Anything would have been an anticlimax after last year's tripartite triumph – I picked Georgia, Georgia Tech and the Atlanta Falcons to win their respective divisions, which with the aid of a Miami-supplied asterisk actually occurred – but my 2013 predictions weren't just a comedown. They were awful.
But that’s why the annual Accountability Scoreboard exists – to allow me to tot up the highs, assuming there are any, and the lows, which are seldom in short supply. Last year was so improbably good that I probably crowed overmuch; this year, it’s crow for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I picked Georgia to go 11-1 and again win the SEC East, neither of which happened. In May I predicted that the Bulldogs would again lose to Alabama in the SEC title tilt, but come September I got a bit – OK, more than a bit – carried away by the stirring victory over LSU and suggested that the Bulldogs might just prove "unstoppable, even by Alabama."
Georgia subsequently got stopped by Missouri, Vanderbilt and Auburn – although nobody really stopped anybody that astonishing day in Jordan-Hare. Did I overrate the Bulldogs, as has happened on occasion? (OK, on many occasions.) Sure I did. But it would have been intriguing to see how Georgia would have fared with only the standard complement of injuries, as opposed to a boatload that came, Noah-like, in pairs.
I picked Tech to go 8-4 and again claim the ACC Coastal Division on a technicality. (Hey, it worked once.) I guessed that the Jackets would again finish the regular season tied with Miami. Last year the Hurricanes removed themselves from the ACC championship game; this year I was betting the NCAA would remove them, which didn’t happen and wouldn’t have mattered even if it had. Tech and Miami and Virginia Tech tied for second behind, of all teams, Duke.
My four projected Georgia Tech losses were indeed losses. (Although losing to Georgia sans Aaron Murray after leading 20-0 was nearly as hard for the Jackets to do as losing to Auburn with the Tigers facing fourth-and-18 was for Georgia.) I didn't think G-Tech would lose to V-Tech, but the Jackets picked that Thursday night to play their worst game of 2013.
That brings us to the Falcons, who did not, as I predicted in December 2012, win the Super Bowl in February 2013. They got close – within 10 yards, to be exact – to reaching the Roman numerals, but close only counts in deodorant ads. I wasn’t quite as high on the 2013 Falcons, figuring that changes to the offensive line and the defense, plus a tougher schedule, plus some overdue bad bounces, would make for a lesser season.
By "lesser," I meant going 10-6 and again winning the NFC South, neither of which these Falcons had a prayer of doing five games in. Like Georgia, the Falcons were diminished by injury. Unlike Georgia, the Falcons weren't very good even before guys started getting hurt. In my defense, it had been a while since I was spectacularly wrong about the Falcons; maybe I was just overdue.
Did I foresee Missouri and Auburn playing for the SEC championship? Nobody did. (I did suggest that Auburn would fare the best of the four SEC teams with new coaches, but by “fare the best” I meant go 8-4.) I thought Florida was overrated and picked the Gators to lose five games, or two fewer than they did.
I picked Alabama to lose a game, but not to Auburn. I picked South Carolina to go 11-1; it went 10-2. I picked Clemson to go 11-1 and lose to South Carolina but win the ACC; I was correct only on the middle part. I picked Ohio State and Louisville to go undefeated; each lost once. I picked Georgia State to win two games; it won none.
I originally picked Texas A&M to go 11-1 but modified that after Johnny Manziel's autograph issues. I figured he'd get suspended for a month and the Aggies could well fall apart. He got docked a half and A&M didn't quite collapse; it did, however, lose four times and wind up in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Switching to hoops, I picked only one of the correct Final Four, but the one was my choice to win it all. Lo and behold, Louisville won it all. That was, sad to say, about the only thing I got right in 2013.
Even the Braves confounded me. I figured they'd run second to Washington in the National League East but claim a wild card. They went 96-66 and won the division by 10 games. I have ceased trying to predict the baseball postseason, and after this lousy year I'm almost inclined to desist in predicting anything at all. Almost, I said.
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