I was working on my 2023 mock draft, when I realized I never figured out how I did last year at my predictions. I made tons of predictions. Not only did I do a mock draft and my normal standings predictions, but this year I added records and awards. Yeah, I decided to make it more difficult.
I started the year off with my Mock Draft. I did not do as much research as the year before, nor did I take any of the trades into consideration. I managed to get the top two picks (Travon Walker and Aidan Hutchinson). I did pick three players to the right team, just not the right pick (Kayvon Thibodeaux, Chris Olave, and Kaiir Elam). I did well with the top ten, getting nine of the players right (I thought the Seahawks would draft a QB at #9). In fact, of the 32 picks, I managed 27 of the players (84.38%). Not too bad.
I also did alright in the Pick ‘Em, finishing in third place with a record of 136-138. I made $65.05 in my underdog betting (but do not worry, I lost it all making stupid basketball bets).
Over in the college world, my predictions were…it is hard to say. Maybe next year I will set up a system to actually judge my picks. Let us look at each conference. I did better than last year with 24 teams in the right position.
ACC–I picked Clemson correctly and I did have them at 11 wins, with Pitt at 9.
Big Ten–Clearly, I know the most about this conference, I had six teams right (PSU, Rutgers, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, and Northwestern). I also had Penn State at 10-2 (before their bowl win), as well as Indiana, Purdue, and Iowa before postseason games.
Big XII–Yikes, I at least picked Texas in the right spot.
PAC-12–Did not realize they were not doing divisions, but judging by the records I picked, I had Oregon State and Stanford in the right spots. Hey, Oregon hit ten wins after the bowl game, Utah won ten with their conference championship, and hey I picked Cal to go 4-8.
SEC–Again, another conference I did alright picking. Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mizzou, and Vanderbilt. I had Georgia being perfect, as well as Florida & Mizzou’s records before the bowl games.
AAC–None in this conference, except I had UCF at 9-3, East Carolina at 7-5 before their bowl games, and I did pick Temple to go 3-9.
C-USA–FIU! And I had North Texas going 7-5 before the postseason games.
MAC–I picked Bowling Green and Akron, and I got their records!
MWC–Did well with this conference too: Fresno State (and I had them at 10-2 before their bowl game), San Diego State, Boise State, Utah State, and New Mexico. I also had Hawaii going 3-10.
Sun Belt–I am disappointed in myself for this conference. I had Texas State in the right place, and ULM going 4-8.
Independents–No records right, but at least I had Notre Dame being the best team.
I picked Ohio State and Georgia to make the playoffs, but that was about all I got right. For the awards, well things did not go well. I only had three right (Bijan Robinson winning the Doak Walker Award, Brock Bowers winnings the John Mackey Award, and Will Anderson winning the Bronco Nagurski Award.
The NFL picks were worse than last year. I only went 10/32. I had the Bills, Browns, Texans, Lions, Buccaneers, Falcons, and the entire NFC East. Records-wise, I had the Ravens and Panthers. I also had the Texans at 3-14 (they went 3-13-1, so that counts, right?). I also picked the Eagles to lose in the Super Bowl to an AFC West team!
I only had one of the awards, which is good I suppose. I picked Aidan Hutchinson to win the Defensive ROY. He won the overall ROY, which I did not realize there were like three rookie of the year awards.
So yeah, not too bad with my predictions.
