True to predictions, Cal-Berkeley won its third straight title at the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championships, completed today in Philadelphia. Cal defeated last year's runners-up, Kutztown State, in another thrilling finals match - this one going to overtime before getting the winning try a minute into sudden death.
Meanwhile, the Penn State women also won their third straight title with a dominant 24-7 victory in the finals (after a 31-0 rout in the semis).
Here are the final results from Sunday's play:
Men's Collegiate:
CUP FINALS - QF) Life def. Navy 15-5...Kutztown St def. Indiana 31-12...Arizona def. Arkansas St 7-5...California def. Michigan 31-0. SF) California def. Life 33-5...Kutztown St def. Life 19-14. FINAL) California def. Kutztown St 17-12 (OT).
PLATE FINALS - SF) Dartmouth def. Air Force 20-5...UCLA def. Virginia Tech 27-10. FINAL) UCLA def. Dartmouth 33-5.
BOWL FINALS - SF) St. Joe's def. Alabama 21-14...Notre Dame def. Penn St 22-0. FINALS) Notre Dame def. St. Joe's 22-17.
SHIELD FINALS - SF) Boston College def. Texas 38-5...Temple def. Clemson 21-17. FINALS) Temple def. Boston College 19-12.
Women's Collegiate:
CUP FINALS - SF) Penn State def. American International 31-0...Lindenwood def. Notre Dame College 24-17. THIRD PLACE) AIC def. Notre Dame 10-5. CHAMPIONSHIP) Penn State def. Lindenwood 24-7.
5th/6th place) Life def. Michigan 37-0.
7th/8th place) Kutztown St def. James Madison 17-12.
9th/10th place) Arizona def. Delaware 20-0.
11th/12th place) Notre Dame University def. Boston College 19-5.
Showing posts with label Penn St. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Penn St. Show all posts
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Speaking of rugby...the Penn Mutual Collegiate Sevens Championships are on!
With the pool play completed today for the men, the twenty college teams are being divided into the four cutlery divisions (shield, bowl, plate, and cup...and who decided which of those was the most presitigious? It almost seems exactly backwards to me!). Here are the results from the men's pool play:
Pool A: Cal-Berkeley (3-0), Virginia Tech (1-1-1), Notre Dame (1-2), Boston College (0-2-1).
Pool B: Navy (3-0), Kutztown State (2-1), Air Force (1-2), Temple (0-3).
Pool C: Indiana (3-0), Life University (2-1), Alabama (1-2), Clemson (0-3).
Pool D: Arkansas St (3-0), Michigan (2-1), UCLA (1-2), Texas (0-3).
Pool E: Arizona (2-1), Dartmouth (2-1), St. Joe's (1-2), Penn State (1-2).
So, the groupings for the single-elimination finals tomorrow:
CUP Quarterfinals - Navy v Life University; Indiana v Kutztown State; Arkansas St v Arizona; Cal-Berkeley v Michigan.
PLATE - Dartmouth v Air Force; Virginia Tech v UCLA.
BOWL - St. Joe's v Alabama; Penn St v Notre Dame.
SHIELD - Boston College. v Texas; Clemson v Temple.
In the women's field, three teams went 3-0 in their pool play, setting up the finals tonight: Penn State (two-time defending champs), Notre Dame College (from Ohio), and Lindenwood College (from Belleville, IL). They'll be joined by wild card second place finisher American International College in the semi-finals (AIC plays Penn St).
Meanwhile, the other eight schools play a three-game bracket tournament for places five through twelve, and Life University, Michigan, James Madison, and Kutztown State won the first round to set up two games tomorrow for places 5-8, while Delaware, Arizona, Boston College, and Notre Dame University will compete for places 9-12.
Pool A: Cal-Berkeley (3-0), Virginia Tech (1-1-1), Notre Dame (1-2), Boston College (0-2-1).
Pool B: Navy (3-0), Kutztown State (2-1), Air Force (1-2), Temple (0-3).
Pool C: Indiana (3-0), Life University (2-1), Alabama (1-2), Clemson (0-3).
Pool D: Arkansas St (3-0), Michigan (2-1), UCLA (1-2), Texas (0-3).
Pool E: Arizona (2-1), Dartmouth (2-1), St. Joe's (1-2), Penn State (1-2).
So, the groupings for the single-elimination finals tomorrow:
CUP Quarterfinals - Navy v Life University; Indiana v Kutztown State; Arkansas St v Arizona; Cal-Berkeley v Michigan.
PLATE - Dartmouth v Air Force; Virginia Tech v UCLA.
BOWL - St. Joe's v Alabama; Penn St v Notre Dame.
SHIELD - Boston College. v Texas; Clemson v Temple.
In the women's field, three teams went 3-0 in their pool play, setting up the finals tonight: Penn State (two-time defending champs), Notre Dame College (from Ohio), and Lindenwood College (from Belleville, IL). They'll be joined by wild card second place finisher American International College in the semi-finals (AIC plays Penn St).
Meanwhile, the other eight schools play a three-game bracket tournament for places five through twelve, and Life University, Michigan, James Madison, and Kutztown State won the first round to set up two games tomorrow for places 5-8, while Delaware, Arizona, Boston College, and Notre Dame University will compete for places 9-12.
Friday, May 29, 2015
A little bit o' American Rugby for you this weekend!
Here's the link to the collegiate Rugby Sevens tournament this weekend being held in Philadelphia, and broadcast on NBC (and NBCSN, if anyone actually has that cable station).
It includes a nice "rugby sevens for dummies" section that I'll reproduce here for you:
Rugby sevens for dummies
- Where usual rugby matches are made up of 15 players a side and 80 minutes of total playing time, sevens is a much different variation of the sport.
- While sevens matches are played on a field that is the same size as a normal rugby pitch, teams send only seven players onto the field at a time. The matches are considerably shorter than their conventional counterpart as well, with only two seven-minute halves and a two-minute break for halftime, instead of the usual 10.
- Because of more space and a wide-open pitch, rugby sevens are usually considered to be more exciting, fast-paced and high-scoring than the usual 15 vs. 15 matches. Starting in 2016, the sport will be a part of the Olympics.
The Penn State women and (of course) the Cal-Berkeley men are each two time defending champs and are looking to "three-peat" this weekend.
I'm always fascinated by the format of rugby tournaments - there's a round-robin, four teams in a group preliminary round, just like soccer and most sports of a similar structure, with the first place teams and some wild cards moving on to the championship "knockout" phase (for the men, twenty teams in five groups produce five firsts and three wild cards for the finals; the women have twelve teams and similarly put four in the finals).
But the key difference in the rugby culture (and a cool difference, I think!) is that everyone moves on to a "knockout" round - while the top eight men's teams play for the cup, the next four compete for the "plate", the next four for the "bowl", and the bottom four for the "shield". Every team that comes is guaranteed a couple more games, so they'll play five or six games in all for their trouble of coming - and that's the joy of the trip, isn't it? To get to play the sport you love? As a bonus, those last couple of games are the most likely to be against teams of your approximate talent and accomplishment level! So if you're only the 18th best team, and Cal wipes you out in the round-robin, don't worry! You'll get a couple of games against the 19th and 17th best teams, teams that are also struggling as you are! For any tournament, this is good, but for a school tournament? This is ideal learning for everyone!
It includes a nice "rugby sevens for dummies" section that I'll reproduce here for you:
Rugby sevens for dummies
- Where usual rugby matches are made up of 15 players a side and 80 minutes of total playing time, sevens is a much different variation of the sport.
- While sevens matches are played on a field that is the same size as a normal rugby pitch, teams send only seven players onto the field at a time. The matches are considerably shorter than their conventional counterpart as well, with only two seven-minute halves and a two-minute break for halftime, instead of the usual 10.
- Because of more space and a wide-open pitch, rugby sevens are usually considered to be more exciting, fast-paced and high-scoring than the usual 15 vs. 15 matches. Starting in 2016, the sport will be a part of the Olympics.
The Penn State women and (of course) the Cal-Berkeley men are each two time defending champs and are looking to "three-peat" this weekend.
I'm always fascinated by the format of rugby tournaments - there's a round-robin, four teams in a group preliminary round, just like soccer and most sports of a similar structure, with the first place teams and some wild cards moving on to the championship "knockout" phase (for the men, twenty teams in five groups produce five firsts and three wild cards for the finals; the women have twelve teams and similarly put four in the finals).
But the key difference in the rugby culture (and a cool difference, I think!) is that everyone moves on to a "knockout" round - while the top eight men's teams play for the cup, the next four compete for the "plate", the next four for the "bowl", and the bottom four for the "shield". Every team that comes is guaranteed a couple more games, so they'll play five or six games in all for their trouble of coming - and that's the joy of the trip, isn't it? To get to play the sport you love? As a bonus, those last couple of games are the most likely to be against teams of your approximate talent and accomplishment level! So if you're only the 18th best team, and Cal wipes you out in the round-robin, don't worry! You'll get a couple of games against the 19th and 17th best teams, teams that are also struggling as you are! For any tournament, this is good, but for a school tournament? This is ideal learning for everyone!
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Early Game Update!
From the first set of games on this Week 12 Saturday...
- Big Ten games: except for the Gopher - Husker tussle (which ended in a Minnesota 28-24 win), it was mostly routs - Michigan St over Rutgers, 45-3; Northwestern beat Purdue 38-14, and Ohio St survived Indiana 42-27 (although the Hoosiers led 21-20 in the third). Illinois did put some fun into the afternoon, though, kicking a field goal late to win 16-14 against Penn St.
- Semi bye week in the south started with Florida over Eastern Kentucky 52-3, Georgia handled Charleston Southern 55-9, South Carolina took down South Alabama of the Sun Belt, 37-12, and Army upset FCS Fordham (in our opinion!) 42-31.
- And in other interesting games in the Bowl division, Western Kentucky took down UT-San Antonio 45-7; SMU lost their tenth of the year, 53-7, to UCF; Marshall survived UAB 23-18, thanks to a punt downed at the 1 followed by a fumble recovery in the end zone; Houston 38, Tulsa 28; and the defensive struggle that went into overtime scoreless, eventually ending in a hockey shootout - kinda, sorta. Anyway, Wake Forest's kicker made both of his attempts, and Virginia Tech's went 1-2; therefore, Demon Deacons 6, Hokies 3, in the battle of cool mascots in Winston-Salem, NC!
- The Game ended with an 80-yard drive that gave the Crimson of Harvard their 18th Ivy League title and a 31–24 comeback win over arch-nemesis Yale...Rhode Island won their first game in over a year, overcoming Towson 13-7!...And Coastal Carolina LOST their first of the year, falling to Liberty 15-14 on a late field goal to drop to 11-1.
- Big Ten games: except for the Gopher - Husker tussle (which ended in a Minnesota 28-24 win), it was mostly routs - Michigan St over Rutgers, 45-3; Northwestern beat Purdue 38-14, and Ohio St survived Indiana 42-27 (although the Hoosiers led 21-20 in the third). Illinois did put some fun into the afternoon, though, kicking a field goal late to win 16-14 against Penn St.
- Semi bye week in the south started with Florida over Eastern Kentucky 52-3, Georgia handled Charleston Southern 55-9, South Carolina took down South Alabama of the Sun Belt, 37-12, and Army upset FCS Fordham (in our opinion!) 42-31.
- And in other interesting games in the Bowl division, Western Kentucky took down UT-San Antonio 45-7; SMU lost their tenth of the year, 53-7, to UCF; Marshall survived UAB 23-18, thanks to a punt downed at the 1 followed by a fumble recovery in the end zone; Houston 38, Tulsa 28; and the defensive struggle that went into overtime scoreless, eventually ending in a hockey shootout - kinda, sorta. Anyway, Wake Forest's kicker made both of his attempts, and Virginia Tech's went 1-2; therefore, Demon Deacons 6, Hokies 3, in the battle of cool mascots in Winston-Salem, NC!
- The Game ended with an 80-yard drive that gave the Crimson of Harvard their 18th Ivy League title and a 31–24 comeback win over arch-nemesis Yale...Rhode Island won their first game in over a year, overcoming Towson 13-7!...And Coastal Carolina LOST their first of the year, falling to Liberty 15-14 on a late field goal to drop to 11-1.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
What an insane afternoon of football!!!!
Auburn, how do you fumble on a spike play? Two fumbles in the last four hikes; the first recovery may be questionable, but the second...wow, what a devastating way to lose for their center.
Here's what a bottom-feeder "come from behind victory" looks like: Appalachian St had the ball inside the twenty under two minutes, down by a point, looking to defeat UL-Monroe...and threw three straight incompletions. Made the FG, luckily.
Northwestern, and coach Pat Fitzgerald: you've got balls. Down 10-9, having scored a TD with three seconds to go in the game, they went for two and the win, not the XP and overtime. Just because it failed doesn't make it a bad decision.
Arizona St had two pick-sixes against Notre Dame, the last one ugly - Notre Dame's Corey Robinson looks away before catching the ball, and then bats the ball upwards perfectly for Lloyd Carrington to pick and six it. Under coach Todd Graham, ASU is 7-6 against ranked opponents; before that, they were 5-41!
We're not sure we're all that impressed with Ole Miss' performance against lower-level Presbyterian today: yes, seven of their drives resulted in TDs, but the others were two missed FGs, two missed fourth downs, one interception, and one which ended the game. Eh...
Michigan @ Northwestern, by the way, hit halftime tied at zero. Only three games in the FBS have had scoreless first halves this season...and two of them were at Northwestern. (The other was against Northern Illinois.) The two Wildcat scoring drives were 14 plays for 74 yards, and 19 plays for 95 yards. By the way, the 19 play drive was the field goal drive!
Texas A&M was a 23 point underdog on the road, so it was going to take some breaks to beat Auburn today. They got some late - the new definition of "buttfumble", discussed above - but also early, where they scored on a 60-yard pass on the fourth play, recovered an Auburn fumble on the fifth play, and scored on another long pass on the eighth play. 14-0. They ALSO got a break in the middle: on a long Auburn FG attempt to end the first half, a stray hand in the middle happened to hit the flight of the ball, an A&M player happened to retrieve it on the bounce, and he made it to the end zone (again, last play of the half: he had to) to switch from 28-20 to a 35-17 lead. PS: Texas A&M won by three.
The two major teams from the state of GEORGIA were insanely efficient today! For the Georgia Bulldogs, the only drives in which they did NOT score a touchdown were at the end of each half - meaning they never turned the ball over, never punted, and converted every set of downs, in winning 63-31 over Kentucky. Meanwhile, the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets went to North Carolina St and possessed the ball a mere eight times: six touchdown drives, one fumble, and one 12-play drive that ended the game. To compare, somehow the Wolfpack had eleven drives, because two of those ended in touchdowns for GT instead in the 56-23 victory.
An interesting quote from the ESPN.com coverage of Penn St's victory over Indiana 13-7: "(Bill) Belton's fifth score of the year came on a 92-yard run and was the longest rushing touchdown by a single player in Penn St history." [our emphasis]
While you ponder what that means, we read much farther down the article: "Back in 1973, the Nittany Lions scored on a 92-yard play, but that was by two players and included a fumble." OOOOOhhhhhhh....
Somehow, Baylor had not beaten a top 25 team on the road in 38 attempts, or since 1991. After Oklahoma took a 14-3 into the second quarter, the Bears scored the last 45 points to walk away with the game, 48-14.
A poignant moment: OU's quarterback Trevor Knight went out of the game in the fourth with a scary injury, undiagnosed publicly last we heard. While he was being tended to, several Baylor players (including QB Bryce Petty) went to Knight's brother Connor and prayed with him on the field.
Here's what a bottom-feeder "come from behind victory" looks like: Appalachian St had the ball inside the twenty under two minutes, down by a point, looking to defeat UL-Monroe...and threw three straight incompletions. Made the FG, luckily.
Northwestern, and coach Pat Fitzgerald: you've got balls. Down 10-9, having scored a TD with three seconds to go in the game, they went for two and the win, not the XP and overtime. Just because it failed doesn't make it a bad decision.
Arizona St had two pick-sixes against Notre Dame, the last one ugly - Notre Dame's Corey Robinson looks away before catching the ball, and then bats the ball upwards perfectly for Lloyd Carrington to pick and six it. Under coach Todd Graham, ASU is 7-6 against ranked opponents; before that, they were 5-41!
We're not sure we're all that impressed with Ole Miss' performance against lower-level Presbyterian today: yes, seven of their drives resulted in TDs, but the others were two missed FGs, two missed fourth downs, one interception, and one which ended the game. Eh...
Michigan @ Northwestern, by the way, hit halftime tied at zero. Only three games in the FBS have had scoreless first halves this season...and two of them were at Northwestern. (The other was against Northern Illinois.) The two Wildcat scoring drives were 14 plays for 74 yards, and 19 plays for 95 yards. By the way, the 19 play drive was the field goal drive!
Texas A&M was a 23 point underdog on the road, so it was going to take some breaks to beat Auburn today. They got some late - the new definition of "buttfumble", discussed above - but also early, where they scored on a 60-yard pass on the fourth play, recovered an Auburn fumble on the fifth play, and scored on another long pass on the eighth play. 14-0. They ALSO got a break in the middle: on a long Auburn FG attempt to end the first half, a stray hand in the middle happened to hit the flight of the ball, an A&M player happened to retrieve it on the bounce, and he made it to the end zone (again, last play of the half: he had to) to switch from 28-20 to a 35-17 lead. PS: Texas A&M won by three.
The two major teams from the state of GEORGIA were insanely efficient today! For the Georgia Bulldogs, the only drives in which they did NOT score a touchdown were at the end of each half - meaning they never turned the ball over, never punted, and converted every set of downs, in winning 63-31 over Kentucky. Meanwhile, the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets went to North Carolina St and possessed the ball a mere eight times: six touchdown drives, one fumble, and one 12-play drive that ended the game. To compare, somehow the Wolfpack had eleven drives, because two of those ended in touchdowns for GT instead in the 56-23 victory.
An interesting quote from the ESPN.com coverage of Penn St's victory over Indiana 13-7: "(Bill) Belton's fifth score of the year came on a 92-yard run and was the longest rushing touchdown by a single player in Penn St history." [our emphasis]
While you ponder what that means, we read much farther down the article: "Back in 1973, the Nittany Lions scored on a 92-yard play, but that was by two players and included a fumble." OOOOOhhhhhhh....
Somehow, Baylor had not beaten a top 25 team on the road in 38 attempts, or since 1991. After Oklahoma took a 14-3 into the second quarter, the Bears scored the last 45 points to walk away with the game, 48-14.
A poignant moment: OU's quarterback Trevor Knight went out of the game in the fourth with a scary injury, undiagnosed publicly last we heard. While he was being tended to, several Baylor players (including QB Bryce Petty) went to Knight's brother Connor and prayed with him on the field.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Here's another good regular read: Sam Cooper!
Cooper does a commendable job recapping many of the storylines of the weekend past in college football - some of these we've touched on, like the Maryland refusal to shake hands; some of them we haven't, like the tragedy of Connor Halliday's broken leg at Washington State or the yanked field goal of the aptly-named Pitt kicker Chris Blewett, or even the more delightfully named Munchie Legaux at Cincinnati. Take a look yourself, courtesy of Yahoo Sports!
Odd thoughts on a Monday morning...
The Pittsburgh Steelers have only had three head coaches in the last forty-five years: Chuck Knoll (won four championships), Bill Cowher (one title), and Mike Tomlin (one title so far). How many coaches has YOUR team had since 1969?...
College kids are dumb sometimes. Especially overly macho football players.
Remember the Michigan players who threw down a stake into the MSU logo - on their field - when they were favored to lose by three touchdowns - and then lost by four touchdowns?
Well, Maryland's captains, in a fit of arrogance, chose not to shake hands with their Penn State counterparts Saturday - for no apparent reason except rivalry - given the fact that they were 1-34 for their last 35 meetings with the Nittany Lions, that word "rivalry" sounds a bit strong to us, regardless of the Terrapins victory this weekend (a 20-19 "rout").
On the other end of the sportsmanship spectrum, we watched Army and Air Force stand at attention for each other's hymns after the game Saturday morning. Cool, but expected. What was even cooler was when Notre Dame did the same thing for Navy after their game Saturday evening. The connection between the two teams goes all the way back to WW2, when the Fighting Irish helped keep Navy's team "afloat" while all of their eligible players were doing more important things in Europe and the Pacific theater. Very cool, Notre Dame.
The heartbreaking way that Ole Miss lost to Auburn Saturday night - with Daquon Treadwell's broken leg literally adding injury to insult - makes you rethink the importance of the "game" that we follow so seriously. Next week, Ole Miss will be an afterthought - playing Presbyterian College, in a classic SEC semi-bye week game - but Treadwell will be undergoing surgery and beginning a long, long rehab assignment for the use of his leg, whether he plays any more silly games with the football again or not.
College kids are dumb sometimes. Especially overly macho football players.
Remember the Michigan players who threw down a stake into the MSU logo - on their field - when they were favored to lose by three touchdowns - and then lost by four touchdowns?
Well, Maryland's captains, in a fit of arrogance, chose not to shake hands with their Penn State counterparts Saturday - for no apparent reason except rivalry - given the fact that they were 1-34 for their last 35 meetings with the Nittany Lions, that word "rivalry" sounds a bit strong to us, regardless of the Terrapins victory this weekend (a 20-19 "rout").
On the other end of the sportsmanship spectrum, we watched Army and Air Force stand at attention for each other's hymns after the game Saturday morning. Cool, but expected. What was even cooler was when Notre Dame did the same thing for Navy after their game Saturday evening. The connection between the two teams goes all the way back to WW2, when the Fighting Irish helped keep Navy's team "afloat" while all of their eligible players were doing more important things in Europe and the Pacific theater. Very cool, Notre Dame.
The heartbreaking way that Ole Miss lost to Auburn Saturday night - with Daquon Treadwell's broken leg literally adding injury to insult - makes you rethink the importance of the "game" that we follow so seriously. Next week, Ole Miss will be an afterthought - playing Presbyterian College, in a classic SEC semi-bye week game - but Treadwell will be undergoing surgery and beginning a long, long rehab assignment for the use of his leg, whether he plays any more silly games with the football again or not.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Week 8 CFB tiers continued - the Upper Floors!
We've reached the upper half (slightly above, actually) of the FBS tiering: Tiers F through J, teams #31-61 if we were actually "ranking" (which we're not, at least in October!).
Tier J:
Tier J contains a bunch of good teams whose records don't necessarily show it, including Tennessee, just 3-5 because of being 0-4 in the SEC, and Syracuse, at 3-5 and 1-3 in the ACC. Also present in the J are Houston and Memphis (both 4-3, 2-1 AAC), Northwestern (3-4, 2-2 Big 10), and Virginia Tech (4-4, 1-3 ACC).
Tier I:
The ninth tier from the top is packed with teams from the ACC, a conference loaded with middle-of-the-road teams: North Carolina, Pitt, Virginia (all 4-4, 2-2), and Boston College (5-3, 2-2). Also present for their I-check are Air Force (5-2, 2-2 MW), Northern Illinois (6-2, MAC), and Washington (5-3, 1-3 Pac12).
Tier H:
Arkansas (4-4, 0-4 SEC), California (4-4, 2-4 Pac12), Florida (3-3, 2-3 SEC), Iowa (5-2, 2-1 Big 10), Oregon St (4-3, 2-2 Pac12), and Utah St (5-3, 2-1 MW).
Tier G:
Three Big Ten teams populate the seventh tier - Maryland (5-3, 2-2), Penn St (4-3, 1-3), and Rutgers (5-3, 1-3). Also here are Boise St (having come back to 6-2, 3-1 in the MW), Miami-FL (5-3, 2-2 ACC), and Stanford (5-3, 2-2 Pac12).
Tier F:
Finally for the Uppermost Level of our CFB building, we find two more ACC schools in Clemson (6-2, 5-1) and Louisville (6-2, 4-2); two more SEC schools fighting disappointment mid-season in South Carolina (5-3, 3-3) and Texas A&M (5-3, 2-3); the Big Ten dark horse Minnesota (6-2, 3-1), and the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 5-3, 3-2 in the Big Twelve.
Tier J:
Tier J contains a bunch of good teams whose records don't necessarily show it, including Tennessee, just 3-5 because of being 0-4 in the SEC, and Syracuse, at 3-5 and 1-3 in the ACC. Also present in the J are Houston and Memphis (both 4-3, 2-1 AAC), Northwestern (3-4, 2-2 Big 10), and Virginia Tech (4-4, 1-3 ACC).
Tier I:
The ninth tier from the top is packed with teams from the ACC, a conference loaded with middle-of-the-road teams: North Carolina, Pitt, Virginia (all 4-4, 2-2), and Boston College (5-3, 2-2). Also present for their I-check are Air Force (5-2, 2-2 MW), Northern Illinois (6-2, MAC), and Washington (5-3, 1-3 Pac12).
Tier H:
Arkansas (4-4, 0-4 SEC), California (4-4, 2-4 Pac12), Florida (3-3, 2-3 SEC), Iowa (5-2, 2-1 Big 10), Oregon St (4-3, 2-2 Pac12), and Utah St (5-3, 2-1 MW).
Tier G:
Three Big Ten teams populate the seventh tier - Maryland (5-3, 2-2), Penn St (4-3, 1-3), and Rutgers (5-3, 1-3). Also here are Boise St (having come back to 6-2, 3-1 in the MW), Miami-FL (5-3, 2-2 ACC), and Stanford (5-3, 2-2 Pac12).
Tier F:
Finally for the Uppermost Level of our CFB building, we find two more ACC schools in Clemson (6-2, 5-1) and Louisville (6-2, 4-2); two more SEC schools fighting disappointment mid-season in South Carolina (5-3, 3-3) and Texas A&M (5-3, 2-3); the Big Ten dark horse Minnesota (6-2, 3-1), and the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 5-3, 3-2 in the Big Twelve.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Now there's something you never see...
...With the score 16-13, Michigan leading PennState, the Nittany Lions were sacked twice and basically a third time for a safety with about two minutes to play. Score, 18-13, now a five-point Wolverine lead, and PennState has to free kick it to Michigan from their own 20.
Virtually always, it's a punt rather than a teed-up kick, since a punter has better distance and success in these situations. But in this case, the Lions cannot afford to give them the ball, so for the first time in our recollection, we saw an onside kick following a safety. (It failed, so Michigan virtually recovered the ball in the red zone, fell on the ball and won a surprising victory given the disasters occurring in Ann Arbor these days.)
Virtually always, it's a punt rather than a teed-up kick, since a punter has better distance and success in these situations. But in this case, the Lions cannot afford to give them the ball, so for the first time in our recollection, we saw an onside kick following a safety. (It failed, so Michigan virtually recovered the ball in the red zone, fell on the ball and won a surprising victory given the disasters occurring in Ann Arbor these days.)
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Games in American Football for Week 6...
The weekend starts on Thursday night, as the Indianapolis Colts go to Houston to play the Texans in the game of the night (BYU at UCF is a yawner - sorry, boys...). As much as the Following Football crowd loves JJ Watt (he who proposed to a six year old girl who swooned over him on YouTube last year!), you cannot bet against Andrew Luck in a prime time game (not that you should ever bet on football - especially pro football! WAY too unpredictable - even we so-called 'experts' are correct against the spread about as often as a coin flip!). We like the COLTS over the TEXANS by more than the 3 point spread.
Friday
San Diego State should beat New Mexico handily (by more than six), and we don't see Washington State allowing Stanford to beat them by the seventeen points the oddsmakers suggest. Take the Aztecs and the Cougars (for recreational purposes only!).
SATURDAY
The games we like: Cincinnati won't lose by two touchdowns to Miami of FL...Expect West Virginia to go to Texas Tech and handle the Red Raiders easily...Texas Longhorn fans should watch something else Saturday than their game against Oklahoma: go cruise the State Fair, have a corn dog, or (gag!) deep-fried sweet tea (how do you even do that?). But the Sooners will demolish them sooner rather than later... Georgia Tech by more than four over Duke, thanks to the work of their chaplain's pre-game speeches...Kent State, despite being winless, will beat up UMass, who can't figure out how to win a game when the opposing team hands it to them (as Miami-OH did last week)...Not a no-brainer, but we like Baylor to win against the TCU Horned Frogs by more than the 8 1/2 point spread at home...Oregon will be quacking mad, and ready to rush right through the paper-mache offensive line of UCLA Saturday; expect a big Duck win...Idaho won't break their winless streak at Georgia Southern this week, but they will hold it closer than three TDs...We absolutely cannot believe that Michigan is favored over Penn State Saturday night; the Nittany Lions will make cat food out of them...LSU should be more than a 1 1/2 point favorite at Florida, but most bettors can't believe that the SEC West is as weak as the SEC East is strong. Literally, the first place team in the West would lose against all but Arkansas in the East, and even Arkansas would be 4-3 or better in the West. Take the Tigers.
SUNDAY
Again, betting on NFL games in the age of parity is like playing roulette, but here's a couple of games we think we can guess the way the chips will fall: The Broncos should end up ten or more points clear of the Jets, but Peyton'll wait until being back in Denver to break the TD record...We like the Panthers to keep close to the Bengals, and the Steelers to stay close to the Browns, although we have no confidence on victories in either case... The Redskins, Raiders, and Giants are all expected to lose (to the Cardinals, Chargers, and Eagles, respectively), but we think the line-makers are too conservative. Take the favorites and the points.
And on Monday night, it's hard for us to see the Rams staying closer than a field goal to the Forty-Niners, even at home.
Friday
San Diego State should beat New Mexico handily (by more than six), and we don't see Washington State allowing Stanford to beat them by the seventeen points the oddsmakers suggest. Take the Aztecs and the Cougars (for recreational purposes only!).
SATURDAY
The games we like: Cincinnati won't lose by two touchdowns to Miami of FL...Expect West Virginia to go to Texas Tech and handle the Red Raiders easily...Texas Longhorn fans should watch something else Saturday than their game against Oklahoma: go cruise the State Fair, have a corn dog, or (gag!) deep-fried sweet tea (how do you even do that?). But the Sooners will demolish them sooner rather than later... Georgia Tech by more than four over Duke, thanks to the work of their chaplain's pre-game speeches...Kent State, despite being winless, will beat up UMass, who can't figure out how to win a game when the opposing team hands it to them (as Miami-OH did last week)...Not a no-brainer, but we like Baylor to win against the TCU Horned Frogs by more than the 8 1/2 point spread at home...Oregon will be quacking mad, and ready to rush right through the paper-mache offensive line of UCLA Saturday; expect a big Duck win...Idaho won't break their winless streak at Georgia Southern this week, but they will hold it closer than three TDs...We absolutely cannot believe that Michigan is favored over Penn State Saturday night; the Nittany Lions will make cat food out of them...LSU should be more than a 1 1/2 point favorite at Florida, but most bettors can't believe that the SEC West is as weak as the SEC East is strong. Literally, the first place team in the West would lose against all but Arkansas in the East, and even Arkansas would be 4-3 or better in the West. Take the Tigers.
SUNDAY
Again, betting on NFL games in the age of parity is like playing roulette, but here's a couple of games we think we can guess the way the chips will fall: The Broncos should end up ten or more points clear of the Jets, but Peyton'll wait until being back in Denver to break the TD record...We like the Panthers to keep close to the Bengals, and the Steelers to stay close to the Browns, although we have no confidence on victories in either case... The Redskins, Raiders, and Giants are all expected to lose (to the Cardinals, Chargers, and Eagles, respectively), but we think the line-makers are too conservative. Take the favorites and the points.
And on Monday night, it's hard for us to see the Rams staying closer than a field goal to the Forty-Niners, even at home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)