The picks were nearly perfect again last week.
They’re judged only on if the pick got the correct winning team and not how close the actual score is to the pick, which is a good thing too.
Because here’s a look at actual teams’ margin of victory compared to the score picks.
Of the six games Brandon picked correctly, the average margin of victory was 33.8. Brandon picked them to have an average margin of victory of 22.7 points.
So Brandon has no business (or desire) to go to Las Vegas to try to put wagers and spreads on games, but he feels like he has a grasp on if Madison County teams will win their games or not.
He’s a severe underestimation of South Gibson’s team last week away from being perfect for another week.
He went 6-1 for a season record of 19-8.
So here’s a hope of extending that successful streak and maybe getting a few scores close in this week’s picks:
Jackson Christian 42, Tipton-Rosemark 14: Both teams enter the game at 5-0, but Jackson Christian’s level of competition is noticeably higher than TRA’s. But the thing in TRA’s favor is they are beating the lesser opponents as badly as a good team should beat lesser opponents. But how will they react when faced with a higher quality of competition? Maybe the same question should be asked about Jackson Christian too since they’re having to travel for this one.
South Side 13, Lexington 6: The Hawks’ defense is good at keeping opposing offenses from scoring a lot of points. Lexington’s offense has struggled to score points for whatever reason this year. When you put those two occurrences together, I think the sum is a low-scoring victory for the boys in black.
University School of Jackson 19, St. George’s 8: USJ hasn’t scored a lot of points the last two weeks in their losses. But they didn’t score a lot of points the previous three weeks in their wins either. St. George’s has given up a lot of points and not scored many when they play quality competition. They’re playing quality competition this week, and this will be one where it looks like USJ is getting things back on track.
Riverside 34, Trinity Christian 14: I could see TCA giving Riverside’s defense fits at times, particularly if they run the option or a no-huddle offense frequently (or do both frequently at the same time). But Riverside isn’t just talented and good. They’re also experienced. Is it possible to throw an offense at them they haven’t seen much, if at all? Yes. Can TCA’s coaching staff do that? Yes. But can the defense stop Riverside from scoring? That’s probably the most crucial question to this game.
Jackson Central-Merry 21, Adamsville 20: This may be my most nervous pick of the week because I honestly don’t know which way to go and am still not sure why I decided to go with the Cougars here with a long road trip. But they played well early on last week – better than anyone outside their locker room expected. If they can have close to that level of play this week for an extended period of time, they’ve got a shot.
Dyersburg 35, North Side 14: Look at the best teams the Indians have played this year and how they did in those games. They lost to Hardin County and Crockett County by three scores. Dyersburg is on that level this year. Can North Side stop the Trojans enough to make it closer or maybe even win the game? Yes. That potential is definitely there, but until it becomes actual action and not simply potential, the smart pick is with Dyersburg.
Scotts Hill 14, Liberty 6: OK, this may actually be my most nervous pick of the week. Because I wanted to go with the Crusaders here. But I think their defense isn’t consistent enough to expect a shutout against Scotts Hill. So if Liberty isn’t shutting them out, then they need to score more than once – possibly three or four times. And Liberty hasn’t shown it can do that yet. But I’ll be OK with a near perfect week if I miss this one.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
