Bowling ...

So, some of the bowl games have already come and gone. In fact it is halftime of the Pitt vs North Carolina Meineke? bowl right now. You might think I would learn because every year, underdogs kick butt in the bowl games. The smaller the conference the more motivated they seem to be. Exhibit A is that the Mountain West is 3-0 this bowl season already, punching the Pac 10 upside their head.

Here in Orlando, we get Miami vs Wisconsin in the Champs Bowl and then on New Years, Penn State and LSU play in the Capital One game. I think the SEC is the strongest conference (10 of 12 teams bowling), but we will get to see how they match up against some of the other leagues. The SEC has 2 games against the big 11, 2 games against the ACC, 3 games against the Big East and 3 games against the Big 12, which includes the title game with Alabama vs Texas.

I think LSU is far more talented than Penn State, but I expect the N Lions to win the game. Auburn should beat Northwestern, to allow the SEC to break even with the league that cannot count. Kentucky is well coached, but probably will struggle to contain CJ Spiller and Clemson. This might give the ACC a misleading braggin right against the SEC, but I do think that Va Tech will squeak by Tennessee. SEC vs Big East: Florida & Cincinnati...Gators defense SHOULD prevail, but the Bearcats have been nasty explosive and have a SERIOUS chip on their shoulder with Brian Kelly bolting for South Bend. If the Gators don't bring the A game, they will get beat. South Carolina SHOULD beat UCONN, but again, they have to play like they WANT to be there.
SEC-Big12. I like Georgia over Texas A&M comfortably. Ole Miss & Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl may be one of the best games to watch. A toss up but I like the Rebs. Alabama is favored over Texas, and Nick Saban is as good a coach as there is in the NCAA. That said, I am going with the upset and look for Colt and the Longhorns to beat the Tide.
I'll show my ignorance and do a little preview of some of the bigger games as the dates get closer.

One foot on the court?

My bud Roger has season tickets for FSU basketball. At the Auburn game last week, it looks like the refs needed Roger's help with a few calls. This picture was in the Tallahassee newspaper (Democrat).

BYU beat the snot out of Oregon State. Bowls are so unpredictable! One of the Bowl pools I'm in uses the confidence scale. I had Fresno and Oregon State as winning with high confidence points....crash and burn!

My oldest son is snowboarding in the Hymalas (sp?), which is so dangerous (just being there) that I don't even want to think about it.

Spend the money and go see Avatar in 3D over the holidays.

Which conference will rule the Bowl games? I try to sort it out later.

State Championships and bowling

OK, I have been a slacker with the blog lately. Last night me & Petey went to the 6A championship game at the Citrus Bowl. Deland, who totally shut down high powered Apopka last week was taking on Miramar from Miami. Miramar completely dominated the Bulldogs from Deland. However, I did get home in time to watch Abilene High play Katy for the Texas 5A D2 championship. As much as I love high school football in Florida, it is even more big time in Texas! Abilene beat Katy in the dome in San Antonio, which was a high caliber as many college games.

The college bowls got going yesterday, with Rugters beating UCF and Wyoming upsetting Fresno State in OT. Tonight is another low interest caliber game...I will be back with more BOWL posts in a day or so.

Hypesman and HIgh School champs

I'm in Texas this week and should be paying attention to the instructor right now...

Congrats to Mark Ingram for being the 1st Alabama player to ever win the trophey.

I went to the Deland @ Apopka game Friday night and was very impressed w/ the Deland defense. The Bulldogs owned the 2nd half. Huge upsets were the headline, as St Thomas Acquinas was upset by Bradenton Manatee, and Plant shut out Lakeland.

This Saturday I'll go to the Citrus Bowl for the 4A championship game, as Niceville squares off against PB Dwyer.

Out in Texas, Abilene High won and will play KATY for the 5A title this weekend. In Georgia, Camden County beat WR Northside for the large classification prize.

This weekend, we will start looking at the Bowl games.

Hypesman Trophy

Well, I don't get to vote for the Heisman Trophy winner, which will be announced on Saturday night. IF I did get a vote here would be my take.

I would like to see Colt McCoy win the award. That statement is based on my appreciation for what he has done as QB at Texas and to be honest, his family affiliation with Abilene Christian University.

If my vote had to go to the player who had the best season in 2009, it would come down to: Toby Gherhardt, CJ Spiller, Mark Ingram, Colt McCoy or NDomankung Suh (I don't know how to spell his name, but he is the BEAST for Nebraska). Suh is the most dominant defensive lineman I have ever seen in college football. IF a D lineman were to ever win the award, this would be the guy. Let's be honest though, the HYPESMAN does not go to defensive lineman. It goes to quarterbacks and running backs, and once a decade or so a receiver or DB who also returns kicks and punts for touchdowns. Suh is a great player but he would not get my vote.

Mark Ingram will probably win it. He is a terrific player for Alabama, and not only is the Crimson Tide the media darlings this year, but no Alabama player has ever won the trophy. IF Ingram did not have to share carries with Trent Richardson and even the 3rd RB, his impressive stats would be even more so. He is a great player, but he would not get my vote.

CJ Spiller did not make the list of 5 finalists. He should have. He should have made the finalists and Tebow should not have. I am a huge fan of Tebow, but this season he had not had a "GREAT" season. He has been the media darling for FOUR years now and makes for great tv coverage. Tebow would not get my vote. Spiller has almost single handed carried Clemson to the ACC championship. He runs the ball, catches passes and returns punts/kicks. CJ will be a rich man come April and the NFL draft.

The guy who would get my vote is the kid from Stanford. Gerhardt has better stats than Ingram or Spiller, but plays in the Pacific time zone. Stanford was not on many "national" broadcasts and so he has not received the publicity and coverage that the other guys have. He runs like the wind (white boy!) and runs over people on almost every carry.

Come Saturday night, I expect Ingram, will pull for McCoy and would have voted for Gerhardt!

Roll TIde :(

Alabama kicked some Gator butt this evening and now get to play for the National Championship next month. QB Greg McElroy was outstanding, but really, the Tide won both lines of scrimmage. Florida will have to pull together mentally to fight off a scrappy Cincinnati team (if that is who they play in the Sugar Bowl). The Bearcats rallied in a thriller against the Pitt Panthers.

Its all good! At least Roger and Owen are celebrating tonight, even if Gator Nation is bummed.

FL Outlaw

SEC CHAMPIONSHIP!

Well, it is finally upon us, the championship game of the best conference in football. It is "Sweet Home Alabama" vs "Gator Country". While you might be tempted to quickly say at least Alabama wins the song competition, remember that Skynnerd hailed from Jacksonville FLORIDA :) Me, I'm crankin the Molly Hatchet this morning (my daughter is trying to "sleep in" :)

I went to the SEC title game years ago when the Gators hammered Arkansas (bro in law John was there too!) and it as really grown into the premiere game in college football (certainly not every year, but most).

So, what will unfold just after 4:00 this afternoon? Wow, two fantastic teams, especially on defense. The Crimson Tide has quite an arsenal of explosive players, from Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson and Marquees Mays on offense and Javier Arenas on D and special teams. They have Mount Cody and some NFL linebackers, and Nick Satan :) is one heckofa football coach. Young QB Greg Mcelroy is progressing nicely and is from the hotbed of QB's, SouthLake Carrol in Dallas.

On the other hand, the MIGHTY GATORS have the best defense in the country. Carlos Dunlap's suspension is painful, as he is an NFL DE and was the MVP of the BCS game last year, but I still think UF's D will play well. Charlie Strong doesn't get enough credit, because make no mistake, it is Florida's defense that is special and is carrying the team this season. That said, it is not like the have a "3 runs and punt" offense. Demps, Rainey and Manuel are terrific running backs. Riley Cooper isn't just a bad ass center fielder, but the go to receiver for T2. As for Mr Tebow, he ALWAYS rises to the big game challenge.

I don't know who will win, we can go down the list of cliche's (win field position, win the turnover battle, etc.) and most of them will apply. With little certainty, I like Florida in a close game. I can't wait!

The Oregon / Oregon State game was outstanding on Thursday night, with both teams playing lights out, before the Ducks eaked out the W.

Last night was big in high school playoffs. Apopka only scored 7, but shut out Treasure Coast to set up a showdown with the Deland Bulldogs next week. Niceville won another shootout with Lincoln and get to come down to Orlando next week to take on the Edgewater Eagles (one team of Eagles will win :)). Up in Georgia, WR Northside beat Newnan, which surprised me a bit and Camden County ended Colquit's run. Out in Texas, Abilene High routed Arlington Bowie, to move on to the 5A semi finals.

The USA soccer team got a good draw for the World Cup next summer.

Mt Dora Bible basketball beat Lake Brantley last night.

Just a couple more cool nuggets :

Life is GREAT!

Coach Bowden retires

Given the choice to take a lesser role, Coach Bobby Bowden announced that he will retire after the FSU bowl game. While he stuck around a little too long, he certainly earned all the accolades that he is getting from the media tonight. When I lived in Tallahassee, he would come to our Men's Prayer Breakfast at church once a year. While everyone wanted to talk football, Coach insisted that some time was spent on the "prayer" part of the gathering. Great man and I am very happy he did not stick around another year. Jimbo deserves a shot at building his program now. While a 6-6 team does not get the Bowls salivating, hosting Bobby Bowden's last game will come under the "priceless" category. Unless we find some defense, a "better" bowl might be embarrassing.

Does anyone remember the song "Bobby Bowden that's the coach for me, Bobby Bowden please stay in Tallahassee". I do :) Ahh, the good ole days :)

When I mentioned the Championship games and show downs coming up, I left out the Oregon vs Oregon State game on Thursday night. The winner gets the PAC 10 title and the Rose Bowl berth. Nice way to start the last weekend before the Bowl season!

THANKS BOBBY!