackstone: 1-0
Mack Brown: 2-2
Kevin Carter: 15-10
Lee Corso: 2-4 (1-2 headgear picks)
Stanford Steve Coughlin: 2-6 SU, 3-9 ATS
Colin Cowherd: 7-1 SU, 0-1 ATS
Tim Cowlishaw: 7-1 SU, 8-5 ATS
Ed Cunningham: 5-9
Butch Davis: 2-2
Rece Davis: 1-0
Heather Dinich: 14-6
Brad Edwards: 7-0 SU, 4-1 ATS
Chris “The Bear” Fallica: 7-7 SU, 10-9 ATS
Paul Finebaum: 10-3
Mike Golic: 3-0 SU, 2-0 ATS
Mike Greenberg: 3-0 SU, 1-0 ATS
Brian Griese: 2-0
Israel Gutierrez: 1-0
Kirk Herbstreit: 6-4
Lou Holtz: 1-2
Desmond Howard: 8-4
Mel Kiper Jr.: 2-0
Matt Leinart: 2-1
Tom Luginbill: 4-0
Trevor Matich: 4-0
Mark May: 3-1
Greg McElroy: 13-3
Booger McFarland: 9-5
Ryan McGee: 1-0
Urban Meyer: 1-0
Woody Paige: 0-1
Jesse Palmer: 1-0
Petros Papadakis: 2-1
Brady Quinn: 1-2
David Pollack: 6-5
Jason Sehorn: 7-2
Robert Smith: 2-2
Marcus Spears: 10-2
Clint Stoerner: 1-0
Tim Tebow: 2-1
Scott Van Pelt: 2-1 SU, 0-1 ATS
Andre Ware: 1-0
Cole's Gameday Blog 