College Football Recap Week 14

Game of the Week: Western Kentucky 66, Marshall 65

             In a high-scoring matchup between the undefeated Thundering Herd and the Hilltoppers (two of the coolest mascot names in the all college football) Marshall’s perfect season came to an end in a classic overtime battle. With all of the great rivalry games that took place this weekend it is bizarre to see this game get the top nod. But both Marshall and Western Kentucky had a quarterback throw for over 400 yards, had a running back run for over 200 yards and a receiver who caught for more than 120 yards. Its incredibly rare to find a game with this kind of offensive production and when it happens its pretty special.

           

Player of the Week: Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama  (13 catches, 224 yards, 3 touchdowns)

            Amari Cooper is the best player in college football this year, period. Each week when I choose my “Player of the Week” I always manage to find someone who, in my mind, has had a better week than Amari. This week it was not possible. In a true “Heisman Statement Game”, Amari Cooper shined above the rest on this year’s biggest stage thus far in the Iron Bowl. Cooper was a one man wrecking crew, no matter if he was running deep routes, short routes, intermediate routes, as the flanker, as the slot, in single coverage, double coverage and even triple coverage at times! While Marcus Mariota will most likely win the Heisman trophy, Cooper has a large NFL caliber ceiling.

Disappointment of the Week: The Mississippi State’s Cinderella Story

            In the most relevant Egg Bowl in the history of…the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss pulled off the upset of the Bulldogs, ending their chance of a playoff berth. The clock seemed to have struck midnight on their Cinderella story as their once beautiful gown of an offense sputtered back into the rags of past Mississippi State past. Perhaps they will find their glass slipper in a prominent bowl game this season.

           

Conference Championship Predictions:

ACC: Florida State vs. Georgia Tech

             It pretty pointless to provide a prediction to this game, but my crystal ball tells me Florida State will not show up in the first half, and then play a strong enough second half to squeak by. You would have to think that this strategy will backfire at some point? It will, just not in the ACC Championship.

Florida State- 24  Georgia Tech- 20

Big 10: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin

            For as much as everyone has poo pooed on the Big 10 this year, and rightfully so, this game is very compelling. Ohio State has really dropped the ball these past two games, needed big 2^nd halves to put away lowly Indiana and pathetic Michigan (Who do they think they are? Florida State?) and when J.T. Barrett broke his ankle in the 3^rd quarter against the Wolverines, their season might have broke as well. Ohio State is now on their 3^rd string quarterback battling Heisman contender Melvin Gordon. If Ohio State can win, and somehow win impressively they may get the nod over TCU for the 4^th spot in the playoff. But can’t see that happening with a 3^rd string quarterback. But for some reason I can still see them winning the game.

Ohio State- 34 Wisconsin-28

PAC 12: Oregon vs. Arizona

            Arizona was able to create pressure on Marcus Mariota, back in October because half of the Oregon offensive line was out with injuries. I don’t know if Arizona has kept tabs on Oregon in the 2^nd half of the season, but the offensive line is back.. Oregon has too much fire-power for Arizona to try and outscore the Ducks, which is Rich Rod’s philosophy.

Oregon- 42 Arizona-30

SEC: Alabama vs. Missouri

            I am still confused how Missouri ended up winning the SEC East. Just goes to show just how disappointing the seasons were of South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. But that’s two straight SEC championship berths for the “Show Me State”. But Alabama is going to show what a real SEC team looks like.

Alabama-35  Missouri-17

Coach on the Hot Seat: Brady Hoke

            I had Bo Pellini last week and he got fired. I’m hoping it’s a trend!  

Coach Predictor

Florida: Mark Hudspeth, HC, Louisiana-Lafayette

            If the Florida State game was provided any further indication that Florida needs a new coach who can develop and coach offense, I don’t know what will.

Nebraska: Matt Wells, HC, Utah State

After letting Bo Pellini go this morning, Nebraska is out the looking to hire just their 6^th head coach since 1962, and the Cornhuskers faithful is hoping they hire someone who can return them to their past prominence. Enter Matt Wells. Despite the blowout loss to Boise State last night, Utah State has been a contender in the Mountain West for the past two seasons, all due to the program Wells has created in Logan, Utah (not exactly a hotbed for football). Imagine what he could potentially do in a place like Lincoln.

Playoff Prediction:

1. Florida State

2. Oregon

3. Alabama

4. TCU

             

1. Florida State: Does Florida State want to lose? I asked that question last week. I believe the answer to that question is yes, I just don’t know when?

2. Oregon: Oregon will get their revenge against Arizona in next week’s PAC-12 title game. It will be a good stage for Marcus Mariota to have a Heisman-worthy performance.

3. Alabama: Alabama survived their tough end of the year schedule. Now all they have to do is dispose of Missouri. One has to wonder when an SEC East contender will win the SEC again?

4. TCU: For all the criticism I have given TCU this season, even I was impressed with their blowout win over Texas. TCU can seemingly score against anyone and with Ohio State faltering these past two weeks; look for the Horned Frogs to entire the college football playoff.

Don’t Count Them Out Yet: Ohio State  

             Stranger things have happened. But if Ohio State can defeat Wisconsin and do so impressively the Big 10 title game may give them the nod over TCU.

           

           

2015 NFL Mock Draft

Pick	Team	Player	College	Position
1	Jacksonville	Randy Gregory	Nebraska	DE/OLB
2	Oakland	Leonard Williams	USC	DE
3	New York J	Marcus Mariota	Oregon	DE
4	Tampa Bay	Andrus Peat	Stanford	OT
5	Minnesota	Amari Cooper	Alabama	WR
6	Washington	Brandon Scherff	Iowa	OT/G
7	St. Louis	Jameis Winston	Florida State	QB
8	New York G	Shane Ray	Missouri	DE/OLB
9	Tennessee	Brett Hundley	UCLA	QB
10	Carolina	DeVante Parker	Louisville	WR
11	Chicago	Ifo Ekpre-Olomu	Oregon	CB
12	New Orleans	Markus Golden	Missouri	DE/OLB
13	Houston	Eric Kendricks	UCLA	LB
14	Cincinnati	Shilique Calhoun	Michigan State	DE/OLB
15	Baltimore	Landon Collins	Alabama	S
16	Cleveland (from Buffalo)	Jalen Strong	Arizona State	WR
17	San Francisco	Cameron Erving	Florida State	OT/G
18	San Diego	Shawn Oakman	Baylor	DE/DT
19	Kansas City	Vic Beasley	Clemson	DE/OLB
20	Atlanta	Cedric Ogbuehi	Texas A&M	OT
21	Dallas	P.J. Williams	Florida State	CB
22	Miami	Sammie Coates	Auburn	WR
23	Cleveland	Melvin Gordon	Wisconsin	RB
24	Detroit	Shaq Thompson	Washington	LB
25	Pittsburgh	Danny Shelton	Washington	DT
26	Arizona	Connor Cook	Michigan State	QB
27	Seattle	D’haquille Williams	Auburn	WR
28	Indianapolis	Todd Gurley	Georgia	RB
29	Green Bay	Devin Funchess	Michigan	WR/TE
30	New England	D.J. Humphries	Florida	OT/G
31	Philadelphia	Brett Hundley	UCLA	QB
32	Denver	T.J. Yeldon	Alabama	RB