Sportaholic College Football Weekend Setup 10/14/11

Week 7 marks the beginning of the second half of the college football season. Most teams are now fighting for conference supremacy and getting into bowl position. No marquee match ups this week but a little bit of everything on the schedule should make for an interesting weekend. Michigan travels to the land of Sparty to take on Michigan State in what is always a fevered game. Arizona State takes on Oregon in what could be the preview of the first potential Pac-12 championship game. Oklahoma State vs. Texas sounded like a good game until the Sooners beat down the Longhorns last week.




This is the turning point for most teams this week. Can a few get hot and make a run at contenders, teams like Michigan State, Washington, and Virginia. All these teams have an outside chance of winning their conference but if that is to come true they have to put the pedal to the medal for the rest of the season;. Can the disappointing teams like Florida State, Virginia Tech and Ohio State do anything to salvage their year? We will find out in the second half and hopefully for these teams sake it will be better than the first half.

# 18 Arizona State (5-1) vs. # 9 Oregon (5-1) – Oregon’s offense will be without the services of the nations leading rusher LaMichael James due to his bum elbow but that shouldn’t hamper the high powered offense. Kenjon Barner will take the place of James and shouldn’t be a significant drop off. DeAnthony “Black Mamba” Thomas also has the speed to turn the corner on any defense. The strength of the Sun Devils is their defense with them being ranked in the top 25 nationally. Top ASU LB Vontaze Bufict will have to step up big time against an Oregon offense averaging 312 yards rushing. The Sun Devils only give up 119 a game so something has to give in that department. I think the key to this one will be the play of Ducks QB Darron Thomas. Without James, will Chip Kelly allow Thomas air it out against a Sun Devils team that is stout against the run? Can big Brock Osweiler and the ASU offense give the Sun Devils defense enough points to contend with the Ducks? I think they can and I believe they will spring the upset. The Pick: Arizona State

# 11 Michigan (6-0) vs. # 23 Michigan State (4-1) - The winner of this game will be in sole possession of first place in the Legends Division and have the bragging rights in the physical series of these two in-state rivals. Denard “Shoelaces” Robinson will be a handful for the Spartans as he threw for 327 and ran for another 117 yards, scoring four touchdowns in the process. The Spartans are led by QB Kirk Cousins and their top ranked defense. Sparty is only allowing 173.4 yards per game and 64 rushing this season. B.J Cunningham is 11th in the in the country with 116.4 yards and is Cousins go to guy. Edwin Baker can also get loose at a moment’s notice as evident from his 147 yard outburst against the Wolverines last year. Its boils down to if the Spartans can stop the one man wrecking crew known as Denard Robinson. He is everything to the Wolverines offense and I think he has another big day and leads them to the win. The Pick: Michigan

Florida (3-2) vs. Auburn (3-2) – It just wouldn’t be right to have a college football column without somehow mentioning the SEC. This weekend’s best game is between a couple of 2 loss teams that were dominated in their last game. It was expected from the Gators as they were without starting QB Jeff Brantley and had to start freshman Jacoby Brissett in his place. The Tigers on the other hand were man handled by Arkansas after handing with the Razorbacks early in the game. Florida’s defense is still talented and they have one of the best front seven’s in all of college football. Auburn will have to find a way to generate some offense and after QB Barrett Trotter’s 6-19 performance last week, the call for stud freshman QB Kiehl Frazier will only grow louder. The Gators will attack the Auburn offense especially when they pass with defensive linemen like Shariff Floyd coming after Trotter. Michael Dyer has been the most consistent player offensively for the Tigers, but I think even he may struggle against this Gator defense. Who ever starts for the Gators at QB rather if it’s Brissett or other QB freshman Jeff Driskell, they should be able to put up points on the porous Tiger defense. Florida still has burners Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps so it appears they will just wear down the Tigers. The Pick: Florida

Game of the Week: Arizona State vs. Oregon - This one was a tough decision this week. As I stated above there are really no marquee games of two top 10 tens facing off or anything like that. I will go with Arizona State vs. Oregon because of its potential implications in the Pac-12. This could be the inaugural Pac-12 championship game and it’s a good contrast in styles as the high powered Ducks are a dominant offensive team going up against the ferocious defense of the Sun Devils. They can play a little football out west I guess.

Most intriguing game: #6 Oklahoma State vs. Texas: I guess you could call this one the mini Red River Shootout as the Cowboys travel to Austin and take on the Longhorns. This one is in intriguing because it marks the second straight year that Ok. State will have to go Austin because of the Big 12 shrinking to 10 teams and scheduling conflicts. Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon look to get loose against a vulnerable looking Longhorn secondary that was torched last week by Landry Jones.

Under the radar game – Baylor vs. Texas A&M: The “Lawsuit” bowl as some are billing this one will be an exciting game. The Aggies have given up two leads of over 15 points in their two losses and Baylor’s RG3 is always ready to air it out and show the athleticism that has made him an early Heisman candidate. Kendall Wright will also have a say in this one. I look for an offensive explosion at college station this weekend.

Coach better get it right game: Jimbo Fisher Florida State – Just a few weeks ago we were talking about how the Seminoles are on the cusp of returning to their glory days. A few weeks later and the wheels have fallen off in Tallahassee as the “Noles are now 2-3 after a humiliating loss to Wake Forest. Now I’m not saying Fisher is in the hot seat but he needs to get his team back to winning and change the momentum that they have had over the last few games. No better place to start then against Duke, who you just can’t lose to if you consider yourself a top program. Coach Fisher you have to get it right this game.

Weekend Round-up Aug, 15 2011

Weekends like the one that just passed is what I live for as a Sportaholic, as it was great action across the board in various sports. I was able to have the high of seeing my beloved football this weekend, as the NFL finally got back on the field. I was also hit with a low as Dan Uggla’s 33-game hit streak came to an end after a great catch by Cubs 2nd baseman Darwin Barney made a spectacular catch to ice Dan’s historic steak. Serena Williams continued her path back to the top of women’s tennis as she won yet another tournament (The Rogers Cup) coming off of her injury and looks to be rounding into form just in time for the US open. And low and behold, Keegan Bradley, an American won the PGA championship tournament ending a major drought that hasn’t seen an American win a major since Phil Mickelson won the 2010 Masters championship. Even college football is making waves as conference realignment has reared its head again with Texas A&M supposedly headed to the SEC, only to have to pump the brakes and be on temporary hold until the most powerful college conference decides just how it this to shake out. .




A wild weekend of finishes, rumors and pressure filled tournaments to get me fired up and ready to go on this Monday, so lets jump right into things.

Dan Uggla streaking no more: The Atlanta Braves 2nd baseman finally had his 33-game streak snapped as he went 0-3 against the Cubs on Sunday. The streak which started way back on July 4th saw Uggla raise his average from .171 to .231 and he hit 15 home runs during that span as well. The steak may have very well have continued if it wasn’t for the web gem Darwin Barney made on Uggla’s third at bat. The Cubs 2nd basemen busted it over from his position on a sinking liner and made a leaping catch that most 2nd basemen including Uggla would not have made. Uggla said as much when interviewed on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, “I wish I was playing 2nd on my hit, because I ain’t making that play/” joked the Braves 2nd basemen. As much as I hate to see his streak end, his team the Braves is in good position for the playoffs as they are leading the NL wildcard by 2 games over Arizona.

Serena wins the Rogers Cup: It has been a long winding road for Williams who has endeared a tough year to say the least. The former number 1 ranked Williams sister seems to have found her grove as she won her 2nd tournament of the year and is heating up right before the US open. She defeated Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-2 as she dominated the Australian in straight sets. Williams was sidelined just days after her Wimbledon victory last summer, first with a foot injury sustained when she stepped on a piece of glass in a restaurant in Germany, and then diagnosed with pulmonary embolism in her lungs late this summer. Said Williams: I consider myself a favorite to just do what I can do best, if that means winning the U.S. Open, obviously I want to,'' she said. "I went through a lot of things physically and mentally and emotionally, and going through so much, I'm just taking it one day at a time and just going with it.'' Williams will continue her comeback and with this win she put the women’s tennis world on notice that she is back.

Keegan Bradley wins the PGA Championship: It had been awhile since an American had won a prestigious major and the boys across the pond had no shame in telling us about it, until now. Bradley became the first major winner for the Americans in 5 majors as he captured a heart stopping and epic PGA Championship. On a week where Tiger Woods was no where to be found on the leader board, Bradley and fellow American Jason Dunfer staged a mano e mano battle for the championship. Bradley who is also a PGA rookie, hit an assortment of wild shots that got him into contention after Dunfer looked as if he would run away with the win. Dunfer squandered a 5-stroke lead and Bradley capitalized as he forced a playoff and would eventually win. It was great to see two contrasting personalities going all in as Bradley was the picture of exuberance and Dunfer had a cool and calm demeanor. The end result was that America rightfully owned a major and it came in dramatic fashion.

Texas A&M to the SEC? Not so fast: The SEC has rebuffed the Aggies for the time being it their bid to become the 13th SEC school. Per Florida president Bernie Machen: "The SEC Presidents and Chancellors met today and reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment. We recognize, however, that future conditions may make it advantageous to expand the number of institutions in the league. We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion. No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M." Long story short, The SEC decided to let the process of adding another member play itself out. In the world we live in today its easy to get phony info and anything else off the internet but its hard to figure out the truth from the rumors. Texas A&M more than likely will eventually land in the SEC just not at this current moment. Plenty of legal play will be involved which means more time before this one comes to fruition. Hold your horses just a bit longer Aggies fans, but your day of SEC play should be on its way.

Tennessee Titans win their first pre-season game over the Minnesota Vikings: The Titans kicked off a new era, as this was the first official game under new Head Coach Mike Munchak. So it goes without saying that the Titans wanted to make sure to get the win for their newly minted coach. We all know it’s a preseason game but no matter what you do, you win it,” Munchak said. I personally wanted to see how Matt Hasselbeck would respond as it was reported that he was struggling in the new system of Chris Palmer and the Titans offense. Hasselbeck went 5-6 for 55 yards and even rookie Jake Locker got in on the action as he tossed a 45-yard bomb to Yamon Figurs on a busted play to begin with. Locker botched the snap, then picked the ball and delivered a perfect strike for the touchdown. “Crazy way to have your first touchdown pass, but again, that will be a great story for him to tell,” Hasselbeck said of Locker’s TD.Locker ended the game with an impressive 130.0 QB rating and was 7-10 for 89 yards. The Titans looked impressive on the defensive side of the ball as well as they held the Vikings to just 3 points for the whole game. The defense looked more disciplined as they forced two turnovers on Minnesota’s offense.

All in or in all a good start to the season for the Titans as they saw some things they can build off of going into the season. Both QBs looked sharp and look to get better with every snap under their belt. Even Stefon Johnson, the USC product who suffered a season ending ankle injury, got iinto the action and ran over a couple of Vikings in the process. The Titans next pre-season game is this Saturday against the St. Louis Rams as they try to improve as much as they can before their first regular season game.



Notes: Titans DE Derrick Morgan(notes) had a sack. The first-round draft pick a year ago, Morgan is coming back after tearing his left ACL in his fourth game. … Griffin is returning from knee surgery after tearing an ACL in October, and Shiancoe was out this week with a hamstring injury … Asher Allen(notes) started for Griffin, and Kleinsasser started for Shiancoe. … The Titans sat WR Kenny Britt(notes) and DT Sen’Derrick Marks(notes), and rookie Karl Klug(notes) started for Marks. Justin Gage(notes) started for Britt. The Titans also scratched S Robert Johnson(notes) (hamstring) and Nick Schommer(notes) (hamstring) and LS/LB John Stokes(notes) (shoulder).