It's that time of year, things are just starting to get really good... + obviously helps that I have two teams in the race :-)
College:
When the rankings come out I'm assuming it can't be anything ese but 1. Alabama, 2. Ohio St, 3. Clemson, 4. Washington. I think my beloved Huskies will have the chance to play 'bama in the playoffs (we'd just be happy to be there) if we win the conference championship over Colorado, but I hear Penn St has a chance to jump us as well if they win the Big 10 championship. I think Ohio St could hold their own against Alabama.. don't know much about Clemson but i'm sure they'd be strong in a rematch.
How good is this Alabama team? Are they a lock to win?
Heisman Trophy winner?
NFL:
Seahawks smh (we tend to play play up/down to our opponents)... but I still see them in the NFC championship vs Dallas. Home field we win by 2 td's, on the road it will very very closed. I'm biased so I'll still say Seahawks vs Patriots Superbowl rematch in another all time great game.
Who do you see going to the superbowl?
Haha! I'm still rooting for my Broncos all the way.
Chicago seems more depressed than usual given the way the Bears are stinking up the season.
you watch your damn mouth talking about the Bears........but they are dreadful
"I imagine tomorrow when the BCS comes out "
not sure if troll...
I like your 1-3, and have not put much thought into the fourth seed. either way, I think seed 4 gets embarrassed by bama ...
I would like to see a Meyer v. Saban National championship
lol yeah i'm a troll
sorry worded it poorly, i updated the post
exactly what a troll would say
I'm with you on the Huskies and the Seahawks as a Seattle native myself
As a Dallas resident, who has Zeke on my fantasy team.
I am officially the happiest man I could be. Looking to clinch #1 in my league and make a crisp $1500.
Sad Swoopes has had such a bad time at UT. Played football against the guy in high school and he was a BEAST. Maybe he'll find his way as a WR or RB in the NFL.
see you in the playoffs, i remember what happened last time we met...
Don't worry, even if botch the snap we at least know when its better to run towards the endzone instead of throwing it to the defense. :)
a nearly wholesale changing of the guard in the NFC (Cards, Panthers, Packers not relevant this year, Seattle not as scary), as a packers fan, it's upsetting, but as a football fan, it's exciting to see so much parity.
I'd like to see an Oakland-New England AFC championship and if Green Bay isn't in it, a Dallas-Atlanta NFC championship. I think Atlanta beats Dallas in that scenario, then loses to New England in the Super Bowl in a close one.
glad Louisville went down and the final 4 are looking to just about be a lock. I think the only argument that could be made is the big 10 champion getting in and Ohio State or Washington getting left out, but assuming Clemson, Bama, and Washington all win their conference championships, you're guaranteed to have some butthurt people. I see the argument both ways, you want the best teams but there's also something to be said for conference championships.
all told, I think a rematch of Clemson Bama is likely, with a similar result also likely. depending upon his performance in playoffs & ACC championship, I think deshaun watson makes a strong case for the heisman, with jabrill peppers, jalen hurts, and lamar jackson also getting invited.
This Packers season has been painful to watch to say the least.
Maybe I will move up a few spots on the season ticket list. 41,000 and put on at birth
Washington is in if they beat Colorado. If they lose or if Clemson loses, winner of Wisconsin/Penn State takes their spot. If Clemson and Washington lose, Colorado sneaks in. Oklahoma and Michigan will be the first two out.
Sadly, I think Michigan and OSU are the only ones who can beat Bama, and only OSU will get a shot. If playoff was today, I think Bama beats Washington 42-14 and OSU beats Clemson 24-17. Then Bama beats OSU 35-21.
Bama isn't unbeatable (see Ole Miss game, first 2/3 of A&M game), but this year #s 2-4 aren't very good compared to most years.
For NFL, I see a Pats-Seahawks Super Bowl, with Seattle winning a close one. Dallas and Oakland are good, but I'll take the veteran QBs/teams over them in January.
Regardless, OSU plays spoiler to someone, and they will be seeded 3 either way since you cannot justify them as a 2 w/o conference championship and the committee would prefer Meyer to take on Saban in the final this time around. The clearest scenario happens when SEC, ACC, and PAC12 title games are chalk (BAMA, CLEM, WASH win). If so, then the following is what I see happening based on B1G title game:
WISC beats PSU: 1. Alabama 2. Clemson 3. Ohio St. 4. Washington
Bucky gets left out based on their head-to-head against OSU. B1G west panned out to be a much easier road to Indy than the east, and a title game win over Penn St. cannot pass an eye test when the two best teams aren't in the conference game. (side note: PSU looks a lot like Mich St. did last year, trending up through the season, gets clobbered on national stage).
If CLEM loses, drop them, add WISC at 4. If WASH loses, drop them, add WISC. If both lose, BEDLAM
PSU beats WISC: 1. Alabama 2. Clemson 3. Ohio St. 4. Penn St.
Penn St. has played their way in. Again, OSU is spoiler to whichever conference champ is left out. WASH cannot put their schedule up against OSU's when their non-conference matchup against a Power5 was Rutgers. Stanford, Utah, and Wash St. are all trending down or dropping off the T25, an unfortunately consequence of the 'body of work' argument.
If CLEM loses, drop them to 4, but not out. If WASH loses, no action since they are snubbed. If both lose, BEDLAM.
It will be painfully obvious I don't watch as much NFL, but I love the middle-market resurgence this year: DAL-KC Super Bowl, DAK wins MVP. Cubs win three in a row, Tiger breaks Jack's record, Hoosiers take March Madness.
Feel free to rip this apart, I am open to discourse.
I generally agree. If Clemson loses, they have no shot at staying in though, regardless of what else happens. 2 losses (along with a couple other really close games against bad teams), not being a conference champ, and their best win being Florida State doesn't get it done. If Clemson or Washington loses, winner of B10 becomes new #4. If both lose, Colorado or Michigan makes it in - here I don't know what happens. Colorado is conference champion but Michigan beat them (this will also be true for B10 champ, though). I don't think OU has any shot at the playoff.
Tiger is washed up haha no way he's going to break Jack's record in one year. He might win one more major if he's lucky. Going for Kansas to get over the hump in NCAA basketball.
Growing up 30 min. from Lawrence, I appreciate your optimism for Self and the gang...I'll believe it once they are past the round of 32.....
I don't buy the argument that Penn St. is more deserving than Wisco given a win. Wisco lost to both OSU and Michigan by less than a touchdown and had a tougher schedule beating Nebraska and LSU. I get it that Penn St. beat OSU, but they also lost to Pitt.
Regardless, two Big Ten teams won't get in unless either Washington or Clemson lose. Can't snub Washington if they beat a highly ranked Colorado. If either it's easily the Big Ten Champ.
Penn st got lucky against OSU and beat no other good teams. They got throttled by Michigan and even most of their wins are not impressive against weak opponents. I truly hope Wisc beats their brains out and ends the trash that comes out of PSU fans mouths.
To me the interesting question is does OSU get left out for their conference champ if everyone wins as expected this weekend. I am not saying that I don't think they are the second best team in the country, I'm just curious to see how the committee treats the third place team in a conference over the champ.
Agreed on both points.
All we needed was an average QB, or slightly below in the 15-24 range, and we would be real playoff contenders (SB if JJ was healthy). Instead we have easily the worse QB in the league, even the Browns situation would be an upgrade
As a certifiably insane Giants fan, I'm obviously pulling for a Giants vs Patriots three-peat.
Yeah, I know we're mediocre at best, but the last time the Cowboys started their season at 9-1 we beat them in the playoffs and Eli got his first ring against the undefeated Patriots, so quite literally, crazier things have happened. But that's none of my business.
As a new england fan it pains me to say that NYG and Baltimore are severely under the radar right now.
agree about the Giants, not baltimore though
My Cowboys are rolling and are about to start getting healthy again on defense with Barry Church returning for Minnesota. What a great year.
And my Longhorns just hired the next great so football is going swimmingly for me right now!
Legit question - do you worry that Herman is under-prepared and over-hyped for the UT seat? He's adopting a win-now team and I worry the expectations are unfair next year.
What is your hope for 2017? Not trolling, just curious what the longhorn faithful feel.
Happy to answer.
I really don't. His pedigree is as good as any up-and-comer in the past 10 years and he's got as much respect as any coach in the nation (Saban came to him, not Urban, and UH after tOSU beat them). I've read A TON about him since he took the UH job and I've been confident since he took that job that he'll be a success wherever he goes. The guy knows what it takes and is meticulous in the same way that Meyer is. I saw someone I respect say that Texas hired a younger Urban Meyer a few years after it could have hired the real one and if you listen to his opening press conference or some of his other interviews, you'll understand.
Texas is returning 37 of 44 players in the 2 deep next year, and only 8 of those guys won't be back for 2018 (though we'll probably lose a couple to the draft). One thing that Charlie Strong did a great job of was restocking the cupboard, he has the team loaded and there's some real gems in there. This year was ridiculously painful and stupid crap like clock/game management/special teams/pissing away a whole offseason on defense absolutely destroyed Texas this year. We lost 5 games by a possession or less and you can look at each game and find one or two different things that would've resulted in a Texas win. Charlie just doesn't understand the how the game unfolds and doesn't care about the third phase.
Tom Herman is all about doing the little things right and making sure you win all three phases. He has a full grasp on how each phase flows together and I expect to see marked improvement next year in a weak Big 12. I won't give a record projection yet because there's a lot of pieces still falling into place, but I think people will be pretty shocked at how fast Texas turns around.
Not quite over Herman Leaving... :C
Sorry buddy, you guys still have Ed Oliver!
I'd be cautious about pumping the sunshine for whoever is hired into that cesspool in Austin...
Thanks Herbie. Way to talk about something that you know absolutely nothing about.
The job isn't a cesspool, it just has the same expectations and similar dynamic to that of any other elite job. Did people call LSU a cesspool when they tried to oust Miles last year? That was a total clown show. People want to say that "ole Red McCombs is such a mean man" and I don't agree with what he said at all but Red doesn't pull any real strings at UT despite his name being on my diploma. There are other guys that do and they pulled those strings to make sure Texas got their guy this time around.
When Coach Strong took the job, we were aware that he's not a great game manager and that he'd need a good staff to make it work. Well, the first part definitely was proven true over his tenure and it was obvious he hired the wrong guys within a few weeks of his staff being hired and their initial recruitments. And then we saw the offense.
People want to say that Coach Strong didn't get a fair shot because of the color of his skin or because of boosters weren't aligned but both of those are patently false. He got a fair shot and then kicked 10 players off the team for "rules violations," a few of which were justified while others were not, and failed to bring in a QB to back up a guy who was one hit away from giving up football (who is actually a personal friend). I would have loved for Charlie to succeed but 16-21 isn't going to cut it at a school like Texas.
I lost it when ohio missed the god damn field goal.
Then somehow won in 2x overtime,
NFL: I think people are going to be surprised but I don't see Dallas or Oakland making it to the superbowl. They have no playoff experience and history isn't on their side for that either. No rookie QB has ever won a superbowl. In my humble opinion I see Dallas losing to the Giants, Falcons, or Seahawks. Oakland has won a lot of close games against suspect competition so I think the chiefs, ravens, or patriots can knock them off. My beloved Patriots right now look eerily similar to the team in 2011 where they lived and died on Brady and made it all the way to the superbowl. Their defense as it stands right now can't win a superbowl so I have NYG vs NE superbowl with the score being 27-23.
College: Bama is unbeatable so I'm more interested in the other bowl games. My d1 school stinks at football this year so not as exciting.
This may not be a popular take but the Giants are a fraud. The defense is much improved but Eli is not a good QB this year and the running game is unreliable.
Everyone says that DAK can't do it but he's not just a good rookie QB, he's unequivocally shattering rookie records and is very clearly the greatest rookie QB ever. With the Dallas OL and veterans all over the field, this is a very good team even if QB1 and RB1 are rookies. People are really sleeping on the Dallas defense but that's not a wise move. They're giving up passing yards but that's because CB1, s1, CB2, and S2 are all hurt. S1 is coming back this week and CB2 is getting more healthy, but the Cowboys should have all of those guys back for the playoffs. And the run defense has been pretty good this year.
Dallas has shown nothing to prove that they are consistent in the playoffs and every team has bad games eventually. I hate the giants as much as the next guy but that offense is perfect vs the cowboys with obj & eli.
lol "this year". Eli Manning is the most overrated QB playing the game right now, he's been an interception waiting to happen his entire career. He misses the playoffs every other year. His championships are due to Wes Welker's awful drop and David Tyree's helmet catch, both driven by an extremely hot defense. If the dude makes the hall of fame it'll be because his last name is Manning.
The only way Bama doesn't win another national title is if Ohio St is in the playoff, they are pretty much the only team that has the personnel and play calling to soundly defeat the Tide. When they are at their best, I don't think any team in the country can defeat the Buckeyes.
Clemson might give the Tide a tough game but this year, Watson has thrown a lot more picks and the defense is not as great so I doubt they would be able to defeat them. Penn St and Wisconsin, if either of them get in, are going to embarrass the Big 10 like Michigan St did last year if they play against Bama, it won't even be close.
I think this is going to be tough for the committee to decide though, Alabama and Clemson are locks to be in (does not look like Clemson is going to lose) and they control their own destiny.
Washington might be able to play their way in if they are Pac 12 champs.
Putting either Penn St or Wisconsin in is going to be bad for the playoffs, they simply don't have what it takes to beat a team like Alabama or even stay in that game to be honest. Ideally, I hope the playoff ends up being:
1 - Alabama 2 - Clemson 3 - Ohio St 4 - Washington
If it ends up not having Ohio St in it and instead having Wisconsin and especially Penn St instead, Alabama is most likely going to be the champion unless Clemson pulls off a miracle.
Patriots fan here:
AFC is ours to lose as always, not so much worried about who Pats play against (at least in the AFC) as I am about staying healthy. Oakland and KC are good teams but Raiders' D is terrible and KC are too inconsistent. With a healthy Lewis, Gronk and Brady this really would be a no contest (yeah I'm biased). Without them i think things could get interesting. Having said that I think being the #1 seed is CRITICAL for the Patriots, so tired of them messing up in the season finale and have to travel for the playoffs and lose games that they easily could have won had they played at home.
In the NFC I am genuinely worried about Seattle and the Cowboys. Prescott is a spectacular athlete and that O-line is straight fire. Again though , really weak Defense. Seattle are just a tough team, organized, have weapons, are experienced and have tremendous home field advantage. Howver, they do seem to have lost that explosiveness on the offensive side of the ball. Would love to see a Dallas-Patriots Superbowl which would turn into a who has the better offense contest. One thing that I would like to throw out there: Unless you are the number 1 seed in the conference, and therefore get to play at home, I really don't see how your regular season record has any bearing on your Superbowl hopes, there are teams that are fundamentally good and there are those that aren't. In the end if you're going to win it all it doesn't matter if you entered the playoffs as the 2nd or 5th seed. Judging Superbowl chances by using regular season wins is terrible criteria, by that criteria the Pats should have won the last 5 Superbowls. I think the Falcons are flying under the radar and this year might be the year we see meaningful results from them in the playoffs.
Honestly, I'm pretty pumped to see Oakland do so well. For one I'm elated that Denver got bumped off from the top of the AFC West and secondly its just refreshing to see some new faces in the Superbowl conversation. As the playoff seeds stand right now, Washington and Miami are the two #6 seeds. They're both doing well lately and could see them pulling first round upsets, other than that I don't think there is any true favourite (as much as I still think the Patriots are still slightly better than the other contenders).
Personal Predictions:
AFC Championship New England-Oakland I could see Oakland riding that "enthusiasm wave" all the way to the conference final where they are finally overcome by the Brady-Belichick one-two experience punch
NFC Championship Dallas-Atlanta I think Atlanta have enough fire power to overcome everyone else in the NFC but being ranked 29th for points against I don't think they will be able to compete when/if they meet Dallas
Superbowl Dallas-New England
Pats fan checking in. Agree 100%.
I hate that Gronk gets injured all the fucking time!!!! Without him NE isn't the same. With him they are virtually unbeatable.
How about the Nittany Lions. They have come so far from the beginning of the year. It's great to have them playing at a competitive level again. The committee has got to put them in ahead of Washington if they can win the Big Ten championship. The committee is supposed to put emphasis on how a team is playing recently and also conference championships are supposed to matter, not to mention the OSU win. The alumni base is giant so great tv ratings too.
Saquon Barkley: 2017 Heisman
bl00211 U mad bro?
No chance that happens. Even though they'd have better wins than Washington, a loss to Pitt and a 39 point loss to Michigan vs. a loss to USC won't allow them to jump the Huskies.
I'll admit I don't like PSU but clearly you must be a fan. Anyone who thinks that they are a top 4 talent must be a homer. You truly think they are playing well? Outside of the OSU win (which I admit is good, but 1 good win doesn't make a season), you can only point to an Iowa win as being strong. The remaining teams that PSU beat are not good and Pitt is not a solid loss. Please tell me about this recent roll they are on- congrats on beating teams with 11 wins combined the last 3 weeks.
The big 10 has some solid top level teams- OSU, UM, Wisc- but outside of those the bottom is atrocious, allowing weak teams to pick up a lot of easy wins.
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