A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Maybe it’s simply a factor of having 345 Division One teams, but there is never a shortage of exciting finishes, confounding losses, and clutch performances, all of which add up to make college basketball so compelling on a nightly basis. It also lends itself to a roller coaster of emotions with teams looking brilliant in one game and pedestrian the next.
So after another unpredictable week of college hoops, here are five teams on the rise and five teams on the decline.
The rematch between the two top defensive squads in America, LSU and Alabama, will decide the BCS national championship game tonight in New Orleans.
The BCS bowl games are coming up after the New Year’s Day NFL games Sunday, with the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl Monday, the Sugar Bowl on Tuesday, the Orange Bowl and on Wednesday and then the BCS National Championship Game the following Monday, January 9th.
Here is a quick preview of the BCS bowl games with picks and current point spreads.
After 5 days of serious discussions about what has happened off the field in State College, Pennsylvania, it was nice to have two full days of actual games to take our minds off of more serious matters.
This week, I explain how a 1- or 2-loss team from a non-AQ league could realistically clinch a BCS bowl bid, why Oregon is more deserving than Alabama of a rematch with LSU, and why Major League Soccer needs to shift its schedule or risk losing casual fans.
But first things first.
Earlier this week the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran an article about the debate over whether the loser of tomorrow’s #1-versus-#2 LSU-Alabama game deserves a spot in the BCS National Championship Game. Yesterday the Chicago Sun-Times ran a similar article.
Neither article endorses the idea of a championship rematch, but both articles (along with several others) serve to legitimize the debate. Clay Travis, of Outkick the Coverage and 104.5 in Nashville, has been an outspoken advocate of a title-game rematch on his radio show and on Twitter. (He’s certain that Oklahoma State will lose to Oklahoma, clearing a path for Saturday’s loser.)
Exhausted as I am by the hype surrounding the LSU-Alabama game, I understand where rematch proponents are coming from, even if I don’t agree.
In certain weeks it is hard to narrow down the game of the week in college football, but this time it is very easy as #1 LSU goes on the road to Tuscaloosa to take on #2 Alabama.
Not since 2006, has the number one and number two ranked teams in the nation played each other in the regular season (excludes conference championship games), so this type of game doesn’t happen often. The 2006 game lived up to all the hype when #1 Ohio State defeated #2 Michigan 42-39, and hopefully this game will be just as compelling.
The winner of this game will be favorite to win the national championship. Here is what you can expect from the two best teams in the country. [Read more...]
In what has seemingly been the year of upsets in college football, it’s been almost a guarantee that a highly ranked team will go down every week.
With three matchups between ranked teams this week, we know for certain that at least three ranked teams will lose. But again, that doesn’t mean the other ranked teams are safe, and more than one should be on upset alert this week.
