2011-2012 Bowl Picks

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL - Florida St. vs. Notre Dame

Pick: Florida St. 26, Notre Dame 34

Key: FSU lacks the ability to convert on third down and it will kill them, especially while in the endzone. FSU will need a big game from E.J. Manuel and Dustin Hopkins (yes, their kicker), to pull off a victory over a talented Notre Dame team.

OUTBACK BOWL - Michigan St. vs. Georgia

Pick: Michigan St. 13, Georgia 21

Key: Aaron Murray has to get the Michigan St. defense backpedaling for the Georgia backs to win the game.

CAPITAL ONE BOWL - Nebraska vs. S. Carolina

Pick: Nebraska 20, S. Carolina 27

Key: Get the ball to Marcus Lattimore as much as possible.

TAXSLAYER.COM GATOR BOWL - Ohio St. vs. Florida

Pick: Ohio St. 14, Florida 17

Key: John Brantley’s health, accuracy, and football IQ need to be on par for the Gators to win… Will Muschamp and Charlie Weis need to open up their  playbook and stop running a conservative offense for four quarters as well.

VIZIO ROSE BOWL - Wisconsin vs. Oregon

Pick: Wisconsin 17, Oregon 24

Key: Two great backs, 1 has a better O-Line (Oregon)

TOSTITO’S FIESTA BOWL - Stanford vs. Oklahoma St.

Pick: Stanford 27, Oklahoma St. 38

Key: Andrew Luck vs. Brandon Wheeden... enough said. 

ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL - Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

Pick: Michigan 34, Virginia Tech 7

Key: Denard Robinson and Fitzgerald Toussaint will have Virginia Tech's 'D' guessing all game long.

DISCOVER ORANGE BOWL - W. Virginia vs. Clemson

Pick: W. Virginia 27, Clemson 28

Key: Clemson’s pass defense needs to make big plays and force W. Virginia out of their game plan.

AT&T COTTON BOWL - Kansas St. vs. Arkansas

Pick: Kansas St. 17, Arkansas 30

Key: Arkansas has to mix in the run along with a stellar passing attack.

ALLSTATE BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - Alabama vs. LSU

Pick: Alabama 20, LSU 13

Key: Alabama has to make the most of their opportunities. Their 6-9 OT loss to LSU earlier this season featured four missed field goals (1 blocked) and a key end zone interception. Nick Saban is arguably one of the best head coaches in college football and will surely make sure his team is prepared for this rematch.

If anyone would like my pick for a different bowl game, comment with the name of the bowl game and I will be sure to share my thoughts.

SEC... A 14-Team Power Conference?

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) has been the workhorse of the college football world over the past half-century, bringing home the past five National Championships. As of recently though, other conferences have been losing and retrieving new teams as a possible way to keep up with the SEC. Teams that don’t automatically qualify (Non-AQ) for BCS bowl games; such as Boise State, Texas Christian (TCU) and Utah, have moved out of their previous conferences into new ones to gain the attention of voters. TCU and Boise State moved out of their old conferences into the Mountain West Conference (MWC) temporarily until they can move into the bigger conferences. TCU, who originally planned to move into the Big East conference as of 2012, has recently been in talks with the Big-12 conference. If TCU and the Big-12 come to an agreement, this could open the door for Boise State to move into the Big East (which in my opinion seems unintelligent). Utah, who was already a member of the MWC, moved to the PAC-12 conference, effective this year. But it’s not just the smaller schools that are moving. The University of Colorado recently moved out of the Big-12 conference into the Pac-12 conference to become the twelfth team (was recently names the Pac-10). The SEC has also been in talks with Texas A&M University, another Big-12 team. Texas A&M is almost guaranteed to join the SEC within the next few seasons, if not next season. The talk has been however who the 14th team will be. Rumors have swirled about the possibility of Missouri or Clemson being the 14th team, however none of these rumors have been confirmed. In my personal opinion, the following teams are the best candidates for the SEC’s 14th team.

• Clemson – The SEC currently has three states where two of the teams call home. (Alabama: Alabama and Auburn, Mississippi: Mississippi and Mississippi State, and Tennessee: Vanderbilt and Tennessee). Clemson could add a fourth state to the mix, with the SEC already having the University of South Carolina. Clemson also fits well in the SEC due to their location because of the conference alignment (Texas A&M will fall into the West while Clemson would fall into the East)
• West Virginia – Location again. Already located in the south (and could easily fall into the SEC – East), West Virginia fits perfectly. Also, the speed that the University of West Virginia seems to always have, would fit well in a fast paced SEC conference.

Look for the SEC to continue its supremacy as college football’s toughest conference, with or without the additions.

Natural Disasters

2011 has been a year of natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires have ravaged the U.S. this year. As of September 6th, 1,764 tornadoes have been confirmed. Most of us probably remember the outbreak of tornadoes earlier this year (April 25-28th to be exact). 336 tornadoes were recorded in those three days (the largest outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded), four of which were strong enough to be rated EF5 (highest possible rating for a tornado). As well as the tornadoes, hurricanes are making there mark as well. With Hurricane Season in full swing, three storms have begun to brew (one in the Gulf of Mexico, and two in the Atlantic Ocean). Katia, Maria, and Nate have sprung onto weather radars only a few weeks after Hurricane Irene left the eastern seaboard with $10.1 billion dollars in total damage. On top of these hurricanes, it is estimated that the current Texas wildfire has already racked up over $1 billion dollars in total damage. With all of the major events that took place last year, and even more this year, I strongly believe that natural disasters are on the rise. The only thing that we can do is to make sure that we are prepared.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Leaked Information & Expected Release Date)

Shortly after the release of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation map pack, information on the latest Call of Duty game (Modern Warfare 3) was leaked through the internet. Not long after information began to spread, Activision released four teaser trailers, one in England, France, Germany and New York City. The idea that many are taking from the leaked information is that the game is supposed to be set in World War III and other countries bring the war to the heart of the United State, in New York City, New York. In the teaser trailer, the large city is being invaded by enemy troops through the sky and through the Hudson River. Leaked information also includes an “unprecedented online universe”. Although it is unknown what exactly the online universe is, many rumors are spreading. One rumor is that players and their custom made soldiers will run around a giant “Call of Duty world”, searching for matches. I personally believe that the online universe is more along the lines of cross-gaming. In other words, players with Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) for the Xbox 360 console will be able to play against players who own MW3 on the Playstation 3 console. The game is said to be released on November 8^th of this year, a date that is reliable since all of the other Call of Duty franchise games were released around the same date. When the game is released, I will be looking to see if the game can compete with the very intense Battlefield 3 rival, whose graphics are expected to blow Call of Duty’s away.

Western Conference Champs: Memphis Grizzlies?

This year’s NBA Playoffs have already left many fans bewildered. The Atlanta Hawks knocked off Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, which was a little shocking. But by far, the most jaw dropping event of the Playoffs this far, is the Memphis Grizzlies upset victory over the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs. The 61 win team dropped four of six games against the Grizzlies. The series win was the first in the franchise’s history. Led by Zach Randolph, Mike Conley & Marc Gasol (Paul Gasol’s younger brother), the Grizzlies crashed the boards, and attacked fearlessly inside the paint to shock the basketball world. The Grizzlies knocked off the team with the NBA’s second best record in the opening series, and took the momentum into Oklahoma City taking the first game of the series. So much for home court advantage. Zach Randolph had 34 points and added ten rebounds to lead the way. Marc Gasol added 20 points and 13 rebounds to help upend the Thunder in game one. The Thunder stole game two after jumping out to an early lead. The Grizzlies began the second quarter down by 11 points. They kept up the rest of the game, but they couldn’t cut the lead down and the Thunder won 111-102. Game three is Saturday at 5pm. I personally believe that the Grizzlies have a really good shot at the NBA Finals. If they can compete with the Thunder like they did in game one for the rest of the series, I feel that they can pull off another upset. Also, if Dallas can take their 2-0 series lead over the two-time defending champion L.A. Lakers, I believe that Memphis can pull of a third straight upset and advance to the Championship series. After all, the Grizzlies defeated the Dallas Mavericks three out of four games during the regular season.

Students Could Cost Parents Home

In Sarasota, skipping school is a habit that many students of Sarasota, Booker and Riverview high schools share. The agency in charge of providing homes for the lower-class families has released a plan to solve the issue: If your students do not show up in class, you will be evicted. Sarasota is the first city in the state of Florida to introduce this new law. Famous radio star, Bubba The Love Sponge, stated that "Maybe it will piss people off enough that they'll actually get off the public dime, so they don't have to answer to the government. Probably not.” I believe that this is a good idea to get students to stay in school, but the parents can only do so much. The parents can make sure that their kids get to school, but will the students actually stay? Does it then become the school's responsibility? Or if the kids leave campus under school hours, do the parents still lose their homes? There are a lot of questions that have been left unanswered and I feel that this is a law that should've been thought through a little bit more.

Al-Qaeda Leader, Osama bin Laden, "Brought To Justice"

As we have all heard by now, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, or just Osama bin Laden, was killed by a group of Navy SEALS late last night night. After years of planning, CIA opperatives tracked a trusted Al Qaeda courier to bin Laden's hiding place. Although there was no proof of bin Laden's presence, President Barack Obama gave the order for the team of Navy SEALS to invade the million-dollar compound. Once in the compound, the SEALS began exchanging fire with bin Laden himself, and three others. The Navy SEALS demanded that bin Laden surrender, but when bin Laden began to fire his weapon, he was shot in the head, and shot once more to ensure his death. DNA results have come back confirming bin Laden's body. I belive that this particular topic is a toss-up, meaning it has it's goods and it's bads. It is an incredible feeling, knowing that the mass-murdering terroist bin Laden has finally been taken down after 10, very painful years. But on the flip-side, does this mean that al-Qaeda has been eliminated? Or does this mean that a more deadly and terrofying terorrist will take the reigns of al-Qaeda. How will al-Qaeda respond? I can only hope that this truly is the END of the war, the end of al-Qaeda, and we can bring our troops home.