BumpAndRun.com’s College Football Top 15 — Week 4

We are going to keep it quick for you this week with the top 15, and hopefully provide better analysis and predictions for this week’s slate of games. So here you go:

15. Virginia Tech (3-0): Ugly win against Arkansas State, but a W nonetheless. Next: @ Marshall (Saturday, 3:30 PM ET)

14. TCU (2-1): They let an average team stick around longer than they’d have liked to. Next: Portland State (Saturday, 2:00 PM ET)

13. South Carolina (3-0): Tough time with the triple-option of Navy. Lucky to escape with a win. Next: Vanderbilt (Saturday, 7:00 PM ET)

12. Stanford (3-0): Got the win at Arizona, but injuries to key players might take their toll. Next: UCLA (Oct 1)

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College Football Week 3: Quick Hits

Everyone’s hope for close games and exciting finishes with all the big road tests this weekend came up empty. The weekend was filled with some ugly football in general, which was kind of surprising. Here are a few things that popped out to me:

· Watching Navy play football is fun. The triple-option monster pushed South Carolina to the brink over the weekend. I was very impressed by what they brought to the table.

· Also in that game, Marcus Lattimore was a beast for South Carolina. He has to average 25 carries a game for them to go places.

· How ugly was that Oklahoma vs. Florida State game? People were raving about their defenses, and yes they are both very good, but those offenses looked quite inept at times.

· A college football game starting after midnight??? Yup, that’s exactly what happened in Tulsa, as Oklahoma State vs. Tulsa was delayed for close to 3 hours due to weather. And from the sounds of it both teams played an ugly game, and Justin Blackmon’s streak of consecutive 100-yard receiving games was snapped.

· Miami RB, Lamar Miller is a special talent. Now if Miami could only find themselves a QB with a clue.
 
And this year might be the last year of college athletics as we have come to know it. With Syracuse and Pitt departing for the ACC, and the likely addition of UCONN and Rutgers as well, it seems we will have our first 16-team super conference formed. The Pac-16 won’t be far behind as it appears Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are ready to jump. The SEC will then likely add Texas A&M, West Va and Missouri, maybe.  The landscape of college athletics is changing fast. Analysts say the reason for change is football, but I don’t really see the benefit of these huge leagues from a football perspective. We have seen it can work for basketball with the Big East, and that is why you saw the ACC go get schools more known for their basketball than their football. This could ultimately end up crushing the BCS as we know it as well, but will it bring a playoff?? That is the ultimate question.

Week 3 College Football Preview: Sooners-Noles Do Battle in Tallahassee

Well I enter the week with an 8-3 record overall and 7-2-1 against the spread so far, so hopefully you guys are paying attention. This week, there are some key match-ups and they get underway before we even get to the weekend. A lot of quality teams could suffer their first loss of the season and it all gets started with Thursday night’s SEC tilt and ends with a battle of top 10 teams in Tallahassee:

LSU @ Mississippi State (-3) (Thursday, 8:00 PM ET ESPN)

LSU faces its first road test of the season and boy it will be a tough one. The Tigers followed up their victory over Oregon with an easy win, while Mississippi State was stuffed at the goal line as time expired in Auburn. Why am I betting against LSU after what they did the first two weeks? Quite simply because Mississippi State is a talented team that is going to be playing desperation football and LSU always lays a clunker at some point. They need this victory much more than LSU does, and Dan Mullen needs to prove he can win a big game so his name will get brought up yet again in off-season coaching searches.

Pick: Mississippi St 24 LSU 20

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BumpAndRun.com’s College Football Top 15 — Week 3

Week 2 of the college football season was fairly predictable as every team that played in our top 15 won their games.  Due to that you’d think there would be no movement in our rankings, but there is a little bit of shuffling that took place. Here are the current top 15 and we expect this to change big time next week as there are some huge games this weekend:

14. TCU (1-1): The Horned Frogs bounced back with an impressive win at Air Force. Their offense seems like it will be pretty good throughout the season. Their defense on the other hand, gave up a lot of yards again but made the plays when it needed to. Next: Louisiana Monroe (Saturday, 2:00 PM ET)

College Football Week 2: Quick Hits

· I found it amusing on Saturday night and Sunday morning that people were putting the Michigan-Notre Dame game in the conversation of greatest games they’ve ever seen. First, being great normally means the teams are playing great football, not slightly above average football. Second, these two teams have been irrelevant for a few years now. Wake me up when people regain their sanity.

· We learned that Virginia Tech isn’t a top 10 team right now.

· I hate to say it, but the football gods must just be permanently placed at Jordan Hare Stadium the last 13 months. Auburn got lucky again.

· I told you TCU would be OK after that Week 1 loss. People still need to respect them and respect even more what Baylor did to them.

· And the Heisman Trophy dark horse was at it this weekend: Case Keenum puts up 458 yards and 5 TD’s.
 
New rankings will be out Wednesday, with picks again on Thursday. Pat’s picks through Week 2: 8-3 straight up and 7-2-1 against the spread.

Week 2 College Football Preview: SEC Showdown in Athens

In Week 1 I went 4-2 overall straight up and 3-2 against the spread. I’ll try to improve on that for you this week as we now know a little more about the teams. Some are better than I thought, some aren’t as good as I thought and some are basically what I thought. So let’s have a look at a five games in Week 2:

Arizona @ Oklahoma State (-13 ½) (Thursday, 8 PM ET)

ESPN gets a prime-time game featuring two of the better QB’s in the country in Arizona’s Nick Foles and Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden.  Both teams rolled in Week 1, but Arizona is a one-dimensional offense that the Cowboys defense should be able to slow down just enough to win by 2 TD’s. The only way it doesn’t happen is if Weeden throws 3 INT’s. My bet is you see the Weeden to Blackmon connection an awful lot on Thursday.

Pick: Oklahoma St 49 Arizona 24

Oregon State @ Wisconsin (-20 ½) (Saturday, 12 PM ET)

Oregon State loses to Sacramento State, Wisconsin steam rolls UNLV. Use your logic, do the math, look at the talent and try to tell me Wisconsin doesn’t blow them out.

Pick: Wisconsin 56 Oregon State 20

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BumpAndRun.com’s College Football Top 15 — Week 2

15. TCU (0-1): You will probably see the Horned Frogs drop down or out of most rankings you look at, but something tells me that Baylor is a lot better than people think. Next: @ Air Force (Saturday, 3:30 PM ET)

14. Virginia Tech (1-0): Tech marched to an easy victory over Appalachian State. They now head to the road for a team that can be tough to play against. Next: @ East Carolina (Saturday, 3:30 PM ET)

13. Baylor (1-0): RG III led the explosive attack against TCU’s defense and they earned the biggest victory perhaps in Baylor football history. With a little bit of luck they can do big things, but the schedule is a monster. Next: Stephen F. Austin (Saturday, September 17th)

12. Oregon (0-1): The Ducks just got physically beat up and beat themselves with turnovers. You can stuff their offense if given time to prepare, and the defense isn’t where it was last year. But it was only game 1. Next: Nevada (Saturday, 3:30 PM ET)

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College Football Week 1: Quick Hits

· Robert Griffin III and Baylor proved they are going to be a legit team this year.

· The Oregon Ducks offense can be stopped relatively easy when you have plenty of time to prepare for it and have guys that can make tackles in the open field.

· How good is LSU? Better than I thought, but not as good as everyone else thinks after the Oregon game.

· The soon to be defunct Big 12 is at least going to go out with a bang….Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Baylor…might be 4 of the best offenses in the country.

· Wisconsin opened up the season on Thursday night and looked dominant.

· Houston QB Case Keenum is back and appears healthy. Could he lead Houston to a possible BCS busting type of season?

· If I hear anyone question whether Boise State can play with the big boys ever again, I am just going to ignore your opinion on sports forever.

The new rankings will come out Wednesday, and there will obviously be some shuffling. This week’s picks will be out Thursday.

Week 1 College Football Preview: Oklahoma, Oregon to Roll

Picking games to start off the college football season is always difficult. You have to target the games where you know the most about certain teams. That often leads to games with huge point spreads, which you would like to avoid for the most part. However, early on in the season you do not have much of a choice. Here are 6 games I picked out that should be attractive:
  
UNLV @ Wisconsin (-35) (Thursday, 8 PM ET) 
 
My sleeper team to make a national title appearance kicks-off the college football season on ESPN. The Badgers offense will be led by NC State transfer Russell Wilson. Wilson can get it done with his arm or his legs and will be a nightmare for the Rebel defense to handle. UNLV can often cause problems with big name schools if they are at home, but on the road they have no chance. 

Pick: Wisconsin 52 UNLV 14

TCU (-4 1/2) @ Baylor (Friday, 8 PM ET) 
 
TCU’s coming off a season in which they won the Rose Bowl, but they have to replace Andy Dalton at QB. The duties now fall in the hands of sophomore Casey Pachall, who will have to take command of the huddle immediately. The Horned Frogs defense is always tough and will have to be at the top of their game to stop the speedy QB, Robert Griffin III. Could Baylor keep it close for a while? Yup, but I think TCU’s defense and running game will make enough plays for a double-digit victory.
 
Pick: TCU 27 Baylor 13
 
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BumpAndRun.com’s College Football Preview: Heisman Hopefuls

Most publications throw out 10 names that they believe are most likely to compete for the Heisman Trophy before the season starts. I am going to keep my list much shorter and focus on 5 players who I believe are going to have the biggest impact on college football this season. That doesn’t mean the eventual Heisman Trophy winner will 100% be on my list, but I feel pretty confident that he will be. We will start at 5 and countdown to who I believe will win this season’s Heisman Trophy:

5. Landry Jones: The junior QB out of Oklahoma had a phenomenal year in 2010, throwing for over 4,700 yards, 38 TD’s and 12 INT’s. Oklahoma returns a strong team poised to make a run for the national title so his numbers should be very much comparable to last year’s. Could the fact that the Sooners will be making a push for the title help sway voters? It is possible, but I don’t think it will be enough.

4. LaMichael James: The speedy RB out of Oregon really enjoys the up-tempo spread offense. He finds holes when there aren’t any. He amassed roughly 2,000 total yards last year with 4 TD’s. His team has another shot at glory this year after falling just short last season. Can he stay healthy and duplicate last season’s totals? Most likely, but a lot will depend on the season opener against the LSU defense on Saturday night.

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