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The Smoking Musket Pick ‘Em Gauntlet is an online college pick ‘em game where we will try to pick the winners of the weekly Big 12 contests plus Yahoo! editors’ selected games (usually the games involving the top 25 teams). We do pick against the spread (when available). There are usually 20-30 games to pick each week and each correct pick is worth one point. The winner (excluding Musket staff) will be the person at the end of the regular season who has the most correct picks/points. Points are cumulative, so don’t worry if you happen to miss a week or two. We will award the winner a WVU Nike T-shirt at the conclusion of the games in December.
All participants are subject to the Official Rules as determined by SB Nation.
We actually filled the first group, so we had to open a second league to fit everyone in. The second league will serve solely as an extension of the first league, and is not a standalone league. If you are in the second league, you are still competing with those in the first league.
Our game, as in the past, will be hosted by Yahoo! Fantasy. GAME LINK
Group Name: The Smoking Musket II
Group ID: 10859
Group password: letsgo
We have 30 games to pick this week, at 8:00 PM ET on Friday. Deadline for each pick is 5 minutes before kickoff.
Here are the leaders after week 1. Congratulations to National Champs or Bust for winning week 1 (all you win for this is kudos).
The Smoking Musket Pick’Em Gauntlet - Week One Results
| Rank | Pick Set Name | Total Points | Win-Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Pick Set Name | Total Points | Win-Loss |
| 1 | National Champs or Bust | 20 | 20-8 |
| 2 | Eat Sh!t Pitt | 20 | 20-8 |
| 3 | ChrisfromWV | 20 | 20-8 |
| 4 | BooneCountyEerFan | 20 | 20-8 |
| 5 | stenzly Adams | 19 | 19-9 |
| 6 | Modified master | 19 | 19-9 |
| 7 | hollywoodpost | 19 | 19-9 |
| 8 | Pete58 | 19 | 19-9 |
| 9 | esk123 | 19 | 19-9 |
| 10 | Mountaineer93 | 19 | 19-9 |
| 11 | Hevil | 19 | 19-9 |
| 12 | Cellyson84 | 19 | 19-9 |
| 13 | Jacksonpm23 | 19 | 19-9 |
| 14 | WVUDewMan | 19 | 19-9 |
| 15 | WVU Shoe | 18 | 18-10 |
| 16 | BlueDogTX | 18 | 18-10 |
| 17 | Don't Bet On It | 18 | 18-10 |
| 18 | Ice Mountie | 18 | 18-10 |
| 19 | Don't Panic | 18 | 18-10 |
| 20 | TickleMeWillyG | 18 | 18-10 |
| 21 | Dan D'Antoni is a chode | 18 | 18-10 |
| 22 | LetsGo18 | 18 | 18-10 |
| 23 | OSizzle | 18 | 18-10 |
| 24 | The smoking musket 11 | 18 | 18-10 |
| 25 | relyT | 18 | 18-10 |
As we have in the past, The Smoking Musket staff will be making our official predictions as part of the weekly Pick’Em Gauntlet article. This is purely for bragging rights among the staff, and predictions are in no particular order.
WVUI97
Offense rolls, defense continues to show improvement. Will and the starters get all of the 4th quarter off after putting up stupid numbers. I’d say 3rd quarter too, but I remember how Dana has done this in the past. They’ll play at least half of the third.
Final Score: West Virginia 69 (NICE) - Youngstown State 13
John Radcliff
I fully expect a bit of a letdown from the Mountaineers this week. The level of intensity won’t be the same for Youngstown State as it was for Tennessee. Unless the YSU pass defense has some serious breakdowns, I expect this to be a very pedestrian win for WVU with the second string playing most of the second half. But I don’t expect huge offensive numbers.
Final Score: West Virginia 45 - Youngstown State 10
statsboyandi
WVU proves too much for Youngstown and coasts to an easy W
Final Score: West Virginia 52 - Youngstown State 13
BartimusPrime
As with and FBS vs FCS game, the important thing is to not forget that you’re playing a group of talented football players. It’s easy to get up for Tennessee, but if the team is just the least bit slow out of the gate for this one, the Penguins will surely gain confidence. Ideally, I don’t want Grier—or any important starter—playing more than a quarter, Allison to get some good run, and Trey Lowe to see game time. This should also be a great game for the defense to continue what they started last week, but also get more DAWGS in the pack.
Final Score: West Virginia 55 - Youngstown State 14
Nick Shoemaker
I expect the Mountaineers to get up quickly in the first half, but I also predict that playing second string guys on both offense and defense in the second half will make this game look closer than it will be. WVU outscores Youngstown State in the first half, and the Penguins outscored the Mountaineers in the second half, but WVU wins easily.
Final Score: West Virginia 48 - Youngstown State 23
Michael Miller
West Virginia opens up a 35-3 lead in the first half, but Dana doesn’t pull Will Grier until he gets his fourth passing touchdown early in the third quarter. Gotta pad those Heisman stats.
Other than that, there’s not a whole lot of excitement in this game. The starters on both sides of the ball are pulled when Grier goes out, and we get a look at Jack Allison and Kwantel Raines for the first time. Allison throws a touchdown of his own, and Raines picks off Montgomery VanGorder for his first career interception.
Final Score: West Virginia 55 - Youngstown State 10
Matt Kirchner
Will Grier puts up an extremely efficient Kyler Murray stat line and Trey Lowe gets the fourth quarter. I take a nap.
Final Score: West Virginia 55 - Youngstown State 14
WVUNite
Will Grier only plays one half but throws for 375 yards and four touchdowns. Jack Allison plays the entire second half and Kennedy McKoy is the “closer” at running back.