Midseason Power Rankings Part One, Rankings 51-72

Oh 2012, you’ve flown by so fast. It seems like just yesterday when we were watching the FAUK bowl or enjoying Danny Pyle run for more than 2,000 yards. But that was last season, not this season, and now it’s time to turn our attention to the midseason power rankings sponsored by the lack of sleep foundation.

In this article we take a look at the less than impressive teams in the 2012/13 season, and provide a midseason grade because we decided to spice up the article!

Anyways, I’m like an old man going on about his stories that never seem to have an ending...Ah yes, the list. Enjoy!

College Bowl Season Week 3 Review: Part 2

BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL: Rice 33 - Air Force 14

Rice completely dominated the game and accumulated over 500 yards of offence to put the Falcons to the sword. The telling stat of the day was the a Air Force team that prides itself on running the ball only had 22 minutes worth of possession.

Player of the Game: Driphus Jackson. A very nice day for Jackson who was pressed into action after McHargue went down, he had 264 yards passing and 2 TDs.

Players to Watch: Well, McHargue went down with an injury, but did have one TD pass, whilst Getz’s only had 7 carries and 35 yards. I think I jinxed them!

Pick: Wrong – 16 points lost. Another unsuccessful pick, does anyone else want to be the ‘expert’?

NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL: Syracuse 38 - West Virginia 14

Whatever happened to the Mountaineers I will not know, but they got owned by the men in Orange and Prince-Tyson Gulley’s performance on the ground and looked nothing like the team that was meant to be an offensive dynamo.

Player of the Game: Tyson-Gulley. Accounted for 3 total TDs and had 208 yards on the ground.

Players to Watch: Geno Smith was very average but not poor, whilst Nassib also had a underwhelming performance under center. However, the weather conditions in New York were never going to lend themselves towards stellar QB play.

Pick: Wrong – 22 points lost. I guess I can look at the fact that I expect the game to be dominated by passing, which West Virginia would take 9 times out of 10. As it was, it was all about the run game and a great performance by Tyson Gulley.

KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL: Arizona State 62 - Navy 28

The blowout that most expected as the Sun Devils totaled up 648 offensive yards and made quick work of the Midshipmen.

Player of the Game: Taylor Kelly. Four touchdowns and 268 yards with his arm along with another 81 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Players to Watch: Reynolds had a shoddy day but did register a score whilst Magee had 9 tackles and a tackle for a loss.

Pick: Correct – 15 points won. I wonder why I didn’t put more points on this one, but in the end it’s points in the bag and adds to my total.

VALERO ALAMO BOWL:  #23 Texas 31 - #13 Oregon State 27

A fantastic game to watch as the Longhorns kept battling back from behind to win it late in the fourth quarter. Oregon State will be gutted to miss out on a 10 win season for the program but in the end the Longhorns made the plays when it mattered.

Player of the Game: David Ash. Having had a rough season, he accounted for three scores with his two TD passes coming in the fourth quarter.

Players to Watch: Gray didn’t get much of a look in for the Texas offence but did manage to catch the first of Ash’s touchdown passes whilst Mannion didn’t even play because Vaz got the start and had 2 picks. Maybe the Beavers should have listened to me.

Pick: Wrong – 26 points lost. I had a lot on this one and lost out big time.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS BOWL: Michigan State 17 - TCU 16

The Spartans and Horned Frogs didn’t disappoint me in what I predicted to be a close game by having the contest come down to Birmingham’s own Dan Conroy slot a 47 yard field goal to put Michigan State up by one (note, I know it’s not that Dan Conroy). In what is a rare sight for college football, it’s fun to see a primarily defensive battle turn out to be such a good game.

Player of the Game: Le’Veon Bell. It may have taken him a while to get going but in the end he reached 145 yards and had the touchdown that pulled the Spartans level in the 4^th.

Players to Watch: Boykin had one turnover on the night but didn’t do much to harm his team chances whilst Bell was the player I expected him to be by having a player of the game performance.

Pick: Wrong – 23 points lost. Once again I lost out by a very small margin but it’s still 23 points down the drain.

Bowl Season: 1st January

Mississippi State vs #20 Northwestern
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl – 17:00 on ESPN

The Bulldogs were one of the trending teams in the SEC early on before getting beaten down by the conferences big boys whilst the Wildcats have been a nice surprise in the BIG 10 and have finished a respectable 9-3. Can the Wildcats 15^th ranked rushing attack break the SEC front?

Players to Watch

Mississippi: Johnthan Banks, CB #13. As most corners do he talks the talk, but this guy has the elite talent to back up his big talk. He is excellent in run support so look for him to be flying to the ball tonight.

Northwestern: Venric Mark, RB #5. Dangerous in both the running and return game as he has taken two punts back from punts, he will need to have his A game against an SEC defence.

Pick: Northwestern

Confidence: 9

Purdue vs Oklahom State
Heart of Dallas Bowl – 17:00 on ESPN

One of the nations leading offences in Oklahoma State will take on a Boilermaker team that at one point lost five in a row. The BIG 10 team will have plenty to prove but is likely outmatched by an explosive Cowboys team, but I have been very wrong about these things before.

Players to Watch

Purdue: Robert Marve, QB #9. If Purdue are to have a chance, Marve needs a big game. The senior has been wobbly at times but has never been the reason for a loss, but will likely be playing from behind a lot so could face a lot of pressure.

Oklahoma State: Joseph Randle, RB #1. A big threat with the ball in hand whether it be from a handoff or a pass, his best game came against Texas with 199 yards on the ground.

Pick: Oklahoma State

Confidence: 32

#7 Georgia vs #16 Nebraska
Capital One Bowl – 18:00 on  ABC

After a very disappointing loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship game the Bulldogs will look to take down a Cornhusker team that got embarrassed at the hands of Wisconsin in the BIG 10 Championship game. The Nebraska coaches will be glad they don’t have to gameplan around suspended Georgia DT John Jenkins but are still unlikely to have had much sleep thinking about the ferocious Bulldawg defence.

Players to Watch

Georgia: Aaron Murray, QB #11. Murray is the man that makes it all happen for Georgia, over 3000 yards and 30 TDs on the year, Murray will desperately want a big bowl win after how the ‘Bama game ended.

Nebraska: Eric Martin, LB #46. The man that will need to get to Murray has 8.5 sacks on the year and 2 forced fumbles.

Pick: Georgia

Confidence: 35

#10 South Carolina vs  #18 Michigan
Outback Bowl – 18:00 on ESPN

These two teams have a lot to prove in what is for them, a bowl game that may seem a little below where they wanted to end up this season. The best matchup of the day is going to be between Jadeveon Clowney and the Gamecocks D-Line against the QB/WR/RB tandem of Denard Robinson and Devin Gardner. In my opinion Clowney is unblockable, even by big time NFL talent Taylor Lewan, whilst Shoelace is the most elusive QB in the college game, but Gardner has brought a new dimension to the Wolverine offence so it should be interesting to watch how both QBs are rotated.

Players to Watch

South Carolina: With Clowney already highlighted and Lattimore not playing, two key figures to watch are the RB combo of Mike Davis and Kenny Miles who need to pick up some serious slack in the Gamecock running game.

Michigan: Devin Gardner, QB #12. Since replacing Robinson as the teams primary QB, Gardner has impressed, but having never played an SEC defence and struggling against Ohio State, his performance tonight is pivotal.

Pick: South Carolina

Confidence: 28

Wisconsin vs #6 Stanford
Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio – 22:00 on ESPN

Wisconsin are the first every 5 loss team to appear in the Rose Bowl and do so facing off against a near mirror image of themselves on offence. Both teams are known for their power running game and the running back matchup of Montee Ball against Stepfan Taylor is going to be a great one. Given what I just said, we know that both defences will be keying on the run game so this one is most likely to be decided by which QB makes the big play at the right time.

Players to Watch

Stanford: Kevin Hogan, QB #8. Big, strong athletic freshman who hasn’t yet lost a game as a starter, the offence seems to really click when he’s in there and I’ve seen him have the ability to make the big play.

Wisconsin: Curt Philips, QB #10. Hasn’t played in a lot of games during his career and did practically nothing in the BIG 10 Championship game, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts if he does start under center.

Pick: Stanford

Confidence: 31

#15 Northern Illinois vs  #12 Florida State
Discover Orange Bowl – 01:30 on ESPN

Probably the most controversial team selection in a BCS bowl game for quite some time, as the upstart Huskies take on the proverbial Goliath in a Florida State team that might come in a little overconfident. If the Seminoles bring their A-game then I don’t think this is much of a contest I’m afraid, but the beauty of the BCS is that you never know what you might get when a non-AQ conference battles a perennial powerhouse.

Players to Watch

Northern Illinois: Jordan Lynch, QB #6. The man that got the Huskies where they are today. If you’ve watched him you know that he is very Tebow-like (talking college days here) in his play and has the ability to make the play when it matters most.

Florida State: Bjoern Werner, DE #95. The man from Berlin has been so dominant a pass rusher this year, that the ‘Noles have barely noticed the absence of Brandon Jenkins. Look for him to be harassing Lynch all day.

Pick: Florida State

Confidence: 34

Bowl Season: 31st December

North Carolina State vs Vanderbilt
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl – 17:00 on ESPN

The Wolfpack were hoping to have had a better season so far, but a win against an SEC opponent would be a perfect way end to the year for them as well as for the beleaguered ACC. Mike Glennon will be looking for a big game against a good Commodore defence whilst Vandy will want to cap off a very good season in the SEC with a bowl win to have them finish 9-4.

Players to Watch

North Carolina State: Mike Glennon, QB #8. He should be a fairly high pick in the NFL draft, but will want to show some consistency in a high pressure bowl game.

Vanderbilt: Jordan Matthews, WR #87. The junior has been the most consistent receiving threat on offence and will look to have a big game against a State secondary that’s been gashed a few times this season.

Pick: Vanderbilt

Confidence: 21

USC vs Georgia Tech
Hyundai Sun Bowl – 19:00 on CBS

Now that Matt Barkly is out, this matchup looks a little more of a even affair. The Yellow Jackets have been fairly poor this year but still rank fourth in the nation in rushing yardage. The key here will be for USC to try and get on top early and force Georgia Tech to try and pass it more.

Players to Watch

USC: Marquise Lee, WR #9. You have to have heard of this kid, very dangerous with the ball in hand and a great route runner. Wittek will be looking for him all day whilst Georgia Tech will push their coverage to his side so it should be a fun chess match.

Georgia Tech: Tevin Washington, QB #13. In the triple option it’s all about the decision making of the QB and Washington has shown he can be one of the best in the past despite struggling a little this year.

Pick: USC

Confidence: 13

Iowa State vs Tulsa
AutoZone Liberty Bowl – 20:30 on ESPN

The question here is, do you go with the Big 12 team that opened up by beating the Golden Hurricanes before having a patchy record, or do you go with the C-USA side that picked itself up again and went a very good 10-3. For me it comes down to the turnovers again, if the Golden Hurricanes play a clean game then I reckon they will take it but Iowa State will hope that their cyclone has more force than a golden hurricane and will once again force a few turnovers.

Players to Watch

Iowa State: A.J Klein, LB #47. The linebacker can go over 100 tackles on the season with two more tonight, he also had a 87 yard pick six early in the year showing he has some good athletic ability.

Tulsa: I would like to highlight one player but with Tulsa it’s all about the running backs; Trey Watts, Ja’Terian Douglas and Alex Singleton, they’re all capable of having a big day it just depends on which one is the hot hand.

Pick: Tulsa

Confidence: 7

#8 LSU vs #14 Clemson
Chich-fil-A Bowl – 00:30 on ESPN

Probably the biggest game of the bowl season so far, it’s strength against strength as the Tigers defence look to solve the Clemson spread. I am really torn on who to take here, but I think the smarts of Les Miles and the steady improvement of the LSU offence will be enough in conjunction with one of the games best defences to pull out the W.

Players to Watch

LSU: Sam Montgomery, DE #99. One of the most disruptive forces in the SEC, complemented perfectly by Barkevious Mingo #49, one of them is bound to have a big game.

Clemson: Tajh Boyd, QB #10. The Clemson offence has so many weapons, but the trigger man is Boyd, he’s going to have to keep the turnovers down and be near perfect to have a chance against the vaunted LSU defence.

Pick: LSU

Confidence: 1

College Bowl Season Week 3 Review: Part 1

In a week when there was plenty of bowl upsets, my Bowl Mania Pick’em seemed to go particularly bad, but despite that there was some very exciting games to watch, let’s get to reviewing them.

SHERATON HAWAII BOWL: Southern Methodist 43 - Fresno State 10

In what turned out to be a very one sided game, the Mustangs of SMU completely shut down the Fresno State run game and managed enough offence to put the game to bed by the end of the half.

Player of the Game: Margus Hunt, in what was a truly dominant performance from the Estonian, he had a safety and two forced fumbles and looked ready for Sundays.

Players to Watch: Despite having over 350 yards passing, Carr somewhat reminded me of his brother’s play behind an O-line that was overmatched. Line on the other hand was outshone by his QB on the ground, but still managed a touchdown and some solid yardage.

Pick: Wrong – 24 points lost on a game that seemed stacked in favour of Fresno State but ended up being a blow out the other way.

LITTLE CAESARS BOWL: Central Michigan 24 - Western Kentucky 21

This was a close one that really came down to the decision of the Hilltoppers interim head coach Lance Guidry trying to win the game on a fourth and 2 instead of tying the game.

Player of the Game: Ryan Radcliff finished his Chippewa career by being almost perfect and throwing three touchdowns, a really assured performance by the senior.

Players to Watch: Andrews had a solid game in for his team recording 119 yards on the ground and despite not finding the endzone his performance really drove his offence forwards. Cherocci didn’t seem to impact the game in the way I expect and only had 8 tackles.

Pick: Wrong - 20 points lost. This was always a touch one to call, and it nearly went my way.

MILITARY BOWL - PRESENTED BY NORTHROP GRUMMAN: No. 24 San Jose State 29 - Bowling Green 20

The Spartans totally eschewed the run game and played just enough defence at the right time to take this game over a Falcons team that did themselves proud.

Player of the Game: David Fales. A very efficient performance from the young QB who only threw ten incompletions and averaged 9.2 yards a completion to go along with his two touchdowns.

Players to Watch: Travis Johnson had the key turnover in the fourth quarter that led to the Spartans game ending score whilst Jones had a very disappointing game and very little impact.

Pick: Correct – 12 points won. A decent total for another game that could have gone either way in the end.

BELK BOWL: Cincinnati 48 - Duke 34

After a very quick start, the Blue Devils succumbed to a late Cincinnati surge to allow the Big East its first win of the bowl season. Both teams really opened up the playbook and very little defence was played, just what the college postseason ordered!

Player of the Game: Brendon Kay. When the Bearcats were under pressure he was the man that came up with the big plays when it mattered. Having four touchdowns was impressive but it was his ability to scramble whilst under pressure that allowed the Bearcats to mount the comeback.

Players to Watch: Blair turned in a very nice performance with 15 tackles, 1 TFL and a forced fumble to really help out the Bearcat defence whilst Crowder was outshone by Conner Vernon who is a interesting guy to watch coming upto the NFL draft.

Pick: Correct – 10 points won. If you’d have asked me how confident I was after the Bearcats got run over in the first quarter then I would have said not very, but Cincy showed some real heart to battle back and earn me 10 vital points.

BRIDGEPOINT EDUCATION HOLIDAY BOWL: Baylor 49 - #17 UCLA 26

Like I predicted, plenty of offence was played and after Baylor got up early, there was no catching them. UCLA just couldn’t keep pace after going down 21-0 early on, and the Bears kept them at arms length the rest of the way but playing some semi-decent defence.

Player of the Game: Glasco Martin. Two yards shy of the ton and had 3 TDs including a 26 yarder to keep the Baylor offence rolling.

Players to Watch: Neither player I chose had the impact I expected. Florence threw the ball a total of 13 times and managed 2 TDs and no turnovers, but Franklin had only 34 yards off of 14 carries as the UCLA offence turned to their passing game to try and keep them in touch.

Pick: Wrong – 17 points lost. I was always skeptical about picking UCLA, but I thought Jim Mora Jr’s NFL experience would have the Bruins game planned better. In the end the Baylor offence just had too many tricks up their sleeve.

AdvoCare V100 INDEPENDENCE BOWL: Ohio 45 - Louisiana-Monroe 14

Once again, the madness of bowl play showed up most of the Bowl Mania Pick’em League when the Warhawks didn’t play up to expectations and were dominated by the Ohio Bobcats. Offensively the Warhawaks were a shadow of their in-season selves whilst the Bobcats exploded for 556 yards and 6 TDs.

Player of the Game: Beau Blankenship. The case can be made for Tettleton to be here, but Blankenship put up over 100 yards on the ground and put the ball in the endzone 4 times with his power running.

Players to Watch: Blankenship had a great game but Browning was dominated by the Ohio defence and had 3 interceptions.

Pick: Wrong – 8 points lost. The Warhawks didn’t play anywhere near their potential and gave in after a while as Ohio ran out deserved winners.

RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL: Virginia Tech 13 - Rutgers 10 (OT)

Not a good advert for college football as both offences played atrociously in the poor weather conditions and were thoroughly dominated by the opposing defences. Rutgers QB Gary Nova had a fourth quarter to forget which allowed the Hokies back into the game when they hadn’t threatened the Scarlet Knights all night.

Player of the Game: If I’m honest I don’t think there was anyone that deserved this award. But I’ll go with the ESPN pick and say it was VT’s punter A.J. Hughes who put 5 punts within the 20 and had three that went of 50 yards.

Players to Watch: Greene didn’t let me down at all; he had 11 tackles with 4 for a loss and Rutgers’ only touchdown of the night. Thomas played to his season form on the night to fit my description perfectly, he stunk the place out for the majority of the night before find some rhythm in the fourth and pulling of an absolutely perfect throw for the Hokies touchdown.

Pick: Correct – 19 points won. Most people picked against VT and looked justified in doing so, but the Hokie defence, as so often in the past, came up big to propel Tech past Rutgers in OT.

MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL OF TEXAS: Texas Tech 34 - Minnesota 31

This one ended up a lot closer than everyone expected. The Golden Gophers came out and gave the Tubberville-less Raiders everything the could handle.

Player of the Game: Darrin Moore. Since I didn’t get to see this game I once again bow to the pick of ESPN. Eleven catches for 84 yards, well done sir.

Players to Watch: Kirkwood rattled off 77 yards and a touchdown whlst Doege had a fairly poor night having 2 picks and only one touchdown.

Pick: Correct – 33 points won. I expected an easy win for Tech, but I got the points in the end, that’s all that matters.