December 25, 2024

Congrats, 2010 Top 5 and a Long Spring and Summer Ahead

Congratulations to Alabama for becoming the 2009-10 BCS Champions.

Now that college football and the regular season of the NFL is over we have to get over the fact there will not be a Monday night game nor will there be a Toledo vs. Bowling Green Tuesday or Wednesday night ‘football jonesing’ game.

We have come to that time a year where we get 4 NFL games this week and next then 2 games on one day in 2 weeks and then 2 weeks later a single game and that will be it until August. I can’t say it has been the greatest of college football years because ethe excitement of previous years did not resonate. I’m not sure why, but maybe its because only Oklahoma #2, USC #4 and #7 Oklahoma St really didn’t live up to their preseason rankings.  Preseason ranked Florida #1, Alabama #5 and Texas #3 were always in the top 3 or 4 and really nobody came close to knocking them out.

The real surprises to watch this year were TCU preseason ranked #18 and Boise State #20 who both finished the regular season undefeated. The Broncos and Horny Frogs rose the ranks and in a small way give us hope for a potential playoff scenario in the future.

The biggest tanks of 2009 were Mississippi, USC, Oklahoma, Kansas and of course Lou Holt’s National Champion, Notre Dame.

I know its way way too early to even think about next year, but here are my 2010 NCAA Football preseason Top 5 picks:

#1 USC – have you seen the 2010 cupcake schedule? Hawaii, Virgina, Minny and Wazu to open. Barkley and the defense are another year older and will roll.

#2 Virginia Tech – except for Boise State they can breeze through the ACC with no Fla St, Clemson or Maryland on the schedule.  Miami and North Carolina are on the road.

#3 Alabamaa – They return 13 from a National Championship team with most of the offense either sophomores or juniors. They play Penn St in their second game and Florida in Tuscaloosa.

#4 Boise St. – They have a ‘real’ game against VTech in October at FedEx field and a home game vs Oregon St.  They bring back a lot of skill players and 20 starters.

#5 Ohio St. –  Terrelle Pryor has the confidence now and so does Tressel to take this project to the next level.  Marshall, EMU and Indiana on the schedule.

Jim Leavitt Shown the Door

The University of South Florida has fired head football coach Jim Leavitt due to his interactions with a football player in late November. Leavitt allegedly grabbed sophomore defensive back Joel Miller by the throat and later hit him in the face a couple of times during halftime of a game against Louisville. Not only did Leavitt get fired today after the internal investigation, but so did his entire coaching staff which I guess comes as no surprise. Leavitt was the only head coach for South Florida over the last 13 years and just completed the second year of a $12.6 million contract. Leavitt becomes the third head coach along with Mark Mangino and Mike Leach over the last month to be fired due to questionable acts involving their players. The microscope is all over head coaches these days and whether they like it or not you can’t treat players the same way they were treated 15-20 years ago. We are litigious society that has evolved into a PC or bust mindset and I think after these three firings you will see adjustments made by a lot of head coaches moving forward.

Hook ’em Horns

Tonight #1 Alabama plays #2 Texas in the Rose Bowl for the BCS Championship. My heart isn’t with either team, but we have to pull for the Longhorns this evening because if they can pull out a win then I rake in some cabbage from a Bowl Pool challenge. I hope the curse of the Heisman trophy winner hangs over Mark Ingram and the Tide because McCoy and the boys will need some help to overcome them. Here is the University of Texas fight song to get anyone else in the mood who is pulling for Texas. Hook ’em Horns!

College Football Bet of the Day – January 6th, 2010

No the BCS Championship game isn’t this evening instead we have the all impressive GMAC Bowl to watch. Troy takes on Dan LeFevour and the Central Michigan Chippewas. Former head coach Butch Jones won’t be with Central Michigan this evening because he is now the head coach of Cincinnati. Don’t worry about a thing though because LeFevour and gang will still cover.

Central Michigan -2.5

Overall Record:

College Football 36-24 (this year) 141-115-1 (overall)
NFL 33-18 (this year) 136-90-5 (overall)
College Basketball 8-3 (this year) 205-152-6 (overall)
NBA 44-36
NHL 1-2
MLB 90-69-5

Top 10 Reasons Why Mike Leach was Fired

Over the last week or so we all have been bombarded by media coverage of the scandal in Lubbock, Texas with Mike Leach, Adam James and the Texas Tech administration. Leach has always been an odd fella and has a strange affection to pirates. Leach decided to use a bizarre tactic to get in the head of wide receiver Adam James and was called on it because it isn’t really common to lock people in sheds or electrical closets. In the end if he would have apologized it sounds like he would have kept his job, but Leach refused and thus he was fired as head football coach of the Red Raiders. Even though that is the story at a very high level we thought we would provide you the top 10 reasons why Mike Leach was fired.

#10
Continuously made threats to Gerald Myers the Athletic Director to walk the plank.

#9
Boosters were tired of him showing up to athletic functions wearing an eye patch with a fake parrot on his shoulder and growling arrrrrgh the entire time.

#8
Continually lobbied to change the team name from the Red Raiders to the Red Beards.

#7
Wanted to build a crow’s nest and a player detention galley as an addition to Tech’s practice facility.

#6
Excessive use of The Pirates of the Caribbean movies as a motivational tactic.

#5
Rewrote the University fight song to the tune of Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum.

#4
Tech’s Board of Regents learned of his plan to join a band of Somali pirates during the upcoming off-season.

#3
University cut him loose so he could puruse his true desire to be the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

#2
Was going to demand all players to do the Gotta Little Captain in You pose after every touchdown next year.

#1
Insisted on wearing the red challenge flag as a bandana during games.

Boise State Pigs Out

The undefeated Boise State Broncos football team is very hungry for a win against the TCU Horned Frogs this evening in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. They also are very hungry for meat and I mean lots and lots of it. The football team recently visited a Brazilian steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona named Fogo de Chao and they thoroughly took advantage of the all-you-can-eat offering. An employee of the steakhouse said there were over 125 members of the team in attendance and they devoured roughly 450 pounds of meat. TCU was supposed to eat at the same steakhouse a day or so later, but no word on the amount of meat the Horned Frogs consumed. It’s a good thing the two teams enjoyed those meals late last week because the meat sweats tend to slow you down and I know both teams want to be on their game tonight.

Today is Humanitarian Day

All college football fans have been waiting for today’s game because it’s the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl on the famous blue turf in Boise, Idaho. This is a bowl game where you aren’t that good of a team and if you actually accept the invitation you get to play in Idaho in the middle of winter. Today’s game will more than likely be played in a snow storm with a high of 34 and by end of game it will be 27 degrees. This is why they play in the day so it’s a bit warmer for the fans.

When will the NCAA decide that bowl games in snow are worthless and they will not ever have proper fan attendance? Unless of course you are Idaho and this is your first bowl game since the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl.

Idaho is playing a Bowling Green team basically in a home game. The good thing is we will be able to see the best receiver in CFB this year.  Freddie Barnes is about to play his final college game in Wednesday’s Humanitarian Bowl and Barnes has a chance at an NCAA record that’s stood for 20 years. Already with an eye-popping 138 catches this season, Barnes is five grabs shy of breaking the NCAA record for receptions in a single season (142) set by Houston’s Manny Hazard in 1989.

Both teams score well, but look for Idaho to run more as BG gives up almost 200 yds on the ground and 400 total yds per game.

I am betting Idaho +1.5 to cover

Happy New Year D2B Pix

Outback Bowl
Auburn -7.5 v Northwestern

After opening the season with wins over Towson St and Eastern Michigan the Wildcats lost to Syracuse and Minnesota, but then won 6 of 8 to end the season with an 8-4 record. The Wildcats have been known to give up on D what they get on O throughout the year so this may play into the hands of Auburn who scores a lot. Auburn won its first 5 games including blowouts over West Virginia and Miss St. and a nice win over Tennessee. They lose their next 3 games, won two and then lost the last 2 games at Georgia plus a close one to Alabama. Look for this game to be a score fest and fun to watch. As much as one may want to take the SEC over
the Big Ten I say take the over 55 and enjoy the first ‘Hangover Game’
of the year.

I am betting the over 55pts

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Gator Bowl
West Va -2.5 v FSU

Blah blah blah, OK, it’s Bobby Bowden’s last game. Who cares? This 6-6
Fla St team is an underserving team to be playing on a New Year’s Day.
Yes, the Seminoles 6 losses were to bowl teams, but 2 of their 6 wins were to
non-bowl teams plus the D gave up 50 TD’s this year. Nuff said. West Va
on the other hand ended their season with wins over Pitt and Rutgers
after losing to #4 Cincy by 3 late. The Neers went 5-3 against bowl teams
and peaked late in the year. Noel Devine runs wild and I don’t care
that Weinke, Deion, Corey Simon and Tommy Polley are on the sidelines
for the game because they are not on the field.

I am betting West Va -2.5 pts to cover

============

Capital One Bowl
Penn St -2 v LSU


When there was a big game LSU had to win they always seems to lose.
Although the D is still awesome they just cant get their young offense
to score. The Tigers average just 300 total yards per game and they
have scored over 33 pts once this year and that was against Tulane.
The same situation applies for Penn St. The Nittany Lions lost the two
big games they needed to win. If you count the 6-6 Mich St., 6-6 Minn
and Temple wins then they were 4-2 against bowl teams. This game flat
out sucks in my opinion. Penn State has more big play guys, but I will
take LSU to pull off an upset with Les Miles getting his 3 weeks to prepare.

I am betting LSU +2 to cover

===============

Rose Bowl
Oregon -4 v Ohio St

Has Ohio State seen an offense like Oregon this year? Nope. Even USC
didn’t have the fire power the Ducks have on O. The Buckeyes lost 2
games by a total of 11 points to USC and Purdue and ended the season
with 5 straight wins. Now the leak of the alledged Pryor injury which
makes me think there is some gamesmenship going on. The Ducks scored
at will pretty much all year. They are unpredictable on offense and will keep
OSU on their toes, but as we are seeing in the early bowls the Pac 10 has no
defense. Oregon did give up 31 TD’s on D and over 329 yds per game. I like
Jim Tressel over Chip Kelly.

I am betting Ohio State +4 to cover

=========
Sugar Bowl
Fla – 12.5 v Cinci


Wos, is this not the Win one for the Gipper game of the bowl season?
Tebow and Meyer plus a new interim coach in Cincy. The Bearcats had two close
wins to end the season which exposed their suspect defense and gives this game
an aura of a blowout. I don’t want to get too analytical here, but Florida has given
up only 13 TD’s all year and when Cincy played a decent non-Big East team it
struggled on offense. Florida will come to play and play big.

I am betting Florida -12.5 to cover

College Football Bet of the Day – December 28th, 2009

This evening Georgia takes on Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl. A lot of the trends point to this game going over tonight, but I’m going with the under. Good luck!

Texas A&M/Georgia under 66

Overall Record:

College Football 35-24 (this year) 140-115-1 (overall)
NFL 33-18 (this year) 136-90-5 (overall)
MLB 90-69-5
College Basketball 8-2 (this year) 205-151-6 (overall)
NHL 1-2
NBA 44-36

College Football Bet of the Day – December 24th, 2009

Tonight the SMU Mustangs take on the Nevada Wolfpack in the Hawaii Bowl. June Jones returns to Hawaii where he previously coached before taking over as head coach of the SMU Mustangs two years ago. Jones has done big things with SMU in a very short time span when you consider they hadn’t made a bowl game in the last 25 years and were 1-11 last year in his first year at SMU.

Nevada started off the season 0-3, but finished out the year with an 8-1 record and a shot at the WAC title, but came up short against Boise. Nevada has two key players missing in the backfield tonight so we think SMU gets under the line.

SMU +12.5

Overall Record:

College Football 34-24 (this year) 139-115-1 (overall)
NFL 33-18 (this year) 136-90-5 (overall)
MLB 90-69-5
College Basketball 8-2 (this year) 205-151-6 (overall)
NHL 1-2
NBA 44-36