10/29/2012

Garwin Rankings & More

Big Weekend in college football.  Notre Dame is back.  Florida gets knocked from the unbeatens AND KState keeps rolling.  This week all we get is a Bama-LSU slobber knocker.

This week I’m going to combine My Top 7 along with the Garwin Rankings and GR Conf Strength Post, so here we go.

I’m a big fan of this KState team.  I think they can and will run the table and have overall had more impressive wins than Oregon and Notre Dame to date, BUT I think that the only team that will be able to hang with Bama (who is on cruise control) is Oregon.  I don’t think KState or ND’s offense could do much vs the Tide where as Oregon I’d be curious to see.  Oregon’s slate gets tougher coming up with Stanford, Cal, USC, Oregon State and a possible USC rematch.  The Irish also have a date with USC so the Trojans get a chance to play spoiler in the next few weeks. I think the SEC is lurking with teams waiting to jump on Bama (LSU, UGA) but Bama should roll them and make it to Miami.


This week in the Garwin Rankings.  Bama holds on to the top spot with a  sizeable margin over #2 K-State.  Oregon dropped from 2 to 4 after drubbing a BAD Colorado team, and are just barely behind the Fighting Irish.  Florida drops 3 to 7 after the loss to Georgia and hello Texas A&M and Louisville to the top 10.  Clemson also returns after improving to 7-1.


The Big XII is by far the strongest conference and the SEC is still second, both separating from the other conferences. 

10/26/2012

Big Ten Football - Week 9 Picks


BIG TEN
GAME OF THE WEEK
OHIO STATE vs PENN STATE
You can probably argue that 2 teams on probation matching up vs each other can’t be the game of the week, and the 2 teams in Lincoln this week may argue it.  But right now OSU & PSU are the 2 best teams in the league.  OSU is coming off a fight with Purdue where Braxton Miller was hurt.  He is expected to play this week.  PSU is high off a Big Ten Network Primetime game destruction of the Hawks.  Though no one is going bowling or to Indy, this should be a great game.

Season Record52-1655-1352-16
Week 9MattChadKyle
Indiana vs IllinoisIndianaIndianaIndiana
Iowa vs NorthwesternIowaNorthwesternIowa
Michigan State vs WisconsinWisconsinWisconsinWisconsin
Michigan vs NebraskaMichiganNebraskaMichigan
Ohio State vs Penn StateOhio StatePenn StateOhio State
Purdue vs MinnesotaPurdueMinnesotaPurdue

10/22/2012

Garwin Rankings

Thankfully though technology sometimes can suck…it can be restored and rebuilt, with that, welcome back new and improved Garwin Rankings!

Alabama takes the spot this week as Oregon State plummets with the Pac-12 conference showing some flaws.  Alabama is reaping benefits of Michigan hashing out Big Ten wins.  The SEC holds strong too taking 3 of the Top 10 slots with the Big XII slotting 2.

School
REC
G PTs
Conf
Alabama
7-0
26.05
SEC
Oregon
7-0
24.24
Pac-12
Florida
7-0
24.16
SEC
Kansas State
7-0
24.07
Big XII
Notre Dame
7-0
22.92
Independent
Texas Tech
6-1
21.55
Big XII
Oregon State
6-0
21.25
Pac-12
Mississippi State
7-0
20.99
SEC
Florida State
7-1
20.92
ACC
Rutgers
7-0
20.35
Big East

The Big XII continues to hold the top conference slot too well ahead of the SEC in 2nd and the Big Ten comes in 3rd. 

Conf
GarPTs
Big XII
13.43
SEC
9.81
Big Ten
7.45
Big East
6.99
Pac-12
6.88
ACC
5.25
MWC
-0.76
Sunbelt
-1.56
MAC
-1.74
WAC
-2.30
CUSA
-7.20

Full Garwin Rankings



10/19/2012

Big Ten Football - Week 8 Predictions

Though we haven't posted our picks, rest assured the picks are being made and tallied for the Big Ten Jimmy John's Challenge.  Getting the blog back going after being busy for a while.  So here we go.  This weeks picks.

BIG TEN
GAME OF THE WEEK
MICHIGAN STATE vs MICHIGAN
Sparty has owned the Wolverines beating them 4 times in a row.  This is D-Robs last shot at the Spartans.  Michigan is looking like the team to beat in the Legends Division drubbing Illinois and Purdue the last 2 weeks.  The Spartans are a step up in competition and have to right the ship after losing to Iowa last week.  A loss and 1-3 conference record all but ends Michigan State's chances to get back to Indy.

WEEK 8 PICKS
Game Matt Chad Kyle
Indiana vs Navy Indiana Indiana Indiana
Michigan State vs Michigan Michigan State Michigan Michigan
Minnesota vs Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin
Nebraska vs Northwestern Nebraska Nebraska Nebraska
Penn State vs Iowa Iowa Iowa Iowa
Purdue vs Ohio State Ohio State Ohio State Ohio State
B1G JJ Challenge Standigns
Chad: 51-11
Matt: 49-13
Kyle: 48-14

10/15/2012

Collge Football Selection Sunday?

As much as I love the Big Ten and believe it and the SEC has the best bowl ties, I look at what the lineups could be and think maybe something else should be done with the bowls.  Ohio State (the Big Ten’s best team) and Penn State are both home this year, meaning teams are moving up 2 notches to play stiffer competition.  With 3 of those games vs SEC on New Year’s day, some teams maybe overmatched. 

We also have the issue with a ton of bowls, spreading out the good teams, due to conference ties playing crappy games and giving the fan crappy matchups.  I already think that the number of bowls need cut by 10 and also the required record should be 7-5 to make a bowl.  I’m tired of 6-6 vs 6-6, and judging by attendance records so is everyone else.  The only ones who aren’t are ADs and coaches who get raises and another line on their resume`.   After next year there is also the addition of the “Champions Bowl” for the Big XII and SEC.  Hey, another NEW bowl to fill.

To make these bowls a little more exciting I thought of the following and how it could work out.  The top 4 teams are going to the playoff.  Whatever games those are.  Big Ten, Pac-12, Big XII, SEC and ACC Champs all have a home with the Rose, Orange and Champions Bowl. 

The BCS gave us a “fantasy” type draft of who they want to see  in their bowls based on eligibility.  So why can’t we do that with the rest of the bowls? 

After top tier bowls for the playoffs and champions are set for the Big 5, add in the MWC, MAC, CUSA, Big East, Sun Belt Champs and also the next available 10 in whatever the BCS Rankings are going to look like and have the next top 5 Bowls snake draft the games?  Obviously the smaller conference champs not named Boise State are going to drop and not be selected due to obvious reasons, but set up a tier of bowls they can’t drop past, like tier 4?

For example check this out (and I’m including OSU since they will be eligible in a few years and using current AP Ranking) – Here’s your Top Tier with Semi-finals:
Bowl
Match Up
Nat'l Semifinal-Sugar
Alabama vs K-State
Nat'l Semifinal-Fiesta
Florida vs Oregon
Rose
Ohio State vs Oregon State
Champions
LSU vs Oklahoma
Orange
Notre Dame vs Florida State

--Top 4 teams of Bama-Oregon-KState-Florida make it to the Final Four.
--Rose gets Big Ten Champ OSU and highest Pac12 left Oregon State (keeping conf ties there for champions only)
--Champions gets its two highest ranked ties in LSU and Oklahoma
--Orange gets the ACC Champ FSU & tie in Notre Dame.

Tier 2 then gets a snake draft of the next 10 teams, plus the Conf Champs that have yet to be selected, so that would leave these teams available.
South Carolina
Louisville
WAC-UTSA
USC
West Virginia
CUSA-Tulsa
Georgia
Texas Tech
MAC-Ohio
Clemson
Rutgers
MWC-Nevada
Mississippi State
Texas A&M
SB-WKU
Big East -Rutgers

Bowls looking like this.
Cotton
USC vs Texas Tech
Capital One
Georgia vs Texas A&M
Outback
South Carolina vs Rutgers
Gator
Mississippi State vs West Virginia
Peach
Clemson vs Louisville


And do this so forth.  Now there isn’t a lot of Big Ten flavor in here, IMO that sucks, but the conference is what it is, and we are only half way through. 

Do this the Sunday after the Championship games LIVE and give the bowls only 3 minutes to make the selection.  Schools learn live on tv what’s going on and where they are going all at once.  How’s that for a Selection Sunday?   

25 bowls, 50 teams, and everyone on the edge of their seat.  It’d be great.