BOWL PREDICTIONS

Following are my Bowl predictions.     I had a 81% accuracy rate through the regular season.   Bowls are a bit more tricky though.

• Orange -       Clemson over W. Va.         
• Gator-           Florida over  Ohio  St.
• Outback -          UGA over Mich. St.
• Sun  -                 Tech  over   Utah
• BCS  champ. -   Bama  over   LSU
• Chik fil A   -     Virginia over Auburn
• Capital One  -  Nebraska over S. Carolina
• Rose     -         Wisconsin  over Oregon
• Fiesta      -       Oklahoma St. over Stanford
• Sugar -            Michigan over Va. Tech

UGA vs LSU thoughts

First, let's be clear. I am no fan of UGA but am always unbiased in this forum and when predicting sports events. That said. Here goes. Allthough on any given gameday, most any SEC team can beat another, I firmly believe that LSU will win for a few reasons.

• they are both 6-0 against teams both played but LSU outscored those teams 230-44 and UGA outscored trhem by 159-72. significant difference.
• LSU played 6 ranked teams and was 6-0 outscoring these ranked teams 201-81. UGA played 4 ranked teams including the much maligned Ga. Tech and outscored these teams 139-104 going 2-2. significant difference.
• injuries & depth. LSU appears to have an advantage here as well.

How does UGA win you ask? They must protect Murray, They must rush for significantly more than the 86 yards they managed against a weak GT defense., kicking game must be on, win the turnovers ratio.
however it turns out, I expect an exciting game. Are you ready for some football? sorry Hank

UGA vs GT

I   started pulling for Tech over UGA as  aYoung  teenager for one main reason.  Everyone else was pulling for the Bulldogs and seemed as if it was strongly one-sided.  it was amplified by how "ugly" many UGA fans were towards the Jackets.  It was , as if, it were  a personal  HATRED for the Atlanta school and not just a competitor..   As  someone who always identified with the underdog, I was drawn towards Tech.  I have always enjoyed good   college football so  obviously I followed  SEC football which required keeping up with UGA.    This said.   My heart pulls for the Jackets.   My objective opinion says it is a toss-up.  GT has the superior offense and home field advantage.  Defense & Special Teams advantage belong to UGA.    The highewr the combined scoring, the better for Tech.  UGA cannot win a shooting match.  As usual, it's anyone's guess who will win but my loyalty remains with Paul Johnson's boys and his unorthodox offense.     GO    JACKETS!!!

VETERANS DAY SALUTE

In honor of Veterans day  on  11/11, I'd like to remind folks of the star athletes that interrupted their Sports career in order to serve in the  U.S. Military.565  MLB players 95% served in  WWII   29 were future hall of famers., 5   HOFers served in Korea. ,    638    NFL players did the same.  Following are just some of the well known names,   Joe Dimaggio, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Yogi Berra, Warren Spahn, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial. boxer Joe Louis. and many others.  I salute these great athletes and American Heroes for  putting country over self.  I wonder if today's stars would even consider doing it.    I just don't see  Pujos, Fielder, Lebron, Kobe, Matt Ryan doing this.  It's a different culture in the U.S. now and that's a shame.

THIS n THAT

   I've been busy with this little thing called a wedding the past few weeks and unable to post any sports related blogs so I will just mention a few odds and ends here.

• Braves had the worst ending ever in my 45 years of following them.  Their needs to be genuinely competitive next season  is a short list and I fully expect Frank Wren to make that happen.
• Falcons are off to a shaky start due primarily to abandoned their "bread &butter" and that's the run it down their throat style of offense.  They must return to that with an occasional vertical play downfield to  JJ.
• GT is way ahead where anyone thought they would be at this time and yet look to be just on the edge of a disastrous season unless they stop the "arm tackling" and improve their coverage on defense.  As  for    UGA.  They have won 5 in a row against the cellar teams of the SEC.    They, like Tech,  could end up with a good season or a disastrous one. yet.  They will need to stop the mistakes if they are to  have any chance.
•  NBA  -    who cares?    The   NBA lost me pretty much after the era of Magic, Bird,  MJ ended.  It just doesn't resemble basketball anymore.

Stay tuned later this week for my college FB picks and see if I can continue the unheard of  correct picking pct. of over 80% !

COLLEGE FB PICKS 9/29

  had another great week of picks last week, going 8-1 for a 31-6 record season to date.  This week is the toughest one to pick so far.   Below are the picks.

•  BAMA over  FLORIDA
• GTECH over NCST
• msST over UGA
• LSU over KY.
• S.CAR. over AUBURN
• BAYLOR over KANST.
• VA.TECH over CLEMSON
• OKL. over  BALLST.
• WISC.  over NEB.
• STANFORD over UCLA

  Ok, think you can do better?  i doubt it!  There are 4-5 here that could go either way.  it's a great weekend for some football.

G TECH report card 9/24

  Following is my report card of the Jackets win over N. Carolina yesterday.

•  OFFENSE     - B
• DEFENSE     - C
• special Teams - B
• PERFORMANCE   - B
•  RESULTS       - A

  The offense looks  very potent as usual.     They need to do a better job of holding on to the ball though.  As for the defense, I'm not sure they have the right players for the " bend but don't break" schemes that Al Groh  favors.  Overall I think they showed they are capable  of playing with  any ACC school.

UGA report card 9/24

Following is my report card for  UGA's win over Ole Miss.

• OFFENSE     - B
• DEFENSE    - B
• SP TEAMS  - C
•  overall Perf -  B
• RESULTS   - A  (a win is always an A)

Georgia  played a good offensive balanced game with few mistakes.  The Defense was a little above average.   a win is a win is a win and those in Athens will take those no matter the look.   Richt's job appears to be safe at least a couple more weeks now.

college football 9/22

It looks like the juggling of conferences are done for now but I bet there will be much more over the next year.   I had a great week in my picks last week, again!  I went 8-2 giving me a 23-5 record year to date.  following are this week's picks.

• BAMA over ARK.
• TECH over  N.CAR.
• FLA. over KY.
• LSU over W. VA.
• OKL. over MISSOURI
• NEB. over WY.
• FSU over CLEMSON
• ND over PITT.
• WISC. over S. DAK.

Think you can do better?

COLLEGE FB PICKS 9/15

Some interesting games this week.  I'm 15-3    YTD,   how're YOU doing?    here's the picks.

• LSU over  MS. ST.
• UGA over  COASTAL CAROLINA
• G. TECH over KANSAS
• MARYLAND over  W. VA.
• MICHIGAN over E. MICH.
• FLORIDA over TENN.
• OHIO ST. over MIAMI
• CLEMSON over AUBURN
• FSU over OKLAHOMA
• BAMA over N. TEX. ST.

good luck &  Good viewing!

UGA report card 9/10

•  OFFENSE-              A
• DEFENSE-               F
• SPECIAL TEAMS- C
• PERFORMANCE-  C
• RESULTS -             F  (all losses are an F

UGA improved overall from last week's loss to Boise St.  The  running game helped to open up things.   The defense STINKS!   The effort is okay but when you give up 45 points (80 in 2 weeks), you stink!.  I think the dawgs will struggle all season with some bright spots and end up with a 6-6 regular season.

COLLEFOOTBALL PIX N MO

  It appears the big news in college football is Texas A&M moving to the  SEC and rumors of other teams shifting conferences.  Money, of course, is the motivation. he wider the net cast by a conference, the bigger the  TV audience which equates to more bucks.   That said,   I finished 8-1 last week in my predictions.  How did you do ?    following are this week's picks.

• S. CAROLINA over  UGA
• BAMA over  PENN ST.
• TECH over  M TENN. ST.
• MISS. ST. over  AUBURN
• N. DAME over MICH.
•  FLORIDA over  UAB
• TEXAS over  BYU
• V. TECH over E. CAROLINA
• FSU over CHARLESTON

UGA reportcard

UGA  grades  look like this;

• OFFENSE -  C
• DEFENSE- F
• SPECIAL TEAMS - C
• PERFORMANCE - D
• RESULT - F

the dawgs looked like a middle school team playing a good high school team.  They were out coached and out executed throughout the game.  The only positive I saw was on a couple passes by Aaron Murray..  If they don't improve a  LOT and quickly, last year's losing season will look  like  the good old days.

TECH reportcard 9/1

•      OFFENSE -   A
•     DEFENSE -  C
• SPECIAL TEAMS - F
• PERFORMANCE - C+
• RESULTS - A
• SUMMARY -   The offense showed more versatility than at any time under coach Johnson   with over 300 yards passing to go along with that  hard to stop option rushing attack.  If they can maintain some level of a balanced attack, the Jackets will be competitive in every game.  The defense showed a lot of speed, but needs to work on execution.  It will be overwhelmed against a high octane offense.  The special teams were nothing special. Again execution.  All in all, it was a win, allbeit against a horrible team.   They give hope to Tech fans from what I see.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW

This first Sports blog will  be a view of the upcoming College Football season.  As stated in the introductory sports blog.  There will be a little mustard on it, meaning it will be hard&fast and opinionated. As usual, the SEC will dominate and win the National Championship for the       time in a row. It appears to me that the SEC title will come down to a Alabama and  South Carolina with the Tide taking it all.  Predictions for this opening weekend include UGA over BOISE ST.,AUB over UTAH ST., BAMAover KENT ST,LSUover OREG.,UT over  N.TX,GTECH over W.CAROLINA, CLEMSONover TROY, MIAMI over  MD.   FSU over  ULM.    make your picks and let's see how you match up against me,  not good I bet!

REAL SPORTS TALK

This blog will be about Sports.... It will include    thoughts and facts about current sports news and sports in general.  The title of this blog tells you the tone you'll find.  Those that have played organized baseball know that "putting a little mustard on it" means to throw the ball  faster than usual.  So, what you'll find on this blog will be fast & hard opinions on Sports.  You may agree  from time to time but will likely disagree at times too. It will be similar to the Sports Editorial column I wrote for the Douglas County Sentinel back in the early 80s for Mike "Red" Harper. only with an edge.  I will do a weekly prediction of Football games and challenge you to do better.  Comments are encouraged!