College Football

Survey Says

September 2, 2010 by davidbarbar

College football kicks off tomorrow evening and it should be another fantastic year. Here are my predicitions for conference champions and the national champion.

ACC
Florida State, Miami and North Carolina are all veteran teams. If UNC has player suspension issues that linger for too long look for Florida State to win the Atlantic and Miami to win the Coastal.

Prediction: Miami beats Florida State in the ACC Championship

Big East
Cincinnati lost their QB and head coach while UConn, Pitt and Rutgers have gained another year of seasoning and are ready to win this wide open conference. While some may say that West Virginia is always in contention the Rich Rodriguez days are long gone. Upstarts UConn and Rutgers have skill players back and great coaching in order to win tight games. Pitt may has a Heisman hopeful, but they still have a coach who chokes in more big games than Marty Shottenheimer. South Florida has a nice offense coming back but the defense is the weakest in quite some time for the Bulls.

Prediction: Rutgers to win the Big East

Big 10
It is almost unanimous that Ohio State, Iowa and Wisconsin have some of the best teams in all of football this year. OSU plays at Iowa and Wisconsin and at home to Miami, Penn St and Michigan. Iowa has most of their tough games at home, but the Arizona game on the road in Week 3 could be a pitfall. Wisconsin has to go to Iowa which will more than likely be their demise.

Prediction: Ohio State wins

Big 12
This year is the last hurrah for Colorado and Nebraska. Unfortunately it doesn’t matter because Nebraska will win the North Division in a landslide. Texas and Oklahoma will once again play the Red River Shootout for conference supremacy. Oklahoma may have a Heisman hopeful at RB in DeMarco Murray and Texas could be good, but they lost a lot.

Prediction: Oklahoma wins the Big 12 Championship

Pac 10
Lots of good QBs, a death penalty and many other young talented players are heading up this conference. Arizona gets Iowa, USC, Washington and Oregon State at home. Oregon State has to open up at TCU and then 2 weeks later goes to Boise State besides back-to-back road games at Arizona and Washington. USC can’t win anything tangible, but have the talent to make a huge statement. Washington Heisman hopeful Jake Locker is a true playmaker and should keep the Huskies in most games. Stanford has the offense, but will need a defense to make anyone look at them as contenders.

Prediction: Arizona wins the Pac 10

SEC
Tim Tebow is gone, but Florida continues to reload as usual. Alabama is coming off a dream season, but have issues with the Heisman winner Mark Ingram getting banged up plus they have a lot of new faces on defense. Auburn has a pretty easy path to their tango against Alabama in the season finale while Arkansas and South Carolina should have explosive offenses. You can’t count out LSU, but in the end Florida wins SEC East and Auburn in a stunner wins the SEC West.

Prediction: Auburn wins the SEC

Sleeper Teams:
Middle Tennessee State, NC State, UCLA, and South Florida

BCS Championship
The BCS Championship game will not have a WAC or Mountain West team in it even though there is a lot of preseason hype that Boise or TCU will make the big game. The usual suspects Ohio State and Oklahoma will battle for the title with Terrelle Pryor and Ohio State gutting through a great game for the win.

Eastern Washington’s New Red Turf

August 30, 2010 by stonecoldjz

The Eastern Washington football team had their first football practice this past Friday on their new red Sprinturf field. Woodward field will be renamed Roos Field at a ceremony on Septemer 16th and then the first home game on the red turf will be played September 18th agasinst Montana. The new name is in recognition of former Eagle and current Titan Michael Roos and his wife Katherine for their $500,000 contribution to the project. The Smurf Turf has been a great gimmick for Boise State and the red turf should do the trick for Eastern Washington. Don’t stare too long at the new turf though because you will start to feel like your eyes are bleeding.

Filed Under: College Football, Football Tagged With: Eastern Washington Eagles

BYU Set to Bolt

August 18, 2010 by stonecoldjz

The Mountain West Conference has experienced some highs and lows this summer and it appears the roller coaster ride isn’t over yet. Back in June the MWC celebrated the announcement of Boise State joining the conference, but then days later Utah accepted an offer to join the Pac-10 which was a major blow. Now there are reports that BYU has decided to go independent in football and will rejoin the WAC for all other sports. The move would leave the Mountain West with only two football powers in TCU and a pissed off Boise State. The main reason I see BYU going independent in football is so they can be the sexy chick at the party when a major conference like the Pac-10 wants to grow again. I think this is only the beginning of many more changes in the coming years to the college athletics landscape. The mega conferences ultimately will come to fruition because the money is just too enticing.

Filed Under: College Football, General Sports Tagged With: BYU Cougars, mountain west conference, WAC

My Top 3 NCAA Football Summer Pix

July 29, 2010 by davidbarbar

We are five weeks out and USC is on probation, Urban Meyer took no time away from the game and Nick Saban is calling out agents and boosters. Are you ready for some college football?

This offseason seems to have been more interesting than any other I can remember. Lane Kiffen and USC got smacked down, The Pac whatever and Texas were gonna be in the same conference and you have multiple teams being investigated by the NCAA for player interaction with agents or runners.

My Top 3 Teams – after spring ball and district court appearances are:

#1 – Ohio State

#2 – USC

#3 – Boise St.

USC will have more incentive than any school in the country due to the ‘non-bowl’ sanction. Before this sanction they were top 4 and in the end what has changed for this year? They didn’t get the #1 recruit in the country due to the sanctions, but they are still loaded. I am a UCLA guy, but this is USC’s year.

Jim Tressel and OSU seem to be a bit under the radar and I feel this is the year of the Buckeye. Other than their rivalry game against Michigan the Buckeyes have Miami the second week in Columbus and the typical Big 10 games they will more than likely roll through in typical fashion. Besides the schedule Pryor is a stud and has major confidence after the Rose Bowl win against Oregon earlier this year. Can you name another big name QB in college football?

Boise has one tough game the entire year and it is the first game of the year against Virginia Tech in Washington, DC. If they win that game look out!

Filed Under: College Football, Football, General Sports Tagged With: College Football

In-Fighting Going on at SoCal

July 26, 2010 by davidbarbar

It’s bad enough the USC Trojans are on double secret probation, had to give back a Heisman trophy, have a new AD and don’t forget they have a head coach who got chased out of Tennessee. Now USC has an alum who is considered royalty in coaching, considering he has the longest coaching tenure in the NFL, suing head Coach Lane Kiffin over the theft of an offensive coach. A freaking running backs coach nevertheless.

Kennedy Pola left the Tennessee Titans to become the offensive coordinator at USC even though Jeff Fisher was never aware until after the fact. You have to figure this process was going on during Mike Garrett’s term as AD and was already in motion by the time Pat Haden came into the office as the new AD. I can’t believe Haden would have allowed this to happen without reaching out to Jeff Fisher especially since they know each other.

Personally, I don’t see Lane Kiffin at USC very long past this year as he has a way to even make me feel sorry for Al Davis. This guy is bad news for the university and for amateur athletics as a whole.

Filed Under: College Football, Football, NFL Tagged With: College Football, Jeff Fisher, Lane Kiffin, USC Trojans

Saban Speaks Out on Agent Participation

July 21, 2010 by davidbarbar

University of Alabama officials are investigating whether junior defensive lineman Marcel Dareus broke NCAA rules by attending an agent’s party in Miami’s South Beach earlier this summer and Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban who has been on both the college and NFL side of things has decided to speak out.

Saban says it is finally time for a change: “What the NFL Players Association and the NFL need to do is if any agent breaks a rule and causes ineligibility for a player, they should suspend his [agent’s] license for a year or two.” “I’m about ready for college football to say, ‘Let’s just throw the NFL out. Don’t let them evaluate players. Don’t let them talk to players. Let them do it at the combine.’ If they are not going to help us, why should we help them?” Right now, agents are screwing it up,” Saban said. “They are taking the eligibility of players. It’s not right that those players do the wrong thing. We have a great education process here. We have a full-time worker who meets with players and their families and does everything else.”

With what has gone on at USC and Reggie Bush and for all the other players over the last 30+ years who have been screwed because of overzealous agents it is about time to start penalizing people instead of programs for the offenses that are continually making ink inside the newspapers and ruining the integrity of the amateur athlete.

Filed Under: College Football, Football, General Sports, NFL Tagged With: Alabama Crimson Tide, Nick Saban

USC Gets Smart and Hires New AD

July 20, 2010 by davidbarbar

The USC of the west coast has finally put to pasture Mike Garrett who was their AD for the last 17 years. USC has hired Pat Haden who in the 1970’s quarterbacked the Trojans to three Rose Bowls, two National Championships and was a Rhodes Scholar before playing in the NFL for the Rams from 1976-81. Recently he was an analyst for Notre Dame football on NBC and is a partner for a venture capital firm in LA. Haden will begin reporting to the president of the University August 3rd.

This hire will bring stability to an athletic program which is one of the best in the country, but also one of the dirtiest in recent years.

Filed Under: College Basketball, College Football, General Sports Tagged With: USC Trojans

Will Marvin Austin Be Suspended?

July 19, 2010 by stonecoldjz

It is sounding more and more like Marvin Austin will be suspended for his entire senior year due to reported infractions with agents and other middlemen. While Austin is still currently on the team some leaks have indicated the next time Austin will be on a football field will be at the NFL combine and he might not be the only UNC football player in trouble. Other players recently interviewed by the NCAA were Deunta Williams, Bruce Carter, Quan Sturdivant, Kendric Burney and Greg Little who were grilled about the possibility of their interaction with agents and the NCAA has also requested phone records. With a lot of rumors swirling that money has also been exchanged this investigation could be a huge blow to a program that is on the rise and to a team that is one of the frontrunners for an ACC Championship this year.

Filed Under: College Football, Football Tagged With: Marvin Austin, UNC

Both Carolinas Being Investigated

July 18, 2010 by stonecoldjz

Weslye Saunders is the latest player the NCAA has been investigating for possible relations with a sports agent. The NCAA visited the South Carolina tight end last week and it is believed the investigation is linked with the NCAA’s probe of UNC football players and their alleged dealings with agents. The number one rated tight end for the 2011 NFL Draft is from Durham, North Carolina and is friends with Marvin Austin and other UNC players. Saunders, Steve Spurrier and USC media relations director are all being tight lipped so it seems we will have to wait for the investigation to end before we found out if either football program will receive infractions.

Filed Under: College Football, Football Tagged With: South Carolina Gamecocks, UNC

USC Already Paying the Price

July 7, 2010 by stonecoldjz

It hasn’t even been a month yet and the USC football program is already feeling the effects of the NCAA sanctions levied on them. The best offensive lineman in all of high school football last year Seantrel Henderson has pulled out of his commitment to the Trojans. Henderson starred for Cretin-Derham Hall in Minnesota and was named 2009 USA Today’s offensive player of the year. The 6’8 337 pound behemoth was seen in Coral Gables over the weekend and will more than likely be a Hurricane before the week ends.

Lane, if you don’t already know this it is going to be a long two years for you in LA. Enjoy!

Filed Under: College Football, Football Tagged With: Miami Hurricanes, Seantrel Henderson, USC Trojans