Tonight we have have the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and towmorrow is the Las Vegas Bowl. TCU is playing in the first and Boise St. is in the second. Both of these schools have become nation powerhouses and deserved better bowls, but won't get them until they make their moves to other conferences.
TCU had a slow start to the season, but made up for it with a strong finish and a huge, nation ramifications victory at Boise. These two teams seem to be tied together for the last few years. They both have had nation title hopes in the last few years, but neither could put together the undefeated season at the right time.
This bowl is very important to TCU. They take on a middle of the road Louisiana Tech and will be trying to put up some big points and play extremely well. If they can have a big game, Casey Pachall will go into his junior year with big hopes and probably a high preseason ranking, this game could do a lot for next year. Since TCU will be in a major conference next season and could make a legitimate run at a national title. They of course will have a harder schedule and will finally get to prove themselves against some of the major teams in the nation.
Boise has a different type of game. This will be Kellen Moore's victory lap for a great career at Boise St. He has put up some big numbers and lots of wins for the Broncos. They will face of against Arizona St. The Sun Devils were thought to be the top contenders for the PAC-12 South title with USC on probation, but fell apart in the second half of the season. ASU has a very nice win against USC early in the season, but that was before USC really got it together. Boise also got their best victory early on, against a Georgia team that made the SEC title game.
Neither TCU or Boise St. should have too much trouble in these games. Arizona St. is probably the tougher opponent, but Boise St. won't run into to many problems with team.
I lost last night to move to a record of 19-15. I'm laying the points in both of these games. TCU (-9.5) and Boise St. (-14)
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Beef 'O' Brady Bowl
The Marshall Thundering Herd and the Florida International Golden Panthers will descend on Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, tonight.
Why does this bowl exist? Do we really need to know if the fifth place Conference USA team is better than the fourth best Sun Belt team? Marshall needed over time to beat ECU just to be eligible to play in this game. I give Marshall credit for playing three ranked teams this year, but they got blown-out in all of them.
Marshall doesn't rank in the top half of the NCAA in anything. FIU ranks pretty well in points-against, but that has a lot to do with playing in the Sun Belt.
FIU has the only quality win between them, in an early season victory against co-Big East Champion Louisville. That's a 7-5 Louisville team that played a lot better as the season went on.
Went 1-2 on the first set of bowl games to snap my winning streak. I now stand 19-14 overall.
I'm gonna go with FIU (-4). I don't have much of a reason for picking FIU, but Marshall is just bad.
Be back tomorrow with some decent bowl games, containing TCU and Boise St. among others.
Why does this bowl exist? Do we really need to know if the fifth place Conference USA team is better than the fourth best Sun Belt team? Marshall needed over time to beat ECU just to be eligible to play in this game. I give Marshall credit for playing three ranked teams this year, but they got blown-out in all of them.
Marshall doesn't rank in the top half of the NCAA in anything. FIU ranks pretty well in points-against, but that has a lot to do with playing in the Sun Belt.
FIU has the only quality win between them, in an early season victory against co-Big East Champion Louisville. That's a 7-5 Louisville team that played a lot better as the season went on.
Went 1-2 on the first set of bowl games to snap my winning streak. I now stand 19-14 overall.
I'm gonna go with FIU (-4). I don't have much of a reason for picking FIU, but Marshall is just bad.
Be back tomorrow with some decent bowl games, containing TCU and Boise St. among others.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Happy Bowl Season!
It's that time of year again. Christmas songs are becoming annoying again, except "Little Drummer Boy" Bowie's version kicks ass. So does Tori Amos'. I still haven't gone shopping yet (Note to self: go to liquor store). Most importantly the bowl games start this Saturday.
Another thing. Can HBO do a 24/7 series for everything? Sports. Shopping. Scrap-booking. Everything.
Went 3-2 championship weekend to finish the regular season 18-12. I'll be picking every bowl game. I assume my hot streak will turn really cold soon.
The legendary New Mexico Bowl will start it all of for us at 2 PM Saturday. Temple will represent the MAC against Wyoming from the MWC in this 11AM local time kickoff.
Temple is seventh in the nation in rushing and third in points against. They only lost to Penn St. by 4, pre-craziness at State College. They also crushed a bad Maryland team in their other major conference game.
Wyoming on the other hand is a mediocre team across the board, ranked mid-table in points for and against, along with passing and rushing. The are a little better on the ground. Looking at the results of their season, the Cowboys have four losses, but three of them are to Nebraska, TCU and Boise St. It seems that Wyoming can beat the teams they are supposed to, and fail to the better teams in the country.
Temple is favored by 7 in this game. I always think of Temple as the one win Rutgers would have in all of those 1-11 seasons pre-Brian Leonard/Ray Rice. That means the Owls are not a Power. I'm taking Wyoming (+7).
Bonus Question: Does anyone go to this game? Are Wyoming fans going to travel to New Mexico for a late morning kickoff? I'm pretty sure Temple fans will not be flocking from Philly.
When this season started, I really wanted to see Ohio University and Utah St. battle each other on the football field. Thanks to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, this blogger gets his wish.
I've actually watched a few Ohio games this year. They played Rutgers and they have played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year. When they did play mid-week I happened to be out and the games were on the TV at the bar. They played very close games on those occasions. This game falls in the late afternoon slot and I will be watching before I head out to a Christmas Party on Saturday. I hope it's a close one.
Ohio is coming off a loss in the MAC Title game against Northern Illinois, which would have moved them into next year to play Arkansas St. This might actually be a better game for them, people are itching for some college football now, by Jan. 8 some may have had enough.
The only time I saw Utah St. this season, I saw them take Auburn to the brink to start the season. Auburn was out-played by the Aggies and needed an onside kick to win the game. They fell one game short of taking the WAC Title.
Both teams can rush the ball, both over 200 yards per game. Utah St. runs it better 277 per game. That, along with almost beating a SEC team and defending champs gives them the edge in my mind. Utah St. (-1.5).
The last game of this first slate of bowl games is the New Orleans Bowl. With San Diego St. taking on Louisiana-Lafayette in a MWC-Sun Belt showdown. I'll be at a party and the Rangers will be playing on the west coast, there is no shot I watch a second of this game.
The purpose of this game is clear. Which is more impressive UL-Lafayette's 61-34 loss to Oklahoma St. to start the season, or San Diego St.'s 52-35 loss to Boise St. AQ conference vs. mid-major...sorta.
Let's go to the video tape. UL-Lafayette gave up 388 yards through the air for 3 TDs by Brandon Weeden, but also picked him off three times. Nice work guys! San Diego St. on the other hand limited (?) Kellen Moore to 366 yards and 4 TDs, but only intercepted him once.
This expert, in-depth analysis shows me that UL-Lafayette is clearly the better team. San Diego St. is favored by 5. I'm taking the points UL-Lafayette (+5).
Bonus Question: Who would win in a fight a "Ragin' Cajun" or "Aztec"?
I'll be back for the mid-week bowls predictions, which happen to contain teams that I have actually watched this season. Have a good one.
Another thing. Can HBO do a 24/7 series for everything? Sports. Shopping. Scrap-booking. Everything.
Went 3-2 championship weekend to finish the regular season 18-12. I'll be picking every bowl game. I assume my hot streak will turn really cold soon.
The legendary New Mexico Bowl will start it all of for us at 2 PM Saturday. Temple will represent the MAC against Wyoming from the MWC in this 11AM local time kickoff.
Temple is seventh in the nation in rushing and third in points against. They only lost to Penn St. by 4, pre-craziness at State College. They also crushed a bad Maryland team in their other major conference game.
Wyoming on the other hand is a mediocre team across the board, ranked mid-table in points for and against, along with passing and rushing. The are a little better on the ground. Looking at the results of their season, the Cowboys have four losses, but three of them are to Nebraska, TCU and Boise St. It seems that Wyoming can beat the teams they are supposed to, and fail to the better teams in the country.
Temple is favored by 7 in this game. I always think of Temple as the one win Rutgers would have in all of those 1-11 seasons pre-Brian Leonard/Ray Rice. That means the Owls are not a Power. I'm taking Wyoming (+7).
Bonus Question: Does anyone go to this game? Are Wyoming fans going to travel to New Mexico for a late morning kickoff? I'm pretty sure Temple fans will not be flocking from Philly.
When this season started, I really wanted to see Ohio University and Utah St. battle each other on the football field. Thanks to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, this blogger gets his wish.
I've actually watched a few Ohio games this year. They played Rutgers and they have played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year. When they did play mid-week I happened to be out and the games were on the TV at the bar. They played very close games on those occasions. This game falls in the late afternoon slot and I will be watching before I head out to a Christmas Party on Saturday. I hope it's a close one.
Ohio is coming off a loss in the MAC Title game against Northern Illinois, which would have moved them into next year to play Arkansas St. This might actually be a better game for them, people are itching for some college football now, by Jan. 8 some may have had enough.
The only time I saw Utah St. this season, I saw them take Auburn to the brink to start the season. Auburn was out-played by the Aggies and needed an onside kick to win the game. They fell one game short of taking the WAC Title.
Both teams can rush the ball, both over 200 yards per game. Utah St. runs it better 277 per game. That, along with almost beating a SEC team and defending champs gives them the edge in my mind. Utah St. (-1.5).
The last game of this first slate of bowl games is the New Orleans Bowl. With San Diego St. taking on Louisiana-Lafayette in a MWC-Sun Belt showdown. I'll be at a party and the Rangers will be playing on the west coast, there is no shot I watch a second of this game.
The purpose of this game is clear. Which is more impressive UL-Lafayette's 61-34 loss to Oklahoma St. to start the season, or San Diego St.'s 52-35 loss to Boise St. AQ conference vs. mid-major...sorta.
Let's go to the video tape. UL-Lafayette gave up 388 yards through the air for 3 TDs by Brandon Weeden, but also picked him off three times. Nice work guys! San Diego St. on the other hand limited (?) Kellen Moore to 366 yards and 4 TDs, but only intercepted him once.
This expert, in-depth analysis shows me that UL-Lafayette is clearly the better team. San Diego St. is favored by 5. I'm taking the points UL-Lafayette (+5).
Bonus Question: Who would win in a fight a "Ragin' Cajun" or "Aztec"?
I'll be back for the mid-week bowls predictions, which happen to contain teams that I have actually watched this season. Have a good one.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Championship Weekend
Here we are, the last week of the college football regular season. Lots of changes this year from the previous BCS era championship weekends. First off, The Pac-12 and Big Ten both have title games now. The Big 12 does not have an official one anymore. On a national level, the BCS title game is almost certainly going to be a rematch of top ranked LSU and fellow SEC West powerhouse Alabama.
With these circumstances, we have the opportunity to just sit back and enjoy the games.
Or we could just cry about the system, it sucks.
No one I've talked to (and this includes folks from SEC country) wants to see a rematch. We all think they are the two best teams, but firstly it is not fair to LSU, who beat Alabama already and did their job of going undefeated in the regular season. Secondly, we have seen this game already, and it wasn't that good, not to say it will be the same game again, but let's try something new.
This year is the first year that I actually would have like the old bowl system. LSU being the clear cut best team. If the Tigers lose in their bowl game (wouldn't have been against Alabama in the old system) then the voters could just weigh the seasons of all the one-loss teams and choose a champion. Just kidding, the voters would totally screw that up.
Let's get to the games.
The Pac-12 Championship game debuts on Friday night. Oregon hosts UCLA. The Ducks are overwhelming favorites in this game. The game has a solid chance of being the least compelling major conference championship game in the semi-storied history of major conference championship games. It's going to be ugly. Unless you are a Ducks fan or just want to watch a more athletic, better coached, smarter team at all facets of the game, absolutely destroy another team that backed it's way into the game, by having others lose and the best team in their division be barred from the contest.
If you find yourself watching this game on Friday, take the time to really watch the Oregon offense play a few drives. They play offense like an old school hardcore album. 15 tracks, 30 minutes. If you are watching with a buddy, play a game, try to predict the next play. I doesn't matter if you are right, but if you are done speaking before they run the play.
Much more compelling games on Saturday, at least on the field.
Let's start at noon with the Conference USA title game. Southern Mississippi and Houston. The main reason to watch this game is Case Keenum, the Houston QB, that has an outside chance at the Heisman and holds most of the career passing records for the whole NCAA. The other reason is Southern Miss is ranked 24, this will be the first ranked team Houston plays this year.
Southern Miss has lost by 6 and 3 to Marshall and UAB respectfully. Neither of those two teams are great, but they have not been blown out. They also beat Virginia, a team that was one game away from making the ACC Championship Game. Their QB Austin Davis has had a nice season. Over 3,000 yards, with 24 TDs to 10 INTs. He went 27-41 for 313 yards and 3 TDs, while throwing zero INTs in their biggest win at Virginia. This game has a good shot at being the best and/or most exciting game of the weekend, and with Houston's BCS bid at stake, the drama will be there and will be real.
LSU heads to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to take on Georgia at 3:30 on Saturday. Even with a loss, LSU is almost guaranteed a spot for the BCS Title anyway, so that drama is gone. LSU has been considered the best team in the nation since they beat Alabama a month ago, and even before that a lot of people considered them the best. What they put on the line Saturday is history. LSU did it's job ever week this crazy season. Playing in the toughest division in the toughest conference and throwing two probably major conference champions in their out-of-conference schedule for the hell of it, history is paying attention. This LSU team, if it continues to do it's job, can start being mentioned with the other great teams in modern college football. The 1995 Nebraska and 2001 Miami teams come to mind. The Tigers main goal is a national title, which this game doesn't really effect, but history along with a SEC title will be on the line Saturday.
Georgia lost to Boise St. and a still healthy and intact South Carolina team to start the season. After that they fell under the radar, Mark Richt was on the hot seat, the team was not on the same page, the season was in trouble of being an end of an era in Athens. Like a boxer that gets knocked down in the first two rounds of a fight, then starts winning round after round after round, you thought the fight was over, but then the final bell rings and boom Georgia is the winner. They have a chance to knock a team from the ranks of the undefeated and possibly the ranks of the all-timers. If Georgia pulls the upset, Aaron Murray will be throwing the jabs. Not putting up astronomical numbers like some of his counterparts, he putting up consistent good games, only four interceptions in his last seven games, compared to 19 scores and the ability to run of a first down or two. To go along with those jabs, Isaish Crowell will have to be throwing the hay-makers. He is expected to play and will need to make big plays (not an easy task against this defense) but the freshman can be explosive. This game can be really close and really good, but LSU, like all of their other games, can blow this one open at any point.
Oklahoma St. hosts Oklahoma in the annual Bedlam game. The Cowboys can still dream about playing for it all against LSU, but they would really need to beat Oklahoma convincingly. I don't see that happening, if the roles were reversed and Oklahoma was still dreaming of BCS trophies, I'd be more inclined to go along with it, but when traditional underdogs in rivalries try to have a break-through season, it is rarely with a blowout. This is a great QB matchup, Landry Jones is trying to cap of his season with a big game and try to cement his spot at the second best QB in the draft (assuming Matt Barkley declares). Brandon Weeden is trying to make people forget about Iowa St. The Incas played better defense against the Spanish than these Oklahoma teams will play on Saturday.
The late game on Saturday is the Big Ten Championship. A rematch between Michigan St. and Wisconsin. The Spartans won the first game with a last second Hail Mary pass. Wisconsin is the better offense, Russell Wilson and Montee Ball leading the way. Michigan St. has the advantage on the defensive end, ranked 6th in the nation in points allowed, but they did give up 31 to Wisconsin. The question is can the Spartans score 37 again this time. They have done so four of the five times since that game, those four were against Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana and Northwestern, in the one against a decent Nebraska team, they scored 3.
Wisconsin will get their points. Montee Ball's Yards-TDs game log this season:
63-1
118-2
91-2
88-2
151-4
148-3
115-1
85-1
223-3
166-2
224-2
156-4
That's a total of 1622 yards and 29 TDs. On top of this he scored five touchdowns on the receiving end. I believe that's Heisman worthy.
Clemson and Virginia Tech play for ACC bragging rights. Clemson won the first match-up, but has fallen apart since. VT will try to stay among the one-loss teams and would be in the BCS Title picture if they played even a somewhat decent schedule, but they didn't.
Baylor and Texas play in the afternoon, if you haven't seen RGIII play, check him out.
The Picks
Another winning week for your highly-esteemed blogger. 3-2 to push me to a robust 15-10 on the season.
(10) Oklahoma (+3) at (3) Oklahoma St.
Oklahoma has won 7 in a row in this rivalry, and this is a rare time where the Sooners are getting points. Add that to Landry Jones playing his final Big 12 game and a chance to show the scouts that he should be the second QB taken, and Brandon Weeden propensity to throw the ball to the other team recently and two weeks to stew over the Iowa St. debacle. I like Oklahoma here.
(1) LSU (-13.5) vs. (14) Georgia
The game is being played in Atlanta, but LSU will be well represented in the stands. Georgia has a punchers chance in the game, but LSU's defense is just too strong and Jordan Jefferson is playing well. If the spread was over two TDs I may stay away from it, but with the Tigers scoring on offense, defense and special teams, I'll lay the points.
(17) Baylor (-2.5) vs. (22) Texas
Robert Griffin III will be the best play on the field, Baylor beat Oklahoma and Texas is far worse than Oklahoma. Texas his banged up at running back and do not have a sure-fire starter at QB.
(5) Virginia Tech (-7) vs. (20) Clemson
Clemson has fallen of a cliff with only one win in their last four games and that was by three against Wake Forest. Other than shutting out Virginia last week, VT has not been dominating games recently, but Clemson can not get out of their own way in recent weeks and the Hokies want to get revenge. Also, Logan Thomas and David Wilson is one of the nations best QB-RB duo and have been playing at their really high level.
San Diego St. (-8) vs. Fresno St.
San Diego St. is 4-3 in the Mountain West and Fresno St is 3-4 in the WAC. The MWC has TCU and Boise St. and the WAC does not. Also San Diego St. has Tony Gwynn as an assistant baseball coach, and San Diego is an awesome town.
With these circumstances, we have the opportunity to just sit back and enjoy the games.
Or we could just cry about the system, it sucks.
No one I've talked to (and this includes folks from SEC country) wants to see a rematch. We all think they are the two best teams, but firstly it is not fair to LSU, who beat Alabama already and did their job of going undefeated in the regular season. Secondly, we have seen this game already, and it wasn't that good, not to say it will be the same game again, but let's try something new.
This year is the first year that I actually would have like the old bowl system. LSU being the clear cut best team. If the Tigers lose in their bowl game (wouldn't have been against Alabama in the old system) then the voters could just weigh the seasons of all the one-loss teams and choose a champion. Just kidding, the voters would totally screw that up.
Let's get to the games.
The Pac-12 Championship game debuts on Friday night. Oregon hosts UCLA. The Ducks are overwhelming favorites in this game. The game has a solid chance of being the least compelling major conference championship game in the semi-storied history of major conference championship games. It's going to be ugly. Unless you are a Ducks fan or just want to watch a more athletic, better coached, smarter team at all facets of the game, absolutely destroy another team that backed it's way into the game, by having others lose and the best team in their division be barred from the contest.
If you find yourself watching this game on Friday, take the time to really watch the Oregon offense play a few drives. They play offense like an old school hardcore album. 15 tracks, 30 minutes. If you are watching with a buddy, play a game, try to predict the next play. I doesn't matter if you are right, but if you are done speaking before they run the play.
Much more compelling games on Saturday, at least on the field.
Let's start at noon with the Conference USA title game. Southern Mississippi and Houston. The main reason to watch this game is Case Keenum, the Houston QB, that has an outside chance at the Heisman and holds most of the career passing records for the whole NCAA. The other reason is Southern Miss is ranked 24, this will be the first ranked team Houston plays this year.
Southern Miss has lost by 6 and 3 to Marshall and UAB respectfully. Neither of those two teams are great, but they have not been blown out. They also beat Virginia, a team that was one game away from making the ACC Championship Game. Their QB Austin Davis has had a nice season. Over 3,000 yards, with 24 TDs to 10 INTs. He went 27-41 for 313 yards and 3 TDs, while throwing zero INTs in their biggest win at Virginia. This game has a good shot at being the best and/or most exciting game of the weekend, and with Houston's BCS bid at stake, the drama will be there and will be real.
LSU heads to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to take on Georgia at 3:30 on Saturday. Even with a loss, LSU is almost guaranteed a spot for the BCS Title anyway, so that drama is gone. LSU has been considered the best team in the nation since they beat Alabama a month ago, and even before that a lot of people considered them the best. What they put on the line Saturday is history. LSU did it's job ever week this crazy season. Playing in the toughest division in the toughest conference and throwing two probably major conference champions in their out-of-conference schedule for the hell of it, history is paying attention. This LSU team, if it continues to do it's job, can start being mentioned with the other great teams in modern college football. The 1995 Nebraska and 2001 Miami teams come to mind. The Tigers main goal is a national title, which this game doesn't really effect, but history along with a SEC title will be on the line Saturday.
Georgia lost to Boise St. and a still healthy and intact South Carolina team to start the season. After that they fell under the radar, Mark Richt was on the hot seat, the team was not on the same page, the season was in trouble of being an end of an era in Athens. Like a boxer that gets knocked down in the first two rounds of a fight, then starts winning round after round after round, you thought the fight was over, but then the final bell rings and boom Georgia is the winner. They have a chance to knock a team from the ranks of the undefeated and possibly the ranks of the all-timers. If Georgia pulls the upset, Aaron Murray will be throwing the jabs. Not putting up astronomical numbers like some of his counterparts, he putting up consistent good games, only four interceptions in his last seven games, compared to 19 scores and the ability to run of a first down or two. To go along with those jabs, Isaish Crowell will have to be throwing the hay-makers. He is expected to play and will need to make big plays (not an easy task against this defense) but the freshman can be explosive. This game can be really close and really good, but LSU, like all of their other games, can blow this one open at any point.
Oklahoma St. hosts Oklahoma in the annual Bedlam game. The Cowboys can still dream about playing for it all against LSU, but they would really need to beat Oklahoma convincingly. I don't see that happening, if the roles were reversed and Oklahoma was still dreaming of BCS trophies, I'd be more inclined to go along with it, but when traditional underdogs in rivalries try to have a break-through season, it is rarely with a blowout. This is a great QB matchup, Landry Jones is trying to cap of his season with a big game and try to cement his spot at the second best QB in the draft (assuming Matt Barkley declares). Brandon Weeden is trying to make people forget about Iowa St. The Incas played better defense against the Spanish than these Oklahoma teams will play on Saturday.
The late game on Saturday is the Big Ten Championship. A rematch between Michigan St. and Wisconsin. The Spartans won the first game with a last second Hail Mary pass. Wisconsin is the better offense, Russell Wilson and Montee Ball leading the way. Michigan St. has the advantage on the defensive end, ranked 6th in the nation in points allowed, but they did give up 31 to Wisconsin. The question is can the Spartans score 37 again this time. They have done so four of the five times since that game, those four were against Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana and Northwestern, in the one against a decent Nebraska team, they scored 3.
Wisconsin will get their points. Montee Ball's Yards-TDs game log this season:
63-1
118-2
91-2
88-2
151-4
148-3
115-1
85-1
223-3
166-2
224-2
156-4
That's a total of 1622 yards and 29 TDs. On top of this he scored five touchdowns on the receiving end. I believe that's Heisman worthy.
Clemson and Virginia Tech play for ACC bragging rights. Clemson won the first match-up, but has fallen apart since. VT will try to stay among the one-loss teams and would be in the BCS Title picture if they played even a somewhat decent schedule, but they didn't.
Baylor and Texas play in the afternoon, if you haven't seen RGIII play, check him out.
The Picks
Another winning week for your highly-esteemed blogger. 3-2 to push me to a robust 15-10 on the season.
(10) Oklahoma (+3) at (3) Oklahoma St.
Oklahoma has won 7 in a row in this rivalry, and this is a rare time where the Sooners are getting points. Add that to Landry Jones playing his final Big 12 game and a chance to show the scouts that he should be the second QB taken, and Brandon Weeden propensity to throw the ball to the other team recently and two weeks to stew over the Iowa St. debacle. I like Oklahoma here.
(1) LSU (-13.5) vs. (14) Georgia
The game is being played in Atlanta, but LSU will be well represented in the stands. Georgia has a punchers chance in the game, but LSU's defense is just too strong and Jordan Jefferson is playing well. If the spread was over two TDs I may stay away from it, but with the Tigers scoring on offense, defense and special teams, I'll lay the points.
(17) Baylor (-2.5) vs. (22) Texas
Robert Griffin III will be the best play on the field, Baylor beat Oklahoma and Texas is far worse than Oklahoma. Texas his banged up at running back and do not have a sure-fire starter at QB.
(5) Virginia Tech (-7) vs. (20) Clemson
Clemson has fallen of a cliff with only one win in their last four games and that was by three against Wake Forest. Other than shutting out Virginia last week, VT has not been dominating games recently, but Clemson can not get out of their own way in recent weeks and the Hokies want to get revenge. Also, Logan Thomas and David Wilson is one of the nations best QB-RB duo and have been playing at their really high level.
San Diego St. (-8) vs. Fresno St.
San Diego St. is 4-3 in the Mountain West and Fresno St is 3-4 in the WAC. The MWC has TCU and Boise St. and the WAC does not. Also San Diego St. has Tony Gwynn as an assistant baseball coach, and San Diego is an awesome town.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
A blog in 20 minutes. Plus picks.
The slate of night games has suddenly turned pretty damn good. FSU and Virginia could barely move the ball for three and a half quarters, Virginia makes a few plays late in the 4th. Virginia's QB hits his RB out of the back field for a nice gain to get down to 9 yard line with the game 13-7 in FSU's favor, then next play barrels into the endzone for the score. FSU turns around and gets a facemask call to extend their drive after a 4th down sack.
(Editor's Note: I started writing live at this point.)
It's 11:08. E.J. Manuel completes a ball down to the 25 yard line, but it was in bounds, and the clock runs out. It's under review. But in the review it looks incomplete. Time may go back on the clock for a last second field goal try. Wild.
Oregon scores while this is happening to pull back with-in three points, in a game that looked over in the 3rd because USC couldn't be stopped. Then I see number 5 Oklahoma is losing Baylor at the end of the third, buy seven.
Okay Referee is back out on the field. "After further review, the pass was incomplete". Now for the kick...illegal signal call on the defense, five yard penalty...wild. It's 11:12. Now the kick...NO GOOD! Directly over the right up-right, that was about as close as you could get. Virginia wins 14-13, first win ever at Florida St. Nuts.
3rd and 4 for USC. Big first down. It's 11:15.
McNeil, runningback for USC, gets five yards down to Oregon's 11. 38-35 USC.
2nd and 5. Fumble on the exchange, Oregon recovers! 86 yards to the goal line. Incomplete pass by Oregon QB Darren Thomas. Big first down after a 15 yard rush by #24. This Oregon offense is quick. 1:45 left in the fourth. It's 3rd and 11, first down on the TE screen. It's 11:18.
Oregon with a nice wheel route for the first. Incomplete at 1:13 remaining. Oregon is in USC territory and down 3. 3rd and 1. Quick plays. 1st Down. It's 11:20
Oregon's fast play forces USC to call timeout with :38 seconds left in regulation. A well needed commercial. Baylor extends their lead to 14.
Oregon is playing lightning fast right now. They seem to be in range for a decent shot at a field goal. Out of a commercial at 11:22. Ball on the USC 32. Oregon runs it for about 9, they have all three time outs. They quickly run for 3 and a first. Quick pass, incomplete. 2nd down. ball on the 18. :14 second. Loss three yards. :07 seconds. It's 11:24. timeout Oregon.
Oregon has rallied back and is down 3. Look to be lining up to run a play. False start Oregon. Oregon lines the ball up in the middle of the field. :05 seconds left. Oregon's kicker attempting a career long field goal of 42-yards. It's 11:26. Time out USC.
Lining up. It's 11:27. Offside USC. Now it is a 37-yard field goal. It's 11:28. NO GOOD! USC wins, Oregon no longer in contention for the NCAA Title.
Who knows what this does for BCS rankings, but those were two very good games. Awesome endings.
(Editor's Note: I stopped live blogging to watch the end of Oklahoma-Baylor)
Well Robert Griffin III is a beast. He and Baylor just knocked off Oklahoma in about 45 seconds. I have absolutely no idea what the BCS will look like, but if LSU beats Arkansas, I think it has to be VT if they win out, because they will be the highest one-loss team left that has not lost to LSU. If Arkansas wins, then I really have no idea what it should be.
It's midnight - Iowa St., NC State, USC and Baylor just assassinated the BCS. I assume they were hired by the SEC. I'm done for the night...Wait Stanford is only up one on Cal at half. This could get bonkers. I'm legit like 10 minutes away from calling for Rutgers to have a shot at LSU...maybe not that far.
The Picks
Went 3-2 last week, that's three consecutive winning weeks, and a 12-8 record on the season.
Texas A&M (-7.5) vs. Texas
This is the last game between these two Lone Star state rivals for what could be a while. A&M has been the lesser team in this rivalry and they are going to want to win this last one for bragging rights. The Aggies had a lofty ranking coming into the season, they have a better team and they are going to use the motivation of long time "little sister" labels to get a big win at College Station.
Ohio State (+7.5) at (17) Michigan
Michigan will not be playing in the Big Ten title game, but they do have a chance to make a BCS game if they win and get into the top 16. Ohio State would love nothing more than to make this season a success by beating their hate rivals from the North. They may not do it, but this game will be with-in a touchdown.
(6) Virginia Tech (-5) at (24) Virginia
The Cavaliers did me a solid last week, by not only winning me my pick, but beating FSU. Virginia Tech is being slightly overlooked with this line, the hokies want to make the ACC title game and get a chance of revenge against Clemson and keep their small BCS title game hopes alive.
(13) Georgia (-6) at (25) Georgia Tech
This rivalry game has always been one of random favorites. Not sure why, but I like this game. I also like the way Georgia is playing, Their QB is playing very well, their impact players are producing and they would love nothing more than to beat the hated Yellow Jackets before their date with LSU, Alabama or Arkansas in Atlanta.
East Carolina (-1) at Marshall
I don't know much about either team. The one thing I do know is that ECU will win by at least one point. Mark it down. Bet the house. Kids College fund. All of it. Unless of course I'm wrong, than you are all idiots.
Have a great holiday, see you next week.
(Editor's Note: I started writing live at this point.)
It's 11:08. E.J. Manuel completes a ball down to the 25 yard line, but it was in bounds, and the clock runs out. It's under review. But in the review it looks incomplete. Time may go back on the clock for a last second field goal try. Wild.
Oregon scores while this is happening to pull back with-in three points, in a game that looked over in the 3rd because USC couldn't be stopped. Then I see number 5 Oklahoma is losing Baylor at the end of the third, buy seven.
Okay Referee is back out on the field. "After further review, the pass was incomplete". Now for the kick...illegal signal call on the defense, five yard penalty...wild. It's 11:12. Now the kick...NO GOOD! Directly over the right up-right, that was about as close as you could get. Virginia wins 14-13, first win ever at Florida St. Nuts.
3rd and 4 for USC. Big first down. It's 11:15.
McNeil, runningback for USC, gets five yards down to Oregon's 11. 38-35 USC.
2nd and 5. Fumble on the exchange, Oregon recovers! 86 yards to the goal line. Incomplete pass by Oregon QB Darren Thomas. Big first down after a 15 yard rush by #24. This Oregon offense is quick. 1:45 left in the fourth. It's 3rd and 11, first down on the TE screen. It's 11:18.
Oregon with a nice wheel route for the first. Incomplete at 1:13 remaining. Oregon is in USC territory and down 3. 3rd and 1. Quick plays. 1st Down. It's 11:20
Oregon's fast play forces USC to call timeout with :38 seconds left in regulation. A well needed commercial. Baylor extends their lead to 14.
Oregon is playing lightning fast right now. They seem to be in range for a decent shot at a field goal. Out of a commercial at 11:22. Ball on the USC 32. Oregon runs it for about 9, they have all three time outs. They quickly run for 3 and a first. Quick pass, incomplete. 2nd down. ball on the 18. :14 second. Loss three yards. :07 seconds. It's 11:24. timeout Oregon.
Oregon has rallied back and is down 3. Look to be lining up to run a play. False start Oregon. Oregon lines the ball up in the middle of the field. :05 seconds left. Oregon's kicker attempting a career long field goal of 42-yards. It's 11:26. Time out USC.
Lining up. It's 11:27. Offside USC. Now it is a 37-yard field goal. It's 11:28. NO GOOD! USC wins, Oregon no longer in contention for the NCAA Title.
Who knows what this does for BCS rankings, but those were two very good games. Awesome endings.
(Editor's Note: I stopped live blogging to watch the end of Oklahoma-Baylor)
Well Robert Griffin III is a beast. He and Baylor just knocked off Oklahoma in about 45 seconds. I have absolutely no idea what the BCS will look like, but if LSU beats Arkansas, I think it has to be VT if they win out, because they will be the highest one-loss team left that has not lost to LSU. If Arkansas wins, then I really have no idea what it should be.
It's midnight - Iowa St., NC State, USC and Baylor just assassinated the BCS. I assume they were hired by the SEC. I'm done for the night...Wait Stanford is only up one on Cal at half. This could get bonkers. I'm legit like 10 minutes away from calling for Rutgers to have a shot at LSU...maybe not that far.
The Picks
Went 3-2 last week, that's three consecutive winning weeks, and a 12-8 record on the season.
Texas A&M (-7.5) vs. Texas
This is the last game between these two Lone Star state rivals for what could be a while. A&M has been the lesser team in this rivalry and they are going to want to win this last one for bragging rights. The Aggies had a lofty ranking coming into the season, they have a better team and they are going to use the motivation of long time "little sister" labels to get a big win at College Station.
Ohio State (+7.5) at (17) Michigan
Michigan will not be playing in the Big Ten title game, but they do have a chance to make a BCS game if they win and get into the top 16. Ohio State would love nothing more than to make this season a success by beating their hate rivals from the North. They may not do it, but this game will be with-in a touchdown.
(6) Virginia Tech (-5) at (24) Virginia
The Cavaliers did me a solid last week, by not only winning me my pick, but beating FSU. Virginia Tech is being slightly overlooked with this line, the hokies want to make the ACC title game and get a chance of revenge against Clemson and keep their small BCS title game hopes alive.
(13) Georgia (-6) at (25) Georgia Tech
This rivalry game has always been one of random favorites. Not sure why, but I like this game. I also like the way Georgia is playing, Their QB is playing very well, their impact players are producing and they would love nothing more than to beat the hated Yellow Jackets before their date with LSU, Alabama or Arkansas in Atlanta.
East Carolina (-1) at Marshall
I don't know much about either team. The one thing I do know is that ECU will win by at least one point. Mark it down. Bet the house. Kids College fund. All of it. Unless of course I'm wrong, than you are all idiots.
Have a great holiday, see you next week.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Week 12 preview
Not a lot of big games, when it comes to the national picture, but some good games in a conference title aspect.
Virginia Tech won last night, putting the pressure on Virginia to win this weekend and keep the all-Virginia ACC coastal semi-final next week if the Cavaliers can get past Florida St. Virginia surprised people, including me, by putting together a very solid year and having a chance to win it's division. FSU has won five straight since their season fell apart earlier in the season with three consecutive losses. The Seminoles are home for this game and have been playing well on their winning streak. I would give them the advantage in this match-up based purely on talent.
Let's now take a look at the Big East. Cincinnati is 3-1. Rutgers, West Virginia, Louisville and Pitt are 3-2. Along with UConn at 2-2, six teams have a shot at getting the BCS bid out of the Big East. The game this week that could either make it really easy for Cincinnati or make the standings even more jumbled is Cincinnati traveling to Piscataway to take on Rutgers. For the Scarlet Knights it starts with the defense. They are 11th in the Nation and tops in the conference in points against with 18.2 per game and they are averaging three forced turnovers a game. On the other side of the ball, the Knights offense leaves a lot to be imagined. Muhammad Sanu is catching passes on a record pace and Chas Dodd loves to throw his way, look for that to continue Saturday, but Dodd does need to cut down on the mistakes. When it comes to rushing the football, it is pretty much non-existent.
Other good games to take a look at this weekend are Michigan hosts Nebraska in what could be a good game with two QBs that can run or a very sloppy game with no real defenses. The other two are in the Big 12 with Kansas St. going to Texas to try to keep their impressive season going and Oklahoma trying not to look forward to Bedlam going to Baylor.
I'm running out of time here, so we are going to have to jump to the picks
The Picks
Went 3-2 last week to move to 9-6 on the season, let's see if we can continue the winning streak.
(15) Wisconsin (-14.5) at Illinois
Illinois and Ron Zook have turned their once promising season into a dumpster fire. Wisconsin has had some missteps against some good teams, but they beat up on the weaker teams in the Big Ten. Illinois is now a weaker team and Wisconsin should put a beating on them.
Virginia (+17.5) at (23) Florida State
As I said before, Virginia has more to play for in this game and will come out motivated. Mike London is becoming one of the more coveted coaches in college football and he will have his team ready to play in this game. Virginia will keep it closer than this line indicates
(4) Oregon (-14.5) vs (18) USC
Oregon is back in the national title race and has been rolling over teams since their week one loss. Matt Barkley and USC will keep this close early, but Oregon should pull away in the second half with the skill and speed.
(6) Arkansas (-13) vs Mississippi St.
The Razorbacks are on a crash course with LSU next week and they have been beating teams pretty easily in recent weeks. They are better than Miss St. and will want to make this one an easy one before their biggest game of the year next week.
Western Kentucky (-3) at North Texas
Heading back to Sun Belt conference, the fact that I'm 0-2 in picking this conference does not deter me. Western Kentucky had their five game winning straight by LSU last week, North Texas is not LSU. Western Kentucky is 5-1 in the conference, with their only loss being to conference leaders Arkansas St. I like the Hilltoppers.
Have a good weekend. Oklahoma St. plays tonight if you have nothing to do. May or may not have a post next week, have a great Thanksgiving if there isn't one.
Virginia Tech won last night, putting the pressure on Virginia to win this weekend and keep the all-Virginia ACC coastal semi-final next week if the Cavaliers can get past Florida St. Virginia surprised people, including me, by putting together a very solid year and having a chance to win it's division. FSU has won five straight since their season fell apart earlier in the season with three consecutive losses. The Seminoles are home for this game and have been playing well on their winning streak. I would give them the advantage in this match-up based purely on talent.
Let's now take a look at the Big East. Cincinnati is 3-1. Rutgers, West Virginia, Louisville and Pitt are 3-2. Along with UConn at 2-2, six teams have a shot at getting the BCS bid out of the Big East. The game this week that could either make it really easy for Cincinnati or make the standings even more jumbled is Cincinnati traveling to Piscataway to take on Rutgers. For the Scarlet Knights it starts with the defense. They are 11th in the Nation and tops in the conference in points against with 18.2 per game and they are averaging three forced turnovers a game. On the other side of the ball, the Knights offense leaves a lot to be imagined. Muhammad Sanu is catching passes on a record pace and Chas Dodd loves to throw his way, look for that to continue Saturday, but Dodd does need to cut down on the mistakes. When it comes to rushing the football, it is pretty much non-existent.
Other good games to take a look at this weekend are Michigan hosts Nebraska in what could be a good game with two QBs that can run or a very sloppy game with no real defenses. The other two are in the Big 12 with Kansas St. going to Texas to try to keep their impressive season going and Oklahoma trying not to look forward to Bedlam going to Baylor.
I'm running out of time here, so we are going to have to jump to the picks
The Picks
Went 3-2 last week to move to 9-6 on the season, let's see if we can continue the winning streak.
(15) Wisconsin (-14.5) at Illinois
Illinois and Ron Zook have turned their once promising season into a dumpster fire. Wisconsin has had some missteps against some good teams, but they beat up on the weaker teams in the Big Ten. Illinois is now a weaker team and Wisconsin should put a beating on them.
Virginia (+17.5) at (23) Florida State
As I said before, Virginia has more to play for in this game and will come out motivated. Mike London is becoming one of the more coveted coaches in college football and he will have his team ready to play in this game. Virginia will keep it closer than this line indicates
(4) Oregon (-14.5) vs (18) USC
Oregon is back in the national title race and has been rolling over teams since their week one loss. Matt Barkley and USC will keep this close early, but Oregon should pull away in the second half with the skill and speed.
(6) Arkansas (-13) vs Mississippi St.
The Razorbacks are on a crash course with LSU next week and they have been beating teams pretty easily in recent weeks. They are better than Miss St. and will want to make this one an easy one before their biggest game of the year next week.
Western Kentucky (-3) at North Texas
Heading back to Sun Belt conference, the fact that I'm 0-2 in picking this conference does not deter me. Western Kentucky had their five game winning straight by LSU last week, North Texas is not LSU. Western Kentucky is 5-1 in the conference, with their only loss being to conference leaders Arkansas St. I like the Hilltoppers.
Have a good weekend. Oklahoma St. plays tonight if you have nothing to do. May or may not have a post next week, have a great Thanksgiving if there isn't one.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Heisman race and other notes.
Oregon's trip to Palo Alto did more than just shake up the BCS rankings and put us one step closer to BCS mayhem. The Ducks win also created a Heisman Trophy race, a race thought to be for seconds place behind Stanford QB Andrew Luck. Luck didn't exactly look bad against Oregon, but he did make some mistakes (three turnovers) and could not keep his team close in the biggest game of his team's season. The game didn't, by any means end Luck's Heisman hopes, but instead made it for the first time this season, interesting.
Let's take a look at the canidates.
Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
We can all see the talent here. The numbers prove the point also, 2695 yards, 29 TDs to only 7 INTs. He is completing over 70 percent of his passes and has two rushing touchdowns to add to his totals. His numbers will be there, over 3000 yards, 30-plus TDs and will do it without a lot of talent at the receiver position. The problem is this is for the Heisman Trophy and Luck's worst game, came in a blowout loss in the biggest game on their schedule. Luck is the best player in college football and will probably be the best in this NFL class, but as things stand now, I would have to vote him second at best.
Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma St
Weeden has very comparable, if not better numbers than Luck. So far this year, he has completed 73.1% of his passes for 3635 yards, 31 TDs and 9 INTs. With two games left (at Iowa St. and home for Oklahoma) he will break the 4000 yard barrier and has a solid shot at breaking 40 touchdowns. As I talked about last week, he has a very talented receivers, much more so than Luck. The most important stat for Weeden so far is zero, zero in the loss column. But his biggest game hasn't happened yet, Oklahoma at home on Dec. 3rd. It's a big if, but if Weeden puts up good numbers in a signature win against the Sooners he would be the front runner for the Heisman.
Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama
If I had to vote today (which I'm sure some voters have already done so) Richardson would get my vote. With LaMichael James missing two games with an injury, Trent became the leading running back candidate. 1205 yards, 5.9 yards per carry and 18 scores, along with 318 yards receiving with one touchdown. Very good numbers, but when you look at Alabama's biggest game against LSU, he showed up. They lost the game, which doesn't hurt a running back as much, but Richardson was the best offensive player on either team. 169 yards from scrimmage on 28 touches (57 percent of the team's total yards). In the Crimson Tide's biggest win against Arkansas, 126 yards rushing on 17 carries, he added three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. The LSU game was the only game this season he didn't find the end zone, no one did in that game.
Those are the three top guys on the Heisman list, but just like the BCS rankings, if a few things happen, chaos. Say Oklahoma crushes Oklahoma St. in the bedlam game, LaMichael James steals running back votes from Richardson and west coast votes from Luck after some big games. Then a serious look has to be taken in the direction of Case Keenum, QB, from Houston. Just because of the numbers, I understand he had an easy schedule, but these numbers are amazing. Undefeated, 3951 yards, 37 TD passes, only three INTs, completing 74 percent of his passes. He threw nine touchdowns in one game this season, 9. He has three more games to add to those numbers and needs a lot of things to happen, but he is the mid-major guy who has a shot to lift the famous trophy in New York, this December.
Some random notes...
Aaron Murray is the best quarterback in the SEC, he can make passes and does not make mistakes. He made Auburn look terrible on Saturday, eight straight wins and he is starting to develop a great relationship with his receivers. Georgia will most likely win the SEC East, a Georgia v. LSU SEC title game in Atlanta will be a very interesting game.
Is Virginia Tech the sneakiest one-loss team every season, or is it just me? David Wilson leads the nation in rushing, if the other Hokie backs didn't steal so many TDs in the red zone, he would probably be in the section above this. I'm also starting to get excited for a Clemson-VT rematch in the ACC title game, the VT-Virginia game will actually be like a defacto coastal division title game the week before, not much better than that for the ACC.
Finally, a big congrats to my fellow Scarlet Knight Muhammad Sanu. He broke Larry Fitzgerald's Big East record for catches in a season, he now has 94 on the year. Have a good Tuesday, see you later this week with a Saturday preview.
Let's take a look at the canidates.
Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
We can all see the talent here. The numbers prove the point also, 2695 yards, 29 TDs to only 7 INTs. He is completing over 70 percent of his passes and has two rushing touchdowns to add to his totals. His numbers will be there, over 3000 yards, 30-plus TDs and will do it without a lot of talent at the receiver position. The problem is this is for the Heisman Trophy and Luck's worst game, came in a blowout loss in the biggest game on their schedule. Luck is the best player in college football and will probably be the best in this NFL class, but as things stand now, I would have to vote him second at best.
Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma St
Weeden has very comparable, if not better numbers than Luck. So far this year, he has completed 73.1% of his passes for 3635 yards, 31 TDs and 9 INTs. With two games left (at Iowa St. and home for Oklahoma) he will break the 4000 yard barrier and has a solid shot at breaking 40 touchdowns. As I talked about last week, he has a very talented receivers, much more so than Luck. The most important stat for Weeden so far is zero, zero in the loss column. But his biggest game hasn't happened yet, Oklahoma at home on Dec. 3rd. It's a big if, but if Weeden puts up good numbers in a signature win against the Sooners he would be the front runner for the Heisman.
Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama
If I had to vote today (which I'm sure some voters have already done so) Richardson would get my vote. With LaMichael James missing two games with an injury, Trent became the leading running back candidate. 1205 yards, 5.9 yards per carry and 18 scores, along with 318 yards receiving with one touchdown. Very good numbers, but when you look at Alabama's biggest game against LSU, he showed up. They lost the game, which doesn't hurt a running back as much, but Richardson was the best offensive player on either team. 169 yards from scrimmage on 28 touches (57 percent of the team's total yards). In the Crimson Tide's biggest win against Arkansas, 126 yards rushing on 17 carries, he added three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. The LSU game was the only game this season he didn't find the end zone, no one did in that game.
Those are the three top guys on the Heisman list, but just like the BCS rankings, if a few things happen, chaos. Say Oklahoma crushes Oklahoma St. in the bedlam game, LaMichael James steals running back votes from Richardson and west coast votes from Luck after some big games. Then a serious look has to be taken in the direction of Case Keenum, QB, from Houston. Just because of the numbers, I understand he had an easy schedule, but these numbers are amazing. Undefeated, 3951 yards, 37 TD passes, only three INTs, completing 74 percent of his passes. He threw nine touchdowns in one game this season, 9. He has three more games to add to those numbers and needs a lot of things to happen, but he is the mid-major guy who has a shot to lift the famous trophy in New York, this December.
Some random notes...
Aaron Murray is the best quarterback in the SEC, he can make passes and does not make mistakes. He made Auburn look terrible on Saturday, eight straight wins and he is starting to develop a great relationship with his receivers. Georgia will most likely win the SEC East, a Georgia v. LSU SEC title game in Atlanta will be a very interesting game.
Is Virginia Tech the sneakiest one-loss team every season, or is it just me? David Wilson leads the nation in rushing, if the other Hokie backs didn't steal so many TDs in the red zone, he would probably be in the section above this. I'm also starting to get excited for a Clemson-VT rematch in the ACC title game, the VT-Virginia game will actually be like a defacto coastal division title game the week before, not much better than that for the ACC.
Finally, a big congrats to my fellow Scarlet Knight Muhammad Sanu. He broke Larry Fitzgerald's Big East record for catches in a season, he now has 94 on the year. Have a good Tuesday, see you later this week with a Saturday preview.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Penn St.
I feel like I can not get away from the Penn St. controversy. I saw the Penn St. fans cheer for Joe Pa, the fans wearing blue for sexual abuse awareness. The cheering of 100,000-plus for Paterno to grace the sidelines once againe.
But all of this means nothing to me. The worst thing that could happened in college football, happened at Penn. St.
I love college football. When I was 6, I thought the "N" on the Nebraska helmet was for my name "Nils". Since then I've been in love with Nebraska football. I watched Nebraska loss two straight national championships, then win two straight for their own, wait a year, and win another.
Some of my favorite memories are of college football. I remember watching Notre Dame beat Florida St. in 1993 at Jamie Herran's house, Tommie Frasier running over the entire Florida team in the 95 Fiesta Bowl.
I've been in love with college football ever since.
But then November 6, 2011 happens, every college football fan has heard what happened at State College, PA.
My youth is gone. My love of college football is gone.
A sub-human, piece of shit is outed for doing the unthinkable, being a predator, a rapist.
And the winniest coach in college football history, covered it up.
Joe Pa, from what the facts have given us, let a criminal - to the utmost degree - stroll freely though the Penn St. campus with small children at his disposal. I truly wish that last sentence didn't exist.
We all think of what we would do to Jerry Sandusky if we had the chance. (I'd make The Wire look like a PBS program). But we can't, we can only look back at Penn St. Most importantly, Joe.
LBJ was running the country when Joe Paterno started as head coach at Penn St. He more than double the capacity of Beaver Stadium to over 100,000 people in his tenure. Never once, did he have a recruiting violation, while leading the Nittnay Lions. But then 10 days ago happened. The great coach fell. Not only from the pantheon of great signal caller, but from human beings.
Joe wrote letters about finishing out the season, not understanding that lives have been destroyed, not because they had a losing record like Penn St. did in 2002, but because the most powerful person in the history of Penn St. decided to do not save a boy's life, but instead save his own legacy and continue a pointless college football tradition. Because of this he shall fall, and fall the hardest a football coach can ever fall.
Who ever wins this years National Title, wins it for the victims of this Penn St. Tragedy.
But all of this means nothing to me. The worst thing that could happened in college football, happened at Penn. St.
I love college football. When I was 6, I thought the "N" on the Nebraska helmet was for my name "Nils". Since then I've been in love with Nebraska football. I watched Nebraska loss two straight national championships, then win two straight for their own, wait a year, and win another.
Some of my favorite memories are of college football. I remember watching Notre Dame beat Florida St. in 1993 at Jamie Herran's house, Tommie Frasier running over the entire Florida team in the 95 Fiesta Bowl.
I've been in love with college football ever since.
But then November 6, 2011 happens, every college football fan has heard what happened at State College, PA.
My youth is gone. My love of college football is gone.
A sub-human, piece of shit is outed for doing the unthinkable, being a predator, a rapist.
And the winniest coach in college football history, covered it up.
Joe Pa, from what the facts have given us, let a criminal - to the utmost degree - stroll freely though the Penn St. campus with small children at his disposal. I truly wish that last sentence didn't exist.
We all think of what we would do to Jerry Sandusky if we had the chance. (I'd make The Wire look like a PBS program). But we can't, we can only look back at Penn St. Most importantly, Joe.
LBJ was running the country when Joe Paterno started as head coach at Penn St. He more than double the capacity of Beaver Stadium to over 100,000 people in his tenure. Never once, did he have a recruiting violation, while leading the Nittnay Lions. But then 10 days ago happened. The great coach fell. Not only from the pantheon of great signal caller, but from human beings.
Joe wrote letters about finishing out the season, not understanding that lives have been destroyed, not because they had a losing record like Penn St. did in 2002, but because the most powerful person in the history of Penn St. decided to do not save a boy's life, but instead save his own legacy and continue a pointless college football tradition. Because of this he shall fall, and fall the hardest a football coach can ever fall.
Who ever wins this years National Title, wins it for the victims of this Penn St. Tragedy.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Week 11
I'm not going to say much about Penn St. because I can't add anything to what Kim Jones has impeccably said already. If you feel the need to read another opinion or get a take from a Penn St. grad, Kim's reporting has been the most accurate and her take has been spot on, I'm sure you can find audio on the WFAN's site. Joe Pa deserved to be fired. When it comes to Sandusky, I want Stinkum, Wee-Bey and Stringer Bell to do to him, what they did to Brandon is Season 1 of the The Wire.
Okay. Let's get to Week 11 in this strange world we call college football. It is a decent week for college football, no games of the century, but the national title picture could very well be shaken up on Saturday.
In the early games the big TV game for both on-the-field and off-the-field reasons in Nebraska at Penn St. Instead of going into that game which has become impossible to analysis on a strictly football level, I'm going to go with the Oklahoma St. v. Texas Tech game. The game at State College has the soap opera factor, but the game in Lubbock, TX has the national title contender factor.
This game has more to do with seeing Oklahoma St. play, than it is about an intriguing game. This is the time of the year when we need to starting thinking about which teams are good enough to play for the BCS title in January. We know LSU is good enough and will most likely be there, the jury is still out on the Cowboys. The Oklahoma St. offense is the Albert Pujols of college football offenses, it's a machine. There are players on this team that you just need to see, if it's just because you love college football or you want to see who will be in the NFL draft in April. It starts with quarterback Brandon Weeden, from a numbers point he has completed 72 percent of his passes for 3212 yards for 26 scores. But it is about consistency with Weeden, only once this season he has thrown less than 2 TDs and broken the 300 yard barrier five times. A big part of Weeden and OK-State's success has been the receiving crew. Justin Blackmon, Josh Cooper and Tracy Moore are all NFL caliber wide-outs. Blackmon is the best receiver in the NCAA and will be the top receiver taken in April. Cut from the same mold as former Oklahoma St. Cowboy Dez Bryant, Blackmon is tied for tops in the nation in touchdown catches, third in receptions and seventh in yards. More than just numbers, Blackmon is fun to watch, when ever he touches the ball he can break it. He is on the same level as Bryant when it comes to size and skill, and since you probably don't hate Oklahoma St. this is a good time and game to take a look at this wide receiver before he starts playing on Sundays and your routing interest may come into effect. Also take a look at their running back Joseph Randle, this blogger thinks he can succeed on the next level.
The afternoon games don't give us much, Rutgers plays Army at Yankee Stadium, I'm a stadium nerd and I love these types of games. Whether it is the Winter Classic or a bowl game at Yankee Stadium or Cal playing in AT&T Park, I love it. I love when sports are played at non-traditional venues. If you have a few minutes Saturday and can find this game on TV, you should take a look, it's a pretty cool thing to see.
But that game is going to suck, I went to the State University of New Jersey and that game is going to suck. The best football game in the afternoon slot is Auburn going between the hedges in Athens to take on Georgia. Both teams are ranked, the Bulldogs are in the drivers seat for the SEC East crown and a win Saturday will all but clinch it with Kentucky being the lone conference game left on the schedule for Georgia. When Saturdays role around and two traditional SEC powers are playing each other, it is usually a safe bet it will be a compelling game to watch. Quarterback Aaron Murray has righted the ship from the back-to-back losses to start the season and won seven straight. He is a good QB that doesn't make too many mistakes even with a lack-luster receiving core. The player to watch in this game is running back Isaiah Crowell, who will start after sitting out a one-game suspension for violating "team rules". Crowell is explosive with the ball. He's one of those backs that either gets stopped for no gain or breaks it for 20, I love watching players like that.
Auburn on the other side is a team that can not play with the top powers in the country, but they play everyone else well. They have been beat pretty easily by LSU, Arkansas and Clemson, but they do have a nice victory over South Carolina when they still had Marcus Lattimore and Florida. Auburn succeeds with it's running game. Michael Dyer is the main back, a sophomore who was overshadowed by Cam Newton last season, and Onterio McCalebb, a third down back that can catch ball out of the backfield. Dyer is 11 yards away from 1000 for the season, it will be his season consecutive season with 1000-plus yards. In Auburn's biggest win against South Carolina, Dyer was a work-horse, carrying the ball 41 times for 141 and a score. More importantly in that game Dyer made big first downs and help Auburn run 40 plays more than South Carolina.
In the night games, it is all about Stanford and Oregon. This is the defacto Pac-12 title game. Oregon has one loss this year and it is to top ranked LSU. Stanford has not lost this season and has future number-one overall pick Andrew Luck leading the team. Both of these teams still have a chance to play for the BCS championship (Stanford has a better shot, but both team can make it) and are exciting to watch.
We'll start with the visitors from Oregon. The Ducks made too many mistakes and lost in week one against LSU, but there have bounced back and won every match-up since. They have overcome some injuries to their best players, including all-everything back LaMichael James and starting QB Darron Thomas. Oregon runs the ball using misdirection and their speed and ability to get to the corners. Some say it is a system running game, and in some aspects that is correct, but there is a lot of talent there also. It starts with James, he's played seven games this season, missing two to injury, he's carried the ball for 200-plus yards three times this season, including 288 yards against Arizona. Stanford is pretty good against the run, but 200 yards is 200 yards and James will get his this weekend. Oregon has a very good stable of backs and a QB that can run the option well. Darron Thomas does not run for as many yards as most option QB do, mainly because his running backs are that talented. Thomas does use the threat of the option to benefit his passing attack, defenses need to respect the run and they tend to load up the box in order to contain James and the other running backs, Thomas is very adapt at waiting for the defense to commit and then take a shot down field or use their speedy receivers on screens and slants.
Stanford is undefeated and trying to make a serious claims at a spot in the title game. The cardinal have played a pretty weak schedule, this has a lot to do with a mediocre Pac-12 (specifically the north division) and a bad out of conference schedule. With that all said Stanford has beaten everyone on the schedule and except for USC beaten then convincingly. Luck has played brilliantly this season, picking apart every team on the schedule and making big throws against USC (front runner for game of the year this season). Stanford's offense is more balanced than the Andrew Luck's hype has you believe. They have a good offensive line that does not let Luck get hit and helps the running game average over 224 yards per contest. That number is a little inflated by the weak schedule and 446 yard rushing performance against Washington. With that all said, this team succeeds and would fail with Andrew Luck. Quick stat line: 71.3-2424-26-5. That's really good, multiple TDs in all games, four 300 yard passing games. Luck makes smart decisions, makes great throws and knows this offense exceptionally well. We have all heard how good he is, if you didn't see the USC game, this is going to be a great opportunity to see him against a good opponent.
Since Stanford and Oregon are playing at 8, there is no reason to watch any of the late games. I advise you to get some sleep or get a drink, I plan on the latter.
The Picks
Went 4-1 last week, I blame myself for the South Carolina pick, 6-4 on the season since the start of this blog.
(6) Oregon (+3.5) at (3) Stanford
(24) Auburn (+13) at (14) Georgia
This line really jumped out at me. Georgia is the better and should win at home, but Auburn is pretty good in its own right and Georgia only bet Florida by 4. Georgia wins, but definitely not by 13, give me the points.
(22) Michigan (-1) at Illinois
Illinois has lost 3 straight in the Big Ten and is not a good football team. Michigan is 7-2 and coming of a loss to Iowa and looking to stay ranked and keep it's slight chances at making the Big Ten title game. Denard Robinson is going to be the best offensive player on the field. I think Michigan is better and wins, at worst I push in that scenario.
(13) Michigan St. (-2.5) at Iowa
I was tempted to take Ok-State giving 17 here, but I like Michigan St. against Iowa. Iowa had a nice win last week, but they are having a down year and Michigan St. can take a big step to locking up their division on Saturday with a win and 2.5 seems kinda small.
Middle Tennessee St. (+6) at Louisiana-Monroe
I'm going to continue my road team trend for the week with this Sun Belt showdown. Both teams have 2 wins on the season and one in the conference. ULM's conference win is against Troy and MT's is against a some how worse Florida Atlantic. ULM only lost by one to UL-Lafayette and MT got crushed. All signs point to UL-Monroe as being better than Mid-Tennessee. And that is why I'm going with Middle Tennessee St. That is top notch handicapping and analysis right there, I truly have a gift.
Have a good Thursday, Va. Tech plays Georgia Tech in a top 20 ACC battle tonight, it's a good game to watch if you don't get the NFL Network for Raiders-Chargers game. Take the Chargers giving the points more on that at here.
Okay. Let's get to Week 11 in this strange world we call college football. It is a decent week for college football, no games of the century, but the national title picture could very well be shaken up on Saturday.
In the early games the big TV game for both on-the-field and off-the-field reasons in Nebraska at Penn St. Instead of going into that game which has become impossible to analysis on a strictly football level, I'm going to go with the Oklahoma St. v. Texas Tech game. The game at State College has the soap opera factor, but the game in Lubbock, TX has the national title contender factor.
This game has more to do with seeing Oklahoma St. play, than it is about an intriguing game. This is the time of the year when we need to starting thinking about which teams are good enough to play for the BCS title in January. We know LSU is good enough and will most likely be there, the jury is still out on the Cowboys. The Oklahoma St. offense is the Albert Pujols of college football offenses, it's a machine. There are players on this team that you just need to see, if it's just because you love college football or you want to see who will be in the NFL draft in April. It starts with quarterback Brandon Weeden, from a numbers point he has completed 72 percent of his passes for 3212 yards for 26 scores. But it is about consistency with Weeden, only once this season he has thrown less than 2 TDs and broken the 300 yard barrier five times. A big part of Weeden and OK-State's success has been the receiving crew. Justin Blackmon, Josh Cooper and Tracy Moore are all NFL caliber wide-outs. Blackmon is the best receiver in the NCAA and will be the top receiver taken in April. Cut from the same mold as former Oklahoma St. Cowboy Dez Bryant, Blackmon is tied for tops in the nation in touchdown catches, third in receptions and seventh in yards. More than just numbers, Blackmon is fun to watch, when ever he touches the ball he can break it. He is on the same level as Bryant when it comes to size and skill, and since you probably don't hate Oklahoma St. this is a good time and game to take a look at this wide receiver before he starts playing on Sundays and your routing interest may come into effect. Also take a look at their running back Joseph Randle, this blogger thinks he can succeed on the next level.
The afternoon games don't give us much, Rutgers plays Army at Yankee Stadium, I'm a stadium nerd and I love these types of games. Whether it is the Winter Classic or a bowl game at Yankee Stadium or Cal playing in AT&T Park, I love it. I love when sports are played at non-traditional venues. If you have a few minutes Saturday and can find this game on TV, you should take a look, it's a pretty cool thing to see.
But that game is going to suck, I went to the State University of New Jersey and that game is going to suck. The best football game in the afternoon slot is Auburn going between the hedges in Athens to take on Georgia. Both teams are ranked, the Bulldogs are in the drivers seat for the SEC East crown and a win Saturday will all but clinch it with Kentucky being the lone conference game left on the schedule for Georgia. When Saturdays role around and two traditional SEC powers are playing each other, it is usually a safe bet it will be a compelling game to watch. Quarterback Aaron Murray has righted the ship from the back-to-back losses to start the season and won seven straight. He is a good QB that doesn't make too many mistakes even with a lack-luster receiving core. The player to watch in this game is running back Isaiah Crowell, who will start after sitting out a one-game suspension for violating "team rules". Crowell is explosive with the ball. He's one of those backs that either gets stopped for no gain or breaks it for 20, I love watching players like that.
Auburn on the other side is a team that can not play with the top powers in the country, but they play everyone else well. They have been beat pretty easily by LSU, Arkansas and Clemson, but they do have a nice victory over South Carolina when they still had Marcus Lattimore and Florida. Auburn succeeds with it's running game. Michael Dyer is the main back, a sophomore who was overshadowed by Cam Newton last season, and Onterio McCalebb, a third down back that can catch ball out of the backfield. Dyer is 11 yards away from 1000 for the season, it will be his season consecutive season with 1000-plus yards. In Auburn's biggest win against South Carolina, Dyer was a work-horse, carrying the ball 41 times for 141 and a score. More importantly in that game Dyer made big first downs and help Auburn run 40 plays more than South Carolina.
In the night games, it is all about Stanford and Oregon. This is the defacto Pac-12 title game. Oregon has one loss this year and it is to top ranked LSU. Stanford has not lost this season and has future number-one overall pick Andrew Luck leading the team. Both of these teams still have a chance to play for the BCS championship (Stanford has a better shot, but both team can make it) and are exciting to watch.
We'll start with the visitors from Oregon. The Ducks made too many mistakes and lost in week one against LSU, but there have bounced back and won every match-up since. They have overcome some injuries to their best players, including all-everything back LaMichael James and starting QB Darron Thomas. Oregon runs the ball using misdirection and their speed and ability to get to the corners. Some say it is a system running game, and in some aspects that is correct, but there is a lot of talent there also. It starts with James, he's played seven games this season, missing two to injury, he's carried the ball for 200-plus yards three times this season, including 288 yards against Arizona. Stanford is pretty good against the run, but 200 yards is 200 yards and James will get his this weekend. Oregon has a very good stable of backs and a QB that can run the option well. Darron Thomas does not run for as many yards as most option QB do, mainly because his running backs are that talented. Thomas does use the threat of the option to benefit his passing attack, defenses need to respect the run and they tend to load up the box in order to contain James and the other running backs, Thomas is very adapt at waiting for the defense to commit and then take a shot down field or use their speedy receivers on screens and slants.
Stanford is undefeated and trying to make a serious claims at a spot in the title game. The cardinal have played a pretty weak schedule, this has a lot to do with a mediocre Pac-12 (specifically the north division) and a bad out of conference schedule. With that all said Stanford has beaten everyone on the schedule and except for USC beaten then convincingly. Luck has played brilliantly this season, picking apart every team on the schedule and making big throws against USC (front runner for game of the year this season). Stanford's offense is more balanced than the Andrew Luck's hype has you believe. They have a good offensive line that does not let Luck get hit and helps the running game average over 224 yards per contest. That number is a little inflated by the weak schedule and 446 yard rushing performance against Washington. With that all said, this team succeeds and would fail with Andrew Luck. Quick stat line: 71.3-2424-26-5. That's really good, multiple TDs in all games, four 300 yard passing games. Luck makes smart decisions, makes great throws and knows this offense exceptionally well. We have all heard how good he is, if you didn't see the USC game, this is going to be a great opportunity to see him against a good opponent.
Since Stanford and Oregon are playing at 8, there is no reason to watch any of the late games. I advise you to get some sleep or get a drink, I plan on the latter.
The Picks
Went 4-1 last week, I blame myself for the South Carolina pick, 6-4 on the season since the start of this blog.
(6) Oregon (+3.5) at (3) Stanford
Stanford has one of the worst home field advantages in the nation. They rarely sellout, this one will, but it is not a tough place to play. Oregon has been some what overlooked since the week 1 loss and being on the west coast. I think the offenses can and will keep it close through out the game and a last score wins it, I'm leaning toward Oregon getting that last score.
(24) Auburn (+13) at (14) Georgia
This line really jumped out at me. Georgia is the better and should win at home, but Auburn is pretty good in its own right and Georgia only bet Florida by 4. Georgia wins, but definitely not by 13, give me the points.
(22) Michigan (-1) at Illinois
Illinois has lost 3 straight in the Big Ten and is not a good football team. Michigan is 7-2 and coming of a loss to Iowa and looking to stay ranked and keep it's slight chances at making the Big Ten title game. Denard Robinson is going to be the best offensive player on the field. I think Michigan is better and wins, at worst I push in that scenario.
(13) Michigan St. (-2.5) at Iowa
I was tempted to take Ok-State giving 17 here, but I like Michigan St. against Iowa. Iowa had a nice win last week, but they are having a down year and Michigan St. can take a big step to locking up their division on Saturday with a win and 2.5 seems kinda small.
Middle Tennessee St. (+6) at Louisiana-Monroe
I'm going to continue my road team trend for the week with this Sun Belt showdown. Both teams have 2 wins on the season and one in the conference. ULM's conference win is against Troy and MT's is against a some how worse Florida Atlantic. ULM only lost by one to UL-Lafayette and MT got crushed. All signs point to UL-Monroe as being better than Mid-Tennessee. And that is why I'm going with Middle Tennessee St. That is top notch handicapping and analysis right there, I truly have a gift.
Have a good Thursday, Va. Tech plays Georgia Tech in a top 20 ACC battle tonight, it's a good game to watch if you don't get the NFL Network for Raiders-Chargers game. Take the Chargers giving the points more on that at here.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Game of the Century...maybe not
On Saturday night, the Gods reached down from their thrones in the heavens, down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and gave the sports world a fantastic pretty good borderline okay football game.
The only certainty going into this game was both teams had great defenses. That part stays true. When either offense gained a decent chunk of yards, I thought they were going to tie a few plays together and produce a successful drive. That never happened, partially because of both defenses playing to their lofty skill levels, but also because both offenses are closers to being bad than good. Trent Richardson was the best player on the offensive side of the ball for either team and seemed to be able to somewhat figure out the LSU defense and played the role of the receiving safety blanket for his quarterback. But the talent really stopped their for the offense on Saturday.
LSU won this game because of Alabama's special teams shortcomings. I know special teams are part of the game and if a team does not execute on teams they can lose, but when big games are decided by mistakes on special teams, it does not make for games of the century, or decade, year or even a Saturday in November.
In this battle of elite defenses, Alabama was better than LSU for almost all of the games. Michael Ford's 15 yard run in OT was the longest rush by an LSU running back given up by the Tide all game. Bama forced two INTs by the Tiger's quarterback Jarrett Lee and that is no small task this season. They held the LSU runners to 148 yards on 41 carries and both Tiger's QBs to only 91 yards through the air.
Looking at game as a whole, Alabama was the better team, mainly because their defense is slightly better than LSU's. The one big problem for the Crimson Tide was that Cade Foster and Jeremy Shelley play for them, and they play the position of place kicker. For those of you that watched the game Saturday know that was a terrible thing for Alabama. Foster went 1-4 and Shelley 1-2 (his miss was a block).
On the LSU side, Brad Wing was the best special teams player on the field, and maybe the best player period. The Tiger's punter put five punts on the 20 yard line or better, including his first two on the five and four respectively and a 73 yard punt to the 18.
Last week, I was under the full belief that the loser of this game (as long as it wasn't a blowout) deserved a rematch in the National Title game. This week, I have switched my stance, both Oklahoma St. and Stanford deserve to put their big time offenses up against LSU's defense.
There are two more huge games left before the conference championship weekend. Stanford-Oregon on Saturday and Oklahoma-Oklahoma St. the last week of the season. Hopefully for us college football and sports fans out there, these games will be better games.
The only certainty going into this game was both teams had great defenses. That part stays true. When either offense gained a decent chunk of yards, I thought they were going to tie a few plays together and produce a successful drive. That never happened, partially because of both defenses playing to their lofty skill levels, but also because both offenses are closers to being bad than good. Trent Richardson was the best player on the offensive side of the ball for either team and seemed to be able to somewhat figure out the LSU defense and played the role of the receiving safety blanket for his quarterback. But the talent really stopped their for the offense on Saturday.
LSU won this game because of Alabama's special teams shortcomings. I know special teams are part of the game and if a team does not execute on teams they can lose, but when big games are decided by mistakes on special teams, it does not make for games of the century, or decade, year or even a Saturday in November.
In this battle of elite defenses, Alabama was better than LSU for almost all of the games. Michael Ford's 15 yard run in OT was the longest rush by an LSU running back given up by the Tide all game. Bama forced two INTs by the Tiger's quarterback Jarrett Lee and that is no small task this season. They held the LSU runners to 148 yards on 41 carries and both Tiger's QBs to only 91 yards through the air.
Looking at game as a whole, Alabama was the better team, mainly because their defense is slightly better than LSU's. The one big problem for the Crimson Tide was that Cade Foster and Jeremy Shelley play for them, and they play the position of place kicker. For those of you that watched the game Saturday know that was a terrible thing for Alabama. Foster went 1-4 and Shelley 1-2 (his miss was a block).
On the LSU side, Brad Wing was the best special teams player on the field, and maybe the best player period. The Tiger's punter put five punts on the 20 yard line or better, including his first two on the five and four respectively and a 73 yard punt to the 18.
Last week, I was under the full belief that the loser of this game (as long as it wasn't a blowout) deserved a rematch in the National Title game. This week, I have switched my stance, both Oklahoma St. and Stanford deserve to put their big time offenses up against LSU's defense.
There are two more huge games left before the conference championship weekend. Stanford-Oregon on Saturday and Oklahoma-Oklahoma St. the last week of the season. Hopefully for us college football and sports fans out there, these games will be better games.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Game of the Century!
In the blue corner. With a record of eight wins and zero losses, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, The Louisiana State University Tigers...
And in the red corner. With a record of eight wins and zero losses, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, The University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
With the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps talking about that possible fight of the century, it got me thinking about this Saturday's clash being more of fight than a game. Since about week three these teams have looked like the two best teams in the land. After Oklahoma's loss, it became clear LSU and Alabama are the class of the NCAA. Tomorrow, we get the privilege of watching these perennial SEC powerhouses battle it out in central Alabama. There are other college football games this week, but at the same time, there are not.
LSU
We shall start with the visitors. Ranked 1st in the nation for the last six weeks, the Tigers have faced five ranked opponents in their first eight games, if the win they SEC west there is a good chance they will play 10 ranked teams this season. That's a mind-boggling number in modern college football. Just looking at the final scores this season, only Oregon and Mississippi St have been within 20 after the final whistle. Only four teams have scored double digits this year, two of those team (Florida and Auburn) tallied 11 and 10 respectfully.
On the field, like their opponents, it is about speed and defense. Sophomore defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, known as the Honey Badger, anchors this defense. Arguably the best player in the game (about 10 guys realistically can lay claim to that title) Tyrann has been all over the field this season. In seven games (suspended for the last tilt) he has forced four fumbles, recovering three, to go along with two picks and two touchdowns. In week one against Oregon, Mathieu came up big, racking up 10 total tackles. But the big play was early in the second quarter, playing on the punt team, the Honey Badger stripped the returner, picked the ball up and scored to help LSU beat the then third ranked team in the nation.
One of the reasons this LSU team is so good, is the speed on the edges. Oregon and Florida struggled to get to the corners against the Tigers and that was a big part of their undoing. The defense has held their opponents to 2.5 yards per carry. Defensive end Barkevious Mingo is part of the reason why. In eight games Mingo has a team leading 7.5 tackles for loss and his four sacks are tied for the most on the team with fellow D-lineman Sam Montgomery.
On the offensive side of the ball LSU will not blow the doors off of teams, but they don't make mistake either. So far this season Jarrett Lee threw an interception against Miss St, the team fumbled against Oregon and Takhari Gore coughed up the ball against Northwestern St. That's it.
This season, Jarrett Lee has been the starter after Jordan Jefferson got suspended for fighting in a bar (I know, I can't believe it either). Lee epitomizes a game control quarterback. Not needed to make big plays to win, Lee has continually made the right decisions, completing over 63 percent of his passes and 13 scores. Jefferson has now assumed the role of a change of pace QB. He is averaging over four yards a rush on 26 carries and can throw the ball with two scores in ten attempts. They are enough of a duel threat, that defenses have to game plan for both players, not an easy task, but the Crimson Tide have the players to do so.
LSU does hold the special teams edge in this game. Punter Brad Wing averages 44.5 yards per punt and their kick coverage is magnificent. The kick coverage makes tackles to limit return yards and create turnovers.
LSU's head coach, Les Miles, is the Charlie Day of college football. I could totally see Miles turning to his coaching staff after running a triple reverse fake punt and screaming "Wild Card". Les loves to throw in trick plays in games like this, watch for them, they can swing a game in both directions.
Alabama
Alabama has not played as tough of a schedule so far as LSU, but it certainly wasn't an easy one. Arkansas and their high-powered offense are tops when it comes to scoring against the tide, with 14, yes fourteen. Arkansas and Penn St are both one-loss teams, they would be undefeated if Alabama hadn't been on their schedule, combined they have scored 25 points against the Tide. That would not have beaten them in any game this year.
Just like their counterparts from Baton Rouge, the Tide's success comes from their defense. Bama has given up 55 total points over 8 games, that's 6.9 points per game. Moving the ball against Alabama is not easy, it may be impossible to do it on the ground. Opponents have averaged a puny 1.7 yards per carry. It doesn't stop with the run defense, Alabama is only giving up 180.5 total yards per game.
Since 2008, Nick Saban's team has only lost 4 SEC games (South Carolina, Auburn, LSU last year and Florida in '08). In those games Florida's 22 pass attempts is the high water mark, the other three threw just 20 times. That shows in recent years, the way to beat the Tide is to run the ball a lot and only throw when needed. In those games all four teams rushed for over 100 yards (including a robust 225 by LSU last year). The problem for LSU this year is 2011 Alabama defense is better than last year and loaded with future NFL players.
Dont'A Hightower and Courtney Upshaw lead a defense that may send all 11 starters to the NFL. Hightower tops the defensive unit with 48 tackles from the linebacker position. The senior Upshaw has brought down opposing players an astounding 11.5 times behind the line of scrimmage, along with a team high 4.5 sacks.
Veteran senior free safety Mark Barron headlines the Alabama secondary, that CBS commentor Gary Danielson says will have 5 DBs drafted in the first 3 rounds. Along with Hightower, a semi-finalist for the Lott Trophy, given to the nation's top defensive player. Barron is second on the team in tackles with 38 and 3.5 for losses, along with one INT.
The offense plays second fiddle to the their defense, but has put up a lot of points this year. The offense starts and revolves around their Heisman candidate running back Trent Richardson. Trent is 11 yards from breaking the 1,000 yard plateau for the season. He scored 17 touchdowns on the ground and one through the air. The best thing for Richardson and Alabama is that he does not have to rely on getting to the corners to be successful. LSU will close off the corners and make runners go straight at their defense between the tackles. This is Richardson's specialty, if the Tide end up winning this game, his ability to run north-south and finding the holes when they appear will be the main reason.
At the quarterback position the Tide will send out a pure game-manager in A.J. McCarron. Like his counter-part in Jarrett Lee, McCarron is on the field to help guide the team and not make mistakes. So far this season he has only thrown three interceptions (backup Phillip Sims has thrown two). The LSU defense is exceptional at creating turnovers, McCarron will have to make sure he holds on to the football and continues to throw smart passes. An ill timed turnover would play a huge role in this game, especially with LSU's extraordinary ball security skills.
Nick Saban has two national titles (one at Bama and one at LSU), with Urban Meyer coaching the ESPN flag football team, Saban is firmly planted on top of the coaching mountain right now and there for has the coaching edge on Saturday. With that said a win for the Mad Hatter, Les Miles, would take a giant step toward that peak.
The Picks
I went 2-3 last week, thanks to Georgia and Oklahoma doing their job
(1) LSU (+4.5) at (2) Alabama
I think Alabama should be favored in this game, but 4.5 in a game with two great defenses is too high. I expect this score to be low and I can see a field goal winning this game.
(7) Oklahoma (-13.5) vs. Texas A&M
Oklahoma destroyed K-State last week, they are still pissed off about the lose to Tech, Landry Jones threw 5 scores against a decent defense. A&M does not have a decent defense. Oklahoma wins by at least two scores.
(10) South Carolina (+5) at (8) Arkansas
Arkansas is a very good team and could give LSU a test at the end of the year. South Carolina lost their best player two weeks ago for the season. But the old ball coach has a defense, they can rush the passer and keeps games close. Arkansas will probably win, but I think it will be by a late score, not a blow out.
(4) Stanford (+21) at Oregon St
Stanford gets the lesser of the Oregon schools this week, before getting the big boys next week. The beavers sucks, Stanford had their scare last week, I think Andrew Luck picks this defense apart and they win by 30.
Idaho (+8.5) at San Jose St
Idaho is 1-7 and San Jose St is 3-5. Not much more than pride to play for in this WAC battle. Idaho has a player name Njoku, just Njoku. He has one tackle this year, I see a breakout game for Mr. Njoku and a win for the Vandals.
Every time I typed "wins" in this post, I typed "wings" instead, now I want chicken wings.
And in the red corner. With a record of eight wins and zero losses, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, The University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
With the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps talking about that possible fight of the century, it got me thinking about this Saturday's clash being more of fight than a game. Since about week three these teams have looked like the two best teams in the land. After Oklahoma's loss, it became clear LSU and Alabama are the class of the NCAA. Tomorrow, we get the privilege of watching these perennial SEC powerhouses battle it out in central Alabama. There are other college football games this week, but at the same time, there are not.
LSU
We shall start with the visitors. Ranked 1st in the nation for the last six weeks, the Tigers have faced five ranked opponents in their first eight games, if the win they SEC west there is a good chance they will play 10 ranked teams this season. That's a mind-boggling number in modern college football. Just looking at the final scores this season, only Oregon and Mississippi St have been within 20 after the final whistle. Only four teams have scored double digits this year, two of those team (Florida and Auburn) tallied 11 and 10 respectfully.
On the field, like their opponents, it is about speed and defense. Sophomore defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, known as the Honey Badger, anchors this defense. Arguably the best player in the game (about 10 guys realistically can lay claim to that title) Tyrann has been all over the field this season. In seven games (suspended for the last tilt) he has forced four fumbles, recovering three, to go along with two picks and two touchdowns. In week one against Oregon, Mathieu came up big, racking up 10 total tackles. But the big play was early in the second quarter, playing on the punt team, the Honey Badger stripped the returner, picked the ball up and scored to help LSU beat the then third ranked team in the nation.
One of the reasons this LSU team is so good, is the speed on the edges. Oregon and Florida struggled to get to the corners against the Tigers and that was a big part of their undoing. The defense has held their opponents to 2.5 yards per carry. Defensive end Barkevious Mingo is part of the reason why. In eight games Mingo has a team leading 7.5 tackles for loss and his four sacks are tied for the most on the team with fellow D-lineman Sam Montgomery.
On the offensive side of the ball LSU will not blow the doors off of teams, but they don't make mistake either. So far this season Jarrett Lee threw an interception against Miss St, the team fumbled against Oregon and Takhari Gore coughed up the ball against Northwestern St. That's it.
This season, Jarrett Lee has been the starter after Jordan Jefferson got suspended for fighting in a bar (I know, I can't believe it either). Lee epitomizes a game control quarterback. Not needed to make big plays to win, Lee has continually made the right decisions, completing over 63 percent of his passes and 13 scores. Jefferson has now assumed the role of a change of pace QB. He is averaging over four yards a rush on 26 carries and can throw the ball with two scores in ten attempts. They are enough of a duel threat, that defenses have to game plan for both players, not an easy task, but the Crimson Tide have the players to do so.
LSU does hold the special teams edge in this game. Punter Brad Wing averages 44.5 yards per punt and their kick coverage is magnificent. The kick coverage makes tackles to limit return yards and create turnovers.
LSU's head coach, Les Miles, is the Charlie Day of college football. I could totally see Miles turning to his coaching staff after running a triple reverse fake punt and screaming "Wild Card". Les loves to throw in trick plays in games like this, watch for them, they can swing a game in both directions.
Alabama
Alabama has not played as tough of a schedule so far as LSU, but it certainly wasn't an easy one. Arkansas and their high-powered offense are tops when it comes to scoring against the tide, with 14, yes fourteen. Arkansas and Penn St are both one-loss teams, they would be undefeated if Alabama hadn't been on their schedule, combined they have scored 25 points against the Tide. That would not have beaten them in any game this year.
Just like their counterparts from Baton Rouge, the Tide's success comes from their defense. Bama has given up 55 total points over 8 games, that's 6.9 points per game. Moving the ball against Alabama is not easy, it may be impossible to do it on the ground. Opponents have averaged a puny 1.7 yards per carry. It doesn't stop with the run defense, Alabama is only giving up 180.5 total yards per game.
Since 2008, Nick Saban's team has only lost 4 SEC games (South Carolina, Auburn, LSU last year and Florida in '08). In those games Florida's 22 pass attempts is the high water mark, the other three threw just 20 times. That shows in recent years, the way to beat the Tide is to run the ball a lot and only throw when needed. In those games all four teams rushed for over 100 yards (including a robust 225 by LSU last year). The problem for LSU this year is 2011 Alabama defense is better than last year and loaded with future NFL players.
Dont'A Hightower and Courtney Upshaw lead a defense that may send all 11 starters to the NFL. Hightower tops the defensive unit with 48 tackles from the linebacker position. The senior Upshaw has brought down opposing players an astounding 11.5 times behind the line of scrimmage, along with a team high 4.5 sacks.
Veteran senior free safety Mark Barron headlines the Alabama secondary, that CBS commentor Gary Danielson says will have 5 DBs drafted in the first 3 rounds. Along with Hightower, a semi-finalist for the Lott Trophy, given to the nation's top defensive player. Barron is second on the team in tackles with 38 and 3.5 for losses, along with one INT.
The offense plays second fiddle to the their defense, but has put up a lot of points this year. The offense starts and revolves around their Heisman candidate running back Trent Richardson. Trent is 11 yards from breaking the 1,000 yard plateau for the season. He scored 17 touchdowns on the ground and one through the air. The best thing for Richardson and Alabama is that he does not have to rely on getting to the corners to be successful. LSU will close off the corners and make runners go straight at their defense between the tackles. This is Richardson's specialty, if the Tide end up winning this game, his ability to run north-south and finding the holes when they appear will be the main reason.
At the quarterback position the Tide will send out a pure game-manager in A.J. McCarron. Like his counter-part in Jarrett Lee, McCarron is on the field to help guide the team and not make mistakes. So far this season he has only thrown three interceptions (backup Phillip Sims has thrown two). The LSU defense is exceptional at creating turnovers, McCarron will have to make sure he holds on to the football and continues to throw smart passes. An ill timed turnover would play a huge role in this game, especially with LSU's extraordinary ball security skills.
Nick Saban has two national titles (one at Bama and one at LSU), with Urban Meyer coaching the ESPN flag football team, Saban is firmly planted on top of the coaching mountain right now and there for has the coaching edge on Saturday. With that said a win for the Mad Hatter, Les Miles, would take a giant step toward that peak.
The Picks
I went 2-3 last week, thanks to Georgia and Oklahoma doing their job
(1) LSU (+4.5) at (2) Alabama
I think Alabama should be favored in this game, but 4.5 in a game with two great defenses is too high. I expect this score to be low and I can see a field goal winning this game.
(7) Oklahoma (-13.5) vs. Texas A&M
Oklahoma destroyed K-State last week, they are still pissed off about the lose to Tech, Landry Jones threw 5 scores against a decent defense. A&M does not have a decent defense. Oklahoma wins by at least two scores.
(10) South Carolina (+5) at (8) Arkansas
Arkansas is a very good team and could give LSU a test at the end of the year. South Carolina lost their best player two weeks ago for the season. But the old ball coach has a defense, they can rush the passer and keeps games close. Arkansas will probably win, but I think it will be by a late score, not a blow out.
(4) Stanford (+21) at Oregon St
Stanford gets the lesser of the Oregon schools this week, before getting the big boys next week. The beavers sucks, Stanford had their scare last week, I think Andrew Luck picks this defense apart and they win by 30.
Idaho (+8.5) at San Jose St
Idaho is 1-7 and San Jose St is 3-5. Not much more than pride to play for in this WAC battle. Idaho has a player name Njoku, just Njoku. He has one tackle this year, I see a breakout game for Mr. Njoku and a win for the Vandals.
Every time I typed "wins" in this post, I typed "wings" instead, now I want chicken wings.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Welcome! College Football Week 9
This is the debut post of the Athletically Ineligible college football blog. It is written by Nils Hansen, an avid sports fan who decided to write about college football.
This week in the land of FBS football feels like the week random rerun week during the fall TV schedule, there might be some good stuff on, but you still wish the week didn't exist. I feel like this is a good week to start a college football blog.
Last week was a crazy week, where we saw two National Title contenders fall (Oklahoma was favored by 30 and Wisconsin had won their first six games by an average of 40.5 points). Next week we have the biggest regular season game since at least Michigan v. Ohio St. in '06, or further back for that matter. LSU and Alabama are clearly the two best teams in the country and they get this week off, before they play the defacto National Championship on Nov. 5.
With all that said, this is a pretty solid week in the league where the play for secret pay. We'll start out east, with the Big East. It's been a rough week or so for the Big East (in reality, a rough few years) fans are either asking if it's basketball season yet or "are we still in the Big East?" There could have been a nice game this week for this downtrodden conference, West Virginia at Rutgers, on ABC at 3:30, but not just one, but both teams decided to shit the bed last Friday against lesser opponents. Cincinnati has the inside track to a BCS game, but I still have to think that the Mountaineers are the best team and should get the bid. Only Rutgers (2-1) and South Florida (0-3) have played more than two games in-conference, so conference braging rights and big BCS money are still up for grabs. UConn heads to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night and Louisville hosts Syracuse (the two teams that benefited from RU and WVU losing last week) on Saturday, along with the "marquee" game in Piscataway on ABC, the Big East should look a little more clear on Saturday night. If anyone really cares.
Clemson is the clear class of the ACC, which will contain at least two of those Big East team. The Tigers do have a legitimate shot at the crystal football, but they will probably need some help. Clemson is fun team to watch, they don't have a great defense to go with a high-powered offense, making most of their games high-scoring. They have three wins over ranked opponents, the Florida St. win doesn't look as good anymore, but that was a huge game for them to propel their season into the "possibly historic" category. Virginia Tech is still a good win (a 23-3 beating) and they could see them again in the conference title game. Auburn is still the defending champs and a win over any SEC team is a positive. They get Georgia Tech this week, the Yellow Jackets are not as good as their lofty ranking made you think a few weeks back, but Paul Johnson's option offense can be tricky and should keep the game close, along with Clemson's propensity to shot themselves in the foot, this game could end the Tigers title hopes. I still like Tajh Boyd, Andre Ellington and the rest of the men in orange to stay perfect. VT and Wake Forest are the other two good teams in the ACC and they both have walks against Duke and UNC respectfully.
One of the the best games on the schedule is in the now wide open Big Ten. Michigan St travels to Lincoln to face the Cornhuskers. The Spartans did what the newcomers couldn't last week, they beat Wisconsin. Their defense keep them in the game against the Badgers and Kirk Cousins, who didn't look good on the final drive, threw the ball as far as he could, miracle happened, Wisconsin falls. Nebraska on the other hand has not looked good this season. The defense is not what we thought it was going to be at season's start, "QB" Taylor Martinez has gone form a Heisman contender to a liability. Both teams can make the inaugural Big Ten title game, if MSU wins they will have the clear inside track to the title game and an outside shot at the BCS Title game. With a win on Saturday, Nebraska can right the ship on their season and make a play for the Big Ten title in their first season. Penn St is some how 4-0 in the conference and 7-1 overall this season, they get an Illinois team that have dropped two straight after a loss to a bad Purdue team, after starting 6-0. Michigan are also in the picture to represent the Legends division, but with a loss to "Little Sister" Michigan St., Big Blue is going to need a lot of things to happen. It seems to me, the Big Ten really is a top heavy conference; Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Indiana are all bad teams.
Even with the loss to Texas Tech, the Big 12 is still Oklahoma's conference, in my opinion. I know Oklahoma St. is ranked 3rd in the BCS and K-State is undefeated, but Oklahoma battles the Wildcats at K-State this week and then there is the Bedlam game to finish the season against Ok. State, so I still feel they control their season. Texas A&M is the only other team in the conference that matters. They have played some of the most exciting football games this year, the problem for the Aggies is the excitement comes from the fact A&M couldn't stop anyone on the last drive of the game. They travel to Norman to take on the Sooners next week. Wow, next week is shaping up to be an amazing week for college football fans. Baylor has lost their luster a bit, but they do get a shot at Oklahoma St. this week, in what could be a very good game. Robert Griffin III is probably the most exciting player in the land, so if your team is off this week or you need a game to watch at 3:30 on Saturday, this one is a pretty safe bet.
Out west in the Pac-12, we are waiting for the Stanford v. Oregon game in two weeks, those two teams are clearly the best two in that conference. Andrew Luck is good, really good. Stanford crushed a barely-ranked Washington last week, using their run game as much as their future number one overall pick quarterback. If Oregon is healthy they can play with every non-SEC team in the country. That game sound be a hell of game, and maybe exactly what Stanford needs to vault them into the BCS Title game, but that game is two weeks away.
Finally we move to the NFL Jr. LSU and Alabama are off, but there are still some very good teams playing this Saturday. Sadly, they are not playing each other. Arkansas' only loss is to Alabama, their passing offense is on par with any team in the country, they take on Vandy this week in what should be a blowout. South Carolina is looking like they will win the SEC East, but they did loss Marcus Lattimore, possibly the best RB in the country. The Gamecocks travel to Tennessee to play a not good Vols team that does not have their starting QB. The game of the week in the SEC is the yearly rivalry game between Florida and Georgia. Georgia stands even with South Carolina in the East, but their early season loss to So. Car. will probably be their undoing. Florida has lost three straight SEC games to Alabama, LSU and Auburn to derail the first post-Urban Florida season.
The Picks
Rutgers (+7) vs. (25) West Virginia
September 10, 1994, Rutgers 17 - WVU 12, that is the last time the Scarlet Knights beat West Virginia. On that same day, #24 Stanford played Northwestern to a 41-41 tie. THERE WERE STILL TIES BACK THEN! With that said, this Rutgers grad is taking the points, WVU wins, but not by 7.
Georgia (-2.5) vs. Florida
The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Florida has lost three straight games to better teams, Georgia is a better team, I'll gladly lay two-and-a-half with that math. Either way, on Saturday, I'm taking Vodka with the ice.
(11) Oklahoma (-13.5) at (10) Kansas St
Oklahoma is pissed off. Are they two touchdowns pissed off? I believe so, Landry Jones had Heisman hopes this season, he doesn't anymore, but he is going to want to show the country he is still a top 3 or so QB in the land, I'm thinking 4 TDs.
(9) Michigan St (+4) at (13) Nebraska
I think Michigan St has the defense to stop Taylor Martinez from using his feet, and Martinez's arm stops Martinez's throwing game, so I think Michigan St wins this game.
North Texas (+17) at Arkansas St
Remember when North Texas won the Sun Belt conference with an overall losing record? They would only loss like 3 games over 4 years in the conference. That was a long time ago, but NOT long enough, I'm taking the points in this Sun Belt show down.
I plan on posting at least once per week, this week was very much an overview of the season so far, since it's the first post. That will probably chance.
This week in the land of FBS football feels like the week random rerun week during the fall TV schedule, there might be some good stuff on, but you still wish the week didn't exist. I feel like this is a good week to start a college football blog.
Last week was a crazy week, where we saw two National Title contenders fall (Oklahoma was favored by 30 and Wisconsin had won their first six games by an average of 40.5 points). Next week we have the biggest regular season game since at least Michigan v. Ohio St. in '06, or further back for that matter. LSU and Alabama are clearly the two best teams in the country and they get this week off, before they play the defacto National Championship on Nov. 5.
With all that said, this is a pretty solid week in the league where the play for secret pay. We'll start out east, with the Big East. It's been a rough week or so for the Big East (in reality, a rough few years) fans are either asking if it's basketball season yet or "are we still in the Big East?" There could have been a nice game this week for this downtrodden conference, West Virginia at Rutgers, on ABC at 3:30, but not just one, but both teams decided to shit the bed last Friday against lesser opponents. Cincinnati has the inside track to a BCS game, but I still have to think that the Mountaineers are the best team and should get the bid. Only Rutgers (2-1) and South Florida (0-3) have played more than two games in-conference, so conference braging rights and big BCS money are still up for grabs. UConn heads to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night and Louisville hosts Syracuse (the two teams that benefited from RU and WVU losing last week) on Saturday, along with the "marquee" game in Piscataway on ABC, the Big East should look a little more clear on Saturday night. If anyone really cares.
Clemson is the clear class of the ACC, which will contain at least two of those Big East team. The Tigers do have a legitimate shot at the crystal football, but they will probably need some help. Clemson is fun team to watch, they don't have a great defense to go with a high-powered offense, making most of their games high-scoring. They have three wins over ranked opponents, the Florida St. win doesn't look as good anymore, but that was a huge game for them to propel their season into the "possibly historic" category. Virginia Tech is still a good win (a 23-3 beating) and they could see them again in the conference title game. Auburn is still the defending champs and a win over any SEC team is a positive. They get Georgia Tech this week, the Yellow Jackets are not as good as their lofty ranking made you think a few weeks back, but Paul Johnson's option offense can be tricky and should keep the game close, along with Clemson's propensity to shot themselves in the foot, this game could end the Tigers title hopes. I still like Tajh Boyd, Andre Ellington and the rest of the men in orange to stay perfect. VT and Wake Forest are the other two good teams in the ACC and they both have walks against Duke and UNC respectfully.
One of the the best games on the schedule is in the now wide open Big Ten. Michigan St travels to Lincoln to face the Cornhuskers. The Spartans did what the newcomers couldn't last week, they beat Wisconsin. Their defense keep them in the game against the Badgers and Kirk Cousins, who didn't look good on the final drive, threw the ball as far as he could, miracle happened, Wisconsin falls. Nebraska on the other hand has not looked good this season. The defense is not what we thought it was going to be at season's start, "QB" Taylor Martinez has gone form a Heisman contender to a liability. Both teams can make the inaugural Big Ten title game, if MSU wins they will have the clear inside track to the title game and an outside shot at the BCS Title game. With a win on Saturday, Nebraska can right the ship on their season and make a play for the Big Ten title in their first season. Penn St is some how 4-0 in the conference and 7-1 overall this season, they get an Illinois team that have dropped two straight after a loss to a bad Purdue team, after starting 6-0. Michigan are also in the picture to represent the Legends division, but with a loss to "Little Sister" Michigan St., Big Blue is going to need a lot of things to happen. It seems to me, the Big Ten really is a top heavy conference; Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Indiana are all bad teams.
Even with the loss to Texas Tech, the Big 12 is still Oklahoma's conference, in my opinion. I know Oklahoma St. is ranked 3rd in the BCS and K-State is undefeated, but Oklahoma battles the Wildcats at K-State this week and then there is the Bedlam game to finish the season against Ok. State, so I still feel they control their season. Texas A&M is the only other team in the conference that matters. They have played some of the most exciting football games this year, the problem for the Aggies is the excitement comes from the fact A&M couldn't stop anyone on the last drive of the game. They travel to Norman to take on the Sooners next week. Wow, next week is shaping up to be an amazing week for college football fans. Baylor has lost their luster a bit, but they do get a shot at Oklahoma St. this week, in what could be a very good game. Robert Griffin III is probably the most exciting player in the land, so if your team is off this week or you need a game to watch at 3:30 on Saturday, this one is a pretty safe bet.
Out west in the Pac-12, we are waiting for the Stanford v. Oregon game in two weeks, those two teams are clearly the best two in that conference. Andrew Luck is good, really good. Stanford crushed a barely-ranked Washington last week, using their run game as much as their future number one overall pick quarterback. If Oregon is healthy they can play with every non-SEC team in the country. That game sound be a hell of game, and maybe exactly what Stanford needs to vault them into the BCS Title game, but that game is two weeks away.
Finally we move to the NFL Jr. LSU and Alabama are off, but there are still some very good teams playing this Saturday. Sadly, they are not playing each other. Arkansas' only loss is to Alabama, their passing offense is on par with any team in the country, they take on Vandy this week in what should be a blowout. South Carolina is looking like they will win the SEC East, but they did loss Marcus Lattimore, possibly the best RB in the country. The Gamecocks travel to Tennessee to play a not good Vols team that does not have their starting QB. The game of the week in the SEC is the yearly rivalry game between Florida and Georgia. Georgia stands even with South Carolina in the East, but their early season loss to So. Car. will probably be their undoing. Florida has lost three straight SEC games to Alabama, LSU and Auburn to derail the first post-Urban Florida season.
The Picks
Rutgers (+7) vs. (25) West Virginia
September 10, 1994, Rutgers 17 - WVU 12, that is the last time the Scarlet Knights beat West Virginia. On that same day, #24 Stanford played Northwestern to a 41-41 tie. THERE WERE STILL TIES BACK THEN! With that said, this Rutgers grad is taking the points, WVU wins, but not by 7.
Georgia (-2.5) vs. Florida
The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Florida has lost three straight games to better teams, Georgia is a better team, I'll gladly lay two-and-a-half with that math. Either way, on Saturday, I'm taking Vodka with the ice.
(11) Oklahoma (-13.5) at (10) Kansas St
Oklahoma is pissed off. Are they two touchdowns pissed off? I believe so, Landry Jones had Heisman hopes this season, he doesn't anymore, but he is going to want to show the country he is still a top 3 or so QB in the land, I'm thinking 4 TDs.
(9) Michigan St (+4) at (13) Nebraska
I think Michigan St has the defense to stop Taylor Martinez from using his feet, and Martinez's arm stops Martinez's throwing game, so I think Michigan St wins this game.
North Texas (+17) at Arkansas St
Remember when North Texas won the Sun Belt conference with an overall losing record? They would only loss like 3 games over 4 years in the conference. That was a long time ago, but NOT long enough, I'm taking the points in this Sun Belt show down.
I plan on posting at least once per week, this week was very much an overview of the season so far, since it's the first post. That will probably chance.
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