College Picks Week 12

Last two weeks of the college football season. This is crazy! The year has gone by way too fast! Anyways, headed to Athens this week to cover the Georgia/Kentucky game. Its a pretty big game for both teams, but more importantly, a pretty cool place to see for me. To add to the specialness of this game, UGA passed away yesterday. I met UGA VII last year and Georgia has already come out and said there will be NO mascot at the game, only a wreath around the Dawgs house.

Anyways here is a picture of me and UGA VII. He will be missed!

Here are the College Projections for the week. Bowl Updates to come on Monday!

Chattanooga @ Alabama-
Next week is the Iron Bowl and then the SEC Championship game. Auburn thinks they get an advantage with a bye week this week to prep for Bama but in essence, so do the Tide.
WINNER- ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
Mississippi State @ Arkansas
The Bulldogs have played well in the first season under Coach Dan Mullens. They have rode Anthony Dixon to wins and are teetering with a bowl/non bowl season. A loss makes them ineligible and so heading to Fayetteville the Bulldogs will be full of emotion. The Razorbacks cinched up their own bowl future with a blow out win over Troy. With their bowl eligibility already in had, Arkansas will take a step back and lose to a desparate Mississippi State.
WINNER- MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS
Florida International @ Florida
The Gators are done with SEC play until the title game. Florida will be playing it safe and hope to get ahead early to rest players.
WINNER- FLORIDA GATORS
LSU @ Mississippi
Mississippi’s “dream” schedule is about to conclude and so far they haven’t really lived up to expectations. They hosted Alabama and lost and now they host a bipolar LSU team. The Tigers and Mississippi have their eyes on the Capital One Bowl. This game is basically a playoff for that. The Rebels introduced a new aspect to their offense against Tennessee last week with a running game. In Oxford, the Rebels should be able to get the win. LSU is too inconstant and plays too close to continue to squeak by…
WINNER- OLE MISSISSIPPI REBELS
Vanderbilt @ Tennessee
After last seasons bowl winning season, the Commodores have come back down to earth losing every single SEC game and now close out the season with big brother, in state Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols will be angry about the embarrassing loss to Mississippi and still have a chance for a decent bowl game.
WINNER- TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS
Kentucky @ Georgia
The Kentucky Wildcats and the Georgia Bulldogs got to bowl eligibility last week and now they look for seeding. Last year’s match up the Cats nearly won, but fell behind too early to mount a comeback. This year, Kentucky comes to Athens banged up. Starting a freshman at quarterback will be tough for the Cats to overcome…
WINNER- GEORGIA BULLDOGS




ACC- NORTH CAROLINA o Boston College
BIG 12- NEBRAKSA o Kansas State
BIG EAST- RUTGERS o Syracuse
BIG 10- OHIO STATE o Michigan
PAC 10- STANFORD o Cal
UPSET SPECIAL
ARIZONA o Oregon

Lay Back and Let It Ride Kentucky Basketball

Sure, it was Miami of Ohio and the talent levels between them and the Kentucky Wildcats is vast but before Big Blue nation starts looking for a horse to tie their ankle to and drag themselves to their demise just remember: these players are young and Kentucky did get the win.

With the whirl win that was the John Calipari coaching signing followed by him signing the top recruiting class in the nation Kentucky was chosen by media to be a team destined for a late run in March. In Kentucky, fans deemed the team the greatest of all time and argued that the number five preseason ranking was too low. But how quickly fans forget, Kentucky was not even in the NCAA tournament last year and they lost their top scorer, Jodie Meeks, to the NBA.
With a brand new team, Kentucky will have a lot of these games early. In fact it was after the 75 to 59 victory that John Calipari said that Miami of Ohio had a chance to beat Kentucky if they didn’t play well.

It certainly got close, but Kentucky did prevail. And that is something fans can hang their hats on for now. The Kentucky Wildcats of last year would have not been able to come back from an 18 point deficit. In fact, early in the year last year it was a game against VMI, that the Cats could not stop the military institute from missing a basket and they eventually lost.

After the game John Calipari said, “I was happy that our team got down by 18.” And continued by saying, “At each time out my players kept saying we are going to win this. We are not going to give this one away.”

And they didn’t give it away. With six tenths of a second left freshman John Wall pulled up at around the free throw line, hit a shot, and won the game.

No, they did not win by 37. No the game did not look pretty. But this could be the game at the end of the season that players and coaches point to as a maturation point for the remainder of the season.

SEC Bowl Projections Week 11

BCS National Title- ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE v Texas
I have been going back and forth and back and forth on this game. Its going to be an SEC v Texas game but which SEC team. After this weeks performances I give the edge to Alabama to meet Florida in Atlanta and beat the Gators. The Gators have not looked the same as last years unit and Alabama keeps playing stronger and stronger.

SUGAR BOWL- FLORIDA GATORS v Cincinnati
The Gators have played too close for comfort this year and should land in the SEC’s given bowl game- the Sugar Bowl. They should play an unbeaten school that has not been respected by the BCS, sounds like the same team Alabama played last year…

CAPITAL ONE BOWL- LSU TIGERS v Penn State
The Tigers have lost two and should win out. If the BCS allows 3 teams from one conference in the BCS games, LSU could get into the Orange Bowl. But that won’t be allowed, too much love for the SEC. So, the Tigers will land in the Capital One Bowl against a slow Penn State game. This will definitely be a game to sleep through on New Years Day.

COTTON BOWL- OLE MISSISSIPPI v Oklahoma State
The Rebels will have a second straight trip to the Cotton Bowl. This past week getting the running game going was money for the Rebels. They could even move up with a win next week against LSU.

OUTBACK BOWL- GEORGIA BULLDOGS v Wisconsin
The Bulldogs might have salvaged their season last night with a huge win against Auburn. They should be able to beat Kentucky and finish their SEC record at #2 in the East.

CHIC FIL A BOWL- AUBURN TIGERS v Clemson
The Tigers have a bye week and another Iron Bowl on their sleight. This has been a great year for the Tigers first year head coach Gene Chizik. They struggled in the middle half of the season to miss a New Years Day Bowl, but the Chic Fil A Bowl is becoming an SEC bowl for the next upcoming power…Should be a good one.

MUSIC CITY BOWL- SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS v Virginia Tech
Another year and another late season collapse for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Every year they start hot but can not complete the season. When the Gamecocks hired Steve Spurrier, they imagined competing for SEC and National titles. Middle tier bowl games has got to be a major let down for the fan base.

LIBERTY BOWL- ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS v East Carolina
The Razorbacks are another SEC team that missed a bowl last year but have had a good enough year to reach bowl eligibility. I have been raving about Ryan Mallet for weeks and think that the Razorbacks should compete even stronger next year in the West.

INDEPENDENCE BOWL- KENTUCKY WILDCATS v Texas Tech
Kentucky has reached their fourth straight bowl and should head to another game the school has not played in, the Independence Bowl in Shrevport Louisiana.

PAPA JOHNS.COM BOWL- TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS v Rutgers
After yesterdays embarrassing loss to Ole Miss, it’s easy to see the Volunteers still have a ways to go to compete nationally. The Volunteers should beat Vanderbilt and now, I don’t see them beating a Kentucky team for the first time in more than 20 years.