After a turkey induced coma, I’m back! It’s the last big week of the season. Yup, it’s championship weekend! Except for the Big 12. They have a kinda, sorta, championship weekend. I’ll be personally overseeing this as well to make sure it’s kinda, sorta, awesome. But until I make that trip to Waco, I’m going to run down how I think things will shake out. Continue reading Pick It And Stick It: Championing The Pick →
Yessir, it’s the last regular season week of college football! We have tons of conference championships, but we also have a fairly stacked Big 12 schedule. I’m sure that won’t happen as soon as they conference actually goes back to 12, but it’s nice to enjoy Farmageddon and Bedlam while the title games are going on. Bedlam is bigger, though, and I’m pulling for a major breakthrough for Oklahoma State so they can go the BCS National Championship Game. Much like I’m pulling for a miracle in the picks this week. I’m not asking for much, just for third place. So let’s find out what the picks are:
Continue reading PIck It and Stick It 2011 Week 14: The Final Flingdown →
It’s the final week of Barspotting for the 2011 year! Yeah, I could go to some bowl games, but the way the BCS National Championship Game is turning out, I may just skip the whole shebang. But who knows, I may be doing a little Bowlspotting with the Kansas State Wildcats if they find their way down here in Texas again. In the meantime, Little Woodrow’s is on the list. I’m not doing the 6th Street variety, but the one out in south Austin. I’m ending the year the way I started it: Doing a family friendly sports bar and playing some backyard games. It should be fantastic.
Continue reading Barspotting: Little Woodrow’s →
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.
The bowl season ended Monday and there was a ton of news that happened over the last week. It’s mostly who’s coming and who’s going. It’s what I like to call the Carousel Hell. So put your seatbelt on get ready to go round and round, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:
- Mike Leach’s legal battle with Texas Tech may have cost him the Maryland job. He said that he thought he was the frontrunner, but the Terps went with UConn coach Mike Edsall. He hasn’t been contacted by other schools at the moment.
- RichRod is officially out of Michigan now. Blow up the program part two. It makes me warm inside to think the same thing that happened to Nebraska a couple of years ago with Bill Callahan is now happening with another team I dislike immensely. Good days.
- It’s even better for Brady Hoke. The former Michigan alum and former San Diego State head coach is now your new Michigan head coach. They wanted a Michigan man and they got one. I give it about another 3 years before a turnaround happens.
- After showing up Michigan’s Denard Robinson and holding the team to 14 points, Manny Diaz will take his talents to Texas as defensive coordinator. He leaves Mississippi State and will be belting buckles in Austin. Let’s hope he didn’t fall for that ‘coach in waiting’ stuff.
- No surprises here. Fox has the rights to the Pac 12 Championship Game. They already show conference games on Fox Sports Net so it makes sense they do the title game.
- The Playoff PAC is looking to stir up some smoke on the BCS. They are filing a complaint with the IRS regarding a cruise the Orange Bowl put on for college athletic directors over the summer. Shady or not, this seems like arrows instead of missiles for the Playoff PAC people. If there’s going to be a change, they can’t dink and dunk it.
- Stanford’s Andrew Luck is staying behind for another year of college. This will make Blaine Gabbertt a sexier pick for the NFL Draft coming up in a couple of months. He’ll have to battle for the top quarterback spot with Arkansas’ Ryan Mallet, though. Gabbert may see his Aldon Smith in the NFL as well.
- So TCU won the Rose Bowl. Someone then paid for a billboard congratulating the team. Except it was in Columbus, Ohio. Yeah someone with big pockets wanted to rub it in the Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee’s face. He was running his mouth earlier about the mid-con teams not being worthy and now I guess he gets to eat crow.
- Speaking of the Horned Frogs, head coach Gary Patterson notched himself a 2 year extension with the program. You go undefeated in two regular seasons, you deserve that and a ham sandwich.
- Stud Oklahoma receiver Ryan Broyles will be coming back for another year.
- A Boise State assitant coach is going to big time. By big time I mean Texas Offensive Coordinator. It seems Mack Brown and company lured Bryan Harsin away from the Broncos to infuse the team with a flashier offense.
- Texas Tech told the NCAA that they texted too much. That’s alliteration. And that’s the news!
- Head BCS Honcho Bill Hancock reminded everyone that a playoff is way below in priority for the college bowl partners. He said that even the old way of bowls would be considered first. Seriously, he does a great job of stirring the pot.
- Kansas State athletic director John Currie also gets a two year extension to his contract chock full of some tasty incentives. He’s done an alright job. The goal now is to maintain it.
- The BCS Championship Game happened Monday and it garnished the best cable ratings ever. Yet, the actual viewership is down. This is what happens when the biggest game of the year ends up on cable. Seriously, why didn’t Disney toss the game on ABC instead of ESPN? Television is becoming more live sport driven than anything else. Still, until I can replicate the experience of a sports bar in my basement, I will be going out for the games.
- LSU’s Les Miles went to Michigan to talk about an open job but decided to stay with the Tigers. Listen up childrens, this is the classic strategy head coaches employ to get them off the hot seat or get a raise.
- Man we feel for UGA VIII, the mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs. He didn’t make the trip to the bowl game last week and now we know why. UGA VIII has lymphoma. Jinkies, is the team as cursed as this dog is?
- Former South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt settled out of court for some extra cash from the school. He was canned for reportedly striking a walk on student. He’s a defensive guy and because of that, the rumors are now flying about Leavitt coming back to Kansas State to take a defensive coordinator position. Tune in next week, this is getting hotter.
College Sports, Kansas City style
