Big XII Schedule Sexiness

Week 1
Wake Forest at Baylor - Battle of the baptists. Wake Forrest has finally found it's way out of the cellar. Can Baylor?
Colorado vs. Colorado State - The first game in years without Sonny Lubick. Colorado should finally pull away from CSU this year and stay there.
Illinois vs. Mizzou - Who the heck knew this was as big a game as it was last year? Or would be this year?
Oklahoma State vs. Washington State (Seattle) - WSU should be improved under Wulff. The Cowboys are going to have to get better unless they want to challenge Baylor for the bottom of the barrel.

Week 2
Cinci at Oklahoma - Cinci has finally risen out of the mediocrity of the Big East and become a competitive team. Oklahoma is thinking MNC early this year and this will be a great test to see if they're able.
Houston at Oklahoma State - Kevin Sumlin hopes to continue to frustrate the Cowboys

Week 3
Kansas at South Florida - Two teams that had better years than could have been expected by anybody last year meet up.
Iowa State at Iowa - ISU stole this one last year. If Kirk Ferentz wants to keep his job, he needs to not lose this one and start at least competing for the middle of the Big Ten. Chizick has to get ISU out of the cellar
Oklahoma at Washington - Washington has to improve or this will be it for Willingham. Expect Jake Locker to give the Sooners some fits. But not too many.
Arkansas at Texas - The old SWC rivalry renews. This will be Bobby Petrino's first big game at the helm.
SMU at Texas Tech - Time to see if the SMU offense brings the same firepower we saw at Hawaii. The talent level isn't equal, but if you want to see a game with matching offenses slinging the ball for probably over a 1000 yards in a game, you got it.


Week 4
Kansas State at Louisville - Two teams that had very disappointing finishes last year that are looking for big rebounds before going into conference.
Baylor at Connecticut - Baylor faces another team that has recently shown improvement while they've still floundered.
West Virginia at Colorado - Colorado continues to take on some impressive OOC games. WVU should be an early indicator of the rest of their season.
Miami at Texas A&M - In a game that should have been a big one for the winner, Miami rocked the Aggies last year. Neither went on to do just a whole ton afterwards. Hopefully for both teams that won't be true again..

Week 5
Colorado vs. Florida State (Jacksonville) - Dan Hawkins keeps the big boys coming back for more. The Buffs are ready for the big time this year with WVU and FSU early.
TCU at Oklahoma - Nobody expected TCU to pull this one off three years ago but they did it. OU is going to have one of the best teams in some time this year you can expect payback.
Virginia Tech at Nebraska - Nebraska pulls away from the USC game to another heavyweight in Va. Tech. Expect a defensive game here as neither has a lot of firepower on offense.
Troy at Oklahoma State - An expected easy game for oSU turned into a blowout... that oSU was on the wrong end of. The cowboys should be a little more prepared this year.

Week 6
Texas at Colorado - Texas has some questions... especially at RB. Colorado has one that Texas is just a bit jealous of. Colorado was embarrassed 2x in 2005 and they haven't forgotten it.
Mizzou at Nebraska - Chance for Nebraska to stake a claim at the top of the division again
Texas Tech at Kansas State - If nothing else just to post this and hope it happens again.:

Week 7
Iowa State at Baylor - I have no idea what to expect from this game. Baylor can only go up and Iowa State started to show a little life in 2007 (even if it didn't translate to W's) Should be a bottom dweller game but we'll see
Oklahoma State at Missouri - Two high powered offenses with mobile QB's
Nebraska at Texas Tech - This game ended in a crazy fashion as Tech fumbled inside the Nebraska 20, only to recover a fumble on the same play and scored to win. Both teams are probably hungry to revisit this one
Oklahoma at Texas - This is normally the battle for the south. It's been a good game for 2 years now, but is Texas good enough to keep it that way?

Week 8
Kansas at Oklahoma - A game we would have like to have seen last year. Kansas really was that good. Mizzou just got the nod after a close game.
Missouri at Texas - Another one we'd like to have seen last year.
Texas Tech at Texas A&M - Another heated rivalry that's been a little one-sided lately. No matter what the Aggies do, the Raiders just seem to have their number

Week 9
Texas A&M at Iowa State - Iowa State beat A&M for the first time ever in College Station last time they met. Todd Blythe and Brett Meyer exposed the A&M secondary as one of the worst in the nation. The Ags have improved, but so has ISU.
Texas Tech at Kansas - Kansas thrived on good defense last year. Tech is starting to show some life on that side of the ball. Both should be playing to get a spot towards the top of their divisions.
Oklahoma State at Texas - oSU continues to get thisclose to frustrating and beating Texas to no avail.

Week 10
Kansas State at Kansas - This game was the beginning of the end for KState last year and showed us that Kansas was for real
Nebraska at Oklahoma - The Big Eight rivalry only comes around every two years. Pelini has a chance to shine and shine quickly by getting the Huskers biggest rival in his first season.
Texas at Texas Tech - This game seems to take a backseat to Tech-A&M and Texas-A&M, but these two have played some close games recently. This is in the middle of a tough stretch with Kansas, Texas A&M, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma

Week 11
Oklahoma at Texas A&M - This game has been a humdinger ever since A&M upset #1 OU in 2002. The next year was a blowout, followed by three very close games and another blowout last year. If A&M wants to get in the South fight, taking out Oklahoma is key
Oklahoma State at Texas Tech - Another non-rivalry that is turning into one quickly. The two high-octane offenses keep putting on a show. They've split this series as of late, with the home team winning the last 6 years.

Week 12
Texas A&M at Baylor - Battle of the Brazos. Baylor fans seem particularly hostile towards the Aggies over the other in-state rivals. Baylor won this one 4 years ago, and are expecting another upset with new man Briles
Oklahoma State - at Colorado
Texas at Kansas - Mark Mangino remembers the last two games against Texas for different reasons. One a cheat-job (according to him) and a blowout. Now that the Jayhawks are more competitive, expect some animosity.

Week 13
Texas Tech at Oklahoma - This game has been pretty epic over the years. Mike Leach continues to be a thorn in the side of his former boss, Bob Stoops. The raiders cost the Sooners a shot at the MNC last year and you can expect the Sooners to remember that.

Week 14
Colorado at Nebraska - One of the top North Rivalries, just not recently. It hasn't been a relevant game for a few years now. With the "arrival" (Gosh I hate cliche terms like that but I couldn't find something better) of Kansas and Mizzou, can these two challenge again?
Texas A&M at Texas - The aggies have grabbed this one the last two years by running all over the horns in 2006 and passing in 2007. It's one of the better in-state rivalries
Kansas vs. Mizzou - The Border War. This game meant something nationally for the first time in history last year. It probably won't mean as much, but should hold some weight in deciding the North.
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State - Bedlam. oSU hasn't been able to take this one in a while. It's been competitive, but if Gundy wants to keep his job, a win here can go a long long long way with T. Boone Pickens the fanbase.

Big 12 Championship Game

Oklahoma vs. Mizzou.... again.

Big East Schedule Sexiness

The picks for top games each week in the Big East:

Thanks CFN

Week 1

Kentucky at Louisville - Instate rivalry to start off the season. Kentucky pulled off the upset last year

Fresno State at Rutgers - A last minute add for Rutgers a la KState. Fresno is a tough team. Just ask USC, A&M, Kansas State, or Georgia Tech. None of them want anything to do with Pat Hill again for a long time.

Week 2

South Florida at UCF - UCF was good, and got better as the season went on. USF took care of business last year but expect the Knights to put up a fight

Cincinnati at Oklahoma - Good for the Bearcats taking on a strong OOC game. Let's hope it doesn't turn out as bad as most times that teams take on OU

West Virginia at East Carolina - East Carolina showed to have some life last year. Expect lots of offensive fireworks.

Week 3

North Carolina at Rutgers - Covered in the ACC one, but should be a good match up. UNC has to improve.

Virginia at Connecticut - This was a good game last year from teams that had better seasons than expected. Both should still be competitive.

Kansas at USF - Kansas stops the cupcakes and takes on some serious competition. Both teams had breakout years last year and this will be a good indicator of whether or not it was a fluke.

Penn State at Syracuse - Syracuse needs to get decent and get decent now. They probably won't beat JoePa, but a competitive game here can do wonders for the year.

Week 4

Kansas State at Louisville - Kansas State can be a fluky team. If Louisville's defense is still fluky here, we'll know it.

West Virginia at Colorado - Could b very telling game for both teams. Colorado has had some trouble in Dan Hawkins first two years, but success as well.

Iowa at Pitt - These are two teams that should be better than they are year in and year out. Each have coaches that have underachieved greatly

Baylor at Connecticut - UConn has lifted themselves out of the cellar. Can Baylor?

Week 5

UConn at Louisville - Good game last year, should be better teams this year.

Marshall at West Virginia - Marshall hasn't been relevant in this game in a while. Would be nice for a real rivalry to form here

Rutgers vs. TBA - Should be epic.

Week 6

Rutgers at West Virginia - Rutgers will have to start making a name for themselves without Rice. Here's the game to do it.

Week 7

Syracuse at West Virginia - Only because I think it will be a beating of magnitudenal proportions. Maybe not. Maybe I'm full of it and Syracuse decides to be good. I hope so.

Rutgers at Cincinnati- Good game last year that Cinci won. 2 TD's in 19 seconds as well.

Week 8

Middle Tennessee at Louisville - This is the game last year where we figured out that Louisville had problems

Week 9

Auburn at West Virginia - Nice Thursday night game. Probably the best one ESPN is offering this year. Can be a very uplifting or damaging game to the winner or loser in the rankings, while not affecting conference standing.

South Florida at Louisville - If we assume that Louisville is back we should expect a heck of a game here

Week 10

USF at Cinci - Both teams have improved dramatically the last few years and become real contenders.

Louisville at Syracuse - For some strange and ungodly reason I picked this upset last year. Don't know why.

Pitt at Notre Dame - Just here to tell ND to suck it. The game could be good. Both teams have to be better than the last year versions of themselves.

Week 11

Cinci at WVU - Here is a big game for Cinci. They've been teetering with being above average for some time now. Knocking out powerhouse WVU would be a big step into the big time.

Louisville at Pitt - Both Wannstedt and Kragthorpe can't afford mediocre seasons again.

Syracuse at Rutgers - Always funny that NYers claim Rutgers as their own over Syracuse. Winning will do that.

Week 12

Cincinnati at Louisville - The old C-USA teams meet with Cini probably being the favored team this year after the Ville's collapse last season

Rutgers at USF - Both teams bring good some defenses with a little bit of offensive firepower to the match. Should be good.

Week 13

Pitt at Cincinnati - We keep expecting bigger things from both of these programs. At this point in the season we'll see if it was merited.

Connecticut at South Florida - Another game against teams that have become conference powers just recently.

WVU at Louisville - This game has been very heated for about three years now. The winner of this game has won the conference in those three years as well.

Week 14

WVU at Pitt - Backyard Brawl that could matter. For some reason WVU couldn't get it going here last year and it cost them their shot at the MNC

Week 15

Cincinnati at Hawaii - Neither team has made a huge name for themselves on defense lately, should be a pretty exciting game if Hawaii rebounds from losing their QB, coach and cajones in the Sugar Bowl.

USF at WVU - This has been a bad deal for WVU the last few years. USF continues to improve and if WVU wants to continue to the be dominant team in the Eig

Conference Champion:

WVU. I don't think the offensive philosophy will change that much with RichRod's departure. Maybe somebody will surprise us and step it up... but who? Rutgers, Louisville, UConn, Pitt, USF, and Cinci all seem like they can. Should be the most interesting conference race this year.

SEC Schedule Sexiness

Week 1
Alabama vs. Clemson(Atlanta) - Should be very telling for both teams. Both had solid recruiting classes and are looking to start off the season right
Hawaii at Florida - While Colt Brennan isn't slinging the balls any more, the Hawaii offense should still be competitive.
Kentucky at Louisville - Does Kragthorpe have the Cards back on top this year? Brooks has come a long way at Kentucky to make this team competitive. Should be a better game than most years.

Week 2

Miami at Florida - Florida starts off the season with two competitive games that are going to be very telling of the Gator offense and defense. The Canes will see how the spread will fare this year against some deep south speed

UCLA vs Tenn. - Tennessee and Fulmer are looking to go the easier Cali route with UCLA this time around. Slick Rick should still be getting things in place and this would be a great chance for Tenn to grab a big win at the beginning of the year

Southern Miss at Auburn - This will be a good week to see the new fancy, smancy high flying Auburn offense at work. SMU will be without Jeff Bower for the first time in 2 decades.

Week 3

Arkansas at Texas - Renewing the rivalry baby.
Auburn at Mississippi State - Mississippi State won in an upset last year. Look for some vindication from Auburn here.
Georgia at SoCar - Another upset from last year revisited.

Week 4

LSU at Auburn - This game could be for the West.
Alabama at Arkansas - An early conference test for Alabama against what should be a good offense.
Florida at Tennessee - Always a good rivalry game early in the year
Georgia at Arizona State - Georgia's only real OOC test. The Sun Devil's offense should be a good test for the Bulldogs.

Week 5
Tennessee at Auburn - Are both teams middle of the pack or above this year?
Mississippi State at LSU - Mississippi State was embarrassed to the tune of 6 INTs and 45-0 last year. Same results, or has MSU improved as much as they

Week 6
Florida at Arkansas - Curious to see the Petrino led offense against Urban Meyer's defense this year. Rematch of the 2006 SEC championship game

Week 7

LSU at Florida - This game has been pretty competitive over the years. Expect similar results. The Tigers may have some holes to fill but if they plan to stay on top this is a game to do it
Tennessee at Georgia - Another game that can be a deciding factor in the East this season. The obvious picks are Florida and Georgia, but don't count Fulmer out just yet.

Week 8
Mississippi State at Tennessee - Croom has put this team in a place to win some big games. Taking out Tennessee in a big mid-season game here would be crucial.

Week 9
Georgia at LSU - Another possible preview to the conference championship
Duke at Vanderbilt - Bayfordukandywestern. The saga continues
Auburn at West Virginia - Great midseason OOC game for both schools. It'll hurt the losers overall national ranking, but the winner will come away with a huge midseason boost

Week 10
Florida vs. Georgia (Jacksonville) - Will evil Mark Richt come out again and do mean things and get penalties. Several punditlike folks consider this one the early MNC game. Can't say that I disagree too much.
Tulane at LSU - Tulane at one point was the dominant one in this rivalry. It's good to see them keep it going.

Week 11
Alabama at LSU - I like this one for the West Division. I think Alabama improves and LSU doesn't get much worse than last year.
Florida at Vanderbilt - For some reason Vandy tends to give Florida more trouble than they should.
Georgia at Kentucky - If Ke

Week 12
Georgia at Auburn - Late season game for two strong programs. Should be a good matchup
South Carolina at Florida - Always love this game. No matter how long it's been it seems like Spurrier ignites a lot of passion in Gainesville when the Gators play him.

Week 13
Arkansas at Mississippi State - This one intrigues me and I don't know why. For some reason I think that one of these two will have a decent year.
Tennessee at Vanderbilt - Always a good in-state rivalry. Vandy has improved over the course of the last few years. If they want to separate themselves from the Bayfordandydukewestern's of the world, this year is as good as any.

Week 14
LSU at Arkansas (Little Rock) - The situation here reminds me of the Texas A&M/OU game a few years back. OU was #1 and prepared to slide into the MNC Game when a very mediocre Texas A&M knocked them off. Coach left, New stud coach comes in and pissed off former #1 team drums mediocre team into a pulp to the tune of 77-0. Gosh that was an ugly day for Aggieland.
Mississippi State at Ole Miss - Houston Nutt will bring some new blood to the egg bowl and hopefully bring a more competitive Ole Miss with him.
Auburn at Alabama - Probably my favorite rivalry in the SEC. Most in state rivalries are pretty heated but at the end of the day we're all Americans and all love college football. Not this one. These people hate each other with the passion of a thousand yaks.
Florida at Florida State - Another in-state rivalry crossing conference lines*. This really depends on whether FSU is actually any good this year.
Georgia Tech at Georgia - * but substitute FSU for GaTech
Kentucky at Tennessee - Good East division game that went for over a 100 last year.
South Carolina at Clemson * see above. but this time SoCar

Week 15
SEC Championship Game (Atlanta)

LSU vs.Georgia - Boom goodnight everybody.

Just for fun

The Birmingham News ran an interesting piece detailing the pay of the commissioners of NCAA Division 1 Conferences.

At first thought before I even clicked I ranked what these guys would be making in my mind.

1. SEC
2. ACC
3. Big Televen
4. Big XII
5. Pac 10
6. Big East

Why? Everything is bigger in the SEC. They have the last 2 national championships in football and basketball. A huge fanbase as well as tons of national exposure across the board.

I figured the solid football of the ACC and dominance of basketball would drive that position's pay up.


Here are the actual results from the 2006 year:

Jim Delany
Big Ten $959,236

John Swofford
Atlantic Coast $759,971

Kevin Weiberg (since resigned)
Big 12 Conference $699,700

Britton Banowsky
Conference USA $558,618

Mike Slive
Southeastern Conference $545,129

Tom Hansen
Pacific-10 Conference $513,891

Mike Tranghese
Big East Conference $468,446

Craig Thompson
Mountain West Conference $377,740

Karl Benson
Western Athletic Conference $370,568

Yeah, you read that correctly. The commissioner of the most profitable and successful conference makes less than one of the mid-major commissioners. You also read correctly that Jim Delany makes almost a mil. You should hate your life right now.

Congress Calls Sports to Steroid Meeting. Again.

After the day long debacle that was Clemensgate, congress has decided to spend more taxpayer money talking about steroids.

This time the NCAA will appear as well. It hasn't been as monumental an issue for the NCAA as of late as it has for the big leagues. That's probably because kids have the bejeezus scared out them from Lattimer from The Program.

Bama's Jones to Testify in Murder Case. Lord Saban says "SEC, You're Next."

Nothing to see here.

Apparently, Julio Jones hangs with a bit of the wrong crowd. This week Jones testified in a murder case about his friend's uncle. It could be purely coincidental, but if I'm a Bama fan, I'm already a little worried about one of my players being within sight of a drug-related shooting.

However if you're in to victories, you may end up moving north here in the near future.

Big and Pac 10's are still the most important conferences. Evar. Really.

While I don't really care about playoffs and plus-ones and minus-threes a whole-whole lot. I do have a problem with the 10's. Well Televens. Well one ten and one elev.... screw it. You get the idea.

According to another CBS Sports Article they continue to do everything they can to block anything that stops a Big 10/Pac 10 Rose Bowl. Even if it means creating an abortion of a game.

I love tradition in college football. Gosh I love it.

Sometimes, however, it has to change. Tribes sue. Bonfires fall (not to make light of the tragedy at all.) Conferences change teams. The 10's need to realize this.

The rest of the conferences are wanting something more legitimate to name a champion and Delany and Hansen continue to be a road block

Two (Pac-10's Tom Hansen and Big Ten's Jim Delany) are dead set against a plus-one, which to some seems to be the next logical evolution of the BCS..

My problem lies with this. Between the two conferences, three "outright" champions exist in the last 20 years. Three. USC, Michigan, and Ohio State each have an outright "we won it and nobody else" championship. Only two of those are in the BCS era and Ohio State's is still a questionable one. It's not like they have the corner on the market of dominating teams today.

I'm personally a fan of the four other commissioners (Big East, Big XII, ACC, SEC) and Myles Brand huddling together at the convention start whispering while Delany and Hansen sit there outside of the huddle trying to listen in.

The huddle breaks. Myles walks over and puts his hands on DeHansny's shoulders and says "We've decided to go another direction," and kick them both in the junk. Really. That would be awesome.

UConn Edsall talks adding additional team.

Apparently Coach Edsall hasn't read our previous commentary. It's the one telling Notre Dame to suck it, Randy.

In an ESPN article he's claiming that the league needs to add a team. To which, I agree. Eight teams? That's pretty weak all in all. A good portion of those teams were in Conference USA five years ago. (USF, Louiville, and Cinci)

It is unfortunate that the ACC had their raid a few years ago which ended up with Miami, VaTech and Boston College heading to the ailing conference. It hasn't helped too much as the ACC still is struggling to find it's niche. While it improved the ACC, it hurt the Big East deeply.

The Big East has had some moments of competitiveness. West Virginia was one decent offensive series away from the big show in the Big Easy last year. Louisville put together a nice season two years ago with a BCS win. WVU also had a 1 loss season with a BCS win the season before that. So it's not like there's NO good teams. There's just not enough. Or I guess you could say, just not enough parity.

Consider this, 6 of 8 teams were bowl eligible this last year. Wow. If anything the Big East needs to nab some more C-USA or MAC teams just to install their perverbial Bayfordukeandy ™ (I'm trademarking that one)

I'm personally a big fan of telling the Independents to shut up or join up. Being a member of a conference is just good in a lot of ways. Unless your a moneywhore of a school. But we're not naming any names. I think as the schools push more and more for some sort of elimination system to declare the champion of the college football season we'll see how the independents respond.