News Archive for Oregon

Battle of Unbeatens:TCU vs Boise State

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Tonights Fiesta Bowl features a battle of two undefeated teams. Boise St. (13-0) will play TCU (12-0) . One of the teams will remain unbeaten and bring to the forefront the question on whether there should be a college playoff.

This game pits Boise States offense vs. TCU’s defense. Boise is sixth ranked and averages a nations best 44.2 points per game. They put up over 460 total yards per game. Their wins include a win over PAC 10 champion Oregon. TCU’s defense will get their best test tonight for sure. Boise beat Oklahoma a few years back, so people do take them seriously already. A win tonight would solidify their quest to be mentioned among the elite in college football.

Gary Patterson will hope to stay uinbeaten after tonights Fiesta Bowl.

Gary Patterson will hope TCU stays unbeaten after tonights Fiesta Bowl.

TCU,3rd ranked, comes into this contest with the 4th rated defense in the nation only giving up 12.4 points per game. They, like Boise, have averaged over 460 yards a game on offense. TCU has defense and offense. They can beat you both ways and would be dangerous to any team anytime. They have victories at Clemson and blowouts over Utah and BYU. I think TCU could have a good shot at knocking off Alabama or Texas. But unfortunately they will never get the chance. No PLAYOFF.

I think that this game will be won by the more balanced team, TCU. They have the defense to keep Boise’s offense in check and will score enough points on offense to get the victory. Maybe after TCU wins tonight, they will seriously examine the chances of a College. Football Playoff.  As a passionate college football fan, I can only hope so.

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Posted in Boise State University, Oklahoma University, Oregon University, Texas Christian University, Utah University, college football | No Comments »

Ohio State’s Pryor Looking To Answer His Critics

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Ohio State makes its first appearance in the Rose Bowl in 14 years today, meeting PAC-10 Champion Oregon in “The Grandaddy of Them All”.    The Oregon Ducks make their first appearance in 16 years and are seeking their first Rose Bowl victory since 1916.   Each team will be looking to make a statement with their contrasting styles.  And Terrelle Pryor is once again the center of the story between these two schools.

Pryor Looks To Bring Home The Roses

Pryor Looks To Bring Home The Roses

The Buckeyes have a lot going against them coming into the game.   A three game bowl losing streak.  Inferiority questions about the Big Ten.  An offense which seems to evaporate during big games.  And two losses against Purdue and USC, both of whom the Oregon Ducks beat during the season.

None of this compares to the spotlight being shone on star quarterback Terrelle Pryor.  Both Ohio State and Oregon duked it out on the recruiting trail to get Pryor, with Ohio State coming out the victor.   Pryor abruptly canceled a campus visit to Oregon because he feared that if he went he’d decide to go there and pass on his dream of playing for OSU.  Score one for the Buckeyes.

Pryor’s two years at the helm in Columbus have been rocky.  At times he has shown flashes of the skills that made him the most sought after recruiting prize and other moments he’s looked like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.  Much of the criticism has landed in the lap of Coach Jim Tressel due his conservative, traditional offensive style that doesn’t utlize Pryor’s athletic skills properly.

Football analysts still lament on Pryor’s decision to attend Ohio State over Oregon’s spread option offense which was more fitting to his style.  Pryor decided on Ohio State because he felt that Tressel and his staff could better prepare him for the next level.  So far, the result have not been rosey.

A victory in the Rose Bowl can set the tone for Ohio State’s next two seasons with Pryor.  The keys to victory lie in the hands of Terrelle Pryor and Coach Tressel needs to give him the opportunity to improvise and make the special plays that are waiting to be unleashed.

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Posted in Ohio State University, Oregon University, college football | No Comments »

How Will The Nebraska Cornhuskers Rebound In The Holiday Bowl?

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Tonights Holiday Bowl in San Diego features a match up of two teams that had devastating loses that could of had them in a BCS bowl. One in particular was one second away and saw elation turn into a nightmare.

Will Suh have the Cornhuskers morivated to play great defense to carry rhem to a victory tonight in the Holiday Bowl.

Will Ndamukong Suh have the Cornhuskers motivated to play defense to carry them to a victory tonight in the Holiday Bowl.

Nebraska is the team mentioned. The Cornhuskers (9-4) and 20th ranked held a 12-10 lead over second ranked Texas in the Big 12 Championship.Texas quarterback Colt McCoy threw the ball out of bounds ,and the Huskers thought they were Big 12 champs and headed to a BCS berth. But fate played a cruel joke on them as they even celebrated on the field for a brief moment. The officials put a mere one more second on the clock and Texas kicked a game wining field goal to escape with a 13-12 victory putting them in the BCS Championship Game. You talk about snatching the jaws of victory form a team, this is what happened.

Arizona (8-4) and 22nd ranked have a game on their resume’ that could of had them BCS bowling. They were within six seconds of being in position to win the Pac 10 title. They held a 31-24 lead over Oregon only to concede to that touchdown that tied the game ,and Oregon pulled it out in double overtime 44-41.Know they find themselves in the Holiday bowl instead of the Rose Bowl. Zona did rebound nicely to win their next two games. Nonetheless, they have to question, “What might of been?”

Both teams tonight have good defenses. Nebraska has the 9th rated defense, giving up only 11.2 points per game and held the vaunted Texas offense to a mere 202 yards in the Big 12 Championship game. They are lead by their sensational defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Suh had a phenomenal year that had him finish 4th in the Heisman balloting.Arizona is 21st in total defense and has played good defense in their last couple of games.

I think that both teams still have nightmares of what could of been. Nebraska’s last game is what they remember most. I want to see how they rebound and motivate themselves to get up off of the carpet and have the fire to win. This game is a toss up. I have to think the Huskers will muster up the motivation to carry them to victory tonight in San Diego.

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Posted in Arizona University, Nebraska University, Oregon University, Texas University, college football | 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 »

It’s Time For a College Football Playoff

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Tony Pike Has Lead Cincinnati To Undefeated Record

Tony Pike Has Lead Cincinnati To Undefeated Record

Don’t you think it is time for a playoff in college football. In my opinion the BCS standings are flawed. To narrow it down to just two teams based on the current standings just doesn’t work for me. I do not like the fact that you can defeat a team early in the season and then get penalized later in the season because that team suffered another loss further into the season.  Another factor is the biased that can be shown for a particular school by the people voting.

My solution is to take the top eight teams and have a playoff. You would have 1-8,2-7 and so on. Yes this would add a couple more games for the schools but they could get rid of one game during the regular season. You would do this January of course and the students are off during this time for winter recess. This playoff would lead to no disputing of a true national champion. This playoff also incorporates the BCS standings so that will still stay vital in determining the playoff teams.

Right now you have six unbeaten teams. Florida, Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise St. Teams seven and eight are Oregon and Ohio State respectively. Ohio State at # 8 is a full 103 points ahead of the number nine team Iowa. So you see this would work ,and who would not like to see a team like TCU or Boise St. get a chance to knock off a bigger power in a playoff.

I love college football with a passion. It is time to get away from tradition and give the fans what they want and deserve. I only hope that in the near future this dream playoff becomes a reality.

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Posted in Alabama University, Boise State University, Cincinnati University, Florida University, Ohio State University, Oregon University, Texas Christian University, Texas University, college football | No Comments »