Tuesday, September 10, 2013

10 Things I Think:

1.  The Beavers bounced back- albeit against an opponent they were heavily favored against in Hawaii.  Separate from an incerception (returned for a TD), Sean Mannion had another nice game, including a pair of TD throws to Brandon Cooks.  In a Pac-12 North that has looked incredibly strong (WSU over USC, UW over BSU) Oregon State needs to figure itself out and get on a winning streak heading into conference play.

2.  Three Stars of the Week
  1. BYU's Offensive Line- blocked well enough to help BYU rush for 550 yards as a team 
  2. Teddy Bridgewater QB/Louisville- 23/32, 397yd 4 TDs
  3. Marcus Mariota QB/Oregon- 14/28 199yd 2TD, 4 rush 122yd 1TD


3.  Speaking of the Oregon offense...  Chip Kelly's Eagles looked fantastic- especially in the first half- offensively.  Lesean McCoy looks like a beast in the running game, and Vick looks capable of making decisions in the Eagles system.  Imagine how well this could look when Kelly gets "his" players.  Keep expecting high play counts and great offensive showings from Philadelphia.

4.  Oklahoma State needs to get hit HARD by penalties from the NCAA amidst allegations that the coaching staffs under Les Miles and Mike Gundy paid players, supported academic misconduct and recreational drug use, and supplied recruits with women to have sex with.  WOW!  Penalties will take too long to decide this season, but Mike Gundy and Les Miles both should be suspended by the NCAA for multiple years and face a heavy fine at a minimum.  A long term bowl ban seems appropriate as well.  This is a major issue under the current NCAA rules.  Paying players aside, the fact that coaches allowed drug use and essentially ran a prostitution ring to get recruits is reprehensible.  Here's to Oklahoma State and LSU losing BIG next week.

5.  The US Men's Soccer Team clinched a berth to the World Cup today with a 2-0 win over Mexico.  This is going to be a dangerous team, though they are far from perfect.  The back line (especially outside) has had issues in the past, and the midfield has been an issue when Michael Bradley has not been in play.  Criticism aside, this was a fantastic result, and gives the team an energy boost, and an opportunity to try out other players for the remainder of the WC Qualifiers.  If the WC was tomorrow, this is the lineup I would put out:
GK- Howard
RB- Fabian Johnson
CB- Omar Gonzalez
CB- Matt Besler
LB- DeMarcus Beasley
RCM- Mix Diskerud
CM- Michael Bradley
LCM- Landon Donovan
LW-  Clint Dempsey
RW- Eddie Johnson
ST- Jozy Altidore

6.  Chad Ford's 2014 NBA Mock Draft 1.0 came out on Monday:  (http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9652326/nba-andrew-wiggins-tops-2014-mock-draft-10)

Here is how our lottery mock drafts would look side-by-side (I am using his draft order for convenience- don't get mad at me Portland fans, I think we will be a playoff team too)



Teams
Me
Chad Ford
1 Philadelphia
2 Phoenix
3 Orlando
4 Charlotte
5 Boston
6 Sacramento
7 Milwaukee
8 Utah
9 Toronto
10 LA Lakers
11 Philadelphia
12 Portland
13 Charlotte
14 Dallas

Andrew Wiggins SF/Kansas
Julius Randle PF/Kentucky
Dante Exum PG/Australia
Jabari Parker SF/Duke
Aaron Gordon PF/Arizona
Marcus Smart PG/Oklahoma St.
Andrew Harrison PG/Kentucky
Joel Embiid C/Kansas
Mario Hezonja SG/Croatia
Willie Cauley-Stein C/Kentucky
Dario Saric SF/Croatia
Gary Harris SG/Michigan State
Semaj Christon PG/Xavier
James Young SF/Kentucky
Andrew Wiggins SF/Kansas
Julius Randle PF/Kentucky
Marcus Smart PG/Oklahoma St.
Dante Exum PG/Australia
Jabari Parker SF/Duke
Aaron Gordon PF/Arizona
Andrew Harrison PG/Kentucky
Chris Walker SF/Florida
Dario Saric SF/Croatia
Joel Embiid C/Kansas
Montrezl Harrell SF/Louisville
Willie Cauley-Stein C/Kentucky
Gary Harris SG/Michigan State
Mario Hezonja SG/Croatia


7.  Last week in college football, I went 16-3.  For the season, I am 33-6 in picking top 25 games.  Keep holding out hope for a perfect week!

8.  NFL Power Rankings Top 5, after week one:
  1. Seattle Seahawks
  2. San Francisco 49ers
  3. Denver Broncos
  4. New Orleans Saints
  5. Philadelphia Eagles
Don't be surprised to see vast changes week to week.


9. FIFA President Blatter says awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar "may have been a mistake."  There are already talks to move that WC to winter of that year (could you imagine 110 degree soccer games?), and there were allegations of buying votes by Qatar when they initially won it.  While I think a major sports event in the Middle East is a good idea, this is a story to keep an eye on over the next year.

10.  If you haven't seen this Guiness commercial, go ahead and watch it.  Wonderful stuff- this is what true friendship looks like.



Follow on twitter @ZRey12


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