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Bowl Coverage Biases Part 3: Oregon beats Oklahoma St.

Well, well, it seems as if one of the best teams in the Big 12 has fallen to one of the better teams of the Pac-10.

Oklahoma State came within 4 points of beating the Texas Longhorns, and a team that beat conference champion runner-up Missouri.

But no, the Pac-10 is terrible, and the Big 12 is superior in every way. There’s no way a ranked team from the Big 12 could lose to a team from the Pac-10.

The Pac-10, aside from playing USC, had no tough opponents. They had a pansy schedule. Without tough regular season competition, there is no way that Oregon could beat Oklahoma state, who had to play the best of the best.Pacific Life Holiday Bowl Oregon Ducks

And then the Oregon Ducks running game made their statement in the Holiday Bowl.

Although Oklahoma State jumped out to an early 1st quarter lead, the second half was no contest, as Oregon scored five touchdowns to Oklahoma’s two.

Suddenly, the Pac-10 doesn’t look so weak.

Look for the Pac-10 to continue their bowl dominance today in the Brut Sun Bowl as Oregon State plays #20 Pittsburgh. Also, look for some exciting Big 12 and SEC Play. Kansas is playing Minnesota, LSU fights Georgia Tech, and Vanderbilt faces off against Boston College.

Watch out for Georgia Tech to hand the SEC another major loss after their monumental upset of the Georgia Bulldogs a few weeks ago.

Here are the bowl game results thus far:

Pac – 10 Bowl Results

#17 Oregon 42, #13 Oklahoma State 31 (Pacific Life Holiday Bowl)

Cal 24, Miami 17 (Emerald Bowl)

Arizona 31 , #16 BYU 21  (Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl)

Overall Record: 3-0

vs. Top 25: 2-0

vs. SEC: (Not Scheduled)

vs. Big 12: 1-0

SEC Bowl Results

Overall Record: 0-0

vs. Top 25: 0-0

vs. Pac-10: 0-0

vs. Big 12: 0-0

Big 12 Bowl Results

#21 Mizzouri 30, #23 Northwestern 23 OT

#13 Oklahoma State 31, #17 Oregon  42

Overall Record: 1-1

vs. Top 25: 1-1

vs. Pac-10: 0-1

vs. SEC: 0-0

This article was originally written at USC Conquest, a USC Trojans Blog

Bowl Coverage Biases – Part 1

So, after all the ranting I’ve heard about the BCS being inefficient, and my own ranting (on bleacherreport.com) that the Pac-10 is better than it looks, I decided to put myself to the test.

Throughout the season, I have argued that it was the Pac-10’s difficult non-conference schedule that made them seem weak. By splitting the number of games that they have won, the Pac-1o made themselves look worse than the incestuous SEC. The Big 12 I give some respect to. They played a few tough games outside of their conference. The SEC, however, continues to ride their reputation as a strong conference, and has yet to prove themselves in bowl play.

So now that you have the background to my argument, here’s what is really important: the stats. For the next two weeks, I will be logging a comparison of the Pac-10 versus the two “strongest” conferences in the NCAA. Hopefully, I will be proven correct in that conference strength means nothing when comparing an incestuous conference to one that actually plays difficult out-of-conference games. If I’m proven wrong, you may not hear from me for a while.

Pac – 10 Bowl Results

Arizona 31 , BYU (16) 21  (Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl)

Overall Record: 1-0

vs. Top 25: 1-0

vs. SEC: 0-0

vs. Big 12: 0-0

SEC Bowl Results

Overall Record: 0-0

vs. Top 25: 0-0

vs. Pac-10: 0-0

vs. Big 12: 0-0

Big 12 Bowl Results

Overall Record: 0-0

vs. Top 25: 0-0

vs. Pac-10: 0-0

vs. SEC: 0-0

This article was orginally posted at USC Conquest, a USC Trojan Sports Blog.

Auburn, You, Jacobs, and Chizik are Killing the SEC West

"I didn't transcribe 19 - 5 instead of 5 - 19 on my resume, did I?"Way to go, Auburn, you just made the SEC West tougher on all of us with your “top-notch” hire in Gene Chizik.

But, alas, before you go patting yourselves on the back, you might…

Please read the rest by Clicking Here. Thanks.

Keeper League Tips This Offseason

Fantasy football season is coming to an end and I know that all of you are bummed out. Besides entering a playoff fantasy league, there is going to be little fantasy football talk for the next six months…unless of course you are in a Keeper League and are deciding who to keep and who to drop on your 2009 roster. Most Keeper Leagues let you keep around three players from one year to next, and I have made a list of those players you should keep and those players on the fence who you should let go. Once again Brandon Schrey is here to give you his opinion so open your ears.

KEEP

QB Matt Ryan (best young QB in the game)
QB Jay Cutler (strongest arm in the game)
RB Matt Forte (freshest legs in the NFL)
RB Adrian Peterson (best athlete in the NFL)
RB Chris Johnson (young runner on run-first team)
WR Brandon Marshall (tall, fast, strong and great QB)
WR Roddy White (fast, plays on turf and QB is great)
WR Calvin Johnson (stats jump in every blow-out loss)
TE Tony Gonzalez (never drop him until he retires)

LET GO
QB Donovan McNabb (probably traded in the off season)
QB Kurt Warner (gets hurt every year, almost 50 years old)
RB Reggie Bush (will never be healthy in the NFL)
RB Frank Gore (has broken every bone in his body)
RB Clinton Portis (bad coach, bad system, bad QB)
WR Terrell Owens (attitude problem and legit head case)
WR Steve Smith (attitude problem and punches teammates)
WR Randy Moss (his QB (Brady) will never be the same)
TE Antonio Gates (starting to block first, catch TD’s later)

This article was originally written by Brandon Schrey of the Brandon Schrey Report.

NFL Week 14 2008 Playoff Picture and Predictions

Week 14 is when the playoff picture starts to get real interesting and we are able to see which teams are the cream of the crop.  Below is the Playoff picture for the NFC and AFC and below that will be our predictions for playoff teams, NFC and AFC champions, and the Superbowl winner.

NFC

Division Leaders

1. GIANTS 11-1
2. BUCCANEERS 9-3
3. VIKINGS 7-5
4. CARDINALS 7-5

Wildcard

5. PANTHERS 9-3
6. FALCONS8-4

Still In it

7. COWBOYS 8-4
8. REDSKINS 7-5
9. EAGLES 6-5-1
10. BEARS 6-6

AFC

Division Leaders

1. TITANS 11-1
2. STEELERS 9-3
3. JETS 8-4
4. BRONCOS 7-5

Wild-card teams

5. COLTS 8-4
6. RAVENS 8-4

Still Alive

7. PATRIOTS 7-5
8. DOLPHINS 7-5
9. BILLS6-6

Predictions:

NFC Playoff Teams: Giants, Bucs, Vikings (Probably will tie the Bears but will have better conf record for tiebraker), Cardinals, Cowboys, Panthers

AFC Playoff Teams: Titans, Steelers, Jets (Will probably win because of tiebreaker for conference record), Broncos, Colts, Ravens

NFC Champ: Giants

AFC Champ: Colts

Superbowl: Giants over Colts by 10

Looks like we have the Manning Superbowl this year.  I think the Titans are a bit overrated and believe the Colts and/or Steelers can beat them on the road.  Kerry Collins just isn’t enough.  The Colts already proved they could beat the Steelers at home and I believe they could do it again.  As long as Bob Sanders is healthy during the playoffs they should be able to win on the road as all they have done lately is win games.  I don’t really have to say anything about the Giants.  Their one loss was a complete fluke and it probably did a great job of humbling them.  Dominating Washington on the road without Plaxico proved they don’t need him.