Saturday, January 1, 2011

2011 College Football Predictions - Buckeye Roll Over Indiana

2011 College Football Predictions According to SI.com

1. Less huddling, more hurrying. The success of the fast-break offenses at Oregon and Auburn will inspire even more coaches to stop wasting precious seconds on brief meetings to distribute information that can just as easily be delivered to the entire offense almost instantaneously by holding up a poster on the sideline featuring photos of SI.com columnist Stewart Mandel, a jackalope and Dora the Explorer. Take a look at the top-six scoring offenses in 2010, in order: Oregon (no-huddle), Boise State (some no-huddle), Oklahoma State (no-huddle), TCU (huddle), Wisconsin (huddle) and Auburn (no-huddle). Oklahoma, the only program in the nation to crack 1,000 plays in a 12-game regular season, has won two Big 12 titles in three seasons running a hurry-up, no-huddle scheme. The architect of that offense, Kevin Wilson, is the new coach at Indiana. The key isn't the lack of huddling, but the hurrying. Some teams work without a huddle but still milk the clock. Oregon coach Chip Kelly and Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn want the ball snapped as quickly as possible in all but a few situations. Look for more coaches to start pressing the gas pedal on their offenses. Defensive coordinators -- the ones those coaches face and the ones on their own sidelines -- will have to adjust accordingly.
2. The talent pool will be as deep as ever thanks to the NFL's labor issues. The NFL is facing a work stoppage if owners and the players' union can't hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement. That situation could wipe out offseason practices and training camp, while the new CBA might feature a rookie salary scale more similar to the NBA's. With so much uncertainty, players who aren't high first-round locks may opt to stay in school. Imagine how good Oklahoma will be if receiver Ryan Broyles and linebacker Travis Lewis return. What if Nebraska defensive tackle Jared Crick decides he'd rather face Big Ten competition than deal with a shortened rookie season? Forget about handicapping the Heisman Trophy race until after the Jan. 15 deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft. (This does not apply to the Ohio State players suspended for the first five games of next season. They should go pro now.)
3. An SEC team will reach the BCS title game for the sixth consecutive season -- but it might not be the one you think. Alabama could benefit the most if NFL labor strife persuades fence-sitting stars to stay in college. The Crimson Tide could bring back almost everyone from a talented but immature team. LSU would also remain largely intact, though no amount of labor issues should keep cornerback Patrick Peterson from entering the draft. Still, don't forget about South Carolina, which earned a trip to Atlanta in 2010 by being the best team in a weak SEC East. The East will be better next year, but so will the Gamecocks. South Carolina returns all its key skill-position players -- including receiver Alshon Jeffery and tailback Marcus Lattimore -- and most of its secondary.
4. The Big Ten will keep its football division names, and you will learn to live with them. Sure, I helped pile on when the Big Ten announced that it would separate its football programs into the Legends and Leaders divisions. I wondered on Twitter why the conference hadn't gone with something more region specific. Why not call them the Deep Dish and Fried Curds divisions? Others pulled out the surgical steel. Blogger Doug Gillett set the bar impossibly high by suggesting Leaders and Legends narrowly edged Self and Parody. But even though Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has hinted that the league may revisit the names, don't count on it. Like the Big Ten Network, Leaders and Legends will slowly assimilate into the national football consciousness. Ten years from now, we won't even remember the day Delany introduced the names alongside a logo that looks as if it were designed using Microsoft Paint by the most boring fourth-grader Delany could find. The whole affair may embarrass some Big Ten fans, but as long as the names make this T-shirt relevant for years to come, they're OK in my book.
5. USC will be allowed to play in the postseason. The agent issues of the past year at various schools have made USC's punishment in the Reggie Bush case look downright draconian. (North Carolina had an agent runner on staff as its associate head coach, for goodness' sake.) An NCAA committee will hear USC's appeal next month. Unless the Committee on Infractions is prepared to similarly hammer other programs, there is a good chance USC's punishment will be reduced. The Infractions Appeals Committee isn't supposed to consider evidence that wasn't presented in the original case, but the members of that committee are human beings deeply involved in college athletics; they know what's going on. Besides, the Infractions Appeals Committee is well within its rights to deem a penalty excessive. If it does, it could give USC back some lost scholarships, but the most public way to lessen the severity of the punishment is to let USC play in the postseason.
6. A new conference championship game will affect the BCS title game matchup. Let's say Legends champ Nebraska comes into the inaugural Big Ten title game at 12-0 and Leaders champ Ohio State comes in at 11-1 with a loss at Nebraska. Then suppose the Buckeyes beat the Cornhuskers in Indianapolis. That might open the door for one-loss Pac-12 North division champion Oregon to squeeze into the game by beating South champ Arizona. Naturally, a one-loss SEC champ would be a lock for the title game.
7. The Big East will expand again. The Big East already grabbed TCU, but that only makes nine football-playing teams. It takes 12 to stage a football championship game, unless the NCAA grants a waiver to stage one despite having only 10 teams. Villanova's board of trustees will vote in April on whether the Wildcats will jump to the FBS and become the 10th football-playing Big East school. That would be the easiest move for the Big East, because Villanova already is a member of the conference for its other sports. Should Villanova decline the invitation, Central Florida would be thrilled to accept. Or the conference can get even more ambitious -- and geographically incorrect. Remember last year, when it appeared several Big 12 North teams with excellent men's basketball programs would be left without BCS AQ-conference homes during the Realignmentpocalypse? Since the Big 12 didn't completely solve its underlying problems with its contraction, why not go after those programs and strengthen the nation's mightiest basketball league while also adding a football championship game?
8. Florida and Texas will bounce back and compete for BCS bowl berths in 2011. The programs went a combined 93-15 between 2006 and 2009 and a combined 12-12 in the 2010 regular season. Guess which was the fluke? Florida will get a shot of energy from new coach Will Muschamp, and some new blood on the Texas staff will inspire some of those former five-star recruits to play up to their potential. There aren't many universal truths in college football, but virtually limitless funding plus Olympic-sized talent pools nearby equals short dry spells.
9. The 10-team Big 12 is going to be ridiculously top-heavy. We've already predicted Texas will get back to its winning ways. We've also predicted Oklahoma will be excellent. But we're not done. Missouri and Texas A&M also have the potential to win the conference. The Tigers should bring back almost everyone from a 10-2 team; quarterback Blaine Gabbert is one of those guys who could get pushed back to school by the NFL labor issues. Meanwhile, the Aggies can build their offense around a pair of sophomore tackles (Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews) who started as true freshmen in 2010, and coordinator Tim DeRuyter's defense should be fine because even though pass rusher extraordinaire Von Miller is gone, eight starters should return. With the league going to a full round-robin conference schedule, the teams at the top could beat up on one another and keep the Big 12 elite from sniffing the BCS title game.
10. Boise State will open the season by beating Georgia in Atlanta, but won't compete for the national title. The Broncos finally can erase the tired "They got killed when they came to Athens in 2005" argument that every SEC fan trots out when explaining why Boise State would rank somewhere between Vanderbilt and Ole Miss if it played an SEC schedule. Unfortunately for Boise State, the Broncos have to go to Fort Worth to face TCU in the only season the two programs will be Mountain West Conference foes. That game should erase quarterback Kellen Moore's last chance to lead Boise State to the BCS title game.






Buckeyes Roll Over Indiana to Remain Undefeated and get their 1st Big Ten Win

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana wanted to take away Ohio State's inside game.
The Buckeyes didn't care. They were content shooting jump shots Friday night.
William Buford scored 24 points, and No. 2 Ohio State made 13 of 19 3-pointers in an 85-67 victory -- a shooting performance so incredible it even surprised Buford.
"I didn't know we shot that good. That's pretty good," the junior said. "When they were in a zone, we was rotating the ball, and then they couldn't get to the shooters and we was just knocking them down."
Did they ever.
The Buckeyes shot 60.5 percent from the field and 68.4 percent from 3-point range despite missing every shot they took over the final 8:06. They tied the Assembly Hall record for most 3s by a visiting team, matching the 13 Northwestern hit last season. Plus, they accomplished something no other Buckeyes team had -- winning three straight in the Hoosiers' current home arena.
Yes, it was a momentous night for the Buckeyes (14-0, 1-0 Big Ten).
They have won three straight in Bloomington for the first time since 1968-70, before Indiana moved to Assembly Hall. Ohio State has won eight straight road games, its longest such streak since winning nine in a row from 1970-72, and maintained its status as one of the nation's few remaining unbeaten teams.
Impressive.
"That's the way basketball is supposed to be played. They beat you on the pass more than they beat you on anything else," Indiana coach Tom Crean said. "They're such a dominant team, and they're so good at so many positions that you can't let guys do things that they don't normally do and we let Buford get hot early and it killed us."
Crean tried everything to stop the Buckeyes. With no good match up against freshman forward Jared Sullinger, Crean decided to start the game in a zone.
Bad move.
The Buckeyes played a nearly perfect half -- making 15-of-21 from the field, 7-of-10 from 3-point range and 9-of-11 from the free throw line. And Sullinger still managed to get 11 points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes. He finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.
"Jared did not get a lot of ball touches to start the game," Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. "I thought our guys did a great job of remaining patient and getting the ball into the post. We know Jared will throw the ball outside a lot and our guys were hitting from outside."
Indiana (9-6, 0-2) couldn't keep up with the passes or the baskets.
Christian Watford led the Hoosiers with 17 points, scoring 12 in the second half. Freshman Victor Oladipo had 14 points and six rebounds in his second career start, and Jordan Hulls finished with 12 points and three assists.
But against the hot-shooting Buckeyes, the Hoosiers didn't have an answer.
Buford and Jon Diebler knocked down four 3-pointers in the first 6 minutes, and David Lighty made two free throws to give Ohio State an early 22-8 lead. Diebler finished with 15 points, all on 3-pointers.
Things only got worse for Indiana.
Forward Tom Pritchard was called for his fourth foul with 18:01 left in the game, and his replacement, Derek Elston, picked up his fifth foul with 17:17 to go, putting the already short-handed Hoosiers in a real predicament.
Ohio State took advantage, extending a 46-33 halftime lead to 50-35 on Buford's fourth 3 of the game.
Watford's 3 at the shot-clock buzzer with 12:55 left got the Hoosiers within 60-48, but the Buckeyes put it away with a 9-2 run that extended the lead to 69-50.
Even an 8-minute stretch without a basket couldn't derail the Buckeyes this time.
"When Sully's in the game, he's such a factor and they concentrate on him, and we just opened it up," Buford said. "Then he did what he does down low and it just opened up the game for us."

No comments: