Here are the early top 25 lists from Sports Illustrated and ESPN:
SI: (Andy Staples)
1) Oklahoma
2) Oregon
3) Alabama
4) LSU
5) Stanford
6) Texas A&M
7) Oklahoma State
8) South Carolina
9) Florida State
10) Boise State
11) Ohio State
12) Nebraska
13) Arkansas
14) Michigan State
15) TCU
16) Wisconsin
17) Missouri
18) Auburn
19) Virginia Tech
20) West Virginia
21) Notre Dame
22) Mississippi State
23) Arizona State
24) Maryland
25) Utah
and ESPN: (Mark Schlabach)
1) Oklahoma
2) Alabama
3) Florida State
4) Oregon
5) LSU
6) Oklahoma State
7) Boise State
8) Stanford
9) Texas A&M
10) Michigan State
11) Arkansas
12) Wisconsin
13) Nebraska
14) West Virginia
15) Ohio State
16) Notre Dame
17) Georgia
18) Missouri
19) South Carolina
20) Texas
21) Arizona State
22) TCU
23) Virginia Tech
24) Florida
25) Mississippi State
and ESPN (Adam Rittenberg):
1) Alabama
2) Oklahoma
3) Oregon
4) Boise State
5) LSU
6) Stanford
7) Florida State
8) South Carolina
9) Ohio State
10) TCU
11) Arkansas
12) Texas A&M
13) Nebraska
14) Oklahoma State
15) Wisconsin
16) Michigan State
17) Missouri
18) Auburn
19) Notre Dame
20) Mississippi State
21) Virginia Tech
22) Florida
23) West Virginia
24) Arizona State
25) Georgia
So there you have it. I'll add more as I find them, but so far, the consensus seems to be: 1) The Big Three are Alabama, Oklahoma, and Oregon. 2) The Pac-12 will be a two-horse race between Oregon and Stanford. 3) The Big Ten could be a mess, but it should be some combination of Nebraska, Michigan State, Wisconsin at the end. 4) Florida, Ohio State (suspensions), Texas, and USC (sanctions) should all be absent from the BCS this year.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
I Am Excited About Baseball
Five World Series Match-Ups Joel Would Like to See (In Order of Descending Plausibility):
1) Boston Red Sox (25-22) vs San Francisco Giants (27-19): In 107 years, the Giants and the Red Sox have met each other exactly once in the World Series: In 1912, a 4-3-1 win for the Red Sox, marked by the great pitching of Smoky Joe Wood and an exciting 10th inning win by the Red Sox in Game 8 of the series. A match-up this year would pit the reigning NL champ against one of the most popular franchises in all of baseball, and the champions from 2004 and 2007. Also, it would highlight two awesome cities, and would be the ultimate anti-NY-LA World Series.
2) Cleveland Indians (30-15) vs Cincinnati Reds (25-23): I keep waiting for the Indians to fall apart, but it's the end of May now and and they are at a .667 winning percentage and have a 7 game lead in the division, by far the largest in baseball. Meanwhile, Cincinnati benefits from both awesome hitting and awesome pitching. And can you say "Battle of Ohio"? Or how about, "first Cleveland championship in 64 years"?
3) Tampa Bay Rays (26-22) vs Florida Marlins (26-19): I don't really know why neither of these teams have really been able to catch on with their respective fan bases. The Marlins have championships in 1997 and 2003, and Tampa Bay losing one in 2008. Combined, these teams have made the state of Florida one of the most successful in the country over the course of the past 15 years. But then, how come nobody ever comes to their games? Maybe this World Series match-up will teach everyone to love the Rays and the Marlins. More likely it will lead to record low TV ratings and mass rioting and looting along the eastern seaboard.
4) Seattle Mariners (23-24) vs Milwaukee Brewers (25-23): With the Texas Rangers' winning of the AL pennant last year, Seattle is now the only AL team never to make it to the World Series. (The Washington Nationals are the only NL team never to do so.) Milwaukee, meanwhile, used to be from Seattle, until 1969, as the Seattle Pilots, and used to play in the American League, until 1997. Also, Milwaukee has only been to the World Series once, in 1982, when they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. So this would just be fun.
5) Chicago White Sox (22-27) vs Chicago Cubs (20-25): This would be a stupid and boring World Series between two stupid and boring teams.
The End.
1) Boston Red Sox (25-22) vs San Francisco Giants (27-19): In 107 years, the Giants and the Red Sox have met each other exactly once in the World Series: In 1912, a 4-3-1 win for the Red Sox, marked by the great pitching of Smoky Joe Wood and an exciting 10th inning win by the Red Sox in Game 8 of the series. A match-up this year would pit the reigning NL champ against one of the most popular franchises in all of baseball, and the champions from 2004 and 2007. Also, it would highlight two awesome cities, and would be the ultimate anti-NY-LA World Series.
2) Cleveland Indians (30-15) vs Cincinnati Reds (25-23): I keep waiting for the Indians to fall apart, but it's the end of May now and and they are at a .667 winning percentage and have a 7 game lead in the division, by far the largest in baseball. Meanwhile, Cincinnati benefits from both awesome hitting and awesome pitching. And can you say "Battle of Ohio"? Or how about, "first Cleveland championship in 64 years"?
3) Tampa Bay Rays (26-22) vs Florida Marlins (26-19): I don't really know why neither of these teams have really been able to catch on with their respective fan bases. The Marlins have championships in 1997 and 2003, and Tampa Bay losing one in 2008. Combined, these teams have made the state of Florida one of the most successful in the country over the course of the past 15 years. But then, how come nobody ever comes to their games? Maybe this World Series match-up will teach everyone to love the Rays and the Marlins. More likely it will lead to record low TV ratings and mass rioting and looting along the eastern seaboard.
4) Seattle Mariners (23-24) vs Milwaukee Brewers (25-23): With the Texas Rangers' winning of the AL pennant last year, Seattle is now the only AL team never to make it to the World Series. (The Washington Nationals are the only NL team never to do so.) Milwaukee, meanwhile, used to be from Seattle, until 1969, as the Seattle Pilots, and used to play in the American League, until 1997. Also, Milwaukee has only been to the World Series once, in 1982, when they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. So this would just be fun.
5) Chicago White Sox (22-27) vs Chicago Cubs (20-25): This would be a stupid and boring World Series between two stupid and boring teams.
The End.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
How to Improve College Football
Here is a list of all of Fresno State's non conference games since 2006:
9/9/06 vs Oregon 24-31 L
9/16/06 @ Washington 20-21 L
10/21/06 @ LSU 6-38 L
9/1/07 vs Sacramento St 24-3 W
9/8/07 @ Texas A&M 45-47 L
9/15/07 @ Oregon 21-52 L
11/24/07 vs Kansas St 45-29 W
12/31/07 vs Georgia Tech 40-28 W (Humanitarian Bowl)
9/1/08 @ Rutgers 24-7 W
9/13/08 vs Wisconsin 10-13 L
9/27/08 @ UCLA 36-31 W
12/20/08 vs Colorado State 35-40 L (New Mexico Bowl)
9 /5/09 vs UC Davis 51-0 W
9/12/09 @ Wisconsin 31-34 L
9/26/09 @ Cincinnati 20-28 L
12/5/09 @ Illinois 53-52 W
12/19/09 @ Wyoming 28-35 L (New Mexico Bowl)
9/4/10 vs Cincinnati 28-14 W
9/25/10 @ Mississippi 38-55 L
10/2/10 vs Cal Poly 38-17 W
12/3/10 vs Illinois 25-23 W
12/18/10 vs Northern Illinois 17-40 L (Humanitarian Bowl)
That's 4 games against the Pac-10, 2 against the SEC, 2 against the Big 12, 1 against the ACC, 3 against the Big East, 4 against the Big Ten.
9/9/06 vs Oregon 24-31 L
9/16/06 @ Washington 20-21 L
10/21/06 @ LSU 6-38 L
9/1/07 vs Sacramento St 24-3 W
9/8/07 @ Texas A&M 45-47 L
9/15/07 @ Oregon 21-52 L
11/24/07 vs Kansas St 45-29 W
12/31/07 vs Georgia Tech 40-28 W (Humanitarian Bowl)
9/1/08 @ Rutgers 24-7 W
9/13/08 vs Wisconsin 10-13 L
9/27/08 @ UCLA 36-31 W
12/20/08 vs Colorado State 35-40 L (New Mexico Bowl)
9 /5/09 vs UC Davis 51-0 W
9/12/09 @ Wisconsin 31-34 L
9/26/09 @ Cincinnati 20-28 L
12/5/09 @ Illinois 53-52 W
12/19/09 @ Wyoming 28-35 L (New Mexico Bowl)
9/4/10 vs Cincinnati 28-14 W
9/25/10 @ Mississippi 38-55 L
10/2/10 vs Cal Poly 38-17 W
12/3/10 vs Illinois 25-23 W
12/18/10 vs Northern Illinois 17-40 L (Humanitarian Bowl)
That's 4 games against the Pac-10, 2 against the SEC, 2 against the Big 12, 1 against the ACC, 3 against the Big East, 4 against the Big Ten.
5 Bowls I'm Not At All Excited About...
... but will probably end up watching anyways.
1) Fiesta Bowl: #7 Oklahoma vs Connecticut: You know, I may actually start feeling sorry for Tostitos chips and the Fiesta Bowl soon. For years, they have been biting the bullet and taking the challenging, un-popular bowl choices - choices such as Boise State vs. TCU last year, or that epic Boise State-Oklahoma game in 2007 - and this year it seemed like they might get rewarded for their risks in the past. They get to host the BCS Championship game and the Rose Bowl agreed to select the highest non-AQ team. So what does the Fiesta Bowl get rewarded with? 8-4 Big East champion Connecticut, who get to travel more than 2,500 miles to get sacrificed to the Oklahoma Sooners. I bet that they sure wish now that they could match up Oklahoma against #3 TCU this year, or even a way to pick #4 Stanford, who at least makes more geographic sense than the Huskies.
2) Holiday Bowl: #18 Nebraska vs Washington: Normally, I am all for watching games with Pac-10 teams in them, and I usually like the Holiday Bowl, especially since it hosted the Ducks three times between 2000 and 2008. But not very many people are excited about seeing a rematch from a game played earlier this season, one where the Cornhuskers demolished UW 56-21 in Seattle. At the very least, this game should give me one more reason to hate Mel Kiper Jr.
3) Sun Bowl: Miami (FL) vs Notre Dame: The Sun Bowl, meanwhile, is thanking their lucky stars that they were able to replace their missing Pac-10 team with Notre Dame, thus setting up a rematch of the "Convicts vs Catholics" games of the late 80's. Screw that, says I. Both of these programs are bloated and overly grandiose. I hope they both lose.
4) GoDaddy.com Bowl: Miami (OH) vs Middle Tennessee: Those commercials are terrible.
5) Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl: Southern Miss vs Louisville: I needed a fifth meaningless bowl game. And this one just sounds gross.
1) Fiesta Bowl: #7 Oklahoma vs Connecticut: You know, I may actually start feeling sorry for Tostitos chips and the Fiesta Bowl soon. For years, they have been biting the bullet and taking the challenging, un-popular bowl choices - choices such as Boise State vs. TCU last year, or that epic Boise State-Oklahoma game in 2007 - and this year it seemed like they might get rewarded for their risks in the past. They get to host the BCS Championship game and the Rose Bowl agreed to select the highest non-AQ team. So what does the Fiesta Bowl get rewarded with? 8-4 Big East champion Connecticut, who get to travel more than 2,500 miles to get sacrificed to the Oklahoma Sooners. I bet that they sure wish now that they could match up Oklahoma against #3 TCU this year, or even a way to pick #4 Stanford, who at least makes more geographic sense than the Huskies.
2) Holiday Bowl: #18 Nebraska vs Washington: Normally, I am all for watching games with Pac-10 teams in them, and I usually like the Holiday Bowl, especially since it hosted the Ducks three times between 2000 and 2008. But not very many people are excited about seeing a rematch from a game played earlier this season, one where the Cornhuskers demolished UW 56-21 in Seattle. At the very least, this game should give me one more reason to hate Mel Kiper Jr.
3) Sun Bowl: Miami (FL) vs Notre Dame: The Sun Bowl, meanwhile, is thanking their lucky stars that they were able to replace their missing Pac-10 team with Notre Dame, thus setting up a rematch of the "Convicts vs Catholics" games of the late 80's. Screw that, says I. Both of these programs are bloated and overly grandiose. I hope they both lose.
4) GoDaddy.com Bowl: Miami (OH) vs Middle Tennessee: Those commercials are terrible.
5) Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl: Southern Miss vs Louisville: I needed a fifth meaningless bowl game. And this one just sounds gross.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Let's Go Zips!
The University of Akron has won its first ever NCAA championship. The Zips defeated Louisville 1-0 in the men's soccer final earlier today in Santa Barbara. This is a huge boon to Akron's sports program. When I visited Akron over Thanksgiving, their American football team was the only winless team in the FBS division - they went on to finish 1-11. In addition, the university recently opened brand new, $300 million InfoCision stadium, a 27,000 seat venue whose construction required that "several dormitories had to be demolished and the properties of local tenants were acquired using eminent domain. In order to house the displaced students, the University spent $22.6 million to purchase Quaker Square, a former Quaker Oats Company oat silo that was converted into a hotel."
It's hard to fill that stadium with a 1-11 football team. Maybe they can with a national champion futbol team?
Also, when I was in Akron, someone told me about a time that they were talking to a native Arabic speaker, who was confused why anyone would call their university team the "Zips," because "Zip" is a slang word for "cock" in Arabic.
Go Zips.
It's hard to fill that stadium with a 1-11 football team. Maybe they can with a national champion futbol team?
Also, when I was in Akron, someone told me about a time that they were talking to a native Arabic speaker, who was confused why anyone would call their university team the "Zips," because "Zip" is a slang word for "cock" in Arabic.
Go Zips.
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.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
5 Reasons Why Auburn Will Win the BCS Championship
1) Cam Newton is the most dominant player in the country - This is not exactly a revelation. Newton leads the SEC in passing efficiency, rushing yards per game, total offense per game, and points. In the SEC Championship game, South Carolina's defense sold out to try and stop Newton running, and got burned in the air to the tune of 355 yards and four touchdowns. He's big and he's fast, and will be able to go around, over, and through anyone on Oregon's defense.
2) Auburn's offensive line will control the game - The average weight for an Auburn offensive line man is 301 lbs., compared to 246 lbs. for the average Oregon defensive line man. Behind this line, Newton will be able to maintain possession and control the tempo of the game. The blueprint for beating the Ducks is simple enough: Keep their offense off of the field. Auburn can and will do that.
3) Auburn's defense will contain the Ducks running game - The big question mark for Auburn going to the championship game is their defense, which has given up more than 30 points four times this season, not including 26 to lowly Arkansas State and 24 to even lowlier Chattanooga. But the Tigers' defensive backs are faster than anyone else the Ducks have faced this season. They will be fast enough to meet the Ducks' running backs at the ends, and will force to Oregon to become a passing team to generate any offense. And that's when Oregon will start making mistakes.
4) The Ducks will make mistakes - Oregon is 48th in the nation in turnovers, with 22, and 17th in penalties, with 95 for a total of 815 yards. In addition, Auburn's defense is one of the best at causing turnovers, forcing an opponent's turnover in 12.5 percent of all possessions this season. Against weaker teams, Oregon was able to compensate for those mistakes and make comebacks in the second half. They won't be able to do that against Auburn.
5) It's the SEC, Jack - There's a reason why Les Miles said that the SEC champion should automatically get to go to the BCS Championship game. In the last four games, the SEC has outscored their opponents 160-73. The conference simply plays better football than anyone else in the country, and that trend will continue this year once again.
(Next Time... 5 Reasons Why Oregon Will Win)
2) Auburn's offensive line will control the game - The average weight for an Auburn offensive line man is 301 lbs., compared to 246 lbs. for the average Oregon defensive line man. Behind this line, Newton will be able to maintain possession and control the tempo of the game. The blueprint for beating the Ducks is simple enough: Keep their offense off of the field. Auburn can and will do that.
3) Auburn's defense will contain the Ducks running game - The big question mark for Auburn going to the championship game is their defense, which has given up more than 30 points four times this season, not including 26 to lowly Arkansas State and 24 to even lowlier Chattanooga. But the Tigers' defensive backs are faster than anyone else the Ducks have faced this season. They will be fast enough to meet the Ducks' running backs at the ends, and will force to Oregon to become a passing team to generate any offense. And that's when Oregon will start making mistakes.
4) The Ducks will make mistakes - Oregon is 48th in the nation in turnovers, with 22, and 17th in penalties, with 95 for a total of 815 yards. In addition, Auburn's defense is one of the best at causing turnovers, forcing an opponent's turnover in 12.5 percent of all possessions this season. Against weaker teams, Oregon was able to compensate for those mistakes and make comebacks in the second half. They won't be able to do that against Auburn.
5) It's the SEC, Jack - There's a reason why Les Miles said that the SEC champion should automatically get to go to the BCS Championship game. In the last four games, the SEC has outscored their opponents 160-73. The conference simply plays better football than anyone else in the country, and that trend will continue this year once again.
(Next Time... 5 Reasons Why Oregon Will Win)
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