Bowl Mania: 34 Games, 34 Short But Sweet Predictions

by HD Handshoe
Founder—Block-O-Nation



Here's our take on this seasons 34 bowl games. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section.

---

December 19, 2009—4:30PM
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Fresno State (8-4) vs. Wyoming (6-6)

Projected Winner — Fresno State

---

December 19, 2009—8:00PM
St. Petersburg, Florida

Rutgers (8-4) vs. UCF (8-4)

Projected Winner — UCF

---

December 20, 2009—8:30PM
New Orleans, Louisiana

Southern Mississippi (7-5) vs. Middle Tennessee State (9-3)

Projected Winner — Southern Mississippi

---

December 22, 2009—8:00PM
Las Vegas, Nevada

No. 18 Oregon State (8-4) vs. No. 14 BYU (10-2)

Projected Winner — Oregon State

---

December 23, 2009—8:00PM
San Diego, California

No. 23 Utah (9-3) vs. California (8-4)

Projected Winner — California

---

December 24, 2009—8:00PM
Honolulu, Hawaii

Nevada (8-4) vs. Southern Methodist (7-5)

Projected Winner — Nevada

---

December 26, 2009—1:00PM
Detroit, Michigan

Marshall (6-6) vs. Ohio (9-4)

Projected Winner — Ohio

---

December 26, 2009—4:30PM
Charlotte, North Carolina

No. 17 Pittsburgh (9-3) vs. North Carolina (8-4)

Projected Winner — Pittsburgh

---

December 26, 2009—8:30PM
San Francisco, California

Boston College (8-4) vs. No. 24 USC (8-4)

Projected Winner — USC

---

December 27, 2009—8:30PM
Nashville, Tennessee

Clemson (8-5) vs. Kentucky (7-5)

Projected Winner — Clemson

---

December 28, 2009—5:00PM
Shreveport, Louisiana

Texas A&M (6-6) vs. Georgia (7-5)

Projected Winner — Georgia

---

December 29, 2009—4:30PM
Washington, D.C.

UCLA (6-6) vs. Temple (9-3)

Projected Winner — Temple

---

December 29, 2009—8:00PM
Orlando, Florida

No. 15 Miami-Fla (9-3) vs. No. 25 Wisconsin (9-3)

Projected Winner — Miami

---

December 30, 2009—4:30PM
Boise, Idaho

Idaho (7-5) vs. Bowling Green (7-5)

Projected Winner — Bowling Green

---

December 30, 2009—8:00PM
San Diego, California

No. 20 Arizona (8-4) vs. No. 22 Nebraska (9-4)

Projected Winner — Nebraska

---

December 31, 2009—12:00PM
Fort Worth, Texas

Houston (10-3) vs. Air Force (7-5)

Projected Winner — Houston

---

December 31, 2009—2:00PM
El Paso, Texas

Oklahoma (7-5) vs. No. 21 Stanford (8-4)

Projected Winner — Stanford

---

December 31, 2009—3:30PM
Houston, Texas

Navy (9-4) vs. Missouri (8-4)

Projected Winner — Navy

---

December 31, 2009—6:00PM
Tempe, Arizona

Minnesota (6-6) vs. Iowa State (6-6)

Projected Winner — Minnestoa

---

December 31, 2009—7:30PM
Atlanta, Georgia

No. 11 Virginia Tech (9-3) vs. Tennessee (7-5)

Projected Winner — Virginia Tech

---

January 1, 2010—11:00AM
Tampa, Florida

Northwestern (8-4) vs. Auburn (7-5)

Projected Winner — Auburn

---

January 1, 2010—1:00PM
Jacksonville, Florida

Florida State (6-6) vs. No. 16 West Virginia (9-3)

Projected Winner — West Virginia

---

January 1, 2010—1:00PM
Orlando, Florida

No. 12 Penn State (10-2) vs. No. 13 LSU (9-3)

Projected Winner — Penn State

---

January 1, 2010—4:30PM
Pasadena, California

No. 7 Oregon (10-2) vs. No. 8 Ohio State (10-2)

Projected Winner — Ohio State

---

January 1, 2010—8:30PM
New Orleans, Louisiana

No. 3 Cincinnati (12-0) vs. No. 5 Florida (12-1)
Projected Winner — Florida

---

January 2, 2010—12:00PM
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

South Florida (7-5) vs. Northern Illinois (7-5)
Projected Winner — South Florida

---

January 2, 2010—2:00PM
Birmingham, Alabama

Connecticut (7-5) vs. South Carolina (7-5)
Projected Winner — South Carolina

---

January 2, 2010—2:00PM
Arlington, Texas

No. 19 Oklahoma State (9-3) vs. Mississippi (8-4)
Projected Winner — Oklahoma State

---

January 2, 2010—5:30PM
Memphis, Tennessee

Arkansas (7-5) vs. East Carolina (9-4)
Projected Winner — Arkansas

---

January 2, 2010—9:00PM
San Antonio, Texas

Michigan State (6-6) vs. Texas Tech (8-4)
Projected Winner — Texas Tech

---

January 4, 2010—8:00PM
Glendale, Arizona

No. 4 TCU (12-0) vs. No. 6 Boise State (13-0)
Projected Winner — Boise State

---

January 5, 2010—8:00PM
Miami, Florida

No. 9 Georgia Tech (11-2) vs. No. 10 Iowa (10-2)
Projected Winner — Georgia Tech

---

January 6, 2010—7:00PM
Mobile, Alabama

Central Michigan (11-2) vs. Troy (9-3)
Projected Winner — Central Michigan

---

January 7, 2010—8:00PM
Pasadena, California

No. 1 Alabama (13-0) vs. No. 2 Texas (13-0)
Projected Winner — Texas


Click For Block Nation Front Page

Week Nine Top 25 Ballot For TBDPITL

by HD Handshoe
Founder—BlockONation




You may have noticed, there were numerous upsets this week. This top 25 ballot was the hardest one for me so far this season, especially from 16-25. Feel free to comment below.

1. Texas (8-0)

2. Florida (8-0)

3. TCU (8-0)

4. Boise State (8-0)

5. Cincinnati (8-0)

6. Iowa (9-0)

7. Alabama (8-0)

8. Oregon (7-1)

9. LSU (7-1)

10. Penn State (8-1)

11. Georgia Tech (8-1)

12. Houston (7-1)

13. Pitt (7-1)

14. Ohio State (7-2)

15. Utah (7-1)

16. USC (6-2)

17. Wisconsin (6-2)

18. Notre Dame (6-2)

19. South Florida (6-2)

20. Miami-FL (6-2)

21. California (6-2)

22. Oklahoma State (6-2)

23. Rutgers (6-2)

24. Arizona (5-2)

25. Boston College (6-3)



Click For Block Nation Frontpage

First BCS Standings—Yesterday Was Kind of a Bad Day to Lose Buckeyes...

By HD Handshoe
Founder—BlockONation


In 2009's first BCS Rankings, Ohio State, formerly ranked No. 7 in the Coaches Poll, comes in barely still in the top 20, but that's what happens when you make a Big Ten, 1-5, inferior opponent look better than USC did against you.





Click For Block Nation Frontpage

Ohio State or Cincinnati: Who's The Best College Football Team In Ohio?

Posted by HD Handshoe
Founder—BlockONation



When you think of college football in the state of Ohio in the past, you very rarely think of the University of Cincinnati. UC is known as more of a basketball school, until recently.

You usually think of Ohio State when you think of college football in Ohio—Seven National Championships, seven Heisman Trophies, and Ohio State is thr No. 5 most successful program in college football history.

You wouldn't put these programs in the same sentence because Ohio State has been on a whole different level to UC, but head coach Brian Kelly has had something to say about that, as he continued to foster the mentality that Mark Dantonio left.

In Coach Kelly's first year at UC he won 10 games, beating big teams like Oregon State, Rutgers, and Syracuse. He followed that up with 11-3 season and making it to a BCS Bowl in 2008.

Now already the Bearcats are undefeated and have a pretty decent shot at being undefeated and making it to another BCS Bowl—Maybe even the National Championship game.

Ohio State has had big games already this season, barely losing to USC, and they have a very young and talented team that can heat up at any point this season. They are not out of the title race yet this season, and I can definitely see them making it to a BCS Bowl game.

Since these two teams don't play each other, the question is which one is the better team. Ohio State is ranked ninth in the country, but UC are right behind them and climbing.

I think that right now UC has a more offensive-minded coach in Brian Kelly. Jim Tressel is an amazing coach and he wins a lot of games, but what Kelly does with the amount of talent he has is pretty amazing.

He took Tony Pike, a player who was sitting the bench (4th string to start 2008) and expected to sit the bench his whole career, and turned him into one of the best quarterbacks in the nation.

He doesn't get all the five-star recruits or the most top-100 players in the nation, but the players he does have play for him as if they are five-star caliber.

When you look at the quarterback position, I think Terrelle Pryor is a better athlete, but Tony Pike is a more complete pocket-passing quarterback at this point.

I think that if the Bearcats win all their games, and Pike continues to put up the stats he has through four games, he will likely deserve an invite to the Heisman Trophy presentation come December.

At the wide receiver position, the Bearcats Marshawn Gilyard is a sure-fire playmaker. Ohio State has some young, but talented receivers, but none are individually as accomplished as Gilyard so far this season. He's been compared to former Buckeye Santonio Holmes, which is a fair comparison because he can, and has, single-handedly changed, and won games for the Bearcats.

There is no doubt that Ohio State has the better running game. UC is a spread team that prefers to throw the ball. The way the Buckeyes ran the ball against Illinois was a great testament to how much talent is in the backfield for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes only threw the ball two times in the first half, and were up at the half 13-0 because of the running of Terrelle Pryor, Brandon Saine and Dan Herron.

Defensively the Bearcats have had a lot of great things going on, but Ohio State has one of the best defenses in the nation, specifically their front four, and they showed that against USC.

Besides the last drive, the Buckeyes were solid against an always talented USC team. They contained "the stable" of running backs and forced freshman quarterback Matt Barkley to beat them. Unfortunately, the "D" was tired and USC scored the game-winning touchdown with just over a minute remaining in the game.

Barkley did take a beating and as a result was unable to play against Washington the following week, which could have been the reason for the upset loss USC suffered to the Huskies.

They held a potentially high-powered Illinois offense to less than 100 yards rushing and Juice Williams didn't reach the 100 yard marker passing either.

Regardless of the win/loss records at the end of the season, I can't ignore the level of competition each of the teams have and will face this season.

Cincinnati is a good team, but without a head-to-head matchup, on paper Ohio State gets the nod.

Unfortunately, the Buckeyes and Bearcats do have a home-and-home series scheduled, but not until 2012, and by then both teams could, and most likely will be vastly different than they are now.


CLICK HERE for more from
BlockONation ::: Buckeye Football Lives Here


Original Article by Kyle Strittholt—B/R Featured OSU Columnist & BlockONation Contributor