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Want to make your picks for the NCAA tourney? Then check out this bracket from Masslive.com and take your shot. We all filled out our bracket and here’s the consensus Final Four:
(1) Ohio St.
(3) Connecticut
(1) Kansas
(3) BYU
Championship Game: Connecticut vs. Kansas
Champion: Kansas
We’re probably dead wrong, but hey, we’re taking a shot. What about you?
WARNING: We neither support nor advise you to use the following picks to gamble with. Mainly because it’s illegal, also because our logic is mostly flawed.
We’ve talked about ridiculous college football bowl game names previously, but as the college football bowl season will kick off Saturday with a triple-header, we’re going to give you the guide to the 2010-11 bowl season with the first annual “DBD Bowl Mania”.
Saturday, Dec. 18
New Mexico Bowl (12 p.m. ESPN) — UTEP vs. BYU
BYU. Steve Young’s alma mater.
UDrove Humanitarian Bowl (3:30 p.m. ESPN) — Fresno State vs. Northern Illinois
Fresno State. Never bet against a Bulldog.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (8 p.m. ESPN) — Troy vs. Ohio
Troy. When a team loses to Kent and Temple in the same season, they don’t get a vote of confidence.
Tuesday, Dec. 21
Beef ‘O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl (8 p.m. ESPN) — Louisville vs. Southern Miss
Louisville. We took a vote. They won.
Wednesday, Dec. 22
MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Bowl (5 p.m. ESPN) — Boise State vs. Utah
Boise State. Any team that spends 90% of the season ranked number 3 or 4 can’t be disrespected. BTW This is the best matchup outside of the New Year’s Day/BCS bowls.
Thursday, Dec. 23
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (5 p.m. ESPN) — San Diego State vs. Navy
I’m going Navy. Donnie was in the Navy, so we kind of have to go with the midshipmen.
Friday, Dec. 24
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl (3 p.m. ESPN) — Tulsa vs. Hawaii
Hawaii. They never lose at home in a bowl game.
Sunday, Dec. 26
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (8:30 p.m. ESPN) — Toledo vs. FIU
In the pillow fight of the bowl season, Toledo. The only game I saw them play in they put up 60 points.
Monday, Dec. 27
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl (4 p.m. ESPN2) — Georgia Tech vs. Air Force
Air Force. A crowd from Barksdale Air Force Base will show up in Shreveport to cheer on the cadets.
Tuesday, Dec. 28
Champs Sports Bowl (6:30 p.m. ESPN) — North Carolina State vs. West Virginia
West Virginia. The Mountaineers got hot at the end of the season.
Insight Bowl (8 p.m. ESPN) — Iowa vs. Missouri
Missouri. Missouri should wear their Pro Combat unis from last year. Just throwing that out there.
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Military Bowl (2:30 p.m. ESPN) — Maryland vs. East Carolina
Maryland. Better uniforms.
Texas Bowl (5 p.m. ESPN) — Baylor vs. Illinois
Baylor. They need a bowl win to warm everyone’s heart this holiday season.
Valero Alamo Bowl (8:15 p.m. ESPN) — Arizona vs. Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State. Did you see THIS play?
Thursday, Dec. 30
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (11 a.m. ESPN) — SMU vs. Army
SMU. I saw ESPN’s 30 for 30 film Pony Exce$$. It was a great documentary.
New Era Pinstripe Bowl (3:30 p.m. ESPN) — Syracuse vs. Kansas State
Syracuse. Because they’re The Orange now, not the Orangmen anymore.
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (5:40 p.m. ESPN) — Tennessee vs. North Carolina
Tennessee. One word: Dooley.
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl (7 p.m. ESPN) — Washington vs. Nebraska
Nebraska (easily). Didn’t we already play that game this year?
Friday, Dec. 31
Meineke Car Care Bowl (12 p.m. ESPN) — Clemson vs. South Florida
Push.
Hyundai Sun Bowl (12 p.m. CBS) — Miami vs. Notre Dame
Notre Dame. We’re ready to be wrong about this one. In fact, we expect it.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl (2:30 p.m. ESPN) — Georgia vs. UCF
UCF. Upset special.
Chick-fil-A Bowl (7:30 p.m. ESPN) — Florida State vs. South Carolina
South Carolina. Marcus Lattimore is a beast.
Saturday, Jan. 1
TicketCity Bowl (11 a.m. ESPU) — Texas Tech vs. Northwestern
Texas Tech. Southern Arkansas University’s own Tommy Tuberville is the head coach for the Red Raiders. Nuff said.
Capital One Bowl (1 p.m. ESPN) — Michigan State vs. Alabama
Alabama. We don’t like settling on the Tide, but I look for last year’s Heisman winner Mark Ingram to run all over Sparty.
Outback Bowl (1 p.m. ABC) — Penn State vs. Florida
Penn State. The perennial head coach vs. the two-time retiree.
Gator Bowl (1:30 p.m. ESPN2) — Michigan vs. Mississippi State
Mississippi State. Look for the Bulldogs to corral Denard Dog.
Rose Bowl (2 p.m. ESPN) — TCU vs. Wisconsin
TCU. Because we love red-headed QBs.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (6:30 p.m. ESPN) — Oklahoma vs. Connecticut
Everyone in unison: Oklahoma. If we have to explain this, you shouldn’t be reading our blog.
Monday, Jan. 3
Discover Orange Bowl (8:30 p.m. ESPN) — Virginia Tech vs. Stanford
Stanford. The Cardinal will defeat them with their brains.
Tuesday, Jan. 4
Allstate Sugar Bowl (7:30 p.m. ESPN) — Arkansas vs. Ohio State
Arkansas. Ohio State is like, what, 0-27 against the SEC?
Thursday, Jan. 6
GoDaddy.Com Bowl (7 p.m. ESPN) — Miami (OH) vs. Middle Tennessee
Miami (OH). The only thing I know about either of these teams in Miami won their conference championship. That’s good enough for me.
Friday, Jan. 7
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic (7 p.m. FOX) — Texas A&M vs. LSU
LSU. What is the difference between the Aggies and Rice Crispies? Rice Crispies know what to do in a bowl.
Saturday, Jan. 8
BBVA Compass Bowl (11 a.m. ESPN) — Kentucky vs. Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh. Because their players don’t get arrested for assault.
Sunday, Jan. 9
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (6 p.m. ESPN) — Boston College vs. Nevada
Nevada. Go wolfpack. Too…Sweeeeeet!
Monday, Jan. 10
Tostitos BCS Championship Game (6:30 p.m. ESPN) — Auburn vs. Oregon
Oregon, but hear us out. Does Oregon have Cam Newton? Didn’t think so. And the SEC is 6-0 in BCS national championship games. But, after the NCAA finds out in two years that Newton did commit some wrong in the money scandal involving his dad, the Ducks will be retroactively awarded the championship because Auburn is stripped of its wins.
We talk frequently about branding and logos and we talk about sports, so it only makes sense that these two worlds should collide as they have this week.
Most recently, there are rumors the New Jersey Nets are eyeing a rebrand when they move to Brooklyn, NY in two years. It appears, at least right now, that the Nets would change their name to the “Brooklyn New Yorkers”. Two Philadelphia lawyers filed for trademark protection for the name along with three logos.
Paint me far from impressed with the name and the logos. Not the worst I’ve ever seen, but they’re far from inspired, aren’t they?
In other branding news, the Big Ten Conference, America’s oldest and largest division 1 college athletics association, unveiled a new logo earlier this week that will be used at the beginning of the 2011-12 academic year.
Old...
...New.
The Big Ten made its move to rebrand since they are changing from a 11-team league to a 12-team league following the addition of the University of Nebraska. A name change was out of the question since there’s already a Big 12 conference, although they only have 10 members (it’s all very complicated).
Now, the logo isn’t bad — I like the font — it’s the incorporation of the number 10 into the logo and the color that bothers me. It lacks the impact that imparts the toughness that the Big 10 is known for. The part of this rebrand that bothers me the most is the names of the divisions: “Legends” — Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern — and “Leaders” — Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin.
I get it, but it gives off a certain level of arrogance and is just kind of weird. I will give them props for trying to be different, though.
We’ll keep you updated as things change.
If you’ll remember back to early September, we posted our predictions for the now fading college football season. With only one week left, the majority being championship games, it’s time to review our bold predictions and see just how clairvoyant we truly are.
Do we deserve to lift the BCS National Championship trophy?
If you remember, our first fearless forecast was LSU Head Coach Les Miles would be fired at the end of the season. Well, as of Monday, Nov. 29, he has yet to be fired and there are no rumors of him getting the axe. Unless Rich Rodriguez gets canned at Michigan, expect to see that hat on the Baton Rouge sideline again.
Our second prediction was that Ohio State will “get smashed (again)” in the national championship game. Unless some strange voting that borders on bribery happens Sunday, this is not going to happen as Ohio St. is #6 in the BCS rankings and no other teams except #1 Auburn and #2 Oregon play Saturday and Ohio St. didn’t even win its conference outright. However, Courtney and Sean want to further this prediction by saying they will get smashed by Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl (the likely bowl matchup).
Our third forecast was that Louisiana Tech would beat Boise St. in Idaho. It was a game for about 1.5 quarters before the Broncos pulled away from the Bulldogs. Don’t worry though, we’ll get them next year.
Our first somewhat accurate prediction was that Alabama will lose in Baton Rouge and come up short in the Iron Bowl, but still wins the SEC. Alabama did indeed lose in Baton Rouge and was one point shy of upsetting second-ranked Auburn Friday, but we were wrong in saying they would win the SEC. They didn’t even make it to the title game and will miss out on a BCS game altogether.
We got one right by saying Derek Dooley will reach a bowl game in his first season as head coach at Tennessee. The Vols and former Louisiana Tech head coach became bowl eligible Saturday by beating Kentucky. It would be hard for any bowl selection committee to pass up on a storied program with fans as dedicated as Tennessee’s. Look for them to likely be in a lower-tier bowl.
We can go ahead and say we struck out again with our call that Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett wins the Heisman trophy. While he might get invited to New York for the ceremony, the overall consensus is that Auburn QB Cam Newton will take home the trophy with Stanford QB Andrew Luck coming in second and Oregon RB LaMichael James third.
Our final prediction was “Courtney gets another concussion before the season is over.” So far there have been no trips to the ER, but we’re not around him 24-7. But what are we saying? We can control this prediction. Hang on a second…
Lastly, we picked the conference champs and national champion:
- ACC: Virginia Tech
They play Florida State Saturday and are heavy favorites to win it.
- Big East: West Virginia
They can win at least a share with a victory over Rutgers, but get it outright and BCS invite if UConn loses against South Florida this weekend.
- BIg Ten: Ohio State
They finished in a 3-way tie for the conference championship with Wisconsin and Michigan St. but Wisconsin got the Rose Bowl bid due to their higher BCS ranking (tiebreaker).
- Big XII: Texas
We were WAAAAY off on this one. Texas didn’t even finish bowl eligible with a 5-7 record, losing to former whipping boys Iowa St. and Baylor. I don’t think anybody saw that one coming this season. Oklahoma and Nebraska will battle it out in Arlington, TX for the title.
- Pac 10: Oregon
The #2 Oregon Ducks not only won their conference but will have the opportunity to play for the BCS national championship if they beat hated rivals Oregon St. in the Civil War Saturday.
- SEC: Alabama
The Crimson Tide were national title favorites but ended up fourth in the SEC West behind Auburn, Arkansas & LSU. An inconsistent pass defense and weakened running game caused the team to finish up with a respectable, but far below expected, 9-3 record.
- WAC: Boise State
There’s still an opportunity for the Broncos to win their conference, but it’s out of their hands now. If Nevada beats our Bulldogs Saturday, they will hold the tie-breaker over Boise St. thanks to the Wolfpack’s upset win last Friday.
- Non-Automatic Qualifiers/Independent BCS qualifiers: TCU and Boise State
12-0 TCU is ranked 3 in the BCS and should guarantee them an at-large berth to a BCS bowl game. Where they end up is up to selection committees, but they will more than likely play in the Fiesta Bowl against the Big XII champ or in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin. Boise fell hard, dropping out of the BCS top 10 for the first time in 20 weeks after losing to Nevada in OT.
- National Champion: Alabama
We figured a two-loss SEC champion would be enough in a parody-filled season, but the season wasn’t filled with that much parity overall and it looks like there will be an SEC champion playing at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona Jan. 10. Instead, it is the other team from the state of Alabama that will more than likely battle Oregon for the crystal football.
As you can see from this last prediction, we just got our wires crossed. Enjoy the last week of the regular season and we’ll make our bowl predictions next month!
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