Florida State Got Robbed

The College Football Playoff is all set. Michigan is the 1 seed, Washington 2, Texas 3 and Alabama 4.

I do think all four teams had some good reasons for being picked. Michigan won every game and the Big 10. Washington won every game and the Pac 12. Texas won 12 games, won the Big 12 and beat Bama. They did get beat by Oklahoma, who is very good, but that was early and they more than made up for it. And Bama ended Georgia's 29 game win streak, lost to Texas early on in the season, but won every other game. So, do I think these teams are deserving of a playoff spot? Yes. But, do I think the committee got it right? Absolutely not.

This has been a topic of much debate since the four playoff teams were announced yesterday. People have had takes either way, supporting the decision or disagreeing with the decision. I wanted to sit on my thoughts for a day before I made up my mind. And I absolutely believe that Florida State was snubbed big time. This may be the biggest snub in the history of college football bowl games. That may sound like a bit much, but to the players, coaches and that university, this is a big deal. Florida State won the ACC. They won it going away in fact. They beat three top 25 teams. They beat LSU, who will most likely have the Heisman winner this weekend, in a humongous prime time matchup this season. The main thing that FSU did this season though, they won every game. Texas did not win every game. Alabama did not win every game. But FSU did. They had their schedule set, they played the teams on that schedule and when those games were over, FSU was the winner of each and every one of them. That is their job as a power 5 football team. That has been the unwritten rule of the college football playoff committee. They have said time and time again that if you play in a power 5 conference, win the conference title game, and win every other game on your schedule, that should be more than enough to get you in the playoff. But for some reason this season the committee decided to change things up.

Now, I fully understand, as does the committee, that the playoff is a television event. They want to get as many viewers as possible. And putting Michigan up against Alabama is going to bring a ton of viewers. But it is not like FSU is some also ran. They are blue bloods themselves. They have won multiple national titles. They have had multiple first round picks. They have a storied history. So to pass over them for Alabama, that shows the bias that the committee and ESPN, where all the playoff games will be broadcast, have. This is clearly ESPN and the committee cowtailing to the SEC and Bama. They want them in these games to get the talking heads and fans all riled up. During the SEC title game they kept showing a placard on the screen saying that the winner of the SEC title game has never missed the CFP. No one on ESPN, CBS, Fox or NBA were talking up FSU at all Saturday night, even as they were winning the ACC title game. And when ESPN premiered the final playoff game reveal and rankings, of course most of their talking heads were saying this was the correct choice, to leave FSU out in favor of Bama. Rece Davis, a Bama grad, loved it. Kirk Herbstreit, who I like, said weeks ago that if FSU finished undefeated, they'd be a shoe in. He immediately disregarded that statement and praised the committee for their choice. Paul Finebaum basically said he could care less about FSU and that Bama deserved the spot. He hosts a show on ESPN's SEC network. The only analyst that seemed to be bothered by this was Booger McFarland. He made some real good points I thought too. If anyone that is a college football fan is on the fence about this choice, go watch what McFarland had to say yesterday. It was the best argument for FSU being in the playoff that I saw. But after yesterday it is more apparent than ever that this committee and ESPN could care less about what occurs on the field. They are going to bend over backwards to get a team from the SEC in this field if there is the slightest possibility.

I do not like FSU, not one bit, but they were snubbed, and snubbed hard by the CFP committee yesterday. This is not what is supposed to happen when you win every game and win your conference as a power 5. This is clearly a move motivated by viewers, not players. 

Ty

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

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Florida State Football Needs Deion Sanders

Florida State football is off to a rough start. They looked good in their opening game against Notre Dame though. Things looked like they may be coming back a bit in that game. Then the hail mary happened against Jacksonville State. Then the Wake Forest game happened. And now, with a rough schedule coming up, things look like they may get worse.

With their worst start since the 70's, Mike Norvell doesn't seem to be the long term answer at head coach. I was not a fan of the hiring in the first place. Norvell did a solid job when he was at Memphis and he turned that into a big time job, getting the FSU position. But this team has not been good since Jimbo Fisher left. I felt like they gave up on Willie Taggart too soon, and now Norvell may not make it through the next few weeks, let alone the rest of his contract.

With all this being said I think FSU should go after Deion Sanders hard to be their next head coach. To me this is an absolute homerun hire. This is akin to Nebraska hiring Scott Frost. This is the same as Michigan hiring Jim Harbaugh. Deion was a star player while at FSU, and he has done a very solid job in his two seasons as Jackson State's head coach. But what I like even more about Deion, why I think people at FSU would love to have him as their coach, he is passionate about the game, but even more so about his players. He goes to bat for his players. He talks them up in the media all the time. Michigan actually has a transfer this season from Jackson State, Daylen Baldwin, and he was interviewed recently about playing for both coaches. He was glowing when he talked about Deion. He liked him, Michigan just gave him a better shot at the pros, and he is from Michigan. But he seemed to really like what Deion brought not only as a head coach, but as a grown man. He talked about his passion for everyone on the team. You can see it when Deion does interviews. He is out there talking about how HBCU's need more coverage. That they have legit pros playing at HBCU's. and Deion is out there stumping for the greater good. He seems to love it. Think about having that passion and pairing it with the money and resources FSU has. Deion would thrive.

Sanders also knows the program inside and out. He has gotten the taste for recruiting the past two years. He has a goldmine of recruiting in the state of Florida. Young kids know about Deion and they want to play for Deion. His son was a solid recruit, who had multiple offers from higher D-1 schools, but he chose to play for his dad at JSU. And now with the NIL intact, again, think of the damage he could do as the head coach at FSU. He would get FSU back to getting top recruits. Some of the four and five star kids that are kind of scoffing at FSU because they have seen the poor job Norvell has done are opting for schools like Florida or Miami or Ole Miss or Georgia. I think if FSU gets Deion as the head coach those kids think twice. They keep FSU in their top five of schools. Michigan had success in basketball under John Beilein, but it wasn't until he left and they hired Juwan Howard did they start to get five star kids. In Juwan Howard's third season at Michigan he has the second best recruiting class in the country. That is because kids know him, when they meet him they like him and he played at the school and had a long pro career. Deion could bring that aspect to FSU football.

If Florida State want to be relevant again, if they want to be a perennial top 25 team, if they want to get back to being a contender, the best thing they could now is hire Deion Sanders. He brings instant credibility and he would have that team humming in a year or two.

Ty

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

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Where Does Florida State Go From Here?

Florida State fired Willie Taggart earlier this week. I thought this may be coming, just not in the middle of the season.

I'm not a big fan, usually, of a coach being fired during the season. Let them finish it out, then let them go. Also, I do not think Taggart got a fair shot. The fact that boosters raised the money to have him removed, a near record breaking 17 million dollar buyout, shows they wanted him gone. This, I feel, has a lot to do with the on field product, but I think if he had been given one more season, he could have turned this around. Also, I don't think he would have been fired so quickly if he were Jimbo Fisher, who left this team 2 years ago, or Mark Stoops, who has Kentucky playing okay, but not great. I think you all know what I am getting at with these 2 comparisons. I also think Taggart is a solid head coach. He did great things at Western Kentucky, and while he left them ASAP, I feel like he was a perfect fit at Oregon after they let go of Mark Helfrich. I am not concerned for Taggart though. He has that humongous payout, and I would be shocked if he wasn't coaching a division 1 school at the start of the 2020 season. There will be some openings, probably some fairly big time schools, and many of them will jump at the chance to hire Willie Taggart.

As for Florida State, I really don't know where they go from here. As little as 5 or 6 years ago, they were a national title winner. I believe they were the last BCS champs. They then made the initial playoff. Then Jimbo Fisher decides to leave them for Texas A&M, I still don't understand that, and they were left searching. I thought they hit a homerun with Taggart, but clearly, I was wrong.

Some names that have popped up since Taggart was let go are fine. I think Bob Stoops is a solid head coach, and college is a much better fit for any coach than the dumbass XFL. But, Stoops left Oklahoma out of the blue, with so many unanswered questions hanging over him. I was stunned when he left. And, Oklahoma has been better, at least more consistent, since Lincoln Riley took over. Maybe Stoops knew his days were numbered, but still, he left under bizarre circumstances.

Lane Kiffin has said he would be interested in the job, but we have been down this road with Kiffin before. How many more times can he fail up into a job. He was horrible at Tennessee, and left them the moment the USC job was open. He then scorched Earth with that team, and that team's fan base. It was so bad that he was fired in the middle of the night, after a plane ride home. He then went on to Alabama to be an offensive coordinator, and he turned that into the head coaching gig at Florida Atlantic. Sure, he has some fun teams there, and he is a big time JUCO recruiter, but FAU is no better than a 7 or 8 win team. And when he has to play the upper tier, power 5 schools, FAU gets destroyed. I know FSU is in the ACC, but a team like Clemson would relish the fact that they could destroy a Lane Kiffin coached team. I feel like Miami and Manny Diaz would love the challenge. Hell, even the times they play Florida, Dan Mullen would wipe the floor with them.

And then this morning I heard that Deion Sanders has become a viable candidate for the opening. I actually think this would be kind of cool. He went to Florida State. He was there when they were a power. He has clout. He could get into any recruit in the nation's home and wow them. He oozes charisma. He knows the game. But, he has never coached at this high a level before. Yes, he is leading his son's high school team, but that is high school football. College is such a different game, and FSU, that is major division 1 college football. I look at some former players that are coaching now, and it takes time. I love that Michigan basketball has hired Juwan Howard, but I know it will be a few seasons before they are elite. This is his first time. Patrick Ewing has Georgetown potentially as a tournament team this year, but this is year 3 for him. Herm Edwards took over Arizona State, and while they were ranked for a moment this season, that team has fallen back to Earth. They are a 6 win team at best. Sure, that means bowl eligibility, but one of those early December bowl games. I imagine it would be tough for Deion to, one, not get every top flight recruit, and 2, not be that good for a few seasons. He would inherit a team that is light on QB's and receivers. A team that struggles defensively, even against inferior opponents. He would also have to deal with the exact same boosters who raised enough money to buy out Taggart. It is a tough situation.

So, if I were FSU, and thank goodness I have zero affiliation and do not like that team, I would give Deion Sanders the job, knowing that it would be a rebuilding project. That is what I think would be best for everyone involved.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is ready to return the glory to his old team and become the head coach. Do you hear that Marquette High?

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If Willie Taggart Wants to Be a Great Coach, He Needs to Learn to Stay at a Job for Awhile

Around a year ago I wrote about how much I liked Oregon hiring Willie Taggart as their head coach. He succeeded at Western Kentucky. He turned South Florida into a viable football program. So, I thought this was more than enough for him to earn a big time job like the head football coach at Oregon. Don’t get it twisted either. I know Oregon only won 7 games this year, and only 4 the year before, but under Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich, Oregon had become a power football school. They are also located in Eugene, which happens to be where Phil Knight, Mr Nike, presides. They had anything and everything Nike had to offer at their disposal. That’s why Oregon had a million different uniforms and could pull in all kinds of recruits from all over the country. How cool stuff looks now is a big deal with recruits. I know it sounds vain and stupid, but it’s the truth. These kids want to wear cool stuff, and for awhile, Oregon had the coolest stuff.

In a shock to me, other writers, and players on the Oregon football team, Taggart bolted for the vacant Florida State job. First off, I get why he did it, but I don’t agree with how he did it. I’ll touch on why I think he did it first. It’s easier to get to the playoff in the ACC. Clemson is the big dog in that conference, but now that the committee has no problem taking 2 teams from a conference, who’s to say that FSU won’t rejoin Clemson as a perennial power. The Pac 12 is tougher. USC, Washington, Stanford and to a lesser extent, UCLA and Washington State are always competitive. Oregon has a tougher road to the playoff. Taggart will also get great recruits right in his backyard. He’s familiar with Florida, and convincing kids to go to FSU will be easier than what he had to do at USF. He is also making a great amount of money now. FSU is also a historical program. Oregon has recent success, but FSU has been great since the early 90’s. For these reasons I get why he took the job.

The things Taggart said before taking the job, and how he handled his exit was just terrible. It was the absolute wrong way to leave a school. He said, only a day or 2 before bolting, that he wasn’t going anywhere. He told the media and his players as much. He went into recruits homes and told the players and their parents that he was going to be the coach at Oregon next season. These players have taken to social media to say as much. You cannot, in this day and age of coddled players and recruits, tell them lies. They will go to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and crush you with their words. The whole world is a platform, and these kids know this. They are not dumb.

It seems like now the truth about Willie Taggart is coming out. There is no denying that he is a great coach. He has won pretty big everywhere he has coached. I think, had he stayed at Oregon, they could’ve returned to the top 15 next season and been a real threat in the Pac 12. But, he bolted for what many deemed a “better” job. This seems to be his move. He is like Jim Harbaugh. People rail on Harbaugh for leaving every place he has coached after 3 or 4 years. In Taggart‘s case, he seems to only give you 2 seasons at most before he takes off. An even better comparison, and I’m totally taking this from Tony Kornheiser, how is he any different from Lane Kiffin? Isn’t this Kiffin’s move? He coached the Raiders for a year, realized he was in over his head and left for the vacant University of Tennessee job. Then, when the USC job opened up the very next year, he left for that. After he failed there he took a job as a coordinator at Alabama. Then, when things got tough with Saban, he took off for the Florida Atlantic job. And now, he’s looking for a bigger head coaching gig.

Basically, and I wrote about this a week or so ago, these big time places have no continuity with their coaching staffs. I hope Taggart succeeds because I like him. He’s a no nonsense coach that doesn’t coddle his players, no matter how many stars they had in high school. But, this trend of his to bolt is definitely a stain that he is going to have to live with. Recruits are going to look at him different now too. They may not give him their full trust. We will see what happens, and FSU is not the type of place a coach just leaves after a year or 2, but in the case of Willie Taggart, you never know. I still hold him in high regard, but, after what has happened this week, I might not think of him as highly as I once did. Here’s wishing him luck, but also, he needs to learn how to handle these transitions better when the next one comes.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is looking forward to the day that Oregon and Nike have a new uniform for every quarter of the game. Hell , why not every play?

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Jimbo Fisher Going to Texas A&M is a Real Head-Scratcher

I was going to write about a movie today, but more pressing news has surfaced, and no, I'm not talking about Flynn pleading guilty, I'll let RD handle that. The news that I speak of is about another coaching move. I know that I have been talking about sports and coaches a lot lately, but this is a big, big deal. And no, I'm not going to write about the possibility of Mike Leach to Tennessee. I'll save that for next week, or whenever it happens. The news that I speak of was just reported by multiple sports sites, and that is that Jimbo Fisher has resigned from Florida State and is expected to take the head coaching job at Texas A&M.

I have a bunch of mixed feelings about this move. First, and foremost, I think that A&M did Kevin Sumlin dirty. That dude took this team to places that they haven't been since the 1960's and 70's. He was 26 games over .500 as a head coach there. He had a winning record in the SEC. He coached a Heisman winner. He won bowl games. Kevin Sumlin should have never been fired in the first place. But, they let him go, and seemingly, they got their man. They are going to give him an enormous deal, something like 8 or 9 million a year over 9 or 10 seasons. That is a TON of money. I get him leaving FSU for the money, and there is no state tax in Texas. But, the money shouldn't have been the major selling point for Fisher. Fisher has plenty of money already. The dude got paid the moment he took over for Bobby Bowden. He didn't need the money. So no, the money wasn't why he left FSU, at least not in my opinion.

There could have been many other reasons why he chose to leave now. This season has been a disaster since week one. I picked FSU to win the title, then Alabama crushed them and their star QB. They went on to lose 5 of their next 9 games. Where we sit today they are 5-6, needing to win their last game, which is a make up due to the hurricanes, just to make a very low level bowl. Maybe how rough this year has been was a reason for him to want to leave. Maybe he doesn't see it getting any better than this. Maybe FSU is going to be a 7-5 or 8-4 team for the next couple of years, and Fisher probably didn't want to deal with that.

But, Texas A&M is no world beater. Sumlin didn't deserve to get fired because that team won 8 games this year. A&M is considered decent with 8-4 records. The SEC is much, much harder than the ACC. Had he stayed at FSU, he could have turned it around and been in the national title picture as soon as next year. Now, he has to face teams like Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State on a regular basis. I do think the SEC is overrated, but I'd much rather be a head coach in the ACC. The best teams in the ACC, outside of FSU, are Miami and Clemson. That is it. I do not like him taking this job if he is looking to be a constant title contender. As long as Nick Saban is still coaching Alabama, every single coach in the SEC will be ranked behind him, no matter what. If he thought FSU was tough, just wait until he starts going 4-4 or 5-3 in the SEC. It is going to be brutal.

Fisher is also a guy that doesn't care for fans confronting him. A fan this year yelled at him after an early season loss, and he yelled back. That shit is going to happen weekly at A&M if he doesn't beat teams like LSU and Auburn on a yearly basis.

Maybe he left FSU because he did all that he could there. He won a title. He won multiple BCS bowls. He won a New Year's 6 bowl. He too coached a Heisman winner. Maybe he wants a new challenge. I get that, and I think it may be the best reason why he would leave FSU. Maybe he wants to see a new college town. Maybe he is as obsessed with football as most people are in Texas. Maybe he wants to see how fertile the recruiting grounds are in Texas as compared to Florida. These are all reasonable excuses as to why he wanted to take the A&M job. This is the one reason that I will accept.

The more I think about this move, the more confused I get. I'm not confused from an A&M standpoint. They got exactly what they wanted when they wrongly fired Sumlin. They had one guy in mind, they threw as much money as possible at him and they got him to leave a great situation to come coach their team. The AD and the boosters and whoever else was involved did everything to get the guy they wanted. I am confused by why Fisher would want this job. I'm confused for all the reasons I laid out up top. I'm confused because he seemed to have carte blanche at a college football powerhouse. I'm confused because he was already making a ton of money. I'm confused because he had a good team set in place for next year. I'm confused why he wants to leave a less competitive conference, where the path to the playoff is much easier, to go to a tougher conference.

We will see how this all shakes out as the next couple of years go on. I am sure a bunch of key contributors to A&M this past season will transfer because Fisher is going to bring in a whole new staff and system. I'm also curious to see who FSU goes after now because that is a good job, and that team has some good players, including Deondre Francois and Cam Akers. This is all very bizarre, not Tennessee bizarre, but still bizarre. I just don't get it, but hey, Jimbo Fisher can do whatever the hell he wants to do, whether I agree with it or not.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is still not available to coach at Tennessee, but Florida State? Give him a call and find out.

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Injuries have Already Rewritten the 2017 Professional and College Football Season

Going to have out give out some new game balls.

We are 2 weeks into the college football season and one week into the NFL season, and my 2 major picks, Heisman and MVP, are both done for the year.

My Heisman pick, Deondre Francois, the QB of FSU, tore his patellar tendon in the opening game of the season against Alabama. This could be a brutal blow to FSU's hopes of the College Football Playoff. Francois was/is one of the tougher QB's in college football. That kid got hit so many times last year as a true freshman, but he always got up. The same thing was happening in the opening game of the season, but late in the third quarter he got crushed, and when he didn't immediately hop up, I knew something was wrong. I'm not an FSU fan by any stretch of the imagination, but to lose your starting QB in the firsts game is pretty crummy. FSU can still rebound, possibly even be a major competitor in the ACC, they have a tremendous defense, but losing Francois will be brutal. I do not know how that offense will look, their second game of the year was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. But, I imagine it will look a lot like what Clemson and Michigan are doing right now. They are going to try and run as much as possible, pass only when needed and rely on their other worldly defense. It is going to be an uphill battle for FSU, but they still have some decent talent. When you really think about it, relying on Cam Akers is not the end of the world in football terms.

I do have to say, my last 2 Heisman picks have been way off. Two years ago I picked Trevoyne Boykin, and while he had a decent season, he was not even a Heisman finalist. Last year I picked Deshaun Watson, and I still think he should have won, but Lamar Jackson won it last year. A couple weeks back, 2 days after the Francois injury I said that I was going with Derius Guice over Baker Mayfield, so I hope that I do not jinx any chance Guice may have of winning the award.

On to my pick for NFL MVP. I was completely on board with staking my claim to being one of the few people that was picking David Johnson for MVP. He had a breakout year last year, and he was the key to the Cardinals offense. I expected the Cardinals to surprise, possibly fight for a playoff spot and David Johnson was the main reason why. I had the number one overall pick in one of my fantasy football drafts, and like many other people with the number one overall pick I grabbed Johnson without hesitation. I fully bought into the David Johnson hype. He was the second coming, my generation's Marshall Faulk I called him. I bought all the David Johnson stock that I could.

Then week 1 happened. The Cardinals had an early afternoon game on Sunday, and I was at work, so I couldn't watch him play. But, I just assumed that he was going to put up big number against a subpar Lions defense. When I first went to check my numbers on my fantasy app, he had gotten me about 5 points, and it was only in the first quarter. I did the math and figured, at worst, he was going to get me between 15-20 points and that his MVP campaign was off to a great start. I waited about 20 or 30 minutes before I checked the scores again, and much to my shock, his numbers hadn't changed at all, and the game was going into halftime. I thought, no big deal, still on pace for double digit points. Then, as my work day was winding down, I hadn't checked my scores in about an hour at this point, I got a notification from my fantasy app. I heard the noise, stopped what I was doing for a moment and checked out what the update said. The app told me that David Johnson was questionable to return to the game with a wrist injury. My first thought was, oh no, my preseason MVP pick is already hurt. Then I thought about my fantasy team, and knew I was screwed. No good was going to come from this. I got home, watched some more football all day, and any new news on my preseason MVP got worse and worse. People were saying a sprained wrist and that he'd only miss a few weeks. Other people were reporting possible surgery, which would have him missing 6-8 weeks. Some people were saying that he was going to get a second opinion, and that is never, ever a good sign. Basically all news was bad news. 

On Monday morning it was announced that David Johnson was being put on IR, and he was going to miss 2-3 months. Basically the entire season. My preseason MVP and number one overall pick in my fantasy draft was pretty much done for the year. As far as my fantasy team went, this is what happens sometimes. People get hurt and there is nothing I can do. I was upset, but not mad. I was mad about going out on a limb and picking him as the MVP. I expected so much from him, and it was a total bummer when he announced that he needed to get surgery. Not only did it wreck my MVP pick, but it wrecks the Cardinals season. I have no faith in the Cardinals as a playoff team anymore. They have to rely on Carson Palmer, who looks cooked, Larry Fitzgerald, who produces, but is old and they signed Chris Johnson, who hasn't been viable in about 4 years. Their defense is still good, but that offense is going to be a big time problem for them.

I guess I am bad news for any player that I pick to win preseason awards. I picked Cam to repeat as MVP last year, and he got illegally hit and hurt too much last year. Now this happens to David Johnson. I guess, if I have to pick someone else to win the NFL MVP now, I will go with Aaron Rodgers. I hate doing this, since he is the QB of my team, but there is no one else I can think of that is more valuable to his team. Just like with Guice, I hope this doesn't spell doom for Rodgers. We will see what both the college and NFL seasons have for us from here on out, but what a bummer for some big time players for the first 2 weeks. Major injuries are a big time bummer.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He did not to well in his first fantasy football game of the season. The Head Editor? He won his game behind a dominant performance of Sam Bradford. MVP of the whol year will be Bradford. Write it down.

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Ty Watches Week One of the 2017 College Football Season

With the Tennessee Volunteers coming up with a double overtime victory over Georgia Tech last night, the first official weekend of the 2017 NCAA football season is done, and I have some quick initial reactions.

First off, Tennessee got lucky. That play that the Yellow Jackets ran last night was not the best play, and it took away from what they had done all night that was successful. It was a great game that ended on a so so play call.

As far as other top 25 action, there is a decent amount to unpack. Texas is not there yet. I know a ton of people thought they were going to roll over Maryland, but Maryland had other plans. While they let the Longhorns back into the game, letting them get as close as 3 points, they scored 51 on them. Fourteen of those came from a backup true freshman QB too. Maryland had their way with a very bad Texas defense. Tom Hermann has quite a job ahead of him. The rest of the Big 12 did what everyone thought they would do, with one exception. Oklahoma, and more importantly, Baker Mayfield, looked dynamite, albeit it was against UTEP. Kansas State crushed their opponent. Oklahoma State did the same. Baylor was the lone exception. I was so very, very, very happy to see that Liberty beat them and hung 43 on them in the process. I wish nothing but bad things for the Baylor football program.

The Pac 12 was very blah this past weekend. USC struggled early, then ran away from Western Michigan. Stanford destroyed Rice the weekend before. Washington struggled at first with Rutgers, but they won. Their win, and play, was very uninspired though. Oregon cruised past their opponent in Willie Taggert's first game. And UCLA spotted Texas A&M a 34 point lead, but managed to come all the way back and win by a point. Other than that, no real big time Pac 12 matchups.

In the Big 10, The University of Ohio State looked sluggish in the first half against Indiana, but woke up and slaughtered them in the second half. That being said, I do not think JT Barrett is one of the front runners for the Heisman anymore though. He looked very average. Their defense and run game is what won that game for them. Wisconsin and Penn State opened up against 2 over matched schools and did exactly what you would expect them to. Both of them cruised, giving up a combined 10 points. Michigan State came out of the gates slow, but pulled away from an overmatched Bowling Green team. Northwestern struggled, but pulled away very late against Nevada. And my guys, Michigan, left me feeling the same as I did before the start of the season. Their defense looked very good, but Florida is atrocious on offense. They also had 10 guys suspended for the game. Michigan's defense was the fastest I have ever seen in my time watching them though. The offense, more importantly, the O-line and Wilton Speight, still frustrate me to no end. Speight was way too over hyped in the first half. That second straight pick 6 made me want to punch a hole in my wall. He rebounded in the second half, but the run game and the defense were the reasons why Michigan won so comfortably.

The SEC looked pretty good. LSU shut out a pretty decent BYU team. Derius Guice looks like the real deal too. If LSU can find a passing game, they could cause trouble at the top of the conference. Auburn cruised against a lesser opponent. Georgia won, but lost their starting QB for what looks like it could be awhile. They have a great run game though. Missouri scored 72 points, but they gave up 43 to Missouri State. A bunch of people are telling Michigan fans to calm down after they beat Florida, but I live in Saint Louis, and Missouri fans around here think they are going to play offense like that all year. Maybe they need to calm down a bit. Missouri State is not even up to Kentucky's level in football. I already mentioned Tennessee. Kentucky won, but barely over Southern Miss. For my thoughts on Florida, see above. Again though, their offense is horrid. The big win for the SEC was Alabama once again proving they are the most dominant team in college football. Sure their offense didn't look any better than last year, but that defense, my goodness are they great. Yeah they lost 2 linebackers, but I'm sure they have 2 more who are just as good as the other guys and they will step in and not miss a beat. Also, FSU has a very solid defense, but more on them later. Alabama is not only the cream of the crop in the SEC, but the best team in the nation, and it is not even close.

Then we have the ACC. Miami pulled away early in the second half. Clemson trounced their opponent. Georgia Tech should have won last night but blew it. Louisville got a great performance out of Lamar Jackson, but they struggled to pull away from Purdue, only winning the game by a single touchdown. The biggest mess though was FSU. As I said, their defense is great. Easily a top 10 defense in the country. But, they lost their starting QB, and my preseason Heisman winner, Deondre Francois. He tore his patellar tendon muscle and he is done for the year. That is a tremendous, possibly season altering injury. I'm sure they have a solid backup, but Francois was the heart and soul of that offense. The other players fed off of him, and now, he is gone. This is a kid who takes so many hits too, I expected him to bounce right back up. After he sat on the ground for awhile, I knew something was wrong. He was getting shellacked all night, and it finally caught up to him and FSU. Cam Akers will have to take on a much bigger role, and he looked pretty good at times against the best defense in college football, but he is 18 years old. He was playing high schoolers at this time last year. FSU can still win the ACC, and even make the playoff, but to lose Francois for the year in the first game is brutal. I'll have a new Heisman winner when I do my mid season checkup, but if I had to pick someone right now, after one full weekend of NCAA football, I'd have to choose between Baker Mayfield, RD's pick or Derius Guice. I'll go with Guice right now because he played a much better team than Mayfield played.

As far as none "power 5" teams, Notre Dame won pretty handily over Temple this weekend, and got back in the top 25. We will see how they do against Georgia this weekend, but they got a break with Eason going down. South Florida won, but it took them a very long time to pull away from a very inferior opponent. And I know I didn't even mention them in my preseason stuff, but good for Howard, a 45 point underdog, to come out to UNLV, get paid 500,000 dollars for going there, and, not only cover the spread, but win the game. According to point spread history, that was the biggest upset of all time.

Nothing else truly jumped out to me. I saw Iowa shut down Josh Allen, the presumed number one pick in the upcoming NFL draft, so good for them. Washington State scored a ton, as many predicted. But, for the most part, everything went according to plan this weekend, with Texas being the only outlier.

I am so stoked that college football is back, and I wanted to give some gut reactions to week one. Saturday's cannot come fast enough now. Football is back, and I am so thrilled.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His wall is doing ok since the Wolverines did not throw three pick sixes. If that happens, Ty may need a whole new home.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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All Hail the ACC, Kings of the College Football Bowl Season

The crown is not that heavy

After yesterday's 2 bowl games, I am quite disgusted in how my conference, the Big Ten, has performed, but it is not just the Big Ten, most other power 5 conferences, except for the ACC, have been pretty mediocre.

Let's get the Big Ten out of the way.

First off, the top three teams in the conference all lost their bowl games. Michigan, my team, played piss poor defense all game, didn't wake up until the fourth quarter, and they lost the lead as quickly as they took it from Florida State. Michigan was clearly the better team, but 4 or 5 plays were the difference in that game. I'm still so angry at how they performed and how unprepared the coaching staff had them at the start of that game. It was brutal.

But, not as brutal as Penn State blowing the Rose Bowl yesterday. They blew 14 point leads twice in the second half. In fact, they had those leads in the fourth quarter, and still found some way to lose the game. They looked overmatched in the first half, but came out guns blazing in the third quarter. But, none of that mattered because of poor play calling and terrible defense, by both teams, for them to blow it. Also, Penn State should not even have a program after what happened there, but I have talked and talked about that whole situation enough. But, with a 7 point lead late in the fourth, they could not get a first down after running all over USC all game and gave them the ball back with 2 plus minutes. They then proceeded to get 2 pass interference calls against them, and then give up a 27 yard TD pass. So, I figured overtime, but Trace McSorley, who is not nearly as good as he thinks, chucks the ball in the air with 40 seconds left, and naturally, the ball was picked and returned to put USC in field goal range. Of course USC made the kick, and of course people said it was a "moral" victory for Penn State, but all in all, it was a terrible game, with no defense played and piss poor play calling, but hey, it was a "moral" victory. What a crock.

Then, there was the abomination that was the University of Ohio State(you all know what I'm doing by now). They had no business in the playoff, and I'm more than thrilled that Clemson absolutely crushed this team. They looked over-matched in every area of the game. Clemson is ten thousand times better, and they proved that tenfold.

In fact, the only Big Ten teams to win their bowl games were 6-6 Northwestern, 8-4 Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wisconsin's win was forgettable, but they won. That almost hurts more than anything else. The Big Ten laid a big, big egg this bowl season, going 3-7.

But, the Pac 12, SEC and the Big 12 have not fared much better. The SEC does have Alabama, and Florida and Tennessee and LSU had good wins, especially LSU, but other than that, they have been ho hum. Alabama will probably win it all, but other "blue bloods", like Auburn, Arkansas and Texas A&M looked rough. Auburn played good for one half last night, then proceeded to get crushed by Oklahoma(more on Brent Musberger's ridiculous Joe Mixon stuff tomorrow). Arkansas looked great in the first half, racing out to a 24-0 lead, but then got outscored 35-0 in the second half to Virginia Tech. I do love watching Brett Bielema lose though. And A&M got housed by a not so good Kansas State team. A&M was in the top 10 at various points this year, climbing all the way up to 4 in the initial playoff poll, but they looked awful against Kansas State. Overall, the SEC is 6-6 in bowl games.

The Big 12 was a bit better, at 4-2, but they only sent 6 teams to bowl games. Oklahoma roughed up an outmatched and very injured plagued Auburn team last night. K State crushed A&M like I said, and Oklahoma State cruised over Colorado. Baylor somehow won, but screw that team and everything that team should get punished for, Baylor is a bunch of slime bags and they do not deserve to have an athletic program, much like Penn State. But TCU got out played by Georgia. They made it close, but in the end, they did what they have done all year, and could not close it out. And West Virginia looked terrible. People thought this was when WVU would announced that they'd be a force next year, but instead, they got crushed. Sure, the Big 12 has a winning bowl record, but Baylor should not be playing, Oklahoma's star last night, I will write all about this tomorrow, should not be playing and Oklahoma State played an overrated Colorado team. Kansas State's victory is the only decent thing from the Big 12.

The Pac 12 has been up and down. USC won, but they gave up 49 points and needed a miracle last night, and they gave up a million rush yards. Utah barely beat a very mediocre Indiana team that fired its head coach before the bowl game and Stanford let UNC back into the game and needed a big stop on a 2 point conversion to win. Colorado, as I have mentioned, got hammered by Oklahoma State. That wasn't even a game. Washington State inexcusably lost to Minnesota, only scoring 12 points. This was the same Minnesota team that needed a late TD to beat Rutgers, Rutgers people. And then there was the unfortunate "playoff team", Washington. They do not belong on the same field, or even a field within 50 miles, of Alabama. That game was atrocious and boring. Terrible performance by them, but every team lays an egg when they play Alabama, especially when they have over a month to prepare for you. Washington was a paper tiger.

The ACC, the conference I am usually hardest on, has had a wonderful bowl season. I need to say, I picked an ACC team to win the title this year, Clemson, and that is still in the air, but the rest of the conference has had the best bowl season, by far, of the power 5 conferences. Where we sit now, they are 8-3 during bowl season. Clemson crushed the University of Ohio State, as I have mentioned, and they had a legit shot at Alabama next Monday. Florida State made the necessary plays and beat Michigan, who was much better than them. FSU just made the plays at the right time. Miami hammered what was supposed to be the coming out party for West Virginia. Virginia Tech dominated the second half and pulled away from Arkansas. Georgia Tech won their game fairly convincingly. Wake Forest, now that teams did not know what was coming, beat a much better Temple team. I mean, even the teams that lost played well. UNC fought all the way to the end with Stanford and Pittsburgh blew it against Northwestern, but they had just lost their offensive coordinator, and they still kept it close. Louisville was the only ACC to look really bad, but they had to play a swarming LSU defense and that defense absolutely shut down Heisman winner Lamar Jackson. Look, Clemson still has a shot to win it all, and that would be really, really big for the conference that everyone, including me, craps all over all the time. The ACC has been far and away the best conference during bowl season, and I can't believe it.

Good for you ACC, and I will be rooting for Clemson on Monday night to knock off the juggernaut that is Alabama football. Go Tigers.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Michigan losing by one was tough, Ohio State getting destroyed and embarrassed was glorious. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

The SeedSing 2016 College Football Playoffs, Important Bowls, and Heisman Predictions

The College Football Playoff is set, for better or worse. We have the four teams, counting down from 4 to 1, Washington, The University of Ohio State(I know what I wrote), Clemson and Alabama.

First off, the University of Ohio State does not belong in this field. They got beat by Penn State, who I will talk about later, needed overtime to beat Wisconsin and got a tremendous amount of help from the refs against Michigan, who I will also touch on later. They are strictly there because the playoff committee and the TV stations have a disturbing love affair with Urban Meyer. This University of Ohio State team is not as good as they have been in the past. They are still decent, but not the third best team in the country.

With all that being said, they have a shot to beat Clemson. Clemson does belong in this field. They did everything they needed to do to get in the playoff. They have been incredibly inconsistent all year long, but when they show up, they are very, very hard to beat. They have a great D line, a great defensive coordinator, Brent Venables, they have great skill guys like Wyatt Gallman and Mike Williams, and they have Deshaun Watson. This team is loaded, it is just a matter of them showing up, which they have for important games this year. If the team that showed up against Louisville and FSU shows up, they will blow the doors off the University of Ohio State. But, if the Clemson team that showed up against NC State or Pittsburgh shows up, they will be in trouble. I assume the team that played Louisville and FSU shows up, and Clemson beats the University of Ohio State in a decent game. If I had to pick a score, I'd say Clemson 38, the University of Ohio State 24.

The other matchup is going to look a lot like last year's Alabama-Michigan State game. Good for you Washington. You won the Pac 12 title game convincingly, but your butter soft out of conference schedule is going to rear its ugly head. The only time Washington faced a legit defense all year, USC, they got completely smothered. Alabama is better than USC. Hell, Alabama beat USC by 44 points in the first game of the season. If Washington had a hard time moving the ball on USC, they will not be able to move the ball at all against Alabama. Even their coach seems nervous about this matchup. There was an interview yesterday, and Petersen sounded like he was already preparing for next year. Jake Browning is good, and Washington has good skill players, but they have not faced a team nearly as good as Alabama. Alabama's defense is historically good. They are suffocating. They have stopped everyone that has come their way. Their defense and special teams are so good, they had -7 total offensive yards in the SEC title game after the first quarter, and they were still winning 16-9. Alabama is incredible, even if their offense is not great. Alabama is going to cruise over Washington to the tune of something like 35-7.

That would leave us with a rematch of last year's title game, but this time, it will not be a shootout. Alabama, and their defense, will shut Clemson down. Watson is great, but Alabama's defense is so much better. This is one of the most dominant and clinical teams that I have ever seen on a college football field. They are like a machine. If Alabama does not win the title this year, it will be a bigger upset than Cleveland beating Golden State in the NBA Finals last year. Alabama is clearly the best team in college football, and it is by a wide margin. Those are my predictions for the playoff.

As far as some other bowls go, I do not really care for anything else outside of the playoff and the New Year's 6 Bowl games. I could care less about a Nebraska-Tennessee matchup or a Navy-Louisiana Tech matchup or a Iowa-Florida matchup. None of those sound appealing to me. But, when it comes to the New Year's 6, obviously I have a huge interest in the Orange Bowl. Michigan is playing FSU. If Michigan shows up, and is not deflated by not making the playoff, they should roll. They have a great run defense, and all FSU can do is run. Dalvin Cook is incredible, but if Michigan can slow him down and hold him to below 100 yards, there is not much else FSU can do on offense. Michigan's offense should be able to control the ball as well. Michigan is a better team than FSU, and they should win the Orange Bowl.

The Rose Bowl is going to be a blood bath. Penn State is not the fifth best team in the country. But, before I go on about this game, I need to address what Gus Johnson said about Penn State winning the Big Ten title being a "milestone" in the "healing process" for what happened under Joe Paterno. This was a terrible oversight. What happened for 2 plus decades under Paterno's watch is despicable, disgusting, disturbing and Penn State's football program should have been shut down. The vile and heinous acts committed by the old staff were horrific and upsetting. The fact that the main media wants to gloss over this is troubling. No football win is any kind of "milestone", nor does it help anyone heal from what happened. Those people that were abused have to live with that everyday. Football games do not change what happened to them. Shame on Gus Johnson, Mark May, Kirk Herbstreit and any other media person that tries to shove the terrible tragedy at Penn State aside and only focus on football. Penn State should not have a football team.

With that being said, they will be exposed by a USC team that has only gotten better and better every week. They will shut down anything that Penn State will try and do, and they will move the ball on Penn State with ease. This is a very low level game for the Rose Bowl. We have a 2 and 3 loss teams playing for the Rose Bowl. That is not great. Anyway, USC will win by 10 plus.

The Cotton Bowl is going to expose Western Michigan. Good for them and PJ Fleck. You guys finished the regular season undefeated. Only you and Alabama can say that. But, when your 2 best wins are against a 6-6 Northwestern team and a 3-9 Illinois team, that speaks volumes to the level of competition they faced all year. Wisconsin is going to dismantle Western Michigan. I'd love to be proven wrong, both for my dislike to the Badgers and the fact that I would love to see Western Michigan finish the year undefeated, but it will not happen. WMU is playing a big time team now, and it will show. I would not be surprised if Wisconsin wins by 3 touchdowns or more.

The Sugar Bowl features Oklahoma and Auburn. Oklahoma should win this going away. They play super up-tempo offense and Auburn is decimated by injury. Auburn has a good defense, but Oklahoma's offense is fantastic. Oklahoma does not play defense, but they won't have to play too much defense in this game because Auburn is not nearly as lethal running the ball, due to all the injuries. I say Oklahoma by 2 touchdowns.

I have Alabama winning the title, Michigan winning the Orange Bowl, USC winning the Rose Bowl, Wisconsin winning the Cotton Bowl and Oklahoma winning the Sugar Bowl.

As far as the Heisman goes, first off, the list of players they are sending to New York is a real head scratcher. Obviously Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson belong, but Jabrill Peppers, Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook? What the hell? I love Jabrill Peppers. He was so much fun to watch this year. I literally thought he could score anytime he had his hands on the ball, but he wasn't even the best defender on his team. That goes to Jourdan Lewis, Taco Charlton and Chris Wormley. Peppers is great, just not Heisman great. Then 2 guys from Oklahoma, give me a break. If you want someone from the Big 12, send D'Onta Foreman. He rushed for over 2,000 yards this year, and that is with every team gearing up to stop him. And if you wanted another QB, send Jake Browning from Washington. He had an incredible year, and it would be a nice consolation for him since his team, and himself, are going to get hammered by Alabama. This is a very odd group of players selected to go to New York. Since it is only a 2 man race, they should have only sent Jackson and Watson.

I'm going to stick with my preseason pick, and say Deshaun Watson wins the Heisman. His last 5 games have been very impressive, and even though his numbers aren't like Jackson's numbers, the lasting impressions should count. Jackson had big time stumbles against Houston and Kentucky, where Watson showed up for the ACC title, and has been unstoppable the last 5 games.

So there you have it, my final predictions for the college football season. I will recap everything after the year is over, but this is what I see happening over the next month or so. Enjoy bowl season everyone. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial man Podcast. He aspires to go to the Rose Bowl one day. Maybe he will be the Grand Marshall. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

College Football Proved in Week One Why it is the Best

The first weekend of the college football season is officially in the books, and I have some quick thoughts about what we saw this past weekend.

First off, isn't it great to have football to watch again? Look, I like baseball, but nothing, not even basketball, compares to my love for football season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I spent my entire Saturday watching college football games.

My first main takeaway, RD was right and I was way wrong on Oklahoma. I assumed that they had the firepower and talent to overcome their head coach ineptness. Well, Houston made me look stupid, and made RD look right. When they got out to an 11 point lead, Oklahoma that is, I thought that they'd cruise from there. That was not the case. Houston took the first punch, then punched back way more than Oklahoma could handle. The 109 field miss return was the icing on the crap cake that has become Bob Stoops' calling card. Oklahoma could not recover, and they have a big hill to climb if they want in the playoff at the end of the year. They can still do it, but their chances are very, very slim. And how good did Houston and Greg Ward Jr look? They are truly a team worth watching, and they could definitely crash the playoff this year. Their last 2 wins, Florida State last year in the bowl game, and Oklahoma to open this season, are legit, and so is Houston.

The Thursday before, the games were mediocre. The only "marquee" team was Tennessee, and they struggled. Appalachian State is an okay team, and they will forever haunt me for what they did to the Wolverines all those years ago, but Tennessee was supposed to crush them, especially at home. Well, that did not happen. They needed a fourth quarter comeback, and had it not been for a miracle play from their running back, they would have fumbled away their win. Tennessee may not be as good as some thought they would be. But, it is only week one. 

Friday night had some good games, most notably Stanford-Kansas State. This game was closer than I thought, but we still got to see some great running by McCaffery. He made great cuts and zipped through holes and ran over tacklers. That kid is good. Michigan State looked a bit disjointed in their game against Furman on Friday night, but they won. It was sloppy, but it goes down as a W. 

Saturday was the real kickoff. I mentioned the Houston-Oklahoma game, but there were a lot of other things I saw in those early games. The Big Ten, save for Northwestern, looked pretty good. Ohio State and JT Barrett absolutely pummeled Bowling Green. Michigan crushed Hawaii. Iowa ran all over Miami of Ohio. The mid to lower level teams, like Maryland, Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska pummeled their opponents. Nebraska also did a fantastic tribute to their fallen punter. It was moving. Yeah, Northwestern got beat, but don't sleep on Western Michigan. They are a good football team. And as far as Rutgers goes, they stink.

The biggest win for the Big Ten came in the afternoon games, when Wisconsin beat LSU. LSU was supposed to be the second, or first overall team in the SEC. They have a great, great running back that was going to run all over Wisconsin. Wisconsin was also coming off an okay season, but they were breaking in a new QB, and their running back was coming off injury. Well, Wisconsin completely controlled every facet of that game. They "held" Fournette to under 150 yards, and forced LSU's QB to try and win the game, which he did not, throwing one of the most errant interceptions I have ever seen. But, I don't put this loss solely on Brandon Harris, I put it on Les Miles. He has become so vanilla. His offense is so predictable, and when you can get them out of their comfort zone, you have a great chance at beating them. The game was ugly, but it was exactly what Wisconsin wanted it to be, and they won. LSU is still a ways away from competing big time in the SEC.

In some other afternoon games, the competition looked good. UNC-Georgia was a very good game. I think I may have been a little low on Georgia in fact. If Nick Chubb can stay healthy, Georgia can be a very good team. Maybe they become the team that challenges Alabama in the SEC. Washington looked good, absolutely crushing Rutgers, Rutgers is not good. But, Washington looked pretty good. UCLA laid an egg against Texas A&M. They had no flow and Josh Rosen looked like he may have taken a step back. A&M won, but I don't think they are great either. Trevor Knight does not appear to be an elite QB, but that is the best they have. And, as I said, they got the win. Other ranked teams, like TCU, Oregon and Oklahoma State crushed their opponents, but TCU and Oregon both gave up more points than they should have against their opponents.

The night games on Saturday, one was great, the other, not so much. Alabama let USC stay in the game for one quarter, then realized that they are Alabama, and dismantled USC. That was an old fashioned whooping. USC looked like a very overmatched JV team against a very young, inexperienced Alabama team. As much as I loathe Nick Saban and Alabama, that team is great, and he is a great college coach. The Clemson-Auburn game was sloppy, but entertaining. Clemson won, but it was a dogfight, and Auburn had a chance at the end. Deshaun Watson did more than enough, at least in my eyes, to prove why he is the best player in college football. The game was also played at Auburn, which is a tough spot for any team, and Clemson still pulled out the victory.

 Sunday featured one game, Notre Dame-Texas, and that game was incredible. I fervently despise both teams, but that game was great. There was little to no defense played, but it was fun. Brian Kelly lost that game for Notre Dame. And, before you call me out for being a Notre Dame hater they would have won if he kept Deshon Kizer in at QB. But, he kept taking him out, and Kizer was unstoppable. So were the 2 Texas QB's. The freshman was more of a threat to throw, but Swoopes, man did he look good running the ball. And their running game was awesome. The way it ended, in double overtime, was excellent. That was a great, great game.

Last night, FSU came back and beat Ole Miss. For as bad as FSU looked in the first half, they looked great in the second half. The freshman QB calmed down, and the o line started to open holes for Dalvin Cook. Ole Miss is overrated. They came out guns blazing, but after the second quarter, they looked gassed, and it seemed that FSU figured them out. This game went as it was supposed to go.

There were a lot of good games, and this was a very good opening week. I don't like that they called the Oklahoma-Houston, Wisconsin-LSU and FSU-Ole Miss games, "neutral" site games. Houston got to play in Houston, Wisconsin got to play in Green Bay and FSU got to play in Orlando. Those are all home games. That was an unfair advantage for Oklahoma, LSU and Ole Miss, but that is just a nit picky thing of mine. Other than that, this season is off to a very promising start. I cannot wait for this Saturday to come so I can watch some more football. The best sport is finally back.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He can breathe easier this weekend because the Wolverines did not have their regular Rodriguez / Hoke bad loss in week one. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

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. 

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.

Ty's College Football Season Preview

Official ball from the 1988 all backyard suburban league championship

Today is August 17th, which means it is only 17 more days until the 2015 college football season kicks off.

This is the biggest "holiday" in my life. I'm as giddy as a kid opening a present when college football season starts. College football is, by far, my favorite sport. It may not be the cleanest, most ethical sport (what NCAA sport is?) yet it's so entertaining. College football, and sports in general, are the only TV show or movie that there's any real drama involved. There's dramatic TV shows and movies, but the outcome, for the most part, is positive. Not the case in sports. Sports can make you extremely happy and can depress you for hours or days, depending on how your team plays that particular day. College football, in my opinion, holds the most drama of all sports. College football also has the best die hard fans. We aren't fans, we are fanatics.

Which brings me to my main reason for my blog today, it's my college football preview. I will make this a yearly thing, so this marks the first annual, "Ty's College Football Season Preview". I'm not going to pick a preseason top 25, because that's stupid and pointless. I'm going to pick my winners of the major conferences, I'll talk about teams that can surprise, I'll give you my favorites for the Heisman and who I think the four playoff teams will be, and who I think will win the whole thing. So let's get started.

First, the Pac 12. You have the usual suspects competing for the Pac 12 title this year in Oregon, USC and UCLA. Of those three teams, I would pick Oregon to, once again, be in contention and most likely win the Pac 12 again. The transfer quarterback from Eastern Washington, Vernon Adams, will somewhat ease the loss of last year's Heisman winner, Marcus Mariota. It's always hard to replace a player like Mariota, but I think that Adams will run this offense very well, and they won't miss Mariota as much as other people think they will. USC returns star quarterback, Cody Kessler, but I don't think that Steve Sarkisian is the answer at head coach. The last time USC had this kind of preseason buzz was the year they started out as preseason number one, lost badly at Arizona State on a late Saturday night game, fired Lane Kiffin when they returned home and finished the year 7-6. I personally don't trust USC. UCLA also has to replace an all Pac 12 QB in Brett Hundley, but they have Myles Jack coming back, and they have a decent defense. They're good for 8 to 10 wins. Teams like Arizona, Arizona State and Washington will be decent too. Arizona won't be as good as last season, they played completely out of their minds, but they have a good young core and are led by the best linebacker in the country in Scooby Wright. Arizona State will be good on offense and sub par on defense, and Washington's opener versus Boise State will tell you everything about their season. If they win or win big, they will be a really good team, and if they lose, it will be a long season for the Huskies. With all that being said, I see Oregon winning the conference again this season.

On to the "powerful" SEC. I'd like to start by saying, I think the SEC is very overrated and I wish companies like ESPN would stop with the constant coverage, it drives me nuts. Anyway, here's another conference with the usual suspects. Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, Georgia and Ole Miss are the class of the conference. Alabama is Alabama, they will be good for 10 wins at least, anything less is a failure. They will be good, probably great, all season. It's Alabama after all. Auburn and Ole Miss are very similar in my opinion. They both have decent offenses, Ole Miss is better with LaQuean Treadwell coming back after that horrific injury last season and they both have very good defenses. Auburn got a great hire in Will Muschamp as their new defensive coordinator. He was not a good head coach, but the guy is a defensive genius. They're also helped by the addition of graduate transfer, Blake Countess. That guy is a great cover corner. Ole Miss still has the Nkemdichi brothers, and Robert Nkemdichi is, by far, the best interior defensive lineman since Ndamonkong Suh. The guy is unblockable. Mississippi State has their QB, Dak Prescott, back and he runs Dan Mullen's read option to perfection. I don't think they'll be as good this season as they were last season, but they're still good for 8 or 9 wins. Georgia lost Todd Gurley, but replace him with Nick Chubb. They also have a decent defense. They should win at least 9 games. LSU and Arkansas are kind of a mystery to me. LSU has a lights out defense and probably the best running back in the nation in Leonard Fournette, but they have no QB capable of running an offense. Arkansas has a so so defense, but their running game is legit. Even with the injury to star running back, Jonathan Williams, they have a stable of guys willing to take his place. Missouri and Kentucky are probably your next level of teams. They'll compete, but if either of them wins more than 8 games, I'll be surprised. I'm going to have to go with Alabama to be the champ of the SEC again. Two conferences, two repeat champions.

Next, the Big 12. The Big 12 might be the most explosive offensive collection of teams in the country. First of all, there's Baylor and TCU. Baylor has to replace Bryce Petty, but it seems like anyone can come in there and throw for damn near 4,000 yards. That's how well their offense is coached and run by the players. On defense, they showed flashes, but disappeared late in games last season. Look at the Cotton Bowl loss to Michigan State last season for evidence. They do have a freakish athlete on that side of the ball. Go do a google image of Shawn Oakman and be aghast at how big and quick and nimble he is. The dude is a beast. TCU's offense is led by their explosive QB Trevoyne Boykin. He may be the best QB in the country and he runs their offense to a T. He's crazy accurate, can run if need be and makes the right decision 99% of the time. Their coach, Gary Patterson, is known for his defensive mind, but he will rely heavily on the offense this year. They shouldn't disappoint either. They should be one of the most explosive offenses in college football history. After these two teams, there's a pretty big dip. Oklahoma is Oklahoma. They should be decent, but they could also very well disappoint. That's the bummer of being an Oklahoma fan. They should compete every year, but they are on a down swing for them right now. Texas is still rebuilding, but you have to give them another two to four years before they are making any kind of noise in the national conversation. I do like their coach, Charlie Strong a lot. He doesn't take any crap from anybody. Oklahoma State has all these pending violations and recruiting problems that I think will affect their play on the field this season. Kansas State will be a 7 or 8 win team at best, and the same goes for West Virginia. I think that TCU basically runs away with the Big 12. Baylor will make it interesting, but TCU is going to be really special this season.

Next, the Big Ten. Full disclosure, I'm a die hard Michigan Wolverines fan, but that won't sway me from being biased. That being said, the story of this offseason is the hiring of Jim Harbaugh by Michigan. He's expected to return this team to glory, and with his track record, he should do that. In fairness, this season will be tough for him and my beloved Wolverines. I expect them to make a bowl game and I think they should have, at least, 7 wins, but their schedule is tough and we will see if the running game can finally live up to the hype and see if the defense can be as good, if not better than last season. Okay, I talked about Michigan. The Big Ten will be about two teams this season, Ohio State and Michigan State (ed note: That was the hardest sentence Ty has ever written). Ohio State is the defending national champions. They have three great QB's and one of them is now playing receiver(Braxton Miller). They have one of the best running backs in the country in Ezekial Elliot. But, I don't see many explosive receivers on this team and I think teams will stack the box on them. That doesn't mean they'll stop them, but they will be predictable on offense. I also think that both JT Barrett and Cardale Jones will take a step back. Cardale Jones made a mistake in not turning pro, because his stock will never be as high as it was at the end of last season. Ohio State has a great defense. Nothing more needs to be said. There defense will be hard to get points on. Michigan State has Connor Cook back and a highly aggressive, hard hitting defense. Cook is one of the top QB's in the country. A lot of his top receivers have graduated or are in the NFL, so he will have to find new guys, but he will, he's good. Their running game will be by committee, but that's what works for them. While having a great defense, they play undisciplined and get penalized a ton. They are one of the dirtiest teams I've ever watched, but that gets in other teams heads and takes them off their game. You do what works for you. I feel like this is Michigan State's last, best shot at doing something special. They better take advantage. After that we have, the aforementioned Michigan Wolverines, Penn State, Iowa and Minnesota. Penn State should be good, but they haven't really lived up to any expectations lately and their offensive line has got to play better for them to win. Iowa will be good on the ground, but the QB situation is clearer, with Jake Rudock transferring to Michigan, but we will see how CJ Beathard does as a full time starter. Their defense is in a down swing right now too. Minnesota is a good team. They're predictable, but they have an awesome offensive line and a bunch of good running backs. Mitch Leidner does exactly what the coaching staff asks him to do too. They are not great on defense and that will hold them back. Rutgers, Maryland and Northwestern are teams, like Missouri and Kentucky in the SEC, that will compete, but anything more than 7 wins will shock me. It boils my blood, but I think Ohio State will win the Big 10 once again (ed note: Sorry Ty).

Lots of the same conference champs for me. I'm going to bundle the ACC and the AAC, because these are both jokes of conferences. The ACC has only three teams that are legit. There's Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson. Georgia Tech will run the triple option really well and confuse a lot of opponents, but they will take a step back from last season. Florida State is replacing Jameis Winston with Everett Golson, so they will not miss a beat, They'll be good, but blow some games late, like they always do. Clemson should be really good this year and they may make the ACC look like a halfway decent conference. Duke will be decent again, but not as good as last season. I'm going to pick Clemson to win the ACC. I don't watch the AAC at all, but I know that Cincinnati is in the conference. The only other teams I know are UCF, SMU and maybe Temple. I know UCF was good a few years ago with Blake Bortles at QB, but this conference is such a joke, I guess I'll pick SMU to win it this year. That's just a blind guess on my part and for all my AAC fans out there, sorry but your conference stinks.

As far as independent and teams from other conferences go, I'd like to talk about Notre Dame, BYU, Boise State and Marshall. Notre Dame is kind of an enigma to me. At the start of last season they looked like world beaters to me, then they fell on their faces when they played Arizona State, but closed out the season with a bowl win over LSU. They will either be a 10 win team or a 6 win team to me. It all depends on how well new starter Malik Zaire plays. If he plays like he did against LSU, they'll be good, but if he regresses or gets found out, they will be lucky to win 6 games. He has good offensive players around him, but it's always on the QB. BYU gets QB Taysom Hill back, and he's almost unstoppable running the read option. The problem lies with him though, when he got hurt, they were terrible. I believe they lost 4 or 5 straight after he got hurt. That team is completely reliant on the health of their QB and that's a double edged sword. Boise State had a down year for them and they still won 9 games and played Ole Miss tough in the opener. The same goes for them as goes for Washington. It all depends on who wins that game to see who will have the better season. I think Boise State will be good this year. Marshall almost went undefeated last season. They were led by their all world QB, Rakeem Cato, but he's graduated, and I think this marks the end of Marshall winning double digit games. It's not happening.

As far as the Heisman Trophy goes this season, I see it coming down to a lot of running backs and one QB. I think we'll see Ohio State's Ezekial Elliot, Georgia's Nick Chubb, LSU's Leonard Fournette and TCU's QB Trevoyne Boykin get invited to New York. I see Boykin winning the Heisman in an almost landslide vote. He's going to have a special season if he stays healthy.

Now the playoff.  I see the Big 12 being represented by TCU, the SEC sending Alabama and the shocker being the Big 10 getting two teams in, in Ohio State and Michigan State. I think in order of ranking the final four teams, it will be Ohio State 1, Alabama 2, TCU 3 and Michigan State 4. So, we'll get an Ohio State-Michigan State game for the third time this season and I see Ohio State winning this time and we will get Alabama-TCU in the other playoff game and I see TCU pulling away late in that game to advance to the title game. So that leaves us with Ohio State and TCU playing for the championship. I see this game being close for about 2 and a half quarters and then TCU puling away and winning by at least 17 points. So, TCU will be your 2016 NCAA Football National Champions.

Tell me why I'm right or wrong in the comment section and sit back and enjoy watching football. It will be here before we know it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The editor is eagerly awaiting his NCAA Division 3 football preview. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik

Is Everett Golson the right fit for Florida State's football culture? Is that a good thing?

I watch sports for two reasons, to root my teams on and to hate on teams I don't like. With that in mind I ask myself why is it of no surprise that former Notre Dame quaterback Everett Golson,  who was kicked off the team for academic reasons only to be brought back and beat out by another teammate, is now transferring to Florida State. I'll tell you why it doesn't surprise me, because it seems like character and off field issues don't matter to a school like Florida State. All that seems to matter to them is how many wins they can get for their football team. This is a shame. Sure, Jameis Winston is a great football player  One does not get taken first in the NFL draft if you are not talented, but this kid has more issues than the New York Times. First he gets accused of sexual assault, later to be thrown out of court for some unknown reason( I'd say the people of Tallahassee paid this person off), then he yells vulgar things in the lunchroom like a child.  To top off Winston's grand behavior he also steals food from a grocery store! But all this gets thrown out because the dude knows how to throw a spiral. Now they're bringing in Golson, who by all accounts is a good football player, but has character issues as well. First, he gets kicked off Notre Dame's football team because he can't get his grades straight,  and then he just gets flat out beaten out for the starting spot. Who should be there to catch him when he's falling and whining like a baby, Florida State. This is such a joke. I also don't think it will work to their advantage as well as they think. This kid turns the ball over A LOT. I'm just so unhappy with the state of college football right now. When these young kids don't get their way, they just leave a school to go somewhere else and play. It seems the players are following the behavior set by the coaches (looking at you Nick Saban). They've been told yes their whole lives and when someone comes in and beats them out, instead of staying and fighting for their spot, they think it's just best to leave and go somewhere where they can play. Florida State may also be the biggest joke of a "university" there is today. Clearly all they care about is marketing their product and making bundles and bundles of cash more so than the well being of assaulted students or getting these athletes the education they deserve.

Florida State, you're an embarrassment to colleges everywhere.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is a life long college football fan, yet the likes of Florida State are starting to challenge that commitment.