NCAA College Football Picks - Championship Week

Sadly I haven’t managed to devote the time I need to follow college football as closely as I’d like this season but even so I still have plenty of opinions! Isn’t that always the way? The first and most important thing going around of course is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish finally making it to the Championship Game after more than 20 years in the cold. How tragic and ironic that they should get there the year that famed Notre Dame homer (I kid) Beano Cook should pass away. I’d certainly have loved to hear his insight as although other parts of his expertise had begun to fade, you could always rely on him for top notch historical value regarding the Irish. Also ironic is that this is the year I managed to enroll one James Macswiney to pick games with me. Of course he dropped off halfway through, too lazy to check his Facebook but I know he would have picked his catholic brothers every single week in any case.

In the Pac-12 I think everyone except Colin Cowherd is happy that Lane Kiffin and the USC Trojans had such a disappointing season. It really couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, right? He won’t get fired, at least I’d be pretty shocked and I have a fairly bad feeling that once they get through the scholarship issues, they will be bouncing back harder than ever. Also disappointing was Oregon – just one win away from the title game, a los against a team they dominated in the past two years. Our own connections to the team notwithstanding, their dynamic approach to the game has been refreshing all these years. Up in Seattle, I am not on the bandwagon that is looking to oust Steve Sarkisian, even after the debacle of losing to Washington State. Considering where Ty Willingham sunk the Huskies to, I think Sarkisian has done a decent job returning the UW to relevancy.

Several conferences just failed to show up this season. It was the usual suspects too – the Big East was a non-entity once again, the ACC flopped when it came to big time matchups. The suspended Ohio State aside, the Big Ten was fairly anonymous also. I believe the Buckeyes though could stand toe to toe with any team in the nation. Urban Meyer was surely a canny hire there. The Big 12 on the other has had more ups and downs than Ted Mosby’s love life. I don’t think any of those teams, even the surprising Kansas State could have handled the title game anyway. As for the SEC… well, they are just the SEC, business as usual. I hope they are not too smug over there.

Picks after the jump.

NFL Picks Divisional Playoffs sponsored by Studio Yukupo and NCAA College Football Picks Bowl Championship Week

I started reading Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch, the Russian supernatural thriller that was adapted into the most successful Russian movie of all time and it's pretty fantastic. There are strong references to destiny and pre-ordained events in the course of the book, partly revolving as it does around the star-crossed love between two magicians, a romance created by a meddling sorceror who tampered with the road of fate. The very tenuous link between that and what's happening here is, is any of Tim Tebow's run as quarterback of the Denver Broncos pre-ordained? There were an awful lot of 3:16 related coincidences stemming from his latest miracle, a passage referring to the most doubted person ever in human history. The answer of course i no, because first of all, miracles don't happen eight times in three months and secondly, he and the Broncos are going to get splattered against the wall this weekend by the Patriots and I am most definitely not saying that in the hopes of putting the reverse-jinx hex on New England. Definitely not.

Picks after the jump.

NFL Picks Wild Card Playoffs sponsored by Studio Yukupo and NCAA College Football Picks Bowl Week 3

I started losing interest in the middle towards the end of the season and a lot of it had to with the treatment of Tim Tebow. I think everyone gets at this point that he is a limited player but the attitude that nearly all of these pundits and ex-professionals in the media have towards, the poisonous contempt is so brazen and what's worth, they lie about it. They'll invent caveats and qualifiers like, "Oh, I'd love him to marry my daughter, hur hur" which are blatantly hollow and barely disguising the level of loathing they hold for him. The vile epithets spewed by Bill Maher went uncontested. What did Tebow do to these people? Why am I expected to hate Tebow but love James Harrison, a woman beater and steroid user? It's the kind of thing which turned me away from having any interest in the NBA and large swathes of big time European football.

That's why I take such joy in seeing a team loaded with idiots and villains like the Jets flop so miserably. I can't get enough of that - not to say that Greg McElroy did the right thing talking about it. That's the worst kind of profiteering - setting himself up for a career in media as he knows his football career won't get off the ground.

Picks after the jump.

NFL Picks Week Seventeen sponsored by Studio Yukupo and NCAA College Football Picks Bowl Week 2

Super Early 2012 Projections
It's way too early to even be thinking about this considering some teams don't have coaches, we don't have any idea yet how the draft will shake out, we don't know if a team might lose a key player to free agency (note that it never works the other way; losing a free agent hurts a team far more than it helps a team to gain one). With that said, what have we learnt from watching these teams all year?

NFC East
Basically, nothing. All the teams in this division, even the Redskins have the potential to be very strong but bad attitude from players stymie their efforts. Next year promises to shake out as tight as this one.

AFC East
Depending on their head coaching hire and QB status, you have to like the Dolphins to make a playoff charge - Good form late in the season usually means big things next year and I thought they were better than people thought at the start of this one anyway. The Jets meanwhile will continue to get worse unless we see a seismic shift in philosophy. Rex Ryan talks too much and won't last long that way.

More and picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Bowl Week 1

No time for columns or analysis, too much to do, that's why they call it Stressmas (they do!?)  just pure football picks

Bowl Week One
Home Team listed second in CAPS
vs = Neutral Site game
(*) = Line Differential
[*] = National Ranking
(*) = Awesome Name of Bowl Game

Wyoming (+6.5) vs Temple
(Gildan New Mexico Bowl)
Ohio (+2.5) vs Utah State
(Famous Idaho Potato Bowl)
San Diego State (-5) vs UL-Lafayette
(R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl)
Florida International (-4) vs Marshall
(Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg)
[16] TCU (-10.5) vs Louisiana Tech
(San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl)
[8] Boise State (-14) vs Arizona State
(Maaco Bowl Las Vegas)
[22] Southern Miss (-6) vs Nevada
(Sheraton Hawaii Bowl)
North Carolina (+5) vs Missouri
(Advocare V100 Independence Bowl)
Purdue (-2.5) vs Western Michigan
(Little Caesar's Bowl)
N.C. State (-2.5) vs Louisville
(Belk Bowl)
Toledo (-3) vs Air Force
(Military Bowl)
California (+3) vs Texas
(Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl)

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 14

My annually wrong BCS bowl projections:

National Title: LSU vs Alabama
Sugar Bowl: Houston vs Michigan
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs Boise State
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs Wisconsin
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs Louisville

I feel truly sorry for anyone who has to sit through that awful Orange Bowl matchup. Everyone is supposedly whining at the prospect of LSU and Alabama rematching in the Title game. Hold on. Isn't that what everyone wanted for months and months? Sounds like revisionist history; any old ploy to get their beloved playoffs in place. There's no way any playoff system would be satisfactory. This isn't basketball where the games don't mean anything. Any scenario that leads to the most self important pompous sportswriters and pundits feeling put out works fine for me.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 13

Despite all appearances to the contrary, there are people out there more insufferable than SEC homers. For example:

- Bill Maher
- Joy Behar
- Trent Dilfer
- Merrill Hoge
- Jason Whitlock
- All the other humps rooting for Tim Tebow to fail
- Everyone squatting at an Occupy movement event
- Environmentalists
- People who don't appreciate how awesome a public holiday in the middle of November is, I'd be a way better American than them.

The important thing to remember is that while the SEC is 1-2-3, 4 through 12 are no great shakes. If an SEC fan starts yapping about Georgia and the conference strength in depth, remind them that they got the crap kicked out of them by Boise State. How can we judge them when they're playing Furman? They're gonna finish 4-5 in their bowl games. We'll call it a moral victory.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 12

With all the discombobulation this week, I didn't prepare anything to write as precursor to my college picks so instead we'll talk about women.

Women! I don't understand them. It's a cliche sure but I swear if they wouldn't lie so damn much about what they really want and how they really feel, things would be a damn sight easier. I don't consider myself for example to be a particularly evasive or choosy guy. For all the women out there waiting for that perfect match, c'mon it's probably not gonna happen. For all you women out there digging for better financial and living situations rather than being with someone who takes care of you and loves you and respects you and all that comes with you, sure I get it but you pretty much disgust me. For all the ones out there who stick a violent or otherwise lousy guy because you're addicted to him like a drug, I'm sorry for you and wish you would allow yourselves to be rescued.

I better end this before it gets labeled misogynistic and i get in even more trouble than a Penn State administrator. Too soon?

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 11

Spoiler for The Wire ahead.

In the end, the board of trustees had no other option.

The picture to the side may be of the game of the century, but there was only one story worth talking about this week; the disgusting allegations against Joe Sandusky and the cover-up perpetuated by Joe Paterno and the Penn State Athletics Department. I would have liked to have linked to some of Colin Cowherd's thoughts on the subject but due to unforeseen circumstances am unable to provide those, but they are worth listening to because he nails it. There is no excuse good enough for what happened.

Back when Justin.tv was a fun site to be on, I was watching the Wire there and chatting with someone about the nature of Randy Wagstaff. They were insistent on calling him out for being a snitch, pretty much saying he deserved what he had coming to him. I noted, as you would, that he had information about a murder, a string of murders as it turned out to be, and wouldn't you just naturally inform the authorities? They then came back saying he was doing it for the wrong reasons, not to be noble, but to save his own ass after he was caught breaking school rules. So, I said, that made it OK for thugs to burn down his house and kill his foster mother?

This is the kind of attitude apparently that pervaded State College, the spirit of the corner. Rather than protect the kids (allegedly) being assaulted by Sandusky, they lined up behind their crony. Up there, they were more worried about their reputations, the sanctity of what Sandusky had done, and their own legacy as opposed to doing the right thing. Like they say, actions speak louder than words. I buy nothing that comes from Paterno's mouth, no statement of his, as Cowherd says, "Not Good Enough!". As for Sandusky, former Nittany Lion Sam Stellatella reportedly donated money to his defense and has urged others to do the same. Did this guy even read the grand jury report? I guess i do get why - but it doesn't make it any less sad.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 10

I've been playing Dragon Age: Origins, and in this game they have an area called Orzammar, home of the dwarves who rather than worship any deities, instead worship their ancestors - during their life, some dwarves are appointed as Paragons, those who have contributed to dwarven society in some significant way and statues are then built of them and placed in the Hall of Heroes at the entrance to the city.

Approaching Bryant-Denney Stadium tomorrow for the most humongous regular season game since the '08 SEC Championship game and '06 Ohio State-Michigan, you'll see the same thing; a statue of the latest living Dwarven Paragon, National Championship winning head coach Nick Saban. Everyone thinks Bhelen is some kind of tyrant, but those Orzammar hicks have never seen the Nicktator at work. He has things locked down so tight over there that starting quarterback AJ McCarron doesn't even do any media at all. I doubt that kid is getting involved in a bar fight anytime soon.

The big talk already is of this being a rematch in the BCS Championship Game. Hold your horses! This is why we have a regular season! This is why the regular season is so awesome! It's like a Super Bowl in November, and if you start introducing nonsense like extended playoffs, a game like this would lose most of its meaning. Please, NCAA. I know you love TV money, but resist the urge.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 9

To everyone rooting for "BCS CHAOS OMG", sorry but it's not going to happen, at least not like they would hope. Two unbeatens went down last week to cut the number down to 8. Kansas State is going to lose to one if not both of the Oklahomas and Oklahoma State will lose to Oklahoma because they always lose to Oklahoma.

Clemson will Clemson themselves sooner or later, it's simply in their DNA. One of LSU or Alabama will be eliminated next week in a de facto playoff game, for all the people who don't understand why the college football regular season is awesome, games like the one next week are why. Houston hasn't played anyone. Boise State haven't played anyone. Utah is 0-4 in the Pac-12. Playing AQ opposition every week does make a big difference. If Stanford can clear USC, Notre Dame and Oregon, the latter two both at home, they will deserve to play the SEC Champion for all the jellybeans.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 8

We've seen a cluster of teams lately that were by turns terrible or incredibly mediocre send 1st Round Quarterbacks to the NFL and have a turnaround in fortunes - in a positive direction. Wshington had Jake Locker through their darkest times and are now 5-1. Josh Freeman came out of Kansas State in the Ron Prince era and now they're undefeated. Vanderbilt made a bowl game for the first time in half a century after Jay Cutler left.

The news that Indiana may be about to lose 5-star recruit Gunner Kiel is a huge blow, not jsut for their immediate future, but their long term prospects - much like a poor family grooms their kid to be a star hoping they'll make it big, he could've eventually been their meal ticket out of the Big Ten basement. The reason is fairly obvious - a high profile Quarterback makes you more visible to high school students, and encourages them to believe they could make it into the draft out of your school too.

Who could be the next team to turn around their fortunes on the back of a high-level QB? Probably not Arizona who were good but are now in turmoil with a change at coach. Nick Foles probably isn't quite a first round talent to boot. Baylor, with Robert Griffin III is a good candidate. Art Briles is entrenched as head coach, and with Texas A&M set to leave for the SEC they could steal a march in the Big 12 and leapfrog over Texas Tech and TCU in the Texas recruting sweepstakes. The best candidate though is Tennessee. They have fallen on hard times lately but they're a traditional power and Tyler Bray is a star in the making. Assuming he returns from his injury fully healthy and can turn out two Heisman level years, they will have recruits beating down the door to get in.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 7

As we approach the midway point, it's time for a national title contender review! This time, we'll only look at the remaining unbeaten teams.

LSU & Alabama: At this point it looks fairly certain that one of these teams is going to end up unbeaten at the end of the year. Though they may not be overpowering offensively, I just don't see any team on their schedule outscoring them. LSU is ranked #1 but like most people I'd have to give the edge to Alabama based on recent history. And by recent history, yes, I mean Les Miles.

Oklahoma: The Sooners will probably be lining up opposite the SEC in the title game. They're not in the same class as that Sam Bradford team but I don't see any team on their schedule stopping them, especially having witnessed their evisceration of Texas last week.

Oklahoma State & Kansas State: Kansas State has about as much chance of remaining unbeaten as I have of scoring with Blake Lively. It's a nice story, one I might be inclined to expand on next week, but they have yet to play the Sooners or OK State who themselves I envision winning all their remaining games except for Bedlam where they'll get bludgeoned right in the cowpoke hat with a wood axe.

Clemson vs Georgia Tech: These teams will probably have to play each other twice - once during the regular season and once in the conference title game. I think they will knock each other out over the course of those games but frankly I don't see either one of them lasting out the ACC schedule in any case; these teams always have at least one embarassing performance in them. I would give the edge to Georgia Tech however - absolutely nobody is talking about them.

More & picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 6

After Texas A&M's second straight catastrophic second half collapse confirmed them as the Minnesota Vikings of the FBS last week, I got to wondering about their running back, I young man named Christine Michael. What kind of parent names their son Christine? What is it a mistake? An accident? What kind of crap has he had to take over the years? Is having to deal it what's made him a tough football player? You often see a wide variety of chaps with very strange names on the field on Saturdays, such as Jadaveon, Jermauria, T-Bob, and my personal favorite, HaHa (short for "Ha'Sean", naturally) but msot of them are, well, of a particular heritage that the average fan probably isn't too well versed in so maybe we should jsut leave it at that. Yeah.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 5

No big surprises yet in the land of College Football but there are a few overhyped teams. Chief among them of course is Oklahoma State, a team I have no doubt will do very well... until it comes time for Bedlam at which they will, as always get slapped around by the Sooners like... well, there's no politically correct analogy, but you get the point. The other is Clemson who despite back to back wins as home favorites over theoretically superior teams, I still don't trust. How can one when their history is so littered with disaster?

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 4

The talk all week has been about the realignment brouhaha. I was interested at first but now, the way it's dragging out, I'm thinking, wake me up when it's all over. Every decade or so there seems to be some kind of seismic shift so it should be nothing new, but this time something feels different, almost as though the entire future of the game rests on these colleges getting their decisions right. Ultimately, it all seems to be about money and while their desperate grasping hasn't changed my position on players getting paid, it sure is undermining my argument about a full ride scholarship being more than enough. On the field, LSU distinguished themselves and now lead all the polls that Oklahoma don't. While people point to the strong play of Oregon in affirming LSU as No. 1 in the nation even though the Ducks have only played Nevada and Missouri State since the season opener in Cowboys Stadium. With conference play starting in earnest, we should be able to finally get answers on where everyone really does shake out.

Picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week 3

Surprises were thin on the ground last week as most teams were still taste testing cupckes but now we're getting into the emat of the schedule with one marquee matchup in particular this week. Last week it was all about three games which went down to the final seconds. In the early afternoon, Auburn edged out Miss. State as I expected. The Bulldogs were favored in that game and Dan Mullen ahs done a great job pulling them this far in such a short time. Of course, now you have people declaring that he is winning with Sylvester Croom's recruits, and trying to give him undue credit. I just don't think it's valid. Would Croom with the same players get the same kind of results from the offense? I seem to remember in the corresponding fixture a few years ago, a final scoreline of 3-2. I don't think it's fair either to credit Ty Willingham with Charlie Weis's early success at Notre Dame, or Ron Zook for doing anything at Florida. You have to win the games. That's something that Mark Richt hasn't done of late. Although most credit the team for outplaying South Carolina in a 45-42 loss, Georgia is 0-2 and already in grave danger of being out of contention in the SEC East. A division title is a must for him to keep his job, at least in my eyes. You can go around the SEC and ask other head coaches off the record and they will tell they do not fear Georgia and that is a terrible indictment.

I'll mention that other game last Saturday night with my picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week Two

I actually don't see the problem at all with these by now infamous uniforms sported by Maryland. It's not like the pattern appeared from nowhere; it's the state flag, it features in the university crest and also on the shoulder pads of the Baltimore Ravens. Also, it's not as though Maryland is a storied historic program like Penn State or Notre Dame bound by rigid tradition.
There are a bunch of teams with medium to high expectations that really crapped the bed last week and could get buried this week if they don't watch themselves. Oregon should be able to handle Nevada ok but as for the rest of them...

Week Two picks after the jump.

NCAA College Football Picks Week One

To complement our annual NFL picks, Chris and I, or rather just I, decided to pick college games as well; just a small selection of each weeks slate though, not every single game! Our field of knowledge as far as the NFL is regarded does not extend to the college game but we'll have fun with it nonetheless. For the record, my year end projections are fairly straightforward in that I don't think I'm deviating much from the chalk:

Big East - Pittsburgh
Big Ten -  Michigan
Big 12 - Oklahoma Sooners
Pac 12 - Oregon
ACC - Florida State
SEC - Alabama

National Champions - Oklahoma
Heisman Winner - Landry Jones

Picks after the jump.