Week 4 College Football Rewind and New Top 15

Arkansas pushed Alabama on Saturday afternoon but when the Tide had to make plays they got the job done and left with the victory.  Boise St. went on national television and again proved it did belong in the national title discussion.  They will have a few tough contests within the WAC, but ultimately could face an undefeated Nevada team on Thanksgiving weekend.

Two teams in our top 15 suffered defeat for the first time. Texas got blasted on their home field by UCLA and will drop out of the rankings, but will Arkansas?  Here’s the new BumpAndRun.com Top 15, which remains the same 1 through 8:

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Week 3 NFL Preview – Showdown in the Superdome

Last week we learned a lot about quite a few teams around the league.  That said, the jury is still out on some teams including Dallas, Minnesota, Kansas City, Chicago and Tampa Bay.  Week 3 should provide some early separation and answer questions on the teams mentioned above. Let’s take a look at our top three games in Week 3:

Atlanta @ New Orleans

The Falcons are coming off a dominating performance against the Cardinals.  Jason Snelling filled in for a dinged up Michael Turner (who will be back this week) and ran all over Arizona’s defense.  Matt Ryan also got himself going with a pretty good afternoon.  The Falcons defense is one thing we don’t know much about.  Yes they shutdown Pittsburgh and Arizona, but how good are those two offenses to begin with?  They will really have to show up to hold the Saints in check on Sunday.

The Saints begin the season 2-0 as they escaped San Francisco with a last second victory.  The victory proved costly as New Orleans lost Reggie Bush for six weeks with a broken fibula.  The Saints so far do not look like the team they were last year, yet they still are 2-0.  To truly return to form, Sean Payton needs to get Drew Brees going.  Throw, throw and throw the ball until you are inside the 10 yard line and the Saints offense can return to its 2009-10 form. 

Pick: Falcons 27 Saints 24

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Week 4 College Football Preview

There should be plenty of great match-ups in Week 4 of the college football season, but the three biggest games of the week include a showdown in Fayetteville, an intriguing match-up in South Bend and the Battle on the Blue Turf.

#1 Alabama @ #13 Arkansas

This is the week where the #1 team in the nation will face its first real test of the season. Alabama has rolled through its first three games but will now face their first true road test against an SEC foe.  Mark Ingram showed last week he is back to 100%, and combined with Trent Richardson they should be able to pound the ball straight down the Razorbacks’ throat.  Don’t be surprised if the Tide sprinkle in some play action early to catch Arkansas up on the line. 

The Razorbacks escaped Athens last week with a TD pass from Ryan Mallett with 15 seconds remaining.   Is Bobby Petrino’s offense finally hitting its stride for the Razorbacks?  He does finally have the talent to make enough plays, but can they do it against the stout Tide defense?  It should be a very interesting test for both teams. 

Pick: Alabama 34 Arkansas 28

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Eagles Give the Ball to Vick, But for How Long?

Despite Kevin Kolb being cleared to play, Andy Reid has chosen to stick with Michael Vick at quarterback.  It is an interesting move to say the least.  It came as a shock to almost everyone, but many see it as the right move for the Eagles.  Philadelphia committed money to Kolb in the offseason and traded McNabb so Kolb could be their guy, so why did Reid make this decision?

Of course Andy Reid is the only one who knows, but if I were the coach or GM, I’d be doing it for one reason: to trade Vick. Vick is in the last year of his contract and the NFL trade deadline is Week 6. The Eagles go to Jacksonville this week and then have Washington at home.  Those two teams have not played great defense through the first two weeks.  This will give Vick an opportunity to shine for quarterback-needy teams.  … Continue Reading

Week 3 College Football Rewind and New Top 15

Week 3 didn’t present any of the big name match-ups like Week 2 did, but the games were a lot more fun to watch this week.  The three games we told you to keep an eye on were three of the better games of the weekend and we went 3-0 picking the straight up winners.  If you followed the way we predicted the scores you would have hit the Air Force game +17 ½ and the Arizona game -2.  You also would have likely hit UMASS, however I never actually saw a line on that game. 

A team that was new to our top 15 last week, the Houston Cougars lost in more ways than one against UCLA.  During the game they lost their Heisman trophy candidate Case Keenum to a torn ACL and then also lost their backup QB for the rest of the season.  If any of you had the pleasure of watching Keenum over the years, you know what a talent he is.  Hopefully he gets a chance at the next level as he is more than capable.  And with that, we now move onto our new BumpAndRun.com Top 15:

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NFL Hat Trick Preview – Week 2

You never know what to expect when the NFL season begins, that’s why it is hard to say how much we actually learned from Week 1.  What exactly did we learn? Oakland stinks, Mark Sanchez stinks, the NFC West and AFC West are wide open and injuries are already having an impact on the season.  For our three big games from Week 1, we went 3-0.  Now it’s onto Week 2:

Pittsburgh vs. Tennessee (1:00PM, CBS)

The Steelers escaped Week 1 with an overtime victory over the Falcons.  Two things that were apparent from that game: the Steelers D is back with Troy Polamalu on the field and the offense with Dennis Dixon at QB looks really bad.  The Steelers will have to get Rashard Mendenhall going early so they can control the clock.  In order to get the passing game rolling, offensive coordinator Bruce Arians should call some roll-out run/pass options for Dixon to try and get him some early confidence.  The Steelers need to get more than field goals this week because the Tennessee offense looks like it’s pretty legit.

The Titans looked dominant in Week 1 but it’s hard to say how much of that was them or the Raiders.  This is the week we should learn more about Tennessee.  They obviously have the best running back in the league — Chris Johnson can take it to the house any time he touches it.  Vince Young appears to have matured and with Nate Washington and Kenny Britt on the outside, the passing game has potential.  Can the Steelers contain CJ and VY?

Pick: Tennessee 24 Pittsburgh 20

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Week 3 College Football Preview

The schedule this week doesn’t have as many big games as last week as teams either begin conference play or have their one last warm-up.  Last week we went 1-2, but sit at 4-2 on the season.  Hopefully we bounce back this week with another 3-0 week.  And now onto the games:

Air Force vs. #7 Oklahoma (Saturday, 3:30)

This could be the game of the weekend or it could be another blowout for the Sooners.  Oklahoma comes in riding high after its dominating performance against Florida St.  Their offense was unstoppable and their defense pressured Christian Ponder all afternoon long.  Oklahoma is led by sophomore QB Landry Jones and senior RB DeMarco Murray.

Air Force will provide Oklahoma with a much different look that Florida St. did.  The Falcons lead the country in rushing through two games at 423 yards per game and are sixth in scoring at 50.0 points per game.  If the Falcons ground game, led by Asher Clark and Jared Tew, can control the clock they can keep themselves in the game. 

Pick: Oklahoma 38 Air Force 24

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Fearless Predictions: Saints to Repeat

With all of the excitement surrounding Week 1 of the NFL season, my predictions for the upcoming season got lost in the shuffle. Without further adieu:

AFC

1st Round Byes: Baltimore, Miami

Wild Card Weekend

Houston vs. Indianapolis: Houston

New England vs. San Diego: New England

AFC Divisionals

Baltimore vs. New England: Baltimore

Miami vs. Houston: Houston

AFC Championship

Baltimore vs. Houston: Baltimore

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College Football Week 2 Rewind and New Top 15

Well that sure was an interesting week for college football.  I couldn’t have been more wrong about giving credit to the ACC this year, although I should have known.  They get beat every year by any good team out of conference.  Miami, Florida St., Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, UVA all lose games this weekend.  Between the ACC and Big East, one really has to question why these two conferences deserve BCS births this season.  Enjoy the game between those teams down at the Orange Bowl.
 
The other thing that was painful to hear this weekend is just because Va. Tech lost to JMU that should eliminate Boise St. from the BCS title picture.  For all those who said that, get off your high horse. Boise St. can’t control what their competition does, they control what they do. If they go through the season undefeated and are one of two teams that do so they should and will be in the national title game.  But they still have tough games remaining: Oregon St., Fresno St., Utah St. and Nevada.  And now onto the new top 15:
 
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NFL Week 1 Sneak Peak

Much like I am doing for college football this season, I will take a look at the top 3 NFL games of the weekend.  Briefly break them down and tell you who could have a big fantasy day and finally pick a winner.  And here we go with the big games of Week 1:

Indianapolis @ Houston, 1:00 PM

Over the years Peyton Manning has had the Texans number even when the Colts have been out played.  Is this the year the Texans finally break through and get the victory?  I think so and here is why.

The Texans now appear to have a go to RB in Arian Foster.  This should keep the Colts defense honest and allow Schaub the time to find Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels and Kevin Walter.  Arian Foster doesn’t need to touch the ball 30 times in this game but 20 should be about enough to help lighten the load on the passing game. 

The Colts will keep pace with the Texans, there is no doubt about that.  Manning has so many targets at his disposal that it’s almost unfair.  Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie came up huge last year and it will be up to them to do it again.  Dallas Clark always has a big game against Houston. Reggie Wayne can still get it done, but over the last few games last season he slowed down. So be cautious of that for later this season. 

Bottom line these two teams are so evenly matched that it will come down to the final 5 minutes of the game.  I expect the Texans to be leading by a field goal but this year they will be able to run the clock out with their running game.

Pick: Texans 31 Colts 28

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