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Blowin' Smoke Presented by Weston Tobacco

What's more fun than us giving you a chance to mock us every single week? In our new feature, Blowin' Smoke presented by Weston Tobacco, we will do that each and every Thursday. Gabe DeArmond and Mitchell Forde will make five predictions almost sure to go wrong every week in this space. These will range from big games to big picture predictions with a bit of the comedic and absurd mixed in most weeks as well. On to this week's predictions.

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1) How many games do you think they'll play in college football?

Gabe: For today I'll still say 12. I could see them cutting down to a nine or ten game season and eliminating some non-con games if it comes to that. But as of now, I think they're going to shoot to play the whole season. I think we've reached the point where the majority of people believe we've got to go forward with things almost as a test and see what happens. If it's a mistake and we have to go back and cancel some things we will, but we're at a point where we can't just stay inside and not see other people and do other things forever. I understand some don't agree with that and that's fine, but I think the majority is now at that point.

Mitchell: Yeah, I've softened a bit from my stance last week, when I said I didn't think college football was going to be played in the fall. With not much to do but sit around and read other people's speculation, my optimism varies by the day. But I haven't heard about any catastrophic spikes as things have begun to open back up (I realize it's early in the process, but still, that seems like good news to me) and I know how badly college athletics departments need football to happen, so I think the majority of schools are going to play. I actually think it's possible that the number of games each team plays could vary by team. Most will certainly try to play 12, but if you are scheduled to play a game in a state that isn't open yet or your next opponent suddenly has an outbreak, I'm sure it would be difficult to try to find a replacement game on short notice. As of right now, I still expect Missouri to play all 12 of its games, but it wouldn't shock me if that number becomes 10 or 11.

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2) How many college football games will you personally attend this year?

Gabe: Honestly, I'm not sure it will be any. At most it's going to be six because I don't think we're going to be allowed to cover road games (and if we do it's not going to be more than one person per outlet and you get to do that). But I'm not sold we're even going to be able to cover home games. Actually, I think we will be able to cover them. But I think it's going to be a serious discussion whether the rules that are going to be in place are going to make it worth going. I think postgame interviews are going to be the coaches and two or three pre-selected players at a podium. That's not worth spending five hours at the stadium for. We can get those canned quotes off a quote sheet at home and watch the games on TV and our coverage isn't going to be worse. I've talked to quite a few people about this in the business and we're going to have to be creative and change the way we cover things. Some of my friends actually had already started that transition prior to this. Those of us that hadn't I think are going to be forced to now. If you don't do it, you're not being very smart.

Mitchell: I hope I'll be attending 12 games this season, but I tend to agree with you about road games. I doubt visiting media, aside from maybe the school's radio broadcast group, will get to travel, and even if we were allowed, the access probably won't be worth spending the time and money. I highly doubt there will be any scrum interviews all season. Like you said, it'll probably be the head coach and a couple players at a podium, which we can watch from a distance. I'm optimistic I'll still be able to attend Missouri's seven home games, though. While I would expect a similar postgame format (and likely social distancing in the press box, which Gabe would love so he doesn't have to talk to as many people), it's not like we have to pay to travel to those so at least one of us might as well watch from the press box in case something crazy happens.

3) Last week we predicted the SEC East. Now let's do the West.

Mitchell: Once again, I'm not doing any research for this. Just a guess off the top of my head:

Alabama

LSU

Auburn

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

Arkansas

Gabe: I actually know even less about this question than I did the SEC East question. So my answer means nothing:

Alabama

Auburn

LSU

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

Arkansas

4) Outside of Nick Bolton, does Missouri have an all-SEC (first team) player this year?

Mitchell: I'm not sure Nick Bolton is even a shoo-in for all-SEC first team. He's a very good player who made it last year and certainly has a good chance, but the SEC is so loaded with talent and he's going to be the focal point for opponents that it shouldn't stun anyone if he slips to the second or third team. But no, outside of him, I don't see it. I think the two high safeties, Josh Bledsoe and Tyree Gillespie, have the best chance, but they'd still have to make a pretty serious leap from last season.

Gabe: My initial reaction is probably not. I could see Jarvis Ware or Tyree Gillespie making that leap. Offensively, the only guy that would make any sense is Larry Rountree and running back is just too stacked for me to predict Rountree is a first team guy. But if I have to guess as of today, I'll say Bolton makes the first team but no other Tigers do.

5) Tiger and Peyton vs Phil and Brady, who wins?

Gabe: I know you're going to say Tiger and Peyton because you have irrational hatred for Phil Mickelson and because you're a Broncos fan and probably one of the 19 people who thinks of Manning as a Bronco rather than a Colt. I like both Tiger and Phil, but don't like either Peyton (although he's much more likable as a commercial pitch man than he was as an AFC quarterback) or Brady. So I guess I'll go with Woods and Manning because Tiger is the one of the four with the most "if I'm playing Uno I'm going to beat the hell out of you because it will ruin my night to lose" mentality.

Mitchell: Okay, first of all, I don't just think of Peyton as a Bronco. That makes me sound like I'm 11 years old. I remember his entire Colts career and actually always liked him even as a Colt. However, he quarterbacked my team to the only Super Bowl win of my conscious memory. Of course I will love him forever for that. But I digress. I'm so happy the organizers of this event made the pairings the way they did, because it's a perfect Heroes vs. Villains showdown. Save me the lectures about Tiger being called a hero — I'm being facetious there — but I do readily admit I've always been awed by him and rooted for him to win and I've always disliked Phil and rooted for him to lose. And Brady is the ultimate villain for any fan of an AFC team. All of that is to say I'm not only picking Woods and Manning, I'm picking them in a romp. This match might only last 10 holes.

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