It’s a rematch between two powerhouse teams in college football.

Yes, when these two teams meet on the field in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, it will be their second meeting and as far as the Tide is concerned, they are hoping it will be a different story.

The LSU Tigers will face off for the second time against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship game taking place on January 9 at 8:30 p.m. (ET) at the Louisiana Superdome, now Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The two teams met earlier in the year at Alabama, a game the Alabama Crimson Tide certainly haven’t forgotten.

In case you missed it, Alabama failed to capitalize on three field goals in the game and lost 9-6 in overtime, which could have very likely ended their national championship hopes. Thankfully, the Tide won out, a number of teams in front of them lost, and the rematch with the LSU Tigers for all the marbles was theirs.

LSU, on the other hand, had a couple of scares late in the season, falling behind to Arkansas and Georgia in back-to-back games before pounding them in the second half to pull away for easy victories.

These two teams are mirror images of each other, which is why the first contest went the way it did. Both teams have unbelievably stingy defenses, powerful running games and solid but inconsistent quarterback play.

The quarterbacks are more game managers than playmakers, but…

Read More » LSU Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide for BCS Title

Yes, the Oregon Ducks will face an unlikely foe for the Pac-12 title this Friday.

Though it may not seem like the juggernaut matchup fans out west would have expected, when the No. 9 Oregon Ducks and unranked UCLA Bruins kick off in the Pac-12 Football Championship this Friday, each will take the field with a refreshingly clean slate.

Though the 6-6 UCLA Bruins aren’t exactly championship material, the particular way that the cards have played out in the Pac-12 conference this year has allowed them the first ever South Division berth to the inaugural conference championship game.

It may have taken the automatic elimination of sanction-suffering USC for them to get there in an already comparatively week South Division, but that doesn’t mean they won’t look to capitalize on the opportunity.

And what an opportunity it was. In the North Division, the Oregon Ducks lay claim to the championship berth despite a matching record with No. 4-ranked Stanford.

Though the Cardinal will move on to a bowl game of their own…

Read More » No. 9 Oregon face UCLA for Pac-12 Title

This is it, the final game in college football this season. Enjoy.

The Auburn Tigers and the Oregon Ducks collide in the 2011 BCS national championship game on January 10 at the University of Phoenix Stadium. This BCS Championship Game between the Tigers and the Ducks has the promise of being one of the most entertaining BCS title games ever.

They say defense wins championships, but both teams got here with near unstoppable offenses. The Oregon Ducks average 49.1 points per game, while Auburn is close behind at 43.2 points per game. This game could be the equivalent of, or better than, the BCS championship game between Florida State and Virginia Tech in scoring, when FSU outscored Virginia Tech, 46 to 29.

Virginia Tech was led by a strong armed mobile quarterback, who had been unstoppable all year. The quarterback, Michael Vick, is still hard to stop at the pro level. Interestingly, as unstoppable as we considered Vick, in 1999, his best collegiate season statistically, he had 12 touchdowns passing, and eight touchdowns rushing, with five interceptions. The comparison isn’t even close between him and Auburn’s Cam Newton. Newton has 28 touchdowns passing, 20 touchdowns rushing, and one touchdown receiving for the Auburn Tigers.

The BCS loves the matchup between Auburn and Oregon, for several reasons. The first is that it matches two champions from top conferences. The second reason is the high flying offenses of the two teams. Defense may win championships, but offense sells…

Read More » Auburn V Oregon in 2011 BCS National Championship

This is your final BCS bowl game before we find out who’s gonna’ be this year’s national champion.

Ohio State, 11-1 and champion of the Big Ten Conference for a record-tying sixth consecutive season, will play Arkansas, 10-2 and from the Southeastern Conference, in the 2011 Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome.

The Arkansas Razorbacks have been to five previous Sugar Bowls, all before the BCS era, going 1-4 in those games. The Razorbacks’ last appearance came in 1980 with Lou Holtz as coach. The Hogs were in the Southwest Conference then and lost to 1979 SEC and national champion Alabama and coach Bear Bryant.

On the other hand, the Ohio State Buckeyes, which won a share of the Big Ten title this year, last played a postseason game in New Orleans in the Buckeyes’ BCS title game loss to LSU at the end of the 2007 season. Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel, who was also celebrating his 58th birthday on Sunday, said he was excited about his return to the Big Easy with a roster featuring many players who weren’t with the program for the last trip.

The Buckeyes have been in three previous Sugar Bowls, going 1-2. Their last appearance came at the end of the 1998 season, when they defeated Texas A&M. Both teams feature talented and successful quarterbacks, albeit of different styles.

Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett and Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor are finalists for the Manning Award, which the Sugar Bowl presents each year to the top quarterback in the country. Mallett, who transferred to Arkansas from Ohio State’s archrival, Michigan, has thrown for 3,592 yards and 30 touchdowns for the Hogs this season. He threw for 300 or more yards in a game nine times this season.

Pryor has 2,551 yards passing and 25 touchdowns through the…

Read More » Ohio State V Arkansas in 2011 Sugar Bowl

It’s the new year and that only means one thing in college football, the big BCS Bowl games are coming.

That’s right and we’re kicking off the new year with the 2011 Fiesta Bowl. This year we have the Connecticut Huskies taking on perennial college football powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The Connecticut Huskies beat South Florida 19-16 in Tampa, Fla., on Dave Teggart’s last-second, 52-yard field goal. That kick gave UConn the Big East title and the league’s automatic berth in the BCS. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) selects participants for the four major bowl games — Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose — along with the national championship game.

The UConn players and coaches gathered at their on-campus home, the Burton Family Football Complex, to watch the BCS Selection Show in the team meeting room.

There was some speculation that the Orange Bowl, which picked ahead of the Fiesta, might take the Huskies to pit them against Virginia Tech. But the Orange Bowl did as most expected and chose to invite Stanford instead of Uconn, leaving the Fiesta Bowl for the Huskies against the Oklahoma Sooners.

This is UConn’s fifth appearance in a bowl, but the Huskies have gone bowling four years in a row now. The program only completed its move up to Division I-A, now called the Football Bowl Subdivision, in 2003. This is, of course, UConn’s first appearance in a BCS bowl.

UConn is the fourth team in the history of the BCS, which was…

Read More » Oklahoma V Connecticut in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl

It’s offense vs. defense for the Rose Bowl this year.

The TCU Horned Frogs will head to Pasadena to participate in the 2011 Rose Bowl and will face the de facto Big 10 champion Wisconsin Badgers.

The TCU Horned Frogs finished the regular season a perfect 12-0, including an 8-0 record within the Mountain West Conference. The Rose Bowl appearance for the Horned Frogs will mark their second consecutive BCS appearance as TCU appeared in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, losing 17-10 to the Boise State Broncos.

TCU will face a one-loss Wisconsin Badgers team, whose only loss came against Michigan State in October. The Badgers get the nod over the Spartans, who like the Badgers and Ohio State Buckeyes finished 7-1 in the Big 10, by virtue of being the highest ranked Big 10 BCS school.

The Horned Frog’s top-ranked defense which allowed only 11.4 points per game this season will be put to the test. Wisconsin averages 43.3 points per game, fourth best in the country.

The Badgers on the other hand have scored over 70 points in a game on three occasions this year and are led by their running game, averaging 247 yards per game on the ground.

The third-ranked Horned Frogs (12-0), having posted their second consecutive undefeated regular season, will be making their first appearance in the Rose Bowl. TCU is tied for the nation’s second-longest current winning streak at 12 in a row and is one of three undefeated teams this season.

It’s the first time TCU has played in a bowl game with the two teams…

Read More » TCU V Wisconsin in the 2011 Rose Bowl

The AP preseason poll was released and the Boise State football team landed at No. 3 – the highest ranking in school history.

You read it, the Boise State Broncos received the highest ranking ever for a non-BCS team, and high enough to please pretty much every Bronco fan this 2010 NCAA college football season.

After the jump, view the full AP poll along with some additional notes and feedback. Then celebrate in the comments. The Boise State Broncos were No. 3 already and that’s even before any games have been played.

The Alabama Crimson Tide took the No. 1 spot followed by the Ohio State Buckeyes. Rounding up the top five are Florida and Texas.

The Boise State football program opened fall camp before the season and learned what every expert has been predicting since the Broncos’ season-ending victory over TCU in the Fiesta Bowl last January — the Broncos will start the season ranked in the top five.

Boise State head coach Chris Petersen addressed the media after practice, but he was characteristically non-descript when the line of questioning turned toward the polls.

“We knew we would be ranked high, but if we’re ranked high at the end of the year, that’s a good thing,” Petersen said. “Right now, I don’t know if the bull’s-eye can get bigger. It’s been big for a while and there’s been a lot of talk and a lot of hype. That’s how we think of it.”

“That doesn’t really help our situation. Now, we’ve just got to…”

Read More » Are the Boise State Broncos that good this season?

College football is back baby.

And for the first time in quite a while, the Alabama Crimson Tide will come to the 2010 NCAA college football season as the national champions, looking to defend that title in the BCS title game come January.

The popularity of the Alabama Crimson Tide is hard to exaggerate. According to Forbes, the team’s “waiting list to obtain season tickets for the Crimson Tide is currently 15,210 names long.”

Furthermore, simply being next up on the list is no guarantee of getting tickets. The only thing coming up on the list entitles you to do is “make a donation to the athletic department ranging from $5,000 to $500,000″ depending on the location of seats you wish to buy tickets for.

Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban is the fourth highest paid coach in college football, raking in about $3.9 million per season. No wonder the guy was determined to bring the title to Alabama since bamboozling Dolphins fans into thinking that he’ll stay with them for the long haul.

With everything going for the Tide, just who can challenge these guys heading to the season in terms of being the most valuable commodity on the gridiron? Of course, one team comes to mind and that’s last year’s runners-up, the Texas Longhorns.

The Texas Longhorns is the most valuable college football team right now…

Read More » Is Alabama the most valuable team in College Football?

Well, we all know the Redskins are.

Along with the rest of those guys who haven’t done shit this year. Just so you should know, teams like the Redskins, the Rams and the Lions have began to look for solutions to improve on the mess they created back in the ’09 season.

And these teams might finally get what they’re looking for in the coming 2010 NFL Draft. And as far as that goes, only one name stands out, Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

Suh is an outstanding prospect in the NFL Draft class because there is so much to like about him. Sure, his durability could end up becoming a huge problem but if he can stay healthy and keep the production up, he’s a jewel most of the teams in the league can’t afford to pass.

The guy is a good fit for both the 4-3 and 3-4. Ndamukong Suh has 56 tackles, 11 TFL, five sacks and eight passes broken up in 10 games as a senior. When playing for Nebraska, Suh notched 76 tackles, 16.5 TFL and 7.5 sacks in 2008. He also blocked two kicks and returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns.

Most scouts say that he can be compared to Richard Seymour. Both Seymour and Suh have that great length, explosiveness, and strength that you want in a defensive tackle with the ability to play various schemes.

We also have another jewel in Russell Okung of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The outstanding right tackle qualified for the All-Big 12 First Team. He has all the makings of a Pro Bowl-caliber tackle and has the upside to potentially warrant a no.1 overall draft pick.

If he can hone his technique slightly over the summer, Okung has…

Read More » Looking forward to the 2010 NFL Draft already?

And by ”they” we mean those NFL folks watching Colt McCoy take himself out of the BCS championship game with a broken shoulder.

Suffering an injury in a championship game is a frightening experience for any athlete but things like that do happen and in this year’s BCS national championship game, we saw exactly that as Texas Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy suffered a shoulder injury during his final game for the ‘Horns against eventual BCS champs, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

In case you missed it, it was just four minutes into the game when the unfortunate injury happened. Texas Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy ran the ball on a keeper, only to get stuffed.

Before the play was over, Marcell Dareus of Alabama had slammed into McCoy’s shoulder, causing a pinched nerve and knocking McCoy out of the game, the final one of McCoy’s college career.

Many experts see McCoy as a first round pick in the upcoming 2010 NFL Draft but with this injury, McCoy’s stock might go down a bit. McCoy would have to convince the rest of the NFL that his arm would be strong and healthy enough to throw the types of passes that work best at the pro level, both in terms of bullet passes over the middle or deep balls.

Perhaps the worst part about McCoy’s injury, assuming that he recovers fully, is the fact that it denied him a chance to play the bulk of the minutes in college football’s showcase game, a game in which many NFL types were likely watching.

A good performance on the big stage could have boosted…

Read More » Will they still take Colt McCoy in the 2010 NFL Draft?