Now that we are only hours away from the beginning of the college football season, many of the talking heads on the different networks are making their pick for who is going to be playing in South Florida for the NCAA FB NC. While watching and listening to some of the coverage, I noticed that no one was picking all the BCS title games except the writers who exclusively cover the game.
So, I decided to, because I have way to much time on my hands, I decided to pick all the games that are apart of the BCS.
Yes, Yes I know, I need to find a life. But here we go.
Fiesta Bowl Normally they have the conference winner from the Big 12 and an at-large team. I went to this game last year, it was my first college football game live I went to. I loved the atmosphere and had a ton of fun. I think the Big 12 has a chance to put two teams in the BCS. I think the teams playing in the game... Mizzou vs Ball State or BYU.
Sugar Bowl This is one of the easiest game to pick because you take the team that loses the SEC Championship game. Since the SEC is the best conference, they will probably send the team that wins the conference to the National Title game, like they have done for the past two years. Then they throw a non-BCS team to face them, like Hawaii last year and then the SEC has some fun playing thier second string against the best the WAC has to offer. This year the SEC finally gets some good competition. Georgia vs Oklahoma.
Orange Bowl Probably the most boring game of the entire BCS series, sorry to say but it is. Last year it was a Virginia Tech team that couldn't decide who their quarterback was and a Kansas team that will have a tough time repeating their latest bowl appearance. This years game will be a little more interesting than previous years, but is bringing up the rear on the intereesting scale. Wake Forest vs West Virginia.
Rose Bowl The Grand Daddy of them all. This game is usually the one that offers up the best game of the year outside of the National Championship game. It usually involves USC and some bad Big Ten team that will get trounced like it always does against good competition. Since I believe that USC will be playing in the National Championship game, I think that it will be... Arizona State vs Ohio State.
National Championship This will be another good year that will offer a great game between teams that will go 1-2 throughout the entire year, similar to when TExas and USC played in the Rose Bowl a few years ago. The teams I pciked are probably the most talented teams in all of college football, and Georgia could sneak in but their schedule is just way to difficult. My choice for BCSNC is........ USC over Florida.
With the countdown getting under 12 hours before Kick-Off, and a few days away from Lee Corso's selection of the first Mascot Head of the year or Kirk Herbstreit breaking a story that is completely false, the calender has finally turned.
The EXTRAVAGANZA continues today. Last night at dinner the loyal readers weren’t as hostile as they were before yesterday. I only had to dodge two forks instead of three.
Today, my picks for the Heisman trophy.
Before you make the pick, you have to consider what you think the Heisman means and what credentials a player must have to win the award.
First, they have to be on a winning team. If you didn’t even make a top tier bowl game, then you have no business winning. I understand that Jake Locker would be an excellent candidate, but he simply just plays on a bad team, and it makes you wonder if the team would be that much better with him than without him.
Next you must play in a BCS conference, because they are playing against the best players and best teams when they begin conference play. I understand teams in the WAC or the MAC or any other conference that ends in AC, they play good teams, but not consistently during their conference schedule. Colt Brennan gained a lot of pub last year because he was good, but he player against lesser talent which worked against him. He was a good player, but his conference worked against him.
Finally, you have to be a primarily offensive player. I know that takes out half of the players in all of college football, but defenses are seen as units, front seven, the back seven, pass rush, coverage, it is difficult to single players out. They may be the best players in college football on the defense, but their accomplishment are difficult to single out, and makes it difficult to chose just one player. Charles Woodson won the Heisman because he was good on defense, but also special teams.
So now that my criteria is out of the way, I can give you my top three, in no particular order.
Knowshon Moreno, RB Georgia
Tim Tebow, QB Florida
Beanie Wells, RB Ohio State.
These guys will be fighting it out over the thirteen weeks to see who will be invited into that exclusive club. I’ll make a case for each candidate.
Moreno is just such a good runner and has the potential to break as many tackles as he wants to score a touchdown. He is an excellent player who will be a great compliment to the throwing ability of QB Matthew Stafford. Also, if Moreno was not playing at Georgia, Georgia would not be the pre-season number 1 team.
Tebow is just such a freak athletically, that he can beat you with his arm or his legs. He can run either around you, through you, or throw it over you. He is just such a good decision maker. Also, with Florida adding a RB this season, Tebow will be more healthy throughout the entire season. Florida would not be the same if Tebow was enrolled somewhere else. A major drawback for Tebow is that he won the trophy last year, and the Heisman voters may snub him to keep Archie Griffen alone as the only repeat winner.
Finally, Wells is an excellent player who will force teams to try and put as many people in the box to defend him, but he, like Moreno seem to be able to take everything to the house every time they touch the ball. His drawback, although he plays in a BCS conference, not many people outside the Big Ten Conference believe that the Big Ten as a whole isn’t that good. Wells is a great player, but will struggle because teams will key in on him and force Boeckman and the Bucks to throw on them.
So after all the debateing, my pick for Heisman winner is…………Drumroll Please.
Florida QB Time Tebow defies the odds and becomes the second Heisman winner.
The ending of the EXTRAVAGANZA is tomorrow with my choice for BCS teams and National Champions.
I was looking at my calendar earlier this week and I occurred to me that we are only less than a week away from the beginning of the season. I have been putting off my preview for a couple of weeks, but there were three angry looks from my loyal readers across the dinner table. So to appease everyone here is my preview.
On with the Extravaganza
Big Ten
The best in the Big Ten no question is the Buckeyes from An Ohio State University and they are my prediction for the Big Ten conference champions. With a great offense and an absolutely loaded defense, they could be looking at a potential third straight National Championship bid. The Bucks will have a large chip on their shoulder after being spanked twice by SEC teams and will very good this year.
The team to watch will be the Wisconsin Badgers who have been steadily improving ever since Bret Bielma took over for Barry Alvarez. They have the potential to challenge the Bucks for the Big Ten title and a chance at a BCS bid.
Player to see at least once is the great RB Chris “Beanie” Wells who is a front-runner for the Heisman and could provide a great compliment to the good passing game of Todd Boeckman. He will be a lot of fun to watch.
Big East The team that will win will be the West Virginia Mountaineers under first year head coach Bill Stewart. They run the option so well, that teams have difficulty defending it, and now the Stewart says QB Pat White will be throwing the ball much more. Now teams will have to respect White’s arm as well as his legs with great RB Noel Devine they could be a potential national title contender.
A team to watch will be South Florida who will be an excellent team and potentially be undefeated going into their game with West Virginia. They made improvements last year and will continue to build on that success.
Player to watch will be South Florida DE George Selvie along with West Virginia QB Pat White. Both players a freakishly athletic and can make plays at will. When they line up opposite each other on that Saturday in Morgantown, look for some fireworks.
ACC My pick to win the ACC goes against what all the experts are saying, I am taking Wake Forest to win a down ACC. Clemson seems to be the trendy pick, but with senior QB Riley Skinned running the show at Wake, he has the potential to bounce back from a bad year last year and return to his excellent play from two years ago. Wake looks poised and I think they can prove a lot of people wrong.
The team to watch is Clemson because they are going to be a great running team with their two-headed monster in CJ Spiller and James Davis, who could re-kindle thoughts of the old thunder and lightning combination that USC used a few years ago. Especially in a game of attrition they will be able to run all over teams when the have two semi-fresh backs late in the game.
Players to watch are the two I mentioned before, the RB’s Spiller and Davis simply because both of them are so good. In football you have to be able to run the ball, and these two will probably do it better than anyone else in college football, outside of USC.
Big 12 The conference champions will be the Oklahoma Sooners and the improved Sophomore QB Same Bradford. Oklahoma was excellent last year and with Bradford learning more of the system in the off-season, he will be a much more polished passer. I doubt he will come near the TD total he put up last year at 36, but he will come close and that will be good enough to win the Big 12. Mizzou has the potential to win it but I think Oklahoma is just to good.
The team to watch will be Texas Tech for two words and one letter… Run n Gun. This team could set records and will be the most entertaining team to watch in all of college football because they rack up points and yards. The combination of Graham Harell and Michael Crabtree will be the most interesting QB to WR tandem and make for great television. A great offense but will fall just short of a BCS bid.
A player to see once is Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech WR because he is probably the best athlete in all of college football. With his combined speed, jumping and ability to catch the ball will make him a head ache for every corner who tries to line up against him. He set records as a freshman as has the potential to set a few more.
Pac 10 There is a simple answer for the question of who will win the Pac 10 and it begins and ends with USC. They have 5 star recruits sitting at third and fourth on their depth chart. These are players who would start on most college teams and even a few NFL teams. Their defense is amazing, and quarterback Mark Sanchez has the potential to build on some solid performances from last year. This team is scary good.
A team to watch will be UCLA under new head coach Rick Neuheisel. There will be some growing pains as there always is when a new system is installed and a new team philosophy is used, but the fact that UCLA has a good coach leading them could lead to a great end of the season. The first few weeks, they will struggle, but when they start to get rolling, this team could be dangerous.
There are two players to watch in this conference, USC LB Rey Maualuga and Washington QB Jake Locker. Maualuga is just a freak of nature and will be an excellent LB at the next level. Not many LB have to potential to make big plays everytime the ball is snapped. Maualuga will be the only thing going through opposing QB’s heads when teams play USC, both figuratively and literally.
Locker is an interesting player because he possesses all the talent of Florida’s Tim Tebow, but doesn’t get as much coverage. I know he doesn’t because he plays on a bad team, but if Washington is playing an early game on the east coast, you may want to check out how good he is.
Finally, the SEC This is probably the strongest conference in the college game. There are two teams potentially who could win it and the winner of the head-to-head game in Jacksonville will determine the winner of the conference. I think Florida will win it only because Georgia’s schedule is absolutely brutal. Every game of theirs is tough after week 3 of the season except for Vandy. I believe that Georgia will be competitive but will not win the SEC
One team to watch is Georgia simply because of the talent that they have on both sides of the football. They have an excellent QB in Matthew Stafford, a killer RB with Knowshon Moreno and a very scary defense. This team has the potential of getting to the BCS Title game as long as they can get by their murder schedule. I think they have a shot at winning if they do two things. One is stay healthy, but that goes for every team. The other is keeping their player from going Pac-Man Jones in local scrip clubs.
One player to watch aside from Tim Tebow is going to be the person I mentioned before. Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno is built in the mold of home run hitter, similar to Darren McFadden who can take the ball to the house any time he touches it, but he can also be the every down back that run between the tackles. He will be one person to keep your eye on every week.
So there are my conference picks, let me know what you think.
Tuesday, the EXTRAVAGANZA continues with my selections for Heisman
After hearing of the top quarterback prospect coming out of high school, Terrelle Pryor chose the Buckeyes over the Wolverines, I began to look around the net to see where people would be rating the Buckeyes recruiting class of 2008.
I then stumbled across something written by the Detroit Free Press. Actually a couple of things. These are the titles of a few things:
1. Michigan's future never depended on Pryor 2. No Terrelle Pryor opens door for other QBs, Carlos Brown, 2009 recruits 3. Wolverines already have a dual-threat quarterback not named Pryor 4. Michigan shouldn't be disappointed that it missed out on Pryor 5. Terrelle Pryor could be a bust like past No. 1s
Do I dectect a little bit of sour grapes coming from Ann Arbor?
I am not an Ohio State fan but these headlines make me a little skeptical about the concept of objective journalism. These legitimate articles on a legitimate newspaper such as the Detroit Free Press just give more cause that the world of agendaless journalism is gone.
What would the headlines have been if Pryor had chosen Michigan over OSU?
1. Michigan set for the next 4 years 2. Pryor solidify's Michigan's potent offense 3. 4 time Heisman comes to Michigan? 4. RichRod pulls one over on the vest.
The Ohio papers weren't the most objective either, but I want to be as objective as possible.
With my knowledge of College Football, I think that it would have been better if Pryor had chosen Michigan over OSU because of offensive style and ability to get on the field right away. OSU is not right for him because he will be sitting on the bench for a while behind current Bucks quarterback Todd Boeckman. Also thier offense is a pro style offense that doesn't suit Pryor's strengths.
This new development will just amp up one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.
There were a lot ofsurprises this weekend from the NFL, only one game went the way most people predicted it, including my self.
I thought the Seattle was largely underrated this season, even though they play in the worst division in all of the NFL. For any team to go into Seattle and win is always a tough thing to do. Seattle was 7-1 at home during the regular season, 8-1 overall. There are a lot of things that come into play with playing in Seattle, like the weather and the crowd. Now that Seattle has moved on in the playoffs, maybe they will get some respect going into their game with Green Bay...Let's hope Matt Hasselbeck doesn't predict that "We want the ball, and we're going to score" My Pick: Green Bay, but close.
The New York Giants will travel to Dallas to play the Cowboys for the third time this season, and Eli Manning showed some flashes of brilliance this weekend. He finally impressed me, and I know my opinion doesn't really matter about how good Eli is. But now the Giants have to go into a hostile environment in Dallas, with a better team on the other side of the ball, and a better pass rush coming at him this weekend. My Pick: Dallas wins going away.
The best game of the weekend, didn't really start until the fourth quarter. When the Steelers finally woke up and made it a game, they couldn't do what they normally do, get pressure on the quarterback. David Gerrard looked impressive, and I know he ws largely impressive during the year, but I think Jacksonville is a little to over matched when it comes to facing New England. My Pick: New England big.
The most uninteresting game of Wild Card weekend was the Chargers vs Titans game. This game was borderline, similar to the NBA--- unwatchable. The game had no cache, it had no flair, even thought we had probably the most potent offensive player in the game in LaDainian Tomlinson, he was largely shut down. He averaged 2 yards a carry, and was a minimal impact in the passing game. I love watching LT play, but yesterday was absolutely disgusting---and not in the good way. It as a boring game from start to finish, and I found myself changing channels between a movie and golf. SD will get a rude awakening this weekend when they play in Indianapolis. My Pick: indianapolis big.
Also, here is my pick for the CFB National Title Game tonight. A close game after OSU takes and early quarter lead. Les Miles will then fire up the troops at half-time, and LSU comes from behind to win the game. Final Score: 28-21 LSU.
I was at the thrashing of Oklahoma at the hands of West Virginia. When the first quarter was finished, I figured it would be a tough match-up with the odd option offense. This was my first college football game ever, and I hope that the ones to come are as entertaining.
It started with the Tostitos run tailgate party on the Arizona Cardinals practice field. I got my food, had a excellent discussion with a few locals, and learned the cheers and chants of both schools. It all culminated with the obstacle course which I obliterated, but I was underthrown on the potential touchdown catch. Better luck next time I guess.
Next my brother, his friend, my cousin and I all walked to the stadium with a chorus of "BOOMER, SOONER!!!" and "LET'S GO, MOUNTAINEERS!!!" all the way to our seats. This is what I like about college football, the things you don't get with the professional game.
Then I was introduced to different band formations that made me do a double take when the different groups changed formations. My favorites in the pre-game was the WVU band outlining the state, and the OU band creating the school's logo. An excellent appetizer to the game entree.
The game was excellent, expecially every time WVU got a first down, the would do a voo doo chant with spirit fingers, followed by three grunts, a clap and screaming "First Down". Again, another reason the pro and college game are completely different.
The first half was excellent, except for one reason, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops continued to run the ball, even though WVU was holding them to less than 4 yards per carry. Throwing the ball was working, why did he not abandon the run and strictly pass. I still think play calling in football is overrated, but sometimes at half-time, you make adjustments. Also, what about the onside kick in the third quarter. Again, just a thought.
The highlight of halftime was the OU band dropping thier instruments and dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". That may have been the highlight for Oklahoma all game.
The second half was what it was, and slug fest, to bad the point differential was 15 points. Another reason I liked the game, other than the OU cheerleaders bouncing with thier "Pom-Poms" was some of the fans, talking trash like they were a part of the team.
Early in the third quarter, an OU fan questioned, WVU Full-back Owen Schmitt's manhood, and a WVU fan was talked off the ledge from his wife. If that was an NFL game, the two would've duked it out with security draped all over them. Another reason was the college and pro game is different.
At different moments of the game, I would watch one particular WVU fan, in a similar call going against either team, like pass intereference, he would agree with the one against Oklahoma, and boo and curse the one against WVU. No surprise really. Fan is short for fanatic.
Overall, and excellent first game, all though I want to watch a home game, rather than a neutral site game, then maybe I can get a better feeling about the college game.
