The better of the bowl games

In my previous blog I had listed a few of the bowl games that were in the "who cares" category.  I am retracting that statement.  Even though I dont care, there are many people who do: namely the players, players' family, students, alumni, fans and ESPN (ok, i really dont care what ESPN thinks but they do care if people watch).  And the pizza bowl ended like a champ!  I will preview the BCS bowls in the near future and the Championship game in a separate blog, so, in the Christmas spirit, I bring you the bowl games that more people care about and that I find intriguing:

Nebraska vs. Washington in the Holiday Bowl - i know, i know they already played this year in Spokane and Nebraska smoked em, but I think the Huskers are a little down about the way their season ended on a sour note in the Big 12(10?) championship.  Jake Locker of UW is looking to redeem himself after having an awful year and being picked to be one of the top picks in the draft.  I still think Nebraska wins the game, but Washington will make it closer than last time.  Prediction: Neb 26 UW 17

Notre Dame vs. Miami in the Sun Bowl - ND has had a pretty down year in Brian Kelly's first year at the helm and Miami fired their coach.  This should tell you how bad Miami has been this year.  After all the talk about Jacory Harris being the next Mike Vick, all he has done is put his team in bad positions, throw interceptions and get injured.  I see ND playing well and holding Miami in check most of the night.  ND has more to play for and Miami is just ready to be done with the season. Prediction: ND 34 UM 10

South Carolina vs Florida St. in the Chick-fil-a Bowl - USC won the SEC East for the first time in the history of the program and beat the then #1 bama during the season.  They also beat UF for the first time in forever to win the East.  They lost to a very average Kentucky team (albeit on the road) and ran into a buzzsaw in Auburn in the SEC Championship, but overall they had a very good year.  Florida St. lost a couple games they should have won and lost to a very good Virgina Tech team in the ACC champ game.  USC features one of the best running backs in the country that also happens to be a freshman and one of the best receivers in the country in Alson Jeffrey.  He can torch you and jump over you and he is only a sophomore.  I know the class doesnt matter in the game but i hate it cause Auburn has to go to Columbia next year to play.  Tough, tough game.  I think USC plays really well despite Stephen Garcia being a total idiot most of the time.  FSU has a really good defense and if they can stop Lattimore and make Garcia beat them, he wont and FSU will win.  USC has to be able to establish the run and allow Garcia to make easy throws where he doesnt have to think too much.  I love this matchup!  Prediction:  USC 24 FSU 27

Alabama vs. Michigan St. in the Capital One Bowl - Michigan St. comes into this game with an 11-1 record with the one loss being a bad one to Iowa.  They did, however, beat Wisconsin and Michigan and Penn St.  Bama comes in with a 9-3 record with those losses coming in the final 7 games ending with a crushing loss to Auburn at home.  For those who dont know, Auburn overcame a 24-0 deficit and beat bama 28-27.  Bama began the year ranked #1 and were cruising toward another title shot after a resounding victory over (then unknown) overrated and outmatched Florida.  They then lost to USC and later to LSU and then to Auburn.  Only the loss to AU was at home.  bama is a good team that has a young(er) defense without a true leader since McClain and Arenas went to the NFL.  Normally, I would pick bama to win in a landslide but bama's heart is in question.  They havent been able to finish games this year and have not looked like the typical team that Saban coaches.  bama had huge aspirations this year and to finish 4th in the SEC West was not one of them.  I have to interject here: when the 4th place team in your division finishes 9-3 and ranked 16 in the BCS, you have the best division in football.  back to the game, this is a letdown for bama espcially after almost beating auburn to probably get to a BCS game (Sugar Bowl most likely).  Michigan St. feels slighted after losing out to a team they beat (Wisconsin) to the Rose Bowl and I think are looking to prove to people they deserved to be in the Rose.  bama is just the team to do this against, too.  They are the defending national champs and are nationally known so who better to look good against than them.  MSU is licking its chops to play well against bama.  If bama comes out and plays like they did in the first half against auburn, they win this game big.  If they come out flat, MSU still may not win.  That's how big the talent gap is when it comes to these two teams.  The only thing is that bama's do everything safety Mark Barron is out with a torn pectoral muscle.  This is huge and cannot be overlooked.  I still think bama can stop MSU, though, but can MSU stop bama?  bama's offense can be very good at times but other times, they look awful and very predictable.  Prediction: MSU 20 Bama 24

Florida vs Penn St. in the Outback Bowl - This is very interesting in that Urban Meyer resigned earlier this month and Joe Paterno has been at PSU forever.  Urban says he is coaching in the bowl game but what will Muschamp do?  Sit in the stands?  Florida has had a really bad year (7-5) and Penn St. hasnt been great either.  PSU starts and freshman QB and Brantley for UF has not played well.  If PSU can pressure Brantley into making quick decisions and therefore mistakes, I think PSU has a good shot.  UF's defense has not been very good either but I havent seen PSU play well with fast defenses (aka SEC) so I think I still give UF the advantage here.  How will the duel coaches work?  Sounds like a disaster to me, but UF can probaly overcome that.  Prediction:  PSU 17 UF 28

Mississippi St. vs Michigan in the Gator Bowl - I like this matchup because I want to see how MSU defends Denard Robinson if he is available to play (due to injury).  Mullen (MSU's coach) says that Robinson is the most dangerous and athletic player he has seen this year.  Really Dan?  didnt you play against Auburn and Cam Newton?  Ok, ok sour grapes, but whatever.  Im not sure if MSU can stop michigan but MSU has been pretty good against the run this year.  the kicker is that Michigan's running game comes mainly from Robinson taking off and that is a hard thing to defend.  MSU has looked good at times and other times, like against bama, they have been atrocious.  Chris Relf is not a very good QB and makes many mistakes.  Michigan also played in the highest scoring game in the history of modern fooball, so Michigan's defense hasnt played well either.  This is a tough game to call. Prediction:  MSU 31 UM 25 

LSU vs Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl - This game will be a slugfest with both defenses playing well most of the time.  Forget about LSU giving up 30+ points to ole miss at home, they will be ready to play.  The question is LSU's offense.  Which team will show up?  If Jefferson is on and throwing short, accurate passes and running when needed, LSU will be tough to defend.  I honestly dont know much about TAM except they looked really good against Oklahoma and Nebraska.  Two of the three losses they had were really close against Ok St. and Arky.  The one big one was a blowout loss to Missouri (30-9).  I think it will be low scoring and I think Les Miles will have the horseshoe one more game.  Prediction: LSU 16 TAM 10

 Tomorrow, hopefully, I will tell you about Christmas at our house.  It was alot of fun and the kids had a great time!

Bowl Games Galore!

I have looked through the listing of the bowl games for this post-season and I have to say that this is the weakest year for bowls in a long time.  Apart from a few Big 10 vs SEC matchups and a couple of BCS bowls, it is awful and a list of "who cares?" games.  I will preview some of the better bowls in a later blog, but first let's start with a few from the who cares category going from 3 (being the least of the who cares) to 1 (being the most who cares). 

3.  Georgia vs Central Florida (Liberty Bowl) - Wow, a below average SEC team that had to beat an overated Ga Tech to become bowl eligible plays the Conference USA champion.  Georgia has alot of talent in Aaron Murray and A.J. Green is a superstar but they have underachieved this year.  I honestly dont know much about Central Florida but I do know that the two hardest teams they played this year (NC St. and Kansas St.) beat them.  I think if UGA is going to win, they have to play defense.  They have not done a good job of that this season.  They also have to establish a running game to balance their dangerous passing game.  If UCF can stop the run, they will make UGA one dimensional and will probably win the game.  I see UGA being able to move the ball but giving up some yards/points as well.  Prediction:  UGA 24 UCF 21

2.  Florida International vs Toledo (Little Caesar's Bowl) - One team plays in the Sun Belt and the other in the MAC.  That should explain everything.  Prediction : dont care

1.  Army vs. SMU (Armed Forces Bowl) - Even worse than the pizza bowl is this one.  The only intriguing factor is the storyline of SMU after the ESPN 30 for 30 show about the death penalty and SMU.  I am pulling for SMU to get out of their dealth penalty hole that happened 25 years ago, but it's hard to go against the Army.  I mean, they are one of the reasons we are awesome as a country.  Again, I know nothing about these teams other than SMU got beat 7-17 by UCF in the Conference USA championship game. One team is 6-5 and the other is 7-6.  Prediction:  SMU 30 Army 21

In other news, we have now had our dog for about a week and a half.  She is driving me crazy.  Probably not a good idea to get her right now with three kids under 4 and one who is 4 months.  We are having to potty train her and if we dont watch her 24-7, she pees and craps in the floor and not on her puppy pad.  It's hard enough to have to watch 3 kids without adding basically another baby to the mix.  Hopefully when she gets trained, she will be fun, but right now not so much.  She is really cute though.  Will let you know how Christmas goes.  Should be some funny stories. 

One more thing:  Addi was riding home with my in-laws two nights ago and my father-in-law John (a big bama fan) was discussing Auburn football with her.  John asked her why she was an Auburn fan and she told him, "because they win."  I could not have been more proud of her.  Ah, to be young.  All she knows of Auburn is that they win (because of this year) and that's as it should be.  If I dont talk to you before, Merry Christmas and remember the reason for the season:  Jesus!

Heisman #3 for Auburn, Cam puts his name in the "best ever" category

This past Saturday, Cam Newton won the Heisman with the fourth (or fifth) most points in history.  He won every region, including the West and Northeast and was even left off 105 ballots.  Imagine if the "holier-than-thou" voters had actually included Newton?  It would have been the biggest margin of victory ever.  Many voters left Cam off stating the "integrity" clause of the Heisman recommendations even though the NCAA cleared him of any wrong.  It really does seem that some have a personal vendetta against Cam like he stole their girlfriends or something.  All I can say is that these guys are tools and cant admit they are wrong.  Sad, really.  Now, back to more important things.  This is the third Auburn player to win the Heisman joining Pat Sullivan ('71) and Bo Jackson ('85).  Also, Cam puts his name in some pretty spectacular company.  He led the SEC in rushing this year (as a QB!) and was #1 in the nation in passing efficiency.  He is the only player to pass for at least 2,000 yards and rush for at least 1,000 yards in the same season.  He scored more TD's (49) than 82 other teams! He is the most dominate player I have ever seen.  I dont think there has ever been a player that can change the dynamics of a game as much as he can (not in recent memory, anyway).  He demands more attention from the defense than any other player in the nation and is the most dangerous.  No one has stopped him this year.  Bama came the closest but he still passed for over 200 yards and accounted for 4 touchdowns.  He will be a top ten draft pick in next year's draft for the NFL.  It wont happen, but if he and Malzahn both stay, Auburn will be very good again next year.  However, the likelihood of that happening are about the same as Clay Travis having a rational thought (0%).  Auburn will still be very competitive but a 10 win season will be a huge year with as many seniors we are losing, along with Newton and Fairley.  Look at bama this year; they were favored to repeat and only won 9 games.  They can still get a 10th with a win over Michigan St. in the bowl game, but that just goes to show how hard it is to win alot of games consistently in the SEC.  I havent really looked at the schedule next year, but Auburn has got a tough one.  I will preview next season probably sometime around A-day game in the Spring.  More than likely my next post will be a preview of the bowl games; mostly SEC and BCS.  There are some really good matchups in my opinion and since I love college football, I cant wait until next saturday when the games start again.

It is snowing here in central Alabama today.  It is always a major event when this happens because people act like it's the end of the world and go buy all the milk and bread in the store.  This brings up another thing; why would you buy perishable items like bread and milk if the power is going to go out?  Do people think they can keep it outside or something.  Shouldn't we buy canned foods or bottle water or Christmas tree cakes or something?  Anyway, tonight we are giving Addi the puppy.  Should make for an awesome evening, especially at bed time.  Oh well, such is life with kids.   

Addi's New Puppy

As you can see, we are getting Addi a new puppy for Christmas.  Actually, Erika went and picked her up today.  We are going to let her stay at my inlaws til Sunday.  We go and eat over there every Sunday night and this Sunday, we will give her the dog.  I know she will be so excited she probably wont be able to sleep that night.  I am prepared for that.  I wasnt real sure about this idea at first.  We just had a new baby not 4 months ago, but the way she and Colt are around dogs, aka very excited, I couldnt resist.  So the fun times are just beginning around our house.  Should be interesting.  Because the puppy was ready today, we decided that the puppy would be from mommy and daddy and not Santa.  Santa is going to bring her something else, a dollhouse, or a baby or something.  Needless to say, Christmas is an exciting time around here.  Will keep you updated on the events.

On a completely unrelated note, Urban Meyer resigned as head coach of the Florida Gators today.  Cant say it was a huge shock considering he did the same thing last year.  I think he is a big baby and cant handle losing (UF was 7-5 this year).  The short list includes Bobby Petrino of Arkansas and Dan Mullen of Mississippi St.  I cant imagine Mullen wants to stay in Starkville especially with all the recruiting violations that occurred with him there.  Who knows what will happen but I'll be sure to let you know. 

SEC Champions! Bring on the Ducks!

This past Saturday, the Auburn Tigers played their best, most complete game of the year.  They dismantled the Gamecocks of South Carolina 56-17.  It really wasnt even that close.  Auburn got the ball first and went down and scored.  USC took the kick and methodically drove down the field and tied the game.  That is as close as they would get.  Auburn went up 21-7 by the end of the first and forced USC to punt numerous times.  Auburn, however, could not quite put them away.  Darvin Adams, usually sure handed, dropped a couple of easy passes and we got a holding call that negated a big gain in the redzone where we ended up missing a field goal.  Cam also fumbled which is the first time that has happened all year.  The defense stepped up big time in this game.  Carolina only scored 14 points in the first half and 3 in the second (after the game was already 49-14).  Carolina scored right before half with about 16 seconds left.  They squib kicked it and Auburn returned it to the 40.  About a 9 yard gainer on first down set up a Hail Mary on the last play of the half.  And you know what?  Darvin Adams caught a tipped ball for a TD.  That put the game at 28-14 and put it away for Auburn.  It broke USC's spirit after cutting the lead to 7 only to have it back to 14 in a matter of 16 seconds.  Auburn forced a missed USC field goal to start the second half and took it down and scored.  Then, we intercepted a screen pass and ran it back for a TD.  Cam had a great Heisman clinching game with 335 yards passing with 3 TD's and around 70 yards rushing with one TD.  He was the MVP.  Auburn scored the most points in the first quarter, scored the most points overall, won by the biggest margin, had the most receiving yards by a player (Darvin Adams with 217 in the first half by the way) and Cam joined Tim Tebow as the only other player ever to pass for 20 TDs and rush for 20 TDs (Nevada's QB would accomplish this later in the night I learned).  All in all it was a stellar night for Auburn.  Auburn ended up #1 in the BCS rankings and will play #2 Oregon in the BCS National Championship game on Jan 10.  People think it will be a high scoring, no defense game.  I beg to differ, but that's for another post.  This Saturday is the Heisman Trophy Ceremony where Cam is the favorite.  There have already been some aholes that are posting they didnt vote for Cam because of the "integrity" clause in the Heisman literature.  Give me a freakin break.  Who did you vote for then?  LaMicheal James of Oregon who beat his girlfriend up earlier this summer?  Did you know that the 1959 Heisman winner accepted cash from the Rams before he finished his college career, yet he still has the trophy?  Wow, so the either the Heisman is already tainted or get of Cam's back Mike Bianchi, aka douchebag.  Why dont you go write about how the Magic cant beat the Heat or how Mickey Mouse is a better sports writer than you?  Can you tell I'm sick of the vitriol?  I also learned tonight that Nick Fairley did not win the Nagurski Award for the best defensive player.  De'Quan Bowers of Clemson won it.  Really?  I havent heard anything about him.  I'm sure he's good but I havent even heard any stats on him.  Obviously I am biased and what all Auburn people to win, but o well, the Lombardi is Wed night.  Good luck Nick!  Also, Gus Malzahn won the Frank Broyles Award for the best assistant coach.  Duh!  I just hope Auburn is ready to pay him what he is worth to keep him.  Please stay Gus, please!

Next post I want to write about the dog we are getting Wednesday.  Should be a fun day.  In later posts, I will preview the championship game and talk about other bowl games that are going on or about to happen.  Also, Christmas time is here.  til next time.....

Ruling by the NCAA

This has sure been a week of big news and information.  Wednesday, the NCAA declares Cam Newton eligible to play and declared him eligible for the previous 12 games he has played.  The wording of the NCAA is that rules violation had occurred from Cam's father, Cecil, and so that means that Auburn had to rule Cam ineligible.  This happened on Tuesday.  Wednesday, Auburn applied for reinstatement and the NCAA reinstated Cam without restrictions or conditions.  This means that it was just a formality on Auburn's part.  They just followed the letter of the law of the NCAA.  Basically, because the NCAA could not find any evidence that suggested Cam nor Auburn knew of anything that Cecil and Kenny Rogers/MSU did, he is eligible.  Now, many people/institutions believe that the NCAA did not do what it should have done in this case.  Many believe that they should have punished Cam and Auburn because those people believe that he is surely guilty.  He must have known or received money, that's the only explanation.  The NCAA has been investigating this since at least July.  Many people are saying this is not the end, that Auburn will get hammered.  If there was any shred of evidence toward this, the NCAA would not have come out and had a statement about Cam being eligible.  They lean on the words "the evidence as of now."  Well, good grief.  Of course, if any other evidence is found, then yeah, things change.  But that is the case with any student-athlete.  If evidence comes out about anyone, then that changes alot of things.  Weak, at best.  Comparisons have been made about other cases such as Reggie Bush and Albert Means, but there was proved that benefits exchanged hands and the players knew.  Also, Means was eligible to play at Memphis.  So, why the vitriol?  Also, if fans want the rule to be followed to a T, then players like AJ Green, Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Marcel Darius would not be playing at all this year.  They all received improper benefits in some form and two of these players never faced suspensions.  It needs to be noted that it has not been proven, whether you believe it to be true or not, that Cam or Cecil has received anything in the ballpark of improper benefits.  Also, with Cam being ruled eligible for the previous games, that means that no vacation of wins will occur.  I know this bums out bama fans but even if Auburn did have to the record would be 0-0.  Vacating wins does not mean that they are losses, it means they are not counted.  Again, I will say that I believe there is a less than 1% chance of this happening because if there was even a shred of evidence to suggest this, the NCAA would not have declared Cam eligible.  Some say, "Well, there is info out there that will slam Auburn, aka, the FBI has tapes that implement Auburn boosters and pay for play/money to players."  First of all, the FBI does not leak info, so, no one knows if this is true.  Also, if the FBI has such tapes, Auburn would surely be in trouble with the NCAA.  Oh, but wait.  Auburn was just cleared by the NCAA and did not/has not received any official letter of inquiry from the NCAA.  It is also hard for me to believe that Cecil Newton and Kenny Rogers are so shrewd that they can hide a pay for play scheme from the NCAA and the FBI.   Give me a break.  The reporters that are keeping this in the news and still running Cam down are losers.  They want to continue to have their 15 minuets of fame and cant accept the fact they got shotty info from unreliable "sources".  Incredible that this kind of reporting can continue to be allowed without penalty.  It boils down to these "reporters" are scum bag low lifes that thought they has a breaking story and it backfired on them.  They now have egg on their face and they are trying to save face by continuing to say this case isnt over.  Whatever helps you sleep at night, fool.  Auburn is preparing to face USCe for the SEC Championship tomorrow and it has been a great year so far with more to come.  War Eagle!