Tag Archives: Andrew Luck

A Georgia victory is the best medicine.

Thanks for all the "Get Well" wishes from last week folks.  A clean bill of health (pretty much...) and a Monster Bulldog win over Mizzou has me feeling knee-high to a bullfrog!

Dave Kodel from Brookfield, Wisconsin, is feeling pretty good too as he's the guy who had his name drawn from the 7 people who went 4 - 1 in week # 2.  Thus he's the winner of a FREE Original Retro Brand Vintage T of his choice.  Ok, he probably ain't too happy seeing his Wiscy Badgers held to 7 points and a loss to the Beavers, but he did choose this shirt for his prize regardless.  Congrats again Dave!

As is our custom, for all those wanting to enter the contest for the first time, here are the rules.

1) Every week I will preview 5 College Football Match-ups for the upcoming weekend and offer my expertise, or more commonly lack thereof, as to who will win & why, along with a predicted final score.

2) Contestants will enter their picks for the same 5 games in the comment section at the end of this post, and the person that beats me and/or the person who picks the most games correctly (no point spreads, straight up wins and losses) will win a FREE Original Retro Brand t-shirt of their choice from originalretrobrand.com  In the event of a tie, we will have a drawing to determine the final winner.  In the rare event that I win, nobody gets nuthin’!  Comments must be posted no later than kickoff of the first scheduled game which is 9/15/12 @6pm EST to be counted!  ***ONLY ONE ENTRY PER CUSTOMER***

3) I will announce the winner on this blog and our Facebook page the following week – Usually Wednesday or Thursday – Then we’ll do it again.

Rules-shmools, ya'll are here to make some football picks and win an Original Retro Brand vintage t, so let's have at it...

GAME 1: #18 Florida Gators (2-0) @ #23 Tennessee Volunteers (2-0) - This is a tough one. Florida had to fight for their life at Kyle Field last week, but came back for the big win. The Vols are 2-0 out of conference, but playing at Rocky Top will be a big advantage. Despite the appearance of the t-shirt above, Tennessee won't tank. Volunteers - 42, Gators - 31.

GAME 2: # 2 USC Trojans (2-0) @ # 21 Stanford Cardinal (2-0) - Both of these PAC-12 powers have come out of the gate with wins over relative patsies. It was almost Cardiac Cardinal for Stanford in week # 1, just nipping San Jose State before dropping 50 on DUKE. USC ain't no DUKE, and the USC gang avenges painful triple OT loss to Andrew Luck from last year. Trojans - 44, Cardinal - 24.

GAME 3: #20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ #10 Michigan State Spartans (2-0) - Purdue almost beat the Golden Domers in my upset special last week (Dang!), and I'm picking against them again. State had a huge win over Boise to open up and the Sparty home crowd gets especially nasty when the Irish come to East Lansing. Plus I don't want to go against my old pal Dawn (above). Spartans - 29, Fighting Irish - 14.

GAME 4: #25 BYU Cougars @ Utah Utes (1-1) - Utes were stunned by Utah State in OT last week. Now they host an even more powerful in-state rival BYU, in the "Holy War." Holy crap, I'm going with the Utes in a baby upset special. They're holy mad. Utes - 35, Cougars - 30.

UPSET SPECIAL: # 14 Texas Longhorns (2-0) @ Ole Miss Rebels (2-0) - I'm 0-2 so far in this category, but confident I will prevail this week as I support the school with "the Holy Grail of tailgating sites." As our Ole Miss Retro Brand fan Craig Joe shows us above, the Rebs will beat the Hook 'Em out of the Horns. Rebels - 31, Longhorns - 27.

So with my 3-2 record from last week, I stand at 7-3 for the season.  Anybody 9-1 out there?  Maybe I should keep a running tally for everybody and give an extra shirt away to the season winner... I'll look into that.  LET'S SEE THOSE PICKS AND GOOD LUCK!

FOR UPDATES ON CONTESTS, FASHION, AND FUN FROM THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND,  LIKE US ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.  CHECK US OUT ON PINTEREST AND INSTAGRAM TOO!

Gotta hand it to these guys;  Jim Hewitt, Joe Darr, and Craig Joe all ran the table this past weekend in picking the winners for all 5 games correctly in week # 5 of the Original Retro Brand "High - 5" College Football Contest.

Many folks went 4-1, and were tripped up for the most part by picking Michigan over Michigan State (including yours truly who was also tripped up by the Sun Devils and Red Raiders losing.  My season tally stands at 14-11 and I don't think I'll be invited to any bowl games soon).

So who wins the FREE Original Retro Brand shirt for this week?  To the Bruins trucker cap for the drawing*....and the winner is JOE DARR from Maitland, Florida. Congrats Joe!  Joe chose this Florida Gator shirt as his prize, and had this to say upon hearing he won: "That's great!  I know we're having a down season, but I would like a Florida Gators shirt.  Thanks for bringing back the High-5 contest this year & Go Gators!"

As is our weekly custom, the rules for those just joining us for the first time are laid out below.  The rest know what to do...

1) Every week I will preview 5 of the most compelling College Football Match-ups for the upcoming weekend and offer my expertise, or more commonly lack thereof, as to who will win & why, along with a predicted final score.

2) Contestants will e-mail in their picks for the same 5 games to me, and the person that beats me and/or the person who picks the most games correctly (no point spreads, straight up wins and losses) will win a FREE Original Retro Brand t-shirt of their choice.  In the event of a tie, we will have a drawing to determine the final winner.  Send your picks to me at andyphyman@gmail.com no later than kickoff of the first scheduled game to be counted!  ***ONLY ONE ENTRY PER CUSTOMER***

3) I will announce the winner on this blog and our Facebook page the following week – Usually Tuesday or Wednesday – Then we’ll do it again.  NOW TO THE GAMES!

GAME 1: USC (5-1) @ Notre Dame (4-2): Still can't take my eyes off one of the fiercest rivalries in college football.  Who will walk away with the Jeweled Shillelagh this year?  Until last year, the Trojans had walked the walk 8 straight times.  I like the momentum the Golden Domers have after dropping their first two games.  They can easily be 6-0 but for a few bad bounces here and there (ok, ALOT of bad bounces and a major collapse against Michigan... none the less, I like 'em).  The only tough opponent USC has faced to date was Arizona State, and they lost.  FIGHTING IRISH -  32, TROJANS - 24.

GAME 2: # 22 Georgia Tech (6-1) @ Miami (3-3): The Yellow Jackets come off their first defeat of the season against Virginia.  They may average a whopping 347 yards a game on the ground, but the passing is anemic.  The Canes are better then their record shows, losing very close games to currently ranked # 11 Kansas State, and # 21 Virginia Tech.  This game is best chance for the "U" to get back in the ACC Coastal race.  Jackets will have hard time rebounding.  HURRICANES - 28, YELLOW JACKETS - 17.

GAME 3:  # 20 Auburn (5-2) @ # 1 LSU (7-0): This may seem like another one of my 'Gimme" games, but this is still the SEC, and we should know not to count out the defending National Champion Tigers so quickly.  On second thought.....the Bayou Bengals defense has been downright dominating, and they will not be denied in Baton Rouge this Saturday.  GEAUX TIGERS - 33, TIGERS - 17.

GAME 4:  # 25 Washington (5-1) @ # 8 Stanford (6-0): The 150th anniversary for the University of Washington has proved to be a reason to celebrate.  Sophomore sensation Keith Price has tossed 21 TD's for the upstart Huskies (3 more than Mr. Andrew Luck).  Alas, Mr. Luck is a man on a mission (Heisman/BCS Title), and his arsenal of weapons along with a nasty defense on home turf does not bode well for the Purple and Gold.  Maybe next year.  CARDINAL - 44, HUSKIES - 24.

CARDINAL WILL COAST.

GAME 5: # 6 Wisconsin (6-0) @ # 16 Michigan State (5-1):  This game is tastier than the newly released (again) McRib! Once QB Russell Wilson and crew destroyed the Cornhuskers a few weeks back, it was confirmed that the Badgers were WAY legit-to-hit. Senior QB Kirk Cousins was impressive for the Spartans over arch rival Michigan last week, and look to make it 2 straight over nationally ranked Big Ten brethren.  Will be a squeeker, but they will make it 3 straight when they beat Nebraska next week too.  SPARTANS - 28, BADGERS - 27.

STATE THEIR BIG TEN CASE

PARTING SHOTS:  We have other ways for you to WIN FREE ORB gear. Every Friday around 8:30 eastern, tune in live to syndicated radio hosts Lex & Terry for FOOTBALL PICKS.  Just email them your name & address, etc, right here, and you could be randomly chosen to receive a $200 Gift Card to Original Retro Brand.  Plus you could hear me make more bad football picks on the air!   NOW LET'S SEE THOSE "HIGH - 5" PICKS!

*On November 1, we're going to have a drawing for those of you who've LOST in previous drawings of the High - 5 contest.  Does that make sense?  We'll be giving away 2 FREE Original Retro Brand shirts that day, and will post the winners on the blog.

FOR UPDATES ON CONTESTS, FASHION, AND FUN FROM THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND,  BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.

It was truly a Halloween Horror show having my heart, larynx, and entrails ripped out of my body repeatedly during the Georgia - Florida debacle this past Saturday.  The DAWGS had their chances to win after scoring 3 td's in the 4th quarter to send the game to OT, after being down 21-7 at the half.  They did what they've done 18 of the last 21 years however, by losing!!!  I will also be eating a massive pile of crow as opposed to my kid's candy haul, for saying Oregon would go down because they hadn't beaten anybody good so far.  What an A**! And thank you FSU, for fumbling away another stellar pick of mine with a few ticks left.  Alas, only five of you picked North Carolina State to beat the Noles (out of 52 entries this week), and we have just two folks who picked all five games correctly.

I thought we had just two folks who chose all five games correctly last week, and awarded them both FREE Original Brand T-shirts. Turns out we actually had three as I overlooked Casandra Ersel of Loveland, Ohio.  SORRY CASANDRA! We sent her a shirt too.  The two entries who picked all five this past weekend were Garrett Schoenberger from Phoenix, Arizona, and Mark Humphrey from Fort White, Florida.  Instead of conducting a drawing to determine the winner of the FREE ORB shirt, we're going to send shirts to both entries again, BUT this is the last time! I need to stick to the rules or I'm gonna get fired!

Speaking of rules, here they are once again for those of you joining us for the first time:

1) Each Tuesday I will preview 5 of the most compelling College Football Matchups for the upcoming weekend and offer my expertise, or more commonly lack thereof, as to who will win & why, along with a predicted final score.

2) Contestants will e-mail in their picks for the same 5 games to me, and the person that beats me and/or the person who picks the most games correctly (no point spreads, straight up wins and losses) will win a FREE Original Retro Brand t-shirt of their choice.  In the event of a tie, we will have a drawing to determine the final winner.  Send your picks to me at andyphyman@gmail.com no later than kickoff of the first scheduled game to be counted!

3) I will announce the winner each Tuesday following the weekend’s games with the upcoming new picks on the blog.  In addition to the FREE ORB T-shirt, the winner will also receive an imaginary heartfelt High- 5!

Now to the games!

GAME 1: # 21 Baylor vs. # 17 Oklahoma State - Da Bears.  Nice to knock off Texas for the first time in 23 years!  Running back Jay Finley has busted out, rushing for over 500 yards in has past 3 games leading Baylor to a Big 12 best 4 wins.  The Cowboys are 3rd in the nation in both passing yards and points scored behind QB Brandon Weeden, and RB Kendall Hunter, who has already cleared the 1,000 yard rushing mark.  Cowboy defense a bit suspect, but the offensive machine will continue to churn for a home victory. Oklahoma State - 44, Baylor - 30.

GAME 2: # 3 TCU vs. # 5 Utah: That Horned Frog defense is flat out SICK.   They've held their opponents to a whopping 16 points combined over the last 5 games - WHAT?!  The Utes don't seem to get the same pub despite having a pretty sick defense of their own (3rd in nation in points given up - TCU is # 1) and a well rounded offense which is putting up 45 points per game.  Here comes my upset special as I like the home team to end up in sole possession of the Mountain West:  Utah - 30, TCU - 28.

GAME 3:  # 18 Arkansas vs. # 19 South Carolina: 5 of the 6 teams in the SEC West are ranked in the Top 20 including the Hogs.  Too bad Auburn and Alabama have put to rest Arkansas making it to the SEC Championship game.  The Gamecocks control their own destiny as the lone ranked team sitting atop the SEC East.  They win out, they go to Atlanta.  Gamecocks awfully tough to beat in Columbia and will get the win.  Then Spurrier returns to Florida with the SEC East on the line - think we'll have that game in our contest next week?  South Carolina - 33, Arkansas - 24.

GAME 4:  # 6 Alabama vs. # 10 LSU: The Tide has quietly slid under the radar since losing to the Gamecocks a few weeks ago, and with the rise of Cam Newton from that other Alabama team.  I'm sure that's fine with Lou Saban as he goes back to his old stomping grounds in the bayou this weekend.  The Tigers are lucky to be in the conversation as far as I'm concerned.  The offense is always sloppy, and they're always bailed out by a pretty good defense and the aforementioned luck.  Luck runs out this time as BAMA still in the picture in a big way. Alabama - 27, LSU - 17.

GAME 5:  # 15 Arizona vs. # 13 Stanford: Man, this is a very tough call for a very tough Pac-10 matchup.  Can Arizona win out and win the Pac-10?  They only have this game at the Cardinal, followed by USC, and Oregon.  With QB Nick Foles on the mend, they just might do it (am I bettin' against the Ducks again?...I said, might!)  Stanford's Andrew Luck can light up the scoreboard, but it's the Cardinal defense that gets lit up too.  Count me a new member of the ZONA ZOO!: Arizona - 35, Stanford - 33.

PARTING FYI’s: If you haven’t voted in our 2 current polls, please scroll right and have at it.  And if you haven't voted yet in the United States Mid-Term elections, finish this blog and get your butts to the booth!!....In honor of election day, we're having a 25% OFF sale for a full week on all Poli-tees- just enter TEEOFF @ checkout for your discount!.....We'll be posting the winner of the Most Valuable Mane contest next Friday, 11/12 - Alex Paquette currently in the lead by a hair (or two)…..With the NBA and College Hoops underway, we check in with former Michigan State and current Phoenix Suns superstar, Jason Richardson in this weeks "5 Questions with.." interview on Thursday...I continue my streak of 8 consecutive weeks without picking 5 for 5, and my record for the season is 23 - 18.....I had to squirm for a few ghastly moments in a Gator shirt (below) because I lost a bet to a nutty Florida dude - hope your happy now Adam Carnow!!

FOR UPDATES ON CONTESTS, FASHION, AND FUN FROM THE ORIGINAL RETRO BRAND,  BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.

HORNS WILL BE CRYING A RIVER

I could not bring myself to do a "High-5" College Football Contest video for picks this week.  Normally, I proudly wear my favorite Georgia Bulldogs Original Retro Brand t-shirt and football helmet to ham it up for the camera, but after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Mississippi State Bulldogs (Georgia now 0-3 in the SEC - are you kidding me???!!!!), I simply could not utter a syllable.  Wasn't it enough to have the Hogs Ryan Mallet rip my heart out last week against the DAWGS before doing it again in his meltdown against the Tide?! Eeesh...

Outside of my sucky pick of Notre Dame over Stanford, and the  "Mallet Meltdown", I did great in my picks last week!  Roughly 50 people (out of 60 entries) picked more games correctly than me - I'm the Georgia Bulldogs of the "High-5" contest!  My running record now stands at 10 -5.  Most entries picked 4 out of 5 correctly, but seemed to get tripped up by the South Carolina - Auburn game.  There were 4 entries (out of 54) who picked all 5 games correctly, and thus we went to a drawing to determine the winner of the FREE Original Retro Brand T-shirt. Ted Turich of Denver, Colorado, was the winner and chose this Michigan State Rose Bowl shirt as his prize.  Here's what Ted had to say after hearing the good news;  "Wow!  That is awesome news!  I cannot believe I won!   First, let me say that I absolutely love Original Retro Brand clothing.  It is the main focus of my style and unbelievably, a sports shirt that my wife loves!  She just requested that I do not get another beer t-shirt ( I already own four)!" Congrats & Thanks Ted!   Before we get to this week's matchups, if  this is your first week playing in the “High-5″ contest, you can see the quick & easy rules in the body of this post.  Now let's get down to business!

GAME 1:  # 21 Texas vs. # 8 Oklahoma - I knew Texas wasn't Texas this year, but who the H*** could have seen UCLA trouncing them in their own crib like they did?  The Sooners had their hands full with the Bearcats and Air Force the past two weeks, and haven't looked so great either.  Regardless, in the 105th meeting of these 2 teams in this "Red River Rivalry", "Give me a T for Trouble (for Texas)"  OKLAHOMA - 35, TEXAS - 28.

GAME 2:  # 11 Wisconsin @ # 24 Michigan State - The Badgers come in 4-0 against NOBODY, and the Spartans ain't no Austin Peay.  The Spartans come in 4-0 against basically NOBODY (sorry Notre Dame) and the Badgers ain't no Florida Atlantic.  Vegas has this as a pick em' for good reason, but I'll go with gang green based on home field advantage, Coach Dantonio being in the press box, and Bubba Smith was my favorite football player of all time (a ridiculous reason for sure; Bubba was NFL's # 1 draft choice out of MSU in 1967).  MICHIGAN STATE - 42, WISCONSIN - 28.

GAME 3:  # 9 Stanford @ # 4 Oregon - I love this Pac-10 palooza.  Many folks saying the Ducks are way overrated.  Yeah, averaging 58 points a game ain't that good.  I bet against Stanford last week and boy did I screw up on that one.  The Tree trounced an apparently good UCLA team on the road a few weeks ago, and just embarrassed the Fighting Irish in another road win.  Sorry Oregon, but  Andrew Luck & the Cardinal are road tested and win at the Duck Pond.  STANFORD - 36, OREGON - 33.

GAME 4:  # 22 Penn State @ # 17 Iowa - Another BIG-10 pick em' the way I see it.  I love the Hawkeyes Adam Robinson near the goal line - he is a BULL.  Ricky Stanzi's stats caught my eye simply because they are bizzare; 99 attempts, 999 yds, 9 TD's.  Hawkeyes dressed to the 9's (Couldn't help myself).  IOWA - 26, PENN STATE - 17.

GAME 5:  # 7 Florida @ # 1 Alabama - The aforementioned "Mallet Meltdown" was my one-sided, sore loser view of what really went down in Arkansas.  BAMA never panicked, and did what Champions do to win.  Did I say not to worry about Mark Ingram?  Eeesh again....  The Gators fumbled their way to victory in their first few contests and looked sloppy, but they are starting to gel, and that means problems for any team they face.  Dare I pick against Alabama for the second week in a row in my upset special?  Dare, I do!  AND I HATE THE GATORS!!  FLORIDA - 28, ALABAMA - 21.

Well I haven't picked all 5 games yet in 3 weeks, but this is my week!  E-mail your picks to andyphyman@gmail.com and let's see what you got suckers!!  Be sure to get them in before kickoff Saturday to be counted.

WILL BITE BAMA

Parting FYI's: Friday's ORB "5 Questions with..." interview features College & NFL Hall of Famer, Lee Roy Selmon - this guy is one of the most humble and extraordinary individuals I've ever had the honor to speak with - just an amazing guy.....Going to see legendary Georgia Coach Vince Dooley at the Touchdown Club of Atlanta this coming Monday (Will be raffling off ORB  T-shirts) in hopes he will bring much needed luck to his alma mater against Colorado.