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NFL Mock Draft 2009 Draft of 2009 Lacks Star Power NFL Draft 2009: Getting Started Super Bowl Well Worth Tuning In For
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| NBA | |
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Prospects On Center Stage NBA Preview 2008/09: Final Call
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Bowl Season Recap and 2009 Outlook By Ron Jumper So bowl season has come and gone, with another SEC national champion and another BCS loss for Bob Stoops. I will say Oklahoma didn’t look outmatched physically or drastically slower than Florida, like they did against West Virginia the year before. I’m an SEC guy but even I’m not going to sit here and say that Oklahoma lacked talent or wasn’t capable of winning that game had a few plays gone the other way. However, over the course of this bowl season, the SEC did make sure to remind everyone who the elite conference in college football is. The Big 12 teams put up sexy offensive numbers all year long, making many believe they were superior to the SEC. Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Missouri had to be superior to their SEC counterparts because they were scoring so many points and the SEC teams appeared to have poor offenses. Loyal SEC followers came back and said that the Big 12 didn’t face near the level of defense that the SEC teams faced every week. The sidebar going into bowl season was which will prevail, Big 12 offenses or SEC defenses? The Big 12 went 4-3 overall in bowls, however, 3 of those wins were against the Big Ten: Missouri over Northwestern, Kansas over Minnesota, Texas over Ohio State. So, realistically, in games against legit conferences they went 1-3. Even Nebraska outlasting an underachieving Clemson team from the mighty ACC isn’t much to brag about either. (No, I don’t mean to offend everyone it just seems to happen…) Oklahoma State lost to a decent Oregon team. The Cowboys could have won this game, but fell apart down the stretch. The Ducks were able to get the options and draws rolling, with OSU simply unable to make stops. In fairness, Dez Bryant did suffer an injury but he wasn’t the reason the defense allowed 42 points. Texas Tech lost to Ole Miss, allowing 47 points in the process. This was a glaring sign that maybe the Big 12 defense’s aren’t bad… they are absolutely pathetic. Seriously, Ole Miss didn’t put up this many points against Sun Belt teams in the non-conference. Houston Nutt, traditionally, is a terrible bowl game coach. As for the SEC, they had some other dominating performances as well, such as LSU 38-3 over Georgia Tech in Atlanta. They also had some close calls: Kentucky over ECU and Vanderbilt over BC. Regardless, they finished 6-2 overall with wins in both games against the Big 12. I guess the Big 12 could spin it and say they went 4-1 against everyone else… ***** As for the rest of bowl season, the Big Ten and MAC were a combined 1-11. The MAC is the Non-BCS version of the Big 12: sexy offense, no semblance of defense whatsoever. It was misleading to see the likes of Ball State, Central Michigan, and Western Michigan putting up impressive numbers all season. I was just floored when Florida Atlantic came into Ford Field and upset Dan LeFeavour’s club. Floored again when WMU was bent over and spanked by Rice. As Ball State was routed by Tulsa, I was… you guessed it… floored by how poor a performance the Cardinals gave. As for the Big Ten, I didn’t really expect much but 1-6? Do they need to realign the bowls so they can take on a few Sun Belt and WAC schools? Seriously, 1-6 is me on a cold streak in Vegas. However, the difference is I don’t do that often. No one even seems to care one way or the other at how bad the Big Ten performed. In years past, Big Ten fanatics at least made excuses for their shortcomings. Now, they just seem to embrace them as truth. No wonder the Big Ten Network is failing miserably. In my opinion, this is because outside of the Midwest no one could care less about the Big Ten. If it was the Big 12 or SEC, people in any part of the country would at least be interested in knowing what is going on. Who really cares about the latest updates on Minnesota or Northwestern? I don’t even think people in the Midwest care about that. ***** Marching on, the PAC-10 has to be shown some love for going 5-0. Granted, matchup by matchup, it isn’t all that impressive. Take a look: Arizona beat a reeling BYU club that capped the regular season with a blowout loss to Utah. Cal beat a very average Miami team that was without its starting QB. Oregon State beat Pitt 3-0, that says it all right there really doesn’t it? Oregon beat a solid but overrated Oklahoma State team. USC crushed the poor Nittany Lions, taking advantage of always playing a Big Ten school in the Rose Bowl. Not to belittle or undervalue what the PAC-10 did, but facts are facts. None of those wins are a signature win that clearly says “Wow, the PAC-10 is for real” or “They made a statement in this game.” I will say that the Big 12 is the new PAC-10. Everyone has always thought of the PAC-10 as the all offense, no defense BCS conference. However, USC has as good a defense as there is in all of college football, Oregon State certainly won “ugly” against Pitt, and both Cal and Arizona have better defenses then people realize. I’m not saying it is worth bragging about, but the PAC-10 certainly has better defenses than the Big 12. That is not open for debate. ***** So the ACC, when best described, should include the word “parity” at some point. My question is what will be in store for 2009? Will there start to be some separation between team 1 and 10? It seemed to be such a roller coaster ride all season long once ACC play got underway. It appears Virginia Tech is poised for a great year, as they played so much youth this season. Tyrod Taylor will be back to run the offense and, his top backfield mate, RB Darren Evans is back as well. The defense loses Victor Harris but is still going to be loaded. All in all, I see them being the heavy preseason favorite again next season. UNC seems ready to challenge for conference supremacy. Butch Davis has the cupboard loaded with talent that is finally starting to become upperclassmen. They are not young and rebuilding anymore, it is now time for them to win. On defense, they return 12 of their top 15 tacklers. Offensively, they lose WRs Brandon Tate and Hakeem Nicks but they return virtually everyone else. I’m calling it early, the Tar Heels will be in the thick of things next season. I'm not going to buy in and hype up Florida State or Miami, as everyone seems to get lured in every year to the talk of all the speed and talent. We'll see, they might be relevant, but we'll see... ***** I’d talk about the Big East at length, but… why? No seriously, Cincinnati looked very outmatched against VT and they lose their entire defense. West Virginia loses Pat White and still has the worst coach in America at the helm. Pitt is … well… Pitt. Louisville has gone on a steady place to Irrelevantville since Kragthorpe was hired. South Florida seems to have peaked. Rutgers finished the season strong, but how much of that was just because they played other Big East teams? Okay, enough of that… Well, that is how I saw the bowl season and a little glimpse into what I envision 2009 shaping up to look like. Feel free to disagree, I know you will. January 11, 2009 |
| NCAA Football | |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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| NCAA Basketball | |
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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