College Football - Week 1

College football is finally here! Every week I will be doing a recap of what we learned from the previous week and a list of games to watch for the upcoming week, as well as my Prime 5 Picks. The “What We Learned” section will include some things we learned from the previous week of football and will always include some info on the Big Three Utah teams (sorry Weber State) as well as some other teams across the country.  

The “Games to Watch” section will list some exciting upcoming games in the next week. Last year I went 44-21 with my “Prime 5 Picks.” I’ll look to improve my record this season. Each week, I will make 5 picks and I’ll try to pick the underdogs who will pull off the upsets as well as road teams. I’ll be sure to include at least one of the Big 3 Utah teams. I don't have a ton of readers, so I do it mostly for me. I hope you enjoy!

What We Learned

Week 1 tends to be overreaction week. Some teams may have done well against really bad teams, and some teams may have struggled even though they're breaking in new quarterbacks, new coaches, new systems, or simply a lot of turnover. Just because your team did well or didn't do well doesn't mean that's how it'll go the rest of the year.

My Buckeyes pulled it out against Navy. Ohio State had some growing pains to get through with a new offensive line and new QB. OSU tends to not play as well the first game of the year, so scheduling Navy helps get their act together. For breaking in a new QB, Meyer kept the game plan fairly conservative. Throwing for 226 yards on only 12 of 15 completions is great to see. He also led rushers with 50 yards on the ground. I think Barrett is going to be special. He's not quite the runner that Braxton is, but he is a duel-threat nonetheless. He's more accurate of a passer and goes through his reads more efficiently. The three-headed RB crew of Wilson, Samuel, and Elliott are gonna be tough to stop. Wilson has the speed on the outside for slower teams like Wisconsin, Elliott has the power to run up the gut against more finesse teams like Penn State, and Samuel is a combination of the two. It looks like they still need to fine-tune the defense a little bit, but this team is definitely a contender for the Big Ten title.

As much as it pains me to admit it, BYU has a really talented quarterback. I think the passing numbers are a little inflated due to the fast-paced offense they run, but that's what BYU needs to do in order to make up for the lack of talent that they have. Let's face it...BYU can't bring in all the SEC kids that schools like Alabama and LSU can. BYU has higher standards. It's harder to get a fishing license than it is to enroll at Ole Miss because they need talented football players. BYU doesn't need its sports to excel because it has a different focus. So if they can grab a talented QB like Hill and run a fast-paced offense to throw defenses off a little, they will win some games.

Utah had a field day against Idaho State. It's reminiscent of the old Mountain West Conference days when Utah would beat up on teams like UNLV and San Diego State. I'm all for playing tune-up games the first week of the season, I think it helps your team to gel and be prepared for the real tests of the year. The downside to playing cupcakes is you can never pinpoint the strengths of your team, only the weaknesses. If a lesser team exposes an area of your game, it looks bad. Utah's secondary, especially their corners, were one of the weak spots going into the season. That part of their game was exposed against a bad Idaho State team. Anything that goes right when you play a cupcake will be seen as, "oh, it's only because they played such a bad team." Utah won't be throwing up 56 points a game, and some of the things they did well are actually things they'll do well against better competition. But not everything is. So we'll have to wait and see how Utah reacts when they play a decent team.

Utah State has a tough test against Tennessee in a rare Sunday game.

Florida State is not the juggernaut we thought they were heading into the season. They're an elite team, of course, but Oklahoma State gave a nice blueprint on how to expose them. The Cowboys are going to be good this year, so I give them a lot of credit. FSU is probably still the best college football team in America, but the gap separating them from the rest of the pack may not be as big as we thought. Same goes for Alabama.

I'm not sold on UCLA. Of their 4 touchdowns against Virginia, 3 came from the defensive side of the ball. They have a Heisman trophy candidate. Scoring 1 touchdown on offense won't cut it if they're going to contend against Oregon, Stanford, and even USC. A lot of people have them winning the Pac-12, but I just don't think it'll happen.

Wisconsin is a very good team who nearly pulled off the upset in Louisiana. LSU was just too much for them. Both are near-the-top teams in their respective conferences, and we can see why the SEC is better than the Big Ten right now. Wisconsin can't get away from their run game which spells trouble for them if they fall too far behind in games this year. Their passing attack got them two interceptions when it counted most.

For a guy named Gurley, he was quite the man against Clemson. He ran for nearly 200 yards and a lot of those were after the first hit. He also had a kickoff return for a touchdown: 100 yards on top of his rushing stats. Georgia's running attack and special teams are going to be fun to watch.

Games to Watch for Next Week

We’re still weeding out the warm-up games a lot of teams have on their schedules, but there are a few really great games to watch this week despite the NFL stealing some of the limelight with its season starting this weekend. Week two tends to have a couple really good games and a lot of snoozers. Here is the rundown of games to tune in to:

Michigan State at Oregon...this is easily the best game of the week. With both teams having had primers against bad teams in week one, they'll get to face some real competition. Michigan State has one of the best defenses in the country while Oregon has one of the most high-powered offenses. The Spartans capped off their ground-breaking year last season with a road win (basically) over Stanford. Stanford is a team that's given Oregon fits the last few years having beaten Oregon the past 2 years and 3 of the past 5. Stanford and Michigan State have very similar styles of play. With the loss of Braxton Miller, MSU feels they have a great shot at winning the Big Ten and possibly grabbing a playoff spot. A win over Oregon is something they'll want to have on their resume.

USC at Stanford...Pac-12 play begins with Stanford hosting USC. USC has a lot of talent but not a lot of depth. Despite their talent, it's tough to prepare for teams like Stanford. With both teams coming off wins, this should be a fun game to watch. Maybe they can resurrect the rivalry that Harbaugh and Carroll had and continue to have in the NFL.

Michigan at Notre Dame...Go Irish! Utah should pay close attention to this game as they will play Michigan the following week. Go Utes!

Eastern Washington at Washington...This may turn out to be a good game despite the fact that an FCS team is playing. Eastern Washington is one of the best and could pull off the upset.

Prime 5 Picks

Each week I'll be doing my Prime 5 Picks. All the cool names for picks were taken, so I'll use this until I can think up something better. I didn't post last weeks but here they are:

1. Ohio State over Navy (road)
2. Wisconsin over LSU (upset)
3. Penn State over UCF (upset)
4. Florida State over Oklahoma State (road)
5. Georgia over Clemson

I try to pick games that aren't as obvious, like Oregon over South Dakota. I also try to pick upsets and road wins. I knew FSU would be close over Oklahoma State, although I didn't think it'd be that close. I wanted to stay away from Texas A&M and South Carolina. I'm glad I did, because I would've picked the Gamecocks. So after week one, I'm 4-1 on my picks.

Here are the Prime 5 Picks for week 2:

1) Ohio State over Virginia Tech. It'll be a little tougher than it looks on paper, but Barrett is going to make a couple really good plays to get the win over V-Tech. 

2) Oregon over Michigan State. I want to pick the Spartans, I think they match up well with Oregon. I just don't think they'll have enough. It'll be a close game until the end when Mariota makes a play or two and puts the game away. 

3) USC over Stanford (upset/road). USC definitely has the talent and I think they'll catch a few breaks caused by errors on Stanfords part. It's not much of an upset, but this should be the turning point when everyone realizes USC is heading back up to being a national power. 

4) Texas over BYU. I'm sure the loss to BYU is still haunting the Longhorns from last year. With a new coach in place, Texas looks more like the team people think they should look like. Hill is still going to put up numbers, but Texas has a renewed vigor and a stronger team. It'll be close, but Texas comes out ahead. 

5) Michigan over Notre Dame (upset). Initially I had Notre Dame winning this one. Michigan's biggest concern was at RB and Derrick Green has solved that problem. Their new offensive coordinator from Alabama is showing just how good he can be. The Irish keep it close but ultimately can't compete in the big game. Sound familiar?

Not too many upsets this week since most teams are playing cupcakes. If there are some upsets, they'll probably be big ones. I'm just glad that college football is back even though my wife isn't. 

College Football Preview

College football is finally here! There are some exciting things to look forward to. This is the time of year when every team still has something valuable: hope. Once we get further into the season, some teams lose that hope. That's why I'm not really against teams scheduling a couple of soft opponents at the beginning of the year because they can hope longer. It makes it more enjoyable.

There are some new things to look forward to this year in college football, and I'll just touch on them briefly.

The new playoff system is set to take place along with the deciders of who gets into it: the new playoff selection committee. Now, instead of a combination of computers and humans, we'll have playoff teams selected by 12 men and 1 woman. I've stated before that I don't think this solves the problem of who should be given the chance to play for a national championship. Now, instead of a #3 and possibly a #4 team bickering, you'll have teams 5-10 potentially asking why they weren't chosen as the #4 seed.

Take last year as an example. With Florida State, Auburn, Alabama, and Michigan State being playoff teams (Auburn and Alabama would have had to play again in the playoffs), that left out 11-2 Stanford, 11-1 Baylor, 12-1 Ohio State, 11-2 Missouri, 10-2 South Carolina, 10-2 Oregon, and 10-2 Oklahoma. Oklahoma handled Alabama, a potential playoff team, so why shouldn't they be good enough to get in instead of Michigan State? Some thought Stanford was the best team, they only lost a game as well. Same with Baylor. Shouldn't a 2-loss SEC team like Missouri or South Carolina get in over a 1-loss Big Ten team? Ohio State's loss was to Michigan State, so they probably didn't have quite as good an argument. But you can see how instead of possibly only Michigan State arguing that they should have been ranked #2 in the BCS system, you now can have multiple teams arguing over the #4 spot. It's like March Madness...there isn't a lot of bickering over who gets the four #1 seeds, but there are a lot of teams complaining that they didn't get in at the #68 spot. So look for this new playoff system and the teams selected in it by the committee to take some heat.

The Pac-12 has come a long way. I don't think they'll be able to sustain it, but I think they're at their peak. Oregon will start to decline as their genius of a head coach Chip Kelly has taken his talents to Philly. Stanford will always be a good, solid team but they've exceeded their potential the past few years thanks to the next Peyton Manning (Andrew Luck) and a great head coach who left in Jim Harbaugh. USC will probably rise and the Arizona teams (Arizona, Arizona State) will continue to have good and bad years. Washington will be interesting to see with their new head coach Chris Peterson from Boise State. UCLA is riding high right now, too, but historically-speaking they can't keep this act up for long. However, if these Pac-12 powers can stay as good as they are, they'll be locked in as the second-best conference for a while.

The power five conferences will be looking to separate themselves from the rest of college football soon. This will enable them to ultimately control the money. Yes, players may end up getting a stipend or actual salaries (this is also a dumb idea, but there are things the NCAA should change in regards to this), but if the power five can get some power and control over the college football landscape, then they'll be able to put more money in their pockets. Especially now with a new playoff system potentially expanding.

I think those are some of the things to watch this year, but now let's get to the teams.

• SEC Winner - Auburn
• Pac-12 Winner - Oregon
• Big 12 Winner - Oklahoma
• Big 10 Winner - Ohio State
• ACC Winner - Florida State
• AAC Winner - UCF
• MWC Winner - Fresno State

Looks like I'm going with the safe plays, except for Auburn and Ohio State.

The SEC is just a crap-shoot. You could list four teams, possibly more, and have great arguments for each. No one would bat an eyebrow. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Auburn are all contenders. All have hard schedules, Auburn's being the most brutal. However, I think they feel they have something to prove. They'll have one loss in their 4 week grind against South Carolina, at Ole Miss, against Texas A&M, and at Georgia. They also travel to Alabama and Kansas State. They'll beat Alabama again in the Iron Bowl in a less-dramatic fashion and finish off South Carolina, possibly again, in the SEC championship. The SEC has the highest number of different winners predicted by the ESPN experts as the SEC.

The Pac-12 has three real contenders: Oregon, Stanford, and UCLA. I don't believe the hype on UCLA, although I think they'll be good. Last year they ended up with 3 losses, and I think they'll have about that this year. They play Texas, at Arizona State, Oregon, and finish with Stanford. The Cardinal schedule doesn't do them any favors: against USC, at Washington, at Arizona State, at Notre Dame, and at Oregon. They'll finish strong with a win at UCLA but won't have won enough games to overtake Oregon. Even though UCLA or USC make it to the Pac-12 championship game, this is Oregon's year once again.

The Big 12 consists of one front-runner (Oklahoma) and several dark horses. Oklahoma State, Texas, Kansas State, and Baylor could all potentially beat out the Sooners for that top spot. Last year, Baylor did it. Texas beat Oklahoma last year as well. Anything is possible with this conference, but if you had to put money on it, you'd probably pick Oklahoma and their returning core. Plus this year, their schedule is a little easier as their harder games against all four dark horses are at home.

The Big 10 race just got a little more interesting. With Braxton Miller of my Buckeyes getting hurt, the two-dog race between Michigan State and Ohio State seemed to lean a little more green. I really like J.T Barrett, the new starting QB for OSU. He's been in Urban's program for a couple years and he's a much more accurate thrower than Braxton. So yes, the duel-threat gets taken away, but defenses now have to drop an extra guy or two into coverage as opposed to using them as spy's for Miller's run game because Barrett can slice up defenses if they don't. With a load of faster receivers and hybrid tailbacks like Dontre Wilson, Meyer is known for getting the best out of his players and this team is no different. With something to prove and chips on their shoulders, Ohio State beats the Spartans on Nov. 8 and upends Wisconsin in the Big 10 championship game. While Michigan State is surely the favorite, Ohio State has what it takes to win.

The ACC winner is going to be Florida State. Is this even up for debate? Clemson at 16 who got shellacked last year? FSU is just too good right now for their conference with teams like Miami, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech down. Duke may have gone as high as they can go. The Seminoles have an easy path to the first playoff this year. Maybe Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, or even Florida gives them a game this year. That's a big maybe.

The AAC, American Athletic Conference, is no longer a part of the power five and for good reason. I don't recognize most of their teams anymore. They only have three of the eight teams from 2010. It's basically some of the all-star teams from the non-BCS conferences of a couple years ago. That being said, UCF ran the table on them last year with Louisville being a close second. Louisville is good enough to win the conference, but with a new coach and QB, I think it's a little much to overcome. Plus, Louisville leaves for the ACC this year. I think we need another conference named the ACA or CAC to make it more confusing.

I don't really follow the MWC anymore since BYU, Utah, and TCU all left. I think that Utah State is becoming a really good team. Aside from the Aggies, Boise State, and Fresno State, I don't think this conference is very good.

My prediction for the four playoff teams are (1) Florida State, (2) Auburn, (3) Oregon, and (4) Oklahoma. Florida State routs the Sooners and Auburn squashes the Ducks setting up a rematch of last year's national championship, only this time the Tigers beat out the Seminoles. It feels like it's time to have an Alabama school win the title, doesn't it? I mean, it's been a whole year and it's starting to feel weird.

Good luck to all teams out there except Michigan!

New-Look Cavaliers - Part Deuce

The NBA season still isn't here yet, although for Cavalier fans, it can't come soon enough. There are still some potential pieces floating around, but the Cavaliers roster is starting to take shape a little bit. The biggest pending transactions are the Kevin Love for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett trade as well as if Ray Allen decides to join the Cavaliers or retire. With Allen, the Cavs would get a tremendous shooter to go along with Mike Miller, Kyrie Irving, and possibly Kevin Love.

The Kevin Love trade looks like it's going to happen as long as the NBA doesn't step in and dismiss it, which it could. If they find evidence that this trade was set in motion before James' return to Cleveland or even the draft, then this could easily get vetoed. I don't think it will, though, so I'm betting on Love coming to Cleveland and sending the two Canucks to the Canadian border along with a first round 2015 draft pick. Signs are pointing to Allen playing for one more season, and that would likely be with LeBron. So let's say these two things happen. The lineup looks like this:

PG - Kyrie Irving
SG - Dion Waiters, Ray Allen
SF - LeBron James, Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, James Jones
PF - Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson
C - Anderson Varejao, Brendan Haywood

There are a lot more players listed on the current roster, but they will be in and out of the D-league. Guys like rookie Joe Harris and Matthew Dellavedova. Some pieces may be packaged to help alleviate some cap room as the Cavs want to sign K-Love to a long-term deal. Haywood also has a special contract situation so look for him to possibly be shipped. Thompson would be a good trading piece like J.J Hickson was a few years ago.

With Marion, Miller, Jones, and Thompson looking to come off the bench, the Cavaliers are probably 9-deep. Three of those nine are top 20 players easily, two of them arguably top 6. Dion Waiters wants to be in the starting lineup, and even if he is, he'll probably get major minutes with the second group. The fact is that he's a good scorer and plays better without Irving on the floor. At times the Cavs used him as the backup point guard. He will need to learn to play off the ball more this season as not only Irving but Love and James will be taking away touches from him.

Playing Varejao and Love will be a good front court duo. Thompson can rotate in as well. The Cavs can go big and play Miller at the 3, James at the 2, and Waiters or Irving at the 1. They can also go small and have Love at the 5, James at the 4, and any SF/guard combination at the 3, 2, and 1. Thompson and Varejao give them a presence inside offensively, especially Thompson, while Love is a good stretch 4 and one of the best shooters in the NBA. James can also play inside now. With James, Irving, and Waiters able to penetrate, shooters like Miller, Allen, Harris, and Love will help stretch the defense out or give them open looks.

The Cavs have a great transition game. Love is a great outlet guy, while James, Waiters, and Irving can run the floor. Varejao is a center who can run as well. While they may not have the highlights that Wade and James put together, they will have their fair share of them on ESPN's sportscenter.

Overall, even without Love and Allen, this is the best supporting cast LeBron has ever had. If the trade doesn't come through and Wiggins and Bennett stay, it basically moves Thompson up and gives the Cavs an extra piece on the bench. Bennett struggled his rookie year, as a lot of rookies do, but he's steadily improving and will be a solid player wherever he lands. Wiggins has the potential to be an all-star and will have some highlights this year, but if he does become a star, it won't be until year two or three. Having Wiggins on the floor would take away some minutes from Waiters or possibly push him to be more of a backup PG to Irving, although I still think they are on the floor together during the crucial minutes of the game.

LeBron also has this intangible ability to make the players around him better. He took a pretty average, although Cavs fans wouldn't admit it at the time, Cleveland Cavaliers team to the finals in 2007 only to be swept by the Spurs. With this group, he has at least one (Irving) bonified all-star and possibly two (Love) around him. These aren't aging stars, either. Irving, Waiters, Thompson, Bennett, and Wiggins are all under 4 years, some of them rookies. Love is entering his prime. LeBron is still in his prime, although he's probably peaked in his prime. While some older veterans like Allen, Miller, Marion, and Varejao there, it's not dependent upon them like it was Bosh, Wade, Allen, and Birdman. LeBron basically carried them into the finals those last 3 years. With the Cavs, he'll have some youth who he can mentor and have them carry some of the load.

Recently Shawn Marion came to an agreement with the Cavs despite them offering him a minimum contract. This signing becomes huge because now they aren't so dependent upon LeBron playing major minutes. Marion at this point in his career is a borderline starter, which makes him one of the better bench players in the league. So now when teams go to their benches, the Cavs will have a very capable defensive player in Marion. With the exception of point guard, which the Cavs can work around in their rotation, the Cavs are 2-deep at every position. They also have multiple looks in their lineups: they can go small or big. While they probably won't beat out Chicago's front line, they don't really have to. They'll have a solid 4 in Love and a solid 5 in Varejao. With arguably the best point guard and small forward in the league (I think Chris Paul and Tony Parker are better at point, but I think you can make the argument that Irving is the best...it's just not a strong argument), it more than makes up for their lack of star power in the frontcourt. The NBA is now a wing league. Look at the Heat...didn't have a strong presence down low, still went to the finals for 4 straight years. Let's be honest; at the time, even though Cavs fans didn't want to admit it, it was because of LeBron. Now that the Cavs have 2 other all-star caliber players in Love (again, assuming the trade goes through like everyone believes) and Irving, you can't try to lock-down on James as much.

The weaknesses on this team are the defense and coming together in year 1. The pieces that have been added are either real solid (Kevin Love) or have championship experience (James, Miller, Jones, potentially Allen, Marion). Aside from James and Marion, the others on this roster aren't exactly known for their defense. Varejao is better than advertised, especially playing with James again. Waiters and Irving can play defense, they just haven't been forced to yet. Love is a great rebounder but not necessarily a protect-the-rim kinda guy. If they can solve this part of it, the offense will be there. There are 4 players who could put up at least 25 points on a given night (James, Irving, Love, and Waiters). Their new coach is supposedly an offensive genius, so offense will not be a problem for them. They may be like the Saints or the Packers of the NBA: maybe not great on defense, but they'll be banking on the fact that you probably won't outscore them.

This Cavaliers team is going to be fascinating to watch. It feels like a championship is coming to Cleveland at some point in the next few years. I think they have a real shot at it with the addition of Marion, Love, and potentially Allen. They just have to put it all together.