Weekly Picks

Last Week - 36-18

Overall - 321-72

Man, what a horrible performance last week. I feel like I should apologize for how shitty I was at prognosticating the games. If I were the head coach at Clemson, I would have been fired by now. Then again, if I were the head coach at Tennessee, I might have gotten a raise.

I would also like to point out that I was 0-4 on my upset picks last week. I would just like to say, Fuck Cinderella! What a bitch.....

Here's my guaranteed awesome picks:



Florida St. @ NC State
BYU @ TCU
Hawaii @ Boise St.
Texas Tech @ Texas A&M
Syracuse @ South Florida
Wake Forest @ Maryland
Purdue @ Northwestern
Memphis @ East Carolina
Connecticut @ Rutgers
Miami (OH) @ Bowling Green
Georgia Tech @ Clemson
Western Michigan @ Central Michigan
Wisconsin @ Iowa
Vanderbilt @ Georgia
Nebraska @ Iowa St.
Akron @ Eastern Michigan
Colorado St. @ Utah
Baylor @ Oklahoma St.
Southern Miss @ Rice
Ole Miss @ Alabama
Kansas @ Oklahoma
USC @ Washington St.
Ohio St. @ Michigan St.
North Carolina @ Virginia
Pittsburgh @ Navy
Middle Tennessee @ Louisville
Miami (FL) @ Duke
Army @ Buffalo
Marshall @ UAB
Stanford @ UCLA
Toledo @ Northern Illinois
Utah St. @ Nevada
Michigan @ Penn St.
San Diego St. @ New Mexico
Kansas St. @ Colorado
Arkansas @ Kentucky
Florida Atlantic @ Western Kentucky
Oregon St. @ Washington
Arkansas St. @ UL-Lafayette
Idaho @ Louisiana Tech
North Texas @ UL-Monroe
Mississippi St. @ Tennessee
Florida International @ Troy
Missouri @ Texas
LSU @ South Carolina
Virginia Tech @ Boston College
San Jose St. @ New Mexico St.
UTEP @ Tulsa
Indiana @ Illinois
Houston @ SMU
California @ Arizona
Air Force @ UNLV


Upset Alert:

Rutgers over Connecticut - I still think Rutgers has the potential to be a decent football team. With a big win over the Huskies, Rutgers could get it's season back on track.

Georgia Tech over Clemson - This is only an upset in the talent department. The Tigers are falling apart as a football team, which means Georgia Tech should win this one.

Navy over Pittsburgh - The Midshipmen are a solid football team that I think Pitt will overlook. Plus, Dave Wannstedt is still the head coach at Pittsburgh.

Mississippi St. over Tennessee - The Bulldogs just upset the best team in the state of Tennessee. Now they get a chance to do the same against the worst team in the state of Tennessee.

Missouri over Texas - I originally picked Texas in this one. After going back and forth I finally settled on Mizzou to take the upset. This is probably the upset pick that I am the least sure about.

Week 3 Preview

I thought now would be a good time for me to spew some random thoughts I have on the upcoming week in college football. Plus, I'm reeeeaaalllllyy bored at work right now!
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Everyone is talking about the big game this weekend. It's a huge event in college football for two programs as huge as this meeting in out of conference play. Of course, I am referring to the monumental Navy at Duke ball game.

While most of the nation will pay no mind to this contest, I will be following along intensely. This game could be a program changer for Duke, which hasn't played a meaningful football game since the Steve Spurrier days. I really think David Cutcliffe is one of the better coaches in the nation. The blue Devils are extremely lucky to have him. That being said, the Midshipmen should rack up about 500 yards rushing on the ACC pansies and win by 3 touchdowns.

Cutcliffe will have Duke moving in the right direction eventually. Just not now.
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As for the other big game this weekend. USC will be hosting the personal punching bag of the SEC, the Ohio St. Buckeyes. I know the Buckeye faithful feel they have a good shot of knocking off the Trojans in the Coliseum. However, I know that deep down inside, OSU fans realize they have no shot of winning this one.

Beanie Wells will be neutralized by Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga. Boeckman will have to play 1513215481 times better than he did against in-state juggernaut Ohio for the Buckeyes to even remain close. Now, the Buckeye defense should keep the contest closer than most people think it will be. But in the end, the Trojans have too much depth for Ohio St. to handle.
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In a game that will not be close at all, Oklahoma travels to Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies. I really feel bad for UW after they were jobbed last week by PAC-10 officials against BYU. Unfortunately for Ty Willingham's bunch, the Sooners don't provide much in the form of a bounce-back game.

I really hope the Huskies give Willingham one more year to get them to a bowl game. He deserves at least that.
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Coaches on the rise:

These are coaches of some non-BCS programs that could be cashing in some bigger paychecks next season.

Skip Holtz, East Carolina
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Bronco Mendenhall, BYU
Chris Petersen, Boise St.
Todd Graham, Tulsa
Al Golden, Temple
Turner Gill, Buffalo

Coaches on the way out:

These are some coaches that may be serving you your grande non-fat latte at Starbucks after this year.

Greg Robinson, Syracuse
Chuck Long, Sand Diego St.
Ralph Friedgen, Maryland
Dave Wannstedt, Pittsburgh
Tommy Bowden, Clemson
Tyrone Willingham, Washington
Tommy West, Memphis
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What the hell's going on with:

LeSean Mcoy.

This Pittsburgh running back was lauded by some (including me) as one of the best two backs in the country, He hasn't done shit this season. This reminds me a lot of Ken Simonton of Oregon St. fame. Simonton was supposed to be a leading Heisman candidate for the Beavers only to put up some seriously weak numbers for the Beavers in 2001. I hope this is just a Sophomore slump.

What has gotten into:

Rice.

David Bailiff has his Owls playing some pretty good football through the first two weeks. Rice has defeated SMU and Memphis, both schools that were seen as up and comers in the C-USA. Rice is now 2-0 in the conference. Making them the top team in C-USA. Chase Clement is an early dark horse Heisman candidate as well. WR Jarrett Dillard may be the first wideout taking in next year's NFL draft.

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5 Games to watch:

1. Ohio St. @ USC
2. Georgia @ South Carolina
3. Kansas @ South Florida
4. UCLA @ BYU
5. Wisconsin @ Fresno St.

5 Stories to Follow:

1. Can the ACC get on track? ( UNC @ Rutgers, Navy @ Duke, Cal @ Maryland, UVA @ UCONN)
2. Big bounce back game for Tennessee. (vs. UAB)
3. Will SMU and Texas Tech break the 100 point threshold?
4. Which "pretenders" are for real? (Rice, Vandy, Arkansas, Minnesota, Arkansas St., Iowa)
5. Will Randy Shannon stop crying?

Big East Expansion?

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese announced that he is retiring from his position after the season. Tranghese saw the Big East make tremendous strides during his tenure despite the departure of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College to the ACC. The Big East also added South Florida, Cincinnati, Louisville and Connecticut as well as booted out Temple in recent years.

I got to thinking, Why doesn't the Big East expand to 12 teams so they can have a championship game? The big East catches a lot of heat because they're champion isn't decided through a conference title game.

Their situation is different than that of the Big Ten and PAC-10 because their teams do no have the name recognition and tradition as those programs.

I believe I have selected four schools that would make good additions to the conference. They are listed below along with their record since 2005 (when USF, Louisville and Cincy were added.)

1. Central Florida- Their record since 2005 is 22-17. They have a big name coach in George O'Leary and are located in a recruiting hot bed. If the Knights were elevated to a bigger conference they could see a similar success as their rival South Florida has seen in recent years.

2.Memphis- Their record since 2005 is 16-21. That number is somewhat skewed by an out of character 2-10 season 2 years ago. Memphis has always been able to get top talent recruits that slip through the cracks or don't qualify academically elsewhere. Memphis' induction into the football conference could be boosted by their basketball program which is looking to join the Big East.

3.Southern Miss- Their record since 2005 is 23-18. The Golden Eagles have always been well respected as a non-BCS school. With a recent stadium upgrade, Southern Miss could have one of the premiere facilities in the Big East.

4.Navy- Their record since 2005 is 25-13. Army made a disastrous attempt to play in a conference when they spent 3 years in C-USA. This would be different. Navy has clearly shown that they are the class of the service academies. Air Force is in the Mountain West, so I see no reason why Navy can't join a conference.

While I'm on the subject, I feel there should be no more independents. Notre Dame should join the Big Eleven, Army should join back with C-USA (especially since I'm proposing the Big East take 3 of their teams) and Western Kentucky is actually already committed to join the Sun Belt.

To see how these teams would stack up against the current Big East, here are the teams' records since 2005.

1. West Virginia 33-5
2. Louisville 27-10
3. Rutgers 26-12
4. South Florida 24-14
5. Cincinnati 22-15
6. Connecticut 18-18
7. Pittsburgh 16-19
8. Syracuse 7-28

So, in the past five years, Central Florida would have been the 6th best team, Memphis would be 8th, Southern Miss would be 5th and Navy would be 4th.

Another reason for the expansion would be the fact that the Big East now has 7 bowl tie-ins. That is a ridiculous amount for a conference that only has 8 teams. Only 6 teams qualified last year with 5 of them receiving bids.

With this expansion, the conference would have to be split into two divisions. Here's how it could look

North

1. Rutgers
2. Navy
3. Cincinnati
4. Connecticut
5. Pittsburgh
6. Syracuse

SOUTH

1. West Virginia
2. Louisville
3. South Florida
4. Southern Miss
5. Central Florida
6. Memphis

That seems like a pretty decent conference to me.

Also, imagine where the championship games could be played. I don't think any other conference could play their title game in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston or Baltimore. They also would be able to pick form the usual hot spots of title games like Tampa, Charlotte or Miami.

The pageantry that is college football- Top 10 CFB Intros

College football is built around tradition. The history of a certain program is often the deciding factor to get a recruit to commit to one program over another.

Every school has it's own certain tradition, especially as it pertains to the way the team enters the field. I have my personal favorite intros and you are about to be blessed by me sharing them with you.

Not included are newer pre-game intros like the ducking of automatic gunfire at USC games or dodging bodies of Michigan fans leaping from the top of the Big House.

Here are the best.

1.Clemson- Howard's Rock and The Hill. I feel that LSU should pay a little compensation to Clemson for everytime they use Death Valley to describe their home. Clemson's Death Valley is the original and it has a lot more tradition. I can't think of one school receiving so many commitments based on it's game day intro. Whenever a new recruit is interviewed he often say he came to Clemson to have the opportunity to touch Howard's Rock and run down The Hill.

2.Auburn- War Eagle. Every game before the players are introduced, an Auburn staff member comes out to midfield and releases an eagle. This eagle majestically soars over the crowd. It seems the bird is able to make a whole lap around the stadium without once flapping it's wings, making it all the more memorable. This sight is made even more special with the sound of thousands of crazed rednecks being worked up into a frenzy. It's SEC tradition at it's finest.

3.Nebraska- Tunnel Walk. Nebraska's tunnel walk is very simple. What makes it special is the fact that the Cornhuskers were the first school to utilize video on the jumbo tron to show the team making it's way to the field. This build up the anticipation and adds to the hysteria surround Memorial Stadium leading up to kick off, (at least it used to.)

4.Navy/Army- The March. Before every Navy or Army game the Midshipmen or Cadets march to their seats by making their way through the field. This gives the crowd a chance to show the respect that these young men and women deserve. This site is all the more special before the annual Army/Navy game as Cadets and Midshipmen cross the field at the same time.

5.Colorado- The Running of Ralphie. Colorado uses it's live mascot better than any other school in the nation. Before every game, Ralphie and his his team of 6 handlers race around the stadium. Sure sometimes the handlers get trampled and sometimes suffer life threatening injuries, but it is all worth it!

6.Ohio St.- Dotting the I. I don't like Ohio St. all that much so I'm a little biased when I say that I don't really see the big deal behind this. However, I am in the very small minority when it comes to this line of thinking. I might not understand it, but I can respect it. Dotting the I is a great tradition and is one of the many things that makes college football so great.

7.Florida- Heeeeeeeeerrrreee Come the Gators!. The Florida football intro blends a few aspects together that make it special. First, there is a video of Gators hunting pray in the Swamp. This is accompanied by the Jaws theme music. At the end of the video, the crowd hears a voice that say, "Welcome to the Swamp, where only Gators get out alive." This is met with wild cheers and the announcement of "Heeeeeeeeeerrrrrrreeee come the Gators!" The team then runs out onto the field through an F and over to their sideline. A-MA-ZING!

8.Florida St.- The Flaming Spear. No, this has nothing to do with Chief Osceola's sexual orientation. Before every game, the Chief rides onto the field on his trusty steed, Renegade, carrying a spear that is lit on fire. This fear is then thrust into the Seminole logo on mid-field. This symbolizes that you are on Seminole territory and you are trespassing. Unfortunately, these Seminoles are having trouble as of late protecting their territory.

9.Tennessee- Running Through the T. This intro would be a lot higher on the list if it wasn't accompanied by the worst combined sounds known to humanity. This of course, is the crap fest that Vols fans like to call Rocky Top. If, you're not sick of it at first, I promise you will be the 476th time you hear it midway through the second quarter.

10.Ole Miss- Looking at the Coeds.- I've always stated that Ole Miss has the best collection of hot females anywhere on this planet. What better time to take in these sights than at a hot-weather football game? If this had anything to do with the actual football game it might have been number 1 on the list.