Author Archives: ASimPerson

Rating the Non-Conference Slate, Part 1: ACC

I’ve been working on this for a few days and unfortunately the time I finally have time to post it is when I’m suffering from some horrendous attack of allergies and/or a cold. I’ll try anyway, but I won’t make any guarantees about whether or not the following will make any sense at all.

Since the NCAA made the 12th game permanent, there’s been various debate over the best use of the 12th game. For most teams, it’s a 4th non-conference games. While ideally this is used to play an inter-sectional game (see: Cal and Tennessee) this is normally used to just get away with scheduling a DI-AA team every year. Due to the Big East being gutted by the ACC, they were able to add a 5th non-conference game, but only Syracuse has anything interesting going on. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the Pac-10, who used the 12th game to create a full-round robin in their league. In fact, the Pac-10 by far has the highest percentage of teams without a I-AA team on their schedule this year (Arizona will play Northern Arizona).

So for this preview I took a conference-by-conference look at at the “BCS” conferences and ranked teams out-of-conference schedules on the completely subjective criteria of what I consider “legitimate” non-conference teams. Being completely subjective, it’s hard to say what’s a legit team and what’s not, but hopefully there’s some semblance of a pattern.

So, without further adieu, here’s the Atlantic Coast Conference:

  1. Florida State (3 legit teams, 0 DI-AA): UAB, @Colorado, Alabama, and @Florida. Probably the best non-conference slate in all of college football this year. The game against ‘Bama is at Jacksonville as well, and they play an away game against a BCS team (even if it Colorado). UAB isn’t a total patsy either, but I wasn’t sure whether to consider them “legit” for FSU.
  2. Miami (FL) (2, 0): Marshall, @Oklahoma, Florida International (HELL 2 DA NAW), Texas A&M. Pretty legit schedule, even if FIU is barely a DI-A team. @OU helps a lot.
  3. Georgia Tech (2, 1): @Notre Dame, Samford, Army, Georgia. @Notre Dame is the main thing here – Army and Samford won’t strike fear into anyone. Rivalry game against Georgia is huge. But you heard it here first: Tech will beat the Bulldogs this year.
  4. Duke (4, 0): UConn, @Northwestern, @Navy, @Notre Dame. 3 road games. Legit because it’s entirely likely they’re going to lose to all these teams.
  5. Maryland (2, 1): Villanova, @Florida International, West Virgina Virginia, @Rutgers. Play 2 of the better Big East teams, wait, hold on – to Florida International? What the heck?
  6. Wake Forest (2, 0): Nebraska, Army, @Navy, @Vanderbilt. No DI-AA’s is nice, as is the game against Nebraska. Navy and Vandy combine to form a legit non-conference game, even if it is 3/4 Navy and 1/4 Vandy.
  7. Virginia Tech (1,1): East Carolina, @LSU, Ohio, William & Mary. ECU should apply for honorary membership to the ACC this year (along with Notre Dame). The only thing that makes this schedule stand out is the game @LSU – see what I said above about inter-sectional games. It gets a lot worse from here.
  8. Boston College (1, 1): Army, UMass, Bowling Green, @Notre Dame. Amazingly, BC starts the year with three straight conference games. @ND is the only saving grace of the non-conference slate, though.
  9. North Carolina (1, 1): James Madison, @East Carolina, @South Florida, South Carolina. Nice series against South Carolina coming up, but @ECU and @USF? How did that happen?
  10. NC State (1,1): Central Florida, Wofford, Louisville, @East Carolina. @ECU again? Saving grace is Louisville.
  11. Virginia (1, 0): @Wyoming, Pittsburgh, @Middle Tennessee State, UConn. Could perhaps be 2 legit teams, but this schedule is burdened by the fact they ended up going to both Wyoming and MTSU. Really, any of these last few teams could lay claim to the ACC’s worst non-conference schedule.
  12. Clemson (1, 1): UL-Monroe, Furman, Central Michigan, @South Carolina. Absolutely pathetic schedule for this caliber of team.

Thoughts on the Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball Team (and more!)

In no particular order:

  • So how about that Thad Young? On his way to a career high 25 points against UNC on Thursday, he hit 10-18 from the field and 5-6 from beyond the arc. He decided to grab some rebounds (2 offensive, 4 defensive) and two steals while he was it. Easily his most dominant performance of the year, it’s something of a double-edged sword – if he keeps playing like that, it’s increasingly likely that he’ll be one-and-done (although in my opinion this was likely even when he wasn’t do so well).
  • Speaking of dominant performances, as a team this was easily Tech’s best of the year. Good things tend to happen when you’re shooing over 60% from the field in the first half, of course. Tech shot 10-22 from beyond the arc, which Anthony Morrow rediscovering the stroke in the first half that led him to lead the ACC in 3-point percentage last year. (He ended up 4 of 10, though, but still had a season high 18 points). Perhaps more importantly, Javaris Crittenton had a season high 11-assists and low (for him) 5 turnovers. 3 guys had 6 rebounds each, and Ra’sean Dickey actually acted like a center for most of the game.
  • Tech has probably done enough to get into the tournament, but I think everyone would feel better if they beat Boston College today. Winning on Thursday in the ACC tournament would help as well.
  • Thanks to unbalanced schedules and the fact no one can win on the road, mad crazy tiebreakers are coming into effect for the ACC Tournament. Tech, with a victory against Boston College, will be a 6 seed if Duke loses to UNC on Sunday. If Tech loses, they’ll end up at 7-9. It’s easy if Clemson loses @Virginia Tech – Tech would be tied with FSU at 7-9, and Tech’s season sweep of FSU would give them the 7 seed. If Clemson wins, it gets complicated and I don’t remember who wins. The top of the ACC is even more confusing since Virginia managed to lose to Wake Forest yesterday. It’s possible for Virginia, UNC, VT, and Boston College to end up at 11-5. They all get byes, sure, but still. Even if BC loses, (and since they’re playing, I hope they do) they’ll still not have to play on Thursday due to a victory over 10-6 Maryland.
  • Speaking of unbalanced schedules, I’m glad that Virginia Tech and Boston College are competing in the ACC. I really am. But I still think back to the salad days of my youth (read: my freshman year 4 years ago) when the ACC had a full round-robin schedule. You have a pretty good idea where you stand after playing everyone twice, and it was one of the things that made ACC basketball really special. Of course, the ACC is still the best conference, but yeah.
  • What on Earth happened to Conference USA? They had pretty much established themselves as a multi-bid league even after Louisville and Cincinnati left, but Memphis has a ridiculous 5 game lead.
  • On Mid-Majors: it appears the only multi-bid mid-major leagues this year will be the A10 (which, at 14 teams, is a much more egregious violation of good naming than the Big Ten), MVC (though only 2 this time, since Missouri St. and Bradly failed to knock off Southern Illinois and Creighton), and probably the Mountain West. In other words, it’s a good year to be a middling major conference team.
  • Speaking of the Missouri Valley, why on Earth do they have their own TV station? Several of those games have had margins of less than 7, and they have an absolutely packed house of 16,000 in St. Louis in what is probably the most well-attended mid-major tournament. But thanks to their TV channel, I’ve only been able to see the highlights. Not even the title game will be on ESPN. C’mon guys, let the rest of us see what’s up with MVC basketball and perhaps people will understand it better.
  • On the ACC bubble situation: I think FSU and Clemson are pretty screwed unless they make some noise in the ACC Tournament. Hopefully that won’t be at our expense.
  • One last thing: being on the west coast and having a job is going to really hamper my enjoyment of the first 3 rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Thank goodness for March Madness On Demand, which will hopefully not get me fired. Sign up soon to make sure you have access to the “VIP” queue when waiting for games.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. It’s nice to be doing this again. Hopefully I’ll have something positive to post about after the game (3:00 EST, FSN).

(sigh)

Hey kids.

I’m getting back on my feet here in California. Meanwhile, back on the east coast things haven’t been going terribly peachy for the ole college team.

I was so depressed after our bowl loss I didn’t even post about how Tito, Ehren, and I did on the bowl predictions. I didn’t end terribly well, though. Checking the ESPN league for this site, and Ehren finished first with 349 points, then Tito with 339, and me bringing up DFL with 314 points. Going by straight up winners and losers, Tito and I tied by getting 11 of 32 wrong, while Ehren got 12 wrong. None of us picked Florida to win.

After that, Tech basketball started to look up. Despite losing their best offensive threat in Lewis Clinch, Tech beat Duke and FSU. Then they went on the road to Chapel Hill and things started to go terribly, terribly wrong. Tech seems lost on the court right now, especially our freshman point guard. At 2-6 in the ACC, this season is probably lost, and, well, if we can’t beat Wake Forest, who can we beat? Even if we get our collective shit together, I’d say best-case we finish 7-9 in the ACC.

Expect a Braves preview sometime later this month. Updates will probably be sparse until March, when my second favorite time of the year hits.

Title Game Preview

Since I’ll be on the road most of Sunday and Monday headed to my new home in California, I’d figure I’d get this out of the way.

Like most people, I’m predicting Ohio State to win Monday night. Here’s why:
Living in the southeast, I’ve had several chances to watch Florida this year. They have never impressed me. They lack any dominant victories over important teams (and have, indeed, lost a game). It’s difficult to tell whether or not they actually belong in the national title game.
Ohio State, meanwhile, dominated nearly all of their opponents. The only doubt that enters my mind now is that Michigan, which pretty much did the same, just simply got spanked by USC in the Rose Bowl. I don’t think UMich could’ve been anymore down than USC was about getting in the national title game – after all, had USC beaten a very mediocre UCLA they would’ve gone.

Nevertheless, there has been no better team in the country this year than OSU. I don’t think anyone in this country could run with them, of course, I’ve been wrong before. While I ultimately don’t have a rooting interest in this game, I’ll probably be hoping that UF can keep it close just to make it worth watching. Realistically, I like for OSU to win by at least two touchdowns. (I am going to regret typing that.)

Bowls, Jan. 1-7

Here we go kids. Are you ready for this? All times central.

  • Outback Bowl, Penn State vs. Tennessee (10:00am, ESPN): I hesitate to call this heavy-weight. Neither team is really in the top tier of their conference this year, but I see UTenn as a more solid team that should pull out a victory.
  • Cotton Bowl, Nebraska vs. Auburn (10:30am, FOX): Name programs, to the rescue! The Big 12 North still sucks, though, and if Auburn’s offense shows up to this game they should prevail.
  • Capital One Bowl, Arkansas vs. Wisconsin (Noon, ABC): Don’t look, but Wisconsin’s only loss all year was to Michigan. The only reason they’re not in a BCS bowl is because OSU and UMich are. While I like the SEC in the Outback Bowl, I have go with the Big Ten this time around.
  • Gator Bowl, Georgia Tech vs. West Virginia (Noon, CBS): I honestly can’t believe we’re playing in a New Year’s Day Bowl. This hasn’t happened since I’ve been there, and indeed, not since the last time Tech was a Gator Bowl (I’d guess, too tired to look it up).
    Obviously, WVU worries me. And Tech has had a lot going on behind the scenes. Of course, you’d think Tech would be at a disadvantage without their starting quarterback, but our starting QB has, for lack of a better word, sucked in his last two and now he can’t play. Taylor Bennett, you best be stepping up.
    WVU’s backfield worries me. There’s a ton of speed back there, and I watched those guys run all over Maryland. Tech’s defense blitzes hard and often, and the question is whether or not we can stay with the ball no matter where it goes. The soft spot of our defense – the secondary – is not as big of a concern here because WVU does not pass very well. (A sort of Arkansas of the Big East, perhaps?) Corners and safeties blitz a lot in our defense, and I expect to see 8 guys in the box a lot.
    On offense, Tech need to use the best damn WR in the country to exploit WVU’s dreadful secondary. Expect, however, to see a healthy dose of #22 from the backfield. That’s not really a bad thing, though.
    Overall, this game will be very tough for the Jackets. I’m not one, however, to predict my team to lose. Bowl games present a quandry – unless you’re playing in Glendale for the crystal football, none of these games really matter. But the intangible factors do matter. Everyone at Tech remembers the bad taste of the Emerald Bowl last year and absolutely rotten offense in the past two games. WVU can score in bunches, the question is, will Tech’s offense show up? We need at least two touchdowns, something we only accomplished once in our last four games, and that was against Duke. The Jackets really need this to show that this season wasn’t a fluke.
  • The Rose Bowl Game, Michigan vs. Southern Cal (4:00, ABC): Man, this is weird. This is ABC’s 2nd and last bowl broadcast – the rest of the BCS games are on FOX. As much as I hate Musburuger, I dislike FOX announcers on the whole and I’m not that optimistic. Anyway, I always like watching the Rose Bowl, but we have two very disappointed teams here. I fell Michigan is the better team here, and should win as long as they are not overcome by bitterness.
  • Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma vs. Boise State (7:30, FOX): I like rooting for the little guy as much as anyone else, and will probably take a rooting interesting the boys from the blue turf. But, seriously, I don’t see how they can beat Oklahoma. This is BSU teams is not nearly as good as that Utah team that last busted the BCS. Look for scoring, but look for OU to win by at least two scores.
  • Orange Bowl, Wake Forest vs. Louisville (Jan. 2, 7:00, FOX): So, uh, Wake is a pretty decent team. They execute well and take their time on offense. Louisville does the same thing, except they can throw the ball and put up some points in a hurry. I like rooting for the ACC and teams like Wake, but I don’t know how they can prevail over Louisville. They will really need to take the Cardinals out of there game to do so…
  • Sugar Bowl, LSU vs. Notre Dame (Jan. 3, 7:00, FOX): Notre Dame is here for one reason – to sell more tickets. I’m not sure they need the help, though – LSU should have well more than a simple majority of the fans. ND has failed to beat any major oppenent they’ve played this year. Their best win remains – you guessed it – the opening weekend victory against Georgia Tech. Look for LSU to win a rout.
  • International Bowl, Western Michigan vs. Cincinnati (Jan. 6, 11:00am, ESPN2): This is sort of anticlimactic, you might say. I say it helps re-whet your appetite for college football leading up to the title game. The scheduling quirk is probably a result of the 31st being a Sunday, which means NFL games rule the roost. And I like Cincy here.
  • GMAC Bowl, Ohio vs. Southern Miss (Jan. 7, 7:00, ESPN): C-USA isn’t exactly a power conference, but Mobile is 100 miles from Hattiesburg so this should pretty much be a home game for USM. I like them to win.

I’ll do a separate preview for the title game. For the time being, though, can we scratch “it’d take too long” off the list of reasons not to have a playoff since the bowls now go into the second week of January. Just sayin’.