ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

We're Back for Season 6

We're more than ready to kick off the 2017 college football season, our sixth season of Woolard's Weekend Winners, home of Make Mo' Money with Mark.

If you've been reading any of the pre-season guides then you know that there are tons of great games headed our way, particularly in the first three weeks of the season which gets underway this Saturday way with some 'undercard' games like Stanford v Rice and Oregon State v Colorado State.

Our GREAT EIGHT will begin next week when the season really takes off with marquee games such as Alabama v FSU, Florida v Michigan, Tennessee v Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M v UCLA.

Our format remains the same. Each week we highlight 8 different college games. We call this the GREAT EIGHT in which we provide you insight on which teams will come out on top, sprinkled with a few Upset Specials in which you can win even bigger money should you wager a few bucks.

Our Winning Team of Guest Contributors

Through the years we've been fortunate to have a great team of guest contributors. These guys and gals know their football. They're passionate, insightful, and focused on giving you the real scoop on teams and conferences. We started out in 2012 with just a couple of guest contributors but now have a line-up of fifteen experts anxious to get 2017 started and to Make Mo' Money.

A few new faces for 2017
We are especially excited that Lair of the Bear will be joining us as our very first PAC 12 representative. Love for the PAC 12 runs deep with Lair of the Bear (LOTB). He's a Cal alum, grew up in the shadows of the Rose Bowl and UCLA, his siblings are Bruin folks, his son is a University of Washington Huskie, and his wife is a Colorado Buff. I've known LOTB for a long time, sharing road trips to Knoxville as well as Pasadena where I witnessed first hand the family's passion for the Pacific 12 (Ten at the time). Great memories from Pasadena....but never ever mention the "Men of Troy."

K-Patch Karl enjoyed a cameo role last season but has committed to a full time gig in keeping us posted on happenings in Rocky Top. We are expecting big things from Karl. He loves Tennessee football and his biscuits, too. He's pretty handy with small engine repair as well. Mmmgumh.

Cousin Eddy becomes our very first overseas correspondent, based in Japan, a region that is growing in popularity with college recruiters. Cousin Eddy will bring an international perspective to Woolard's Weekend Winners. He's also our team dentist which comes in handy, especially after bar fights.

Cha ching baby

Tally Townie grew up as a surfer dude on the Atlantic Coast of Florida and is a long term follower of all things Florida State. When he's not waxing his boards he's waxing eloquent about his Noles and their quest for another championship. I often remind Tally Townie about the 1998 National Championship outcome (google it).

How'd We Do Last Season?
They say figures never lie so feast your eyes on our Final 2016 Scoreboard. We posted a 65% hit rate including bushels of Upset Specials which paid off big time. If you followed our picks, then you made some serious moulah last season. Expect the same in 2017. Cha ching!

A Look Ahead at 2017

At this juncture every team is undefeated. Doesn't that feel great? If you're like me you're pumped up and getting primed for opening weekend. With that in mind, we asked a few of our scribes to provide their take on what lies ahead for the 2017 season.

Laissez le bon temps rouler

From Bayou Bengal

This season has the potential to be one of the most exciting seasons for the LSU Tigers in quite some time. Familiar questions about the QB position remain, while recent attrition to the offensive line could create further strain. Derris Guice will push for 'best back in the country' status, and the defensive backfield should be better than last season - despite losing two members to the first round of the NFL draft. If everything breaks the Tigers' way, a playoff berth isn't an impossible dream. If it doesn't, look for a repeat of last year's 8-4 and a tornado of questions surrounding Coach O. GEAUX TIGERS!

From Sooner Boomhauer

Sooners ready to Boom

After recently graduating from middle school, Lincoln Riley gets to lead the Oklahoma Sooners as its new head coach. Actually, Riley has been coaching for 15 of his young 33 years. The good news is he has Baker Mayfield at quarterback, an offensive line that purportedly stacks up against the best, a tight end that is one of the better TEs in the country, a defensive backfield that has done this before, and the Big  12 now has a conference championship game. The Bad News - OU lost (to the NFL) leading receiving Dede Westbrook and two 1,000 yard rushers in Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine. Despite the losses, I look for OU to continue its recent success. Pay attention to Woolard's Weekend Winners for their picks when OU travels to Columbus on Sept. 9 and to Dallas for the matchup with Tom Herman's Texas team on Oct. 14. Plus, OU historically slips up against teams like Okie State, TCU, or Kansas State. So look for WWW's Upset Specials.

From Lair of The Bear

Respect the West

Cal Bears - Not a lot of optimism up in Strawberry Canyon for the upcoming 2017 season. The Bear Raid is done. After being one of the Pac-12's leaders in passing offense under Sonny Dykes, Cal will be rebuilding with a rookie head coach, Justin Wilcox, a long time defensive coordinator at schools such as USC, Washington, and most recently, Wisconsin. And, it will take some time as Cal's defense has been one of the worst in the country for the past four years. And then...there's the flag for "piling on" as EPSN has deemed that the Bears have the toughest schedule in all of college football for the 2017 Season
UCLA Bruins - The buzz around Westwood is that UCLA will be better that last season. The defense will be pretty solid and Jaelen Phillips, freshman defensive lineman, will burst onto the scene as UCLA's disruptor-in-chief, but the offense will struggle. Quarterback Josh "The Chosen" Rosen, will be concentrating more on football as he has admitted that in his mind "football and school don't go together", but the offensive line and receiver struggles from last year will continue to come into play this season.

Roll Damn Tide

From Kenny Clyde

As for Bama, here we go again....

Last year's backfield trio of Scarborough, Harris and Jacobs is joined by freshman flash Najee Harris. 2016 Offensive Player of the Year qb Jalen Hurts just needs to hand them the ball and watch.

Or he could throw to Calvin Ridley, Devonta Smith, or newly 6'6 4.3 Tyrell Shavers.

He'll have plenty of time to choose with 4 OL starters back, and four 5-Star studs competing for the fifth spot.

The D-line is solid at nose guard and ends, Linebackers will rotate, Watch of true frosh Dylan Moses to make himself known. D-backs are anchored by returning stars Mink Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison. Lots of talent there.

Mama's biggest question mark is at OC. Brian Daboli's last college coaching job was '99 as a GA! (of course, since then he's been trained by a guy named Belichick and arrived in Tuscaloosa shortly after winning his sixth Patriot Super Bowl).

And Bama is coached by the best coach of his generation -- the greatest since Bama's last best coach of his generation.

In short, the Tide keeps rolling in '17.

From Rockin Reb

Too early to pour one?

(editor's note: Is there any other team that had a worse off-season than Ole Miss? And it ain't over yet with more to come)

Even with some of the shocking revelations and eventual resignation of former head coach Hugh Freeze, optimism for the coming season remains high for the Ole Miss Rebels.

New offensive coordinator Phil Longo brings a high scoring, free wheeling offense to Oxford with 5 Star quarterback Shea Patterson behind the SEC's most veteran offensive line.

New defensive coordinator Crime Dog McGriff brings a new energy and scheme to a defense that gave up more points than any Ole Miss team before it.

Even though the Rebs have instituted a self-imposed bowl ban for 2017, they should be able to play spoiler for the SEC West and have a winning season to boot.

Gators gonna chomp

From Golden Gator

For yet another year, the pundits show little respect for the Florida Gators but it just makes them hungrier.

The Gator defense is strong yet again with at least four likely to play in the NFL. But the offense will win game this season as well...a dual-threat QB with a long ball back-up. Both will play to confuse defenses along with stellar tailbacks and receivers.

The Gators will surprise! And the Bulldogs, picked to finish ahead of the Gators need to remember: Gators eat dogs for breakfast!

From Jumpin' Jeff

Bug Eaters ready to bite

After having a run-first/throw-as-last-resort offense, the Nebraska Cornhuskers will feature a gun-slinging Tanner Lee (qb Tulane transfer) throwing bullets all over the field. It's the same offense that head coach Mike Riley used at Oregon State and now he finally has a QB to run his offense in Lincoln. And Lee will have plenty of targets to throw to including returning starters Stanley Morgan, De'Mornay Pierson-El and newcomer 5-Star Tyjon Lindsey. Riley's offense will also utilize a tight end more this season and he should get plenty of protection with an experienced offensive line that returns all five starters.

Defensively the Huskers should be much improved with a new defensive coordinator and a new scheme based on a 3-4 defense to capitalize on the speed of linebackers such as Marcus Newby and DE Freedom Akinmoldun.

The Huskers will face a difficult schedule on the road against Penn State and huge home games with Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Iowa. But Nebraska will be ready. Go Big Red!

NEXT WEEK

Next week we'll feature our Pre-Season Poll and, of course, our GREAT EIGHT™picks. See you then.

MAKE MO' MONEY WITH MARK™