College Football thoughts...

Thoughts after an action-packed Saturday where I don't think I could have watched more college football...

1) Notre Dame just isn't very good. They had some momentum after finishing strong in 2010 and winning a New Years Day Bowl game, but they have a lot of issues. Pitt's D had given up 25 ppg against Buffalo, Maine, and Iowa and the Irish could only manage 15 (8 of them were late in the 4th quarter). The schedule isn't as tough as it has been in the past, so they could still win 8-9, but they are not a BCS team this year.

2) Oregon State may not win a game this year. Losing at home to UCLA in a game they never led, the rest of the Pac-12 schedule has no gimmies, including at Wazzu. If the Beavers don't win that one, or win their other non-conference game against BYU, it could be a goose egg in 2010.

3) Clemson is really good on offense. Not since the Rich-Rod days has Clemson had this much fire-power on O, and I give a lot of credit to hiring Chad Morris and giving him free reign to run his offense. Their season will be defined by how they play on the road against VT, GT, and USC.

4) If the Heisman Trophy goes to the best player on the best team, Trent Richardson, Landry Jones, Andrew Luck and Kellen Moore will battle it out like most people expected. But if the award goes to the most outstanding collegiate player, right now Robert Griffin III is winning in a runaway. The freakiest of freak-athletes, Griffin is 70-82 for 962, 13 TD's and 0 INTs along with 167 rushing yards and another score. The schedule heats up in a couple weeks with OK St and A&M, but if you haven't seen Bob Griffin yet, make plans.

5) Speaking of Okie St, they finally have a legit defense to go along with their NFL talent on offense. After another comeback win over A&M yesterday, it is possible they are favored in every game on their schedule until their trip to Norman on December 3rd. That could be quite a match-up of rivals for what could be the final Big 12 game ever.

6) The place to be next Saturday is Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, WI. The Badgers get their 1st true test at home against Nebraska and can gain some real momentum nationally as a contender if they put up a number against the blackshirts.

7) As much hype as LSU has gotten (and rightfully so) about their defense, the best defense in the country was on display yesterday afternoon in Tuscaloosa. The Tide have 10+ NFL players they run out on defense and you just simply can not run on them. When Arkansas was forced to pass on every down, Bama just rolls out 4-5 stud DB's in their nickel/dime packages and covers everybody. Can't wait to see them play in the Swamp next weekend.

Top 25 for the last Saturday in September:

1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Wisconsin
4. Oklahoma
5. Boise St
6. Oklahoma St
7. Stanford
8. Clemson
9. Virginia Tech
10. Oregon
11. South Carolina
12. Nebraska
13. Florida
14. Michigan
15. Baylor
16. Texas A&M
17. Texas
18. South Florida
19. Arkansas
20. Illinois
21. Georgia Tech
22. Florida St
23. WVU
24. Auburn
25. Arizona St

Baseball and Football thoughts...

Can anyone in the NL knock off Philly? That is the question as the NL playoffs are fast-approaching and the playoff teams are all but sEt (This late Cardinals push is nothing but a too little-too late 4 game win streak). They look dang good at 94-48 and beating up on the Braves and Brewers this week, but Atlanta fans have seen teams like this 2011 Phillies team not come through in the post-season.

The 1998 Braves had Maddux, Glavine, Millwood, Neagle, and Smoltz along with big-boppers in Chipper, Galarraga, Lopez, Klesko, and Andruw before losing in 6 in the NLCS. The 2003 team was 92-54 on their way to 101 wins and lost in the NLDS.

The Giants last year showed us that if you can get to the Philly bullpen and limit big innings, they are beatable. The Braves recipe should be to get to the 6th-7th innings while holding the Philly offense to less than 4 runs and try and win the bullpen battle.

And for the record, if JJ and Hanson are unavailable for the playoffs, I would break up the sinker-ballers and go with a rotation of Hudson, Beachy, and Lowe.

NFL Predictions

Season starts today, so lets get the NFL predictions going:

NFC South

Falcons
Saints
Bucs
Panthers

NFC North

Packers
Lions
Bears
Vikings

NFC West

Cardinals
Rams
49ers
Seahawks

NFC East

Cowboys
Eagles
Redskins
Giants

AFC East

Pats
Jets
Bills
Dolphins

AFC North

Ravens
Steelers
Browns
Bengals

AFC South

Texans
Colts
Jags
Titans

AFC West

Chargers
Chiefs
Broncos
Raiders

Playoffs

NFC

Eagles over Cardinals, Saints over Cowboys
Packers over Saints
Falcons over Eagles
Packers over Falcons

AFC

Ravens over Jets
Steelers over Texans
Chargers over Ravens
Steelers over Pats
Chargers over Steelers

Super Bowl

Chargers over Packers

As for the college game...

Two weeks of games in, and I will go ahead and put in my poll for the week. The ND-Michigan finish was unreal last night, glad I tuned in...

1. Alabama
2. Wisconsin
3. Oklahoma
4. LSU
5. Florida State
6. Arkansas
7. Stanford
8. Boise State
9. Oregon
10. Texas A&M
11. Oklahoma State
12. Virginia Tech
13. Arizona State
14. South Carolina
15. Florida
16. South Florida
17. Michigan
18. Nebraska
19. UCF
20. Auburn
21. Michigan State
22. Texas
23. Ohio State
24. Tennessee
25. Houston