The story goes, one day on a long ride to a playoff game at Thiel (which tells you how long ago this happened), Pat and Keith decided to pass the time by guessing not just the winner of each first-round playoff game, but the score. And there was born the expectations game: Do we expect a close game? A high-scoring game? A blowout? Does everyone agree on who will win? Those are the factors worth looking at.
Keith McMillan, Ryan Tipps, Pat Coleman, Adam Turer, Frank Rossi and Greg Thomas each take their guesses at scores for each first-round game.
— Pat Coleman (Linfield athletics photo)
| Mary Hardin-Baylor bracket | |
| Keith’s take: UMHB 56, Redlands 28 Ryan’s take: UMHB 31, Redlands 10 Pat’s take: UMHB 45, Redlands 24 |
Adam’s take: UMHB 23, Redlands 17 Frank’s take: UMHB 35, Redlands 17 Greg’s take: UMHB 30, Redlands 14 |
| Consensus: Strong consensus here for a Cru win by two or three scores. | |
| Keith’s take: Berry 35, Huntingdon 31 Ryan’s take: Berry 38, Huntingdon 34 Pat’s take: Berry 56, Huntingdon 17 |
Adam’s take: Berry 24, Huntingdon 21 Frank’s take: Huntingdon 31, Berry 30 Greg’s take: Berry 38, Huntingdon 13 |
| Consensus: Not quite unanimous, but the panel favors Berry by varying margins. | |
| Keith’s take: UW-Whitewater 42, Monmouth 21 Ryan’s take: UW-Whitewater 42, Monmouth 7 Pat’s take: UW-Whitewater 50, Monmouth 6 |
Adam’s take: UW-Whitewater 44, Monmouth 24 Frank’s take: UW-Whitewater 47, Monmouth 16 Greg’s take: UW-Whitewater 41, Monmouth 7 |
| Consensus: Unanimous picks for a comfortable Warhawk victory. | |
| Keith’s take: Wartburg 27, Hope 21 Ryan’s take: Wartburg 34, Hope 24 Pat’s take: Wartburg 38, Hope 28 |
Adam’s take: Wartburg 40, Hope 37 Frank’s take: Wartburg 27, Hope 21 Greg’s take: Wartburg 38, Hope 35 |
| Consensus: It’s a sweep for Wartburg in a high scoring, one score game. | |
| Wheaton bracket | |
| Keith’s take: Wheaton 49, Martin Luther 0 Ryan’s take: Wheaton 50, Martin Luther 6 Pat’s take: Wheaton 62, Martin Luther 6 |
Adam’s take: Wheaton 50, Martin Luther 6 Frank’s take: Wheaton 56, Martin Luther 10 Greg’s take: Wheaton 56, Martin Luther 0 |
| Consensus: The panel sees top-seeded Wheaton cruising into the second round. | |
| Keith’s take: UW-Oshkosh 18, Central 14 Ryan’s take: Central 28, UW-Oshkosh 27 Pat’s take: UW-Oshkosh 30, Central 20 |
Adam’s take: UW-Oshkosh 28, Central 27 Frank’s take: UW-Oshkosh 31, Central 20 Greg’s take: UW-Oshkosh 28, Central 10 |
| Consensus: It isn’t unanimous, but the Titans are the panel’s choice to advance by one or two scores. | |
| Keith’s take: Linfield 35, Chapman 27 Ryan’s take: Linfield 31, Chapman 28 Pat’s take: Chapman 28, Linfield 27 |
Adam’s take: Linfield 19, Chapman 16 Frank’s take: Linfield 35, Chapman 27 Greg’s take: Chapman 24, Linfield 21 |
| Consensus: Split decision for Linfield in what appears to be one of the closer games of the first round. | |
| Keith’s take: St. John’s 38, Aurora 24 Ryan’s take: St. John’s 52, Aurora 13 Pat’s take: St. John’s 54, Aurora 35 |
Adam’s take: St. John’s 49, Aurora 35 Frank’s take: St. John’s 45, Aurora 14 Greg’s take: St. John’s 49, Aurora 21 |
| Consensus: Aurora likely won’t get completely shut down, but St. John’s should be able to outscore the Spartans and win by multiple scores. | |
| Salisbury bracket | |
| Keith’s take: Salisbury 63, SUNY-Maritime 0 Ryan’s take: Salisbury 63, SUNY-Maritime 0 Pat’s take: Salisbury 68, SUNY-Maritime 0 |
Adam’s take: Salisbury 57, SUNY-Maritime 9 Frank’s take: Salisbury 55, SUNY-Maritime 10 Greg’s take: Salisbury 56, SUNY-Maritime 7 |
| Consensus: Unanimous predictions here for an easy run to the second round for the Sea Gulls. | |
| Keith’s take: Union 31, Case 21 Ryan’s take: Union 38, Case 17 Pat’s take: Union 24, Case 17 |
Adam’s take: Union 34, Case 24 Frank’s take: Union 31, Case 21 Greg’s take: Union 27, Case 17 |
| Consensus: Clean sweep for the Dutchmen, generally by about 10 points. | |
| Keith’s take: Muhlenberg 45, MIT 10 Ryan’s take: Muhlenberg 45, MIT 14 Pat’s take: Muhlenberg 56, MIT 6 |
Adam’s take: Muhlenberg 45, MIT 3 Frank’s take: Muhlenberg 42, MIT 14 Greg’s take: Muhlenberg 42, MIT 7 |
| Consensus: The Mules should overwhelm the Engineers and trot on in to the second round. | |
| Keith’s take: Brockport 22, W. New England 19 Ryan’s take: W. New England 24, Brockport 21 Pat’s take: Brockport 24, W. New England 13 |
Adam’s take: Brockport 20, W. New England 14 Frank’s take: W. New England 27, Brockport 20 Greg’s take: Brockport 26, W. New England 10 |
| Consensus: Split decision for Brockport, but this game looks to be close. | |
| Mount Union bracket | |
| Keith’s take: Mount Union 63, Hanover 7 Ryan’s take: Mount Union 63, Hanover 3 Pat’s take: Mount Union 56, Hanover 10 |
Adam’s take: Mount Union 48, Hanover 24 Frank’s take: Mount Union 59, Hanover 7 Greg’s take: Mount Union 61, Hanover 10 |
| Consensus: No surprise here, Mount Union is predicted to advance easily. | |
| Keith’s take: North Central 40, Wabash 25 Ryan’s take: North Central 42, Wabash 10 Pat’s take: North Central 56, Wabash 10 |
Adam’s take: North Central 38, Wabash 14 Frank’s take: North Central 45, Wabash 21 Greg’s take: North Central 45, Wabash 21 |
| Consensus: North Central’s top-ranked offense sweeps the board with a comfortable win over Wabash. | |
| Keith’s take: Wesley 17, Framingham State 14 Ryan’s take: Wesley 28, Framingham State 20 Pat’s take: Wesley 41, Framingham State 24 |
Adam’s take: Wesley 21, Framingham State 20 Frank’s take: Wesley 21, Framingham State 20 Greg’s take: Wesley 24, Framingham State 21 |
| Consensus: Wesley is the unanimous pick, but five of our panelists see a one score game. | |
| Keith’s take: Del Val 28, Bridgewater 24 Ryan’s take: Del Val 41, Bridgewater 21 Pat’s take: Bridgewater 17, Del Val 15 |
Adam’s take: Bridgewater 21, Del Val 14 Frank’s take: Del Val 27, Bridgewater 24 Greg’s take: Del Val 17, Bridgewater 10 |
| Consensus: Split decision for Delaware Valley, with the panel largely seeing a close game that could go either way. | |
We invite you to add your predictions in the comments below, or tweet at us at @D3Keith, @NewsTipps and @d3football. Download the Around the Nation podcast on Mondays, where Pat and Keith review the picks and the highlights from the weekend’s playoff games.
A lot of consensus among the experts. The only real outlier seemed to be Pat predicting the blowout victory for Berry over Huntington.
I’m going to cringe every time LINFIELD kicks an extra point if PC thinks they might lose by 1point.