Week 5 Report Card: Grading My Own Picks

Time to eat my own cooking. Five ranked picks went up on Friday, the games are all final, and I'm grading every single one — the hits and the embarrassment. 4-1 straight up. Overall grade: B-.

7 Alabama at 16 Mississippi State — B+

Toss Boss pick: Alabama 38, Mississippi State 27

Final: Alabama 56, Mississippi State 23

Right team, right blowout, wrong math. I said the Tide would roll by two scores — they won by 33. But I had Bama at 38 points and they hung 56, so the score prediction was nowhere close. Keelon Russell carved them up and the defense forced four turnovers. Credit where it's due: I called the blowout, I just didn't call that much blowout.

8 Florida at 25 Missouri — F

Toss Boss pick: Florida 34, Missouri 27

Final: Missouri 45, Florida 17

The disaster. I bought the Florida hype — 53.5 points a game, Jadan Baugh the Heisman frontrunner, best offense in the SEC — and Missouri turned them into a highlight reel for the other team. Baugh ran for 13 yards. Thirteen. On 12 carries. Austin Simmons threw for 340 and Jamal Roberts went for 211 and three scores. I was wrong about the winner, wrong about the margin, wrong about everything. No excuses. F.

5 Ohio State at 14 Iowa — A+

Toss Boss pick: Ohio State 31, Iowa 20

Final: Ohio State 31, Iowa 14

Called the 31 to the number. The crown jewel of the card. Jeremiah Smith broke Ohio State's career receptions AND receiving touchdown records in the same game at Kinnick — 11 catches, 206 yards, 2 scores. The defense bent all night and never broke. Nailed the Buckeye score exactly.

4 Miami at Clemson — A-

Toss Boss pick: Miami 34, Clemson 17

Final: Miami 41, Clemson 13

Said Miami was a machine that doesn't do close games against broken offenses. The machine went brrr — 41-13 in Death Valley, even bigger than I called it. Cooper Barkate housed a 61-yard screen on the second play and it was over from there. Slightly off on the totals, dead right on the story.

10 BYU at TCU — C+

Toss Boss pick: BYU 31, TCU 24

Final: BYU 17, TCU 10

Right team, wrong sport. I called a shootout and got a mud-wrestling match in the Fort Worth rain. BYU threw for 62 yards — 62! — and still won because Bear Bachmeier ran for two scores and the defense did the rest. A win's a win, but my score prediction was pure fiction.

The GPA

4-1 straight up, but the Florida pick drags the whole card down. A+ on Ohio State, F on Florida, and a bunch of B's and C's in between. Overall: B-. I'll take it — barely.

Looking ahead

Week 6: 2 Georgia at 7 Alabama. Both 5-0. College GameDay in Tuscaloosa. Rematch of last year's SEC Championship. That's the game of the year so far, and picks drop soon.