The Mount: Week 2

The records so far for our 2016 season college pick em are as follows: Emily (3-2), Elizabeth (4-1), fan vote (3-2).

We’re also taking a slightly less in-depth look at eight more meets and providing you with all the links and information you’ll need to tune in to the schedule’s 32 Division-I competitions between today and Monday.

No. 5 UCLA at No. 3 Florida: Friday, January 15 at 7 p.m. ET
UCLA Notes | Florida Preview

UCLA pleasantly surprised fans in its meet against Alabama to open the 2016 season. While most expected quite a slow start, the Bruins came out relatively strong and wound up with the win over the Crimson Tide. While bars and vault need a lot of work, beam and floor look like major strengths for the team in 2016. Florida, on the other hand, looked like it took a huge dose of Xanax on the bus ride over or like it never fully woke up from sleeping eight hours earlier. The Gators will need to bring the energy if they want to not only improve upon last week’s results but come out with the win. But who are we kidding? Florida at home means this competition will most likely not even be close. However, mistakes here and there could add up and the Bruins could be flying back to UCLA winners.

Elevate the Stage: Sunday, January 17 at 4 p.m. ET
No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Auburn in Birmingham, Ala.
Alabama Notes

Alabama has won every single match up against Auburn since the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. And despite losing against UCLA in Los Angeles, still looked strong for January. Auburn didn’t look too shabby, though, either. The Tigers showed signs of being able to continue the success form 2015. However, they didn’t look as polished as the Crimson Tide. Not to mention this meet is a huge rivalry matchup (even though Auburn’s never won). There’s a certain added amount of will to win when you’re competing against your foe than another random opponent. The neutral site will be interesting too, and having things on podium is an added advantage for this point in the year, especially for the freshmen who may or may not have competed on one before.

No. 15 Georgia at No. 16 Arkansas: Friday, January 15 at 8:30 p.m. ET
Georgia Notes | Arkansas Notes

This is actually quite an interesting matchup. The teams scores virtually the same thing in their first meets of the year. Both had bright spots while both also had near-disasters. Georgia’s got to get its beamplosions under control or eradicate the falls completely. Don’t do that and it’s not winning meets any time soon — not even the “easy” ones. Arkansas competed a day after New Year’s and then had a week off, so expect the Razorbacks to be refreshed and much better than in Mexico, having had two weeks since then to continue preparation. They, too, need some help on beam but it’s not as much of a problem as the Gym Dogs on the event.

No. 4 Oklahoma at No. 16 Arkansas: Sunday, January 17 at 3 p.m. ET
Oklahoma Preview

Yeah, Oklahoma lost at LSU. But the Sooners looked strong in their season opener. There are little things to work through and some falls to get rid of before Sunday, but it’s Oklahoma. Arkansas will be coming off a two week break but also will be competing in its second meet in three days, so look for some fatigue there. Oklahoma’s the stronger team, but about this time last year, Arkansas was on its way to beating Alabama in Fayetteville. Is another upset brewing?

No. 22 Stanford at No. 15 Georgia: Monday, January 18 at 2 p.m. ET
Stanford Notes | Georgia Notes

Georgia head coach Danna Durante always likes to stress how her teams tend to do better the second meet in a two-meet weekend than it did in the first. That plus the Gym Dogs being at home for the first time this season is a positive not to be taken lightly. Stanford is also Stanford, and never super strong at the beginning of the season. The Cardinal will be strong on bars and beam because it always is, but vault and floor might become an issue, especially if the team has to compete a couple of Yurchenko layouts again. It can’t be the Elizabeth Price and Co. show again and expect to beat Georgia in SEC-scoring territory. And Georgia can’t have the fallsies on beam again and expect to surpass a  beginning-of-the-season Stanford team.

Other Notable Matchups
Lady Luck Invitational: Thursday, January 14 at 10 p.m. ET
No. 1 LSU, No. 23 N.C. State
LSU Notes | N.C. State PreviewIt’s very important LSU comes into this meet and proves last weekend wasn’t a fluke or a home-scoring, not-really-a-legit-win win. Hotel meets are often kind of weird, though, so don’t be surprised if the team doesn’t improve on last week’s score and even drops slightly. You never know what to expect when you compete in a ballroom instead of in a typical arena. N.C. State, on the other hand, is coming off an upset win over Penn State, so it just needs to continue to ride that high as long as it can and attempt to put another good score to stay in the top 25.

No. 14 Missouri at No. 6 Alabama: Friday, January 15 at 7 p.m. ET
Missouri Notes | Alabama Notes

Missouri did quite well in its first two meets last weekend, posting solid 195s each time out and upsetting an Illinois team a lot of people thought would make it to nationals. Backed by Shauna Miller, Kennedi Harris and a whole slew of other above average competitors, Missouri’s got one of the best teams its had in years. However, the Tigers are going to Alabama. So don’t expect a third win for 2016 just yet. Alabama will win, but the Tide have something to prove as well. Vault and bars need to improve. They can’t rely on Bailey’s anchor routine on bars to save a so-so rotation. Lauren Beers also needs to get back to full health. There was a noticeable gap where her scores normally fit in. But all in good time. She did have four surgeries over the off season afterall.

No. 21 Kentucky at No. 7 Auburn: Friday, January 15 at 8 p.m. ET
Kentucky Notes | Auburn Notes

Kentucky struggled in 2015. Saying that is probably an understatement. So anything the team did this year was going to be an improvement. However, their first competition was more than that. it was pretty impressive. The crop of newcomers showed up and produced solid routines for good scores. Katie Stuart has a full-twisting double layout dismount and it’s beautiful. And Sidney Dukes and Alex Hyland finished 1-2 in the all around with 39+ totals. Not to mention the team sold out the meet with nearly 8,000 fans. Auburn also had a pretty good first meet, but there’s lots of room for improvement. Vault was good, floor was fine event bars was good despite Caitlin Atkinson’s weird, random 8.8. But beam was just meh. You can tell they’re hurting a bit from Jenny Rowland leaving for Florida. Auburn will win this one, but Kentucky could make it interesting if things start to fall apart.

No. 7 Utah at No. 30 Southern Utah: Friday, January 15 at 9 p.m. ET
Utah Notes | Southern Utah Notes

Utah looked fine in its first meet. There was nothing outstanding about the performance but nothing really to worry about either. Vault landings need to get better before the Red Rocks start competing against more competitive teams and floor difficulty could stand to increase, but overall it wasn’t a bad first meet. Southern Utah looked pretty solid as well. After coming off a strong 2015 season, the expectations were high. However, losing a couple of standout routines showed some on beam and floor where the Thunderbirds had to count falls. More time should clear up those mistakes, though.

No. 19 Illinois at Rutgers: Saturday, January 16 at 1 p.m. ET
Illinois Preview | Rutgers Preview

Illinois surprised a lot of people last weekend, but not really in a good way. Giana O’Connor and Mary Jane Horth were their normal steady selves but the rest of the team was kind of lackluster. You don’t get upset by Missouri without making more than a few mistakes (not to say the Tigers aren’t a good team this year). During the preseason, lots of people had the Illini as a team to watch for nationals, but we’re not so sure at this point. The team will have to prove that last weekend was a one-time thing and isn’t going to happen again. Rutgers showed some highlights in its opener as well — particularly from April Baker’s 9.9 on vault. But you could tell they were hurting some without Claire Jones, who’s a rock on three events but was out with a nagging knee issue.

No. 28 Ohio State at No. 1 Michigan: Saturday, January 16 at 4 p.m. ET
Ohio State Preview | Michigan Preview

Michigan had two top scores in its first two meets, but that will no longer be acceptable for the Wolverines. The team will be looking to surpass 197 in its third time out, especially since it will be at home for a second consecutive week. Better landings on vault and cleaner beam routines should put the Wolverines in that position easily. Ohio State is also coming off a win at Washington. However, the Buckeyes shouldn’t expect to pick up the upset against their conference rivals. The main goal will be eliminating the three falls and
seven other meh routines from last weekend to better position itself in the standings for weeks to come.

No. 25 Maryland at No. 23 Minnesota: Saturday, January 16 at 5 p.m. ET
Maryland Notes | Minnesota Notes

Apart from Lindsay Mable, Minnesota is just an average team, trying to hang on. But Mable elevates that just OK team to a new height. This will be a close matchup between similar teams. The Gophers’ supporting cast will need to back up the star to stay in the competition while Maryland will need to build upon last week’s no-bad competition at Pittsburgh to come out with a win.

No. 31 Nebraska at No. 29 Penn State: Saturday, January 16 at 5 p.m. ET
Nebraska Notes | Penn State Notes

So Nebraska had the clichéd tale of two halves. They did really bad on bars and beam. And when we say really bad we mean really bad. Counting a fall on beam and an 8.9 on bars is not going to cut it, especially for a team that went to nationals last year. The Huskers did pick it up on floor and vault and came away with the win but only really because the other teams stumbled as well and just weren’t as good to begin with. Plus, Arizona State, who had a meet last year where it couldn’t put up five gymnasts on each event, was leading Nebraska at the halfway point. So that happened. Penn State also had a bit of a rough first meet, getting upset by N.C. State at home. It wasn’t a terrible meet, but little things here and there added up to result in the loss. Kiera Brown, who’s gone through a lot over the past year, shined for the Nittany Lions and showed why she’s such an asset to have on the team and especially bars as she currently sits in first in the country with a 9.95.

No. 13 Denver at Iowa: Sunday, January 17 at 3 p.m. ET
Denver Preview | Iowa Preview

It’s Nina McGee’s world and we’re just living in it. But seriously. Only she, and maybe Bridget Sloan, could go out in the first meet of the season and get a perfect 10. And it wasn’t just a perfect 10, but it was her very first ever. Plus she’s a fifth-year senior and had rods in both legs. So there’s that. The rest of Denver’s team showed up too, and needs to continue to do so so the Pioneers can build upon their No. 13-raking and possibly even crack the top 10? Is that a realistic thing to hope for from this team? Beam needs to improve, but that’s an easy fix as the three counting scores of 9.525, 9.6 and 9.625 aren’t anything the individuals can improve upon this week. Iowa now has two competitions under its belt and already improved upon its first performance by over two points. That’s impressive. Expect more of that in the weeks to come from the Hawkeyes.

These aren’t the only meets happening this weekend! To see all the matchups all in one place, take a look at our master schedule. You can also find live scoring and video links below.