Rapid Fire Picks for November 5th

November 5, 2011

College Football:

Last Week: 16-8
Overall: 180-51

Top 25, based on BCS Standings:
#2 Alabama over #1 LSU
#3 Oklahoma State over #14 Kansas State
#4 Stanford over Oregon State
#5 Boise State over UNLV
#6 Oklahoma over Texas A&M
#9 South Carolina over #7 Arkansas…I’m sticking with the pick from the beginning of the year, SC 49-17
#8 Oregon over Washington…could be a trap game for the Ducks
#10 Nebraska over Northwestern
#13 Houston over UAB
#15 Michigan over Iowa
#17 Michigan State over Minnesota
#18 Georgia over New Mexico State
#19 Arizona State over UCLA
#20 Wisconsin over Purdue
#21 Texas over Texas Tech
#24 West Virginia over Louisville
#25 Southern Miss over East Carolina

SEC:
Florida over Vanderbilt…close
Ole Miss over Kentucky…first to score might win this game
Tennessee over Middle Tennessee State
Mississippi State over Tennessee-Martin

ACC:
Virginia over Maryland
North Carolina over North Carolina State
Miami (FL) over Duke
Notre Dame over Wake Forest

Other Games:
SMU over Tulane
Troy over Navy
Air Force over Army

NFL

Last Week: 8-5
Overall: 77-38

Bills over Jets
Cowboys over Seahawks
Falcons over Colts
Chiefs over Dolphins
Saints over Buccaneers
49ers over Redskins
Texans over Browns
Raiders over Broncos
Patriots over Giants
Rams over Cardinals
Packers over Chargers
Steelers over Ravens
Bears over Eagles


Rapid Fire Picks for October 29th

October 29, 2011

There was an issue with the site that these are normally posted on, so they will be here today.

NFL:

Last Week: 7-6
Overall: 69-33

Titans over Colts
Saints over Rams
Dolphins over Giants
Panthers over Vikings
Ravens over Cardinals
Texans over Jaguars
Bills over Redskins
Lions over Broncos
Patriots over Steelers
49ers over Browns
Seahawks over Bengals
Cowboys over Eagles
Chiefs over Chargers

College Football (Rankings based on BCS Standings):

Last Week: 18-7
Overall: 164-43

#3 Oklahoma State over Baylor
#5 Clemson over Georgia Tech
#6 Stanford over USC
#7 Oregon over Washington State
#9 Oklahoma over #8 Kansas State
#10 Arkansas over Vanderbilt
#14 Nebraska over #11 Michigan State
#12 Virginia Tech over Duke
#13 South Carolina over Tennessee…SC 23-16
#15 Wisconsin over Ohio State
#16 Texas A&M over Missouri
#18 Michigan over Purdue
#19 Penn State over Illinois
#20 Texas Tech over Iowa State
#21 Arizona State over Colorado
Florida over #22 Georgia
#23 Auburn over Ole Miss
#24 Texas over Kansas
#25 West Virginia over Rutgers

ACC:

Florida State over North Carolina State
Maryland over Boston College
Wake Forest over North Carolina

SEC:

Kentucky over Mississippi State

Other Games:

Notre Dame over Navy

Fundraiser:
Remember that WUSC’s fall fundraiser runs through November 3rd. To donate, click on “Support” at the top of the page or call the station at (803) 576-WUSC or online at wusc.sc.edu

Show Correction:
During the show, I kept saying that Texas hasn’t lost back-to-back games since August. That was the Texas Rangers, not the Texas Longhorns football team.

Have a Happy Halloween!!


James’ NCAA Conference Realignment Theory, Big Ten Revision

February 14, 2010

The biggest issue I had with my realignment was the strength of the Big Ten Eastern Division related to the comparative weakness of the Big Ten Western Division.

Therefore I have revised the Big Ten’s division to a North/South setup.  This helps balance out the two divisions and even maintains more of the historical rivalry games in the Big Ten that the East/West setup removed.  They are as follows:

The Big Ten North Division hosts Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State and Wisconsin.

The Big Ten South Division will have Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Ohio State and Purdue.

The inter-divisional rivalries must now be revised.  In this new setup, more rivalries are maintained.  Michigan will play Ohio State in The Big Game, Michigan State will play Indiana for the Old Brass Spittoon, Minnesota will play Iowa for the Floyd of Rosedale, and Illinois will play Northwestern for the Land of Lincoln Trophy.  Penn State has then been paired with Purdue and Wisconsin with Iowa State.

This revision also reopens the door for other rivalries including the battle for the Little Brown Jug between Michigan and Minnesota, Michigan State and Penn State’s fight for the Land Grant Trophy, and Illinois and Ohio State play their game to decides who gets to house “Illibuck.”

The image posted will provide a visual explanation of the revision.


Final 2009 Bowl Projections – ACC

December 6, 2009

Had Georgia Tech not taken care of business in the ACC Championship Game against Clemson, the ACC bowl selections would have gotten very complicated.  Then again, thanks to the Gator Bowl, they already are.

The big story in the ACC postseason is not Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.  Instead, it centers on the story of Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden’s retirement and legacy.

The Gator Bowl gets the second selection of ACC teams after the BCS has selected, and they seem to have already made their selection.  The Gator Bowl intends on inviting 6-6 Florida State to face Big East representative West Virginia.  That may not seem like a problem on the surface, but it gets deeper.

Should this selection become official, Florida State, with a 6-6 record will have been chosen over four ACC teams with better overall records:  Miami at 9-3, North Carolina and Boston College at 8-4, and Clemson at 8-5.

I personally am strongly against this selection.  The reasoning for this selection seems to be to honor Bobby Bowden’s legacy.  I agree that he deserves being honored.  But at 6-6, Florida State should just be grateful they are going to a bowl game.  Regardless of how I, or perhaps others may feel, the Gator Bowl is entitled to its selection, assuming the ACC allows it.

With all of said, here is how I see the ACC bowl selection happening, with potential opponents:

Orange Bowl – Georgia Tech (vs. TCU)

Chick-Fil-A Bowl – Virginia Tech (vs. Tennessee)

Gator Bowl – Florida State (vs. West Virginia)

Champs Sports Bowl – Miami (vs. Michigan State)

Meineke Car Car Bowl – North Carolina (vs. Rutgers)

Music City Bowl – Clemson (vs. Kentucky)

Emerald Bowl – Boston College (vs. USC)

*Note – The ACC does not have enough bowl eligible teams to fill their bowls.  The EagleBank Bowl and GMAC Bowl will feature teams from different conferences, likely a MAC team and a Sun Belt team.


James’ NCAA Conference Realignment Theory, Part Two

October 17, 2009

In part one I began to describe my theory on realigning the 120 division I-A football teams into ten evenly divided conferences.  I set the new conferences to the scheduling setup currently used by the ACC and SEC.

Before I move into the final three BCS conferences, will recap the previous three from part one:

The ACC did not require any changes as it is one of the two conferences set as an example for the rest.

For the Big 12, I replaced Iowa State in the north division with BYU and replaced Baylor in the south with TCU.  The teams were then paired with a rival team from the opposite conference for their yearly inter-divisional rivalry game.

Four teams were added to the Big East, giving the conference twelve teams.  The four added were Army, East Carolina, Navy, and Notre Dame.  The teams were divided into two division:  the north would have Army, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Rutgers; the south division would have Navy, Cincinnati, East Carolina, South Florida, Louisville and West Virginia.

Now I will continue by finishing the final three BCS conference:  the Big Ten, the Pac-10 and the SEC.

Big Ten – One very odd thing about the Big Ten conference is that it actually contains eleven teams.  If you recall the changes in the Big 12 from part one, my theory replaces Iowa State with BYU, leaving Iowa State without a conference affiliation.  I feel that the Big Ten is a perfect fit for the Cyclones, and vice versa.  The biggest rivalry for Iowa State is the in-state with the Iowa Hawkeyes.  Moving Iowa State to the Big Ten would add even more of an importance to this heated rivalry by making it a conference game as well.  Now that the Big Ten would have its twelve teams, it just needs its two divisions.  The theory divides the conference into east and west divisions.  The Big Ten East would have Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue; the Big Ten West would host Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the newly added Iowa State Cyclones.  The inter-divisional rivalries are as follows:  Indiana is paired with Northwestern; Michigan is paired with Minnesota; Michigan State is paired with Iowa; Ohio State is paired with Illinois; Penn State is paired with Wisconsin; Purdue is paired with Iowa State.

*** The Big Ten realignment has since been edited, view more recent S26S posts for updates. ***

Pac-10 – The Pac-10 Conference does not need too many changes, and the few that need to be made are quite simple and obvious.  Two of the most notable current non-BCS teams are out west and obvious choices for the Pac-10’s two additions, Boise State and Utah.  This gives the Pac-10 its twelve teams, making the next step its divisions.  In the Pac-10 North, I have put Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State and Utah.  This leaves the Pac-10 South hosting Southern Cal, California, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State.  The inter-divisional rivalries are as follows:  Boise State is paired with Stanford; Oregon is paired with California; Oregon State is paired with Southern Cal; Utah is paired with UCLA; Washington is paired with Arizona; Washington State is paired with Arizona State.  I believe that these changes give the Pac-10 conference, as well as the Boise State and Utah football programs more legitimacy.

SEC – The SEC, like the ACC is used in this theory as the standard for the rest of the conferences to immolate, and therefore requires no changes to the members or rivalries within the conference.

Stay tuned for part three, which will show changes to the non-BCS conferences, including the combining of the Mountain West conference and the Western Athletic Conference, resulting in the removal of the Mountain West Conference.