NCAAF Bowl Season Week 1 Review

 Saturday, December 15^th

Gildan New Mexico Bowl: Arizona 49 – Nevada 48

Scott's late TD throws won the game for the Wildcats.

As predicted it was a shootout, with Arizona overcoming two three score deficits to seal it in dramatic fashion at the end. The teams combined for 1,234 yards and opened up bowl season in scintillating fashion.

Player of the Game: Both QBs shone, but Nevada gunslinger Cody Fajardo put in a big performance with both his arm as well as his running ability. Despite a late INT that sealed the game for the Wildcats, he deserves recognition for putting his team in the best position to win.

Players to Watch: Both Carey and Jefferson had big games with 5 TDs and 352 yards on the ground between them.

Pick: Correct – 4 confidence points won. My low confidence in this game was warranted as Nevada looked like they would steal the W. However, the Wildcats late comeback sealed a nice four points to start my bowl season.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Utah State 41 – Toledo 15

Wonder who got to peel them after?

The score doesn’t quite reflect how the game went, as with 7 minutes left in the fourth it was still close at 13-9 in the Aggies favor. Then cometh Kerwynn Williams who scored 3 TDs in the space of 3 minutes and 16 seconds, breaking off some huge runs and really putting the game to bed.

Player of the Game: Easy, Mr. Williams gets the nod here, in total he amassed 235 yards off of 18 carries and had 3 TDs. He put in the work on the ground when the Aggies needed it and sealed the game.

Players to Watch: Fluellen flopped for me in the Toledo backfield and only had 7 carries. Keeton, despite not having a passing touchdown, had a efficient day passing and also opened the scoring for the Aggies with a fantastic 62 yard TD run on the option.

Pick: Correct – 11 confidence points won. Despite it not being close at the end, it was a fairly tight game, a decent amount of points won for a game that had the potential to go either way.

Double Coverage Bowl Mania Standings after Week 1

I don’t think some people sorted out their confidence rankings properly (I’m looking at you Jon Goddard), but I lie in fourth with 15 points won this week on two out of two picks. Congrats to sandford010 who is the leader so far with 25 points after backing Utah State, if Nevada had managed to win he would be quite far in the lead as he had another 27 points on the Wolfpack!

Remember, you can still enter the DC Bowl Mania Pick’em league, you won’t have the opportunity to allocate the points that the first two bowls offered, but that’s only 3 points, so you might as well join up and get in the game;

http://games.espn.go.com/college-bowl-mania/en/group?groupID=3378&selGrp=3378&entryID=60705

There's four more games on the Bowl slate next week, be sure to catch them all on ESPN.

4th and Against - Should The BUAFL Season Begin Later On In The Year

Here at the Double Coverage towers, we like to argue... a lot.

One argument that keeps popping up, is the debate as to whether the uni league should begin later in the year to accommodate for the bad weather. 

In the end, we decided to take the argument to a 4th and against debate. In case you haven't seen a 4th and against debate yet, two writers will argue the topic at hand, one for, one against. Each writer will provide reasoning for their argument, and we allow the readers to comment and decide among themselves as to who is correct.

BAFA Uni Football Week Six Power Rankings

One of the most controversial subjects on Double Coverage are our rankings. 

Every week hoards of people let us know how wrong our rankings are; how Brighton shouldn't there because they are rubbish and how BNU are so much better than their standings. 

The comments do get read and got us thinking about how we could make sure that we are providing an accurate picture of who the best teams in the country are right now.

After a lot of discussion, we have put together a panel of a dozen players, coaches and journalists, each of whom casts a weekly vote to form a better overall representation of the "Top 25" - a true Power Ranking.

Notes
- The number in brackets next to the team name is the number of 1^st place votes they gained.

- The star next to the team names means that they are a consensus pick (chosen by all 12 voters).

1- Birmingham Lions (5-0) (8)*

2- Hertfordshire Hurricanes (5-0) (4)*

3- Loughborough (4-0)*
4- Southampton Stags (5-0)*
5- Stirling Clansmen (4-0)*
6- Derby Braves (5-0)*
7- Hull Sharks (4-0)*
8- Sheffield Sabres (4-0)*
9- Bath Killer Bees (4-0)*

10-UWE Bullets (4-1)*
11-UEA Pirates (4-0)*
12-Portsmouth Destoryers (3-0)*
13-Kent Falcons (4-0)*
14-Plymouth Blitz (3-1)*
15-Kingston Cougars (4-1)*
16-NTU Renegades (3-1)*
17-Leeds Carnegie (3-1)*
18-Solent Redhawks (3-2)
19-Brighton Tsunami (3-0)
20-Glasgow Tigers (3-1)
21-UCLan Rams  (2-0)
22-Warwick Wolves (2-1)
23-Bradford Bears (3-2)
24-Hallam Warriors (1-1)
25-Northampton Nemesis (2-2)

Teams that just missed out:  BNU, Leeds and Gloucester

BAFA Uni Week Six Powerless Rankings

After last week’s powerless rankings sparked a lot of debate and comments, we decided to sit back, re-look at the rankings, play a bit of minesweeper due to our short attention spans, then finally decide our final Powerless Rankings of 2012 (it’s been emotional).

*In a voice similar to Bane’s* Let the list, begin...

NFL Power Rankings: Week 15

1.            New England Patriots 10-3 (U3)
If knocking off the previous #1 42-14 doesn’t get you the top spot, I don’t know what will. Congrats to the Pats, who have set themselves up nicely for a post-season run. Their time at the top could be short lived though, with another tough game vs the 49ers coming up Sunday.

2.            Denver Broncos 10-3 (U1)

The Broncos slay the Raiders as expected and climb higher thanks to sub-par performances from our previous top 2. They too have a tough opponent next though, with a trip to Baltimore looming.

3.            Houston Texans 11-2 (D2)

That game was ugly. Whilst it was only their second loss of the season, they have both been extremely lopsided, and both against probable play-off rivals. I still think they are a force to be reckoned with though, and with a much easier home game vs Indy next they should get back to their winning ways.

4.            San Francisco 49ers 9-3-1 (U1)

The Niners handled the Dolphins as expected, assuaging their QB debate for another week. It’s gotten to the stage now where anything less than a SB win will mean Harbaugh made the wrong choice. A difficult position to be in, but having a surplus of capable quarterbacks is something other teams can only dream of.  Next they have the Patriots in what should be a great match-up.

5.            Green Bay Packers 9-4 (U1)

Green Bay win on the frozen tundra vs the Lions, and climb further in our rankings. They definitely seem to be getting hot at just the right time, and this late season rally is remarkably similar to their Superbowl winning year. Next they face the Bears, who they made mincemeat of in their first run in.