Finally, the week has come. That week I’m talking about is the BCS Standings Week 1. We’ve been hemming and hawing about who’s best and who’s overrated. Now we the dip stick to check the levels of college football awesomeness. There are some surprises and not so surprises in the fresh standings. But we’ll get to that later. We also have a new week of Pick It and Stick It Standings to go over. Will Keltron3000 hold the top spot or will some young up and comer take over and turn the league upside down. It’s too close to call so let’s check it out right now.
It’s the middle of the season and we are looking completely different from where we thought we were at. That’s okay. That’s how college football works. The way things changed week to week is what makes it the best sport in my mind and hopefully yours. So will the rest of the season prove even more unpredictable? We’ve yet to see any real upsets yet and we’re knee-deep into conference play. So chances are the 13 or so undefeated teams will start to dwindle down. I know this will happen because sports writers are talking about the possibility of 4 undefeated teams at the end of the season. Here’s this week’s pick set:
We are halfway through the season and it is time to get all franchised up in here. That’s right, for the mid-season barspot, we’ll be heading to one of the local franchise Pluckers Wing Bar. Outside of the tasty appetizer I had at the Draft Pick, there has been no major wing place I’ve been to this year. So, I’ll be trolling South Lamar looking for the hottest wings they can muster. It’s the Southwest, they damn well better be way hotter than Buffalo Wild Wings’ tame excuse for nuclear hot wings. Plus, there’s some games! Join us! Continue reading Barspotting: Pluckers→
I have to say I’m a little giddy at the news that TCU will be accepting the offer to join the Big 12. Yeah, I know that they turned the gravy train around from the Big East but they are a better fit and I’m sure they were a little shakey about that conference after Pitt and Syracuse decided to leave. Yes, the Big East is in HUGE trouble, and now it’s the Big 12’s turn to take a deep breath and grab a couple of more teams. In fact, I’d say it’s high time for the Big 12 to Pick It and Stick It! Speaking of which, we have another exciting weekend of action on the field and on your pick sets. Let’s go over the list:
Okay, finally we see the dropped points come into effect. Not only that, but now we are finally seeing what teams are in full effect. Conference play started around the landscape and we are starting to see the pretenders fall to the winners. The hype turned sour to teams like Baylor and Florida, while the winners took care of business. Will we see the pretenders fall off in the Pick It and Stick It standings? We have a couple of weeks to find out because of the dropped points, but the dropped points are now in play.
Conference play kind of opened up last weekend for the Big 12, but this weekend we have a couple of head to head match ups. I don’t know which game will be more exciting, the Texas vs Iowa State or Kansas State vs Baylor. The obvious is the Kansas State game but if you remember last year, Iowa State went down to Austin and beat the Longhorns. The local media around here is chirping about how it’s a revenge game but the player interviews talk about how they expect to handle Iowa State easily. We’ll find that out Saturday as well as just how real Kansas State’s defense really is. Here’s this week’s Pick It and Stick It: Continue reading Pick It and Stick It 2011 Week 05: Time To Play For Real→
Whew! Another close one for the Big 12. I swear, the Big 12 is the greatest thing since MTV’s The Real World. If you want to talk about the best conferences, then the one with the best drama factor definitely is the Big 12. Yeah, they are staying together but we really don’t know for how long. So while they hold hands again and tell everybody that things are cool, let’s focus on some actual football. This week’s Pick It an Stick It kind of reflects the noise off the field. Like the Big 12, most of the great games are stuck together around 2:30 Saturday. That’s fine for me and my barspotting trip, but how will it fare for the picks? Continue reading Pick It And Stick It 2011 Week 04: Sticking Together→
It’s the hustle and bustle of college football. At the beginning of the year, everyone is tied 0-0. Slowly and weekly, the winners bubble up and the losers peter out. We’re getting into week 3 and it’s still crowded. We haven’t yet hit the real bubbling point. Apparently it’s Road Test Weekend so we’ll more than likely get the cauldron cooking real quick. Speaking of being crowded, I’m planning and surfing the flesh at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Granted I have Sunday tickets so it won’t be too bad, but Saturday’s at Third Base Sports Bar. Let’s hope people don’t bubble up vomit and I don’t peter out.
So I’m running a little bit late today but as soon as I hit the front door last night, I got kicked in the face by the awesome weekend. Yes, I flew back home to Kansas City for the weekend. The main goal was to have great quality time with friends and family. The secondary goal was to watch some fantastic college football. Mission accomplished on both, especially for the three football games.
That’s right, I’ll be on a plane shortly but I want to get the picks up for the week. It’s hard to stay focused with the Big 12 in legal gridlock. You know, I thought professional wrestling was soap opera for guys but now I know that college football realignment is the real deal. No offense to the WWE, but this stuff is way better than the scripted stuff I used to watch. So as the conference turn, get your picks in and hope for the best.
Yeah, so soon right? This weekend I’m forgoing my new home and heading up to Kansas City, the place I was born and raised. Long story short: I didn’t get a chance to visit the last time I was up there so I figured this weekend would be a good one to do so. It’s after Labor Day so the tickets were cheaper plus I get to watch my 2nd favorite team Notre Dame play my homey Jolly’s favorite team Michigan. There’s a BBQ to be had so nothing official, sorry Tanner’s. But it will be a blast and I will do my best to recount it amongst the haze. Continue reading HomeSpotting: Homeward Bound→
Here we go on my annual predictions for the upcoming college football season. I peer into my crystal viking horn and blow out what I think will happen for the year 2011. From the BCS Championship Game to what color socks Oregon will wear in week 10, I throw it all on the board and see what makes triples and doubles. So what do I think will happen? Let’s find out:
Going big, the BCS Championship Game will be between Alabama and Oregon. Alabama’s avoided the NCAA cartel but Oregon hasn’t as much. I’m taking a risk on Oregon, but I don’t see any other team outside of the SEC that is title worthy. Sure there’s Oklahoma but man I’ve been burned by them before.
Texas A&M will leave the Big 12 to go the SEC. The SEC will poach and ACC, probably Florida State. The Big 12 stays in Texas and nabs either SMU or Houston.
Mike Leach will show up in a pirate outfit on Halloween. I’m not sure where, but it will be damn scary.
The NCAA hires enough people for them to actually do their job. This is a big guess.
The first ever Big 10 Championship Game will feature new member Nebraska and current NCAA crosshairs, Ohio State. Ohio State wins it and causes everyone to freak out.
Like I said before, Oregon will win the inaugural Pac 12 Championship Game against Arizona State.
Tyler Gabbert will not be a starting quarterback.
In my Big 12 preview, I picked Oklahoma to win the Big 12 but they will not be undefeated and will choke against somebody.
Super recruiter Willie Lyles will be paid even more money by selling recruiting tapes of a young breakout by the name of Hershel Walker.
I have no friggin’ clue who will win the Heisman this year. Probably LaMichael James, he was a finalist last year. Yeah, so was Andrew Luck but I’m picking the Ducks over the Trees this year.
Notre Dame gets on the winning track this year by displaying a tall video tower at the end of the opponents field for each home game. They may, by the grace of God, make a BCS bowl this year.
Penn State head coach Joe Paterno will NOT die on the field this. I’ve tried hard with this in the past but I need my prediction average to go up.
Kansas fans will start asking about basketball season after the 1st quarter of the first football game this year.
The Longhorn Network will not be successful to begin with. Texas finishing in the middle of the Big 12/10/9 will force ESPN to dump a bunch of infomercials on it. Hook ‘Em Horns Turbo Snakes anyone? There’s already Snuggies.
TCU will step on Boise State’s neck the only year they are together in the Mountain West Conference.
This whole mess with players not getting enough resources to go through college will stop. We’ll see at cost scholarships show up so the players can get a stipend to pay for laundry and lap dances.
One of the Brown brothers will do good, the other one will be mediocre for Kansas State. Still, the Wildcats make a bowl.
Craig James will still be a douche.
Erin Andrews will get bumped off the top sideline hottie list. At least there’s naked pictures of her online.
The Ivy League, after limiting collision practice and targeting head injuries, will be the first conference to go all flag football. No one will care.
And finally, I will get used to being in a different town. Kansas City was nice and Austin is turning out to be pretty cool. I also predict that I will not miss the snow but will miss the snow days.
It’s warmed over, too. This week’s Crib Sheet celebrates Easter by dropping news eggs all over the place. Grab your basket and find them buried in the grass of the Crib Sheet. Don’t get your fingers messy:
It looks like Texas new defensive coordinator’s had a weird upbringing in coaching terms. He’s been at ESPN first, then a video guy at Florida State, and then on to coaching positions. It also looks like he takes inspiration from other sports, too. Will this shake things up enough for the Longhorns and turn the defense around? We’ll find out.
The Big 12 Conference announced a mega-deal with Fox for broadcasting rights. Dan Beebe was right. They reportedly negotiated a $90 million a year deal through the next 13 years. The big plus? Every home game will be on some form of television starting in 2012. Well that and each school has a the chance to kick up their own network.
The officer who shot and killed the Pace University football player, Denroy Henry Jr., received the Officer of the Year Award from the police union where he works. Their reasoning is that the officer showed bravery through that time and all of his time working for the department. This angered alot of folks. It depends on who you believe on what happened. I just don’t like that it’s a union that gets to dole out the award.
Not to be outdone by fellow conference fashionistas Oregon, Arizona State unveiled their new uniforms for the year. They will be changing colors left and right. On top of that, their helmets are new, with big giant pointy tridents. The Ducks did this and they won but they also hired the right coach. That’s the kind of makeover the Sun Devils could really use.
In another case of me-too’s, Auburn will build statues for their Heisman Trophy winners, like what Florida did. The only difference is that there’s a darker cloud hanging over Cam Newtan than there is hanging over Tim Tebow. I wonder if they’ll add that to the design. Oh, and Nick Saban had his own statue erected, too.
Dennis Dodd of CBS has an interesting article on 7-on-7 leagues in high school. It seems they are the AAUs of football. Jay Paterno is correct about how coaches can’t tell if a kid can take a hit. I hope something gets down soon about these because I don’t want football to turn into a ballet. We could use a couple of big hits in a game.
A couple of rule changes are coming down the pike for next year. The NCAA approved more stringent below the waist penalties and gave the option for teams to run 10 seconds off the clock on penalties within the final minute of the half. Nothing earth shattering but an improvement indeed.
Notre Dame released the investigation report relating to Declan Sullivan’s death earlier this year. They found the no single person was responsible but there was a lax in safety. Apparently the weather data was out of date. This does seem kind of fishy, I hope the school pays tons of money to parents of Sullivan to avoid a lawsuit.
There was a tussle online about the Boise State’s AD, Gene Bleymaier, and his fiery words about the BCS. That’s just talk. What’s more important to me is that the school trademarked the blue turf and will protect the likeness of the field in FBS terms, while allowing it to happen to divisions below. Since when is a blue field trademarkable? That seems a little too much to me. At least one coach in the Mountain West Conference, sees it as an unfair competitive advantage as well. San Diego State’s Rocky Long hates it and I suggest the Aztecs change their field to candy striped or fractal like patterns.
So while the NCAA is busy messing up student athletes and their lack of scholarship funding, they find time to make some even dumber team name penalties. North Dakota passed a state law to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname but it will not stop the NCAA from administrating penalties because of their perception of the name. The NCAA considers it offensive and will take money away from the school. The deeper issue is that two tribes in the area are split over the decision. Why is the NCAA trying to influence an issue that clearly doesn’t involve them? Let the tribes and the state figure it out and get out of the way.
Another regular season over and another bowl season is set. I like the matchups for the Big 12 this year. Yes, no two teams are in BCS bowls but there is a chunky 8 teams going bowling. I don’t want to hear the yipping from Missouri fans this year as their game against Iowa is way bigger than the game Nebraska has against Washington. Kansas State’s in the first ever Pinstripe Bowl against Syracuse. That should be a fun one too. We have the Army vs Navy game and then the week after is all bowls. Right now, it’s the Crib Sheet:
I was ignoring it but, but now I can’t help but comment on the Miami coaching situation. Randy Shannon was canned and a couple of candidates have cropped up. That’s not exciting. What IS exciting is that Donald Trump wrote a letter to Miami to hire Mike Leach. The U might just become pirates.
Beano Cook is the 2011 recipient of the 38th Bert McGrane Award, which I guess goes to football sports writers each year. I listen to him on the ESPN College Football Podcast each week and has quickly become one of my favorite sports media personalities. Congrats to him too.
Cam Newton is cleared of any allegations by the NCAA. Looks like his dad can’t hang around the program now, though. It looks like the sabotage job by Mississippi State didn’t work too well. I’m now pegging Auburn as the favorite to win the BCS title game.
I didn’t pay attention to the RichRod situation at Michigan until now. He’s crying again and this time it’s about how happy he is being the head coach for the Wolverines. I ignored the talk before because I thought he was pretty much safe, but this latest crying makes me wonder if he’s in trouble. He may be.
It’s one thing when an undefeated non-AQ conference team doesn’t make a BCS Bowl, but it’s another when a 6-6 AQ conference team like Arizona State gets denied a bowl appearance. I thought the slots were so abundant this year that there might have been a 5-7 team in a bowl? Oh well, it looks like they needed one more game.
The site for a new College Football Hall of Fame will be by Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia. It will open around March of 2013. Make plans now!
The Cincinnati Bearcat was citied for starting a snowball fight during the Pitt game last Saturday. It’s a good thing they had a backup mascot ready for the rest of the game.
The Bowls are set! Here’s the Big 12 version. I wonder how many Missouri Tigers fans will complain. Oh I know Nebraska fans will, but they are gone after this game so their voice is a little quieter.
Rob Long of Syracuse has a benign brain tumor and will undergo surgery. He will not play the Pinstripe Bowl. As being someone who’s had someone close go through the same thing, all I can say is that my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.
The BCS Standings are out and it’s time to start wiping away the competition. Oklahoma and Missouri will lock horns tomorrow to find out who will be worthy from the Big 12. We also have LSU battling Auburn for SEC worthiness. The pretenders are wiping away and it’s all downhill for the road to the BCS Championship Game. The pretenders will also start wiping away in our Pick It and Stick It challenge. Let’s take a look at what’s on the windshield for this week.
