Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Final Outcome

My predictions for the Bowls and IAA Championship Game was 19-13 which gives me a grand total for the season of 182-127. Not real good. Not real bad either. That is bumping right up on 70 per cent for the 2010 season. I was hoping for about 80 percent but I am not complaining. Many of the so called "professional" football analysts do very little better than 70 percent. I would guess that those in the business of betting would be very happy with an 80 to 85 percent winning record. I definitely had some fun and of course many of my predictions were nothing more than guesswork with very little real analysis involved. I also allowed myself to be "persuaded" quite often to pick teams based on emotion. For instance I had a very hard time picking Ohio State for a win even when it was pretty likely that the outcome would be a Buckeye victory. I had a friend in service who was a rabid OSU fan and drove everybody nuts with it. He even had a tape of the Buckeye Marching Band and would play it all the time. Same for Notre Dame. I don't like them. I just don't like them. Of course picking against the Irish was often a no brainer despite their vast improvement. Don't get me started on those silly Aggies.  All in all it was a pretty fun season. I am looking forward to the spring games and will be (Allah willing) doing it again next season. I will be soon posting the final top 25 in the real BCS (Bartender Cabbie Series) standings.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Still with this NFL

Someone was talking about some NFL games that were played yesterday. Is that still going on? New Orleans isn't playing so there are no NFL games. At least none worth watching.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Calling out Allstate Insurance For Buggery

Of course anyone who can afford it can sponsor college football. That is part of the free enterprise system. But let me ask you a question. Have you ever tried to get this particular insurance company to pay a fair and equitable settlement on your claim? Yes? Me too. Not a good experience to say the least. I guess they can take their customers' premiums to pay for very expensive advertisement to sponser college ball. It is their right.  Hope you don't have an accident with one of their insured though. I can safely say this because I have felt the "good hands" in my hindquarters before. I believe this to be an unethical company.

Monday, January 17, 2011

NFL?

Is the NFL still playing games? Think I heard something about it over the weekend. I thought the season ended when the Saints were knocked out of the play offs.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Todd Graham? Adios Mofo

It appears that Todd Graham will be the next HC at the University of Pittsburgh. Good for him I suppose. This is the same Graham that coached at Rice for a year before bolting for his dream job at Tulsa.  Nothing but a merc it seems to me this Graham. He is obviously a successful coach but likely he will regret leaving the land of the Golden Hurricane. I really don't care for this guy much. Think he did Rice dirty. I remember when Tulsa came to town the irreverent MOB (Marching Owl Band) made fun of him at their halftime show. Hell often watching the MOB in action is more entertaining than watching Rice football. Anyway, Graham whined about it and demanded an apology if I remember correctly. Guess he did not know that the MOB apologizes to no one. Graham? Adios mofo!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I Would Have Never Pegged Hoke As A Fool. Guess I Was Wrong

Well it is being reported that Brady Hoke is going to become the head coach at Michigan. Michigan? Good Lord! The AP story further goes on to mention that Hoke is moving up to the Big Ten which is light years above the MAC and the Mtn West. MAC perhaps; Mtn West not so much. If coach Rich could not win at Michigan then Hoke will likely not have much luck either. He will rue the day as they say. Selling his reputation for a bigger paycheck seems to me. To each his own I suppose.

It is Decided. Holidays are Over.

Well the mythical BCS "National Championship" was decided last night with Auburn coming out on top in a pretty good game. I suspected that these particular Tigers would take this one. The Holidays are now officially over. Hope you enjoyed yours.

Monday, January 10, 2011

We Will Know Directly

In a few hours we will know which team will be crowned the mythical BCS "National Champion." Might be a good game. I think that Auburn will prevail but then the SEC has not had a stellar post season. Has it? Better than the Big X, but just not quite up to SEC standards. Of course some of the SEC (and other) teams in "bowl" games had no real right to be rewarded with a post season contest. 6-6 does not make a bowl team, although a couple of 6-6 teams had good victories. Illinois and Washington prevailed and in the case of the Huskies; their win was inexplicable. Such is the game. Anyway I am looking forward to the contest tonight and will be sad when the season is finally over. The Saints are already out of the picture in the NFL so there goes any interest in that league. Pro basketball in unwatchable and the college B Ball game really does not matter until conference tournament time. I'm not bitching mind you. Not a lot anyway.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

I Don't Guess The Saints Wanted It

The Saints decided not to show up to play today. How they allowed the Seahawks of all teams to take them down is beyond me. Oh well, the NFL is the NFL. Not all that interesting to me, but to each his own. I follow and like the Saints and with them being finished this year, my slight interest in the NFL this season is finished also. Better luck next year. Who Dat!!?

Les Miles and Brady Hoke

It is being reported that Miles is being considered for the Michigan job. I know that Miles is an alum and all that but I don't think he is stupid. Going from the SEC to the Big Ten (or whatever it is called) would be considered a huge downgrade. Other than Ohio State and possibly now Wisconsin the Big Ten is of little account. Coach Rich could not win in Michigan and neither will Miles. Rich should have stayed in WV where he may have built a contender for the mythical BCS "National Championship" as Miles may do at LSU. Coaching at Michigan will likely mean 6-6 or 7-5 seasons for any good coach and then of course the ax will fall. Hoke also better think about staying at SDSU if he wants to keep building a reputation as a top notch college football man. I don't think Hoke or Miles would intentionally shoot themselves in the pecker by accepting a job in Wolverine country. At least I hope not. Stranger things have happened though.

Bowls this Weekend

As of now Pitt is up 6-3 on the Kentucky Wildcats in the BBVA Compass Bowl (the what?). This is not a game that most probably have any interest in watching. Tomorrow is the "Fight Hunger" Bowl pitting a very very good Nevada team up against an average at best Boston College squad. Nevada is certainly deserving of a bowl but the other three playing this weekend; not so much. It would have been better if one of these bowl games was eliminated and then one of the three average competitors would be chosen to play Nevada. Actually it would be better if Nevada played someone above the level of any of these three but this is just a "moot" exercise. Now if Nevada had to play either Pitt, Kentucky or BC it would be interesting to figure which would be the better opponent. I personally would go with Pitt but an argument could be made for Kentucky also. A 6-6 SEC team is probably on par with a 7-5 or even 9-3 team from the Big East or ACC. Actually no combination of match ups really make much sense. Nevada would likely not be tested by any of the three.

Games Friday

The games yesterday were exceptionally good. In the IAA Championship game EWU came back and beat a very good Delaware squad. Watching that game I never got the feeling that EWU was out of it even after a uninspiring first half of play. Good game to watch. Congrats to EWU.
The Cotton was a good one as advertised. TAMU came out like they meant business but just could not sustain it for the whole hour of play. Their defense was just not up to par last night; add that to the fact the the "great" Tiger team decided to show up and it was a prescription for an Aggie loss. The Cotton, in my opinion, is one of the top tier bowls on par with the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta. All in all it was a good evening of football.

Friday, January 7, 2011

A Couple of Good Ones Tonight

This evening there are a couple of good college games on tap. The IAA National Championship will be decided when Delaware and EWU face off. Either of these teams I would wager is at least as good as over 50 percent of the "bowl eligible" teams that faced off in D1. It may well be a good game. It is unfortunate that it will be played at the same time as the historic Cotton Bowl. While the Cotton is not a "BCS Bowl" it is at least at the top of the "second tier" bowl games. LSU is a legitimate top 10 team and the Aggies finally have a team worthy of a decent bowl game. It should be a good one. Oh and last night Miami (OH) redeemed MAC honor somewhat with a good win over a sort of resurgent MTSU squad. It was all in all a pretty good game. No Danica did not get naked at halftime. Shame.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Eric LeGrand Reportedly Improves

It has been reported that Rutgers player Eric LeGrand now has some movement in his shoulders and "sensation" throughout his body. Thoughts and prayers for a full recovery.

Go Daddy

The Go Daddy.com Bowl will be beginning shortly and may or may not be a good game. Not sure what MTSU is doing in the bowl with a 6-6 record but I guess someone has to be slated to play in this one. Miami of Ohio is a good MAC team and should be able to prevail but MTSU is on a three game winning streak and has an excellent QB in Dasher. It may just be a good one after all. We will soon see. So far the Sun Belt is 2-0 on the MAC in post season.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Buckeyes Take Home the Sugar

At least the Hogs made it respectable. At one point it looked like it would be a complete blow out by the team from Ohio as the Hogs could just not seem to stop anyone. Whether the suspended players from the Ohio State squad should or should not have played is open to question, but had they not, then the Hogs would have likely won this one. Of course then there would have been trash talk from Buckeye fans. You know the old "yeah, but if our guys had of played" thing. Anyway, it is a moot point now. As of now I would probably put Ohio State at number three or four in the country. Hope everyone had fun in New Orleans. It is by far the best town to have any sort of bowl game. They still know how to do a celebration the right way.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Sugar Bowl

In a few short minutes the Sugar Bowl will kick off between the Hogs and the Buckeyes. The game outcome depends on which Arkansas team shows up. If Mallett is on; the the Buckeyes will have some problems. If he is off; then it could get ugly. I predict that the Buckeyes will eventually prevail either way and that is unfortunate. I could be wrong. Hope so. Getting kinda tired of Ohio State fans thinking they are entitled.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Stanford is Top Notch

Stanford showed us what a well coached football team is capable of. They put the wood to a very good Virginia Tech squad in the Orange Bowl tonight and looked like they would be capable of playing with anyone. It is nice to see a top notch academic school reach such heights. Stanford football reminds me a bit of Duke basketball and Rice baseball. Tough schools that have success in sports. It can be done obviously. Not easy though. At any rate, congrats to the Stanford squad. Job well done!

The Orange Bowl May Just Be A Good One

In a few short hours the Orange Bowl will commence with Stanford taking on Virginia Tech. Va. Tech has done a commendable job of coming back from an 0-2 start with one loss coming at the hands of a IAA squad. The Hokies are certainly the best of the ACC with no one else really even coming close. If they had not let Boise State slip by and suffered a meltdown against JMU it would be easy to envision them playing Auburn for the BCS Championship. Stanford on the other hand is a very good team that quietly built a very very good season. The only problem is that Stanford has not played any top flight teams with the possible exception of Oregon. Now of course the Ducks are playing for the mythical National Title but are likely to be exposed. Stanford did play marginally good teams in USC and perhaps Notre Dame. The lack of a quality schedule may hurt Stanford in the big game tonight, but I still think they will be able to pull a victory out of the hat. Those first two games show that the Hokies do have a tendency to self destruct and that again may become apparent directly.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

I Think it is safe to Say that the Sooners will win this one

Oklahoma is now up 47-20 over UConn with just over 2 minutes left to play. I think it is safe to say they have finally broken the bad voodoo that they have been afflicted with in recent years. I guess the biggest loser in bowl games today has to be the Big X. Nebraska may just fit in up there after all.

Go Saints

I am a much bigger fan of the college game than of the NFL but I am a long suffering Saints fan. I would love to see them win another Super Bowl. That would be a dream come true. Oh, it would be nice if the lowly Panthers trip up the evil ATL manana. That would be nice.

Oklahoma May Just Finally Win a BCS Bowl

It does not look, at least at this point, that UConn is able to handle the Sooners. That is perhaps to be expected. UConn is well coached no doubt, but the Sooners are just bigger and apparently somewhat faster than the Huskies. I expect that the Sooners will finally win a "big one."

TCU Gives The Middle Finger to The BCS

I did not see it coming. I thought that Wisconsin would be able to wear down the Horned Frogs with the power game. Nearly happened but not quite. TCU held on and prevailed to again show the world that the BCS system is nonsense. It is interesting that a non BCS school generally has success in a BCS game. Does a heart good. Now with that being said, the SEC redeemed their honor somewhat by going 3-0 today and the Big X has gone 0-4. Thus far Iowa and Illinois are carrying the Big X banner and the some of the "premier" teams in that league are going home with a loss. Have I mentioned that the Sun Belt is 2-0?

That Did Not Take Long

Apparently the administration at Pitt has fired Coach Haywood "effective immediately." I wonder which CUSA school will be in need of a HC? That is where all wayward coaches go for rehabilitation.

SEC 3-0 Saturday

Today the SEC had some honor restored by going 3-0. The Bama/MSU game was almost a foregone conclusion before kick off and Mississippi State probably cost Coach Rich his job at Michigan. I bet Rich wishes he had stayed in WV. Have I said that before? Florida knocked off a pretty fair Penn State squad also. SEC is now 3-3 and the Big X is looking pretty pathetic. TCU may come off with a victory in the Rose (it is looking good) to complete the sweep of the Big X today.

Mike Haywood in Trouble?

It appears that Mike Haywood, the new head coach at Pitt, has been accused of domestic violence. It would be my guess that Mike will not be the new coach for the Panthers after all. Where might he eventually wind up coaching? Why CUSA of course; the home for wayward coaches.

SEC 0-3 Thus Far

It is conventional wisdom that the SEC is the best conference in college football. It may not always have the best team in college ball, but top to bottom, it is the toughest. Starting off 0-3 in bowl games however makes one wonder. It sure does. Now of course Georgia and Tennessee probably did not deserve to go bowling anywhere, and perhaps the Volunteers may have been robbed of a victory by poor officiating, but still 0-3 makes one wonder. While we are on the subject, the Big XII (if that is what it is still called), is not having a banner post season either. The Huskers embarrassed themselves and Mizzou just did not show up to play. The "weakest" BCS conference, the Big East, seems to be doing pretty well so far. Oh and the Sun Belt is 2-0.
Happy New Year College Football Fans!