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Posted on 11/06/2006 7:32:13 PM PST by MikefromOhio
The 3 Surprises after every has played 8 games:
This list needs to start with the Saints. Sure Drew Brees is good and Reggie Bush will be a superstar, but the Saints biggest improvement has been the play of their defense.
Same goes for the Baltimore Ravens. It helps that the AFC North isn't the grinder this year that it was last year, but the Ravens haven't slipped up and have come back when down against my Browns.
The final surprise is how well the Vikings have played. There are other teams, sure, but no one truly challenged the Bears last year for the NFC North, but the Vikings are right there this year.
The 3 Disappointments are:
The Steelers. Sure some teams unload after they win a Super Bowl, but that isn't truly the case here. A slew of injuries and off-field problems have hurt this team more than anyone could've guessed. 2-6 and looking to be out of the playoffs altogether isn't what anyone had envisioned back in August for this team.
The Bengals. What happened to that offense? Carson Palmer looks tentative, especially when there are players by his legs. That's to be expected, but the struggles of this team are almost solely because the offense is only a shadow of the unit from last year.
The NFC East. The Eagles are a good team that has no luck, the Cowboys are a decent team that is a strange mix of "win right now" and "build for the future" and the Redskins, until this past weekend, looked like a team headed for a top 10 pick in the draft. This was supposedly the strongest divison, but it hasn't played like it.
Revised Playoff teams in the AFC: 1 - Indy 2 - Pats 3 - Denver 4 - Ravens WC 1 - San Diego WC 2 - Kansas City
Other possible WC teams: Jacksonville/Cincy/NY Jets
NFC teams:
1 - Chicago 2 - NY Giants 3 - Seattle 4 - Atlanta WC 1 - New Orleans WC 2 - Philadelphia
Other possible WC teams: Carolina/Minnesota/Washington/Dallas/St. Louis
Projected Super Bowl:
New England over NY Giants
=====================================================
Onto the College Game:
The story of the year:
The Big East has DRASTICALLY improved as a league. With Louisville in charge, an always dangerous West Virginia team that is still very explosive, and a vastly improved Rutgers have balanced out a league that was absolutely left for dead as little as 18 months ago. This league deserves to be watched as there is a TON of young talent to be found here.
The Big Ten is the big 2 and the mediocre 9. Ohio State and Michigan have run away from the rest of the Big Ten. Nationally there are some rumblings that one or both may be over-rated, but we will find out which one will be in the NC game on November 18th. Slight edge to Ohio State because the game is in Columbus. Wisconsin has shown that although their coach has changed, the program hasn't. This is the same dominant running game that Barry Alvarez had for his 20 something years at the helm.
As a side note, it appears that Joe Paterno will be on the sidelines in some capacity this week against Temple. He's a tough SOB and I'm pretty sure his actions in the next 3 weeks will be used nationwide by coaches looking to motivated slightly injured athletes.
The ACC is having a serious down year. Miami and Florida State aren't anywhere near the conference title game, when teams like Wake Forest and Maryland are. Parity has found the ACC.
The SEC is a conference with 5 good to great teams (Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, Auburn) but it lacks that one DOMINANT team that the SEC usually provides the nation. Look for the winner of the SEC championship game to have a say in the National title hunt before it's all said and done.
For the first time in nearly 4 years, USC looks vulnerable in the Pac-10. Sure they graduated two of the best players ever in Matt Lienart and Reggie Bush, but that's also because Cal and Oregon have caught up a bit for the time being. USC still plays Cal and ND so it still has a very good chance to be in Glendale on the 8th of January.
The Big XII is still a one dog race. Texas has survived the transition from the great Vince Young to Colt McCoy and althoug he took his lumps against Ohio State, he has rebounded and is starting to get some Heisman love. Now if they could only shore up their pass defense. Oklahoma has done a hell of a job to stay in the race without Rhett Bomar OR Adrian Peterson. Nebraska is improving, but they aren't quite there yet.
As a side note, Boise State is nearly a lock for the BCS. They have 2 challenging games left, against San Jose St and against Nevada, but if they win those both, they will be in Glendale on January 1st, likely playing Texas.
3 Surprises:
Rutgers - Without a doubt.
The Big East - They aren't anywhere near being the worst BCS conference anymore. That would be the ACC.
The Buildup for The Game - Everyone knew Ohio State would be good this year. But Michigan has rebounded nicely from a 7-5 season to add some spice to an already chippy rivalry.
Disappointments:
The ACC - For a conference that has quite a lot of talent, the ACC title game looks to be Maryland/Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech. No one had both teams and only a few had Georgia Tech in there.
The Big XII - Without Texas or Oklahoma, the best team in this conferece is either Texas Tech or Nebraska. Kind of like the Big Ten in a way. That said, this conference is another that was hugely affected by graduations/drafts.
Iowa: They started out 4-0, but have stuggled down the stretch with injury. Then the bottom fell out last week when they lost to NOrthwestern at HOME 21-7. They may have been due for a down year, but this is becoming a collapse.
BCS predictions:
BCS title game:
Ohio State v. Louisville (BCS 1 & 2)
Sugar Bowl:
Florida v. USC (SEC champion v. BCS at large)
Orange Bowl:
Georgia Tech v. Auburn (ACC Champion v. BCS at-large)
Fiesta Bowl:
Texas v. Boise State (Big XII Champ v. BCS at-large)
Rose Bowl:
Cal v. Michigan (Pac-10 champ v. BCS At Large)
-------------------------------------------------------
Have at it everyone.
I want Ohio State to lose once and force the Title game to be Boise State/Louisville. I can hear the TV execs screaming now. ;)
Michigan vs. OSU in BCS title game...
Medicore 9? Wisconsin's only loss was a close one to Michigan in the Big House. If that game had been in Camp Randall, Michigan would not be undefeated.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you referencing here? Has something happened to Joe Pa?
>>Michigan vs. OSU in BCS title game...<<
Why would you want a team with a loss in the BCS when there may be undefeated teams?
:)
The ACC is having a serious down year. Miami and Florida State aren't anywhere near the conference title game, when teams like Wake Forest and Maryland are. Parity has found the ACC.
The Big East Rawks.
Loved the Shalala shuck 'n' jive excuse why Miami cut and ran from the Big East to the ACC a few years back.
I'd like to see hoop member Notre Dame partner up with the Big East in football as well.
ND won't join a conference until NBC stops offering them the exclusive contracts for it's games.
Besides that if ND ever wants to join a conferece, it would have to share it's bowl money, which is yet another thing ND is unwlling to go for at this point and time.
Yeah. A play went into the sidelines and his TE and a Wisconsin LB took out his leg, hyperextending his knee, breaking his tibia, and doing a bit of other assorted ligament damage. The doctors first couldn't get him to set down, then had to pursuade him to let them immobilize it, then after a while eventually they got him to let them take him into the locker room.
Sure thing, but their OOC schedule is a joke and they got to miss Ohio State this year.
Maybe Mediocre isn't the right term for Wisconsin, but that's what this thread is for :)
Convince me :)
There would have to be a LOT of losses by a bunch of SEC teams for that to happen though.
Oh my. I totally missed that as I had a crazy weekend. Thanks for the response.
Good topic.
I think college so far has rather been a lackluster year compared to last year. We have no seemingly unbeatable teams, like last years Texas and USC.
Being a Big 12 fan I am rather dissapointed in the conference as a whole this year, but next year I feel we will be the conference to beat.
Surprise teams for me are Wake Forest and Rutgers, although I felt last year Rutgers would start to turn into a force I never felt they would be undefeated this late in the year.
Title Game will be OSU vs Florida. Texas will lose to Nebraska in the Big XII title game :)
"Wisconsin's only loss was a............"
Wisconsin's four non-conference games this year are Bowling Green, Western Illinois, San Diego State and Buffalo. That, by itself, should be enough to disqualify a Division One team from bowl consideration.
Will never happen.
Yep. That about sums it up all right. :-)
....the wrong side of the record, that is.
Worst offense I've ever seen. Finally they get a decent drive going by running the football, so what do they do? Straight back to the passing game for three and out deep in Seahawk territory, of course. .....and straight out of FG range.
Score: 13 - 0 'Hawks with 11:00 remaining.
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