Penn State’s Loss is Good For College Football

9 11 2008

Penn State’s loss to Iowa Saturday is probably one of the best things for college football. Imagine a scenario in which Penn State had run the table and either Texas Tech and/or Alabama had lost in their conference championship games. The lesser team would have made it to the national championship by playing in a much inferior conference. Yes the Big Ten is a weak conference when you have Michigan State, Minnesota & Northwestern having a chance to go to the Rose Bowl.

Now that Penn State has dropped to 8th in this week BCS Standings, it gives the better teams less of an obstacle to reach the national title game and the game will have more appeal.

Imagine the possible matchups, Texas Tech v. Florida, Texas v. Texas Tech (again), Alabama v.  Texas, and so many others. You have six legitimate teams with better chance of winning the national title than Penn State. If the Nittany Lions has faced Texas, Texas Tech, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma or USC (maybe even Utah or Boise State), the game would not be a contest. See an old Jack Nicklaus win the Masters is sentimental, seeing an old Joe Paterno get creamed in a national championship is sadistic.

As much as I like Penn State, this loss is very good for college football and the BCS.


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Categories : College Football, Football

Fantasy Football Conundrums

8 11 2008

By Tom Peters

The GOP Conundrum

The GOP Conundrum

I need some help from my loyal readers out there. Many of you play fantasy football and you are very knowledgeable on my football topics. So here is my situation:

I am in a fantasy football league in which we only get points for touchdowns scored. The longer the TD, the more points you earn. The bye weeks this week are killing me and I’m having a hard time in deciding who to start. Please tell, who should I start in these situations:

QB: Eli Manning (v. Eagles) or Matt Ryan (v. Saints)

TE: Dallas Clark (v. Steelers) or Donald Lee (v. Vikings)

D/ST: Houston (v. Baltimore) or Minnesota (v. Green Bay)

Thank you for your help.

 

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Week 10 NFL Picks

8 11 2008

By Tom Peters

nose-pickMaking the trip up to Buffalo was fun. A decent stadium with great fans. If I lived closer, I’d get season tickets.

Last week was another great week for me going 10 – 4. I would have been 12 – 2 had the Bills offensive line not get owned by the Jets and the Jaguars had not given Cincinnati their first win. I’ll also blame my record on my politically charged pick of the Redskins (I won’t talk politics here, we can discuss those things on my Licks on Politics blog) and trusting Denver.

Anyway, my overall record has improved to 82 – 48 and I’m looking to crack the 120 win mark before the end of the season.  After Denver’s win at Cleveland (how they pulled it off is beyond me) I’m already in the hole at 0 – 1.

Here are my picks for the rest of Week 10:

New Orleans Saints (4-4) v. Atlanta Falcons (5-3)

New Orleans has the best quarterback in the league in Drew Brees but without Reggie Bush to mix things up and the core of wide receivers still unhealthy, I have a bad feeling about this game. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Eagles, Football, Giants

Thursday Night’s Game

5 11 2008

By Tom Peters

As I was getting excited watching the election returns and finding out my guy and gal lost, I almost forgot that there was a game Thursday.

As is custom for all Thursday games, I will only pick this one and give the rest of my picks for the week later on.

Denver Broncos (4-4) v. Cleveland Browns (3-5)

This is a tough game to call because both are inconsistent and basically they suck and they underachieve. There are a buttload of questions to be asked in this game. Which Broncos team will show up, the one that started 3-0 with no turnovers or the team that has lost 4 of it’s last 5 (including 3 straight) and has developed an aversion to playing offense and keeping the ball. What will we see out of Cleveland? Is Brady Quinn the cure to Cleveland’s woes? Will the charity stop? Can Kellen Winslow get his act together?

Denver has become like a trophy wife with a myspace, they looked good, but you can’t trust them. Cleveland has hope. The offense was improving, the defense isn’t that terrible. I think Denver’s inability to run the ball and KEEP the ball will hurt them. While I don’t think Brady Quinn will impress, it won’t be an issue as Denver has difficulty stopping the run. Expect a big game from Jamal Lewis.

MY PICK: Browns 


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Categories : Broncos, Browns, Football

Week 9 NFL Picks

3 11 2008

by Tom Peters

My record is now 72 – 44 on the season. It looks like the magic may be back.

So, without further ado, here are my picks for Week 9.

Detroit Lions (0-7) v. Chicago Bears (4-3)

The Bears showed they could score two weeks ago against Minnesota, but they also showed they could give up a lot of points. It doesn’t matter, it’s Detroit and the Bear defense will have a huge game.

MY PICK: Bears
Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Football

Week 7 NFL Picks

18 10 2008

by Tom Peters

What a topsy-turvy week. Winless teams winning against teams that were better (St. Louis, Cleveland (beating Cincinnati does not count)), other teams pulling off last minute surprises (Atlanta, St. Louis again), giving teams too much credit (Denver, Carolina & New England) and a team finally showing up to play (Indianapolis) gave me a record of 6 – 8, last week. My first losing week in over nine years. My record for the season is a mediocre 52 – 36.

This week doesn’t have as many close games as last week, but we learned that nothing is guaranteed in the league where they play for pay.  So here’ we go: Read the rest of this entry »


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Week 6 Lessons

13 10 2008

by Tom Peters

While I admitted that this week would see a bunch of close games, there were a number of things we can learn from this weeks action.

1. The AFC East is overrated.

The Patriots looked non-competitive against the Chargers, the Bills had off but let Arizona do bad things to them last week, the Dolphins can no longer win on their gimmick offense and the Jets let an inept Cincinnati team stay in the game until late in the 4th quarter. Read the rest of this entry »


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Week 6 NFL Picks

11 10 2008

by Tom Peters

Last week was a terrible week for me to pick. My overrating of teams (Chargers, Redskins, Bills & Packers), my underrating of teams (Saints) & Pittsburgh’s resiliency thourgh injury led to me a miserable 8 – 6 record last week, bringing my overall record to 46 – 28 on the year.

Week 6 is a tough week to pick games. 13 total games with few gimmes, especially with injuries, teams not living up to potential and inconsistencies in play. Without further ado, here are my picks for this week’s action. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Football

ALCS Predictions

10 10 2008

by Tom Peters

I don’t know about you, but I love this series. There’s so many stories going on in this series and the winner will bring some of these stories with them into the World Series. This year’s ALCS is going to have a lot of excitement and will go likely go the distance. Part of the reason I like this is becuase the Rays have a number of former Hudson Valley Renegades (Short-A Rays affiliate in my town), but I promise you, while my rooting interest is in the Rays, I will be objective here.

Like the NLCS, this is a fairly even series.  Each team has a strong pitching staff with many different components. Each team has a consistent ace. Tampa Bay has Jaime Shields, a consistent pitcher who knows how to win and won’t back down. Boston has Jon Lester. He has been as of late and did an excellent job in shutting down the Angels. When it comes to opening or closing a series, he is clutch. He won’t be opening this series, but if he’s pitching a closeout game it’s a virtual lock. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Baseball

NLCS Prediction

9 10 2008

by Tom Peters

One of the toughest series to call in a while. The Philles come in as an inconsistent team. While they beat the Brewers convincingly, they only scored their runs in three or four innings. The pitching staff has looked really good. There are some key questions regarding the Phillies. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Baseball, Dodgers, Phillies

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