College, NFL, fantasy leagues – Are you ready for football?

College football started, the NFL kicks off its season tomorrow and fantasy leagues have completed their drafts.  With so much going on, I decided to take a quick look at all three and give you some info to prepare for this weekend.

College Football

The first weekend of college football was really exciting!  The University of Michigan opened its new stadium to a sold-out crowd by demolishing Connecticut.   Quarterback, Denard Robinson, set a school record rushing for 197 yards at that position.  (I told you that the third year would be a charm.)  Boise State traveled to the nation’s capital and legitimized its #3 ranking by defeating Virginia Tech (#13) at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins.  Boise gets to rest this weekend.  Michigan will go on the road to play non-conference rival Notre Dame led by new coach Brian Kelly.  Both teams are trying to climb its way into the top 25.  The Fighting Irish opened its season with a win over Purdue.  But, I do not think that their defense will be able to handle the speed of Robinson. 

The game to follow will be Ohio State (#2) and Miami (#12) at the “Horseshoe” in Columbus.  Miami lost the 2003 National Championship Game (Fiesta Bowl) to Ohio State in which a controversial call was made against Miami for pass interference.  The Hurricanes will be playing for all of the former players who were on the 2002 team.  They seem good enough to beat the Buckeyes.  I know that football is a team sport, but this is going to come down to the performance of one guy – Ohio State quarterback, Terrelle Pryor.  He is good enough to contend for the Heisman, but he also makes decisions that make him look like he should be on the bench.  I have been told that your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness.  If TP is the Buckeyes’ greatest strength they will send Miami back to South Beach with an “L.”  If he is the team’s greatest weakness, there will be a serious hurricane in Northern Ohio.

Who Dat going to New Orleans?

It’s NFL Kickoff in the Big Easy!  Drew Brees and the Saints start the road to defend their Super Bowl Title at home against Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings tomorrow.  Both teams have their quarterbacks intact, but Favre’s ankle is still questionable.  The last time the teams played was earlier this year in the NFC Championship game.  In that game, Favre took a tough hit that injured his left ankle and threw an interception that ended the game.  Favre did not come back at 41 after major surgery on his ankle to lose.  I see him willing his way to victory and avenging his performance in last season’s NFC Championship game.  OK, I need him to do well because he is my fantasy QB.  Which brings me to…

Fantasy Football

You drafted your players and selected your defense.  Don’t worry if you did not get everyone that you wanted.  You can trade and draft new players throughout the season.  If you are new to fantasy football these three easy things will help you be successful with your team:

1. Keep up with your players’ schedules and do not have them on your roster when they have a “Bye” week.

2. Check in on injury reports and make sure that you are starting players who are still healthy and able to play.

3. Have patience and don’t trade immediately.  A player may start off slow and end up with a great season.  Try benching a player before you trade.

Now turn in your rosters and kick butt!  Just don’t mess up your heels.

Ciao! 

Heels & Helmets

College football is here!

It’s August and college football is here!  Over the weekend, college football programs opened camped and the USA TODAY Coaches’ Poll released its 2010 Preseason Top 25.  Here are the teams that the 59 head coaches on the USA TODAY Board of Coaches voted to be on the 2010 preseason poll. 

Aug. 6 2010 preseason poll
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	2009 record	Points	Final 2009 rank
1.	Alabama (55)	14-0	1,469	1
2.	Ohio State (4)	11-2	1,392	5
3.	Florida	13-1	1,245	3
4.	Texas	13-1	1,240	2
5.	Boise State	14-0	1,215	4
6.	Virginia Tech	10-3	1,052	10
7.	TCU	12-1	1,051	6
8.	Oklahoma	8-5	1,035	NR
9.	Nebraska	10-4	1,001	14
10.	Iowa	11-2	952	7
11.	Oregon	10-3	940	11
12.	Wisconsin	10-3	778	16
13.	Miami (Fla.)	9-4	728	19
14.	Penn State	11-2	508	8
15.	Pittsburgh	10-3	492	15
16.	LSU	9-4	476	17
17.	Georgia Tech	11-3	455	13
18.	North Carolina	8-5	445	NR
19.	Arkansas	8-5	438	NR
20.	Florida State	7-6	374	NR
21.	Georgia	8-5	312	NR
22.	Oregon State	8-5	263	NR
23.	Auburn	8-5	260	NR
24t.	Utah	10-3	169	18
24t.	West Virginia	9-4	169	22

With the preseason poll out, I want to give some thoughts on the top three teams and their quest to play in the BCS title game on January 10, 2011.

1. Rollin’ with the Tide – The University of Alabama Crimson Tide (#1), 2009 National Football Champions, have one goal: University of Phoenix Stadium to defend their title.  From the preseason poll, it looks like the majority of the coaches think that they have the talent to accomplish this goal.  They have a solid foundation on offense.  Starting quarterback, Greg McElroy is 14-0 as a starter at Alabama.  Plus, they return a powerful and fast running back duo in Mark Ingram (2009 Heisman winner) and Trent Richardson.  However, as Head Coach Nick Saban admits the preseason poll is all about what a team did last year.  This year is a new year.  Saban’s challenge getting Alabama back to the BCS title game is an inexperienced defense.  The Crimson Tide lost 14 defensive players to the 2010 NFL Draft.  The defense was key to keeping Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators to just 13 points in the 2009 SEC Championship Game.  This offense will put up some points, but remember defense wins championships.  

2. No Consistency in Columbus – The Ohio State University Buckeyes (#2) is the highest ranked school representing the Big 10 in the poll.  Quarterback, Terrelle Pryor has a decent arm and leads the team in rushing, but he has not shown any consistency to demonstrate that he will do anything great.  The Buckeyes passing game was ranked 103rd last year.  That is not the performance of a Heisman quarterback and national championship offense.  As a result, Iowa (#10), Wisconsin (#12) and Penn State (#14) could easily challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten Conference Championship and a spot in the BCS title game.  Iowa will play all three schools.  While Wisconsin and Penn State will both play Ohio State, they will not play each other.  This could make things tricky if they have similar records with victories over Ohio State.  (A Big 10 Conference Championship game can’t start fast enough.)  On the other hand, if Pryor avoids 9 interceptions in 13 games and is the guy that we saw against Oregon in the 2010 Rose Bowl all season, this will not be a conversation.  The scary part for Buckeye fans is that they could see the guy who was a disaster when Purdue upset them last year.

3. Life After Tebow – The University of Florida (#3) feel that the 2009 season was a disappointment.  The Florida Gators started the season as the defending National Champions ranked #1.   They held on to this spot until they suffered their first and only loss of the season to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.   This cost them the opportunity to play for a back-to-back championship.  The Gators want to avenge last season, but it is going to be difficult.  They are starting over after the “Tim Tebow Years” and beginning a season without any returning All-American players since 2007.  The young man who is now leading the Gators at the quarterback position, John Brantley, has never started a game; but he did spend three years behind one the best quarterbacks to play at Florida.  Now we’ll see if Brantley learned enough job-shadowing Tebow to get the Gators back to a BCS title game.

Looking at the top three teams, I think that Nick Saban will get his defense together during camp and play in the BCS title game for the second consecutive year.  Let's see how they handle their SEC match-up against Florida on October 2.  You also have to be leery of Boise State (#5) because they always have some tricks up their sleeves.

Ciao!

Heels & Helmets