Heisman Watch Week 5

The Heisman Memorial Trophy is one of the most prestigious awards in all of organized sport. After five weeks of games, these are the five players that have stood above the rest as candidates to win the Heisman Trophy.






Tim Tebow (Sr.) Quarterback - Florida
Next Game at (4)LSU  
The legend of Tim Tebow will grow even larger if he can return from the first concussion of his career and lead the Gators to a victory over LSU tomorrow night. I hate to admit it, but Tim Tebow may be the best player to ever put on a college football uniform. I can't see him losing this award unless he is sidelined by injury.


Golden Tate (Jr.) Wide Receiver - Notre Dame
Next Game vs (7)USC *10/17
Being Jimmy Clausen has to be great. Clausen has etched his name into the Heisman conversation over the first five weeks of the season based on a simple game plan of throwing deep and waiting for Golden Tate to catch it. While some prognosticators may be fooled, I am not. The real Heisman candidate in the Notre Dame locker room wears #23....not number #7. Tate has made every difficult catch all year, and has been a threat to score every time he touches the ball.


Colt McCoy (Sr.) Quarterback - Texas
Next Game vs Colorado 
 At this point in the year, McCoy is coasting on his talent and the fresh thoughts of his amazing 2008 season. He sits in 3rd place right now, strictly off the basis that he has not yet played anyone notable this season. McCoy can overtake Tebow if the living legend stumbles against LSU and the Horns can get wins over Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Missouri and Texas Tech. 


Case Keenum (Jr.) Quarterback - Houston
Next Game at Mississippi St. 
The only reason why Keenum makes this list is because he threw for an ungodly amount of yardage in that confusing shootout loss to UTEP. The defense let down Keenum big time a week after they came up huge at Oklahoma St. and Texas Tech. Keenum can stay in the race by knocking off Mississippi St. from the SEC this week, continuing to register 400 yard passing games, and most importantly...winning the Conference USA. Another loss would take him out of consideration for good.
 

Tony Pike (Sr.) Quarterback - Cincinnati 
Next Game at (23)USF *10/15 
Tony Pike is a relative unknown and he hasn't done anything relatively noticeable this season...except lead a Bearcat offense that has been machine like through the first five games. The schedule heats up after the bye week when they get USF in Tampa with the Big East lead at stake. If Cincinnati runs the table, we will see Tony Pike in New York for the holidays.


The great thing about the Heisman race is that it changes from week to week. So don't get to comfortable with any of these names...well Tim Tebow will be here no matter what...but dont get attached to the other ones!

The Amateur Status College Basketball Pre-Season All-Americans

You saw the best teams. Now we showcase the best players...these are the All-Americans

First Team All-Americans             
C - Cole Aldrich (Kansas)
F - Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)
F - Kyle Singler (Duke)
G - Greivis Vasquez (Maryland)
G - Kalin Lucas (Michigan St.)

Second Team All-Americans
C - AJ Ogilvy (Vanderbilt)
F - Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)
F - Craig Brackins (Iowa St.)
G - Sherron Collins (Kansas)
G - Scottie Reynolds (Villanova)

Third Team All-Americans
C - Jerome Jordan (Tulsa) 
F - Evan Turner (Ohio St.)
F - Tyler Smith (Tennessee)
G - Manny Harris (Michigan)
G - James Anderson (Oklahoma St.)
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First Team Freshman All Americans
C - DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky)
F -  Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech)
F - John Henson (North Carolina)
G - Xavier Henry (Kansas)
G - John Wall (Kentucky)

Second Team Freshman All-Americans
C - Mason Plumlee (Duke)
F - Renardo Sidney (Mississippi St.)
F - Keith Gallon (Oklahoma)
G - Avery Bradley (Texas)
G - Lance Stephenson (Cincinnati)

Third Team Freshman All-Americans
C - Daniel Orton (Kentucky)
F - Ryan Kelly (Duke)
F - Dante Taylor (Pitt)
G - Abdul Gaddy (Washington)
G - Kenny Boynton Jr. (Florida)

For the record, Wally Judge (K-State) and Dominic Cheek (Nova) were also considered as potential Freshman All-Americans. They will both be stars for their respective schools in their first year. Devan Downey (SC), Jerome Randle (Cal), and Damion James (TX) just missed out on being All-Americans.

Amateur Status College Basketball Pre-Season Top 25

If you came here for college hoops, sorry to keep you waiting. The college basketball season is less than a month away and it will be exciting as always. Here is the Amateur Status Pre-Season Top 25, the first of many posts that will be previewing the upcoming season.

1. Michigan St. Spartans
2. Kansas Jayhawks
3. Villanova Wildcats
4. Kentucky Wildcats
5. Texas Longhorns
6. Purdue Boilermakers
7. Washington Huskies
8. West Virginia Mountaineers
9. Tennessee Volunteers
10. Duke Blue Devils
11. North Carolina Tar Heels
12. Georgetown Hoyas
13. Butler Bulldogs
14. Michigan Wolverines
15. Mississippi St. Bulldogs
16. Ohio St. Buckeyes 
17. Connecticut Huskies
18. Maryland Terrapins
19. California Golden Bears
20. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
21. Boston College Golden Eagles
22. Louisville Cardinals
23. Siena Saints
24. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
25. Memphis Tigers

I'm pretty sure that a lot of people don't have Washington that high, but guards win National Championships and UW has plenty of good ones.

College Football Week 6 Walkthrough

Anybody who ever played football in either high school or college knows that the day before gameday is always the day of the walkthrough, probably the most pointless thing that anyone does as a football player. At some point, someone decided that men who are capable of running at world class speeds should get ready for a football game by walking around in basketball shorts for a hour before going home and forgetting that the past sixty minutes ever happened. This walk through will be a little more helpful.

• I'll begin by noting that Nebraska beat Missouri last night 27-12 with a dominating stretch of football early in the 4th quarter that made Blaine Gabbert look like Chase Daniel's backup instead of his replacement...but on to Saturday's action.
• Depending on your internet service provider, you should be able to catch a very good game out of the SEC right at noon. (17)Auburn travels to Arkansas with hopes of staying unbeaten. You can watch the game at ESPN360.com
• Also available on ESPN360.com is a noon matchup between Boston College and (5)Virginia Tech. The Golden Eagles are quietly 4-1 and have been a thorn in the side of the Hokies in recent regular season meetings. I'm putting the Hokies on upset watch this week.
• After ruining my Wolverines perfect season last week, the Michigan St. Spartans better not lose to Illinois tomorrow. The Big Ten Network (BTN) has the coverage at noon.
• Georgia and Tennessee meet at Rocky Top at 12:21pm for reasons I can't explain. Let's see if Lane Kiffin can talk up a win this week. ESPN360.com has the coverage once again.
• The 12th Man could see the Aggies get a big win tomorrow when (15)Oklahoma St. visits Texas A&M sans suspended All-American Dez Bryant. The Cowboys are also on upset watch.
• (13)Oregon and UCLA meet at the Rose Bowl for ABC's west coast regional coverage at 3:30pm. A Oregon win keeps them on track to return to the Rose Bowl later in the year. A UCLA win would force me to ask the question...HOW THE HECK ARE THEY 4-1?!?!
• (3)Alabama travels to Oxford to take on Jevan Snead and (20)Ole Miss. This will be the biggest test to date for the Tide. A win by the Rebs would put them back on the SEC map that they abruptly disappeared from after losing to South Carolina. CBS has the coverage at 3:30pm.
• The game most of the nation will see on ABC at 3:30pm is (how the heck are they not ranked! They're a 5-0 Big Ten team for crying out loud!) Wisconsin vs (9) Ohio St. at the Horseshoe. I'm picking the Badgers in this game because Terrell Pryor just doesn't impress me as much as he impresses others. Also, did I mention that Wisconsin is unranked at 5-0?
• Sam Bradford will start for (19)Oklahoma when they welcome Baylor for their annual mismatch. My thoughts...Why rush him back for a game you have NO CHANCE of losing? ABC has the regional coverage at 3:30pm
• Uconn and Pitt are also ABC 3:30pm regional coverage. Whoever wins this one at Heinz Field gets to last another week before being exposed.
• If Stanford beats Oregon St. in Corvallis, they will definitely be ranked next week as a 5-1 team with no Pac-10 losses. However, if the Beavers protect their house, they will be right in the thick of a muddled Pac-10 leaderboard. Kickoff is at 7pm.
• (22)Georgia Tech plays Florida St. at the Doak, but only God knows which set of Seminoles will run through the tunnel. GT running back Jonathan Dwyer is probably hoping for the Seminoles that showed up for a near loss to FCS Jacksonville St. ESPN2 has the coverage at 8pm
  
• The Michigan Wolverines will occupy the pink visiting locker room at Kinnick Stadium tomorrow night when they battle the (12)Iowa Hawkeyes in ABC's 8pm primetime offering. I just think that this game has "Tate Forcier 4th quarter comeback" written all over it. Yes, I believe the force is strong in this freshman.
• CBS goes primetime (8pm) for a battle of SEC titans when (1)Florida visits (4)LSU under the lights in Baton Rouge. First off, lets be serious. EVERYONE KNOWS TIM TEBOW IS GOING TO PLAY IN THIS GAME. Stop lying to yourself to add drama to the situation. Clearly this is the Amateur Status game of the week. I think Florida wins it. 

It's a great week of football. Enjoy the games.