News Archive for Houston

Six first-weekend Upsets…please let me get at least one

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

You may not have heard these here first, but you still heard them here.  Upsets and the Little Guy are two of the most gripping things about March Madness so here are six games in the first weekend that will go to the underdog…in no specific order:

Houston (13) over Maryland (4)- Midwest Region first round

Murry State (13) over Vanderbilt (4)- West Region first round

Washington (11) over Marquette (6)- East Region first round

Siena (13) over Purdue (4)- South Region first round

St. Mary’s (10) over Richmond (7)- South Region first round

Cal (8) over Duke (1)- South Region second round

Siena (13) over Texas A&M (5)- South Region second round

The theme here is the 13s over 4 seeds, and no 12s beating any of the number 5 seeds.  The five seeds always look strong then get caught and while I know I am missing at least one but this could be the year of the 13 seed and doesn’t just about everyone outside of West Lafayette have Purdue going down to Siena?

Riding the Siena bandwagon into the Sweet 16 is a stretch but 4 guys in double figures and Ryan Rossiter’s 13.9 ppg and 11 rpg combined with 17-1 in the Metro Atlantic have me believing in these Saints.

Cal over Duke is already getting a little buzz and you have got to like a group of seniors like Cal has who can score from inside and shoot the 3-ball like they have in Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson.

Washington is underseeded and they should be able to expose Marquette in the backcourt.  Quincy Pondexter and Lazar Hayward should be an interesting matchup to watch within this one with their athleticism and length.

St. Mary’s just looks like  team that isn’t going to allow anyone to take them out of their game and they won’t be disheartened if they fall behind.  They have shooters and Ben Allen is going to be a tournament favorite especially for people who haven’t seen St. Mary’s.

Murry State is just a gut-feeling and Houston over Maryland is more of a shot at the ACC than anything else and don’t be surprised if only one ACC team is standing after the first round.

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Posted in California Cal University, College Basketball, Duke University, Houston University, Marquette University, Maryland University, Purdue University, Richmond University, Siena University, Washington University | 1 Comment »

College Bowl Game Predictions

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

BSCThe college bowl schedule kicks off today with two opening games on the schedule as Wyoming meets Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl and Central Florida hooks up with Rutgers in the St. Petersburg Bowl.   College football fans will be treated to 34 games over 20 days culminating with Alabama and Texas deciding this year’s national champions.

This year’s matchups pair what appear to be some with three teams favored by double-digit spreads and twelve team favored by a touchdown or more.  While Vegas is seeing a lot of mismatches, there appears to be some great upsets brewing.   I am projecting right now seven underdogs achieving outright victories and sixteen underdogs covering the spread.

My biggest underdog covers include SMU, Boston College, Northwestern, East Carolina and Boise State.  My biggest underdog outright victories are Texas A&M and Stanford.

Bowl Matchup Spread Winner Cover
New Mexico Bowl Wyoming vs. Fresno State Fresno State by 11 Fresno State Fresno State
St. Petersburg Bowl Central Florida vs. Rutgers EVEN Central Florida Central Florida
New Orleans Bowl Middle Tenn St vs.Southern Miss Southern Miss by 4 Southern Miss Middle Tenn St
Las Vegas Bowl BYU vs. Oregon State Oregon State by 3 BYU BYU
Poinsettia Bowl Utah vs. California EVEN Utah Utah
Hawaii Bowl SMU vs. Nevada Nevada by 15 Nevada SMU
Little Caesars Bowl Ohio vs. Marshall Ohio by 3 Ohio Ohio
Meineke Care Bowl North Carolina vs. Pittsburgh Pittsburgh by 3 Pitt North Carolina
Emerald Bowl Boston College vs. USC USC by 9 USC BC
Music City Bowl Kentucky vs. Clemson Clemson by 7½ Clemson Clemson
Independence Bowl Texas A&M vs. Georgia Georgia by 7 Texas A&M Texas A&M
Eagle Bank Bowl UCLA vs. Temple EVEN Temple Temple
Champs Sports Bowl Wisconsin vs. Miami Miami by 3 Miami Miami
Humanitarian Bowl Bowling Green vs. Idaho Bowling Green by 2 Bowling Green Bowling Green
Holiday Bowl Nebraska vs. Arizona Arizona by 1½ Nebraska Nebraska
Armed Forces Bowl Air Force vs. Houston Houston by 4½ Air Force Air Force
Sun Bowl Stanford vs. Oklahoma Oklahoma by 8 Stanford Stanford
Texas Bowl Navy vs. Missouri EVEN Navy Navy
Insight Bowl Iowa State vs. Minnesota Minnesota by 3 Minnesota Minnesota
Chick Fil-A Bowl Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech Virginia Tech by 4½ Virginia Tech Tennessee
Outback Bowl Northwestern vs. Auburn Auburn by 7½ Auburn Northwestern
Capital One Bowl LSU vs. Penn St. Penn St. by 3 Penn State Penn State
Gator Bowl Florida State vs. West Virginia West Virginia by 3 West Virginia West Virginia
Rose Bowl Ohio State vs. Oregon Oregon by 3½ Oregon Oregon
Sugar Bowl Cincinnati vs. Florida Florida by 11 Florida Florida
International Bowl Northern Illinois vs. South Florida South Florida by 7 South Florida South Florida
Papa John’s Bowl Connecticut vs. South Carolina South Carolina by 4½ Connecticut Connecticut
Cotton Bowl Mississippi vs. Oklahoma State Mississippi by 3 Oklahoma State Oklahoma State
Liberty Bowl Arkansas vs. East Carolina Arkansas by 8 Arkansas East Carolina
Alamo Bowl Michigan State vs. Texas Tech Texas Tech by 8 Texas Tech Texas Tech
Fiesta Bowl Boise State vs. TCU TCU by 7 TCU Boise State
Orange Bowl Iowa vs. Georgia Tech Georgia Tech by 4 Georgia Tech Iowa
Gmac Bowl Troy vs. Central Michigan Central Michigan by 3 Central Michigan Central Michigan
BCS Championship Texas vs. Alabama Alabama by 5 Alabama Alabama

Looking at conference performance, here’s how I see it playing out:

Bowl Matchup
Atlantic Coast 4-3
Big East 4-2
Big Ten 2-4
Big 12 4-4
C-USA 2-4
Mountain West 4-1
Pac-10 3-4
Southeastern 4-6
Western Athletic 2-2

The SEC might be the power conference, but they got some unfavorable matchup.  I think the Big 12 and Big East are going to surprise some opponents.  The Mountain West is going to do some damage and really stoke the argument that they deserve an automatic BCS invite.

As for the National Championship game, I am seeing a major blowout.  Given Texas’ performance against ranked opponents and closing out its season on some very poor play, this just seems like a mismatch of grand proportion.  TCU and Cincinnati were much more deserving of a spot in the Championship Game and Alabama is going to apply a major smackdown that will likely drop Colt McCoy’s NFL stock drop tremendously when he loses the game single-handedly.

Overall, this bowl season looks to be exciting.  We have a lot of underdogs with solid shots at upsets which should make the next 20 days enjoyable for all to watch.

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Posted in Alabama University, Arizona University, Arkansas University, Auburn University, Boise State University, Boston College, Brigham Young University, California University, Cincinnati University, Clemson University, Connecticut University, East Carolina University, Florida State University, Florida University, Fresno State University, Georgia Tech University, Georgia University, Houston University, Idaho University, Iowa State University, Iowa University, Kentucky University, Lousiana State University, Marshall University, Michigan State University, Minnesota University, Missouri University, Navy, Nebraska University, Nevada University, North Carolina University, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma University, Ole Miss University, Oregon State University, Oregon University, Penn State University, Pittsburgh University, Rutgers University, South Carolina University, Southern Cal University, Southern Methodist University, Southern Miss University, Stanford University, Tennessee University, Texas A&M University, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, Texas University, UCLA University, University Central Florida, University Miami Florida, University South Florida, Utah University, Virginia Tech University, West Virginia University, Wisconsin University, Wyoming University, college football | 1 Comment »