Enough Already...

Charlie is not going anywhere, I really wish people would understand this. Sure I know that the New York Giants position will be open since Tom Coughlin will be fired in roughly seven days, but read here.

"Everyone knows I'm staying here until they fire me or I die"

Why can't anyone go about trusting the word of Charlie? I really do not understand it. He has given his word over and over again. He is not going to the Giants, I am not in the least bit concerned that he would take an NFL job. Listen to what he says, the man will be here until fired or until he dies.

Now I know that some ND fans look at this site and have brought up the question to me in the past, "What has Charlie Weis really done at Notre Dame besides bring them back more on the national scene?"

With players he didn't recruit he has fielded two consecutive BCS teams. Say what you want about whether or not this team should be in a BCS bowl, 9-3 and 10-2 sure is a better position to be in at the end of January than the 6-5 and 5-6 regular season records of Tyrone Willingham his last two seasons.

I was guilty of saying this team was good enough to win the national title at the start of the season. Sure the offense was once again just about as good as any in the nation, but the defense just was unable to develop. I don't think you can blame Charlie Weis for Notre Dame being 10-2 this year, with blowout losses to Michigan and USC.

Charlie put the Irish in position to be in both of those ballgames early on and had the Irish made one or two plays in each of them, they are entirely different outcomes. Call me crazy, but its the truth. With really one group of highly touted recruits on this and last seasons squads (this years seniors), he has taken the Irish to back to back BCS games. Thats something that only USC and Ohio State can also say about the last two seasons.

Don't fret, he's staying put.

2-0

I have predicted two games in a row correct. Thats something I am pretty confident that I did not do this entire regular season. BYU looked pretty good tonight, I was expecting a lot more from Oregon. The Ducks disappointed, I thought their running game would keep them in it but when you fall behind early, you don't have many options but to start passing.


Without a doubt the Ducks did showcase the ugliest helmets I think I have ever seen in college football. They may want to consider revising the helmet rules over at tHRB because on paper this helmet sounds nice. Instead it is hideous.

Things continue on tomorrow with the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. The New Orleans Bowl used to always kick off bowl season, instead this year it is the third bowl game. Rice vs. Troy is the matchup and their is one reason I am going to watch this game...Jarret Dillard. 5'11'', 160 pounds is all there is to this young man, but he did catch 82 balls for 1176 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. I don't know what you can expect to see from him in the bowl game though because he did celebrate his 21st birthday on Thursday.

Rice started off the season slow, losing their first four before winning 7 of their final 8 games, including their last 6 to get to 7-5 on the year. Troy very nearly knocked off Florida State (not saying much) in Tallahassee this year but were killed by Nebraska in the only other real game they played this season.


I expect Dillard to come out and play well in his showcase game of the year. Only time he will probably ever be in front of national TV in college, I really do think he will perform and the Owls leave the Big Easy victorious...

Rice 27 Troy 17

Las Vegas Bowl/Desmond Howard

One for one in predicting bowl games this year after TCU layed down a whooping on NIU last night. Tonight we move to the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl between BYU and Oregon.

Oregon was a team that had somewhat high expectations coming into this year, they were able to upset Oklahoma earlier in the season (even if it was on a bogus call), but faltered down the stretch, losing their last three ballgames. They play a high-powered BYU offense which will be led by QB John Beck who passed for 3500 yards this year and 30 TDs to only 6 picks.

Oregon brings a decent offense into the game as well, averaging just over 26 points a ballgame. Teams have been able to pass on Oregon this year and that is what BYU prides themselves on. Ill take BYU and the over...

BYU 31 Oregon 27

In other news, Desmond Howard is a moron. Purely, a moron. See here...



I can't wait to see that Texas/Cal matchup either Desmond. In fact, I'm gonna go play a game of NCAA '07 since thats the only place it will be happening. Gotta love the fact he's taken such great advantage of that Michigan education.

On with the Games!

It seems like I have played more battleship and "naval command" on yahoo than anything lately. I'm on break from college and college football has taken a break, unless you count the DII and DIII playoffs. Finally, after two weeks of no college football, games begin again tonight. I really should not be this excited for the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, but I am. Northern Illinois is set to take on TCU. You look at it on paper and it should be a pretty good matchup.

Statistically the two teams look to match up very well, however don't expect this one to be too much of a game. Teams all over the MAC were able to slow down Garrett Wolfe the second half of the season. Expect TCU to do the same.

The Horned Frogs were a team that I thought could make a run at a BCS game at the start of the season. They didn't hold up their end of the bargain however. TCU is averaging 10 more points per ballgame than NIU is. The Huskies have played a little tougher schedule but don't expect them to pull out a win in this one...

TCU 31 NIU 17

Lesser Known Awards

This past week college football handed out all of their most prestigious awards, including the Maxwell and Heisman amongst others. Ballots have been counted over and over again and WTTO is ready to announce the winners of its 1st annual college football awards...

WTTO Award Winners

Eric Crouch Cup:

The Eric Crouch Cup is awarded each year to the worst throwing quarterback in division 1 college football. Really not a race at all this season as it was actually unanimously awarded to Reggie Ball of Georgia Tech. Ball couldn't complete a 5 yard stop to his tight ends and is also the entire reason Calvin Johnson appears to be so good...Because Ball is so bad. In a surprise, Ball actually received a sweep of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place on numerous different ballots.

Faust-ie-Ham:

This award goes annually to the worst coaching performance of the year, named for Gerry Faust, Bob Davie, and Tyrone Willingham. Multiple coaches recieved votes in this one but only one can win the award. In a very narrow margin, likely because the midwest split votes between Kirk Farentz and John L. Smith, Mack Brown of Texas became the first coach in history to win "Coach of the Year" one year and a "Faust-ie-Ham" the next.

Lance Harbor Trophy:

Named for star quarterback Lance Harbor who lost his scholarship to Florida State after injuring himself in Varsity Blues, the Lance Harbor Trophy is given on a yearly basis to the quarterback in Division 1 college football with the fakest sounding name. Very tough competition this year as both Tyler Palko and Colt McCoy gave it a run for their money, but Nate Longshore from Cal was announced as the winner. Many believe McCoy fell victim to being a freshman and automatically losing many votes based on that fact alone. As we see, Longshore snuck by in the slimest of margins...


And finally...

Gordie Lockbaum Award:

The Gordie Lockbaum Award goes to the Heisman Finalist each year that really has no chance to walk away with the award. Past winners include amongst others: Alex Smith, Tim Couch, Randy Moss, and a personal favorite of WTTO, Darnell Autry.
This years winner was a very tough choice. Everyone knew coming in that Troy Smith was going to walk out with the Heisman, so realistically we could have two winners. That's not the way awards work though, they never are split. Darren McFadden may have wound up in second place, but everyone knew going into tonight that he had less of a chance than Brady Quinn to actually walk out with the award. Therefore Darren McFadden wins the 2006 Gordie Lockbaum Award.

All Hair Recruits

Inspired by The House Rock Built, I proudly present to you the first annual:

High School All American Bad Hair Team


Offense

So we start of the first annual "High School All American Bad Hair Team" by looking at the quarterback position. What would the QB position be without some controversy on who gets the starting nod? Jimmy Clausen (left), the Golden Child as some refer to him as sports the "Surfer Dude" style while not to be forgotten Stephen Garcia sports the Trucker look. Its tough to say who should be the starter, but being from the Midwest I think Garcia sporting more of the "Blue Collar" look, gets the spot.

Muhammed De'Reese (left) and Noel Devine (right) make up the backfield for this years squad. De'Reese sports the "Confused Fro" look while Devine prefers the Edgerrin James look. Suprisingly there was not a lot of competition for the two spots open in the backfield. Probably the weak point of this year offense.

This year there was one common theme when going after targets to throw to, Dreadlocks. Leonard Hankerson, Alphonso Bryant, and Eric Brooks get the art of "locks" down to a T. Although there isn't a whole lot of veriation in this year class at the WR/TE position, they are the type of haircuts that have withstood the test of time and are always a safe bet.

"Big Uglies" brings on a whole new meaning this year. This is far and away the the worst hair on the offensive side of the ball this year. Tackle Phil Loadholt (left) looks like he got electrocuted, while I am pretty sure Ernest McCoy (second from left) has some kind of nest growing atop his head. Center Garth Gerhart and right tackle Grant Cook try a lot of the same look by going with the "Curly Blonde Thing" and Chaz Ramsey rounds out this years line with a thick set of dreads. With a line upfront that looks like that I feel confident taking on anyone, even Weird Al.

Defense

Occasionally you get a group of players that seem to raise their level of performance because of those, or in this case, one around them. Only one real stand out on the front four this year. Rae Sykes and Jabaal Sheard (left) are average at best at the defensive end position. However on the interior defensive line, Marvin Austin appears to be the star of this years class. Joseph Barksdale finishes off the front with a not so original afro, but Austin's hair really takes the cake. I don't really know how to describe it, besides maybe an explosion on top of his head.

The linebackers on this years team have it all. Jordan Campbell (left) does his best impression of Troy Polamolou with the long hair while the worst dye-job I have ever seen on a football player goes to Austin Panter (center). Austin Stafford then finishes off this years group of backers with none other than the dreadlocks, something we haven't seen yet.

The defensive backs on this years squad love their hair and a lot of it at that. Safety Jordan Bernstine sports the headband with his dreadlocks while Marshall Jones has one of the largest afros in this years class. The corners on this team have more of the same with the dreadlocks. Justin Grant seems to have the thickest dreads in this years class while Al-Majid Hutchins comes in a close second to Austin Panter for worst dye job on the team.

That wraps up this years team. Dreadlocks are the obvious "Weapon of Choice" by this the players on this years team. We'll see what this talent turns into at the next level. I'm also scared to see what Marvin Austin's hair might be like after he spends a year or two at FSU or Miami.

Matt Simms is a Douche

Simply put, Matt Simms is a douche. Any relation to Phil or Chris? Yeah, Phil is the father and Chris is the brother. I really don't know how else to put it, though. A guy goes and wins a state title and makes his opponents feel like crap. Hey now Matt, I'm not sure if you noticed that high school sports can at times be the pinnacle of students being able to taunt. Its where most students and athletes are actually friends and not so much only adequatenesses. Instead of celebrating the win with your teammates, you went to rub it in the face of your opponent. Good thing daddy and big brothers success didn't let things get to your head at all. Have fun at Louisville, tool.

Beads Bowl

Add a new "bowl" to the short list that the Irish have played in. "Snow Bowl" and "Cheerios Bowl" have their newest acquaintance, the Bead Bowl. Yes I'm aware of the whole reason Mardi Gras takes place and I have also learned that LSU has the highest population of Catholic students than any other school in the nation. However this only seems appropriate.

Sugar Bowl

So to the Sugar Bowl go the Irish where a battle is to be had with the LSU Tigers. LSU is a solid team that I really do not know a whole lot about. However I do know that they are beatable. They lost to Auburn 7-3 and lost to Florida 23-10. They do have a couple of impressive wins, those being at Tennessee (although not impressive to me, Sagarin has them #10 is his ratings) and their latest being at Arkansas.

So far the Irish have been called a big underdog in this one. I can understand the underdog label, especially seeing how we have performed in big games this year. However outputs of 3 and 7 by LSU make me believe that this offense is shaky at best. Furthermore, it took the Bayou Bengals overtime to get by Ole Miss on November 18th. I'm really in question about how good this team really is. Sure I put them #4 in my end of the season poll, but I'm almost thinking that might be a bit high. I'm not sold on the SEC being that much better than any conference, and the Tigers struggled mightily to get by in it this season.

I will start to break this game down in the days and weeks to come. Just a forwarning to anyone going down to the easy though, be ready to very quickly get sick and tired of this:

Top 25/BCS Prediction

Since its the end of the regular season, a top 25 instead of just ten...

1. Ohio State
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. LSU
5. USC
6. Louisville
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklahoma
9. Notre Dame
10. Arkansas
11. Boise State
12. Auburn
13. Virginia Tech
14. West Virginia
15. Rutgers
16. Wake Forest
17. Cal
18. Georgia Tech
19. Texas
20. Nebraska
21. Texas A&M
22. BYU
23. Boston College
24. Oregon State
25. TCU

The BCS Bowl Games are announced tomorrow. A lot of things can happen, as discussed earlier, will Florida jump Michigan? To any Notre Dame fans relief, the only other at-large teams eligible for a BCS Bowl are Virginia Tech and West Virginia, at least it should be that way by the way things are looking. So basically the Irish are in the BCS, get ready for the haters to complain about that one, even though when you break down the rules there is nothing wrong about this at all. Now lets talk about where everyone will be playing...

National Title:
Ohio State is already there, will Michigan join them or will it be Florida leapfrogging the Wolverines? Really hard to say. Whichever happens will effect the other bowl games in a big way. I just am not sure Urban did enough crying to get the Gators to pass Michigan.
Ohio State vs. Michigan

Rose Bowl:
With USC losing to UCLA, the Trojans title hopes went out the door. However they already did lock up the Pac 10 and will be in the Rose. With the Rose losing tOSU to the title, they will quickly pick up LSU, keeping from a rematch they would have if they selected Notre Dame.
LSU vs. USC

Sugar Bowl:
This one will be tough. Florida could very easily still go to the title game. If they do not, they go to the Sugar since they were the SEC Champ. If they do go to Glendale then then the Sugar has two spots that go to whoever they want. Since it seems doubtful the pollsters will go Florida's way they will be here and likely play Notre Dame.
Florida vs. Notre Dame

Fiesta Bowl:
This one really seems like the easiest to predict. Oklahoma won the Big XII and gets the automatic berth here while being out west the Fiesta Bowl committee would likely be the best bet to snatch up Boise State.
Oklahoma vs. Boise State

Orange Bowl:
Wake Forest and Louisville both won their conferences and are BCS bound. ACC Champ automatically goes to the Orange (Wake) and there is no room anywhere else for Louisville to be.
Wake Forest vs. Louisville

Theres mine, yours any different?

USC/BCS Shakeup

Trojans Blow Title Shot

Watching USC lose today did not hurt me at all. Surprise, surprise. Seeing the Trojans miss out on the national championship game and also witnessing yet another idiot song-girl celebrate an opponents score made me smile from ear to ear. Now I am just growing old of USC fans making excuses.

For Pete's sake, if the grass is longer on the field, it not only slows your team down but it also slows your opposition down as well. Someone needs to break that to USC fans though, I have never heard a group of fans make more excuses for a loss, honestly.

With this loss the BCS just got that much more complicated. So does Michigan get a rematch in the national championship now or does Florida go to the title? I've been saying all along that Michigan had their chance at the championship already and missed out by losing at tOSU. Florida went the year losing just one game in the toughest conference from top to bottom.

I wasn't a real believer in Florida for a long time and even after tonight I'm still not. However I honestly feel that they deserve a shot to play for the national title. On paper I don't feel that match up well with tOSU, but thats why they play the games. Michigan already had their chance, let the SEC Champs play for the title.

Top 10/BCS Predictions

Has been a little slow after the loss to USC, took a few days for me to come out of hiding. As I said before, so heres my top 10...

1. Ohio State
2. USC
3. Florida
4. Michigan
5. LSU
6. Wisconsin
7. Louisville
8. Boise State
9. Arkansas
10. Oklahoma
11. Notre Dame

Irish fall quite a bit, however I will say this for them. Both of their two losses were blowouts, but really it wasn't the other team (Michigan and USC) necessarily making the plays. Don't get me wrong both of them played well in their wins but it was as much on the Irish for not playing well. I mean against Michigan if the first drive of the game doesn't result in a pick-6 and if Rhema catches the 4th down pass on the first drive of the game against the Trojans, both are entirely different ballgames. What I'm trying to say is that 47-21 and 44-42 aren't necessarily fair representations of this team.

Everyone else seems to be projecting the big bowl games this January so here goes my shot...

Orange:
Georgia Tech vs. Louisville

Fiesta:
Oklahoma vs. Boise State

Rose:
Michigan vs. LSU

Sugar:
Notre Dame vs. Florida

National Title:

Ohio State vs. USC