1) LSU Tigers (3-0, 1-0) - LSU held the Mississippi State Bulldogs to 52 rushing yards on Thursday, with an average gain per rush of 1.3 yards. I bet nobody scores more than 27 points on the Tigers this year. I also bet that they'll be 8-0 going into their Nov. 5th showdown with Alabama.
2) Alabama Crimson Tide (3-0, 0-0) - Alabama opens their SEC play against Arkansas next week in what should be the SEC game of the week. Just a hunch, but I bet that Arkansas won't have 450 yards of offense against the Alabama defense.
3) Boise State Broncos (2-0, 0-0) - Ohio State's loss to Miami ended their streak of 103 consecutive appearances in the AP Top 25 poll. The new current longest streak now belongs to Alabama, at 53. Second longest? Boise State, with 49.
4) Oklahoma Sooners (2-0, 0-0) - It's not that I think that Oklahoma is not as good or as talented as Boise State. It's that, if the National Championship were in two weeks, I would vote for the Broncos to play the SEC champ, not the Sooners. And it will probably stay that way until Nov. 5, when Oklahoma plays Texas A&M.
5) Stanford Cardinal (3-0, 1-0) - Andrew Luck was 20 for 31 in passing with 325 yards and 2 touchdowns in Stanford's 37-10 win at Arizona. More importantly, though? 0 turnovers and 0 second half points allowed. That's how Stanford's going to win the Pac-12. The Cardinal gets next week off before home games against UCLA and Colorado. Their next red-letter date will be Oct. 29, at USC.
6) Wisconsin Badgers (3-0, 0-0) - With Michigan State and Ohio State losing, and with Nebraska struggling at home, the Badgers are really separating themselves from the rest of the Big Ten. So far this season, they have outscored their opponents 135-24.
7) Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-0, 0-0) - Oklahoma State's game 59-33 win against Tulsa didn't end until 3:55 am. They better get some sleep while they can; they have to travel to College Station to play Texas A&M in the Big 12 game of the week next week.
8) Texas A&M Aggies (2-0, 0-0) - I don't know why I have A&M ranked so high. Home wins against SMU and Idaho shouldn't garner that much respect. Also, they have been causing a lot of trouble lately. Win next weekend and I'll admit that they're legit.
9) South Carolina Gamecocks (3-0, 1-0) - Watching Marcus Lattimore rush for 246 yards and 3 touchdowns against Navy, I thought to myself, "There are only two defenses in the country that can stop this guy." And he's going to have to play one of them in the SEC championship game.
10) Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-0, 0-0) - I would be starting to get nervous if I were a Nebraska fan. If you give up 29 points to Fresno State, and 38 to Washington, how many will the run happy honey Badgers put up on you? The Blackshirts have one more week to figure it out, as they have a road game next week at Wyoming.
11) Arkansas Razorbacks (3-0, 0-0) - Have fun being undefeated while it lasts, Arkansas. Four of your next five games are on the road, including at Alabama and at Texas A&M.
12) South Florida Bulls (3-0, 0-0) - This is where I am starting to deviate from orthodoxy. But the Bulls should be rewarded for scheduling tough and beating a Notre Dame team that may not be that bad. Also, they beat Florida A&M 70-17.
13) Virginia Tech Hokies (3-0, 0-0) - Virginia Tech is a tough team to get a handle on, as they have been lackluster in their last two wins against East Carolina and Arkansas State. We probably won't know much about them until Oct. 01, against Clemson, and Oct. 08, against Miami.
14) Baylor Bears (2-0, 0-0) - Like South Florida, I believe that Baylor ought to be considered a top 15 team until somebody proves me wrong on the field. Also, am I the only one who is starting to get excited Iowa State at Baylor on Oct. 08?
15) West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0, 0-0) - ESPN blogger Andrea Adelson wrote, "West Virginia is ready for LSU." She's wrong.
16) Florida Gators (3-0, 1-0) - Florida may not yet be ready-for-primetime in the SEC, and they are fast approaching back to back games against Alabama and LSU. However, some good news about their 33-23 win against Tennessee: They "allowed" -9 rushing yards, and intercepted Tyler Bray twice. The bad news? 16 penalties for 150 yards.
17) Clemson Tigers (3-0, 0-0) - Clemson ended Auburn's record 17-game winning streak - and streak of good luck - 38-24, avenging a heartbreaking OT loss last year. No time to celebrate though; Florida State is coming to town next week, followed by a trip at Virginia Tech.
18) USC Trojans (3-0, 1-0) - Matt Barkley passed for 324 yards and 5 TDs in USC's 38-17 win against Syracuse, the only Pac-12 win against an AQ team last weekend. Three of USC's next four games are on the road, including at Arizona State and at Notre Dame.
19) Texas Longhorns (3-0, 0-0) - Speaking of which... Texas got to exorcise some demons on Saturday, kicking UCLA's butt 49-20 after losing to the Bruins last year 34-12. And even though everyone thinks that the Big 12 is about to dissolve, I think that it's worth mentioning that the conference's current ten members are a combined 23-2 in non-conference play this year. Quite a way to go.
20) Illinois Illini (3-0, 0-0) - I had the surreal experience of watching Illinois' 17-14 win over Arizona State outside at a bar just a few blocks from Memorial Stadium, where the game was being played. The live sound of the roar of the crowd would reach my ears just about three seconds before the play aired on TV, so I could accurately predict whether each play was going to be good or bad for the Illini. This could be a serendipitous year for Illinois: Their next four games are: vs Western Michigan, vs Northwestern, at Indiana, vs Ohio State. They could easily be 5-1 or 6-0 going into the Ohio State game, and my question is, who will be the favorite then?
21) Iowa State Cyclones (3-0, 0-0) - The Cyclones may be my new favorite team in the Big 12. They had to rally from 10-0 to beat Connecticut 24-20, and have won their first three games by a combined total of 8 points. They host Texas next weekend, who they beat last year in Austin 28-21.
22) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3-0, 0-0) - My bottom five is less teams that are good, and more teams that have played well up to this point. The Yellow Jackets set a school record of 768 yards of offense in a 66-24 rout of Kansas. Over their first three games, they are averaging 675 yards of offense per game.
23) FIU Panthers (3-0, 0-0) - We'll see how long FIU can sustain success without star receiver T.Y. Hilton. But they were able to beat UCF 17-10 largely without him, and should be considered the favorites to win the Sun Belt conference.
24) Michigan Wolverines (3-0, 0-0) - Because why not, that's why. They're undefeated. They beat Notre Dame. Denard Robinson is awesome, even if he sometimes throws the ball to the wrong team. And they could be 5-1 or 6-0 going into an Oct. 15 game at Michigan State.
25) Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-0, 0-0) - See above. They beat lowly New Mexico 59-13, and host Nevada next weekend. Over/under 120?
Showing posts with label Illinois. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illinois. Show all posts
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday, December 12, 2010
5 Bowl Games I'm Actually Excited About Watching...
... other than the BCS game, I mean.
With the dearth of exciting match-ups this bowl season, it's getting harder and harder for me to be looking forward to New Year's Day. But, always the optimist, I think I'll list five bowl games that I plan to go out of my way to watch. (Other than the BCS game, I mean. Go Ducks.) Maybe later I will post five games that I will go out of my way to avoid. Like Miami, OH vs Middle Tennessee in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Yeah, don't need to see that one.
1) Rose Bowl - No. 3 TCU vs No. 5 Wisconsin, Jan. 1: Would I be happier if either Stanford or Boise State were in the Rose Bowl? Yes, of course. But if the Grand Daddy of Them All had to pick a year to host a non-AQ team, this is a good one. No one has been better than the Badgers the last four weeks, beating Northwestern 70-23 and Indiana 83-20! Wisconsin has done this damage mostly behind an absurdly good running trio of James White (1,029 yds, 14TDs), John Clay (936 YDs, 13 TDs), and Montee Ball (864 YDs, 17TDs). TCU's defense is no slouch, though; they've held seven of their 12 opponents to seven points or less, and that includes BYU, Air Force, and No. 19 Utah.
2) Las Vegas Bowl - No. 10 Boise State vs No. 19 Utah, Dec. 22: I'm actually sad because I believe that I will be in flight from Chicago to Portland, Oregon while this game is on. Still, I'm glad that the Broncos were able to cut a deal letting them get out of playing in the Kraft Hungry Bowl. This will be a match-up of the two original BCS busters, and Utah's final game before joining the Pac-12. There is some talk about a conspiracy to prevent Boise State from ever getting to play an AQ team in a bowl game, but really, this is a better venue for them than beating up on 7-5 Boston College from the ACC would be.
3) Orange Bowl - No. 4 Stanford vs No. 13 Virginia Tech, Jan. 3: Pac-10 teams are 3-0 all time in the Orange Bowl, and this will be Stanford's first ever trip to this game. (Although this will change next season, because Colorado is 2-3 all time in the Orange Bowl.) Virginia Tech, meanwhile, is going to their third Orange Bowl in four years. They will be trying to extend their winning streak to 11 after opening the season with losses against Boise State and James Madison. No matter who wins, the real loser will be Discover Credit Cards and the city of Miami. If Stanford had finished one spot lower in the final BCS rankings, they could have picked Ohio State or maybe Nebraska instead and really filled the seats of Sun Life Stadium. Go Cardinal.
4) Capital One Bowl - No. 9 Michigan State vs No. 16 Alabama, Jan. 1: Ah, the credit card wars continue. Score one for Capital One, as this game should get higher TV ratings than any of the BCS games. It will be an interesting match-up of the overachieving Michigan State, who won a share of the Big Ten title and yet still got shut-out of the BCS, and under achieving Alabama, who was picked by everyone to be in the National Championship, but managed to finish 9-3 and in 4th place in the SEC. Go Spartans.
5) Texas Bowl - Baylor vs Illinois, Dec. 29: OK, so maybe nobody cares about this game outside of Ft. Worth and Champaign-Urbana. But guess what? The Baylor Bears were one of the feel good stories of the season, beating Texas before dropping their last three games of the season and finishing 7-5. Still, they will be going to their first bowl game since 1994. The Illini, meanwhile, can have some kind of closure on a heart-wrenching season that included losing 65-67 in triple OT to Michigan, a 34-38 loss to Minnesota on a last second touchdown, and a 23-25 loss to Fresno State to end the season. Still, it's a lot better than their 3-9 record last year. Go Illini.
With the dearth of exciting match-ups this bowl season, it's getting harder and harder for me to be looking forward to New Year's Day. But, always the optimist, I think I'll list five bowl games that I plan to go out of my way to watch. (Other than the BCS game, I mean. Go Ducks.) Maybe later I will post five games that I will go out of my way to avoid. Like Miami, OH vs Middle Tennessee in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Yeah, don't need to see that one.
1) Rose Bowl - No. 3 TCU vs No. 5 Wisconsin, Jan. 1: Would I be happier if either Stanford or Boise State were in the Rose Bowl? Yes, of course. But if the Grand Daddy of Them All had to pick a year to host a non-AQ team, this is a good one. No one has been better than the Badgers the last four weeks, beating Northwestern 70-23 and Indiana 83-20! Wisconsin has done this damage mostly behind an absurdly good running trio of James White (1,029 yds, 14TDs), John Clay (936 YDs, 13 TDs), and Montee Ball (864 YDs, 17TDs). TCU's defense is no slouch, though; they've held seven of their 12 opponents to seven points or less, and that includes BYU, Air Force, and No. 19 Utah.
2) Las Vegas Bowl - No. 10 Boise State vs No. 19 Utah, Dec. 22: I'm actually sad because I believe that I will be in flight from Chicago to Portland, Oregon while this game is on. Still, I'm glad that the Broncos were able to cut a deal letting them get out of playing in the Kraft Hungry Bowl. This will be a match-up of the two original BCS busters, and Utah's final game before joining the Pac-12. There is some talk about a conspiracy to prevent Boise State from ever getting to play an AQ team in a bowl game, but really, this is a better venue for them than beating up on 7-5 Boston College from the ACC would be.
3) Orange Bowl - No. 4 Stanford vs No. 13 Virginia Tech, Jan. 3: Pac-10 teams are 3-0 all time in the Orange Bowl, and this will be Stanford's first ever trip to this game. (Although this will change next season, because Colorado is 2-3 all time in the Orange Bowl.) Virginia Tech, meanwhile, is going to their third Orange Bowl in four years. They will be trying to extend their winning streak to 11 after opening the season with losses against Boise State and James Madison. No matter who wins, the real loser will be Discover Credit Cards and the city of Miami. If Stanford had finished one spot lower in the final BCS rankings, they could have picked Ohio State or maybe Nebraska instead and really filled the seats of Sun Life Stadium. Go Cardinal.
4) Capital One Bowl - No. 9 Michigan State vs No. 16 Alabama, Jan. 1: Ah, the credit card wars continue. Score one for Capital One, as this game should get higher TV ratings than any of the BCS games. It will be an interesting match-up of the overachieving Michigan State, who won a share of the Big Ten title and yet still got shut-out of the BCS, and under achieving Alabama, who was picked by everyone to be in the National Championship, but managed to finish 9-3 and in 4th place in the SEC. Go Spartans.
5) Texas Bowl - Baylor vs Illinois, Dec. 29: OK, so maybe nobody cares about this game outside of Ft. Worth and Champaign-Urbana. But guess what? The Baylor Bears were one of the feel good stories of the season, beating Texas before dropping their last three games of the season and finishing 7-5. Still, they will be going to their first bowl game since 1994. The Illini, meanwhile, can have some kind of closure on a heart-wrenching season that included losing 65-67 in triple OT to Michigan, a 34-38 loss to Minnesota on a last second touchdown, and a 23-25 loss to Fresno State to end the season. Still, it's a lot better than their 3-9 record last year. Go Illini.
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