Brief College Football Preview + Week 1 Predictions

I've waited until the last possible minute to provide a college football preview, mainly because my knowledge of the sport is lacking and I didn't think I'd be able to provide an in-depth preview anyways. I don't really keep up with the signings, but rather rely on industry experts (including some of my Twitter followers) and a few friends who partake in plenty of Saturday football sessions.

Check out Berserk Hippo Podcast - 2012 College Preview

Instead of providing a full-blown preview with analysis, I'll link you to my friend's podcast should you have the desire to learn a little bit more about the thoughts of knowledgeable college football fanatics. Nick Pazoles (@BerserkHippo) and Chris Williams (@cmwilliams51) run through each of the major conferences, with a special focus on the Big Ten, and make their picks to win each conference. They also provide a few surprise teams to watch and their BCS title predictions: Berserk Hippo Podcast - College Football 2012 Preview


I suggest taking a listen of it for more in-depth talk. Here's their predictions (and mine, just for the hell of it) summarized:

	Hippo	Williams	Bolek
Big Ten Legends	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan St.
Big Ten Leaders	Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Ohio State*
BTC Winner	Wisconsin	Michigan	Wisconsin
SEC Champ	Georgia	Alabama	LSU
PAC-12	USC	USC	USC
Big 12	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Texas
ACC	Clemson	Clemson	Florida St
Big East	Louisville	Louisville	Cincinnati
Darkhorse Title Winner	Virginia Tech	Clemson	Oregon
Title Loser	Georgia	Alabama	USC
Title Winner	USC	USC	LSU
			*cannot play in Big
			Ten Championship - I
			have Wisconsin as
			Division representative

I'd be careful about using my division picks for betting purposes. I like LSU to make it to the title game again and this time win it - lots of talent on both sides of the ball. They may have one-loss entering the game, but I feel that their win in the SEC title game will be enough to boost them to title game status. Ohio State was under-coached last year - Urban Meyer brings out the best in college recruits, and OSU has plenty of talented ones. Texas has plenty of starters coming back from a team that bounced back from a mediocre 2010 bowl-less season to an 8-5 record - I think they'll outlast Oklahoma for the crown. Florida St. could have the best defense in the nation, although they seem to be a team (like Georgia) that lately seems to lose at the worst possible times. I just basically threw a dart in my head and came up with Cincinnati -the Big East will once again be unwatchable, especially now with West Virginia leaving the conference.

We all have USC in the championship game. Everything I've heard about them makes me think they are a lock to make it to the title game. Only game I could see them tripping up on is against Oregon at home or in the Pac-12 championship game. Also, I'd be weary of their last road game against UCLA the week before their home tilt against Notre Dame. Not saying UCLA is talented, but sometimes talented teams fall asleep on the road a week before a rivalry match-up.

As far as my picks for Week 1 go, I'm going with South Carolina -6.5, Alabama -14 (hoping to get a lower number), Navy +15 & Ohio +6.5 (hoping it goes to 7). Picks are subject to change and may include additional bets. I will do my best to edit this as the bets are placed - best bet is to check my Twitter (@BrianBolek or #BolekPicks).

Hope everyone is looking forward to football as much as I am.

College Consolidation & Week 4 NCAAF picks

Super conferences are the newest college trend - move over paying of players! The trend is so prevalent, it's easy to forget there's an actual season going on with all the focus being on the conference reshuffling.

In a few years, I see many of the big conferences in football being the equivalent of the Big East in basketball - 16 teams. Each conference will have its separate divisions for the purposes of a conference championship. Joining one of these super conferences will be THE ONLY WAY that teams like Boise and TCU will have a chance to win a national title.

(An aside - If Boise is one of two teams undefeated at the end of the year, there WILL be a 1-loss team that plays in the championship game in place of them. Every year, teams leap over Boise in the rankings when voters can't justify putting Boise in a spot where they may play in the title game. Boise is the perfect example of why there needs to be some readjustment to the championship system - whether it be an 8 team playoff or the like).

Funny thing is, no matter how big it gets, the Big Ten will never change its name. No wonder why math scores are so low in our country. At least those airheads out west could change their name to the Pac-12. Yeah yeah, I know there is already a Big 12. Can't the Big Ten rename itself The Dirty Dozen for the time being?


Bolek's Bets

After a perfect week of betting in my first week of betting (3-0, +$120), I dipped back into reality with a 3-4, -$35 week last week (including the Th & F games)

Last week: 3-4, -$35; YTD thru 9-17: 6-4, +$85

Already bet - Cincy -7 (-120) - easy victory. Little scare in this bet.

Central Florida +110 ML at BYU - UCF's defense - plus knowing I'll be bored and wanted something to follow - have me betting this Friday night tilt.

SD St +10.5 at Michigan - What may be touted as the Hoke Bowl, Michigan's defense isn't good enough to spot Hoke's former team this many points.

Notre Dame -6.5 at Pittsburgh - ND showed the type of team they can be last week against MSU when they don't have the turnover issues. I think it carries over here.

Western Michigan +13.5 at Illinois - I think Illinois will win, but I sense somewhat of a letdown. One thing to be weary of - Illinois was embarrassed by W. Michigan at Ford Field a few seasons ago, so revenge could be a factor.

Considering - Oklahoma -19.5, Alabama -11, Clemson -2.5

As always, follow my Twitter feed for updates if you'd like @brianbolek or www.twitter.com/brianbolek

Enjoy your weekends.

Big Ten: 12 Teams, 0 Common Sense

Let's add another team to the 11-team Big Ten Conference. Also, let's play football in a baseball park that can't fit a field comfortably.

Ok, so I'm generalizing a little by lumping all twelve teams (counting Nebraska) into the idiocy label. I just don't get how the conference can be hyping up the Northwestern/Illinois game so much while not taking into account that they might not have designed the field properly for football. You would think this would be the first thing they would take care of before anything.

How they should have done it:

(1) Use computer generated model of a standard college football field to see if they can play inside what is now a baseball stadium.

(2) If such dimensions exist, organize field as such so that THE WHOLE FIELD, endzone to endzone, can be used.

(3) Play the game, which will bring some excitement to Wrigley Field for the first Autumn season since 2003 (I can't count the other appearances which resulted in Cubs sweeps).


How they actually did it:

(1) NCAA, desperately seeking new ways to exploit amateur athletes, enthusiastically announce that Wrigley Field will be the site of a Northwestern home game.

(2) People start randomly painting yard lines in a certain direction. They soon realize that there's about a foot to spare between the back of an endzone and the brick wall (now covered by padding).

(3) NCAA, Big Ten, and NU/UI officials agree to play offense going only one way on the field, a DAY before the event they started organizing a year ago. Apparently, their goal of having the players practice for their future Arena League careers wasn't in the cards.

(4) Executives of aforementioned organizations are drowning in too much money to actually give a shit about this major embarrassing flub.


Stupid Big Ten and stupid Wrigley Field.

With that being said, my pick for the week.

Northwestern (+8) vs. Illinois: I'm not quite sure why this number is so high. I know NU is starting a new QB, but NU had a similar issue years back with an injured QB and came out just fine with the newbie. Fitzgerald has done well in his short coaching career versus U of I, and I believe they've won their last two against the Illini as underdogs. Illinois is coming off a pair of embarrasing defensive performances, the latest to the bottom-feeding Minnesota Gophers, to whom no legitimate team should lose. I don't see this game being a two-score win for Illinois, so take the points.

I don't feel like looking up my record, but I know my record two weeks ago was 3-0 for $150. I'm fairly confident in this one and am putting down $110 to win $100 on NU.

For Sunday, so far I'm liking the Bills getting 6, Indy getting 4, and the Jets/Texans under of 46.

Peace out everyone and have a great weekend.

-B-Bo