Predictions - 11/22

Wow - a big weekend in college football! Utah and Boise St. put their unbeaten records on the line - Rivalry games across the country - finally, TECH looks to beat the Sooners! Great slate of games folks so get ready to sit on the couch for the day to soak it all in.

BYU vs Utah ...... BYU 34-17
Boise St. vs Nevada ...... Boise St. 42-24
Michigan St. vs Penn St. ...... Penn St. 42-35
Florida St. vs Maryland ...... Maryland 24-13
Boston College vs Wake Forest ...... BC 34-10
Michigan vs. Ohio St. ....... Ohio St. 56-14
Pittsburgh vs Cincinnati ....... Cincy 24-16
Oregon St. vs Arizona ...... Oregon St. 21-14
Ole Miss vs LSU ....... LSU 31-14
Air Force vs TCU ...... TCU 42-28
NC State vs North Carolina ...... UNC 31-7
Citadel vs Florida ....... Florida 52-7
Tennessee vs Vanderbilt ....... Vandy 34-13
Stanford vs California ....... Stanford 24-21
Illinois vs Northwestern ....... N'Western 34-23
Connecticut vs South Florida ....... UConn 34-21
Indiana vs Purdue ....... Purdue 45-10

Texas Tech vs Oklahoma ....... TECH 52-45

Predictions - How did I do?

There weren't many marquee games but like other weeks, we did not have a shortage of upsets and shocks. Coming into this week my record was 26-5 -- after? Let's see.

(Correct picks in Bold - 2nd score is actual game score)

Cincinnati vs Louisville ... Cincinnati 31-24 (28-20)
Rutgers vs South Florida ... Rutgers 24-17 (49-16)
Duke vs Clemson ... Clemson 27-17 (31-7)
Northwestern vs Michigan ... Northwestern 35-17 (21-14)
Ohio State vs Illinois ... Ohio State 17-14 (30-20)
Purdue vs Iowa ... Iowa 35-21 (22-17)
Georgia vs Auburn ... Georgia 45-10 (17-13)
Indiana vs Penn State ... Penn State 35-7 (34-7)
Texas vs Kansas ... Texas 49-35 (35-7)
South Carolina vs Florida ... Florida 44-28 (56-6)
North Carolina vs Maryland ... North Carolina 35-24 (17-15)
California vs Oregon State ... Oregon St. 28-14 (34-21)
BYU vs Air Force ... Air Force 28-14 (38-24)
Minnesota vs Wisconsin ... Minn. 35-28 (35-32)
Wake Forest vs NC State ... Wake 28-21 (21-17)
Boise State vs Idaho ... Boise State 56-7 (45-10)
USC vs Stanford ... USC 17-10 (45-23)
Missouri vs Iowa State ... Missouri 45-14 (52-20)
Connecticut vs Syracuse ... UConn 45-10 (39-14)
Mississippi State vs Alabama ... Alabama 28-7 (32-7)
Boston College vs Florida State ... BC 35-21 (27-17)
Oklahoma State vs Colorado ... OK State 49-14 (30-17)
Troy vs LSU ... LSU 42-14 (40-31)
Utah vs San Diego State ... Utah 35-14 (63-14)
Tulsa vs Houston ... Tulsa 45-10 (70-30)
Vanderbilt vs Kentucky ... Vanderbilt 24-14 (31-24)

Record : 21-5 Overall : 47-10

Kentucky gets "Gardner-Webbed" Again

Last season the unthinkable happened to the Kentucky men's basketball team - Gardner-Webb beat them in their season opener at Rupp Arena. This season, the Wildcats have much higher hopes for the success of the team. Then the opening game came and this time is was VMI, also of the Big South conference like Gardner-Webb, who came away from Rupp Arena with the 111-103 victory.

VMI usually does not finish with a winning record most seasons since it is a military school and thus does not get high caliber recruits. In fact, their last winning season came in 1997-98. Their game plan is simple though - shoot 3's and shoot a lot of them. In fact, their plan was to attempt 50 3-point baskets. They did not reach that number but they did manage 31 attempts and hit on 14 of them. That was easily the difference in the game. SEC teams are just not used playing teams that just shoot and run. This game made one thing clear - Kentucky is no longer the Wildcats of old. Time to focus on some defense guys - you'll need it against North Carolina.

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Football Predictions - 11/15

I apologize for missing several weeks of predictions but here are my picks for this week.

Cincinnati vs Louisville ... Cincinnati 31-24
Rutgers vs South Florida ... Rutgers 24-17
Duke vs Clemson ... Clemson 27-17
Northwestern vs Michigan ... Northwestern 35-17
Ohio State vs Illinois ... Ohio State 17-14
Purdue vs Iowa ... Iowa 35-21
Georgia vs Auburn ... Georgia 45-10
Indiana vs Penn State ... Penn State 35-7
Texas vs Kansas ... Texas 49-35
South Carolina vs Florida ... Florida 44-28
North Carolina vs Maryland ... North Carolina 35-24
California vs Oregon State ... Oregon State 28-14
BYU vs Air Force ... Air Force 28-14
Minnesota vs Wisconsin ... Minnesota 35-28
Wake Forest vs NC State ... Wake Forest 28-21
Boise State vs Idaho ... Boise State 56-7
USC vs Stanford ... USC 17-10 (But I hope I am wrong!)
Missouri vs Iowa State ... Missouri 45-14
Connecticut vs Syracuse ... UConn 45-10
Mississippi State vs Alabama ... Alabama 28-7
Boston College vs Florida State ... Boston College 35-21
Oklahoma State vs Colorado ... OK State 49-14
Troy vs LSU ... LSU 42-14
Utah vs San Diego State ... Utah 35-14
Tulsa vs Houston ... Tulsa 45-10
Vanderbilt vs Kentucky ... Vanderbilt 24-14

Previous Record - 26-5

SEC Women's Basketball Predictions

Last year was yet another banner year for the SEC with Tennessee winning yet another NCAA National Championship. Also, a 5th-straight Final Four appearance for LSU ended with a similar ending - a narrow loss to the eventual champion. This past year it was the Volunteers ending the Tigers' season with a 47-46 loss. The SEC had a great off-season showing with 5 teams making the NCAA tournament and 2 making the WNIT bracket. Despite some key losses to Tennessee and LSU, it should still be another good year in the SEC.

Here are my predictions:

1. Vanderbilt (11-3, 25-9) - Should be breakout year for the Commodores
2. Tennessee (13-1, 36-2)
3. LSU (14-0, 31-6) - Tigers replace all 5 starters & add top recruiting class
4. Auburn (7-7, 20-12) - Pre-season Player of Year DeWanna Bonner will carry Tigers
5. Georgia (8-6, 23-10)
6. Kentucky (8-6, 17-16) - Wildcats have a good chance to make NCAA this year
7. Florida (6-8, 13-16) - Expect the Gators to make post-season this year
8. Mississippi State (4-10, 16-15) - Should make the WNIT if they can survive non-SEC
9. Ole Miss (6-8, 16-16)
10. Arkansas (2-12, 17-13)
11. South Carolina (4-10, 16-16)
12. Alabama (1-13, 8-22) Expect another dismal SEC season for Crimson Tide

I expect Vanderbilt to finally break out and edge out Volunteers and Tigers for the regular season title, but I would not be surprised if Tennessee or LSU wins the conference tournament. Both teams have strong freshman classes coming in but LSU has the edge with 5 top recruits joining the team this season - two of which are already showing how good they are in the exhibitions.

SEC Men's Basketball Predictions

It is almost time to kick off the 2008-09 college basketball season. Nationally, 2007-08 was a down season for the Southeastern Conference with only 5 teams making the NCAA tourney - it's important to note that number would only have been 4 had Georgia not made a miracle run to win the SEC Tournament. The biggest disappointment last season was easily the 13-18 LSU Tigers. The Tigers' high expectations took a huge hit when they lost star forward (and former Freshman All-SEC/All America) Tasmin Mitchell after just 3 games.

My Predictions: (Last year's records in parentheses)

Eastern Division:
1. Tennessee (14-2, 31-5)
2. Florida (8-8, 24-12) -- could surpass the Volunteers thanks to #2 recruiting class
3. Kentucky (12-4, 18-13)
4. South Carolina (5-11, 14-18)
5. Vanderbilt (10-6, 26-8) -- Overcoming the loss of SEC POY Shan Foster will be hard
6. Georgia (4-12, 17-17) -- Bulldogs will need another miracle to make NCAA again

Western Division:
1. LSU (6-10, 13-18) -- Mitchell is back, Thornton should be up for POY
2. Alabama (5-11, 17-16)
3. Ole Miss (7-9, 24-11) -- Rebels looking to improve on 2008 NIT Semi-Finals
4. Miss. St. (12-4, 23-11) -- Needed an 18-5 rally to beat NAIA champ Ok. City in exhibition
5. Arkansas (9-7, 23-12) -- Will be lucky to make even the NIT
6. Auburn (4-12, 14-16)

The SEC should be able to get at least 6 teams - possibly 7 - into the NCAA tournament this year if the teams can take care of business outside of conference play. Look for LSU to make the biggest turnaround from last year with Mitchell and Thornton leading the way with a strong recruiting class. I still expect Tennessee to be the team to beat against this season.

Editor's Note : Thank you to Manxxman for pointing out my error!

Tech : We Should Be #1!

I said it last week and I will say it this week - Texas Tech is CLEARLY the best team in the country right now. Bama should thank LSU's Jarett Lee for being a young QB and handing them 14 points with 4 INTs. SAD! To top it off, Alabama had to go to overtime to finish off the Tiger's debacle. As we all know, Penn St.'s weak schedule caught up and passed them this weekend when they lost to Iowa 24-23 this weekend.

So, what did Tech do? They routed a very good Oklahoma St. team 56-20 - and only allowed a total of 6 points in the second half. That doesn't sound dominating enough for you? Try this out : 38 first downs compared to 18 for the Cowboys and 40-50 passing for Graham Harrell (5/5 for backup Potts) resulting in 456 (629 total offense) compared to just 328 total yards for the Cowboys. If that's not the work of the best team in the country I don't know what is.

Volunteers need Some Help - QUICK!

The Tennessee Volunteer football team had a lot of high expectations for this season - as they always do. The SEC-East is always tough to win but Tennessee was expected to contend with Florida and Georgia but they have fallen on tough times. So tough in fact that long-time coach Phil Fulmer will no longer be the coach after this season. Last season they finished tied with Georgia in the East with a 6-2 conference mark and 10-4 overall. This season? So far they are last in the East with a 1-5 mark and 3-7 overall.

This biggest disappointment by far is their pathetic performance today versus Wyoming. Yes, Wyoming! Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for Tennessee, they managed to lose to the 120-ranked offense. That's just sad. That sets up Tennessee for a 3-9 season since they still have to play Vanderbilt and Kentucky - both of which are playing far superior to the Volunteers.