Following up on prophecies from last week...

If we're to be legit about predicting games, we've got to follow up on our predictions each week, so you have some idea what return you're getting on your investment, right? So, here we go!

Rugby) Nailed it. New Zealand 34-17 over Australia.

NFL) An awkward weekend! Got four right (picking the Pats, Chiefs, Vikes, and Cards to win and cover); had one push (Ravens by three over SD) and three more where we picked the right winner but they barely missed the cover (Seattle by ONE, Houston by THREE instead of four, and Saints by THREE instead of 3 1/2! Aaagh!). Missed the winners entirely on victories by Tampa, the Raiders, Cincy and Denver (Manning be Manning again!); and missed that SF wouldn't cover against the Rams. So with the winners we went 9-4; ATS, though, we were 4-8-1, with one to go tonight. (Carolina covers seven against Indy.)

CFL) Two-and-two: we got the two dominant teams in the west, Calgary and Edmonton, winning their games handily. But we missed the other two - the BC Lions clinched a playoff spot by upsetting Toronto (guaranteeing them third place in the East), and sophomore franchise Ottawa moved within one step of a division title by beating Hamilton 12-6 in Hamilton! All they have to do now is play them again at home Saturday and either win or lose by fewer than six points. Good luck, RedBlacks!

NCAA) By sections...

BIG GAMES in the FBS - we went 4-1! Missed UNC beating Pitt 26-19, but nailed wins by Florida and LaTech, and knew Stanford and Notre Dame would win close battles with Wazzu and Temple, respectively.

BIG GAMES in the FCS - 3-3 here, but we're good with it. Our winners: Dayton 31-14 over Jacksonville; J-ville State routing Eastern Kentucky; and William & Mary over JMU. Our losers weren't embarrasing - Charleston Southern edged out Coastal Carolina, handing the defending conference champs their first loss; Fordham lost 31-29 to Colgate in an incredible game; and an even more amazing game saw Harvard beat Dartmouth as predicted, but only by one point (not 10+ as called). Big Green held the champs scoreless until six minutes to go in the game, stopping Harvard on interceptions, fumbles, and so forth every time they made it into hostile territory. But they scored a TD with six to go, failed on the next drive, and then went down and scored on fourth down to win the game 14-13. Great teams find ways to win.

OTHER GAMES of interest in the FBS - Four right, five wrong, one push, and one push-ish (Auburn lost by 8 on a seven point spread). Proud of the way Minnesota reacted Saturday night, and deserved to beat Michigan. Took three OTs for Oregon to prove our Sun Devil forecast wrong!

OTHER GAMES of interest in the FCS - Seven right, three winners but we missed the margin badly (Illinois St, Eastern Washington, and Marist weren't close to what we called), and five we had the wrong victors - congrats to Alabama A&M, Alcorn St, Penn, Furman, and first-year ballers Kennesaw St, who went to 6-2 with an upset of Monmouth Saturday! Are they actually a threat to Coastal and Charleston Southern? We'll find out soon enough!

All other games... - 14-8 in the FBS predictions against the spread; 32-7 picking winners in the FCS.

All in all, not bad...

Thursday Thoughts: The RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 has finally arrived!

After months of build up, it's time for the World Cup - we spent some time and posts discussing RWC 2015 in the first incarnation of Following Football, mostly because of its close kinship to all four brands of football that we normally cover, but we haven't talked about it much in the last month or so...

But Friday, match one features England and Fiji in the 'pool of death' (every such tournament has one, it seems!), and then Saturday features four different opening round matches all over England: the full schedule is here.

We have no particular idea as to who's in form, who the favorite should be, although here at Following Football, we tend to follow the All Blacks from New Zealand and root for them; the Australian Wallabies are also a blog favorite, and of course whenever the United States or Canada is in the mix, we're paying attention as well. But here's the ESPN expert predictions - remarkably, the majority of them see France as a team that will either make a surprising run into the semi finals OR self-destruct colorfully and dramatically.

Rugby fans - the BEATLES are coming! (Essentially...)

The All Blacks are coming to America! Read all about it in this ESPNSCRUM article in today's espn.com! For rugby fans, this is a huge deal - much like when Pele's first visits to the US for soccer, back in the sixties and early seventies.