With the end of the football season comes the end of UCR’s annual Expert Predictions competition, and this year’s picks saw a new champion atop the standings.
Co-owner and Lead Color Commentator Justin Matheney finished with a record of 85-15, one game ahead of second-place finisher and defending champion Noah McKay (84-16). Matheney says the picks are always just fun for conversation between UCR and its audience, but if there’s a competitive nature to something, he wants to win above all else.
“The champ is here,” Matheney said. “People are on us all year, and I’ll admit we’re not the only ones that can look up film and watch it on the internet, but we put that work in. We give our educated opinions on what we think will happen, and I was right at an 85 percent clip. We all have a good time with it, and it’s all just to create banter with our readers.”
The week that made the most difference in the standings was week 11, where Red Boiling Springs took on Jo Byrns and Gordonsville hosted Clay County. Matheney went with RBS and Gordonsville as his winners, and those two wins are ultimately what led him into first place.
There were different reasons for the picks, as Matheney says he trusted Gordonsville a little more at home while also having a big gut feeling about RBS on the road.
“I thought (Gordonsville-Clay) was as tightly-contested a pick as we had all year,” Matheney said. “Seeing how Gordonsville played Smith earlier and feeling like they played a little bit better of a schedule, I just felt like the home-field advantage was the difference…I just went straight Upper Cumberland homer on RBS, I liked their quarterback because he had a big arm and was really physical. They started out down 14-0 and just kept battling and pulled it out.”
The last three years have seen three different winners in Expert Predictions, but Matheney says he’s already looking forward to defending that title in the 2024 season.
“I don’t anticipate losing it ever again, the champ is here and the champ is here to stay,” Matheney said. “There’s two games that I’ve picked with my heart every year and before this year, I was starting in an 0-2 hole…Cookeville’s win over Sparta was another one where I picked up a game on everyone. That’s a title I don’t anticipate giving up.”