College Football - Week 4

Finally! Some good games in college football. It only took us 4 weeks, but from here on out, we should have some good match-ups. It'll also allow us to know how good teams actually are. We had a bunch of it this week.

What We Learned

Florida State is a worthy pick for a national championship game. After struggling to contain Clemson, EJ Manuel sliced and diced up their fast D. With 380 yards through the air and 102 on the ground, EJ Manuel is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. Especially if they can continue to beat good teams remaining on their schedule such as Miami, Virginia Tech, Florida, and then probably Miami or Virginia Tech again in the ACC championship. I'm putting my stock in you, FSU, to take down whichever SEC team makes it to the 'ship.

Wisconsin isn't going to be very good this year. They'll probably beat some teams ranked ahead of them, like Ohio State, Michigan State, or Nebraska. But that doesn't mean they're better, especially without Montee Ball.

The Big Ten is rapidly declining with Michigan State struggling at home against Eastern Michigan, Wisconsin struggling at home against UTEP, Iowa losing at home to Central Michigan, and Illinois taking a pounding at home to Louisiana Tech. Michigan lost to Notre Dame as well. Big Ten teams need to step up in the spotlight. I don't think Michigan State is ready yet, and Michigan isn't either getting slaughtered by Alabama and then losing to the Irish. Wisconsin lost to Oregon State a couple weeks ago, albeit traveling to the west coast for the Beavers first game. Ohio State under Meyer next year I believe will do some great things, but we need someone to step up this year. It's definitely not gonna be Penn State, either. Maybe Nebraska?

The Pac-12 is getting a lot better. That's good, considering they weren't very good over the past few years and really at all if you take out USC over the past 6 years. Stanford seems like it's going to be a solid program despite losing Luck, Harbaugh, and some other NFL draft picks. Oregon is a legit top 5 team; right now I have them at 4. Very nice showing against Arizona, though, who I think is gonna be a decent team this year. The Beavers look good, UCLA looks like it may start to become somewhat relevant, and ASU looks like a pretty good team. Just ask Ute fans.

I've got Oregon, Stanford, Oregon State, Cal, Washington, and Washington State (in that order) in one division and USC, ASU, UCLA, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado in the other. If the middle of the pack can step up, teams like Oregon State, ASU, Arizona, UCLA, Cal, and Utah, that will be what makes this conference a great one in football.

Arkansas at 1-3 was a little overrated to start the season.

The Big East is still horrible. I guess we didn't really "learn" that...

One of the games I almost called out in my big 5 (which I went 5-0 this week) was K-State over Oklahoma. I think the Sooners are a lot of smoke and mirrors, and Carl Landry is a tad overrated due to his inconsistency. The Sooners lost at home. They're officially off my top 10 list. I had them at #10.

Games to Watch This Week

Stanford at Washington. Not so much for Stanford, who I expect to win, but for Washington. This will be a good Pac-12 measuring stick for them.

Baylor at West Virginia. I don't know why the Big Ten didn't pick up West Virginia during the summer of conference realignment, but the Big 12 did and they deserve a prize. This is a good match for a potential top 10 team. Baylor will probably lose, the question is going to be how close it will be.

N. Carolina State at Miami. If Miami expects to compete for a conference title against Florida State, they need to have a statement game. This is it. The wolfpack are on the road and not as talented as the U. Should be a fun game to watch, though.

Tennessee at Georgia. Pretty much every SEC game from here on out will be a good one, but I think Georgia might let this one slip by. Tennessee can also step up to national attention if they beat the Dawgs at home.

Ohio State at Michigan State. If it wasn't for Michigan State sucking it up lately, I would have thought they'd overtake my buckeyes. But now, I'm not so sure. Ohio State hasn't been tested with a team this caliber, but they also play them every year so they're familiar with MSU. The Spartans boast a lot of talent, especially on defense, but Ohio State is the one team that can match them defense for defense. It'll come down to what Braxton Miller and friends can do on offense. The WR's need to step up, especially Brown and Smith. This should make for a very fun game to watch! If anyone wants to find me next Saturday around 1:30, their best bet is in front of a TV.

Oregon State at Arizona. These are 2 teams expected to finish somewhere in the middle, so this game will carry a lot of weight. We haven't seen much of the Beavers, but what we've seen has been good. I think Arizona will bounce back from an abismal showing this past week against Oregon and go 1-1 versus teams from the Beaver state.

Ole Miss at Alabama. First true SEC test. Ole Miss has been resurrected and I think will put up a good fight against a young Alabama team, but I still expect the Tide to roll once again.


My Big 5 Picks

Thanks to last week, my record is now 17-3. Here are my picks this week:

1. Ohio State over Michigan State (barely) on the road
2. Texas over Oklahoma State on the road
3. Tennessee over Georgia on the road
4. West Virginia over Baylor
5. Virginia Tech over Cincinnati on the road

I didn't pick that many upsets (just 2), but I picked 4 road teams in very close games. We'll see what happens, but whatever does, it'll be fun!

College Football - Week 3

I apologize...this week I'm a little late in posting. I've been sick the last 6 days.

Another week of action-packed pigskin-tossing! Let's take a look at what happened.

USC gets upset by Stanford. I thought for sure with Andrew Luck and 3 other players from Stanford now in the NFL, that USC would overcome their drought against the Cardinals. Nope. Since the loss is early in the year, the loss may not impact their national championship dreams just yet. They have to get by Oregon first, and possibly twice. LSU and Alabama will play each other, so one of them will lose at least one game this year. The other teams in front of them are more than capable of losing a conference game, so it just depends on how far they fall.

Michigan State gets upset by Notre Dame. Give the Irish credit. They went into East Lansing and dominated the Spartans. With a five (soon to be four) more ranked teams ahead of them, an undefeated season with a little help from some teams ahead may mean they get a shot at a national title.

Utah upsets BYU. Is this really an upset, though? BYU was a little overrated, even at the 25 spot. Stanford was only 4 spots ahead of them and they just took down USC. BYU couldn't even take down an injury-ridden Utah team. Even with all the chances the Cougars had, they still couldn't overcome their soon-to-be-former-rival.

Pitt upsets Virginia Tech. This also was barely an upset. Some teams just have the number of other teams. Pitts has won the last 5 meetings now I believe.

Alabama pounds Arkansas. If there's any question that the road to the SEC championship goes through Alabama, I think that was answered today. LSU seems to be the only team who has a chance at upsetting them.

What We Learned

Alabama, LSU, Oregon, Florida State, and Oklahoma will probably round out the top 5. USC falls too far out of the hunt which takes them out of the title hunt.

Going into week 4, we still don't know about some teams. Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida State, West Virginia, Clemson...these teams haven't really played anybody yet. We'll get to know more about them in the coming weeks.

I've gotta be honest, I didn't learn a whole lot this week, aside from USC is still susceptible to Stanford and BYU still can't beat Utah. Thus, I don't know what to expect next week, but here are my picks anyway:

1) Ohio State beats UAB
2) TCU beats Virginia
3) Utah State rebounds from last years loss and beats Colorado State on the road
4) Notre Dame beats Michigan in a tight game at home
5) Florida State beats Clemson

Last week I went an abismal 2-3....this week I'm hoping to get back to 5-0! On the year, I'm 12-3. We'll see what happens this week!

Payroll Day!

In light of the payroll class I'm currently teaching, I thought I'd post a tidbit about payroll this week. It may help you understand your paycheck a little better.

There are 6 payroll taxes divided into 2 categories: employer taxes and employee taxes. Here are the sinister six:

1) Social Security (Employer & Employee)*
2) Medicare (Employer & Employee)*
3) Federal Withholding (Employee)
4) State Withholding (Employee)
5) FUTA (Employer)
6) SUI (Employer)

*These 2 taxes make up FICA; sometimes they'll be combined on your check as one number, but it's referring to these 2 taxes.

I'd like to note that in some states, they have county taxes, or district taxes, or city taxes. These are all employee taxes and act similiarly to state withholding.

Social Security Tax

The social security tax is a percentage. For employees, it's 4.2% (recently lowered by the Obama administration; let the politics fly about that). For employers, it's still 6.2%. So on your paycheck, if you multiply your taxable wages by 4.2%, you'll get your social security amount. The wage limit in 2012 is $110,000. Once you, as an employee, reach that amount of taxable wages during the year (we all do this, right!?), you no longer have to pay the social security tax.

Medicare

The medicare tax is also a percentage: 1.45% for both the employee and the employer. There is no wage limit on this tax.

Federal Withholding

This is strictly an employee tax. The owner doesn't care what you put down for this one because he's either going to pay it to you or to the IRS. The amount of this tax is based on the information you provide in your W-4 form and the tax tables. You can change this to whatever you want...it's your paycheck, so if you want a certain amount to be withheld every time, you can put that on your W-4 form.

State Withholding

Also an employee tax, works the same way as the federal withholding here in Utah. In other states, you may have your own way of doing it. Nine states don't have income tax withholding on normal income (Alaska, Washington, Wyoming, Nevada, South Dakota, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, New Hampshire).

FUTA

This tax is for employers only. It is the federal unemployment tax and is very minimal for most companies: 0.6%. It's wage limit is $7,000.

SUI

The state unemployment tax is different for each state, and dependent upon employer history. Rates tend to vary from 0.1% to 8% with most companies on the lower side. For Utah the wage limit is $29,500. Each state differs for this as well.

There are some other miscellaneous payroll taxes that are state or city-dependent, and I'd have to research all of them. New Jersey has a bunch. Nevada has one, California has one. Ohio, New York, and Pennslyvania do, too.

Hopefully this helps explain some of your taxes, and what to do about them. Basically you can only change your federal or state withholding; the others are percentages. But remember this next time you feel like you have a crappy job. First of all, you have a job period. That's great right now. Second of all, if you make $1,000 this payday, your employer isn't only spending $1,000 on you. He's spending that, plus his share of social security, plus his share of medicare, plus FUTA, plus SUI. The employer probably pays an extra $100 to have you as an employee for that $1,000 you made. And that's for every employee. And that's just from a payroll standpoint.

If you'd like to enroll in the class, it's $40 for four weeks (one night a week, on Wednesdays). You'll get all kinds of handouts and helpful items for payroll. One class starts Oct. 3, the next Nov. 7. Here's the link:

http://granite.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassListing.ClassListingDisplay&int_category_id=4&int_sub_category_id=31&int_catalog_id=

Good luck with payroll in the future, check your check stubs, and I hope you make more money!

College Football - Week 2

What a week for upsets! Who knew this many teams would have been shocked by inferior teams, all in one week. Let's list them.


Utah State upsets Utah. The Aggies were excited to have beaten their rival for the first time in like 15 years. I actually watched the beginning of the game up until the blocked punt. That was crazy...blocked special teams kicks are usually what Utah does. And is anyone surprised at Wynn getting injured in only the 2nd game of the year? "Said no one ever!"

Oregon State upsets Wisconsin. This was a good win for the Pac-12. It's hard to travel across the country and get a win, or even score as the Badgers can tell you. Still, Wisconsin ended up firing one of their coaches because of this pathetic effort.

Mississippi State upsets Auburn. This one isn't a huge upset, but Auburn was expected to win. Miss State is really good this year, though.

Iowa State upsets Iowa. Really Iowa? You're supposed to be one of the best teams in the Big Ten, and you're not even the best team in your own state this year. And the state isn't Texas or California, it's Iowa.

LA-Monroe upsets Arkansas. This was the worst upset of the weekend. Arkansas dropped out of the AP rankings because of it. Missing Petrino yet?

Arizona upsets Oklahoma State. Rich Rod was able to pull off a win over the (what I think are) slightly overrated Cowboys from OK State. Speaks more of Arizona than it does Oklahoma State.

UCLA upsets Nebraska. Nebraska also lost to Washington a couple bowl games ago. They must not have good luck with Pac-12 teams. This was another Big Ten disaster this weekend.


Nearly upsets....


Notre Dame survives Purdue. This isn't good for ND. Purdue isn't as good as other Big Ten teams like Michigan or Michigan State, both of whom play Notre Dame this year.

Michigan survives Air Force. This was a home game...how bad is Michigan really?

Florida escapes Texas A&M. Texas A&M looks like they'll do fairly well in the SEC.


What We Learned:

This week, we learned a few things:

Alabama, USC, and LSU are the cream of the crop. Everyone else is 2nd-tier.

Michigan State and Ohio State may end up winning each of their respective divisions. The Big Ten may allow OSU to actually retain that title if they do. Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska were slotted to win the Big Ten or at least do well. I don't know if that's gonna happen...they look bad. And poor Penn State...

The Big 12 is overrated. Their best team, Oklahoma, isn't as good as people think they are. Their QB is suspect, and it's a good thing they play in a conference with weak defenses. Texas isn't back yet. OK State needs to realize that they lost their best QB and WR from last year so now they're rebuilding. West Virginia and TCU will need to prove they belong. K-State may win the conference...how sad is that!

Notre Dame won't get back to national prominance this year and may never again. The academic expectations are so strict, they can't get great players in. It's why Urban Meyer went to Florida instead of South Bend.

Tennessee is getting back to national prominance. Great...just what we need. Another SEC team getting better.

Florida State needs to play someone before we can determine where they're at. They may be in the top tier with USC, LSU, and Bama. But we won't know until they play someone decent.

Since Ohio State is my team, I'll always offer my thoughts on them. UCF is a decent team; not great, but not horrible. While it wasn't a big, dominating win, Ohio State has a lot of adjustments they need to make. The positive news is that they're making them, and they're winning games. Miller is becoming better and better, the defense line and secondary both look good, and with each game they play they gel a little more. Next week will be good to get through and prepare them for the upcoming Big Ten season. Great job, Bucks!!

What to Look for in Week 3:

Cal at Ohio State. Will be a good test for both teams.

Florida at Tennessee. This will be a good test for both teams, as both are up-and-coming. I think Tennessee edges out Florida in this one, especially with home-field advantage.

Arizona State at Missouri. Mizzou has a nice test this week after putting up a good fight against Georgia. Expect them to represent the SEC well against an Arizona State team still getting used to some things.

USC at Stanford. The first big tests for each of these teams. We'll get to see if USC is really all they're cracked up to be. We'll also see how good Stanford...isn't.

Notre Dame at Michigan State. If Michigan State wants to show that they're the true leader atop the Big Ten, this is the statement game to do it. Notre Dame struggled against Purdue. If Michigan States offense can play as well as their D, they'll be pretty Dangerous with a capital D.

Texas at Ole Miss. Ole Miss is starting out 2-0, but this will be a great test. Should be a good game to watch.

BYU at Utah. Always fun to watch these teams battle it out. The Utah State defeat adds an intrigue to the game. I think the Utes care about this game a little more than they did before. If they lose to the Cougars, they'll be the worst out of the big 3 Utah schools.


My Big 5 Picks:

I didn't list them last week, or for the first week, but here they were:

Week 1: 5-0
Ohio State over Miami (OH)
South Carolina over Vanderbilt (that one was a scare)
Oregon over Arkansas State
Virginia Tech over Georgia Tech
Michigan State over Boise State

Week 2: 5-0
Ohio State over UCF
Georgia over Missouri
Kansas State over Miami
Notre Dame over Purdue
Florida over Texas A&M

Here are my Week 3 picks:
Ohio State over Cal
TCU over Kansas
Tennessee over Florida
USC over Stanford
Michigan State over Notre Dame

College Football - Week 1

College football season has begun!! Yayyyyy!!

This summer wasn't as bad as normal ones, since we did have the olympics. But now that college football is here, I want to do a blog post once a week on what we learn after watching the games from that week and maybe a little preview for the next week. I'm glad to say that a lot of these, I actually predicted!

What We Learned

Alabama is probably the best team in the nation, at least until proven otherwise. I had them losing their first game to Michigan only because I didn't they would gel by week 1 with such a young team. Nope...I was wrong. They are ready to go and will probably beat LSU later on this year, to return to the national championship game. Let's hope someone can take them down this time (USC, Oklahoma, Florida State...I'm talking to you).

Michigan is a lot of smoke and mirrors. When they played a team the caliber of Alabama, albeit young caliber, it wasn't even close. This leaves the Big Ten wide open. I think Wisconsin and Michigan State are a 1/2-notch above the Wolverines at this point. I'm excited about that, too, since Ohio State's bowl game IS the Michigan game. Bring it on!

Florida State is a really good team. Despite playing Murray State, not the greatest team, they pretty much did whatever they wanted including pounding the ball.

Stanford is not a very good team. Everyone talks about the Pac-12 being this power conference. They're not. In fact, the Pac-12 is closer to being the Big East than they are the SEC. If you take away Oregon and USC, you basically have the Big East. Utah is up-and-coming and Stanford was good last year, but since losing their coach, legendary QB, and 3 other NFL draft picks, they've become average. Don't even mention Washington State, either. Everyone else is average to below-average.

West Virginia is a little overrated. Don't know why this is news; they're slightly overrated every year.

Nebraska is becoming a solid addition to the Big Ten. Just in time, too, because Penn State is going to be very very bad for the next 7-10 years. Losing to Ohio university (not Ohio STATE, just Ohio) is only the tip of a very big, cold, and dark iceberg. I hope they do well, but I don't think they will for a while.

Texas will shortly become an elite college team again. UCLA and Tennessee are also turning corners.

And I can't forget my Buckeyes! Granted, they played a bad team. But I loved seeing Miller pass for so many yards. Sure he had 161 yards on the ground, but being able to pass the ball was something he wasn't taught under Tressel. The Buckeyes seemed thin at wide receiver, but with Stoneburner already established and the emergence of Devin Smith and Corey Brown, they may have a nice little corps going forward. What a catch by Smith....man.

What we can expect

Utah and Utah State are getting closer and closer...not because Utah is getting worse, quite the opposite. They're on track to being the 3rd or 4th best team consistently in the Pac-12 in the next few years. Utah State is just getting a lot better. Props to their program.

The Miami-Kansas State game should be fun to watch. Notre Dame and Purdue should be good, too. Nebraska traveling to UCLA makes it interesting....unless the Huskers start blowing out the Bruins. That's about it this next week...

Watch for Air Force to try and capitalize on Michigan's banged-up quarterback. Denard is good on the ground, but his one knock has always been passing. It showed against the Tide.

After blowing out Southeastern Louisiana (did anyone ever hear of them before this blog post?!) this weekend, Mizzou will get a wake-up call to the SEC playing Georgia next week.

Week 3 will provide some good match-ups, but week 2 is pretty much a down week. Nice week to do it, too, since the NFL will be debuting.

Picks to win the conferences:

ACC: Florida State
Big East: Louisville I guess?
Big Ten: Michigan State
Big 12: Oklahoma
Pac-12: USC
SEC: Alabama

National Championship: USC vs. Alabama
Winner: USC!!

I just want someone other than an SEC team to finally win it...I don't care who it is. I think USC, Oklahoma, and Florida State have the best shots. So cheers to them!

I'll post this every week, following the majority of the college games. Good luck to your teams, unless you're a Michigan fan, and GO BUCKS!!!