The Pac 12 is Once Again Overrated

Within two weeks of college football being on I already have to eat crow. I expect this to happen from time to time, but never this early on. I mean, most teams have only played one game. But after the first full weekend of college football, and isn't it wonderful that it is back, I am already on the chopping block. It came quicker than I expected.

Why the crow for dinner? The Pac 12 is exactly who we all thought they were. I had faith in the conference this year. I thought they were going to be better. I thought they had a shot to get a team in the playoffs. I was almost certain that team was going to be either Utah or Oregon. I was very, very wrong. USC looked good. Stanford cruised. Arizona got a big win. Arizona State overcame some early struggles. The rest of the conference fared pretty well. But the two top dogs, the two preseason favorites, the two highest ranked teams in the Pac 12 both got beat.

Utah had a tougher game. It was on the road in Gainesville. I understand Florida is not the powerhouse they once were. But they have a new coach. I expect big things soon from Billy Napier. Gainesville is always a tough spot to play. Utah had a big time zone change. They had to wait all day to play. But still, they were the preseason number 7 team. They were coming off a Rose Bowl game they had every shot to win. They had a returning QB. They have a good run game and a solid defense. But they shot themselves in the foot. They let Anthony Richardson, who looks like a budding star, do whatever he wanted. They could not stop Florida in the fourth quarter. They never really got the run game going. And in the end, with a chance to win the game, they threw a pick. It was a cluster of bad things. Utah was under prepared, got outcoached and outplayed and got beat because of it. They pretty much have to run the table from here on out, winning big in every game, and they still might be on the outside looking in come playoff conversation time. Utah blew a golden opportunity.

Utah’s loss wasn't as bad as Oregon. Boy oh boy did they get absolutely annihilated. This game was never, not for one second, in doubt. Georgia is very, very good. I get that. I did not expect Oregon to win this game. Georgia is loaded on both sides of the ball still, even with all the talent from last season's title team in the NFL. But Oregon laid a total egg. They were lifeless. They showed no fight. They got down early and never fought back. They looked like they wanted to be anywhere else then on that football field. Their new head coach looked severely overmatched. The team was just listless. They looked like a freshman team playing a Varsity team. A bad freshman team at that. I mean, the final score was 49-3. I watched this same Georgia team dismantle Michigan in the playoff last season, but at least Michigan showed a little heart. Oregon was not only outmatched, they had nothing good come from this game. This is the type of blowout that can derail a season. Again, I expected Georgia to win, win comfortably at that, but for Oregon to make it feel a little closer. I thought Oregon could score some points and this game would catapult them to go on a long winning streak. I figured it would have them more than ready for Pac 12 play. I put them in the playoff. Now there is almost no shot they get in. You cannot take a beating like that and expect the committee to take you seriously. This was not a good look for the Pac 12, but it was even worse for Oregon. They are the Gonzaga of college football now. They are the paper champions. They always look good, but when they have to play a real team, they almost never show up. This was rough. I mean, I do not know how they recover from this. It is embarrassing. I have always kind of liked Oregon, they may be the only team besides Michigan I do not actively root against, and this was just a real tough watch.

We will see what the rest of the season has for us, but this is not a very good start for a conference that a lot of people are already writing off. Maybe USC or UCLA will go on a roll and save the conference. Right now though, Utah and Oregon have made it harder than it should be.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Gets Ready to Watch the Final Four

The 2017 Final Four is set. We have UNC and Gonzaga, the 1 seeds, Oregon, the 3 seed that hasn't been this far since 1939, and the Cinderella 7 seed, South Carolina. I don't think a lot of people predicted this. In fact, on my Tournament Challenge app, a stat popped up that said only 657 out of 17 million plus entries correctly predicted the Final Four. That comes out to 0.003 percent of entrants that got it right. That is crazy.

With all this being said, I do like the matchups and the teams. But, before I jump into my predictions I want to touch on the last 4 days of the tournament. All the crazy things that led to these teams being the teams left standing.

The tournament picked back up last Thursday. As you all know by now, Oregon beat Michigan in a great game. Gonzaga and West Virginia played one of the sloppiest, foul ridden, terribly run offensive games that I have witnessed. There were 50 plus fouls called, a combined 61 free throws shot and missed after missed opportunity by both teams. In the end Gonzaga won late when WVU ran the worst 3 offensive plays to close out a game ever. Later that evening, KU demolished Purdue. Purdue kept it close for a half, then KU bulldozed them. Frank Mason, Devonte Graham and Josh Jackson looked unbeatable. The last game of the evening was incredible, and in a pretty big upset, Xavier beat Arizona in the final minute. Arizona showed its youth and Sean Miller reared his ugly head, and Xavier just kept plugging away until it took the lead for good with 40 seconds left. Xavier played with so much more heart and they deserved that win.

The next night had some marquee matchups, and only one of the games really lived up to the hype. Earlier in the evening, South Carolina laid waste to Baylor. Baylor looked like Baylor and South Carolina took advantage. Is Scott Drew a good coach? Maybe, but this team always chokes in March. The UNC-Butler game had potential to be close, especially with how UNC played against Arkansas, but UNC came out scorching hot, and rode a great first half to an easy 12 point win. The game that was supposed to be the game of the night, UCLA-Kentucky, was good, but not great. Kentucky played incredible defense. De'Aaron Fox was ridiculously great. Malik Monk did his thing. I was shocked at how nonchalant, and seemingly uninterested both UCLA and Lonzo Ball looked in this game. TJ Leaf also played really bad. These are 2 projected first round picks, with Ball being considered number 1 or 2 overall. He showed little to no effort, and Fox absolutely crushed him all night long. To no one's surprise, Ball immediately declared for the draft, but man oh man did he look really terrible. And TJ Leaf, he was a complete no show. He couldn't keep up with Kentucky's big men and they destroyed him all night long. The game was good for awhile, but with about 11 minutes left in the second half, there was no doubt that Kentucky was moving on. The game of the night was Wisconsin-Florida. Florida seemed to have the game put away, but Wisconsin came up with big plays and an incredible shot at the end of the game to tie it up and push it to overtime. But, after making that shot, the Wisconsin kid showboated, and I said to my television, with no one else in the room, you will regret that. Well, with under 10 seconds left, one of Florida's guards went the length of the floor with his team down 2, and took almost the exact same shot as the Wisconsin kid, but this time, it was a game winner. The Florida kid hit all net. That game was truly great, especially the last 5 minutes of regulation and all of overtime.

Then we had 8. 

On Saturday we had KU-Oregon and Gonzaga-Xavier. Gonzaga-Xavier was a blowout from the tap. They crushed them the whole time. Gonzaga actually looked like the team that only got beat once all year. People may say that they got to play an 11 seed, but Xavier blew away FSU, a 3 seed, and beat Arizona, a 2 seed, and Gonzaga absolutely destroyed them. They won by 24 points, and it wasn't that close. I thought this would happen. What happened in the KU-Oregon game though, I did not expect. With the way KU hammered Purdue, and how Oregon had to come back against Michigan, I just naturally assumed that KU would continue their destruction. Well, Frank Mason did his thing, but no one else showed up for KU. Graham was an 0 fer from the filed. Josh Jackson was very mediocre. The Myhkulik kid was non existent. Bill Self was out coached. They just played terribly, and Oregon played great, especially their big men. They had one forward that had 11 points, 12 rebounds and 8 blocks. That is a phenomenal stat line. He single handily shut down everyone but Frank Mason. Oregon looked very, very good in this game.

So Saturday's games were both blowouts and gave us half of the Final Four. Sunday's games were much better. We started off with South Carolina-Florida. Florida looked like the better team in the first half, holding a 7 point lead, but South Carolina came out firing away and hitting shots in the second half. Sindarius Thornwell is a tremendous college basketball player. He is awesome and he kept this run going for South Carolina. They had a 4 point lead for pretty much the last 4 minutes, and they pulled away at the very end and won by 7 points. I'm still in shock that South Carolina, a team that has never been to the Final Four, is there. It's crazy. Congrats to them. To finish out the weekend, we had a great, great game between Kentucky and UNC. UNC looked like they had control in the first half, putting Kentucky's young stars in early foul trouble. But, Kentucky fought its way back, took a five point lead with about 3 and a half minutes left, but then UNC went on a 10-0 run to take a 5 point lead themselves. Then things that crazy. UNC pushed the lead to 7, but then Kentucky started to finally hit threes and with about 14 seconds left Malik Monk hit an incredible three to tie the game. The shot was awesome. But, instead of taking a timeout, UNC pushed the ball up the court and passed to this bench guy who hit a jumper with 0.3 seconds left. Kentucky never got another shot off. This was a great way to end the weekend. This game was flat out awesome. It had everything you could want out of an NCAA tournament game.

Now we have the four. Next Saturday Gonzaga will face South Carolina and UNC will face Oregon. South Carolina is on a magical run, but Gonzaga finally looked like the team we have all been waiting to see. I think this game will be very competitive, but I see Gonzaga ending South Carolina's magical run. I remember about 10 or 11 years back when George Mason was an 11 seed and on a similar run all the way to the Final Four, and it all came crashing down in their matchup. That is what I see happening here. It will be highly contested, but I just think that Gonzaga is a better team, and they should win. Oregon-UNC will be a blowout. I know that a lot of people are saying that Oregon is the team that no one wants to play, but UNC is a much, much better team with much better depth and equal size and skill from their big men. I think UNC will demolish them. Great for Oregon that they beat KU, but UNC is, I just have a feeling, going to throttle them. They passed their toughest test and came out of the South region as the Final Four recipient. I just do not see how they don't hammer Oregon.

That will give us a Gonzaga-UNC title game, and I think UNC will make up for what happened last year and win the title. It may be taken away in a few years, what with all the allegations coming at UNC athletics, but I see them beating Gonzaga in a very good, not as good as last year, but still highly contested game. It will come down to the final couple of minutes, but I see UNC winning it in the end. I think Justin Jackson will win MOP because he is the guy that most people know of on UNC. He has also had a very solid tournament run.

This is how I saw the past weekend, and how I see the Final Four playing out. I'm excited for next Saturday. This has been an entertaining tournament thus far. Hopefully that continues this weekend.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Where is Ty's sense of loyalty? He picked Oregon at the beginning of the season. Why bail on the Ducks when they are closer than most people imagined. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Let Me Respectfully Explain Why Your Team Stinks: Big Ten Football is better than SEC Football

The best button to hit on the remote when ESPN talks college football

Today I'm going to piss off ESPN, Paul Finebaum, David Pollack, the SEC on ESPN Network, basically all of ESPN, and all the commentators on CBS because, frankly, the SEC, besides Alabama, is very mediocre.

The SEC is the only conference that seems to have 24 hour news coverage from these people, and these networks. They seem to be the only game in town. When I turn on "College Football Live" on ESPN, I see David Pollack and Finebaum each yelling about how great "their" conference is. They always talk about how it is the only conference in major division 1 football that has any say in the final rankings. They talk about how it is a superior level of football compared to all the other power conferences.

Well, and I know that I am not the only one that has done this research, but besides Alabama, no other SEC team has 9 wins. In fact, the only team with a chance to get a ninth win this year is Florida, and that chance is against Alabama in the SEC title game. I do not see them winning that game.

Tell me why these commentators and ESPN and CBS never give any love to any other conference. Colorado is in the midst of a huge resurgence in the Pac 12, so is Washington, but we only hear about how bad Oregon is on these channels. And not only are Colorado and Washington very good, so is Washington State, Utah and Stanford. Each of these teams has as many, or more wins, than all the other teams not named Alabama in the SEC. The Big 12 is very top heavy, but Oklahoma and Oklahoma State is a much more intriguing matchup to me this weekend, as opposed to Alabama-Florida. The ACC is Clemson, then everyone else, but UNC has put together a very solid year, Pittsburgh is feisty, FSU will get a good bowl game and Louisville has the Heisman front runner.

That leads me to the Big Ten, the conference I think is the best, by a wide margin.

Side rant, Michigan got absolutely screwed this past Saturday. They stopped Barrett, I will go to my grave believing this, and the disparity in penalties was atrocious. That was one of the worst officiated games I have ever watched, and I have heard people that don't like either team tell me the same. Okay, got that off my chest.

But, look at the top part of the Big Ten. Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan all have either 10 or 11 wins. Ohio State doesn't get a chance for a 12th win since they blew the Penn State game, but with only one loss, and getting a cheap win this past weekend, they are all but assured a playoff spot. They also play a style of offense that the playoff committee loves, so they will find any way possible to put them in the playoff. Wisconsin and Michigan are very similar, in that both teams rely on their defense. Wisconsin's defense is very good, and I expect that to be on full display this weekend when they face Penn State in the Big Ten title game. Those kids fly all over the place and make play after play. They have no studs on offense, but they can run the ball, as they have always been able to in my lifetime. Michigan's defense is better than Wisconsin's. They have pressured every QB and running back they have played this year. Their secondary is lock down. They blitz all the time, and they shut most teams down. They are, statically, the best defense in college football. Their offense is not flashy either, but they have way more play makers than Wisconsin, and whenever Jabrill Peppers comes in, everyone holds their breath. Then there is Penn State. I really do not know what to make of this team, but they have won 8 straight games, including one against Ohio State. I fully expect them to get crushed by Wisconsin, but they have a hell of a turnaround. I think they are paper tigers, but good for them.

I'd take all four of these teams against any team not named Alabama in the SEC. Give me Michigan-LSU, I'd pick Michigan to win by 2 touchdowns. Give me Penn State-Tennessee, PSU would win by 10 points. In a game between Wisconsin-Florida, I fully believe Wisconsin would shut them out in dominant fashion. So, why do the commentators and specific networks I mentioned only talk about the SEC? I get that Alabama is the best team, and it is not even close, but other than them, they have no real threat. Florida has faltered as of late, and it was on full display against Florida State this past weekend. Tennessee just got beat by Vanderbilt, needed multiple miracle comebacks early in the year, got crushed by Florida, and now their coach is talking about "being champions of life". What a joke. Ole Miss, who was a preseason top 15 team, is below .500. Texas A&M has not been that good since Trevor Knight went down, and were they that good to begin with anyway? I do not think so. Auburn has stumbled as of late, due to injury and playing great competition. LSU fired a coach, lost to Alabama, Wisconsin and Florida already this year, and they just settled for Ed Oregeron as their full time head coach. That does not put any fear in anyone at all. Arkansas just blew a 3 touchdown lead to Missouri and finished below .500 in the conference. Kentucky beat Louisville, but they are just 7-5, and they do not look good, at least not to me. The rest of the conference is just bad. Missouri, Mississippi State and the previously mentioned Ole Miss, they are all below .500. Vanderbilt and South Carolina are right at .500, and the rest has 8 wins or less.

I am sick of the biased view that the people and networks I have mentioned show this conference that has been well below mediocre this year. There is no one, and I mean no one, that should be covered on national media from the SEC except Alabama. Every other team in the SEC is irrelevant. No one other than Alabama is going to be in the playoff, or a New Year's Six bowl.

The SEC is wildly overrated, and I just needed to get this off my chest. It was a frustrating weekend, and the fact that ESPN and Paul Finebaum wanted to act like the Iron Bowl was anywhere near as important as The Game was utterly absurd. Screw Paul Finebaum, David Pollack, ESPN and CBS. You guys all stink and are so in the bag for the SEC, it is disgusting. Why don't you cover some real college football and get off the bandwagon you bunch of hacks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has a few more opinions on teams that stink, check them out. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty's Midseason College Football Redo

As I did yesterday with the NFL, today I'm going to look at college football at the mid way point. Also, much like the NFL, I got some things right, but more things wrong. That's how it goes when you are in the business of making predictions. No one is perfect, and I'm far from it myself. Anyway, let's get into what I got right and wrong, update my predictions and make some more changes.

First, let's look at the SEC, my least favorite conference. Alabama is the clear cut favorite. I think that everyone expected this. Alabama is clearly the best team in the SEC, and the nation. They have a historically great defense. They have scored 12 non offensive touchdowns, and they have only given up 12 touchdowns all year. They are elite. Their offense is just fine as well. They have a read option style QB, who is not a great passer, but an exceptional runner. He runs the read option to perfection, and, when he has an open man, he usually hits them in stride. Their offense, while not great, is just fine. Alabama is a cut above the rest in the SEC. As far as some teams that may present a "challenge", you have Auburn, Florida and Texas A&M. Some may say, you left out Tennessee, but Alabama recently beat them by 39 points. They also, just last week, beat A&M by 19 points, so they may not be much of a threat. Florida has a very good defense, but they were exposed against Tennessee in the second half of that game. Alabama is much, much better than Tennessee. Auburn may be the only team that can truly threaten Alabama, but their strength is running the ball, and Alabama's strength is stopping the run. Auburn has looked very good since Rhett Lashley took over the offense, but they will run into a buzz saw when they face Alabama's front seven. LSU could possibly pose a threat, the game is at night and in Baton Rouge, but they, much like Auburn, love to run the ball and Alabama is nearly impossible to run against. I will say, I was right about Tennessee. They are paper tigers. They should have been beaten a few times already, pulled some games out of nowhere, but have been brought back down to Earth the last two weeks. Anyway, at the midway point, Alabama is still the team to beat in the SEC.

Let's move to the Pac 12, which has been an absolute disaster thus far, minus one team. I was way, way off about Stanford. I thought that Christian McCaffrey would be dominant and lead this team to the playoff. I thought their defense would be great. I thought the lack of a decent QB would not matter. I was wrong on all three aspects. McCaffrey, while still putting up decent numbers, is literally the only threat they have, and he has missed parts of, or full games. He will not be making a return trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony. Their defense has been fine, but they have been on the field way, way too much. The lack of a good QB has crushed this team. Their passing game is no threat, so teams just load the box to stop the run, and it has worked thus far. UCLA has been incredibly underwhelming and Josh Rosen isn't even playing right now. USC, after getting crushed in their first 2 games, has looked better, but they are still 4-3. Utah is good, they have a great running game and an okay defense. They have a huge matchup this weekend, but I'll get to their opponent in a few. Oregon is atrocious, especially on defense. They cannot stop anyone and they can't settle on a QB. Oregon State is no good, Washington State is fine, but terrible at defense, Arizona State is average, Arizona is mediocre, which leaves us with one good team. That team is Washington. I was wrong about this team. I thought it was all talk, but they have lived up to the hype and then some. They are clearly the best team in the Pac 12. They have an elite offense and a very good defense. Jake Browning is putting up monster numbers, and if they get past Utah this weekend, they should have a clear path to the playoff. They are the Pac 12's only hope.

The Big 12, on the other hand, may not send a single team to the playoff. I was convinced that Oklahoma was going to have a breakthrough this year, but Bob Stoops reared his ugly head during week one. Houston trounced them, then 2 weeks later, in Norman, Ohio State throttled them. They have rebounded a bit, but they are no threat to be in the playoff. Texas started strong, but are limping to the finish line. Charlie Strong is all but done with his tenure there. TCU has been very up and down. Kansas State is in rebuild mode. Baylor is undefeated, but it is all for naught because none of this will matter because of the atrocities that they did off the field. They are going to get the death knell from the NCAA, hopefully. West Virginia, very surprisingly, has been the class of the Big 12. They have a very good offense, and in a league that thinks defense is optional, WVU actually plays really good defense. They have shut down both Texas Tech and TCU in consecutive weeks, and both those teams have great offenses. WVU is the team to beat in the Big 12, at this moment.

The ACC is still Clemson's to lose. Louisville has come out of nowhere, at least to me, but Clemson did beat them already. But, Louisville has been impressive thus far. Lamar Jackson is the front runner for the Heisman. He is putting up video game numbers, and no one, not even Clemson, truly stopped him. Florida State is average, Their QB is too young and inconsistent. Their defense is very mediocre. Dalvin Cook is very good, but he is their only threat. They have a big game against Clemson this weekend, and that game should show their true colors. Miami started out great, but they have fallen back to Earth the last three weeks. As far as some other challengers, there isn't any. NC State is average, and should have beaten Clemson, UNC has a great offense, but a terrible defense, Virginia Tech is fine, but not world beaters. This conference is Clemson's to lose. They are still undefeated, they play excellent defense and they still have Deshaun Watson, who is incredible. Until this team gets beat, I will stick with them. This weekend poses their last real threat, and if they get past FSU, they should roll to the playoff.

Now, for my conference, the Big 10. This is still a 2 team race. Ohio State, coming off their inexplicable loss to Penn State, is still a real playoff possibility. They have looked vulnerable the last 2 weeks, especially on offense, but they can go off at any time. JT Barrett is a very good QB, but he has gotten very little help from the rest of his teammates. The O line is shaky, the running game, outside of him, has been up and down, and they have no go to receiver. Their defense is awesome though. They can shut teams down. Ohio State has no room for error after last week, but if things break their way, they could sneak into the playoff. Michigan is playing incredible defense right now. They have shut down everyone that they have faced. It's hard to run on this team, and even harder to pass on them. Jim Harbaugh, Don Brown and Greg Mattison have a very, very good defense. The offense has been serviceable, but they are going to need to get better when they play better teams. Wilton Speight is still inconsistent with the long ball. Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh have not had their breakout games yet. Jake Butt has been fine, but not All American level yet. The running game has feasted on lesser opponents, but not so much on the better teams they've faced. I love their defense, but their offense needs to step it up. And, I do not care what their record is, they better be prepared for a very, very tough test this weekend at Michigan State. That team will bring their A game this weekend. As far as the rest of the Big 10, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and more recently, Penn State have looked good. Wisconsin has an incredible defense, but, much like Michigan, their offense leaves a lot to be desired. They also faced Michigan and Ohio State already, and both teams beat them. Nebraska may be the shakiest team in all of the top 10 rankings. They should have lost to Indiana and Oregon, but escaped with wins. They will probably get beat this weekend, when they face Wisconsin, but who knows, they could pull out another amazing win. Penn State has looked a lot better, but their offense is still a work in progress, and I do not trust them to be a real threat. Iowa has been underwhelming. Northwestern has looked good at times, but bad at times. Michigan State cannot seem to put it together. They can't pick a QB, and their defense is not as great as it usually is. Minnesota has 5 wins, but they have not looked impressive, and they tried everything to lose to Rutgers last week. The rest of the conference is below average. This conference is Michigan's to lose now. They have very high expectations for the first time in 10 years, so lets see how they react. This team has not been in this position for a long time, so let's see how these kids respond.

As far as other teams like Notre Dame, Houston, Western Michigan and Navy, only 2 of them have a say in being in a New Years 6 bowl. Notre Dame has been abysmal, and it all starts with their head coach. He has blamed everyone but himself, but he is the reason this team could miss out on a bowl game. They are 2-5 at the moment, so that means they need to finish the year 4-1, just to be considered for a bowl game. That will tough for this team. Houston was riding high with their opening season win at Oklahoma, but they have lost 2 of their last 3, and are out of the rankings. Western Michigan has looked great, owns 2 wins over Big 10 teams, and should rip through the MAC. They could find their way into an important bowl game by seasons end. And then there is Navy. They have played hard and played well pretty much all season long. They run that option to perfection, and they have looked really good all season. They were the first team to beat Houston I might add. I'm a Michigan fan through and through, but I have always liked Navy for some unexplained reason. It's good to see them play well.

As far as playoff teams go, right now for me, I have, from 4-1, Washington, Clemson, Michigan and Alabama. That is the exact order of the AP poll right now. I do not see that changing, unless one of these teams get upset, which could happen as soon as this weekend. So, that would pit Alabama-Washington and Michigan-Clemson in the semifinal games. Alabama will steam roll Washington and, as much as I would love to pick Michigan, Clemson has been there before and Michigan's offense is not nearly as good as Clemson's offense, so I'm going with the rematch. And, just like last season, I think Alabama will repeat. Clemson couldn't beat them last year, and Alabama's defense is way better than last year. I do not want Alabama to win, but they are leaps and bounds above everyone in college football. They are the Patriots of college football. I'm going to stick with Deshaun Watson has my Heisman winner though. He has already beaten Lamar Jackson head to head, and I think he will explode this weekend against FSU, which will solidify his place in New York.

There you have it, my mid season college football redux, redo, whatever you want to call it. College football has been so much better than the pros, so this piece was much easier and more fun to write than yesterday. Go watch some college games, they are way more fun, and quite frankly, better than the NFL, by a wide margin.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Test Ty's predictions by listening to the Mini X Millennial Man all about the upcoming NBA season. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty's 2016 College Preview and Predicitions

For my final preseason football preview, I'm going to talk about my favorite sport, college football. I love college football. There is nothing better than waking up on Saturday's in the fall and wasting an entire day watching college football. It is my drug of choice. For my preview I will talk about the 5 major conferences, the Big Ten, the SEC, the ACC, the Big 12 and the Pac 12. I will also throw a few independents in there, and I may talk about a few other teams that might strike my fancy. Enough chit chat, let's get to it.

I will start with the SEC, because it is my least favorite conference of all. They get so much deserved, but also undeserved love from all major media outlets. Yeah, I realize the SEC is good because I have eyes of my own and I can see, I don't need Paul Finebaum's punk ass telling me how great it is every god damn week. That guy is a total waste of time. Anyway, it will be much of the same with the SEC this year. It's Alabama, most people's preseason number one pick and defending champs, then everyone else. I know Alabama has lost a lot of players, but Alabama doesn't rebuild, they reload. They will find a serviceable running back, just like they did when Mark Ingram, TJ Yeldon and now Derrick Henry left. They will also find a QB. I'm sure they have a couple of blue chips sitting on the bench, waiting their turn. They will also find some new wideouts. They have all this stuff, and then some, just waiting for their turn. And as far as their o line, they are the best in college football. The coaches, and officers of the law for that matter, don't care if the best lineman in college football steals guns, he won't miss one single second because all the charges were dropped. The rest of the o line is huge and dominant. Their defense is always good. Yeah, Kirby Smart left for Georgia, but that won't matter, they will field 11 blue chip recruits that will play just as good as their predecessors. Alabama is loaded from top to bottom.

A few teams that may challenge are LSU, Georgia, Tennessee and Auburn. I don't buy the hype on Tennessee. They were supposed to be great last year, and I believe they finished with 7 or 8 wins. Butch Jones is also a piece of human garbage. Georgia is good, but they have a lot of holes to fill, and they don't have the roster that Alabama has. I also feel like they let Mark Richt go too soon. I don't think Kirby Smart will consistently lead that team to double digit wins every year. Auburn is fine, but Gus Malzahn is not a top of the line head coach. He has had a ton of problems finding a good QB since Cam Newton left, and he doesn't take enough time working with the defense. Auburn lets much lesser opponents stay in games way too long. LSU has a great running back in Leonard Fournette, and they have a very good defense, but the college game may have passed Les Miles a few years ago, and who will play QB, and who will that QB throw to? This team may be a one trick pony, but that pony is incredible.

I know I didn't mention Florida or Ole Miss. Florida played way out of their heads last year, and they will regress, especially on offense. Ole Miss may have to forfeit a bunch of games for cheating, and they lost almost everyone of importance from that team the last two years. They are on the decline as well. Once again, it is Alabama as your SEC champs. They have the best roster, and their players can get away with anything, as long as they are good.

Next, I will go to the ACC. The ACC has only 2 really good teams, and then a few okay teams, but the bottom half is garbage. The two good teams are Clemson and Florida State. Clemson was in the title game last year, and they had a chance to win it. Deshaun Watson is back, and that team is loaded with players at the skill positions. They will be a very lethal offense. Which is good for their defense, because the defense is very middle of the road. Clemson could, and may well, go undefeated this year, and they could do it while averaging 45 to 50 points a game, but also giving up 25-30. Florida State is due to bounce back from a "down" year, where they only won 10 games. They have a great running back, very good wideouts and they will pick a good QB. They also have a stout defense, even though they lost Jalen Ramsey to the pros. Florida State is incredibly good on both sides of the ball, and they are so balanced, it's hard to pick a good defense to go with when playing them. FSU will be very good this year.

The teams that are lurking, but not there yet, are Miami and Virginia Tech. Frank Beamer left VT after a very stellar career, so it will take time to build that team back up, but they play tough no matter what. Miami hired Mark Richt, which is huge, and I think within a year or two, he will have them highly competitive again. These things just take time and he needs to recruit his type of guys, but he is an excellent coach, and he is back at his alma mater. The days of Duke and Georgia Tech and teams like them being hyper competitive are long gone. The ACC is a two team race, and I like Clemson.

The Pac 12 may be taking the biggest nose dive as a whole conference. This conference was once feared and adored, but they look to have fallen on hard times. Sure, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Stanford and Washington are good, but when was the last time they were great? Oregon was not the same team last year. They played little to no defense, and they never really found a rhythm on offense. The super up tempo play just didn't have its desired effect last year. They will be decent, but they are going the route of transfer QB again, and even though I think Brady Hoke has a good defensive mind, he is not the answer they need to shore up that unit. UCLA has a great QB, but other than that, there is not a ton of weapons. Josh Rosen is also a sophomore, so he is either going to be better, or he will have that slump. He started off last year on fire, but as UCLA played better teams, people figured him and their offense out, and they weren't putting up huge numbers anymore. Their defense is very ho hum. Every year I hear that this is the year USC turns it all around, but they still haven't been that dominant team that they were in the early 21st century. The QB's aren't as good, neither are the backs. They have had some good receivers, but otherwise on offense, they are very average. The defense is fine, but they spend a ton of time on the field, and that is no good for any defense. Washington is another team that people say is "just a year away", but I've been hearing that since Steve Sarkisian was the coach. How many more 7 win seasons will it take before people realize that that is all Washington is, an average college football team.

The cream of the Pac 12 crop is Stanford. They have probably the second best back in all of football in Christian McCaffery, but that is where the threat begins and ends. They need a new QB, some new receivers and some one else to spell McCaffery out of the backfield. They are a lot like LSU, except their coach is better, but their defense isn't as good. Stanford should easily win the Pac 12 this year, regardless of who they put in at QB and receiver.

The Big 12 is another conference that used to be really competitive, but if Oklahoma doesn't cruise, it will de a disappointment. Yeah, TCU is decent and they have a decent transfer QB in Kenny Hill, but they lost Josh Docston and Trevoyne Boykin to the pros. They will have a good defense, but it is not as good as it once was. Who in the hell knows with Oklahoma State. Last year they were supposed to regress, but they played pretty well. I assume they are supposed to be decent this year, but that means they will probably take a step back. West Virginia is not the threat they once were. KU is a laughing stock. Kansas State needs to rebuild. Texas still doesn't have the players they need to compete. And Baylor, with all the problems they have going on right now, they may get the death penalty from the NCAA. Oklahoma has the best players and the best team, by a wide margin, in the Big 12. They will win it with ease.

Finally, as far as major conferences go, I have my favorite, the Big 10. The Big 10 has turned a corner over the past couple of seasons. They aren't as big joke anymore. They field good, high scoring and well defending teams. The Big 10 is good again.

The Big 10 is not all great, they do have teams that are not good and some that sit in the middle. Teams like Maryland, a long way away from competing, Illinois, hired Lovie Smith, but still a VERY long way away from competing, Purdue, who just isn't good and Minnesota, they play tough but blow games, are not great. The middling teams are getting better. As much as I may dislike Northwestern, they are always a tough game for anyone they play. Those kids are smart and they play smart football, for the most part. Indiana, who doesn't play a lick of defense, has a great offense that is capable of putting up 50 points on any given night. Nebraska always fields a very tough team. I know they had a losing record last year, but they got beat in some gut wrenching ways, and they crushed UCLA in their bowl game. Penn State always has a good run game and a decent defense, but their coach is holding them back. And Wisconsin will have a great running game, but not much else. That will still be good enough for 8 wins though.

The upper level of the Big 10 is scary good. Iowa is a very solid football team that plays very well technique football. They do not make mistakes. They are well coached and run their offense and defense as it should be run. Last year was an anomaly, I think they only lost 1 game, but they will still be very good. Michigan State lost a lot of important players from their team, but they are a tough team no matter what. They are also very, very dirty. They will have some rebuilding to do, but East Lansing is a tough place to play, and they will win some games that they shouldn't. Ohio State lost a lot to the draft as well, but JT Barrett is back, and so is Urban Meyer. This team is like Alabama. They don't rebuild, they reload. I'm sure they have some players that have been waiting to bust out, and now is their time. I HATE this team, but you have to give respect where it is due.

Then, there is my Michigan Wolverines. They surprised everyone last year, me included, by winning 10 games, but now, there's expectations. This team returns 14 starters from last year. They have an incredible defense, led by their defensive line. Jabrill Peppers is one of the best playmakers in the game. They have great receivers and tight ends and running backs on offense. But, they need to pick a QB, and the o line still needs some work. They also have to travel to Iowa, Columbus and East Lansing this season. Those will be tough road games. Michigan is better, but I think they are 1 year away from being a playoff threat.

As far as who I think wins the Big 10, I am going to have to pick the much hated Buckeyes once again. JT Barrett is really good, and Michigan is a year away and Iowa played out of their minds last year, and MSU lost too much to the pros.

I can't do a college football preview without mentioning Notre Dame. People seem to think they will be great, but I just think they will be good. They have to settle on a QB, and they lost a lot of skill players to the pros. Their defense is very far from elite too. I could see them winning 9, maybe even 10 games, but they are no threat to make the playoff.

Outside of the major conferences and the big names, the one team to watch out for this year is Houston. They were awesome last year, they beat FSU in a New Year's 6 bowl game, and they have almost everyone back from that team. Houston has a very good football team once again. They are making Rodney Peete proud.

I guess what it all comes down to is, who do I think will be in the playoff and who will face off for the title. Well, I think the 4 playoff teams will be Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma and Stanford. Alabama will find its way, they always do. Clemson will outscore everyone by 100 points to return. Oklahoma will cruise through the very weak Big 12, and I think an early season victory over Houston will help, and Stanford is going to be so much better than any team in the Pac 12, and I think they can go undefeated this year. My ranking of the teams, from 4 to 1 would be, Stanford, Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson. So that means Clemson and Stanford would play each other, with Oklahoma and Alabama squaring off in the other matchup. I like Clemson and Oklahoma in those games. And, I'm going to go ahead and pick Clemson to win the 2017 National Title. They had their chance last year, but much like the Panthers in the NFL, I think they got better and will make up for what they missed out on last year.

As far as the Heisman goes, I think names will pop up all year. Guys like McCaffery, Fournette, Baker Mayfield, JT Barrett, Greg Ward, they will all get talked about, but I think Deshaun Watson will win it. He finished third last year, but I think he takes it home this season, both the Heisman and the title.

That does it for all of my football previews. I will check in at midseason on both, but for now, that is how I see things shaping up. Now please, bring on some real football games.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What happens when Ty and RD stop being polite, and talk about reality television. Listen to the new X Millennial Man Podcast where reality television is given its time to shine. Download for free tomorrow. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik. 

The Day(s) After: Super Saturday and Tuesday 2 Edition

The Saturdays and Tuesdays are about to get a lot more Super

Looking at the results of Super Saturday and Super Tuesday 2 one can see that the Republican and Democratic Primary season is far from over. Both political parties are facing scenarios not thought of one year ago. Hillary Clinton's clear path is becoming more and more clouded. The rise, and inability to stop, Donald Trump is  becoming more and more troublesome to the Republican establishment and the national media. The 2016 primary season is making a fool out of a lot of the self identified experts. Maybe the people are really taking the power back.

On Saturday Texsas Senator Ted Cruz took his turn as the latest Republican establishment hope to take down Donald Trump. With a commanding win in Kansas and a tight upset in Maine, Cruz won the most overall delegates on the first Super Saturday. Donald Trump scored a few more small victories in Kentucky and Louisiana to pad his delegate totals, but Cruz closed the gap on the New York businessman's lead. Once the votes were tallied on Super Tuesday 2, Trump put a bit more distance between himself and Cruz with wins in Hawaii, Michigan, and Mississippi. Cruz eked out a win in Idaho and held second place in the other contests to stay in the primary race. Florida Senator Marco Rubio again underachieved on Saturday and Tuesday, winning zero delegates yesterday. All of the love and hope the Republican establishment and national media had for Rubio is evaporating quickly. Ohio Governor John Kasich finished where he normally does, far behind the leaders. With one week to go before the big winner take all prizes of Florida and Ohio, Ted Cruz is the only hope the Republican party has in derailing Trump's hold on the party's nomination for President of the United States.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued to separate herself from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination with the help of a few southern states and super delegates. Blow out wins in Mississippi and Louisiana added to Clinton's lead, while Sanders closed gap with wins in Kansas, Nebraska, Maine, and surprisingly Michigan. When the delegates are added from Super Saturday and Tuesday 2, Clinton and Sanders won almost the same amount. Where Secretary Clinton is separating herself from the Green Mountain State Senator is in the super delegates. These Democratic party officials do not need to follow the will of the people, and can vote for whomever they please. Clinton has spent years cultivating this valuable resource, and no matter how many close races Senator Sanders wins, she will still have the numbers advantage because of the super delegates. In order for Bernie Sanders to capture the Democratic nomination, he needs to win some of the big primary prizes, such as Ohio and Florida, and convince the super delegates to support his candidacy at the Democratic National Convention. That seems unlikely. 

Six months ago no one thought that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Bernie Sanders would still be in this race. Cruz has received no endorsements from any of his Senate colleagues, and is generally disliked by the Republican establishment. Every week Donald Trump seems to do something that would end the political career of any other person. Bernie Sanders is constantly smeared by the national media as some sort of socialist boogeyman. Not one of these three candidates has the support of anyone of influence in the Republican and Democratic parties. How is it that we are approaching mid March, and all three men are still able to win their respective party's nomination? How did everyone get this primary season so wrong?

In the case of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the Republican party has been grooming their voters to hate governance. The rise of the tea party created a culture of obstructing anything that President Obama and the Democratic Party wanted to get done. There was absolutely no support for the smallest bits of bipartisanship. Then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in 2010 that his number one job was to make Barrack Obama a one term president. He failed. While the Democratic Party failed at supporting down ticket candidates, a new breed of obstructionist Republicans started to take office. The Glenn Becks and Fox News personalities celebrated this culture of discord. Any one who compromised was severely punished. John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was the highest profile casualty of the new Republican Party. Boehner's failure to lead his own party was embraced by many Republicans. Ted Cruz was celebrated by the right wing media for attempting to stop any kind of legislation that required compromise. Donald Trump just yells about how other people are losers. The Republican Party embraced these tactics, and now they want to deny their champions. The voters were trained to want the bombast of Trump, the inflexibility of Cruz. The Republican voters want demagogues, not leaders. The party created this want.

The lingering campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders represents how much the Democratic Party has wasted the potential of the millennial vote. The Clinton campaign was embarrassed by the upstart Obama in 2008, and they did everything in their power to not make the same mistake again. The Democratic National Committee purposely limited the number of debates early on to help the former Secretary of State. The Clinton campaign has been raising money for years, to the detriment of many lower profile candidates. Any other Democrat who showed an interest in running for President was quickly met with scorn from the national party. Hillary Clinton's coronation as the Democratic nominee for President was one of the most undemocratic processes in modern political history. Senator Sanders, who is not even identified as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate, was so far outside of the established party that no one took his candidacy serious. The voters who identify as Democrats, but have felt betrayed by the party, flocked to Sanders campaign. The Clinton campaign has once again underestimated the voices of the disaffected Democrats, and it is costing them votes. Many thought Sanders could only win a few small liberal New England states, and now his campaign has claimed victory in Michigan. Without the advantage of super delegates, Sanders and Clinton would be neck and neck. The mistakes of 2008 seem to be coming back to haunt Hillary Clinton. The longer Bernie Sanders stays in this race, Hillary Clinton will have more pressure to talk about issues important to the millennial vote. If she refuses to acknowledge their ideas, 2016 is going to be a reminder of 2008.

The 2016 primary season has been unpredictable for both the Republican and Democratic party. Next week Florida and Ohio may bring more clarity on who will actually be on the ballot for President in November. Can the Republicans stop Trump? It looks unlikely. Is Ted Cruz the true choice of the Republican establishment? Probably not. Will John Kasich and Marco Rubio stop wasting peoples time? We can only hope.  Will Bernie Sanders be able to ride the potential of the millennial vote to the Democratic party nomination for President of the United States? Who the heck knows? The unpredictability makes this election one for the history books. 

RD

RD Kulik is the head editor for SeedSing. He is willing to admit when he is wrong, and he has been so wrong about this election. Lend your voice to the discussion and keep SeedSing on the right and true path, write for us.

Ty Makes a Few Updates to his 2015 College Football Preview.

Ty  predicts he could throw this ball over those mountains.

We are a bit more than halfway through the college football season and I wanted to take time today to see what I got right, wrong and what I want to correct in regards to my college football 2015 season preview.

I feel like I've done a pretty good job with my picks and predictions, but there's things I definitely got wrong or need change. I'll go through each conference that I previewed and I'll pick the four playoff teams and who I have for the Heisman. On with the mid season preview.

Let's start with the SEC. I had Alabama winning the SEC, and I still believe they have a good chance to win, but I didn't think that LSU would be their biggest challenger. I thought a team like Georgia or Ole Miss or even Texas A&M would challenge them. But LSU and Florida have been their biggest competition, and I think LSU will beat Alabama in their big game this weekend. Georgia has been plagued with injuries and poor QB play. Ole Miss, who beat Alabama this year, played their best football in my opinion already. And A&M, who was supposed to have a good defense this year, has been inept on offense lately, and Alabama and Ole Miss ran rough shot on their defense, they're not at their level yet. Florida has been surprisingly good this year. Sure, their QB is now suspended for the rest of this season for PEDs, but this team wins with defense and running, and they're doing those things very well. I don't think they'll finish the season as strong as they've started, but had you told me at the beginning of the year they'd be a 9 or 10 win team, I would've called you crazy. But, they're on their way to that number easily. LSU, in my opinion, is the team to beat in the SEC. They need to beat Alabama this weekend, which I already said I think they will, but they've been stout on defense and their running game, behind the new Heisman front runner, Leonard Fournette, makes them the favorite. They don't have a QB that's really division one caliber, but neither does Alabama and while Alabama does have Derrick Henry running the ball, he's no Leonard Fournette and LSU's defense is better. LSU is my new pick to win the SEC.

On to the Pac 12. I was completely wrong about this conference. I assumed that Oregon would continue to dominate as they have for the past couple of years, but then they ran into Utah. Utah destroyed them in Oregon and they haven't been the same team since, switching QB's weekly it seems and opposing teams torching their defense. Oregon took a big step back. Utah, after throttling Oregon, looked like the team to beat, but they got pounded at USC. Utah is still good and a team with one loss, can still win this conference. USC has beaten Utah and California, but lost to Notre Dame and still have to play UCLA. They also fired their coach for being drunk on the sideline, so this team is still a mess. UCLA is good, but they lost Myles Jack for the year, and they are led by a freshman QB, who looks like he's hitting the freshman wall. Then we have Stanford. They shit the bed in their first game at Northwestern, but since then, they've looked completely dominant. This conference is going to come down to Utah and Stanford and I'm going to pick Stanford to win. They just look so good right now.

The Big 12 looks just how I thought it would look. Sure, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma look good, but they aren't on Baylor or TCU's level. Oklahoma State is undefeated, but they just gave up 53 points to Texas Tech and that doesn't bode well for the rest of their season. Oklahoma is okay, but they've blown one game already and given their history under Bob Stoops, they'll do it again. Baylor looked like they were going to give TCU a run for the conference until their QB went down with a broken bone on his neck. Their offense was running like a well oiled machine, but I don't think that will happen with a back up QB. That's unfortunate for them. TCU is winning games with Boykin running their offense to perfection. He's putting up video game numbers and will continue to do that the rest of the year. Baylor was going to challenge, but TCU will win the Big 12.

The Big 10 has been pretty predictable except for one team. Ohio State is still number one, but they've looked unimpressive and now their starting QB has been arrested for drunk driving. Their new back up QB, when he's not busy complaining about losing the starting spot, should have went pro last year because he's looked pretty blah this year. Their coach is also a piece of garbage. He goes on TV and bad mouths the way other teams handle their punishment and then gives a lame punishment to JT Barrett and he also recruited and stood by a convicted murderer while head coach at Florida. Michigan State is undefeated, but had Michigan been able to punt the ball, they wouldn't be a top ten team anymore. Their early season home win over Oregon doesn't look so impressive anymore. Iowa has been the biggest surprise to me. They're undefeated and the rest of their schedule is a cake walk. But, even if they win the Big 10 championship game, they won't, the committee would be hard pressed to put them in the playoff. They're not that impressive and neither is their schedule. Northwestern looked like they may have surprised after a 5-0 start, then Michigan shut them out and Iowa hammered them in Northwestern. They're not that good. Michigan has looked very good on defense, with the Minnesota game being a lone exception, but they are very unimpressive on offense. They'll win 8 or 9 games. Penn State plays good defense, but they can't protect their QB. And Wisconsin has disappointed. The rest of the Big Ten is not good. Unfortunately, the Michigan State-Ohio State game will decide this conference, and I have to begrudgingly pick Ohio State. I hate them so much, but they will win the Big 10 this year.

The ACC is between two teams. Clemson and Florida State are the only teams worth talking about. Duke got screwed, Miami is light years behind, NC State and Georgia Tech are completely disappointing and the rest of the conference doesn't bear mentioning. Clemson is a much better team than Florida State and should win this conference with ease.

The AAC, the conference I gave very little mention to will get the same. Memphis has an impressive win over Ole Miss and are undefeated. Houston has an explosive QB and are also undefeated, and Temple is 7-1 with a pretty stout defense. They all have yet to play each other, but I think Temple will win. They've played the toughest schedule and they have the players on defense to stop both Houston and Memphis.

The two independents I mentioned in my preview, Notre Dame and BYU have had decent seasons. Notre Dame has looked good despite losing Malik Zaire in the first game, but their wins aren't very impressive and the toughest team they played, Clemson, pretty much shut them down. Their coach is also an insane person. BYU started with two very dramatic wins, but when they play upper level division one teams, they don't look so impressive. Boise State suffered an early season loss to BYU, but looked good after that, climbing back into the top 25, then Utah State hammered them. This version of Boise State is not as good as previous Boise State teams.

So, where do we stand today? I think I did a decent job. My original four playoff teams were Ohio State, Alabama, TCU and Michigan State. Today, my final four is, Ohio State, TCU, Clemson and LSU. Two changes, that's it. I think the title game will feature TCU and Clemson, and I still have TCU winning. They're outside the top four right now and they got screwed last season, so I think they will play with a fury unmatched and prove the committee wrong from last season. They're still the best team, in my opinion. As for the Heisman, I'm going to stick with Tevoyne Boykin, but Leonard Fournette has been extremely impressive. If he can do to Alabama what he's done to every other team this year, he will probably win, but Boykin is putting up humongous numbers and he will lead TCU to a title. How do you not award him the Heisman if he does that.

So, there's my corrections from the midway point of the college football season. Tell me why I'm wrong in the comment section, and give me your picks.

Thanks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. This is his 100th post on SeedSing. Congratulate him by following Ty on twitter @tykulik.