THE LIGHTNING ROUND--WEEK 13

Last Week--35-9 (.795)
Year-To-Date--293-143 (.672)

The first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs is drawing closer and closer, while the second round of the NCAA Division II and III playoffs, as well as the quarterfinals of the NAIA playoffs surely will provide another round thrills and upsets. That's not to mention there will be a pair of games pitting four HBCU schools. All of this makes for a great feast of football this Thanksgiving Weekend!

By the way, we do apologize to the fans of both St. John Fisher and Union (N.Y.) who are reading this blog for not including their game in the list of predictions. Sorry for any inconvenience. All omissions aside, though, the other 15 games which were in the forecast all went correctly.

With that said, let's move on to this week's predictions! Happy Thanksgiving!

NCAA DIVISION I FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SUBDIVISION--FIRST ROUND

Coastal Carolina (9-2) at Appalachian State (10-1)

(First-ever playoff game for Chanticleers!)

Furman (8-3) at Montana State (7-4)

Illinois State (8-3) at Eastern Illinois (8-4)

James Madison (9-2) at Youngstown State (9-2)

(It's the Dukes vs. the Penguins on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. EST Saturday!)

Lafayette (6-5) at Massachusetts (10-1)

New Hampshire (8-3) at Hampton (10-1)

Tennessee-Martin (10-2) at Southern Illinois (8-3)

McNeese State (7-4) at Montana (10-1)

NCAA DIVISION II PLAYOFFS--SECOND ROUND

South Dakota (9-3) at Grand Valley State (11-0)

North Dakota (10-1) at Nebraska-Omaha (8-2)

Delta State (10-2) at North Carolina Central (11-0)

Newberry (11-1) at North Alabama (10-0)

(The Indians march into the Shoals to square off against the Lions!)

Merrimack (8-3) at Shepherd (10-0)

West Chester (9-3) at Bloomsburg (10-1)

Midwestern State (10-2) at Northwest Missouri State (11-0)

West Texas A&M (11-1) at Chadron State (11-0)

(The Buffaloes make the stampede into western Nebraska to battle the Eagles!)

NCAA DIVISION III PLAYOFFS--SECOND ROUND

Wheaton (10-1) at Mount Union (11-0)

North Central (9-2) at Capital (10-1)

Rowan (8-2) at Wilkes (11-0)

St. John's Fisher (10-1) at Springfield (10-1)

(Regular-season re-match of Empire 8 Conference powerhouses!)

Carnegie-Mellon (11-0) at Wesley (11-0)

(Battle of undefeated "Pool B's!")

Washington & Jefferson (10-1) at Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-2)

Wisconsin-LaCrosse (9-1) at Wisconsin-Whitewater (11-0)

(Here's another re-match of conference rivals from the regular season!)

St. John's (10-1) at Whitworth (11-0)

(The Johnnies go west to face the Pirates in this potential titanic battle!)

NAIA PLAYOFFS--QUARTERFINALS

Morningside (9-2) at Sioux Falls (11-0)

Bethel (Tenn.)--(10-1) at St. Francis (Ind.)--(11-0)

Northwestern (Iowa)--(11-1) at Missouri Valley (12-0)

St. Xavier (9-2) at Carroll (Mont.)--(11-1)

OTHER GAMES

Thursday

Turkey Day Classic at Montgomery, Ala.

Tuskegee (7-3) vs. Alabama State (5-5)

Saturday

Bayou Classic at New Orleans@

Grambling State (3-6) vs. Southern (4-6)

@--Game televised on NBC-TV at 2 p.m. EST