Should I Stay or Should I Go?

It's been a while since I've blogged about something that wasn't sports-related. Over the past couple years, the issue of loyalty has come up. Should loyalty exist? How valueable is the principle of loyalty nowadays?

Being from the midwest, there are a lot of people who live in small towns who will always be loyal to their towns, sports teams, families, and way of life. You don't switch sports teams, you don't cheat on your spouse, you support local farmers, you support the company you work for. However, with the emergence of the internet, social media, and a general cultural shift in perspective and values, loyalty isn't valued as much anymore.

The first and biggest example to me is LeBron James. Maybe Clevelanders have a special sense of loyalty since all their sports teams suck, but when a Cleveland-area kid gets drafted by his hometown team and then bolts for a different one, a huge controversy was bound to come up. Obviously Cavaliers fans were mad he left. The rest of the country joined in saying they didn't appreciate the way he left. There were a lot of critics, though, who defended his decision saying that basketball was a business and he can go to any team he wants regardless of loyalty. All sides are legitmate arguments. This situation started me off wondering how important loyalty was, though.

Joe Mauer stayed with the Twins, his hometown. Michal Jordan came back to the Bulls after he un-retired, the team he had been with, and Brett Favre wanted to get a deal done with Green Bay. There are certain sports figures who show some degree of loyalty. It's mostly that the fans are loyal to their teams, regardless of who plays there. But owners don't have to be loyal to players; it's a business. Sometimes a team needs better players to win. So teams aren't loyal to players. Aren't they justified in leaving themselves?

Let's take a different job. How about a hot-shot attorney who has been with the same failing law firm for 10 years and it still isn't going anywhere. Is he obligated to stay with the company, or is he justified in leaving it to search something better out for himself and his family? How loyal does he have to be?

It seems like answers differ based on region. In the midwest, people are generally more loyal. Maybe it has to do with their history in farming. You HAVE to be loyal, dedicated, persistent in agriculture or your crops won't grow. Farming has made the population more loyal. Out east, things are more transient. People are generally less loyal because of competition. With so many people and few opportunities to move up the corporate ladder, sometimes you have to be willing to step on someone else to get where you want to be. A lot of people have a less-loyal mentality when it comes to life. Out west, people are pretty laid-back in general. There's not a lot of U.S history there, nothing to tie them down. California is the progressive state and not designed to value loyalty. They value progress, which usually involves change. Down south, people have traditions that they stick to. They have a code of conduct on how you treat women, the elderly, and guests in their home. People are generally more loyal to things there because of these factors.

So if LeBron James leaves the Sacramento Kings, it's not as big a deal because loyalty, especially in sports, isn't as prevalent in Sacramento or Anaheim as it is in Cleveland or Detroit.

Maybe sports isn't as justified, because it is a business. I think everyone would agree being loyal to your spouse and family is important though. Right? Wait, Ashley Madison who? Is marriage-loyalty not nearly as valued as before?

School loyalty, moreso amongst those in high school or middle school, has really dropped off. People don't really know what pep rallys are anymore. Working in a high school, the general attitude I felt was that the students hated their school and didn't want to be there. Facebook postings are also evidence. The Beach Boys would be crushed.

Loyalty needs to come back. When you hear of things changing for the worst, there's usually a loyalty issues:

More divorces nowadays = lack of loyalty to marriage
Less participation in school functions = lack of loyalty to school
More pro athletes changing teams = lack of loyalty to sports teams

Our culture has become so ADD, we expect to change more often. Change usually constitutes a lack of loyalty. Change isn't always a bad thing; sometimes we need change to occur. But nowadays, we change just for the sake of changing. Where's the loyalty? If you're only loyal to yourself, does that make you loyal?

I appreciate any input on the subject, especially those of you who are heavily involved in the social sciences.

College Football - Week 8

There were some good games this past week so I hope you watched!

I went 4 - 1 last week with my picks (I've given up all hope on West Virginia now), so I'm now at 30-10. My college pick-em on espn.com got me 54 points out of a possible 55 (swung and missed on West Virginia), so I'm doing pretty well. Hopefully this week goes just as well, especially considering that I'm trying to pick harder games and not just the blowouts.

Here's What We Learned

I'll start off with my Buckeyes....what a game!....I was on my seat those last few minutes. I'm really proud of what OSU has been able to do this year. Trademark Urban Meyer takes a team blown up with injuries, including their star QB, and still pulls out the victory. OSU should have lost that game, but their bench showed how tough they really are. I know Miller is probably back this week and Hankins, too, but I almost wish we'd just play our younger players out the rest of the year so they can get some game experience. I don't care if we lose the rest of our games (except Michigan) since we've proven that we can win big games under Meyer. That's something OSU hasn't had since 2003.

I knew Kansas State would score a lot of points, I just thought West Virginia would, too. K-State is a legit #4 team in the country but won't be able to beat Florida or Bama. West Virginia is just pathetic. No Heisman trophy going there.

Florida has arguably the best defense in college football and a good offense to go with it. They can go through bad streaks offensively, but their D keeps them in games. I like Florida, they may just beat out Bama.

Oregon answered some questions about themselves and it only took them 2 months to do it. We all know their offense is great against all but great defenses (although ASU's isn't bad), but we know that their D is pretty solid and they can go on the road with a young QB and win big games. That's great news for Ducks fans who are probably mad because they've been saying this all season. Now they've finally proved it. They'll have a couple more tests with USC, Oregon State, and probably USC again.

LSU is very well-coached and runs with deep with talent. They went on the road in the middle of a brutal schedule and pulled out a win at Texas A&M. Granted, Texas A&M is a new SEC team, but they're pretty good. If teams start losing look for these Tigers to possibly slip into a national title game, if they can beat Alabama in 2 weeks.

Wisconsin has finally found its niche. I don't know if that includes winning big games on the road yet, but they're back to what people thought they were.

Auburn's offense is bad...sorry Paul. Love ya man! And at least you have a recent championship! How many teams can say that??

Utah State is almost as good as BYU and Utah, which in the state of Utah is a big transition. Just because their record is better doesn't mean that they're better. It's all about the quality of competition. The Aggies haven't had to play ASU and Oregon State on the road or USC at home. You're good and getting better every year, but hold off the "We're #1 in Utah" chants for now.

Northwestern nearly upset Nebraska at home. I called this a near-upset last week. Northwestern is good and Nebraska has gotten worse.

Notre Dame is clearly a level 2 team. They're not elite....more lucky that they're undefeated. I'd put them as the #10 best team in college football right now.

Michigan finally beat Michigan State. Took almost as long as finally beating Ohio State. Not gonna happen this year though!

Despite 2 losses, TCU is doing the most work for the small-conference teams who went big (or in BYU's case, slightly bigger) to BCS conferences. Utah is a mess and BYU is barely getting by. These were the top 3 teams of the mountain west conference. Put them in big-boy conferences and it's not as easy as just winning a bowl game.

USC is a top 5 team right behind Kansas State. When they lost to Stanford (barely), they had some injury problems. Now they're clicking on all cylinders. No one wants to play them right now.

Oklahoma has some bounce in their step after their WR's are now with it. Still don't think they're top 10, but they're getting better.

Speaking of which, here is my top fifteen teams in college football. I'm not looking at records. This is just who I think the best teams are:

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Oregon
4. Kansas State
5. USC
6. LSU
7. South Carolina
8. Florida State
9. Oregon State
10. Georgia
11. Oklahoma
12. Mississippi State
13. Texas Tech
14. Clemson
15. Ohio State

There's my top 15. I wanted to do 15 instead of 10 to get OSU in there =)

Games to Watch This Week

Florida at Georgia. This is gonna be a close game. I don't have a good feeling about either team. As much as I like Florida, on the road against an improving Georgia team should prove difficult. If I had to, I'd take the Gators...but not by much.

TCU at Oklahoma State. Both teams are doing fairly well, not great seasons. This should be a great match-up despite the fact neither team is ranked.

Michigan State at Wisconsin. This is a game Michigan State needs to win in order to remain in the elite conversation of the Big Ten. That's sad, too, since this is a down year for the conference. Expect the Badgers to ride their momentum to another win.

Michigan at Nebraska. Michigan is ranked in the BCS while Nebraska isn't too far behind. What makes this a game is that Nebraska is at home. They do well there. I hope they pull out a win against the Wolverines.

Notre Dame at Oklahoma. Arguably the biggest game this week, Notre Dame has won all their "big" games at home this year. Oklahoma is vastly improved with the production out of their young WR's. Expect Oklahoma to grab the upset.

Mississippi State at Alabama. I think THIS is the game of the week to watch! I have a friend in our apartment complex who's an Alabama fan. He said no matter how good Alabama is, they always squeek out with a win it seems like against Miss State. With Mississippi State making huge strides this year, don't be shocked if Alabama loses this week and then possibly again next week against LSU. The SEC gets all the glamour because it's a brutal place to be.

Not a ton of great games, but the ones on the slate are going to be really good. Here are my picks:

1. Ohio State beats Penn State on the road
2. Oklahoma upsets Notre Dame at home
3. Wisconsin beats Michigan State at home
4. TCU beats Okie State on the road
5. Alabama edges out Mississippi State

I really can't pick that Florida/Georgia game. I want to...but it could go either way. Same with my last 2 picks. I feel really good about Oklahoma and Wisconsin, though. Let's see what happens. Good luck to all your picks out there this week!

The Cleveland Browns

For all my fellow Cleveland Browns fans out there, this one's for you!

I'd like to take a minute and evaluate our team: the Browns. Always seemingly at the bottom of the barrel, I want to provide some hope in light of recent events. Hope is a word Cleveland fans in general loath since that's all we ever can attain. It's always "next year" for our teams. Well, maybe the next "next year" will provide some hope for us.

First off, I want to identify the positive changes we've seen in the past couple years. A lot of this is due to the man recently fired, Mike Holmgren, but we'll get into him later. Here we go!

QB

Alright, so right now we have Brandon Weeden controlling the offense. I'm not saying he is the best QB we could have, but he's the best one we've had in a while. Think about it. We've had Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, and Colt McCoy. Does anyone know where these guys are today?? Derek Anderson was always overrated. He had about 4 or 5 really good games at the end of a season a few years ago and we thought we had our franchise QB. I was telling everyone we should trade him since he currently had some value! We could've gotten a first round pick for him (and probably some others) from Atlanta or Baltimore that year and gotten Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco as our quarterback! As it was, we had 0 first round picks that year. Want to hear some of the names of guys who went in the first round of 2008? I mentioned Ryan and Flacco, Chris Johnson, Rashard Mendenhall, Felix Jones, Darren McFadden, and Dustin Keller (Matt Forte, Ray Rice, and Jamaal Charles all went 2nd round).

But instead Anderson turned out to be a fluke, so we went with Brady Quinn. Would anyone like to repeat that era? No thanks. Jake Delhomme would be a great #2. He's a veteran with leadership qualities, but he's not a great starter and we overpaid for him. Seneca Wallace just retired on my Madden 2012 game. He had a couple years to prove he was capable but never did. Then we grabbed Colt McCoy in the 3rd round of 2010. That was a nice attempt. We didn't reach for him in the first round like we did with Weeden, so he was cheap. He was a proven college QB but just didn't have the arm or the reads for the NFL game. Swing and a miss, but it was a good try.

So even though Weeden isn't great, he's steadily improving. And he's the best QB we've had in the past 7 years.

RB

Right now, we have a tandem of Montario Hardesty, Chris Ogbonnaya, and Trent Richardson. Aside from possibly the injury-prone Peyton Hillis, Richardson has been the best back we've had in a long time and he's only a rookie! Great pickup in last year's draft with Richardson. He changes the dynamic of how defenses prepare against the Browns. Even he is adapting to the NFL game (so is Weeden, btw), so in a year or two we can expect some great things out of him. Hardesty serves as a nice complement to Richardson.

WR

We've always lacked great wide receivers. Even Kosar didn't really have anyone to throw to. A few years ago, Mohamed Massaquoi was our best receiver. Now, he's probably third. It's not a huge upgrade, but it's one of the areas the Browns have been steadily improving in. Josh Gordon was a fantastic pickup and worth a 2nd round draft pick next year. He's a solid 6'3" and has some play-making abilities. The only thing is he's a rookie. He's adjusting to the NFL game and not doing a bad job, either. He just needs some time and possibly another really good WR so he won't see double-coverage all game long.

Greg Little would be a nice #3 option instead of #1 or #2. Josh Cribbs isn't a great WR much to his dismay. Great return guy, though. He'd be a perfect slot receiver for his speed but we just don't have enough other WR weapons to really use him the way we could.

The Rest of the Offense

So our best QB, RB, and WR are all rookies. Most of the 2nd stringers are second or third-year players as well. The good news is we have some good-to-great players on offense. Our O-line is a pretty good one, but Joe Thomas stands out among them. He's the best OT in the game. If he resigned with us because he believes in us, shouldn't that give Browns fans a reason to feel good? He could've left us for a championship team and easily taken the starting spot.

Benjamin Watson at TE isn't a bad option. He's a middle-of-the-pack player for his position. The reason other TE's might get more hype is they usually have a good-to-great QB and WR options to distract the defense. As our QB and WR's improve, so will Watson's numbers.

Defensively

Joe Haden and D'Qwell Jackson are elite players at their positions (CB & LB). So we have a couple great players there. Even with Jabal Sheard and Ahtyba Rubin on the D-line, it still needs some tweaking. It's one of the more important aspects of a football team, so unless there are significantly better talent-options in next year's draft, this is what we solidify. I'd LOVE it if we took Johnathon Hankins from Ohio State with our first pick. Scott Fujita is also a very good LB.

The rest of the defense is just okay. We can upgrade position by position, but that starting D-line should take priority. We need a pass rush and we have got to be able to stop the run, especially in the AFC north with backs like Ray Rice & Rashard Mendenhall.

Special Teams

We have one of the best kickers in the game in Phil Dawson. We also have one of the best kick returners in Josh Cribbs. Special teams is an area that we're actually doing well in. As the roster improves with defensive backs and linebackers, we'll be even better in this area.

Administration

Some great news: we finally have an owner who cares! He actually WANTS to win! Despite being an investor with the Steelers, the league today voted 32-0 to let Jimmy Haslam take over the Browns. So many people have great things to say about this guy. I think Cleveland should start getting gas primarily from Pilot Flying J from now on.

Pat Shurmur has been doing a good job with this team, and as a former coach, I'm really not a fan of firing coaches every 2-3 years. I understand it's a business, but look at some of the coaches we've had: Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Belichick, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini. These are guys that had success on other teams and are some of the better coaches around. We ran Crennel out of town and he's really picked up Kansas City. Magini started the Jets turnaround before Ryan got there. I think Shurmur is doing a good job and I really like Childress resigned to the OC position. Not a great coach, good assistant.

Mike Holmgren. I said I'd get back to him. I don't know how I feel about him. He's done some very good things in Cleveland to really get the ball rolling, especially with draft picks. Historically he's swung and missed with a lot of draft picks, so I know there are better CEO's out there. But I don't know if Joe Banner will be better. He was CEO of the Eagles from 2001 until this year. Aside from Jeremy Maclin, I don't love any of his draft picks. He's done a lot of things via trading and free agency, but that task will be significantly harder with a team like the Browns.

Fans

I really do think we have the best fans in the NFL. We're loyal, outgoing, and we actually care about our team when they're good or when they're bad. We've had a lot of bad years...I think some good years are on the horizon. Actually, the horizon is an imaginary line that receeds as you approach it... so maybe I should say that next year, the outlook for the Browns hasn't been this bright in years. Stay faithful, Browns fans! Our turn is coming!

College Football - Week 7

Another upset weekend! And this time Utah State had nothing to do with it!

For my picks, I went 3-2. Overall, I'm 26-9. One of my upsets was right, so if you're betting on these (which not a lot of people read these so you're probably not), hopefully you're making money! Nailed the LSU upset, swung and missed on the Texas/OU game.

What We Learned

One thing we learned is where everyone is in the BCS standings. Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Kansas State, and Notre Dame. All of these teams will have the opportunity to play some big games and possibly lose them. The one with the easiest schedule is Notre Dame, who is a lot more physical than many people thought. Given the current positions of teams, they're my hopeful for the BCS championship and knocking off whichever SEC team is there. Thanks a lot, Seminoles.

Ohio State and Ohio are 14-0 for far this year. When's the last time that happened?!

Michigan State was a little ahead of themselves this year. They're now a mediocre 4-3 and 1-2 in Big Ten play.

Oklahoma still has a fighting chance to squeek out the Big 12 title. I think they're better than K-State overall and if they make it to the championship game with them, I think the Sooners pull it out this time.

Sorry fellow Ute fans...Utah has a lot of problems. While no one expected them to be 6-0, nobody thought they'd be 2-4...and that with a narrow win against BYU. Going 0-3 in a big-boy conference hopefully serves as a wake-up call: playing and reloading (especially at the QB spot) in a BCS conference isn't easy. It's a lot easier when you're the big fish in a little pond. Move to a big pond with big fish and you take some hits on food. I think in 3 years they'll learn how to be consistent. Until then, be ready to look at some records you haven't seen for a while. And BYU fans...you still don't know how this works until you actually play in a big-boy conference.

Oregon's schedule gets considerably tougher the second half of the year. I've banged on Oregon, but if they go undefeated, they deserve the shot at the BCS championship. The problem is they've played 5 of their 6 games at home with a young QB. Playing on the road is different. Even against WSU, they were outplayed and up by only 4 going into the half against a team they should have slaughtered. The Ducks eventually got their act together and pulled out the huge win, but my point is playing on the road is a lot tougher than people think in college football. Especially when that includes road trips to ASU, USC, and Oregon State. I'd rather see Notre Dame or FSU in the NC game, but if Oregon goes undefeated, they've earned it.

The SEC is really good: Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina, LSU, Alabama, Georgia....wow. South Carolina's loss doesn't speak to them being a bad team. They've got a lot of tough games on their schedule.

Games to Look Forward To

Oregon at Arizona State. This will be a good road test for the Ducks against an ASU team who has played well at home. If ASU gets off to a great start, this one may go down to the wire.

Purdue at Ohio State. I'm a little nervous about this game, just because Purdue seems to have OSU's number. OSU is the better team and I'll pick them to win, but not by much.

LSU at Texas A&M. Good road test for the tigers, especially after that emotional win against the Gamecocks.

South Carolina at Florida. I expect the Gators to come out with the win, especially after South Carolina's tough time with LSU on the road and Florida's somewhat easy-win against Vandy. Plus Florida's at home.

Nebraska at Northwestern. Nebraska is the better team with better players, but they've struggled on the road, particularly Martinez. Northwestern is off to a great start so far and could pull out the upset.

BYU at Notre Dame. Just kidding...Notre Dame's gonna kill the Cougars.

Michigan State at Michigan. Rivalry games are always tough, especially against 2 struggling teams determined to rebound this year. Watch for Michigan State to do a better job at containing the mobile Robinson than they did against OSU's Miller.

Texas Tech at TCU. Time for TCU to step up! This is a great game to do it. I think Tech comes out with the win.

Kansas State at West Virginia. These teams rankings have flip-flopped in the last couple weeks. Watch for West Virginia to come back with a vengence and take out K-State for the upset.

My Big 5 Picks

1. Ohio State over Purdue (thank goodness it's a home game)
2. West Virginia upsets Kansas State
3. Texas Tech beats TCU on the road
4. Florida beats South Carolina
5. LSU over Texas A&M on the road

Not a ton of great games, but the ones that are will be pretty good. Have a great week!

College Football - Week 6

We're gonna miss football when it's gone again. What a great week!

What We Learned

It was a great week ESPECIALLY if you're a Buckeye fan! What a beatdown they put on the Huskers, great job!! Braxton Miller got a little bit of help from his support group, which is what he'll need if OSU is to go undefeated. Carlos Hyde stepped up, especially in the red zone, to grab 4 TD's. Philly Brown returned a punt, and even the D stepped up to grab the first score of the game. Either way, Urban Meyer was brought to OSU to improve the offense and he finally got what he wanted. OSU's defense is solid, possibly the best D-line in the country. Secondary isn't horrible, either. But to put out an offensive effort of that magnitude has Buckeye fans excited about the 2nd half of the season.

Florida overtook a slightly-overrated LSU at home. Actually the pollers showed their hesitation towards the Tigers this year by dropping them after a win. Florida showed their grit by containing LSU for almost the entire time. Look out for the Gators to pull some upsets in the SEC. If the Gamecocks can pull out a win against LSU next week, look for that to be the game to decide the winner of the SEC East and possibly knock Alabama out of the top spot at the season's end.

Florida State....come on....with their loss, that knocks them down to the 12 spot. I'm looking at the top 12 teams to see who is the best non-SEC team to take down Alabama in the national championship. Out of the 12 teams, 4 are from the SEC and 1 is ineligible to play (Ohio State) in the NC. That means we have Oregon, West Virginia, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Oregon State, USC, and Florida State. Oregon and Oregon State will play (Oregon will probably win), Oregon and USC will play (maybe even twice). West Virginia, Kansas State, and Notre Dame aren't good enough to beat Bama. That leaves Oregon, USC, and Florida State. Judging by Oregon's past performance against elite SEC teams, I can't pick them. USC and FSU I think have the best chance to beat them, so hopefully one of them ends up at the #2 spot since both already have 1 loss. It'll be interesting....

Penn State is doing a surprisingly good job. I think they'll start to fall off over the next few years though. But I take my hat off to them as long as they're doing this well.

Virginia Tech keeps falling and probably won't come close to sniffing an ACC championship.

Stanford, Michigan, and Oklahoma were able to rebound from last week. They're all very good 2nd or 3rd-tier teams this year.

West Virginia edged out Texas. Right now, they're not good enough to beat Bama. They need to play better D. If they can fix that up, though, they may just find themselves in the BCS championship.

South Carolina will be tested over the next 2 weeks. If they make it out, they may deserve a spot in the championship. Georgia is overrated...who didn't see that one coming?!

Notre Dame is doing very well so far. If they can keep it up, I'll be surprised.

UCLA is almost back. Almost.

I went 3-2 in my picks last week (Auburn lost to Arkansas...who saw Arkansas pulling their head out last week?! and Ohio State beat Nebraska), so I feel pretty good. Overall, I'm 23-7 over 6 weeks.

Games to Look Forward To

The Red River Rivalry. I wonder what the bet will be this year. I'm thinking Texas may finally win this one.

Wisconsin at Purdue. Purdue is taking some really big steps, surprisingly. But they may just pull this out against the Badgers. If they do, they probably end up in the Big Ten championship game since they'll be above Wisconsin and both Penn State and Ohio State will be ineligible.

Utah at UCLA. Utah needs to pull this one out if they want to be considered one of the better teams in the Pac-12. If they don't, they may end up as the 4th or 5th best team...in their own division.

Stanford at Notre Dame. This will be a good game.

West Virginia at Texas Tech. Should be a shootout. Watch if you like scoring.

South Carolina at LSU. Really good game down in the Bayou.

My Big 5 Picks

1. Ohio State over Indiana on the road.
2. Texas over Oklahoma on the road.
3. Notre Dame over Stanford.
4. LSU upsets South Carolina.
5. Purdue upsets Wisconsin.

There you go. Another great week of football is coming up!

College Football - Week 5

 

Another week, more great football.

I told you these games would be close, and the winning margins for all 5 games I picked was a combined 23 points. That's a little over 4 points a game. Close games...could've went either way. I wanted to pick challenging games, though, and not just easy ones to have an easy record. So going 3-2 last week doesn't feel as bad as other weeks could.

What We Learned

Big 12 defenses have been catching slack for the past few years now, and maybe this is a good example why. While high-profile QB's, WR's, and RB's have always lit the conference up, aside from a couple good Texas defenses, they haven't done much. See the famous Texas-USC....there was a lot of scoring. A 70-63 route of Baylor by West Virginia, first year into their new conference, doesn't help much for the Big 12's defense of their defense. What a fun game to watch though!

Ohio State just may be the class of the Big Ten this year, which is sad since this is year 2 of their rebuilding from the Jim Tressel fallout. They're better than they were last year, but they lost some key personnel which is being filled by younger talent. Etienne Sabino looks really good, and big Hank up front controlled much of MSU's line. It also contributed to the fact that the Columbus native Le'Veon Bell, MSU's running back, was held to 45 yards after putting up 463 yards in only 2 of his previous games. I still think MSU is a little better than OSU at this point, but Meyer outcoached and OSU out-executed the Spartans on Saturday. Next year, however, the Buckeyes will be the best team in the Big Ten.

If you turned off the Wisconsin - Nebraska game like I did, then you missed a great comeback. After Wisconsin dominated in the first quarter and into the second, Nebraska decided it didn't like what was going on. Seeing the shocked fans in that stadium at the beginning of the game was weird...the Cornhuskers were supposed to win this game, and they eventually did. The best player on that field, though, was Chris Borland, the LB for Wisconsin. I am a little nervous when they meet Ohio State in November because he might be the best LB in football. The worst part? He's from Ohio.

Washington beats Stanford, Stanford beat USC...so Washington should beat USC in 2 weeks, right? Yea, I don't think that's gonna happen and it still astounds me how Stanford can beat a USC and lose to a Washington. No matter...this speaks well of the Pac-12.

Hans Olsen...please tell me again how having Hawaii on BYU's schedule strengthens it? BYU 47 Hawaii 0.

The over-under on Arkansas becoming a legit team again is 2 years. Anyone wanna take the under?

The more I watch Florida State, the more I really love them. They fly to the ball and hit hard on defense, and offensively they're not constrained to the talents of EJ Manuel, which are many. Plus, he's a throwing QB in a RB's body. Well, maybe not a RB, but a really tough WR, almost TE. He's quick, makes good decisions, and turns nothing into something. They played South Florida solid, and the Bulls are a very good team. Athletically they can hang with anyone, I just hope it's with Alabama in the championship game. That is now my pick for the BCS championship....Go Seminoles!!

Texas may not be back, but they're not that far off. Overcoming Okie State on the road for their first 4- 0 start in I don't know how long is an accomplishment. With Oklahoma slowly diminishing and Okie State slowing down after losing Weeden and Blackmon, Texas rise to glory will be that much easier.

Games to Look Forward To:

Utah State vs. BYU... I would love to say I know the winner to this game, but I don't. Even though it's in Provo, Utah State looks like a team to beat now. If I had to guess, I'd say BYU by a hair but if Utah State can make anything happen on special teams like they did against the U of U, they might just squeek one out.

Nebraska - Ohio State. I'm a little bit nervous about this game, even moreso than the MSU game. I think Nebraska gets out of Columbus with a win and Meyer gets his first loss as OSU's coach. Nebraska is coming off a high note with the comeback win against Wisconsin, and while OSU pretty much dominated them until Miller got hurt last year, I think they solve their turnover problem and throw up some points against my Buckeyes.

Washington - Oregon. I can't believe I'm putting this one up here...I just wanna see what Washington can do.

Mississippi State - Kentucky. Kentucky put up a good showing last week against South Carolina, despite what the scoreboard says. Miss State is off to a great start this year, but don't be shocked if they lose this one in the bluegrass state.

LSU - Florida. I'm gonna go with the upset here. I think LSU has struggled more than they thought this year, and they haven't played anyone yet. They'll get their first test against UF whose already been tested by Tennessee.

Oklahoma - Texas Tech. Oklahoma was ranked pretty high and Texas Tech wasn't. Now OU is 2-1 and Tech is 4-0. It's at Tech so it should be a fun game to watch.

West Virginia - Texas. Should be a really good game, and I think West Virginia starts to blow it out in the 4th quarter. It'll be a humbling game for UT but will ultimately help them in the long run.

My Big 5 Picks

Alright, I went 3-2 last year...let's see if I can get another 5-0 week. They seem to happen every other week now:

1. Nebraska over Ohio State...I hate picking OSU to lose, but even if my pick is wrong, my team wins so I can still be happy.
2. Oklahoma over Texas Tech on the road.
3. Florida upsets LSU at home.
4. A not-so-good Auburn team beats a bad Arkansas team.
5. West Virginia beats Texas on the road.

There you have em! Go watch some great games this week!