NBA East vs NBA West

Last year in the NBA the Western conference was clearly the more powerful conference. Not only did the West have the best team, the eventual champion the Golden State Warriors, but they had 9 teams that had positive records (which meant the Thunder missed the playoffs even though they were 45-37), as opposed to the Eastern conference, who only had 5 positive teams. This year though,so far the situation seems to have almost flipped, the Eastern conference has 10 positive teams, for now, and the Western conference only has 6. I still think that the West might have more powerful teams  at the top, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Golden State are all legitimate championship contenders. Whereas in the East the only teams that I could see actually making a run would be Cleveland, other than that Atlanta, Indiana, Toronto and Chicago all seem to be one good player away from being championship contenders.

The weirdest thing is the regression of some of the Western conference teams and the emergence of other Eastern conference teams. The most surprising would probably be the Houston Rockets, who are 16-17 this year, last year they finished 56-26 last year. It doesn't really make sense, the Rockets still have James Harden, and they have enough parts on the rest of their team to be good. If I had to guess it's probably due to the firing of their coach Kevin McHale and maybe internal issues with the team. Another Western team that isn't as good as last year would be the New Orleans Pelicans, they are 10-21 and have been affected a lot by injuries. The Trail Blazers have regressed but that was to be expected after everyone they lost during the offseason.  

It is hard to pick out one team in the East that has improved the most, but the one team with the most upside would probably be the Pacers. The Pacers have a pretty good backcourt, especially with the addition of Monta Ellis, and now that Paul George is back at full strength. I think they should try to add another center or power forward during the season to make a run at a championship. The Celtics, Magic, Knicks, Pistons, and Hornets have all been more impressive than last year. The Magic have a very good young core, led by Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton, Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon. The Celtics have also quietly built an impressive line-up, with Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jared Sullinger, Marcus Smart, and Amir Johnson. One team that has disappointed me this season is the Bulls, they have the talent, but I believe they need to move on from the Derrick Rose era. The Bulls need to embrace Jimmy Butler as their leader and trade some of their frontcourt players. I will always like Joakim Noah because of the effort he plays with, but he isn't giving much to the team. This will hopefully create more playing time for talented rookie Bobby Portis. They could also use an upgrade at small forward, maybe trade a couple players like Nikola Mirotic and Mike Dunleavy to try to get an impact player.

NBA Update

The major story in the NBA this season, like last season, is the Golden State Warriors, they are 25-1 and they started 24-0. They lost to Milwaukee Bucks a couple days ago, and part of the reason they lost could be that they had played six straight road games. Steph Curry and the Warriors get another chance against the Bucks tomorrow at home, I think they will be ready for that one. The Warriors do many things well, but probably the most important factor in their greatness would probably be how well they pass the ball. The Warriors are first in the league with assists, with almost 30 a game, they are also first in points at around 116 points per game. The Warriors have a very complete team, Steph  Curry and Klay Thompson are the sharpshooters who score most of the points for the Warriors, and Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala can play defense and occasionally pour in some points. Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, and Marreese Speights make up a deep group of big men that can provide defensive support and rebound pretty well and Leandro Barboso, Shaun Livingston and Brandon Rush can provide some support when needed.

On the other side of the league is the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost 4-2 to the Warriors in the NBA Finals last year. The Cavs are lead by Lebron James, and the team is starting to gain more chemistry and play as a team. Probably better than last year, when the team was almost completely reconstructed. If the Cavs are able to stay healthy they could definitely beat the Warriors in a seven game series, but I think the Warriors are also better than they were last year, so it should be interesting to see what happens. I think the two other contenders would be Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder will always be good as long as they have a healthy Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, but I think they need to improve their bench and maybe get a more reliable starter at shooting guard. Dion Waiters and Andre Roberson just aren't championship level players. The Spurs have an incredible bench and have a lot of championship experience, the Spurs play outstanding defense and also pass the ball well. However their three man core of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are getting very old and will need Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge to step up their game if they are going to win a championship.

NFL Playoffs: AFC

The defending super bowl champions the New England Patriots are yet again in good position for another deep run in the playoffs. The Patriots are 11-2 and have clinched a playoff berth, but have been greatly affected by injuries, so I don't know if they will be quite as powerful as last year. Personally I really dislike the Patriots and I hope that they lose in the playoffs, hopefully my Steelers can knock them out. Although the Steelers might not even get a chance, like many other teams the Steelers have been affected by injuries, but more so to their stars. The Steelers have an extremely explosive offense, they have multiple very talented wide receivers in Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton. But the Steelers have played very few games where they have had both their star quarterback and star running back. The weakness for the Steelers is the pass defense, they have a very average secondary that has held them back slightly. I think the Steelers would have a shot at the Super Bowl if they had all their offensive pieces healthy, although the defense certainly needs some work. 

The other two teams in the AFC that can make a run at the Super Bowl are the Denver Broncos and the Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams have pretty good defenses although the Bengals might be without their quarterback for a while as he fractured his throwing hand last week. The Broncos have a very good defense, but their offense sometimes isn't the best. Basically the opposite of the Steelers. The good news is that we will find out who really are the best teams, Pittsburgh just beat the Bengals 33-20, and will play the Broncos this week. Also the Broncos play the Bengals two weeks from now and the Patriots still have to play the Jets this season.

Heisman Preview

Tonight the biggest individual award will be given out, the Heisman Trophy, the three favorites are Derrick Henry, Deshaun Watson, and Christian McCaffrey. Derrick Henry is probably the most likely to win, Henry is a running back from Alabama who has amounted 1,986 yards on 339 carries and has scored 23 touchdowns. Henry has basically carried the Alabama offense most of the year, and has really increased his importance as the year has gone on. I think that Henry is absolutely a good running back but at the same time I think he benefits greatly from having an elite offensive line, most of which were highly recruited and will probably play on Sunday's. He is a very big running back at around 6'3'' 240 lbs, but he has enough speed to be very productive at the college level. Personally I think that even if he actually wins the Heisman that he isn't the best NFL prospect out of the group, he reminds me a lot of Eddie Lacy, who is a quality running back, but just doesn't have the speed to really shine at the pro level. 

Deshaun Watson is the only quarterback out of the group, he is the epitome of the college quarterback, a very powerful arm and able to scramble all over the field. Watson has passed for around 3,500 yards with a completion rate hanging around 70%, he also compiled 30 passing touchdowns, but had 11 interceptions. What makes him very dangerous is how effectively he can run, he ran for 887 yards and 11 touchdowns. Watson reminds me of Cam Newton, but a little bit smaller, I do think that Watson could end up being a better passer than Cam Newton, especially if he cleans up his form. Deshaun has a very strong arm, and can throw it all over the field, but whoever drafts him eventually will try to clean up his form and release time.  He is definitely one of the better quarterback prospects, but usually mobile quarterback don't thrive in the NFL.

The final candidate is Christian McCaffrey, the running back out of Stanford. Although it might be selling him short to call him just a running back, McCaffrey does everything for the Cardinal. He has compiled over 3,000 all purpose yards which I think broke many records. He has carried his team to a 11-2 record, and a Rose Bowl berth against my Iowa Hawkeyes. Personally I think that McCaffrey best fits the mold of what a Heisman winner is supposed to be. He does everything for his team and is a good student as well, but I think each candidate is deserving and is a good student and player.

College Basketball Update

Early on in this college basketball season there hasn't been too much noise, there were a couple good games between top teams, and some teams certainly helped their resume, but nothing completely surprising. The Big Ten seems like it will be a three team battle between Michigan State, Purdue, and Maryland, with Michigan, Indiana, and Iowa also hanging in there. Michigan State is currently ranked #1 but I think that may be too high, I think the Spartans will probably end up with at least 5 losses, but will come to play come tournament time. Purdue seems like a really good team, which doesn't really make sense considering they had a fairly average season last year. They are loaded with big men, they have two 7-footers, A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas, and a talented 5-star freshmen Caleb Swanigan. Plus Raphael Davis, Kendall Stephens, and Vince Edwards are all solid contributors to the Purdue line-up. Purdue will play solid defense throughout the year but it will be interesting to see if they can get back to an elite status as a team. Maryland has taken care of business, outside of an acceptable road loss to North Carolina they have look very good and should be very dangerous.

The Big 12 is also likely a three team race it seems, with Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa State all contending. Last year Kansas won the regular season title, but Iowa State won the Big 12 tournament. Perry Ellis will always be a force for the Jayhawks, but they still have a few players remaining from the 2013 Class that featured Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, the first and third overall draft picks in the 2014 NBA Draft. Frank Mason, Wayne Selden, and Brannen Greene should all make an impact and young players Devonte Graham, Carlton Bragg, and Cheick Diallo all will be difference makers. Oklahoma is a veteran team led by Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Ryan Spangler, and Jordan Woodard. I think Oklahoma and Iowa State certainly will definitely challenge for the Big 12 Title, but Kansas looks just too deep and too talented and I expect the Jayhawks to win a piece of another Big 12 Championship and probably contend for the national title.

Playoff Time

All the playoff match-ups are now set, and its #1 Clemson taking on #4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and #2 Alabama taking on #3 Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl. This feels like it will be a much better playoff than last year, it turned out last year that all the controversy with putting in Ohio State payed off with the Buckeyes winning it all. But at the same time two out of the three games were blowouts, Oregon whooped Florida State 59-20, but then got beaten thoroughly by Ohio State 42-20 in the National Championship. No one wants to watch that except the team who's winning, people want to see the best teams going down to the wire and creating classic games. I think that this year certainly has the clear cut four best teams in college football, and that the match-ups will be closer.

Clemson has been ranked #1 in every single college football playoff and has a Heisman candidate in Deshaun Watson. Oklahoma has been on fire since they lost to Texas early in the season and also have a Heisman candidate at quarterback in Baker Mayfield. This will be a very exciting game and a very high scoring game, both teams have capable defenses, but their strengths are really with their offenses. I'd say Baker Mayfield vs Deshaun Watson is basically a draw, they are both very skilled. Oklahoma has the advantage at running back with both Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, but both teams have good wide receivers, Oklahoma with Sterling Shepard and Clemson with Deon Cain. To be honest I haven't watched either of these teams that much so I don't really know who is better, but Oklahoma just seems to have a momentum that none of the other teams have. Prediction Oklahoma 38 Clemson 36.

Michigan State versus Alabama will be a game won in the trenches, which means the offensive and defensive lines for both teams will be tested and will likely win the game. Both teams have outstanding defenses, Alabama has the better running back, Michigan State has the better quarterback. Alabama is consistently in the spotlight and on the big stage, and Michigan State consistently win big games as the underdog. This is a really tough game, but I think Michigan State and the Big 10 will upset Alabama and the SEC once again. Prediction Michigan State 20 Alabama 17.

Iowa to the Rose Bowl

Last night my team the Iowa Hawkeyes lost 16-13 to the Michigan State Spartans. Despite the loss, Iowa proved a lot to the country, including me, and gained a lot of respect. Personally I saw something I hadn't seen before from that football team. In the last couple games especially the defense looked weaker than they should've been, but this game was different. My team took on a very good Michigan State and gave their very best effort and just couldn't quite get it done. Iowa retook the lead on the first play of the 4th quarter on a 85 yard touchdown pass. Then I think starting with about 10 minutes left in the game Michigan State went on a 22 play 85 yard drive that took around 9 minutes. It featured multiple 3rd downs and one very crucial 4th down conversion, but in the end Iowa couldn't get it done.

This resulted in Michigan State getting into the college football playoff at #3. That means that the Rose Bowl, which features a team from the Big 10 and Pac-12, will have to choose between Iowa and Ohio State. I believe it would be a major mistake to put Ohio State in over Iowa for a couple reasons. First is that both teams played Michigan State and both lost by three. The difference is that Ohio State got to play MSU at home, and got to play against the Spartans backup quarterback. That makes a huge difference, and Ohio State fans and even some players are basically asking for a second chance. Luckily they didn't somehow make it into the playoff because they didn't deserve it all. Ohio State did know or should've known that was their only chance to get into the playoff, they had to beat Michigan State and get a Big Ten Championship. They had to do that because they had zero quality wins. I think Iowa had a slightly easier regular season schedule but they shouldn't be penalized coming that close to winning a Big Ten championship. Secondly Iowa fans travel to bowl games very well, which is important to the people who choose who goes to the Rose Bowl because they want to sell tickets obviously. I believe especially after how close Iowa came to winning the Big 10 Championship and the fact that Iowa hasn't been to the Rose Bowl since 1991 that Iowa fans will travel in large numbers to Pasadena on New Years Day. Third the Pac-12 team in the Rose Bowl will be Stanford, and the other New Years Six bowl is the Fiesta Bowl which will likely have Notre Dame. I think that an Ohio State-Notre Dame match-up is great and a Iowa-Stanford match-up is great, those are two really games. Ohio State and Notre Dame are two of the most prestigious programs in all of college football, and Iowa and Stanford play very similar to each other and would make a great game.

Recap CFB Week 13

Week 13 in college football went mostly to plan and there weren't many upsets, plus there were more points scored in the Wisconsin-Minnesota game than in the Baylor-TCU game, which I don't think anyone would have predicted. There were a couple games that could be called upsets, but none too surprising, as I mentioned before TCU and Baylor scored much less than anyone expected due to the hard rain that continued throughout the game. TCU ended up winning in double overtime 28-21, there were a combined 7 turnovers in the game, and Baylor who averaged 616 yards per game only got 335 and TCU who averaged 564 yards per game only got 302. But in the end it was TCU getting revenge for last season, when Baylor made huge comeback to give TCU their only loss on the season. Then later on in the night Stanford defeated Notre Dame 38-36 to essentially end the Irish playoff hopes. It seemed like Notre Dame had the game won, but with 30 seconds to go Stanford completed a pass over the middle that got them into field goal territory, and the kicker made a 45-yard field goal as time expired. Stanford still has a chance at the playoff, but it is a very slim chance.

Three playoff contenders in Iowa, Clemson, and Alabama struggled slightly but were all able to pull out victories on the road. In the Big Ten Ohio State trampled hated rival Michigan 42-13, but unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they probably missed their only opportunity to prove they belonged in the playoff. Ohio State lost to Michigan State at home and will now have to hope for other teams to stumble in order for them to get in. Which doesn't look entirely likely, their best hope would be Clemson losing to a North Carolina team who has won 11 straight. But the SEC Championship will likely be a blowout in favor of Alabama, their opponent Florida has really struggled in the past couple of weeks. The Gators have had difficulties beating inferior opponents like Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Florida Atlantic, and last week got wrecked by Florida State 27-2.

Michigan State cruised past Penn State 55-16 to clinch their spot in the Big Ten Championship game versus my Iowa Hawkeyes. Now with all the conference championship games set, the playoff picture seems very clear. As long as there aren't any upsets the playoff should be simple, Clemson needs to beat North Carolina and they're in, Alabama needs to beat Florida and they're in, Oklahoma is likely already in (Big 12 doesn't play a conference championship game), and the winner of Iowa-Michigan State will be in. Predictions Clemson 38 North Carolina 34, Alabama 30 Florida 7, Michigan State 27 Iowa 23. This is how I see the playoff shaping up 1. Clemson 2. Alabama 3. Michigan State 4. OU

College Football Week 13

This last week of the college football regular season is often called rivalry week, that means Ohio State-Michigan, Iowa-Nebraska, Alabama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, and many other hatred filled rivalries. Yesterday was great for me because my Iowa Hawkeyes went on the road and handled hated rival Nebraska 28-20. Personally I haven’t liked Nebraska ever since they joined the Big 10, every Husker fan I have ever been around has been very obnoxious. Either that or they bring up the three national championships they won back in the 90’s and relate that to present day. For example, before the game, most Husker fans were saying that they would beat the Hawkeyes, and they weren’t worried at all, they said Iowa would be exposed. After the game most of the Husker fans were calling for the firing of Mike Riley and blaming the refs. They still refused to accept the fact that Iowa is a good football team that beat them fair and square. The problem with the Huskers is that they expect to be competing for a Big 10 or National Championship, but that is just unrealistic. Especially with a first year coach in Mike Riley, so attention to all Husker fans: It’s not the 90’s anymore, don’t expect championships every single year.

Anyways enough ranting for me, Nebraska fans irritate me, outside of that there are some very good games this week with big implications. Last night TCU (10-2) took down Baylor 28-21 in 2OT, it wasn’t ideal conditions either, it was absolutely pouring most of the game and two of the best offenses in the country could barely move the ball. That means that Baylor (9-2) is definitely out of the college football playoff, so the Big 12 playoff hopes depend on the state of Oklahoma. Today Oklahoma (10-1) takes on Oklahoma State (10-1) in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and it should be a great game. However I think Oklahoma is probably the best team in the Big 12, prediction: Oklahoma 34 OK State 30. The other Big games this week are Florida-Florida State, and Notre Dame-Stanford.  I would like to say that Florida State will easily handle Florida based on the fact that Florida had to go to overtime, but just seems to obvious, prediction Florida State 28 Florida 27. Then #6 Notre Dame takes on #9 Stanford, some people will say that Stanford can still get into the college football playoff, but I don’t think with two losses and not that many signature wins that they could get in. However I think this game is Notre Dame’s only chance to get into the playoffs, if they win convincingly I think they should be in, after all their only loss is to #1 Clemson, by 2, on the road.

My top four right now would be 1.Clemson 2.Alabama 3.Oklahoma 4.Michigan State

College Football Week 12

Week 12 of the College Football season has many intriguing match-ups, and has the potential to be the best week of the entire year. The whole year I have been knowing that once it is November there will be more ranked match-ups, but that is especially true in the Big 12. Last week we saw Oklahoma defeat Baylor and the week before we saw Oklahoma State take down TCU. This week features #6 Oklahoma State hosting #10 Baylor. I think this could be a potential upset, I think a lot of people have written off Baylor as out of the playoff, which may be true, but that doesn't mean they can't shake things up in the Big 12. At first, the Oklahoma State win over TCU looked good, but I think that TCU was fairly overrated and they played horrendous defense that game. I believe that Oklahoma and Baylor are the two best teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma would be my pick now to win the Big 12 and advance into the playoff. Prediction Baylor 41 Oklahoma State 38. Of course the other big match-up in the Big 12 is Oklahoma vs TCU, I'm guessing this one won't be that close at all, two stars for TCU in QB Trevone Boykin and WR Josh Doctson could be out this game. Prediction Oklahoma 48 TCU 28. 

There should be three good games this week in the Big 10, starting with #12 Michigan traveling to Penn State, then moving to #20 Northwestern on the road against #25 Wisconsin, and finishing with the big game #3 Ohio State taking on #9 Michigan State. Penn State is a team that has been very inconsistent, they lost at home to Temple on, then struggled with Army, and lost by 28 to Ohio State.  But the Nittany Lions also easily beat Indiana, who gave Ohio State, Iowa, and Michigan all they could handle, and they also blanked Illinois 39-0. Still I think Michigan wins, prediction Michigan 28 Penn State 20. Northwestern also takes on Wisconsin, but I just believe that Wisconsin's defense is one of the best out there. I think the Badgers will get it done at home and go on to be 10-2, Prediction Wisconsin 21 Northwestern 17. And finally Ohio State travels to Michigan State, a game that many people thought would be the best of the year in the Big 10. But Ohio State should come out very prepared and Michigan State's star quarterback Connor Cook had a shoulder injury. He probably will play, but his throwing could be severely affected, Prediction: Ohio State 35 Michigan State 20.

Start of College Basketball

The 2015-2016 College Basketball season has arrived, and as of right now there are virtually no premier games, however soon there will be many interesting non-conference games. There have already been some interesting non-conference match-ups. The biggest of those being a couple days ago when #2 Kentucky took on #5 Duke and later on that night #4 Kansas faced #13 Michigan State. Also that night #3 Maryland played a tricky game against Georgetown, and #8 Oklahoma traveled Memphis. Kentucky looked like the better team pretty much the whole game, winning 74-63 and it seems like Duke has some things to figure out. The Wildcats and Blue Devils were even in terms of rebounding, but the Wildcats were able to force more turnovers and just shoot better overall. Then in the second game of the double header, Michigan State took down Kansas 79-73 behind a strong second half effort. Denzel Valentine took over late and hit multiple tough threes to help his team win. I think that Michigan State will be very good, because they have a way of surprising everyone and making a run even when no one thinks they can. Like last year when they finished the regular season at 21-10, then advanced to the Big Ten 10 Championship game but lost to Wisconsin, then they advanced all the way to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual champion Duke.

Then Maryland took down Georgetown but didn't exactly win convincingly, 75-71. I think that Maryland can be a very good team, but they might need to work on their chemistry. They have two Division 1 transfers coming into their starting lineup, Rasheed Sulaimon from Duke, and Robert Carter from Georgia Tech.  But Maryland should be really good and will contend for the Big 10 Title. That game was part of the Gavitt Tip-Off Games, which pits the Big 10 versus the Big East, right now my favorite team, Iowa, is dominating Marquette 48-21 at half time. Iowa is definitely doing a lot right, Mike Gesell is passing the ball very well, Anthony Clemons is playing very well defensively and the whole team is shooting it well. But at the same time Marquette is just playing awfully, they've had a number of open three's but so far are just 2-19 from deep. They also have been turning it over frequently, racking up 12 already in the first half, and they aren't playing well defensively either.

The next set of games to watch will be the Big 10-ACC Challenge which has match-ups such as #1 North Carolina versus #3 Maryland, #6 Virginia versus Ohio State, #5 Duke versus #14 Indiana, and Louisville versus #13 Michigan State. This will start at the beginning of December.

Week 11 Results

I was basically spot on with my predictions for some of the top Week 11 games, except for the fact that the Alabama-Mississippi State game was not nearly as close as I thought it would be. Alabama dominated 31-6 and I hate to say it because I really don't like Alabama, but they look like the best team in the nation right now. The Crimson Tide are rolling right now, and it's likely that their star running back Derrick Henry will end up winning the Heisman. Henry not only won the individual match-up with his fellow Heisman hopeful Leonard Fournette, but his team also dismantled LSU 30-16. Which means Henry should have a leg up on Fournette, so far Derrick Henry has accumulated nearly 1,500 yards and almost 20 rushing touchdowns.

I almost picked the Oklahoma-Baylor exactly correct, I said 44-35 Oklahoma wins, the Sooners ended up winning 44-34. It is unfortunate for Baylor because for the past couple of years they have sort of been disrespected because of their easy schedule and it just so happens that the first big game they play they end up losing by 10. Baylor also lost their starting quarterback Seth Russell to a neck injury, the backup quarterback happened to be a true freshman and had just one game under his belt to prepare for Oklahoma. For Oklahoma they are probably really upset that they lost that game against Texas earlier in the year, because if they hadn't they would likely be a college football playoff favorite. But there is still a lot of hope for the Sooners and they could still easily make the playoff. It won't be easy for Oklahoma, they still have to play TCU and at Oklahoma State, but if they win out they have a good shot of getting in. 

One of the biggest upsets of the week was Arkansas basically blowing out LSU 31-14 on the road, as LSU lost their second game in a row. Arkansas has now won two consecutive road games against ranked teams and has sort of turned around their season around since losing three straight early on. 

In the Pac-12 there were three upsets, one had major playoff implications. #7 Stanford was upset 38-36 by Oregon on their home turf which basically ended their playoff hopes with 2 losses on the season now. That left Utah as the Pac-12's only hope at a playoff contender and then Utah ended up losing shortly after Stanford did. This means the Pac-12 has no team with less than two losses which basically means that there will not be a Pac-12 team in the college football playoff. The third upset was #19 UCLA losing 31-27 to Washington State, who is now 7-3 and 5-2 in the Pac-12. 

Week 11 Predictions

There aren't too many must watch games this week, but there are some games worthy of your attention. A couple teams in the ACC should be on upset watch this week, #23 North Carolina takes on Miami, and #16 Florida State takes on North Carolina State. I don't see any upsets taking place though, I think North Carolina is out to prove themselves and have been disrespected in the rankings so far. Everyone wants to say that Stanford is like Ohio State in that they lost in week 1 but have made the climb up the rankings since then, but so has North Carolina. It's probably a long shot, but the Tar Heels are 8-1 and have won versus Duke, at Pittsburgh, and versus Illinois. I definitely think this team could shake things up, they will likely meet Clemson in the ACC Title game and could shock a lot of people. I think Florida State is a better team than people think and Dalvin Cook will rush for well over 100 yards. Predictions: North Carolina-38 Miami-17 and Florida State 31-NC State 23.

Alabama is coming off a dominant performance and will look to get another quality win versus Mississippi State. Alabama has had some inconsistent performances so far, dominating against Wisconsin, Georgia, and LSU, but losing at home to Ole Miss, and struggling with Tennessee and Arkansas. If they come out and play inconsistently again they might trip, it's tempting to pick the upset here, but I think Alabama is in championship mode. Prediction: Alabama 24 Miss State 20.

The biggest game of the week is definitely #12 Oklahoma at #6 Baylor, mainly because the Big 12 (and especially Baylor needs to prove themselves). Baylor has played an extremely soft schedule because their schedule is backloaded, so that isn't to say their entire schedule is soft. But Oklahoma has  looked pretty good since they somehow lost to Texas. Prediction: Oklahoma 44 Baylor 35.

College Football Week 10

We figured out where a lot of teams stand on Saturday, three main teams come to mind  in a negative way, TCU, LSU, and Michigan State. TCU had struggled earlier in the year so it's not all that surprising they got beat, but I didn't expect to see them be beaten by 20.  Especially given that Oklahoma State has struggled just as much if not more with teams that are worse than them. But if you watch the highlights you can easily see why TCU lost, they were terrible on defense and Trevone Boykin who was a possible Heisman candidate, threw four interceptions. TCU actually had the ball for over ten more minutes than the Cowboys and gain about 200 more yards of total offense and 20 more first downs than Oklahoma State but turnovers and big plays hurt TCU. LSU was completely manhandled in what was one of the biggest games of the year and one of the most surprising outcomes. Alabama beat LSU in almost every statistic and it wasn't even close. Alabama deserves the most credit for stopping Heisman candidate Leonard Fournette, limiting him to 31 yards on 19 carries. But to be clear it wasn't all Fournette's fault, in fact it's hard to blame him at all. The holes were just non-existent, and it doesn't matter how good a running back is, if he doesn't have at least a little hole, he can't do anything. I would say this performance likely puts LSU out of the playoff simply because they were badly embarrassed on national television in their biggest game of the season.

Michigan State lost on a call that everyone other than Nebraska fans knows was complete crap. You can watch the play here and see that the Nebraska receiver stepped out on his own. In college football a receiver cannot step out of bounds on their own and then come back in to the field of play and be the first to touch the ball. If the player is pushed out than that rule is ignored, but the Michigan State player was simply putting his hand out to keep track with the receiver, something that is completely legal is a common occurrence in football. Nevertheless Michigan State got away with a very wild ending in a game they should of lost to Michigan so I don't exactly feel sorry for them. They probably should've won that game, but they couldn't put away Nebraska and that is what happens.

There were three other minor upsets last week, Navy beat #13 Memphis, Arkansas beat #18 Ole Miss in overtime, and Auburn beat #19 Texas A&M.

Looking Ahead to CFB Week 10

The past two weeks have been fairly unexciting in terms of marquee match-ups but once we enter November, every week is exciting and important. First I'll start with the game most important to me, as Iowa travels to Indiana. This could be a very tricky game for Iowa, as Indiana has a lot of offensive fire power and have already caused trouble for the other two top ten teams in the conference. Plus Indiana is coming of a bye and need to win two of their final four to become bowl eligible, Iowa will need to be completely focused and limit mistakes to come out with a win. In the ACC, Duke takes on North Carolina in an important game for the ACC Coastal Division race, I think North Carolina will keep on rolling, prediction North Carolina 23 Duke 21. Pittsburgh looks to avoid losing two straight when they take on Notre Dame, fortunately for Pitt this game doesn't have an impact on their chances to win the ACC Coastal, although they need a couple of breaks for that to happen. Prediction Notre Dame 38 Pitt 17. In the ACC Atlantic Division the game that pretty much decides that division is between Florida State and Clemson. The Tigers have their eyes set on a playoff birth and this may be the toughest game remaining on their schedule. I predict Clemson will come out to play on their home field and take care of Florida State 34-26.

In the Big 12 Oklahoma State takes on TCU, this game is very important because both teams are undefeated both in conference and overall. I would be surprised if the two teams don't combine for over 1,000 yards combined, little defense will be played. I have said before that I think the Big 12 will implode and once again end up outside of the playoff and I think that will begin this Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Prediction Oklahoma State 48 TCU 45. Then in the biggest match-up this week LSU travels to Alabama, this is one of the most important games for deciding the SEC West and who gets into the playoff. I think Leonard Fournette has a big game and LSU gets it done 20-14.

NBA Season Begins

It's been nearly a week since the NBA season has begun, and the teams haven't even played five games yet, but there are still some things to talk about in the NBA. On Tuesday the NBA season opened up with one of the better rivalry games the NBA currently has, Lebron vs the Bulls. Ever since about 2010 or 2011 Lebron has given the Bulls fits whether it be with the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Miami heat. Last year the Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs by the Cavs, they held a 2-1 series lead before Lebron hit a game winning jumper from the corner that basically won the series. The Cavs won the next 2 games after that  and it seemed like that Lebron game winner just changed the entire season. So this was an important game for the Bulls, and with under 10 seconds in the game Lebron drove into the lane to tie the game, he was emphatically denied by Pau Gasol. Then with 3.6 seconds left the Cavs attempted an inbound pass that was tipped and stolen by Chicago's Jimmy Butler. As a Bulls fan it's always nice to see Chicago beat Lebron, but this likely doesn't mean anything long term. Kevin Love returned for the Cavs and looked good, and the Cavs still don't have Kyrie Irving who will make them much better, so the Cavs team that played that night has a high ceiling when it comes to how good they can be.

Another good thing to see so far has been the return of Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In their first game of the season Kevin Durant put up 22 points on 6/19 shooting and 0 assists, so not a great game for him, but it was his first of the season. The other superstar on the team, Russell Westbrook, put up 33 points and 10 assists, and helped the Thunder outlast the Spurs. Then in the second game the superstar duo combined for 91 points, 23 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Thunder beat the Magic 139-136 in 2 overtimes. This is why so many people love to watch the Thunder, Kevin Durant is the sharpshooter that can score in anyway he wants to, Russell Westbrook is the triple double producing machine, who is probably the most athletic person in the league pound for pound, see here. The Thunder certainly have enough scoring between Russell and Kevin but I feel like their bench and other starting positions need to improve for them to win a championship. This is something that they can accomplish as the year goes on, maybe during the all star break. Meanwhile watching these two play is something that everyone should watch because they do something special on almost every night.

College Football Week 9

The college football week started on Thursday where North Carolina impressively took down Pittsburgh 26-19. The Tar Heels are now 7-1 and will likely be ranked, their defense seems to be much improved from previous North Carolina teams, they rank 42nd nationally  in total defense. Despite being relatively even in total yards, Pitt having more first downs, and Pitt holding the ball for 11 more minutes than UNC, the Tar Heels got a victory that wasn't as close as the score makes it seem. Oklahoma State and Iowa, the two college football playoff dark horses both remained undefeated, along with  undefeated contenders TCU and Clemson. Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech 70-53 by outscoring Texas Tech 42-15 in the second half. There wasn't that much defense played, both teams accounted for over 600 yards, but this is nothing new for the Big 12. Iowa won 31-15 versus a bad Maryland team, and didn't look overly impressive doing it. As a fan who knows Iowa football, the biggest problem Maryland presented is something Iowa has struggled with over the years, a quarterback who can run the ball. On multiple occasions Maryland quarterback Perry Hills darted through holes on his way to 10 or 15 yard rushes, or simply outran Iowa linebackers on the edge. All of Maryland's points came in the fourth quarter when they finally figured out that they should just run it with their quarterback. Really if Maryland didn't turn the ball over they might have won the game, Iowa definitely has some things to figure out going down the stretch.

In the game of the week, Notre Dame vs Temple, I think Temple proved they are good to many people including me. I sarcastically picked Notre Dame to win 70-0, I didn't actually think Notre Dame would win by that much by I figured they would win handily. The Irish did win, 24-20, and they won in the final minutes on a pass from Deshone Kizer to Will Fuller. Temple might be the best non power five team in the nation, and they can still get into a good bowl game. Between beating Penn State by 17, and barely losing to Notre Dame, Temple has convinced me they are good.

Later on in the night Miami took on Duke in a game that likely didn't matter to many people until the final play. Miami beat Duke 30-27 on a crazy final play that featured eight laterals (backwards toss) and multiple questionable calls. Watch at around the 36 second mark in the video and you will see that the ball carrier appears to be down, and this picture pretty much proves that. There were also multiple questionable no calls for block in the back, at the 50 second mark #22 for Miami obviously had a block in the back. There were a couple others where they appeared to be sort of on the side, which is technically legal. Also at about the 1:05 mark you can see a 12th player, who was on the sideline, run onto the field with his helmet off as the play is still going on. That isn't exactly a penalty worthy of losing a game over, but with all the other missed calls, Duke should've won this game. It seems like every week now, I'm talking about some crazy special teams play to win the game, but that's just college football.

College Football Week 8

This week in college football didn't feature any overly important match-ups and was called upset weekend by many college football analysts. Personally I didn't think that there were many surprising results, I think the only truly surprising result was Georgia Tech beating Florida State, and that's only because of how it happened. Georgia Tech is 3-5 but those five losses came to #9 Notre Dame, #18 Duke, #25 Pittsburgh, #6 Clemson,  and a soon to be ranked 6-1 North Carolina team. So the best 3-5 team in the country Georgia Tech finally had things go their way, they blocked a field goal and took it back all the way for a touchdown. I wouldn't be surprised if Florida State ended up with 3 losses, as they still have to play Clemson and Florida.

The other major upset would be USC taking down Utah, but as I said in a previous blog, USC is still a dangerous team and had a chance to ruin a playoff contenders season and may have done that against Utah. The game was actually very even, USC out-gained Utah by only 27 total yards, USC had only one more first down, and Utah was still in it at half time. However Utah turned the ball over 4 times and USC had the ball for nearly ten more minutes. On Thursday UCLA pounded California 40-24 and this was also not very surprising to me, UCLA is a pretty good football team, and they will get better as their talented freshman quarterback Josh Rosen gains experience.  They can still win the Pac-12 South and even win the Pac-12 championship, but are likely out of the college football playoff. I think that the Pac-12's best chance at a playoff team would be Stanford. The Cardinal still have to play Notre Dame, but they are home for that game, and have a relatively easy schedule outside that game. I believe that the playoff committee would pick at 12-1 Stanford team over a 12-1 Utah team due to brand recognition, and resume.

I believe there are a few games where the winner of one game should make the playoff, games like Notre Dame-Stanford, Ohio State-Michigan State, LSU-Alabama, and possibly TCU-Baylor. Personally my top 4 right now would be 1. Clemson 2. Ohio State 3. LSU 4. Baylor. But with the big match-ups I named before and the fact that each Big 12 contender has to face each other I would not be surprised if those rankings change a whole lot by the end of the year. I believe the Big 12 will end up with no undefeated teams and will miss the playoff for a second consecutive year. So how I see it shaking down at the end of the year is 1. Ohio State 2. Clemson 3. Alabama 4. Notre Dame.

3 days until NBA

There are 3 days left until the 2015-2016 NBA season begins, and it should be a very interesting season. Last year the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in the NBA finals, and both of those teams should be top contenders again this year. The Warriors are the new team to bandwagon on, they have an explosive offense based around perimeter shooting and they have one of the best players in the league in Steph Curry. Last year it just seemed like it would be wrong if the Warriors didn't win the championship, they finished with a league best 67-15 record and won impressively throughout the year. The Cavaliers sort of seemed like the villain to people outside of Cleveland, Lebron left Miami to come back to Cleveland. Then the Cavs proceeded to form a super team of Lebron, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, with a handful of other decent players like Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao. However the Cavs lost Anderson Varejao tore his Achilles in the regular season, and lost both Kevin Love (dislocated shoulder) and Kyrie Irving (broken kneecap) during the playoffs. Injuries are a part of sports so it takes nothing away from the Warriors championship run, but I would guess that Lebron brings Cleveland its' first ever NBA championship in 2016.

The 2015 season was greatly affected by injuries, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler, Wes Matthews, Jrue Holiday, Kobe Bryant, Demar Derozan, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Jennings, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, Paul George, and Bradley Beal all missed significant time with injuries last year. Right now there are very few injuries so there is a lot of hope and it's definitely more fun to watch all the best players compete against one another. A couple teams to watch this year would be the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the San Antonio Spurs. For the Rockets they still have superstar James Harden, plus they should have more depth at point guard between the addition of Ty Lawson and hopefully a healthy Patrick Beverly. The Milwaukee Bucks have a solid young core of Jabari Parker, Michael Carter-Williams, Greg Monroe, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and should have another solid year in the eastern conference. San Antonio and Oklahoma City played each other in the 2014 NBA Western Conference Finals, but neither made any noise in the post season last year. The Thunder had trouble all year with injuries to their superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and ended up barely missing the playoffs. The Spurs just couldn't keep up in the loaded Western Conference and ended up losing in the first round but they added a star in Lamarcus Aldridge and solid backup David West, both could help the Spurs chances this year.

Iowa Disrespect

Iowa is 7-0 to start the season, and following every win they keep getting more attention. It doesn't surprise me that it took seven wins and a 40-10 win at Northwestern to get peoples attention. People still doubt Iowa, they don't say "Iowa has a chance to go unbeaten because they are a good football team", they say "Iowa has a chance to go undefeated because of their schedule". I am a huge Iowa fan, and I believe that my team can win every single week, but given what I've seen, even I would be shocked if Iowa made it to the college football playoff and won the national championship. Iowa just doesn't have the talent to take it that far, in my opinion.

However it annoys me that the first thing that everyone mentions when they talk about Iowa is the schedule. Yes, the remainder of Iowa's schedule isn't very tough, but some analysts seem to be blaming Iowa for this in some way. Iowa had no say in its' conference schedule. They had no say in their draw of Maryland and Indiana for the teams they had to play from the Big Ten East. Iowa also had no impact on the the skill level of the remaining teams on their schedule. It is up to Maryland, Minnesota, Indiana, and Purdue to turn their programs around and have consistent winning seasons. Iowa has 10 teams from power five conferences on their schedule and the fact that only about 3 of those teams are top 25 material isn't their fault.

Iowa has already gone through the most difficult part of its' schedule, Iowa beat rival Iowa State on the road, beat a Pittsburgh team who is currently ranked 25th, went on the road and beat then #17 ranked rival Wisconsin, then last week blew out a #20 ranked Northwestern team 40-10. There are plenty of other teams with fairly soft schedules, Baylor, Ohio State, Florida State, and it gets very tiring when the only thing that people ever say about your team is their schedule.

"Kick-Six 2"

This weekend if you were watching the Michigan State-Michigan game, you saw one of the top 10 craziest finishes ever in college football. I will link the video here because it is hard to explain, but I will still try. Michigan had a 2 point lead on Michigan State with 10 seconds left in the game. Michigan had failed to get the first down so they faced a 4th and 2, all they needed to do was punt it away and play safe. Michigan State was bringing 10 players in hopes of blocking the punt. Many will want to blame the punter (I did originally) but there many other places Michigan went wrong. First off Michigan released 4 guys to go down the punt when they could've easily sent one or two and had more protection. Secondly it was a low snap by the holder that originally caused the punter to drop the ball. Third, the only thing the punter did wrong, he should've just fallen on the ball instead of trying to punt it. However in the heat of the moment it's understandable that he did what he did, plus the same punter had an 80 yard punt earlier in the game. And the result was a Michigan loss, and plenty of very sad and some hateful Michigan fans.

Now the question is, was that "kick-six" better than the original "kick-six"? They both took place in huge games, although #1 Alabama vs #4 Auburn was probably had bigger implications, it decided who went to the SEC championship game. Plus Chris Davis (the Auburn player who returned the kick) had to go about 110 yards to score. The first kick six was not the only miracle that happened for Auburn that season, they defeated Georgia earlier in the season on a miracle. Both of these teams seem to have had a lot of luck.

In my opinion the Alabama-Auburn "kick-six" was not only better than the Michigan State version, but might be the best play ever in college football history.

Saturday's Results

The one game everyone will look at from Saturday was Michigan vs Michigan State, and the crazy final play, but there were plenty other important results. Michigan State managed to stay unbeaten on a miracle play, in a game that they should've lost. The Spartans have gotten are either really good at finishing games, or they have had the best luck of any team, between beating Oregon by 3,Purdue by 3, Rutgers by 7, and Michigan by 4. The other contender in the Big Ten East, Ohio State, won 38-10 versus Penn State. Ohio State didn't play a perfect game, but beating a 5-1 team by 28 points is something people expected Ohio State to do going into this season. The Buckeyes have back to back games against Michigan and Michigan State, but also have a potentially difficult game at Illinois before those huge games. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, my Iowa Hawkeyes handled Northwestern 40-10 behind 24 unanswered points in the second half. In other words, I am happy, Iowa has five very winnable games left on the schedule and can afford at least one loss and still get to the Big Ten championship game. The toughest game remaining for Iowa would probably be either Nebraska or Indiana. Indiana isn't a great team but they also give Iowa troubles, they nearly beat Iowa in 2009 another big season for Iowa. Nebraska is the last game for Iowa and it's a rivalry game on the road, the Huskers seem to be getting better and that game will be huge for both teams.

Outside of the Big Ten Alabama, LSU, Memphis, and Stanford got big wins. Alabama won impressively versus Texas A&M and in my opinion are playing like one of the best teams in the nation. If they can get past LSU I see Alabama getting their second consecutive playoff spot. LSU has a tougher road than Alabama because they probably can only afford one loss, while they still have to play Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. Memphis beat Ole Miss at home and are now 6-0 and have the best chance of any non power conference team because of their win. They definitely win out, but still have tough games against Houston and Temple. Stanford blew out UCLA and are playing very well but still have games left against California and Notre Dame. I feel like either Stanford or Notre Dame will end up making the playoff, they are both really solid teams and both have chances to strengthen their resumes for the playoff. Both teams have "good" losses and I wouldn't be surprised if a college football playoff spot is up for grabs when they face each other at the end of the year.

When looking at the playoff there are only teams I believe can make it those teams are Ohio State, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Stanford, Utah, Michigan State, Alabama, LSU, Clemson, and a toss up between Houston and Memphis. My current top 4: 1. Baylor 2. Ohio State 3. LSU 4. Clemson.

Seperation Saturday

This weekend there are multiple huge games between ranked teams and a couple games that have potential for an upset. In terms of ranked match-ups there are 3 huge top-15 games, #8 Florida travels to Baton Rouge to take on #6 LSU. In my opinion I see LSU pulling out victory on Saturday for a couple reasons, first off LSU is at home and it's pretty difficult to walk into Tiger Stadium for a night game and walk out with a win. Plus Florida's starting quarterback Will Grier was suspended for taking PED's (Performance Enhancing Drugs), which hurts Florida a lot because Grier was a big part of why the Gators are undefeated. Prediction: LSU 24 Florida 20. Another game to look forward to in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) would be #9 Texas A&M vs #10 Alabama. This is a big game for both teams if they hope to get into the College Football Playoff, but more so for Alabama, because it's pretty tough to get a playoff spot with 2 losses. Texas A&M could really prove themselves in this game not only because it would be a top-10 victory that would move them to 6-0, but a win over possibly the most successful and popular program in college football would make a huge impact.

There are also two games in the Big Ten that have a lot riding on them, first Michigan State and Michigan battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Michigan has really surprised this year and their only loss has been at #4 Utah, plus the Wolverines are coming off a 38-0 drubbing of #20 Northwestern. Michigan State has not impressed, in fact they have greatly disappointed they have not had a dominating and convincing win over anyone this year. They only beat Purdue by 3 and Rutgers by 7 on a late touchdown drive. However Mark Dantonio is a very good coach and a win is a win no matter how close it is, I think Michigan State will still compete for the Big Ten East crown. But, I still pick Michigan to win, 27-14. Of course the other big game in the Big Ten is between my Iowa Hawkeyes and the Northwestern Wildcats. This game is important because it has huge implications for who will win the Big Ten west. At this point it's a 3 team competition basically, between Iowa, Wisconsin and Northwestern. Iowa could jump into the lead with a win against the Wildcats. If Iowa won they would have wins over Wisconsin and Northwestern which gives them the tiebreaker. But the Hawkeyes also have a pretty easy schedule after Northwestern. Now my slightly biased prediction, Iowa 20 Northwestern 17.

College Football: Week 6

This week in college football went mostly to plan, unless you're a fan of Northwestern, Georgia, USC, or Oklahoma. Southern California lost to Washington 17-12 Thursday night, the Trojans had more total yards than Washington, but were only 1-13 on third down and had 3 turnovers. At this point I'm guessing USC is out of the playoff picture but could still ruin another teams chances, they play at Notre Dame next week, and are home against Utah on October 24th. Georgia just seems to be doing what they do every year, lose 2-4 games and never really emerge as a contender. To make matters worse for Georgia, their star running back Nick Chubb is probably out for the year after a gruesome knee injury Saturday. The future is slightly brighter for Northwestern and Oklahoma, both of whom only have one loss and still have an outside chance at a playoff birth assuming they win out. Northwestern still has a solid team and will play my Hawkeyes next week, but have a relatively easy schedule after that. Oklahoma has a tough schedule ahead of them, they have a three game stretch of at Baylor (ranked 2nd), TCU (ranked 3rd), and at Oklahoma State (ranked 16th), as well as tough games versus Kansas State and Texas Tech. However if Oklahoma were to get through the season with only one loss they would be in good position for a playoff spot.

Enough with the teams that lost, now for the teams that impressed, first lets start with Michigan. The Wolverines absolutely dominated a Northwestern team who many though was well matched with Michigan. Michigan has looked outstanding the past couple of weeks and could really solidify themselves with a win against rival Michigan State next week. Utah looked decent against California, however they forced 6 turnovers and only came away with a 6 point win. LSU is ranked 6th in the country, but I believe at some point running Leonard Fournette will fail them, possibly against Florida this week. Clemson looks good and has already won its toughest game of the year, I have no trouble seeing the Tigers winning out this year and making it to the playoff. And for the 6th straight week, Ohio State and Michigan State survive, but do not impress.

Uniform Frenzy

There is a new trend in college football that I'm sure a lot of people have witnessed. The uniforms they are getting crazier and crazier every day. Whether it be matte black helmets, chrome gold helmets, Louisville's terrible helmet design, or Louisville's awesome helmet design. Almost every major school has either switched to a new base uniform, or added several new alternate uniforms. I sort of remember what I recall as the start of it when Oregon started changing their uniforms every game back about 5 years ago. Then I believe in 2011 one of the first college games of the season Maryland emerged from the locker room wearing crazy "pride" uniforms that were supposed to represent the state flag. I recall the sports center hosts were completely baffled by the jerseys, and the uniforms ended up getting more attention than the actual game.

But nowadays it is a common occurrence (not for my team really, although Iowa has announced an alternate blackout uniform vs Minnesota) and no one really bats an eye at the crazy uniform combinations being created. Some of the uniforms are absolutely gorgeous, see Arizona State's grey uniforms, or Arizona State's throwback jerseys,  the Ole Miss powder blue, or Baylor's chrome kit. And some are simply terrible, see Colorado State's weird alternates, these unsymmetrical Notre Dame alternates, uniforms from Kansas which may have been cancelled they were so ugly, and just to poke fun at Iowa State, these. 

There are a couple reasons why these teams continue to pump out new combinations. One is for recruiting, having really cool uniforms like Oregon or Arizona State will impress the recruits more than say bland Penn State and Iowa uniforms. Some recruits will care more than others, but it's one more thing that a team can do to help themselves with recruiting. The other reason would be for publicity, whether it be within your fan base or throughout the country. It's fun for the fans of a team when a new uniform is announced, although it seems that whenever Iowa comes out with a new uniform all the older fans grumble about liking the regular uniforms better. Also it's never a bad thing to gain a new fan, and if the uniform leaves a good impression on someone they might recognize your team and maybe even become a fan.

It doesn't really matter what the reason is for making a new uniform, but it seems like if you aren't coming out with new looks, then you're behind the times.

College vs NFL

In my opinion college football is a better sport to take part in and watch. The NFL will no doubt have the better players and the Super Bowl is better than any college championship. However in college football there is so much more passion and authenticity. Tailgate and attend one college football game and you will see how exciting the atmosphere. The pregame atmosphere is pretty quiet up until about 45 minutes before the game. At an Iowa game you will hear a couple "Go Hawks", maybe some chants, and even heckling from bold opposing fans. On the walk from the tailgate to the stadium there are waves of people each popping out of different side streets on to the main street, where waves of people funnel into the stadium.

During the game you can participate in team cheers and the crowd just feels like they are one. I don't think there are many NFL games where every fan is standing up and cheering for their team as loud as they can. Whereas that is a very popular sight at college football games. I think what separates the NFL from college would be the student section. The student section always brings it and always looks ecstatic. I think both high school and college fans are generally more connected to their team through the fact that a lot of the fans went to that school. There is no school for the Green Bay Packers or New England Patriots. An NFL fan simply chooses which team they like best. 

There are way more college teams, which means more games, which means more madness. More one handed catches, more big hits, more hurdles, more everything. In my opinion the NFL just seems more formal than college football. Everything from ESPN College Gameday, to the marching band, and to the fact that the players don't get paid, shows the informal nature of college football. There seems to be a formula that pro teams follow, they usually don't score over 40 points, rarely over 50. There aren't many upsets, the team that is supposed to win almost always does. There is just something appealing about a bad team somehow beating a good team. Which reminds me that there are never any times when the fans rush the field in the NFL. 

Bottom line, if you want to watch the best players and teams in the world play football watch the NFL. If you really care about where you went to college or want to watch a emotional, unpredictable, and exciting game of football watch college football.

College Football: Week 5

I made a post earlier about who the number one team should be, and with another week gone, there still, in my opinion, isn't a team who stands out as the number one team. However I think that a couple teams definitely showed some championship caliber. Starting in the Big 12, TCU stomped Texas 50-7, they beat them so badly that one player tweeted about transferring to rival Texas A&M during halftime. TCU impressed me, but I still have a feeling that they will eventually trip up in one of those Big 12 shootouts. Baylor handled Texas Tech 63-35, which is impressive given that the Red Raiders almost beat TCU last week. However part of this could be because Texas Tech just played TCU, it's very difficult to play in back to back games against top 5 teams. We will really find out if Baylor is a college football playoff contender come November when they play Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and finally on November 27,they have to travel to TCU. Oklahoma has also been impressive thus far, but they also have a tough November when the play at TCU, home against Baylor, and at rival Oklahoma State.

In the Big 10 Michigan State and Ohio State continue to leave something to be desired, and Michigan, Northwestern, and Iowa continue to impress. I would say those 5 teams are the best in the Big 10 right now. If I had to pick an East division and West division champion to play in the Big 10 championship, right now I would say Northwestern and Michigan. They have played the best up to this point, Ohio State and Michigan State still have time to figure things out and make it interesting, but right now it would be the Wildcats and Wolverines in my opinion.

High School vs College

If you go out and watch ten high school football games, there is a good chance that nine of those games the teams will have more running attempts and yards. Especially going back to pee-wee football, there are a lot less passing attempts than rushing attempts. This is probably because it's fairly easy to teach the quarterback to turn in either direction hand the ball off to the running back. It's a lot harder to teach a 3rd grader to read the defense and deliver the ball in the right place. For that matter, the wide receivers would also have to be taught how to run good routes and catch the ball properly. However at the high school level I'm surprised that there aren't more teams that are pass oriented. Especially when secondaries on high school are pretty bad, if a team has a tall wide receiver the quarterback can just lob it to him and there's a good chance it will be a catch.

Then there's college, in college football 96 out of the 129 teams have more passing yards than rushing yards, that's 74% of teams that are more pass oriented. This shows the big impact that the trend of spread offense has had. More and more teams are switching to a spread offense, these offenses generally have multiple wide receivers and an up-tempo attack. If you want to get a feel of how the spread offenses work, go look up highlights of last year's TCU-Baylor game which ended with a score of 61-58. A good spread offense like the ones that Baylor and TCU have are very hard to stop, because they can use short passes, screen passes, deep passes, and once the defense backs off they can run it up the middle. However the key to these offenses is having difference makers on offense, there needs to be a quick running back, there needs to be fast wide receiver, there needs to be a quarterback with a big arm. The spread offense is based on speed, and exploiting match-ups in space.

I think it comes down to the fact that a good spread or passing offense requires a fair amount of really good players. Whereas almost every high school has that one player who is either really fast or is just a beast who can plow over people when you give him the ball.

Who's Number One?

Most years in college football there are at least a couple very established teams who seem very likely to compete for a championship. However so far this year there has been not one team that has truly looked like the top overall team. The current number one team is Ohio State, and they have not played at all like it. They got a semi-impressive win at Virginia Tech but since then VT has lost to East Carolina (a decent non-power 5 team, but not exactly good) and let a very bad Purdue team hang around for a whole half. Then Ohio State goes and only beats Northern Illinois team by a touchdown and their all-star duo at quarterback have combined for 6 interceptions through 4 games. Ohio State has an unfair abundance of talent and some of the best coaches and facilities in all of college football. But they appear to have a championship hangover, which isn't surprising, it happens to a lot of past championship teams. If they want to get into the college football playoff they need to figure something out, and find some motivation.

The other Big Ten team in the playoff window, Michigan State, also seems to be underachieving. Their one premier win on the season was a 3 point home win against a then top 10 Oregon team. Last week Oregon was obliterated 62-20 at home by Utah, who I will talk about later. So now the significance and impressiveness of Michigan State's win is questionable. They also haven't been extremely impressive in their other games. Ole Miss has seemed very impressive this year and they might be the most qualified, but they whooped up two poor teams putting up 73 and 76 points in the two games. Then the Rebels traveled to Alabama and won 43-37, however Alabama had 5 turnovers. At a certain point you begin to wonder if those due to stifling defense, or just sloppy offense. Either way, Ole Miss still probably owns the best win of the season, or do they?

The Utah Utes have in my opinion one of the best cases to be number one up there with Ole Miss. Utah beat now #22 Michigan at home by one touchdown, but the last touchdown came with under a minute left. Then proceeded to play adequately against two lesser teams, and then obliterated Oregon on their field. Utah came out of halftime and proceeded to embarrass Oregon on a national stage 62-20. Now for one last underachiever, TCU (Texas Christian University), the Horned Frogs beat Minnesota, who seems to be way less impressive than we thought at the beginning of the year, 23-17 on the road, decent win. In week 3 they let a horrible SMU team score 37 points on them, but I shouldn't be surprised TCU barely plays defense. However last week was definitely the most concerning, TCU survived at Texas Tech 55-52 (No that's not a basketball score) on this play, and absolutely stole a victory Texas Tech. TCU has an elite offense, but in my opinion there is only so long a team can survive if they are constantly in shootouts.

Future Stars: Basketball Edition

I felt like previewing football prospects was getting old, so I decided I would switch to basketball for a couple posts. Unfortunately with college basketball there are about 5 or so programs that take the top prospects and get every thing they can out of them in their freshman year and then the players decide to go pro. I think there were it was about 7 of the top 10 draft picks in last years draft that were under 20, most of them just finished their freshman season in college. And in the 2014 draft top 4 were all "one and done's", and which colleges get these prospects? Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, and the rest are scattered among various other college football powers. So its very likely players I'm talking about here will be headlining next years NBA draft.

Jayson Tatum, 6,8" 195 lbs, SF, committed to Duke (not very surprising): Tatum is the 4th overall recruit in the 2016 class, and the top SF (small forward) in his class. I chose to preview Jayson Tatum because he attends the same high school as the newest Iowa basketball (my favorite team)  recruit, 4-star PF Tyler Cook. Also its likely that he will be the number one overall draft pick in 2016 for two reasons, one he committed the Duke University who is one of the top programs in college basketball and will for sure make sure that everyone knows who Jayson Tatum is. Also he plays Small Forward which is probably the most powerful and successful position in basketball (see Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and Paul George). The best SF's can handle and shoot the ball well, can play in the post due to their size, and their long wingspans allow them to defend well and block shots. And when you look at Tatum play, he meets almost all of those requirements.

One elite player comes to mind when you see Tatum's skills, and that player would be Kevin Durant. I know, big shoes to fill, however he has a lot of potential and already looks ready to be a college basketball star. He has good ball handling for his size but I think there's room to grow. Defense is a big question mark, he could be a fine defender, but most highlight videos don't preview defense. He got some big blocks, but there is a lot more to defense than just blocking a smaller defender driving into the lane. His shot looks good, but you could probably learn more from looking at his shot percentage. Tatum also has a decent arsenal of post moves, and his footwork is great. He can drive to the basket, finish at the rim, and contort his body to get a good shot.

 http://247sports.com/Player/Jayson-Tatum-25296

Future Stars: Martez Ivey and Iman Marshall

Martez Ivey, Offensive Tackle #73, Florida Gators: Martez Ivey is close to 6'6 and has gained about 25 lbs since getting to Florida. Ivey was ranked as the second overall player and top offensive tackle in the class of 2015. Ivey has very good size for a tackle it won't limit him in college or assuming he is successful enough to get there, the NFL. For Martez as is true with many other top prospects, high school football looked way too easy. Ivey pancaked (when the lineman pushes the defender flat on their back) numerous defenders and overpowered just about every single defender he faced. He was a large reason why his team the Apopka Blue Darters won the Florida state championship. There were also three 1,000 yard rushers on his team.

Due to his mobility Ivey was often used for pulling (when the lineman releases from his position and runs with the running back and blocks for him) in high school. However his speed won't be as effective in college, especially with the added 25 lbs. However the increased weight, which is likely mostly added muscle, will help him overpower defenders.  I think we might not know how good Ivey is at pass blocking until he plays in college. For one most high school teams base their offense on running, and secondly the size and skill of defensive lineman will go up vastly when he faces college players. 

Iman Marshall, Cornerback  #8, USC: Iman Marshall is the top rated cornerback in the class of 2015, and will likely get tested in college. Marshall enrolled at the University of Southern California and will be able to master his pass defense skills in the pass heavy PAC-12. Iman Marshall has good size for a corner at around 6'2" ,200 lbs, and has exceptional closing speed. Marshall isn't out of position very often, but if he is or if he is covering for a teammate Marshall can erase the gap and break up the pass. Marshall has a good burst, however he doesn't have a great acceleration. Marshall was good at using his hands to get the receiver off his route in bump and run coverage in high school but he may not be as successful with that in college. Marshall shows a good ability to quickly shed blocks and coming up to stop the run. Most importantly he gives the receiver a very small window to catch the ball and knows when to put his arms up to deflect the ball.



http://247sports.com/Player/Martez-Ivey-26822

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/highschool/football/os-hs-apopka-8a-state-football-final-20141213-story.html (Martez Ivey)

http://247sports.com/Player/Iman-Marshall-19987

Future Stars: Trent Thompson

When I started the Future Stars series with Ohio State my plan was to preview the best up and coming players on the top 10 teams, or playoff contenders. After one week however, I think I will shift to the top 10 or top 20 players overall. Given that this blog is spread out over time it the whole playoff contender idea doesn't make sense, for example Ole Miss beat Alabama on the road and now who knows if Alabama will get in. They surely can't lose another, plus now Ole Miss is suddenly a contender. So, from now on it will be the top 20 or so overall players starting with the 2015 class.

Trent Thompson, Defensive Tackle, #78 Georgia Bulldogs: Let me begin this by saying Trent Thompson is a big dude. He is around 6'3" 310 lbs. and he doesn't move like most people over 300 pounds do. Thompson was the #1 overall prospect in the 2015 class and for good reason. I didn't find a high school highlight yet where he didn't beat the poor offensive lineman in front of him. He has numerous different ways to get around the blocker, I saw simple sheds to the right and left, he carries enough power to simply bull rush and drive the blocker back. The most impressive thing about Thompson is his quickness and how fast he gets through the line. Thompson has a killer first step, on multiple occasions he simply sprinted past the lineman and into the backfield. He also doesn't give up on the play, I saw a couple plays where the ball carrier would be on the other side of the field and Thompson would sprint over and crush the unsuspecting opponent.

Thompson had a very impressive high school career racking up 232 tackles, 86 tackles for loss and 21 tackles for loss. Now one thing is clear, high school football and college football is not the same. For one thing Thompson will be only above average for a defensive tackle, as compared to seeming like a giant in high school. And playing in the SEC Thompson will see some elite lineman, I doubt he will be able to blow by every lineman like he could in high school. However he seems to have enough athleticism and pure strength to more than hold his own. I do not believe Thompson will be a starter this year, but as the season progresses he should see more playing time and will start to make an impact.


http://247sports.com/Player/Trent-Thompson-29432

Future Stars: Ohio State (cont.)

The third and final post in the Ohio State portion of the Future Stars series previewing up and coming players that I think will have an impact this year or in upcoming years.

Kareem Walker, 6'1" 210 lbs and Demario McCall 5'11" 180 lbs, both RB, both class of 2016: Ohio State added to their impressive streak of recruiting dominance by signing the top 2 overall running backs in the nation for 2016. I see two different backs when I watch the tape and Ohio State's offense supports the use of more than one running back. First we start with Kareem Walker who is currently the top overall RB for his class. Walker is more of the all around running back, he ran for around 2,800 yards and 26 TD's so far in his high school career. Walker has the ability to break tackles and maintain his balance through swipes at his legs. Another thing I noticed by watching his tape is his explosion through the hole, Walker is very good at finding the hole and can get to the second level pretty quickly.  Walker has a decent arsenal of juke moves and stiff arms however I think that is one thing he should aim to improve as he gets closer to his college career, as most of the moves he has now won't be as effective in Division 1 college football. Through watching some of his highlights you can see that Walker has two gears and he can switch into that second gear quickly and burst for a long run if he needs to.

Demario McCall is slightly below average in size for a running back, but that's not always a bad thing. He is very speedy and can hit the hole at nearly full speed if he tries. While Walker can bruise his way through arm tackles, but McCall can run around and through them with his speed. McCall has a smaller sample size than Walker as he only put up significant stats in his junior season, but he made the most of it putting up 1500 yards and 25 rushing touchdowns. I see McCall's role on this team being a running back that most runs to the outside maybe even lining up at receiver and running a jet sweep every now and then. It's likely that neither of these backs will see any time until Ezekiel Elliot is gone, however I think Walker will probably win the starting role.


http://247sports.com/Player/Demario-McCall-36189


http://247sports.com/Player/Kareem-Walker-37417

Future Stars: Ohio State (cont.)

This is a continuation on the Ohio State portion of Future Stars, an in depth look at players who I believe will have breakout seasons, or recruits who I think will make an impact.

Justin Hilliard #47 Linebacker, Freshman: Justin Hilliard is actually very similar to the last player I highlighted, Darron Lee. Both are speedy outside linebackers with average size, both are from Ohio originally, in fact if they don't play together one day, it's likely that Hilliard will replace Lee. Now as an Iowa fan I've heard of the name Hilliard, Justin's older brother was on the Iowa football team up until the start of the season if I remember correctly. C.J. Hilliard transferred not to long ago to the University of Ohio. Iowa had an outside shot of landing Justin Hilliard due to C.J. being on the team at the time but Justin ended up choosing Ohio State. I guess the University of Iowa and the Hilliard's just don't get along.

Now to the football part of Justin Hilliard, at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati Hilliard racked up around 190 tackles a dozen sacks and about 5 interceptions through the 3 years he started. Looking at highlights of both Darron Lee and Justin Hilliard you can easily notice the similarities, however there are certain differences. At times with Darron Lee it seems that he may commit too hard to landing a big hit which can influence his tackling ability in the open field. With Justin Hilliard I think he probably can hit just as hard as Lee however he does a good job of pursuing the ball and making a precise tackle, most juke moves can't shake him. Hilliard is slightly slower than Lee, but as a linebacker being slower than Darron Lee isn't exactly an insult. 

There are a few other unique parts of Hilliard's game, he showed a decent ability to make moves to shed blocks, even against bigger linemen. One other thing I noticed was Hilliard's ability to swat down passes as he rushed the quarterback. To sum everything up, one thing is very clear, Ohio State fans should feel very good about the outside linebacker position.

http://247sports.com/Player/Justin-Hilliard-30932

Future Stars: Ohio State

For my first few blogs I will begin a series previewing current players that I think will have breakout seasons or recruits that will be future stars. Of course the first team I start with will be the Ohio State Buckeyes, the defending national champions and current number one ranked team. Ohio State has an abundance of talent, especially young talent due to the great recruiting classes that Urban Meyer has pulled in #2 overall class in 2013, #3 in 2014, #7 in 2015, and well on their way to a top 10 class for 2016. Normally the players that a casual college football fan would recognize are the skill players like quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. However certain players go unnoticed when they are at what appears to be a less important position. For example if you were to only watch the ball carrier, you might not notice a dominant lineman or cornerback. Especially with cornerbacks because if a cornerback is doing their job perfectly you wouldn't hear about it because the ball would never be thrown his way. Basically, I won't only be featuring skill positions.

Darron Lee, Linebacker #43, Sophomore: Lee went to New Albany High School in New Albany, Ohio where he played quarterback and defensive back. Lee actually scored 11 touchdowns through the air and 10 on the ground. Lee is a bit of a late bloomer he didn't put up any significant stats until his senior season of high school and was only a 3-star recruit when he committed to Ohio State. I have watched both his high school and college highlights and it is slightly surprising he wasn't rated higher as a recruit. I'm sure that he has improved since high school but he showed a lot of the skills he has now when he was in high school.

He is very speedy for a linebacker (explains why he was a QB and CB) and packs a lot of punch when he hits someone. On more than one occasion Lee has exploded into the backfield and leveled the ball carrier, his speed also allows him to set the edge better than most linebackers. Lee has the speed of a defensive back and the tackling ability of a linebacker. One of the reasons for this is because he is fairly average for a linebacker at about 6'2",230 lbs which may prevent him in terms of true power. He also has above average coverage skills for a linebacker because of his high school days. Last year he had 81 tackles including 16.5 TFL (tackles for loss), 2 fumble recoveries and 2 interceptions. He had a very good season last year as a freshman, but this year he will likely be a true game changer.

http://247sports.com/Player/Darron-Lee-19443