Today, I am going to preview the Washington State Cougars. This will be my final Pac-12 Football preview and one of my last posts for the 2015-2016 school year. Anyways, the Cougars will be losing wide receiver Dom Williams and offensive lineman Joe Dahl. They will bring back quarterback Luke Falk, running back Gerard Wicks, and wide receivers River Cracraft and Gabe Marks.
The Cougars open the 2016 season against FCS Eastern Washington, who almost beat Oregon last year. WSU will defeat EWU 63-14. Next up is Boise State, a darkhorse team for the upcoming season's playoff. WSU will pull out with the win, 42-35. Idaho comes into Pullman from across the Washington-Idaho border. The Cougars will smother the Vandals 70-3 with their high-powered offensive attack.
By now, Washington State should be in the top 25. They will take on the Oregon Ducks after a bye week. the Ducks may be in the top 10 before this game. WSU will pull out the upset 35-31 to reach 4-0. After this will be top-ranked Stanford on "The Farm". Stanford will survive in overtime 65-59. After this is a showdown with UCLA at home. The Bruins will pull away with the victory 45-35. Now at 4-2 and unranked again, the Cougars travel to top 25 newcomer Arizona State. WSU will defeat the Sun Devils 52-48 in a high-scoring affair. Back in the polls, Washington State will demolish Oregon State 56-17. The Cougars' passing consistency will push them past Arizona 34-21, Cal 45-35, Colorado 35-20, and rival Washington 38-23.
Cougar fans should be looking forward to this season, where I've got the Cougars going 10-2. WSU will probably be ranked 14th and going to the Alamo Bowl this season. This concludes my previews on the each Pac-12 football team's upcoming football season. I am excited for next season to begin, and furthermore, GOOOOOOOOOOO BRUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Washington Huskies
Today, I will preview the Washington Huskies. The Huskies had one of the youngest football squads in the nation last season, with merely 14 seniors. The Huskies will be losing wide receivers Marvin Hall and Jaydon Mickens, tight end Joshua Perkins (not related to UCLA running back Paul Perkins), and linebacker Travis Feeney. Quarterback Jake Browning , running backs Myles Gaskin and Dwayne Washington (what a coincidence), wide receivers John Ross and Brayden Lenius, defensive back Budda Baker, and defensive lineman Joe Mathis all return for the Huskies.
The Huskies have one of the easier non-conference schedules in the Pac-12. They open the season at home against Rutgers. Washington will win 28-10. Next up is Idaho, another bad team. Washington will win 34-0 with their outstanding defense. After that comes FCS Portland State. This will result in another shutout Huskies victory, 63-0.
Once again, Washington will begin the season at 3-0. However, Arizona will spoil this with a 27-21 victory against the Huskies. UW will hold tough, but fall 52-34. Oregon will cause a three-game losing streak for Washington by beating them 38-27. Now at 3-3, Washington will be hunting for a victory. This will be easy to pick up against Oregon State 41-14. The Huskies will travel to Utah for a showdown in Salt Lake City. Washington will fall short 27-14 and sit at 4-4 before heading off to Berkeley to take on Cal. They will defeat the Bears 27-24 to reach 5-4, one win away from a bowl game. But USC will spoil this chance with a 42-31 victory over Washington. Arizona State will put UW on the line for a bowl game after defeating them 31-24. Finally, Washington State will end the Huskies' postseason hopes with a 38-23 Cougars win.
Sorry, Husky fans, but I've got Washington falling just short of a bowl game. They will go 5-7, and be looking forward to next season. Next week will be my final preview on Pac-12 football, as it will preview the Washington State Cougars. Please stay tuned, Pac-12 fans!
The Huskies have one of the easier non-conference schedules in the Pac-12. They open the season at home against Rutgers. Washington will win 28-10. Next up is Idaho, another bad team. Washington will win 34-0 with their outstanding defense. After that comes FCS Portland State. This will result in another shutout Huskies victory, 63-0.
Once again, Washington will begin the season at 3-0. However, Arizona will spoil this with a 27-21 victory against the Huskies. UW will hold tough, but fall 52-34. Oregon will cause a three-game losing streak for Washington by beating them 38-27. Now at 3-3, Washington will be hunting for a victory. This will be easy to pick up against Oregon State 41-14. The Huskies will travel to Utah for a showdown in Salt Lake City. Washington will fall short 27-14 and sit at 4-4 before heading off to Berkeley to take on Cal. They will defeat the Bears 27-24 to reach 5-4, one win away from a bowl game. But USC will spoil this chance with a 42-31 victory over Washington. Arizona State will put UW on the line for a bowl game after defeating them 31-24. Finally, Washington State will end the Huskies' postseason hopes with a 38-23 Cougars win.
Sorry, Husky fans, but I've got Washington falling just short of a bowl game. They will go 5-7, and be looking forward to next season. Next week will be my final preview on Pac-12 football, as it will preview the Washington State Cougars. Please stay tuned, Pac-12 fans!
Monday, May 16, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Utah Utes
This week, I will preview the Utah Utes. The Utes are probably going to lose the most talent of any team in the Pac-12. They will be losing quarterbacks Travis Wilson and Kendal Thompson, running backs Devontae Booker and Bubba Poole, wide receiver Kenneth Scott, linebackers Jared Norris and Gionni Paul, and punter Tom Hackett (the only "good" Pac-12 Special teams player besides UCLA kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn). The returners include defensive backs Dominique Hatfield and Boobie Hobbs, running back Joe Williams, tight end Harrison Handley, and wide receiver Britain Covey.
Utah's season opener comes against FCS Southern Utah. The Utes will win this match easily, 63-6. Next up as a showdown with Holy War rival BYU. BYU will win this game 38-34, with revenge against the Utes after last season's Las Vegas Bowl (Utah won 35-28). Utah will play against San Jose State after this unfortunate loss. The Utes will beat SJSU 48-21 to advance to 2-1.
The Utes will lose their first conference game to USC, 35-28. They will go below .500 winning percentage for the first time since 2013 after falling to Cal 38-30. The Utes will fall to Arizona 31-21 the following week. Utah will have some reassurance with a 38-17 victory against Oregon State. UCLA will send the Utes to 3-5 by beating Utah 38-28. The Utes will defeat Washington 27-14 and go to 4-5 going into their bye week.
After the bye week, Utah will squeeze by Arizona State 24-21 on a late touchdown. Oregon will get revenge for last season's 62-20 drubbing of the Ducks. Utah will fall to Oregon 47-33. One win away from the postseason, the Utes will put all they've got into a 34-24 victory over Colorado.
This season will be a hectic ride for the Utah Utes. Since they are losing many key players, they will just barely reach bowl eligibility with a 6-6 record. Stay tuned for next week for my preview on the Washington Huskies!
Utah's season opener comes against FCS Southern Utah. The Utes will win this match easily, 63-6. Next up as a showdown with Holy War rival BYU. BYU will win this game 38-34, with revenge against the Utes after last season's Las Vegas Bowl (Utah won 35-28). Utah will play against San Jose State after this unfortunate loss. The Utes will beat SJSU 48-21 to advance to 2-1.
The Utes will lose their first conference game to USC, 35-28. They will go below .500 winning percentage for the first time since 2013 after falling to Cal 38-30. The Utes will fall to Arizona 31-21 the following week. Utah will have some reassurance with a 38-17 victory against Oregon State. UCLA will send the Utes to 3-5 by beating Utah 38-28. The Utes will defeat Washington 27-14 and go to 4-5 going into their bye week.
After the bye week, Utah will squeeze by Arizona State 24-21 on a late touchdown. Oregon will get revenge for last season's 62-20 drubbing of the Ducks. Utah will fall to Oregon 47-33. One win away from the postseason, the Utes will put all they've got into a 34-24 victory over Colorado.
This season will be a hectic ride for the Utah Utes. Since they are losing many key players, they will just barely reach bowl eligibility with a 6-6 record. Stay tuned for next week for my preview on the Washington Huskies!
Monday, May 9, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: USC Trojans
This week, I will preview UCLA's crosstown rival, the USC Trojans. They will lose star quarterback Cody Kessler, running back Tre Madden, center Max Tuerk, fullback Soma Vainuku, defensive ends Greg Townsend Jr. and Claude Pelon, linebackers Su'a Cravens and Anthony Sarao, cornerback Kevon Seymour, and defensive tackle Antwaun Woods. The Trojans will bring back cornerbacks Iman Marshall and Adoree' Jackson, defensive tackle Rasheem Green, linebacker Cameron Smith, safety Chris Hawkins, running backs Ronald Jones and Justin Davis, tight ends Tyler Petite and Taylor McNamara, and wide receivers Darreus Rogers and Juju Smith-Schuster. The Trojans' starting quarterback will be future-junior quarterback Max Browne. Last season, Browne saw action against Arkansas State (3 completions on 5 attempts, 66 yards), Idaho (4-6, 43 yards), and Arizona state (1-1, 4 yds.)
USC has the toughest schedule in the Pac-12, and arguably, the toughest schedule in the country. They also open the season against Alabama, who won last season's national championship and will be this preseason's #1 team. Alabama will probably crush USC, 48-17. This will be the first time USC has lost their season opener since 1997. They will host and survive Utah State 31-28 in their home opener.
Now at 1-1, the Trojans face yet another tough game, this time against the #2 team in the country, Stanford. Stanford will win 44-28. After this, SC will travel to Utah. Utah does have some holes to fill on both sides of the ball, which may propel the Trojans to a 35-28 win. They come back home to take on Arizona State, who will repeat what they did two years ago. The Sun Devils will beat the Trojans on a Hail Mary, 41-38.
By now, USC will be in quite the pickle by their bye week. After that, they will beat Colorado 42-27.The Trojans were in a 3-3 situation last season as well. They will have another shootout against Arizona the following week, but Arizona will win it 44-41 in overtime. They will lose to Cal 31-27, Oregon 52-38, beat Washington 42-31, lose to UCLA 45-35, and finally, fall to Notre Dame 38-14.
Sorry, Trojans. I'm trying to avoid as much bias as possible, but I'm predicting that USC will go 4-8. This will be the first time since 2000 that USC will fail to reach bowl eligibility. This will also be the first time since 2011 that the Trojans will miss a bowl game. In 2011, the Trojans succumbed to the Reggie Bush scandal and underwent NCAA sanctions, which banned them from postseason appearances. They were lifted from this ban in 2012. Next week, I will preview the Utah Utes.
USC has the toughest schedule in the Pac-12, and arguably, the toughest schedule in the country. They also open the season against Alabama, who won last season's national championship and will be this preseason's #1 team. Alabama will probably crush USC, 48-17. This will be the first time USC has lost their season opener since 1997. They will host and survive Utah State 31-28 in their home opener.
Now at 1-1, the Trojans face yet another tough game, this time against the #2 team in the country, Stanford. Stanford will win 44-28. After this, SC will travel to Utah. Utah does have some holes to fill on both sides of the ball, which may propel the Trojans to a 35-28 win. They come back home to take on Arizona State, who will repeat what they did two years ago. The Sun Devils will beat the Trojans on a Hail Mary, 41-38.
By now, USC will be in quite the pickle by their bye week. After that, they will beat Colorado 42-27.The Trojans were in a 3-3 situation last season as well. They will have another shootout against Arizona the following week, but Arizona will win it 44-41 in overtime. They will lose to Cal 31-27, Oregon 52-38, beat Washington 42-31, lose to UCLA 45-35, and finally, fall to Notre Dame 38-14.
Sorry, Trojans. I'm trying to avoid as much bias as possible, but I'm predicting that USC will go 4-8. This will be the first time since 2000 that USC will fail to reach bowl eligibility. This will also be the first time since 2011 that the Trojans will miss a bowl game. In 2011, the Trojans succumbed to the Reggie Bush scandal and underwent NCAA sanctions, which banned them from postseason appearances. They were lifted from this ban in 2012. Next week, I will preview the Utah Utes.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Bruins in the 2016 NFL Draft
The 2016 NFL Draft began last Thursday, April 28th, and boy is it packed with fellow Bruin football players! Out of 7 rounds, there was 1 UCLA player in the 1st round, 1 in the second round, 3 in the 5th round, and 3 in the 7th round.
In case anyone was wondering who the #1 pick in the draft was, it was Jared Goff, the quarterback for the California Golden Bears and will be joining and possibly starting for your fellow Los Angeles Rams. Number 2 was FCS North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, who is going to the Philadelphia Eagles. Numbers 3 and 4 were both Ohio State Buckeyes (defensive end Joey Bosa (going to the San Diego Chargers) and running back Ezekiel Elliott (going to the Dallas Cowboys)) and number 5 was Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who is headed to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The only UCLA Bruin that went in the first round of the draft was defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Clark was the 27th overall pick in the draft and is going off to the Green Bay Packers, joining former UCLA quarterback and teammate Brett Hundley. Clark was a major factor in UCLA's defense. Even when two of the biggest players on defense, Myles Jack and Eddie Vanderdoes went out with season-ending injuries, he tried his best to stop the opponent run game, which battered UCLA all season long. Even still, Clark was vital to the team.
Speaking of UCLA linebacker Myles Jack, he was the 5th pick in the second round (36th overall) of the draft, joining Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey in going to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jack would've been one of the higher picks in the first round if it weren't for many concerns about his knee. Before the draft, Jack was projected to be the 4th or 5th overall pick. His last play as a Bruin was an interception that won the game against BYU 24-23. Interestingly enough, Myles Jack can play on both sides of the ball, being a running back when he is on offense. This compares to former Washington linebacker Shaq Thompson, who was a 1st round pick in last year's NFL Draft.
The first Bruin to go into the 5th round of the draft (148th overall) was offensive tackle Caleb Benenoch. Benenoch is a big guy, so guarding the quarterback is just what he does best in football. Benenoch is heading off to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Running back Paul Perkins was drafted by the New York Giants right after Benenoch went to the Bucs. Perkins led the Pac-12 in rushing yards in his sophomore year, with 1,575 yards. His style of rushing as a running back can be compared to Marshawn Lynch (Yes, you read this right). Many times, when it looks like Perkins will be tackled for a loss of yards, he can spin off these tacklers and get positive yardage. One of UCLA's running back recruits, Brandon Stephens, can run like Perkins too, so Bruin fans will not need to miss the constant jukes by their running back.
Five picks later, wide receiver Jordan Payton was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, which is ironically the same team that drafted USC quarterback Cody Kessler. Payton is the school's all-time reception leader and the first to surpass 200 catches.
Finally, the three Bruins in the last round of the draft were linebacker Aaron Wallace (drafted by the Tennessee Titans), tight end Thomas Duarte (drafted by the Miami Dolphins), and wide receiver Devin Fuller (drafted by the Atlanta Falcons). All three of these players had great college careers and hopefully they will get some playing time in the pros.
A few key UCLA players barely missed out on the draft. Three of these players are offensive center Jake Brendel, offensive guard Alex Redmond, and place kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn. Brendel and Redmond did a great job protecting quarterbacks Brett Hundley and Josh Rosen and Fairbairn kicked the longest field goal in school history (2nd longest in Pac-12 history) and won the Lou Groza Award, which is given to the best kicker in College Football each season. There was only one kicker that got into the draft: Florida State kicker Roberto Aguayo, who is going to be reunited with former FSU quarterback Jameis Winston with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
I wish all these UCLA players in the draft have great careers in the NFL. They may play against each other at some point, but they will be remembered for their great college careers at UCLA. Next week, I will return to previewing Pac-12 teams, as I will preview the USC Trojans next.
In case anyone was wondering who the #1 pick in the draft was, it was Jared Goff, the quarterback for the California Golden Bears and will be joining and possibly starting for your fellow Los Angeles Rams. Number 2 was FCS North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, who is going to the Philadelphia Eagles. Numbers 3 and 4 were both Ohio State Buckeyes (defensive end Joey Bosa (going to the San Diego Chargers) and running back Ezekiel Elliott (going to the Dallas Cowboys)) and number 5 was Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who is headed to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The only UCLA Bruin that went in the first round of the draft was defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Clark was the 27th overall pick in the draft and is going off to the Green Bay Packers, joining former UCLA quarterback and teammate Brett Hundley. Clark was a major factor in UCLA's defense. Even when two of the biggest players on defense, Myles Jack and Eddie Vanderdoes went out with season-ending injuries, he tried his best to stop the opponent run game, which battered UCLA all season long. Even still, Clark was vital to the team.
Speaking of UCLA linebacker Myles Jack, he was the 5th pick in the second round (36th overall) of the draft, joining Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey in going to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jack would've been one of the higher picks in the first round if it weren't for many concerns about his knee. Before the draft, Jack was projected to be the 4th or 5th overall pick. His last play as a Bruin was an interception that won the game against BYU 24-23. Interestingly enough, Myles Jack can play on both sides of the ball, being a running back when he is on offense. This compares to former Washington linebacker Shaq Thompson, who was a 1st round pick in last year's NFL Draft.
The first Bruin to go into the 5th round of the draft (148th overall) was offensive tackle Caleb Benenoch. Benenoch is a big guy, so guarding the quarterback is just what he does best in football. Benenoch is heading off to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Running back Paul Perkins was drafted by the New York Giants right after Benenoch went to the Bucs. Perkins led the Pac-12 in rushing yards in his sophomore year, with 1,575 yards. His style of rushing as a running back can be compared to Marshawn Lynch (Yes, you read this right). Many times, when it looks like Perkins will be tackled for a loss of yards, he can spin off these tacklers and get positive yardage. One of UCLA's running back recruits, Brandon Stephens, can run like Perkins too, so Bruin fans will not need to miss the constant jukes by their running back.
Five picks later, wide receiver Jordan Payton was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, which is ironically the same team that drafted USC quarterback Cody Kessler. Payton is the school's all-time reception leader and the first to surpass 200 catches.
Finally, the three Bruins in the last round of the draft were linebacker Aaron Wallace (drafted by the Tennessee Titans), tight end Thomas Duarte (drafted by the Miami Dolphins), and wide receiver Devin Fuller (drafted by the Atlanta Falcons). All three of these players had great college careers and hopefully they will get some playing time in the pros.
A few key UCLA players barely missed out on the draft. Three of these players are offensive center Jake Brendel, offensive guard Alex Redmond, and place kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn. Brendel and Redmond did a great job protecting quarterbacks Brett Hundley and Josh Rosen and Fairbairn kicked the longest field goal in school history (2nd longest in Pac-12 history) and won the Lou Groza Award, which is given to the best kicker in College Football each season. There was only one kicker that got into the draft: Florida State kicker Roberto Aguayo, who is going to be reunited with former FSU quarterback Jameis Winston with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
I wish all these UCLA players in the draft have great careers in the NFL. They may play against each other at some point, but they will be remembered for their great college careers at UCLA. Next week, I will return to previewing Pac-12 teams, as I will preview the USC Trojans next.
Monday, April 25, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Stanford Cardinal
This week, I will preview the Stanford Cardinal. Last season, Stanford won the Pac-12 and blew out Iowa in the Rose Bowl game. The Cardinal are the most likely Pac-12 team to appear in the upcoming 2017 College Football Playoff. The Cardinal will lose many key players in quarterback Kevin Hogan, running backs Remound Wright and Barry Sanders Jr., wide receivers Devon Cajuste and Michael Rector, offensive guard Joshua Garnett, offensive tackle Kyle Murphy, safety Kodi Whitfield, and defensive end Aziz Shittu. Many key players will return for Stanford as well. Running backs Christian McCaffrey (last season's Heisman runner-up) and Bryce Love, backup quarterback (likely starter, son of Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst) Keller Chryst, tight end Austin Hooper, wide receiver Francis Owusu (once again, this is the guy that did that amazing catch last season against UCLA), cornerbacks Alijah Holder and Quenton Meeks, and defensive end Solomon Thomas all return for the Cardinal.
I've placed Stanford at #2 in the country in the preseason, only behind #1 Alabama. The Cardinal open the season against Kansas State, who went 6-7 last season. This will be a nice easy start to the season before taking on USC and UCLA after their early bye week. Stanford will beat K-State 48-14. The Cardinal host USC next. This will be another win for Stanford, 44-28. By this point, I've got Stanford climbing to #1 in the nation (I predict that Ole Miss will upset Alabama again this season). After this, Stanford will make a trip to the Rose Bowl Stadium for the fifth straight year. For the past four seasons, Stanford has played at the Rose Bowl to either play against UCLA or in the Rose Bowl game. Back to the upcoming Stanford versus UCLA game, this may end up being a 42-34 Stanford win. Stanford will head up to Seattle the following Friday to take on the Washington Huskies. Stanford will win this game 52-34. After that, the Cardinal return home against Washington State, a feisty offense. Stanford will win this match in overtime 65-59. Coming up will be a probable top 10 matchup with Notre Dame on the road. This will result in another overtime, with Stanford winning 41-38. After this, there will be a break against the Colorado Buffaloes, who I think will miss out on the postseason again. Stanford will win 38-7.
Teams left over on Stanford's schedule will probably be scared. I've got Stanford at 7-0 and still at number 1 in the nation. The top-ranked Cardinal will cruise by Arizona 48-27, Oregon State 62-13, top-10 Oregon 51-38, California 49-31, and finally, Rice 56-17.
Now, I predict that Stanford will beat UCLA 48-31 in the Pac-12 Championship and head to the 3rd annual College Football Playoff. The other three teams I predict will make the Playoff are Clemson (ACC), Alabama (SEC), and Baylor (Big 12). Sorry, Big ten fans, but Ohio State, Michigan State, and Michigan might make the Big Ten's Playoff hopes somewhat fall apart due to the chaotic rivalry games.
Anyways, I have no idea how the teams would be ranked in the Playoff. Stanford fans, you should be looking forward to this season. It can be Stanford's dream football season: undefeated (13-0) and sitting on the College Football throne for most of the year. The 2016 NFL Draft will begin this Thursday, so I will recap the draft and the Bruins that entered it next week.
I've placed Stanford at #2 in the country in the preseason, only behind #1 Alabama. The Cardinal open the season against Kansas State, who went 6-7 last season. This will be a nice easy start to the season before taking on USC and UCLA after their early bye week. Stanford will beat K-State 48-14. The Cardinal host USC next. This will be another win for Stanford, 44-28. By this point, I've got Stanford climbing to #1 in the nation (I predict that Ole Miss will upset Alabama again this season). After this, Stanford will make a trip to the Rose Bowl Stadium for the fifth straight year. For the past four seasons, Stanford has played at the Rose Bowl to either play against UCLA or in the Rose Bowl game. Back to the upcoming Stanford versus UCLA game, this may end up being a 42-34 Stanford win. Stanford will head up to Seattle the following Friday to take on the Washington Huskies. Stanford will win this game 52-34. After that, the Cardinal return home against Washington State, a feisty offense. Stanford will win this match in overtime 65-59. Coming up will be a probable top 10 matchup with Notre Dame on the road. This will result in another overtime, with Stanford winning 41-38. After this, there will be a break against the Colorado Buffaloes, who I think will miss out on the postseason again. Stanford will win 38-7.
Teams left over on Stanford's schedule will probably be scared. I've got Stanford at 7-0 and still at number 1 in the nation. The top-ranked Cardinal will cruise by Arizona 48-27, Oregon State 62-13, top-10 Oregon 51-38, California 49-31, and finally, Rice 56-17.
Now, I predict that Stanford will beat UCLA 48-31 in the Pac-12 Championship and head to the 3rd annual College Football Playoff. The other three teams I predict will make the Playoff are Clemson (ACC), Alabama (SEC), and Baylor (Big 12). Sorry, Big ten fans, but Ohio State, Michigan State, and Michigan might make the Big Ten's Playoff hopes somewhat fall apart due to the chaotic rivalry games.
Anyways, I have no idea how the teams would be ranked in the Playoff. Stanford fans, you should be looking forward to this season. It can be Stanford's dream football season: undefeated (13-0) and sitting on the College Football throne for most of the year. The 2016 NFL Draft will begin this Thursday, so I will recap the draft and the Bruins that entered it next week.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Oregon State Beavers
This week, I will preview the Oregon State Beavers. They were at the bottom of the Pac-12 overall last season, but they do not have much to lose. The only key player that the Beavers will lose is running back Storm Barrs-Woods. Quarterback Seth Collins, tight end Ryan Nall, and wide receivers Hunter Jarmon, Victor Bolden, and Jordan Villamin will all return for the Beavers.
OSU opens the season against Minnesota of the Big Ten. Minnesota will win in overtime 27-24. Afterwards, the Beavers will take a bye week before hosting FCS Idaho State in their home opener. Even with an inept offense, the Beavers should win this game 21-17. Oregon State will play against Boise State the following week and probably lose 42-14.
The Beavers might be the only team in the Pac-12 to win less than 2 non-conference games over the non-conference slate. Now at 1-2, things will only get worse for the Beavers, who will probably lose the rest of their games. The leftover teams (and scores projections in parentheses) on Oregon State's schedule are Colorado (35-24 CU), California (49-24 Cal), Utah (38-17 Utah), Washington (41-14 UW), Washington State (56-17 WSU), Stanford (62-13 Stanford), UCLA (52-6 UCLA), Arizona (59-20 UA), and Oregon (59-23 UO).
I don't think that there's anything special or new coming up for OSU, Beaver fans. Oregon State will probably repeat what Cal did in 2013, with an 1-11 record. Oregon State will be at the bottom of the Pac-12 once again. Stay tuned for next week, Pac-12 fans! Next week, I will preview the team that everyone thinks will win the Pac-12: the Stanford Cardinal.
OSU opens the season against Minnesota of the Big Ten. Minnesota will win in overtime 27-24. Afterwards, the Beavers will take a bye week before hosting FCS Idaho State in their home opener. Even with an inept offense, the Beavers should win this game 21-17. Oregon State will play against Boise State the following week and probably lose 42-14.
The Beavers might be the only team in the Pac-12 to win less than 2 non-conference games over the non-conference slate. Now at 1-2, things will only get worse for the Beavers, who will probably lose the rest of their games. The leftover teams (and scores projections in parentheses) on Oregon State's schedule are Colorado (35-24 CU), California (49-24 Cal), Utah (38-17 Utah), Washington (41-14 UW), Washington State (56-17 WSU), Stanford (62-13 Stanford), UCLA (52-6 UCLA), Arizona (59-20 UA), and Oregon (59-23 UO).
I don't think that there's anything special or new coming up for OSU, Beaver fans. Oregon State will probably repeat what Cal did in 2013, with an 1-11 record. Oregon State will be at the bottom of the Pac-12 once again. Stay tuned for next week, Pac-12 fans! Next week, I will preview the team that everyone thinks will win the Pac-12: the Stanford Cardinal.
Monday, April 11, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Oregon Ducks
This week, I will preview the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks have been known for a great football program and national title contender until last season. They lost 4 games, each because of quarterback Vernon Adams' constant injuries and poor defense. They could've beaten Michigan State, who went to the College Football Playoff last season. they lost to Utah 62-20 at home, Washington State in overtime, and TCU in triple overtime. The Ducks will be losing quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. (a graduate transfer from FCS Eastern Washington), tight end Pharaoh Brown, wide receivers Byron Marshall and Bralon Addison, running back Thomas Tyner (who is retiring from football itself), defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, and linebacker Joe Walker. Running back Royce Freeman and wide receivers Darren Carrington and Dwayne Stanford will return. Just like last season, Oregon will bring in FCS Montana State quarterback graduate transfer Dakota Prukop, who will probably start for the Ducks next season.
They will also bring in a new defensive coordinator: former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke. Hoke had a 31-20 record, failing to reach bowl eligibility in his final season. He guided Michigan to a 23-20 overtime Sugar Bowl victory against Virginia Tech in 2011, his first season. The following year, the Wolverines went 8-5, losing to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. In 2013, Michigan began to receive a lot of national attention before dodging two big upsets and eventually finishing the season 7-6 with a 31-14 loss to Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Finally, Michigan fired Brady Hoke after a 5-7 season in 2014.
Oregon opens the 2016-2017 season against FCS UC Davis at home. This should be an easy 77-7 win for the Ducks. Next up is Virginia, which is also a home game. Oregon will win this one 48-20. After this is Nebraska, who beat UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl almost two months ago. Oregon will win this shootout 45-42. But the Ducks will face another shootout against Colorado, which be probably be a 40-37 victory for the Ducks. Now at 4-0, the Ducks should be somewhere in the top 15, if not, the top 10. Washington State will grant Oregon yet another shootout. This time, WSU will pull away 35-31. Oregon will fall to 15th in the top 25 or something like that. They will redeem themselves with a 38-27 victory against Washington. The Ducks will defeat Cal 56-48 and climb back into the top 10. Oregon will face yet another shootout against Arizona State, winning 62-55. It will get tough for Oregon starting here. First up is a trip to USC. Oregon will win this game 52-38. The following week, Oregon hosts Stanford in the big battle for the Pac-12 North Division. Stanford will handle Oregon 51-38 and clinch the Pac-12 North Division, shattering Oregon's Playoff hopes. Oregon will take on Utah after this and probably win 47-33. Finally, the Ducks will defeat Oregon State in the Civil War rivalry 59-23 in Corvallis.
This season, I predict that Oregon will go 10-2, which will be another great season for the Ducks. Even though they fell short of the Pac-12 Championship, Oregon will probably go to one of the New Year's Six bowl games, ranked 8th or somewhere around there. Oregon fans should look forward to this upcoming season and keep cheering for their Ducks. Stay tuned for next week, Pac-12 fans, as I will preview the Oregon State Beavers next.
They will also bring in a new defensive coordinator: former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke. Hoke had a 31-20 record, failing to reach bowl eligibility in his final season. He guided Michigan to a 23-20 overtime Sugar Bowl victory against Virginia Tech in 2011, his first season. The following year, the Wolverines went 8-5, losing to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. In 2013, Michigan began to receive a lot of national attention before dodging two big upsets and eventually finishing the season 7-6 with a 31-14 loss to Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Finally, Michigan fired Brady Hoke after a 5-7 season in 2014.
Oregon opens the 2016-2017 season against FCS UC Davis at home. This should be an easy 77-7 win for the Ducks. Next up is Virginia, which is also a home game. Oregon will win this one 48-20. After this is Nebraska, who beat UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl almost two months ago. Oregon will win this shootout 45-42. But the Ducks will face another shootout against Colorado, which be probably be a 40-37 victory for the Ducks. Now at 4-0, the Ducks should be somewhere in the top 15, if not, the top 10. Washington State will grant Oregon yet another shootout. This time, WSU will pull away 35-31. Oregon will fall to 15th in the top 25 or something like that. They will redeem themselves with a 38-27 victory against Washington. The Ducks will defeat Cal 56-48 and climb back into the top 10. Oregon will face yet another shootout against Arizona State, winning 62-55. It will get tough for Oregon starting here. First up is a trip to USC. Oregon will win this game 52-38. The following week, Oregon hosts Stanford in the big battle for the Pac-12 North Division. Stanford will handle Oregon 51-38 and clinch the Pac-12 North Division, shattering Oregon's Playoff hopes. Oregon will take on Utah after this and probably win 47-33. Finally, the Ducks will defeat Oregon State in the Civil War rivalry 59-23 in Corvallis.
This season, I predict that Oregon will go 10-2, which will be another great season for the Ducks. Even though they fell short of the Pac-12 Championship, Oregon will probably go to one of the New Year's Six bowl games, ranked 8th or somewhere around there. Oregon fans should look forward to this upcoming season and keep cheering for their Ducks. Stay tuned for next week, Pac-12 fans, as I will preview the Oregon State Beavers next.
Monday, April 4, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Colorado Buffaloes
This week, I will preview the 2016 football schedule and impact roster for the Colorado Buffaloes. The Buffs will be losing running back Christian Powell and wide receiver Nelson Spruce. Spruce leads the Pac-12 in all-time receiving yards, despite not making even one appearance in a bowl game. Colorado will bring back quarterback Sefo Liufau, running back Patrick Carr, and wide receiver Donovan Lee. However, Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb will transfer to Colorado and may assume the starting quarterback job over Liufau.
Colorado opens the season with the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado State. Colorado is used to playing against Power 5 teams unlike Colorado State. The Buffaloes will pull away with the victory 34-27. Colorado will get to relax against FCS Idaho State, winning 48-0. This would be a well-scheduled games, because Michigan is up next. Michigan will probably crush Colorado 42-7. Colorado will prove to be more formidable than last season. But Oregon will add to the losses by beating the Buffs 40-37 in a shootout. Colorado will get another win against Oregon State 35-24. USC will defeat Colorado 42-27, a much larger margin than last season's 27-24 USC victory. Arizona State will also beat Colorado 38-14. For the first time this season, Colorado will be below .500 winning percentage, now at 3-4. Stanford will blow out Colorado once again, 38-7.
After their bye week, the Buffaloes will play against the UCLA Bruins. In each season, Colorado just kept getting closer and closer to beating UCLA, but that will end with a UCLA 48-10 win. Arizona will beat up Colorado again 45-14. The Buffaloes will lose their final two games against Washington State 35-20 and Utah 34-24.
There is nothing new to expect here, CU fans. I predict that the Buffaloes will go 3-9 during the next season, another disappointment. Stay tuned, Pac-12 fans, for next week's preview on the Oregon Ducks!
Colorado opens the season with the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado State. Colorado is used to playing against Power 5 teams unlike Colorado State. The Buffaloes will pull away with the victory 34-27. Colorado will get to relax against FCS Idaho State, winning 48-0. This would be a well-scheduled games, because Michigan is up next. Michigan will probably crush Colorado 42-7. Colorado will prove to be more formidable than last season. But Oregon will add to the losses by beating the Buffs 40-37 in a shootout. Colorado will get another win against Oregon State 35-24. USC will defeat Colorado 42-27, a much larger margin than last season's 27-24 USC victory. Arizona State will also beat Colorado 38-14. For the first time this season, Colorado will be below .500 winning percentage, now at 3-4. Stanford will blow out Colorado once again, 38-7.
After their bye week, the Buffaloes will play against the UCLA Bruins. In each season, Colorado just kept getting closer and closer to beating UCLA, but that will end with a UCLA 48-10 win. Arizona will beat up Colorado again 45-14. The Buffaloes will lose their final two games against Washington State 35-20 and Utah 34-24.
There is nothing new to expect here, CU fans. I predict that the Buffaloes will go 3-9 during the next season, another disappointment. Stay tuned, Pac-12 fans, for next week's preview on the Oregon Ducks!
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: California Golden Bears
This week, I will preview the upcoming season of the California Golden Bears. Cal will lose quarterback Jared Goff, running back Daniel Lasco, safety Stefan McClure, and wide receivers Bryce Treggs, Darius Powe, Kenny Lawler and Trevor Davis. Cornerback Darius Allensworth and running backs Vic Enwere and Tre Watson will return for the Golden Bears. The starting quarterback position will be difficult to replace, since Goff is leaving the team. Backup QB Cole Webb will also graduate and there are three other quarterback, all going into their sophomore year. I think that Chase Forrest will assume the job at quarterback since he played in Cal's season opener, unlike the other quarterbacks.
Cal will play in the first game of the 2016 season against Hawai'i in Australia. This game will be played on August 27, a week before the rest of College Football begins the season. This will be an easy win for the pounding Cal offense, 63-21. After a bye week, the Golden Bears will travel to San Diego to take on the San Diego State Aztecs, who won the Mountain West Conference last season. Cal beat up SDSU 35-7 last year, and will probably beat them again 45-23. The Golden Bears' home opener comes against the Texas Longhorns, who botched a point after touchdown against Cal last year to lose 45-44. Texas did beat Oklahoma, a team that went to the Playoff, last year. Cal's offense will fall short in this close game 38-35.
Arizona State opens up Cal's conference schedule in Tempe, Arizona. The Golden Bears will pull off the 31-17 victory to advance to 3-1. The Bears come back home to take on the Utah Utes, in which I've got Cal winning 38-30. They will coast past Oregon State 49-24, but fall short to Oregon 56-48. The Golden Bears travel to USC after this. I've got the Bears winning their first against USC since 2003, 31-27. Washington will then defeat Cal 27-24. The final three games of the season will all be tough for Cal. Washington State will give Cal their fourth loss of the season by a score of 45-35. Stanford will defeat Cal 49-31 and UCLA will defeat the Golden Bears 42-28.
Cal will finish the season 6-6, just like Arizona State. The Bears went 8-5 in last season's rebuilding year. This season might just be short of a repeat of last season for the Bears. However, this season will test how dependent the Golden Bears were on Jared Goff, who is projected to be one of the top 10 picks in the upcoming NFL draft. Stay tuned next week, as I will preview the Colorado Buffaloes.
P.S. Sorry about the extra week's delay. It was Spring Break and I forgot to publish this post. So I decided to just make it this week's post.
Cal will play in the first game of the 2016 season against Hawai'i in Australia. This game will be played on August 27, a week before the rest of College Football begins the season. This will be an easy win for the pounding Cal offense, 63-21. After a bye week, the Golden Bears will travel to San Diego to take on the San Diego State Aztecs, who won the Mountain West Conference last season. Cal beat up SDSU 35-7 last year, and will probably beat them again 45-23. The Golden Bears' home opener comes against the Texas Longhorns, who botched a point after touchdown against Cal last year to lose 45-44. Texas did beat Oklahoma, a team that went to the Playoff, last year. Cal's offense will fall short in this close game 38-35.
Arizona State opens up Cal's conference schedule in Tempe, Arizona. The Golden Bears will pull off the 31-17 victory to advance to 3-1. The Bears come back home to take on the Utah Utes, in which I've got Cal winning 38-30. They will coast past Oregon State 49-24, but fall short to Oregon 56-48. The Golden Bears travel to USC after this. I've got the Bears winning their first against USC since 2003, 31-27. Washington will then defeat Cal 27-24. The final three games of the season will all be tough for Cal. Washington State will give Cal their fourth loss of the season by a score of 45-35. Stanford will defeat Cal 49-31 and UCLA will defeat the Golden Bears 42-28.
Cal will finish the season 6-6, just like Arizona State. The Bears went 8-5 in last season's rebuilding year. This season might just be short of a repeat of last season for the Bears. However, this season will test how dependent the Golden Bears were on Jared Goff, who is projected to be one of the top 10 picks in the upcoming NFL draft. Stay tuned next week, as I will preview the Colorado Buffaloes.
P.S. Sorry about the extra week's delay. It was Spring Break and I forgot to publish this post. So I decided to just make it this week's post.
Monday, March 14, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Arizona State Sun Devils
The next Pac-12 team I will preview is the Arizona State Sun Devils. ASU will be losing quarterback Mike Bercovici and wide receivers DJ Foster and Devin Lucien, a graduat transfer from UCLA. On the defense, the Sun Devils will lose cornerback Lloyd Carrington and defensive back Jordan Simone. Running backs Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage will return for the Sun Devils. Their starting quarterback for this season may be Bryce Perkins, the younger brother of UCLA running back Paul Perkins.
Arizona State opens the season with FCS Northern Arizona. This will be an easy win for ASU, 49-7. They will receive their first true test against the pass-heavy Texas Tech Red Raiders. Tech's defense is really bad though. With that, ASU will pull away with a last-second field goal 37-34. UTSA is next for ASU in San Antonio. the Sun Devils will win this one easily, 52-27.
After an easy non-conference slate, the Sun Devils will probably be 3-0. First on the conference schedule is Cal, who beat ASU 48-46 on a last-second field goal last season. Cal is losing many of their star players, but that won't be enough to help Arizona State win. They will lose 31-17. Next up is USC. Arizona State could beat USC on a last-second touchdown, just like they did 2 seasons ago. This time, the score will be 41-38. The Sun Devils will be celebrating, but it won't help them against UCLA the next week. I'm picking UCLA to win 28-17. Now at 4-2, ASU will cruise to an easy 5th win against Colorado 38-14. By now, Arizona State should be in the rankings, but will lose to Washington State 52-48 in a high-scoring affair. Oregon will load up another high-scoring game against the Sun Devils, who will be forced to their fourth loss after falling 62-55, a similar score to last season's 61-55 Oregon victory. Arizona State will fall to 5-5 after losing to Utah on a late touchdown, 24-21. They will reach bowl eligibility by defeating Washington 31-24. Finally, Arizona will defeat ASU 35-17 in the Territorial Cup rivalry game.
This season will be another disappointment for Arizona State, who went 10-3 two seasons ago. They will make another low-tier bowl appearance at 6-6. Sorry, ASU fans, but the Sun Devils won't be a 10-win team this coming season. Next week, I will preview the California Golden Bears' next season. Please stay tuned for next week!
Arizona State opens the season with FCS Northern Arizona. This will be an easy win for ASU, 49-7. They will receive their first true test against the pass-heavy Texas Tech Red Raiders. Tech's defense is really bad though. With that, ASU will pull away with a last-second field goal 37-34. UTSA is next for ASU in San Antonio. the Sun Devils will win this one easily, 52-27.
After an easy non-conference slate, the Sun Devils will probably be 3-0. First on the conference schedule is Cal, who beat ASU 48-46 on a last-second field goal last season. Cal is losing many of their star players, but that won't be enough to help Arizona State win. They will lose 31-17. Next up is USC. Arizona State could beat USC on a last-second touchdown, just like they did 2 seasons ago. This time, the score will be 41-38. The Sun Devils will be celebrating, but it won't help them against UCLA the next week. I'm picking UCLA to win 28-17. Now at 4-2, ASU will cruise to an easy 5th win against Colorado 38-14. By now, Arizona State should be in the rankings, but will lose to Washington State 52-48 in a high-scoring affair. Oregon will load up another high-scoring game against the Sun Devils, who will be forced to their fourth loss after falling 62-55, a similar score to last season's 61-55 Oregon victory. Arizona State will fall to 5-5 after losing to Utah on a late touchdown, 24-21. They will reach bowl eligibility by defeating Washington 31-24. Finally, Arizona will defeat ASU 35-17 in the Territorial Cup rivalry game.
This season will be another disappointment for Arizona State, who went 10-3 two seasons ago. They will make another low-tier bowl appearance at 6-6. Sorry, ASU fans, but the Sun Devils won't be a 10-win team this coming season. Next week, I will preview the California Golden Bears' next season. Please stay tuned for next week!
Monday, March 7, 2016
2016-2017 Pac-12 Football Team Previews and Record Predictions: Arizona Wildcats
Many football conferences have already announced the schedules for each of their teams. The Pacific-12 Conference (known as the Pac-12) is one of these conferences. In my previous four posts, I have given a preview of UCLA's 2016-2017 football schedule, showing each team's final schedule from last season and key returning and leaving players. I will list each team's returning and leaving players as well as go over each schedule. Finally, I will predict each team's final record of the next regular season based on the team's average performance.
This week, I will preview the 2016-2017 football schedule for the Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats will be losing All-American linebacker Scooby Wright III, safety Jamar Allah, and wide receivers David Richards and Cayleb Jones. Quarterback Anu Solomon, running back Nick Wilson, cornerback Cam Denson and wide receivers Samajie Grant and Nate Phillips will return for the Wildcats.
U of A's season opener will be played at Phoenix Stadium (home of the NFL team, the Arizona Cardinals) against BYU. Even though the Cougars will lose many key players and have a different head coach, they will make it a tough season opener. I predict that Arizona will lose this game 35-31. Arizona's next game is against the Grambling State Tigers of the FCS. This should be an easy win for Arizona, who will pull away with a 66-10 win. Another cupcake game awaits for the Wildcats the following week. This time, the opponent will be Hawai'i, a team that really, truly sucks. Arizona will probably win this one 52-17.
Now that we've gone through the Wildcats' non-conference schedule, the next 9 games will be played against Pac-12 foes. So far, I predict Arizona to go 2-1 during their non-conference slate. Washington is next for U of A. Last season, Washington crushed Arizona 49-3. But this year, I will pick Arizona to beat Washington 27-21. After this is a trip to the Rose Bowl against UCLA. In this contest, I predict that UCLA will beat Arizona once again, this time by a score of 35-20. Utah comes after UCLA for the Wildcats in Salt Lake City. Knowing that Utah's big players are leaving, I've got Arizona beating the Utes 31-21. Arizona will play against USC right before their bye week. This game will probably end up being a close one, but I've got Arizona pulling away in overtime 44-41.
Arizona will go into their bye week with a 5-2 record. They have a well-timed bye week, because right afterwards, they will host the Stanford Cardinal, who I think will be #1 in the nation at this point. Stanford will probably breeze past Arizona again, this time by a score of 48-27. Up next is a trip to Pullman, Washington for a battle with the Washington State Cougars. WSU's passing consistency will probably push the Cougars past Arizona 34-21. Hanging just above .500 winning percentage, they will play against the Colorado Buffaloes. Arizona will win that game 45-14. There are only two more games after this. After Colorado, the Wildcats will travel to Corvallis, Oregon to take on the Oregon State Beavers. Oregon State finished last in the Pac-12 last season, and it won't get any better. Arizona will win 59-20. Finally, Arizona will host Arizona State in the Territorial Cup rivalry. Arizona State is losing many of their star players, so I've got Arizona winning this game 35-17.
In conclusion, I predict that Arizona will finish next regular season with 8 victories and 4 defeats. Arizona went 7-6 last season with a bowl win against New Mexico. Seven wins is where Arizona usually ends up each regular season. All in all, I predict that Arizona will have an average season. Stay tuned for my preview on the Arizona State Sun Devils next week!
This week, I will preview the 2016-2017 football schedule for the Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats will be losing All-American linebacker Scooby Wright III, safety Jamar Allah, and wide receivers David Richards and Cayleb Jones. Quarterback Anu Solomon, running back Nick Wilson, cornerback Cam Denson and wide receivers Samajie Grant and Nate Phillips will return for the Wildcats.
U of A's season opener will be played at Phoenix Stadium (home of the NFL team, the Arizona Cardinals) against BYU. Even though the Cougars will lose many key players and have a different head coach, they will make it a tough season opener. I predict that Arizona will lose this game 35-31. Arizona's next game is against the Grambling State Tigers of the FCS. This should be an easy win for Arizona, who will pull away with a 66-10 win. Another cupcake game awaits for the Wildcats the following week. This time, the opponent will be Hawai'i, a team that really, truly sucks. Arizona will probably win this one 52-17.
Now that we've gone through the Wildcats' non-conference schedule, the next 9 games will be played against Pac-12 foes. So far, I predict Arizona to go 2-1 during their non-conference slate. Washington is next for U of A. Last season, Washington crushed Arizona 49-3. But this year, I will pick Arizona to beat Washington 27-21. After this is a trip to the Rose Bowl against UCLA. In this contest, I predict that UCLA will beat Arizona once again, this time by a score of 35-20. Utah comes after UCLA for the Wildcats in Salt Lake City. Knowing that Utah's big players are leaving, I've got Arizona beating the Utes 31-21. Arizona will play against USC right before their bye week. This game will probably end up being a close one, but I've got Arizona pulling away in overtime 44-41.
Arizona will go into their bye week with a 5-2 record. They have a well-timed bye week, because right afterwards, they will host the Stanford Cardinal, who I think will be #1 in the nation at this point. Stanford will probably breeze past Arizona again, this time by a score of 48-27. Up next is a trip to Pullman, Washington for a battle with the Washington State Cougars. WSU's passing consistency will probably push the Cougars past Arizona 34-21. Hanging just above .500 winning percentage, they will play against the Colorado Buffaloes. Arizona will win that game 45-14. There are only two more games after this. After Colorado, the Wildcats will travel to Corvallis, Oregon to take on the Oregon State Beavers. Oregon State finished last in the Pac-12 last season, and it won't get any better. Arizona will win 59-20. Finally, Arizona will host Arizona State in the Territorial Cup rivalry. Arizona State is losing many of their star players, so I've got Arizona winning this game 35-17.
In conclusion, I predict that Arizona will finish next regular season with 8 victories and 4 defeats. Arizona went 7-6 last season with a bowl win against New Mexico. Seven wins is where Arizona usually ends up each regular season. All in all, I predict that Arizona will have an average season. Stay tuned for my preview on the Arizona State Sun Devils next week!
Monday, February 29, 2016
Overview of UCLA's 2016-2017 Football Schedule (Games 9-12: The Final Regular Season Games)
UCLA will take on the Oregon State Beavers at the Rose Bowl after traveling to Colorado. The Beavers were the worst team in the Pac-12 last season. They started with a 26-7 win against FCS Weber State, a 35-7 loss at Michigan, and a 35-21 win against San José State. The win against SJSU was Oregon State's last victory. The Beavers lost all of their conference games, starting with a 42-24 loss to #21 Stanford. This was followed by losses to Arizona (44-7), Washington State (52-31), Colorado (17-13), #13 Utah (27-12), #23 UCLA (41-0), California (54-24), Washington (52-7), and finally, "Civil War" rival Oregon (52-42). They finished with a 2-10 record. The Beavers only lose one key player: star running back Storm Barrs-Woods. Quarterback Seth Collins returns with wide receivers Victor Bolden and Jordan Villamin.
On the following week, the Bruins will square off with their crosstown rival, the USC Trojans at the Rose Bowl. USC was the highest ranked team in the Pac-12 South Division in the preseason, sitting at #8 in the top 25. USC cruised past their Sun Belt non-conference schedule, beating Arkansas State 55-6 and Idaho 59-9 at home. Stanford was the first test of USC's season. USC failed this test, as they lost 41-31, even though they didn't play a single road game until after Stanford. The Trojans bulldozed Arizona State 42-14 in their first road game of the season. After their bye week, 17th-ranked SC lost to Washington 17-12 at home. The Monday afterwards, they fired head coach Steve Sarkisian and named former offensive coordinator, Clay Helton the interim head coach. This was the second time over the past 3 seasons in which USC fired their head coach in the middle of the season and hired an interim head coach. Anyways, USC lost 41-31 to #11 Notre Dame on the road, leaving them with 3 wins and 3 losses on the season. Because of their record, I thought USC would not be able to reach the postseason with games against Utah (a top 5 team at the time) and California coming up. But they wound up blowing out then-#3 Utah 42-24 at home and beating Cal 27-21. USC managed to reach bowl eligibility with a 38-30 win against Arizona at home. The Trojans escaped Colorado 27-24 on the road. The following week, USC re-entered the rankings at 24th, but had to play 23rd-ranked Oregon. Oregon's stampede offense crushed USC 48-28, giving the Trojans their fourth loss of the season. SC bounced back by beating UCLA 40-21 at home and taking the Pac-12 South crown. Once again, in the Pac-12 Championship, Stanford breezed past USC 41-22. The Trojans lost the Holiday Bowl to Wisconsin 23-21 and finished the season 8-6 and unranked. They will lose quarterback Cody Kessler and running back Tre Madden, but return running backs Ronald Jones II and Justin Davis as well as wide receivers Darreus Rogers and Juju Smith-Schuster.
UCLA's final opponent of the 2016 regular season is the California Golden Bears. Cal opened last season with a 73-14 demolishing of FCS Grambling State. During week 2, Cal beat up eventual Mountain west Champion San Diego State 35-7. They also won a showdown against Texas 45-44 on a missed point after touchdown (PAT) by Texas. A 30-24 win over Washington propelled the Bears to the rankings for the first time since 2009. Making sure they stayed, 24th-ranked Cal beat Washington State 34-28 in Berkeley. Now that the Golden Bears have proven they belonged in the rankings, they had to play their hardest game of the season at #5 Utah. The interception-plagued Bears lost 30-24, as quarterback Jared Goff threw 5 interceptions in that game, his most in his career. But Cal stayed where they were ranked, and moved up to 20th after their bye week. Next up was a trip to Pasadena against UCLA, who had just been blown out at Stanford. UCLA turned their season around by breezing past Cal 40-24. Back in Berkeley, USC granted Cal their third straight loss, defeating them 27-21. Oregon only made it worse for the Golden Bears, who now had a 4-game losing streak after falling 44-28. Cal finally reached bowl eligibility after a 54-24 win against Oregon State. The Bears were 6-4 and taking on rival #15 Stanford. Unfortunately, Christian McCaffrey and the Stanford offense overran Cal 35-22. After the Stanford loss, Cal had to take on Arizona State at home. The Golden Bears made a comeback from 21 points down and won 48-46. Afterwards, they accepted the bid for the Armed Forces Bowl against Air Force. Cal's air raid offense outplayed Air Force's dual option offense 55-36. Cal finished the season with the same record as UCLA: 8-5. Cal will lose many key players. Their biggest losses include quarterback Jared Goff, running back Daniel Lasco, and wide receivers Darius Powe, Bryce Treggs, Kenny Lawler, and Trevor Davis. Running backs Khalfani Muhammad and Vic Enwere will return for the Golden Bears next season.
These past 4 posts each go over all of UCLA's 2016 regular season opponents in chronological order, as well as their final results of the past season's schedules and impact players who will leave and stay with the team. I hope UCLA football will have a great season next year. Goooooooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!
On the following week, the Bruins will square off with their crosstown rival, the USC Trojans at the Rose Bowl. USC was the highest ranked team in the Pac-12 South Division in the preseason, sitting at #8 in the top 25. USC cruised past their Sun Belt non-conference schedule, beating Arkansas State 55-6 and Idaho 59-9 at home. Stanford was the first test of USC's season. USC failed this test, as they lost 41-31, even though they didn't play a single road game until after Stanford. The Trojans bulldozed Arizona State 42-14 in their first road game of the season. After their bye week, 17th-ranked SC lost to Washington 17-12 at home. The Monday afterwards, they fired head coach Steve Sarkisian and named former offensive coordinator, Clay Helton the interim head coach. This was the second time over the past 3 seasons in which USC fired their head coach in the middle of the season and hired an interim head coach. Anyways, USC lost 41-31 to #11 Notre Dame on the road, leaving them with 3 wins and 3 losses on the season. Because of their record, I thought USC would not be able to reach the postseason with games against Utah (a top 5 team at the time) and California coming up. But they wound up blowing out then-#3 Utah 42-24 at home and beating Cal 27-21. USC managed to reach bowl eligibility with a 38-30 win against Arizona at home. The Trojans escaped Colorado 27-24 on the road. The following week, USC re-entered the rankings at 24th, but had to play 23rd-ranked Oregon. Oregon's stampede offense crushed USC 48-28, giving the Trojans their fourth loss of the season. SC bounced back by beating UCLA 40-21 at home and taking the Pac-12 South crown. Once again, in the Pac-12 Championship, Stanford breezed past USC 41-22. The Trojans lost the Holiday Bowl to Wisconsin 23-21 and finished the season 8-6 and unranked. They will lose quarterback Cody Kessler and running back Tre Madden, but return running backs Ronald Jones II and Justin Davis as well as wide receivers Darreus Rogers and Juju Smith-Schuster.
UCLA's final opponent of the 2016 regular season is the California Golden Bears. Cal opened last season with a 73-14 demolishing of FCS Grambling State. During week 2, Cal beat up eventual Mountain west Champion San Diego State 35-7. They also won a showdown against Texas 45-44 on a missed point after touchdown (PAT) by Texas. A 30-24 win over Washington propelled the Bears to the rankings for the first time since 2009. Making sure they stayed, 24th-ranked Cal beat Washington State 34-28 in Berkeley. Now that the Golden Bears have proven they belonged in the rankings, they had to play their hardest game of the season at #5 Utah. The interception-plagued Bears lost 30-24, as quarterback Jared Goff threw 5 interceptions in that game, his most in his career. But Cal stayed where they were ranked, and moved up to 20th after their bye week. Next up was a trip to Pasadena against UCLA, who had just been blown out at Stanford. UCLA turned their season around by breezing past Cal 40-24. Back in Berkeley, USC granted Cal their third straight loss, defeating them 27-21. Oregon only made it worse for the Golden Bears, who now had a 4-game losing streak after falling 44-28. Cal finally reached bowl eligibility after a 54-24 win against Oregon State. The Bears were 6-4 and taking on rival #15 Stanford. Unfortunately, Christian McCaffrey and the Stanford offense overran Cal 35-22. After the Stanford loss, Cal had to take on Arizona State at home. The Golden Bears made a comeback from 21 points down and won 48-46. Afterwards, they accepted the bid for the Armed Forces Bowl against Air Force. Cal's air raid offense outplayed Air Force's dual option offense 55-36. Cal finished the season with the same record as UCLA: 8-5. Cal will lose many key players. Their biggest losses include quarterback Jared Goff, running back Daniel Lasco, and wide receivers Darius Powe, Bryce Treggs, Kenny Lawler, and Trevor Davis. Running backs Khalfani Muhammad and Vic Enwere will return for the Golden Bears next season.
These past 4 posts each go over all of UCLA's 2016 regular season opponents in chronological order, as well as their final results of the past season's schedules and impact players who will leave and stay with the team. I hope UCLA football will have a great season next year. Goooooooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!
Monday, February 22, 2016
Overview of UCLA's 2016-2017 Football Schedule (Games 7-9)
After the ASU game, UCLA will travel to Pullman, Washington to take on the Washington State Cougars. Last season, the Cougars had the most miserable season opener in the Pac-12. They lost to FCS Portland State at home 24-17. The Cougars defeated Rutgers in New Jersey 37-34 and Wyoming at home 31-14. They led undefeated #24 California for most of their next game, but fell short 34-28 in Berkeley, California. WSU defeated Oregon in double overtime in Oregon and breezed past Oregon State 52-31 at home. The Cougars began to look like a legitimate team after defeating Arizona 45-42 and almost upsetting #8 Stanford, but losing 30-28 on a missed field goal. WSU rolled to a 3-game win streak by defeating Arizona State 38-24, shocking #19 UCLA 31-27 at the Rose Bowl, and cruising past Colorado 27-3 at home. Due to quarterback Luke Falk's injury, the Cougars couldn't keep up with in-state rival Washington, falling in the Apple Cup 45-10. Washington State then won the Sun Bowl 20-14 against Miami. The Cougars' final record was 9-4. Wide receiver Dom Williams will graduate, but quarterback Luke Falk and wide receivers River Cracraft and Gabe Marks will return for the pass-happy offense of Washington State.
Next up for UCLA is the Utah Utes. Last season, Utah spoiled the opening game of Michigan's Jim Harbaugh era by defeating the Wolverines 24-17 in Salt Lake City. The Utes beat in-state rival Utah State 24-14 at home. Afterwards, Utah defeated Fresno State in Fresno 45-24. The following week, Utah began to receive a lot of national attention by giving #13 Oregon the biggest loss in program history since 1977. Utah pulled off so many trick plays in a 62-20 laugher in Eugene, Oregon. Utah jumped from 18th to 10th in the top 25 while Oregon fell from 13th to out of the poll. After forcing 5 turnovers in a win over #23 California and defeating Arizona State 34-18, the Utes were ranked #3 in the country. Many people were predicting that Utah would win the national championship since they were so good. But, all good things must come to an end, as USC proved by beating Utah 42-24. After wins over Oregon State (27-12) and Washington (34-23), the 10th-ranked Utes were shocked in double overtime by Arizona 37-30. The next game wasn't so good for Utah either. UCLA's defense stifled the Utes' offense in Salt Lake City, as Utah lost 17-9 and fell to #23. They beat Colorado 20-14 and Holy War rival BYU 35-28 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Utah finished the season 10-3, the only team in the Pac-12 South to have at least 10 wins. Utah might not be as good as they were this past season because they lose a bunch of their biggest players. They lose quarterback Kendal Thompson and Travis Wilson, running back Devontae Booker. However, they return running back Joe Williams and wide receiver Britain Covey.
UCLA will take a bye week after playing Utah. Afterwards, they will travel to Colorado to take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado had a bad season opener too, losing to Hawai'i 28-20. The Buffs rode a 3-game win streak after that, beating up Massachusetts 48-14, surviving in the Rocky Mountain Showdown against rival Colorado State 27-24 in overtime, and shutting down FCS Nicholls State 48-0. Colorado lost 41-24 to Oregon, 48-23 to Arizona State, and 38-31 to Arizona. On the following week, the Buffs got their first conference win since 2013 by beating Oregon State 17-13. Colorado brought the momentum from the win against Oregon State to the Rose Bowl against UCLA. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for the Buffs, who surged from an 18-point deficit only to fall 35-31. Stanford beat up Colorado 42-10 the following week. The next Friday, Colorado blew a 17-6 halftime lead and lost to USC 27-24 at home, ending the Buffaloes' postseason hopes. In that same game, CU starting quarterback Sefo Liufau got injured and was supported by crutches for the rest of the season. Backup QB Cade Apsay tried his best to maintain the lead, but USC had a strong second half to propel the Trojans to a victory. Washington State (27-3) and Utah (20-14) finished them off, as Colorado finished the season 4-9, having played 13 games. Colorado will lose two of their biggest playmakers in running back Christian Powell and Pac-12 leader in receiving yards Nelson Spruce. Quarterback Sefo Liufau will return along with running back Patrick Carr and wide receiver Donovan Lee.
Next up for UCLA is the Utah Utes. Last season, Utah spoiled the opening game of Michigan's Jim Harbaugh era by defeating the Wolverines 24-17 in Salt Lake City. The Utes beat in-state rival Utah State 24-14 at home. Afterwards, Utah defeated Fresno State in Fresno 45-24. The following week, Utah began to receive a lot of national attention by giving #13 Oregon the biggest loss in program history since 1977. Utah pulled off so many trick plays in a 62-20 laugher in Eugene, Oregon. Utah jumped from 18th to 10th in the top 25 while Oregon fell from 13th to out of the poll. After forcing 5 turnovers in a win over #23 California and defeating Arizona State 34-18, the Utes were ranked #3 in the country. Many people were predicting that Utah would win the national championship since they were so good. But, all good things must come to an end, as USC proved by beating Utah 42-24. After wins over Oregon State (27-12) and Washington (34-23), the 10th-ranked Utes were shocked in double overtime by Arizona 37-30. The next game wasn't so good for Utah either. UCLA's defense stifled the Utes' offense in Salt Lake City, as Utah lost 17-9 and fell to #23. They beat Colorado 20-14 and Holy War rival BYU 35-28 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Utah finished the season 10-3, the only team in the Pac-12 South to have at least 10 wins. Utah might not be as good as they were this past season because they lose a bunch of their biggest players. They lose quarterback Kendal Thompson and Travis Wilson, running back Devontae Booker. However, they return running back Joe Williams and wide receiver Britain Covey.
UCLA will take a bye week after playing Utah. Afterwards, they will travel to Colorado to take on the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado had a bad season opener too, losing to Hawai'i 28-20. The Buffs rode a 3-game win streak after that, beating up Massachusetts 48-14, surviving in the Rocky Mountain Showdown against rival Colorado State 27-24 in overtime, and shutting down FCS Nicholls State 48-0. Colorado lost 41-24 to Oregon, 48-23 to Arizona State, and 38-31 to Arizona. On the following week, the Buffs got their first conference win since 2013 by beating Oregon State 17-13. Colorado brought the momentum from the win against Oregon State to the Rose Bowl against UCLA. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for the Buffs, who surged from an 18-point deficit only to fall 35-31. Stanford beat up Colorado 42-10 the following week. The next Friday, Colorado blew a 17-6 halftime lead and lost to USC 27-24 at home, ending the Buffaloes' postseason hopes. In that same game, CU starting quarterback Sefo Liufau got injured and was supported by crutches for the rest of the season. Backup QB Cade Apsay tried his best to maintain the lead, but USC had a strong second half to propel the Trojans to a victory. Washington State (27-3) and Utah (20-14) finished them off, as Colorado finished the season 4-9, having played 13 games. Colorado will lose two of their biggest playmakers in running back Christian Powell and Pac-12 leader in receiving yards Nelson Spruce. Quarterback Sefo Liufau will return along with running back Patrick Carr and wide receiver Donovan Lee.
Who would've expected the ball to end up on the
other side of the field? This was one of the trick plays
that Utah pulled off against Oregon in their 62-20
victory against the Ducks. (Key: Watch the top of
the screen)
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Overview of UCLA's 2016-2017 Football Schedule (Games 4-6: The First Conference Games)
After the BYU game, UCLA will return to the Rose Bowl to face the one team that Bruins just cannot seem to beat: the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford was ranked 21st in the preseason top 25, but lost their season opener at the Northwestern Wildcats. They defeated UCF (one of two teams to go winless last season) 31-7 in their home opener, and then shocked then-#6 USC 41-31 in Los Angeles. the Cardinal climbed back into the rankings, sitting at their preseason seat of 21st. After cruising past Oregon State 42-24 and Arizona 55-17, Stanford went on a bye week. After that, they crushed then-#18 UCLA 56-35, a record night for their sophomore running back, Christian McCaffrey. Don't forget about that catch by Francis Owusu (video is at the bottom). Moving on, Stanford jumped into the top 10 for the first time since the postseason of the 2013 season. The Cardinal beat Washington 31-14 and then survived against Washington State 30-28 on a botched field goal. Stanford beat Colorado 42-10 and jumped right back up to the top 10, only to lose to Oregon 38-36 on a failed two-point conversion. Stanford rebounded by beating their rival, Cal 35-22 and keeping the Stanford Axe. The Cardinal were ranked 9th and had to play against 6th-ranked Notre Dame. On the final play of the game, Stanford kicked a field goal to get win #10 of the season. They blew out USC in the Pac-12 Championship 41-22 to reach their third Rose Bowl game in the past four seasons. This season will be the fifth straight in which Stanford plays at least one football game at the Rose Bowl Stadium. Stanford does lose quarterback Kevin Hogan and running backs Remound Wright and Barry Sanders Jr., but they will still rely heavily on the run game, especially riding on Heisman contender Christian McCaffrey.
One week later, UCLA will host the Arizona Wildcats. Last season, Arizona opened with a 42-32 victory against the UTSA Roadrunners as #22 in the country. They were coming off of a Pac-12 South title with returning quarterback Anu Solomon. The following two weeks were easy for the Wildcats, as they defeated Nevada 44-20 in Reno and crushed FCS Northern Arizona 77-13 at home. The conference slate started off rough, as the 16th-ranked Wildcats were blown out 56-30 at home by 9th-ranked UCLA in College Gameday. UCLA beat BYU by one point the week before this showdown. Stanford added to Arizona's woes by beating up the Wildcats 55-17 in Northern California. Arizona recovered from these blowout losses by blowing out Oregon State 44-7 at home. They beat Colorado 38-31. Then, the season began to fall apart of U of A. The Wildcats lost three straight against Washington State (45-42), Washington (49-3), and USC (38-30). It seemed as if reaching the postseason would not happen for Arizona, as they were going into hosting 10th-ranked Utah. Arizona pulled off the 37-30 double overtime upset to reach their sixth win of the season. Unfortunately, even though the Wildcats beat Utah, they lost to in-state rival Arizona State 52-37. Next up was the New Mexico Bowl against the New Mexico Lobos. Yes, the Lobos were basically hosting the bowl game against Arizona, which is rare. Arizona won 45-37 and finished the season 7-6. Arizona will lose backup quarterback Jerrard Randall (who played against Stanford and most of the UCLA game) and wide receiver David Richards. Many key players will return for the Wildcats. Big returners include All-American linebacker Scooby Wright III, wide receivers Cayleb Jones and Nate Phillips, quarterback Anu Solomon, and running back Nick Wilson.
UCLA will play at the Arizona State Sun Devils after Arizona. Last season, ASU was ranked 15th preseason, two spots below UCLA's rank. They started off blown out 38-17 by Texas A&M in the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff in Houston. The Sun Devils fell out of the top 25 and stayed out all season. They barely beat FCS Cal Poly 35-21 in their home opener, but made a change in a 34-10 victory over New Mexico. ASU lost 42-14 to #19 USC at home. However, the Sun Devils beat #7 UCLA 38-23 at the Rose Bowl, which was still not enough to catapult ASU back into the rankings. Things seemed to be coming back together after a 48-23 win against Colorado, but Arizona State was to travel to #4 Utah. The Sun Devils had a temporary 18-14 lead over the Utes, but lost it as the Utes won the game 34-18. On the week of Halloween, ASU was to host Oregon in a game dedicated to Sun Devil legend Pat Tillman. But they lost 61-55 on a bad call in triple overtime. Washington State sent ASU below .500 winning percentage by beating the Sun Devils 38-24. Arizona State beat Washington 27-17 and rival Arizona 52-37 to reach bowl eligibility, but lost to Cal 48-46. The Sun Devils finished the season by losing the Cactus Bowl 43-42 to West Virginia. ASU will lose many key players. Quarterback Mike Bercovici and wide receivers DJ Foster, Gary Chambers and Devin Lucien (a graduate transfer from UCLA) will all being graduating. On the bright side, running backs Kalen Ballage (who did that bush TD run against UCLA) and Demario Richard will return as well as wide receiver Tim White.
Remember this catch? I still wonder how Owusu
managed to catch that.
managed to catch that.
Kalen Ballage's version of the "Bush Touchdown"
Monday, February 8, 2016
Overview of UCLA's 2016-2017 Football Schedule (The Three Non-Conference Games)
UCLA's new football schedule for the 2016-2017 football season has been officially released along with the rest of the Pac-12, which is known for tough football schedules with teams from other Power 5 conferences. Week 1 holds wonders and questions of teams and how good they may be during the season. What I typically do at the start of every season is check the rankings and look at the schedules of each ranked team. I try to predict the final regular season records given what I've analyzed. Usually, I predict UCLA will go through the regular season with 11 wins and 1 loss (always against Stanford, UCLA went 8-4 during last regular season). Unfortunately, with unpredictable upset losses, I am always wrong. Then, after the results of week 1, I try once again to predict the records of each ranked team. The Pac-12 had a rough start to last season during week 1. Then-#22 Arizona barely defeated struggling UTSA 42-32 at home. Then-#15 Arizona State was blown out by the SEC's Texas A&M 38-17 down in Houston. California beat up FCS Grambling State 73-14 at home. Colorado fell to Hawaii 28-20 in Honolulu. Then-#7 Oregon beat FCS Eastern Washington 61-42 at home. Oregon State defeated FCS Weber State 26-7 at home. Then-#21 Stanford lost to Northwestern in Illinois. Then-#13 UCLA defeated the ACC's Virginia 34-16 at the Rose Bowl. Then-#8 USC blew out Sun Belt foe Arkansas State 55-6 at home. Utah defeated Michigan of the Big Ten 24-17 at home. Washington fell short at then-#23 Boise State 16-13 and Washington State lost to FCS Portland State 24-17 at home (In case you didn't know what the FCS is, it is practically the group of lower division teams. The FBS is where all of the major teams are). Given that Cal beat up an FCS team, Oregon won a shootout against an FCS team, Stanford lost their season opener, UCLA cruised by a Power 5 team, and USC beat up a Group of 5 team, I thought UCLA was going to be the best team in the Pac-12. However, the Bruins kept getting hit with season-ending injuries on defense, which led to just 8 wins instead of 11.
The Bruins start fresh next season with many players back on defense, including defensive linemen Eddie Vanderdoes and Fabian Moreau. UCLA's first game of next season is at College Station, Texas, against the Texas A&M Aggies. The two teams have met four times before, with the series tied at two a piece. The last time these two teams met was in the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl in 1998, when former UCLA quarterback Cade McNown led the team. UCLA won that game 29-23. Last season, Texas A&M had a similar season as UCLA, also finishing 8-5. The Aggies started the season by blowing out Arizona State (same game as stated above). They cruised past Ball State (56-23) and Nevada (44-27) at home. Arkansas took the Aggies to overtime at Cowboys' Stadium, but A&M pulled off the touchdown-size win 28-21 (just like the year before). The Aggies defeated then-#21 Mississippi State and climbed into the top 10, looking like a playoff contender. However, A&M's hopes were gashed after their bye week, as eventual national champion Alabama clobbered the turnover and pick six-plagued Aggies 41-23 (Yes, I can watch more College Football than just UCLA and USC, I know what happened). This was also a home game for Texas A&M. Then-#23 Ole Miss added to their woes by nearly shutting out the Aggies 23-3. A&M fell out of the rankings once again, but rebounded with a 35-28 victory against struggling South Carolina. Sneaking back into the top 25, A&M looked to redo their streak of victories, but that was cut short as Auburn clipped the Aggies 26-10 at home. After two cupcake victories against FCS Western Carolina (41-17) and a floundering Vanderbilt (25-0), the Aggies fell short against LSU 19-7. They went to the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl for the postseason against the Louisville Cardinals. But once again, the Aggies lost, this time, the score being 27-21. The Aggies lose starting and backup quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray, who are both transferring. In turn, A&M will get the Oklahoma quarterback that beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl two seasons ago, Trevor Knight. Wide receiver Christian Kirk returns for the A&M offense.
Next on UCLA's schedule is the UNLV Rebels at the Rose Bowl. This will be UCLA's home opener next year. The two teams' met this past season in their first-ever football meeting. The then-13th-ranked Bruins won 37-3 behind a great game for NFL-bound UCLA running back Paul Perkins and a stifling UCLA defense. UNLV lost their season opener at Northern Illinois 38-30 before crumbling against UCLA. They were defeated at Michigan 28-7, but followed up with a walloping 80-8 victory against FCS Idaho State at home. They defeated their in-state rival, Nevada 23-17, but lost their next three games to San José State (33-27 in overtime), Fresno State (31-28), and Boise State (55-27). The Rebels' last victory of the season was against Hawai'i, 41-21. UNLV closed the season with losses to Colorado State (49-35), San Diego State (52-14), and Wyoming (35-28), with a final record of 3-9. The Rebels lose starting quarterback Blake Decker, but return backup QB Kurt Palandech, who played most of the game against the Bruins.
The Bruins finish their non-conference slate at the BYU Cougars, whom UCLA came back to beat 24-23 the past season. BYU opened the season with two last-second hail mary victories against Nebraska (33-28) and then-#20 Boise State (35-24, there was an extra pick-six after the hail mary). The Cougars lost starting quarterback Taysom Hill during the Nebraska game and went to backup quarterback Tanner Mangum, who threw both hail mary game winners. UCLA halted this streak of last-second victories as UCLA linebacker Myles Jack intercepted the late 4th down and 7 pass from Mangum. This was also Myles Jack's last play as a Bruin. BYU was ranked 19th when they lost to then-#10 UCLA. BYU was shut out at Michigan the following week 31-0. The cougars won five straight afterwards. These wins came against Connecticut (30-13), East Carolina (45-38), Cincinnati (38-24), FCS Wagner (70-6), and San José State (17-16). They lost to a flailing Missouri 20-16 to end their win streak. Missouri did not make a bowl game this past season. After blowing out Fresno State (52-10) and Utah State (51-28), the Cougars were headed to the Las Vegas Bowl, only to challenge their Holy War rival, the 22nd-ranked Utah Utes. Utah built a 35-0 first quarter lead and stopped BYU's surging comeback attempt to win 35-28. BYU finished the season 9-4, ending with a better overall record than UCLA. Taysom Hill leaves the team along with running back Adam Hiné and wide receiver Mitch Matthews. Tanner Mangum will return with wide receiver Mitchell Juergens.
The Bruins start fresh next season with many players back on defense, including defensive linemen Eddie Vanderdoes and Fabian Moreau. UCLA's first game of next season is at College Station, Texas, against the Texas A&M Aggies. The two teams have met four times before, with the series tied at two a piece. The last time these two teams met was in the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl in 1998, when former UCLA quarterback Cade McNown led the team. UCLA won that game 29-23. Last season, Texas A&M had a similar season as UCLA, also finishing 8-5. The Aggies started the season by blowing out Arizona State (same game as stated above). They cruised past Ball State (56-23) and Nevada (44-27) at home. Arkansas took the Aggies to overtime at Cowboys' Stadium, but A&M pulled off the touchdown-size win 28-21 (just like the year before). The Aggies defeated then-#21 Mississippi State and climbed into the top 10, looking like a playoff contender. However, A&M's hopes were gashed after their bye week, as eventual national champion Alabama clobbered the turnover and pick six-plagued Aggies 41-23 (Yes, I can watch more College Football than just UCLA and USC, I know what happened). This was also a home game for Texas A&M. Then-#23 Ole Miss added to their woes by nearly shutting out the Aggies 23-3. A&M fell out of the rankings once again, but rebounded with a 35-28 victory against struggling South Carolina. Sneaking back into the top 25, A&M looked to redo their streak of victories, but that was cut short as Auburn clipped the Aggies 26-10 at home. After two cupcake victories against FCS Western Carolina (41-17) and a floundering Vanderbilt (25-0), the Aggies fell short against LSU 19-7. They went to the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl for the postseason against the Louisville Cardinals. But once again, the Aggies lost, this time, the score being 27-21. The Aggies lose starting and backup quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray, who are both transferring. In turn, A&M will get the Oklahoma quarterback that beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl two seasons ago, Trevor Knight. Wide receiver Christian Kirk returns for the A&M offense.
Next on UCLA's schedule is the UNLV Rebels at the Rose Bowl. This will be UCLA's home opener next year. The two teams' met this past season in their first-ever football meeting. The then-13th-ranked Bruins won 37-3 behind a great game for NFL-bound UCLA running back Paul Perkins and a stifling UCLA defense. UNLV lost their season opener at Northern Illinois 38-30 before crumbling against UCLA. They were defeated at Michigan 28-7, but followed up with a walloping 80-8 victory against FCS Idaho State at home. They defeated their in-state rival, Nevada 23-17, but lost their next three games to San José State (33-27 in overtime), Fresno State (31-28), and Boise State (55-27). The Rebels' last victory of the season was against Hawai'i, 41-21. UNLV closed the season with losses to Colorado State (49-35), San Diego State (52-14), and Wyoming (35-28), with a final record of 3-9. The Rebels lose starting quarterback Blake Decker, but return backup QB Kurt Palandech, who played most of the game against the Bruins.
The Bruins finish their non-conference slate at the BYU Cougars, whom UCLA came back to beat 24-23 the past season. BYU opened the season with two last-second hail mary victories against Nebraska (33-28) and then-#20 Boise State (35-24, there was an extra pick-six after the hail mary). The Cougars lost starting quarterback Taysom Hill during the Nebraska game and went to backup quarterback Tanner Mangum, who threw both hail mary game winners. UCLA halted this streak of last-second victories as UCLA linebacker Myles Jack intercepted the late 4th down and 7 pass from Mangum. This was also Myles Jack's last play as a Bruin. BYU was ranked 19th when they lost to then-#10 UCLA. BYU was shut out at Michigan the following week 31-0. The cougars won five straight afterwards. These wins came against Connecticut (30-13), East Carolina (45-38), Cincinnati (38-24), FCS Wagner (70-6), and San José State (17-16). They lost to a flailing Missouri 20-16 to end their win streak. Missouri did not make a bowl game this past season. After blowing out Fresno State (52-10) and Utah State (51-28), the Cougars were headed to the Las Vegas Bowl, only to challenge their Holy War rival, the 22nd-ranked Utah Utes. Utah built a 35-0 first quarter lead and stopped BYU's surging comeback attempt to win 35-28. BYU finished the season 9-4, ending with a better overall record than UCLA. Taysom Hill leaves the team along with running back Adam Hiné and wide receiver Mitch Matthews. Tanner Mangum will return with wide receiver Mitchell Juergens.
Thursday, February 4, 2016
National Letter of Intent Day Results
National Letter of Intent Day was a busy day for senior high school football athletes. They got to choose which college they would attend and play for. Every player had a rating out of 5 stars based on how good they are in their position on the football field. UCLA had a very successful recruiting day. The Bruins finished with the 7th best recruiting class in the nation according to scout.com, even sitting above well-known recruiting schools such as USC, Notre Dame, and Tennessee.
The big highlight of the day was the commit from the country's #1 high school linebacker of 2016, Mique Juarez. Juarez played for North High School in Torrance, California. UCLA had to compete with big football schools such as Alabama, Oklahoma and Ole Miss to recruit Juarez. Out of five stars, Mique Juarez was rated 5 stars by Scout. He will probably start for the Bruins in place of former UCLA linebacker Myles Jack. Both of these guys are fast and big enough to stop the opponent's run game, which really got to UCLA last season due to Jack's season-ending injury.
The second best overall recruit for the Bruins was 4-star wide receiver Theo Howard. Howard is the nation's #7 wide receiver. He played for Westlake High School in Westlake Village, California. Back in March, Howard committed to the University of Oregon, but decommitted from the Ducks 5 months later. On November 1st, Howard committed to UCLA and enrolled at the school at the end of January. Howard was the second Bruin in the past 2 years to enroll in January after UCLA's current quarterback, Josh Rosen last year. Howard might also start for UCLA next season since both of UCLA's starting receivers Devin Fuller and Jordan Payton will graduate.
UCLA's third best recruit was 4-star defensive end Breland Brandt. Brandt played for Windward School in Los Angeles, California. UCLA was the first school that offered him to a commit. Since then, Brandt stuck with UCLA throughout the recruiting ride. He may be redshirted, which means that he will have a year to practice and improve, but he will not be able to play during his first season of eligibility unless his redshirt is burned due to an injured starting defensive end.
Here are the rest of UCLA's recruits for 2016:
Boss Tagaloa (4-star defensive tackle) (De La Salle HS in Concord, CA)
Lokeni Toailoa (4-star inside linebacker) (Carter HS in Rialto, CA)
Brandon Burton (4-star athlete (can play multiple positions)) (Junipero Serra HS in Gardena, CA)
Darian Owens (4-star athlete) (Clovis West HS in Fresno, CA)
Krys Barnes (4-star inside linebacker) (Liberty HS in Bakersfield, CA)
Damian Alloway (4-star running back) (Summit HS in Fontana, CA)
JJ Molson (4-star kicker) (John Abbott College in Sainte Anne de Bellevue in Quebec)
Devon Modster (4-star quarterback) (Tesoro HS in Las Flores, CA)
Brandon Stephens (4-star running back) (Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas)
Dymond Lee (4-star wide receiver) (Chaminade College Prep in West Hills, CA)
Demetric Felton (4-star wide receiver) (Great Oak HS in Temecula, CA)
Adewale "Audie" Omotosho (4-star wide receiver) (Plano East Senior HS in Plano, Texas)
Nick Terry (3-star Junior College (JC) defensive tackle) (American River)
Jalen Starks (3-star fullback) (Crespi Carmelite HS in Encino, CA)
Austin Kent (3-star punter) (Providence HS in Charlotte, NC)
Osa Odighizuwa (3-star defensive tackle) (David Douglas HS in Portland, OR)
Jordan Wilson (3-star tight end) (Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, TN)
Alex Akingbulu (3-star offensive tackle) (Nathaniel Narbonne HS in Harbor City, CA)
Mike Alves (3-star offensive guard) (St. Augustine HS in San Diego, CA)
Matt Lynch (3-star quarterback) (Legacy HS in Broomfield, CO)
Francisco "Paco" Perez (3-star offensive guard) (Baldwin Park HS in Baldwin Park, CA)
Keyon Riley (3-star safety) (Servite HS in Anaheim, CA)
Leni Toailoa (3-star safety) (Carter HS in Rialto, CA)
Jake Burton (3-star defensive end) (Granite Hills HS in El Cajon, CA)
Marcus Moore (3-star defensive end) (Crespi Carmelite HS in Encino, CA)
Chigoze Nnoruka (2-star defensive end) (American River)
Johnny Den Bleyker (2-star long snapper) (Moreau Catholic HS in Hayward, CA)
UCLA has a chance to get an extra commit from a 4-star defensive end from Utah, Maxs Tupai. They will compete with Oklahoma, USC, Utah, BYU, and Oregon State for this recruit. Even though UCLA already has an outstanding class, adding Tupai will add to the greatness of it.
Some of UCLA's big recruiting targets chose to sign with other schools. For example, 4-star defensive tackle Garrett Rand signed his letter of intent to Wisconsin. Four-star tight end Devin Asiasi signed his letter of intent to Michigan and 4-star athlete Aaron Hansford signed his letter of intent to Texas A&M, UCLA's first opponent of next season. All in all, UCLA had an amazing National Letter of Intent Day. I hope these players are as good as they are rated when recruited and have a great football career.
The big highlight of the day was the commit from the country's #1 high school linebacker of 2016, Mique Juarez. Juarez played for North High School in Torrance, California. UCLA had to compete with big football schools such as Alabama, Oklahoma and Ole Miss to recruit Juarez. Out of five stars, Mique Juarez was rated 5 stars by Scout. He will probably start for the Bruins in place of former UCLA linebacker Myles Jack. Both of these guys are fast and big enough to stop the opponent's run game, which really got to UCLA last season due to Jack's season-ending injury.
The second best overall recruit for the Bruins was 4-star wide receiver Theo Howard. Howard is the nation's #7 wide receiver. He played for Westlake High School in Westlake Village, California. Back in March, Howard committed to the University of Oregon, but decommitted from the Ducks 5 months later. On November 1st, Howard committed to UCLA and enrolled at the school at the end of January. Howard was the second Bruin in the past 2 years to enroll in January after UCLA's current quarterback, Josh Rosen last year. Howard might also start for UCLA next season since both of UCLA's starting receivers Devin Fuller and Jordan Payton will graduate.
UCLA's third best recruit was 4-star defensive end Breland Brandt. Brandt played for Windward School in Los Angeles, California. UCLA was the first school that offered him to a commit. Since then, Brandt stuck with UCLA throughout the recruiting ride. He may be redshirted, which means that he will have a year to practice and improve, but he will not be able to play during his first season of eligibility unless his redshirt is burned due to an injured starting defensive end.
Here are the rest of UCLA's recruits for 2016:
Boss Tagaloa (4-star defensive tackle) (De La Salle HS in Concord, CA)
Lokeni Toailoa (4-star inside linebacker) (Carter HS in Rialto, CA)
Brandon Burton (4-star athlete (can play multiple positions)) (Junipero Serra HS in Gardena, CA)
Darian Owens (4-star athlete) (Clovis West HS in Fresno, CA)
Krys Barnes (4-star inside linebacker) (Liberty HS in Bakersfield, CA)
Damian Alloway (4-star running back) (Summit HS in Fontana, CA)
JJ Molson (4-star kicker) (John Abbott College in Sainte Anne de Bellevue in Quebec)
Devon Modster (4-star quarterback) (Tesoro HS in Las Flores, CA)
Brandon Stephens (4-star running back) (Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas)
Dymond Lee (4-star wide receiver) (Chaminade College Prep in West Hills, CA)
Demetric Felton (4-star wide receiver) (Great Oak HS in Temecula, CA)
Adewale "Audie" Omotosho (4-star wide receiver) (Plano East Senior HS in Plano, Texas)
Nick Terry (3-star Junior College (JC) defensive tackle) (American River)
Jalen Starks (3-star fullback) (Crespi Carmelite HS in Encino, CA)
Austin Kent (3-star punter) (Providence HS in Charlotte, NC)
Osa Odighizuwa (3-star defensive tackle) (David Douglas HS in Portland, OR)
Jordan Wilson (3-star tight end) (Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, TN)
Alex Akingbulu (3-star offensive tackle) (Nathaniel Narbonne HS in Harbor City, CA)
Mike Alves (3-star offensive guard) (St. Augustine HS in San Diego, CA)
Matt Lynch (3-star quarterback) (Legacy HS in Broomfield, CO)
Francisco "Paco" Perez (3-star offensive guard) (Baldwin Park HS in Baldwin Park, CA)
Keyon Riley (3-star safety) (Servite HS in Anaheim, CA)
Leni Toailoa (3-star safety) (Carter HS in Rialto, CA)
Jake Burton (3-star defensive end) (Granite Hills HS in El Cajon, CA)
Marcus Moore (3-star defensive end) (Crespi Carmelite HS in Encino, CA)
Chigoze Nnoruka (2-star defensive end) (American River)
Johnny Den Bleyker (2-star long snapper) (Moreau Catholic HS in Hayward, CA)
UCLA has a chance to get an extra commit from a 4-star defensive end from Utah, Maxs Tupai. They will compete with Oklahoma, USC, Utah, BYU, and Oregon State for this recruit. Even though UCLA already has an outstanding class, adding Tupai will add to the greatness of it.
Some of UCLA's big recruiting targets chose to sign with other schools. For example, 4-star defensive tackle Garrett Rand signed his letter of intent to Wisconsin. Four-star tight end Devin Asiasi signed his letter of intent to Michigan and 4-star athlete Aaron Hansford signed his letter of intent to Texas A&M, UCLA's first opponent of next season. All in all, UCLA had an amazing National Letter of Intent Day. I hope these players are as good as they are rated when recruited and have a great football career.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
NFL Draft Predictions (UCLA Players)
Besides Super Bowl Sunday and National Letter of Intent Day (this coming Wednesday, February 3rd), the only big football event coming up within the next five months is the 2016 NFL draft, which will begin April 28th. Many senior and junior football players (including fellow UCLA Bruin football players) will join the big leagues and be selected to which team they will play on. There are many key UCLA football players who will enter the draft and hopefully have an amazing rest of their football careers.
There are 7 rounds to the NFL draft, each round having about 30 players in it. The first round is usually the most highlighted and looked up towards, especially the first overall pick. Last year, the first player selected in the NFL draft was former Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Next behind Winston was former Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota, who won the Heisman Trophy that year, but lost the national championship. UCLA's top pick of the draft that year was second round pick Eric Kendricks (45th overall). The last time a UCLA player was picked in the first round was back in the 2014 NFL draft, in which former outside linebacker Anthony Barr was the 9th overall pick. Barr was one of the hard hitters on defense for UCLA. One of his biggest tackles in his UCLA career came against USC in 2012. In that game, he sacked former USC quarterback Matt Barkley really hard. Barkley's shoulder was sprained and it ended the quarterback's college career. If my explanation of that play wasn't so clear, the video to the play is at the end of the post.
UCLA has two players (both on defense) that are predicted to go in the first round of the draft. Former outside linebacker (can also play running back) Myles Jack is predicted to be among the first five overall picks. Not only can Jack can hit hard on defense, much like Anthony Barr, but he can also pull off some amazing runs, such as the touchdown run in the second video. The other first round prediction is defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Clark was one of the biggest UCLA players on defense this past season. He also had a touchdown of his own: a receiving touchdown in UCLA's season opener against the Virginia Cavaliers.
Many more Bruins are predicted to go into other rounds of the draft. Offensive tackle Caleb Benenoch and running back Paul Perkins are predicted to go into the third round of the draft. Perkins has been a gigantic factor in UCLA's offense. Through his three years, he has rushed for a total of 3,491 yards, averaging about 1,164 rushing yards per season. This past season, he rushed for 1,343 yards. Perkins knows how to pull off some ridiculous runs, such as the third video down below. Usually, you wouldn't think the play would be a long rush, but when Perkins rips through the defense, he's gone (most of the time). Offensive guard Alex Redmond is predicted to go into the fourth round, and wide receivers Devin Fuller and Jordan Payton are projected to go into the sixth and seventh rounds.
Even though UCLA is losing lots of talent in football, there is still more coming in for National Letter of Intent Day, when graduating high school football players choose which college they will attend and play football for. In the next post, I will discuss the results of NLI Day. I hope that UCLA will have a great recruiting class and that these players will be well-prepared for the NFL in their future.
There are 7 rounds to the NFL draft, each round having about 30 players in it. The first round is usually the most highlighted and looked up towards, especially the first overall pick. Last year, the first player selected in the NFL draft was former Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Next behind Winston was former Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota, who won the Heisman Trophy that year, but lost the national championship. UCLA's top pick of the draft that year was second round pick Eric Kendricks (45th overall). The last time a UCLA player was picked in the first round was back in the 2014 NFL draft, in which former outside linebacker Anthony Barr was the 9th overall pick. Barr was one of the hard hitters on defense for UCLA. One of his biggest tackles in his UCLA career came against USC in 2012. In that game, he sacked former USC quarterback Matt Barkley really hard. Barkley's shoulder was sprained and it ended the quarterback's college career. If my explanation of that play wasn't so clear, the video to the play is at the end of the post.
UCLA has two players (both on defense) that are predicted to go in the first round of the draft. Former outside linebacker (can also play running back) Myles Jack is predicted to be among the first five overall picks. Not only can Jack can hit hard on defense, much like Anthony Barr, but he can also pull off some amazing runs, such as the touchdown run in the second video. The other first round prediction is defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Clark was one of the biggest UCLA players on defense this past season. He also had a touchdown of his own: a receiving touchdown in UCLA's season opener against the Virginia Cavaliers.
Many more Bruins are predicted to go into other rounds of the draft. Offensive tackle Caleb Benenoch and running back Paul Perkins are predicted to go into the third round of the draft. Perkins has been a gigantic factor in UCLA's offense. Through his three years, he has rushed for a total of 3,491 yards, averaging about 1,164 rushing yards per season. This past season, he rushed for 1,343 yards. Perkins knows how to pull off some ridiculous runs, such as the third video down below. Usually, you wouldn't think the play would be a long rush, but when Perkins rips through the defense, he's gone (most of the time). Offensive guard Alex Redmond is predicted to go into the fourth round, and wide receivers Devin Fuller and Jordan Payton are projected to go into the sixth and seventh rounds.
Even though UCLA is losing lots of talent in football, there is still more coming in for National Letter of Intent Day, when graduating high school football players choose which college they will attend and play football for. In the next post, I will discuss the results of NLI Day. I hope that UCLA will have a great recruiting class and that these players will be well-prepared for the NFL in their future.
The big sack on Matt Barkley by Anthony Barr.
Listen to the crowd's reaction to the hit. (2012)
A replay of a touchdown run by Myles Jack. (2014)
Compare these two tackles by Anthony Barr and
Myles Jack. (2013)
One of the ridiculous rushes by Paul Perkins. (2015)
Thursday, January 28, 2016
The 2016 College Football Playoff Results and Final Rankings
The College Football season has finally come to a close, with no more games until the next season (2016-2017). In this post, I will mainly talk about the New Year's Six, which are the six big bowl games of the postseason.
The Chick-fil-A Bowl was the first of the New Year's Six bowls, a matchup between the 9th-ranked Florida State Seminoles and the 18th-ranked Houston Cougars, the highest-ranked Group of 5 team. The Group of 5 is a bunch of conferences that do not produce many powerhouse football teams. The other 5 conferences known for powerhouse football schools make up the Power 5, consisting of the Atlantic Coast Conference (which Florida State is in), the Big 12 Conference (teams from Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas etc.), the Big Ten Conference (most of this conference's teams are in the Midwest), the Pacific-12 Conference (the conference UCLA and USC are in), and the Southeastern Conference (teams from Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, etc.). The Group of 5 conferences are the American Athletic Conference (which Houston is in), Conference USA (around the area that SEC schools are located), the Mid-American Conference (more Midwest teams), the Mountain West Conference (every non-Pac-12 school west of Oklahoma, includes Hawaii), and the Sun Belt Conference (the least watched conference out of them all, almost never has a legitimately good team).
Anyways, Houston shocked Florida State 38-24 behind their high-powered offense. The Cougars were led by quarterback Greg Ward Jr., who will return to Houston for next season and possibly be amongst the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy. Ward had 238 yards passing along with a touchdown and an interception. He also led the team with 67 yards rushing. Houston finished the season ranked #8 in the AP with a 13-1 record, losing only to Connecticut because of an injury to Greg Ward Jr. As for Florida State, quarterback Sean Maguire threw for 392 yards, but cost the 'Noles with 4 interceptions. FSU finished 14th in the AP with a 10-3 record.
Later on New Year's Eve, the College Football Playoff began. Top-ranked Clemson and 4th-ranked Oklahoma squared off in the Orange Bowl. Clemson trailed 17-16 at halftime, but pulled away with a 37-17 victory over the Sooners. Oklahoma was outscored 21-0 in the second half. They were led by quarterback Baker Mayfield, who had 311 passing yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Clemson was led by quarterback Deshaun Watson, who had 187 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Oklahoma finished the season at #5, with an 11-2 record.
After the Orange Bowl finished, the Cotton Bowl (the other Playoff semifinal) began. It was a matchup between #2 Alabama Crimson Tide and #3 Michigan State Spartans. Instead of being a close MSU win as predicted, Alabama completely shut down Michigan State 38-0 to go for their 4th national title over seven seasons. The Crimson Tide were led by quarterback Jake Coker, who threw for 286 yards and 2 touchdowns. Michigan State senior quarterback Connor Cook struggled in his final college game, tossing 2 interceptions and a total of 219 passing yards. Michigan State finished the season ranked #6 (one spot below their preseason ranking) with a 12-2 record.
On New Year's Day, #7 Ohio State and #8 Notre Dame squared off in the Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes of Ohio State built an early 28-7 lead before Notre Dame scored to cut the lead to 28-14 at the half. OSU pulled away with a 44-28 win. The Buckeyes were led by quarterback J.T. Barrett, who had 211 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Ohio State finished at #4 with a 12-1 record. Notre Dame was led by quarterback DeShone Kizer, who had 284 passing yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. Notre Dame finished 11th with a 10-3 record.
The granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, was also played on New Year's. This was a matchup between #5 Iowa ad #6 Stanford. However, this game was nowhere near close. Heisman runner-up Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey caught a pass and ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game. Quarterback Kevin Hogan ran for an 8-yard touchdown and then Quentin Meeks picked off Iowa QB C.J. Beathard and took the ball back 66 yards for a touchdown. Stanford had a 21-0 lead, but they were far from finished. Not even a minute into the second quarter, Iowa punted only to see Christian McCaffrey return to punt back 63 yards to the end zone. Stanford led 35-0 at halftime. Iowa tried to come back, but still lost 45-16. Christian McCaffrey broke the Rose Bowl record for all-purpose yards (368). He was also the first player in Rose Bowl history to have at least 100 yards receiving (105) and rushing (172). Iowa finished 9th with a 12-2 record while Stanford leaped to #3 with a 12-2 record as well.
The Sugar Bowl was another blowout. Number 12 Ole Miss crushed #16 Oklahoma State 48-20. The Rebels were led by quarterback Chad Kelly, who threw for 302 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception, which was on the first drive of the game. Since the interception, Ole Miss rolled to a 34-6 halftime lead. Oklahoma State finished the season all the way down at #20 with a 10-3 record, with a 3-game losing streak to end the season. Ole Miss joined the top 10, sitting at #10 with a 10-3 record.
The national championship game, Alabama vs. Clemson, was tied at the half (14-14). The rest of the game was a close one, but Alabama clinched their fourth national championship in the past seven seasons, defeating previously-unbeaten Clemson 45-40. Clemson had more offensive consistency, but couldn't pull away with the championship. Deshaun Watson threw for 405 yards with 4 touchdowns and an interception as Jake Coker threw 335 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Heisman-winning Alabama running back Derrick Henry (He will go into the NFL draft later this year) ran for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns. Alabama finished atop the top 25 with a 14-1 record while Clemson sat at second, sharing the same record as Alabama.
So here is the final AP top 25:
1. Alabama (14-1) (Southeastern Conference)
2. Clemson (14-1) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
3. Stanford (12-2) (Pacific-12 Conference)
4. Ohio State (12-1) (Big Ten Conference)
5. Oklahoma (11-2) (Big 12 Conference)
6. Michigan State (12-2) (Big Ten Conference)
7. TCU (11-2) (Big 12 Conference)
8. Houston (13-1) (American Athletic Conference)
9. Iowa (12-2) (Big Ten Conference)
10. Ole Miss (10-3) (Southeastern Conference)
11. Notre Dame (10-3) (Independent, not part of any conference)
12. Michigan (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
13. Baylor (10-3) (Big 12 Conference)
14. Florida State (10-3) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
15. North Carolina (11-3) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
16. LSU (9-3) (Southeastern Conference)
17. Utah (10-3) (Pacific-12 Conference)
18. Navy (11-2) (American Athletic Conference)
19. Oregon (9-4) (Pacific-12 Conference)
20. Oklahoma State (10-3) (Big 12 Conference)
21. Wisconsin (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
22. Tennessee (9-4) (Southeastern Conference)
23. Northwestern (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
24. Western Kentucky (12-2) (Conference USA)
25. Florida (10-4) (Southeastern Conference)
The Chick-fil-A Bowl was the first of the New Year's Six bowls, a matchup between the 9th-ranked Florida State Seminoles and the 18th-ranked Houston Cougars, the highest-ranked Group of 5 team. The Group of 5 is a bunch of conferences that do not produce many powerhouse football teams. The other 5 conferences known for powerhouse football schools make up the Power 5, consisting of the Atlantic Coast Conference (which Florida State is in), the Big 12 Conference (teams from Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas etc.), the Big Ten Conference (most of this conference's teams are in the Midwest), the Pacific-12 Conference (the conference UCLA and USC are in), and the Southeastern Conference (teams from Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, etc.). The Group of 5 conferences are the American Athletic Conference (which Houston is in), Conference USA (around the area that SEC schools are located), the Mid-American Conference (more Midwest teams), the Mountain West Conference (every non-Pac-12 school west of Oklahoma, includes Hawaii), and the Sun Belt Conference (the least watched conference out of them all, almost never has a legitimately good team).
Anyways, Houston shocked Florida State 38-24 behind their high-powered offense. The Cougars were led by quarterback Greg Ward Jr., who will return to Houston for next season and possibly be amongst the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy. Ward had 238 yards passing along with a touchdown and an interception. He also led the team with 67 yards rushing. Houston finished the season ranked #8 in the AP with a 13-1 record, losing only to Connecticut because of an injury to Greg Ward Jr. As for Florida State, quarterback Sean Maguire threw for 392 yards, but cost the 'Noles with 4 interceptions. FSU finished 14th in the AP with a 10-3 record.
Later on New Year's Eve, the College Football Playoff began. Top-ranked Clemson and 4th-ranked Oklahoma squared off in the Orange Bowl. Clemson trailed 17-16 at halftime, but pulled away with a 37-17 victory over the Sooners. Oklahoma was outscored 21-0 in the second half. They were led by quarterback Baker Mayfield, who had 311 passing yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Clemson was led by quarterback Deshaun Watson, who had 187 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Oklahoma finished the season at #5, with an 11-2 record.
After the Orange Bowl finished, the Cotton Bowl (the other Playoff semifinal) began. It was a matchup between #2 Alabama Crimson Tide and #3 Michigan State Spartans. Instead of being a close MSU win as predicted, Alabama completely shut down Michigan State 38-0 to go for their 4th national title over seven seasons. The Crimson Tide were led by quarterback Jake Coker, who threw for 286 yards and 2 touchdowns. Michigan State senior quarterback Connor Cook struggled in his final college game, tossing 2 interceptions and a total of 219 passing yards. Michigan State finished the season ranked #6 (one spot below their preseason ranking) with a 12-2 record.
On New Year's Day, #7 Ohio State and #8 Notre Dame squared off in the Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes of Ohio State built an early 28-7 lead before Notre Dame scored to cut the lead to 28-14 at the half. OSU pulled away with a 44-28 win. The Buckeyes were led by quarterback J.T. Barrett, who had 211 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Ohio State finished at #4 with a 12-1 record. Notre Dame was led by quarterback DeShone Kizer, who had 284 passing yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. Notre Dame finished 11th with a 10-3 record.
The granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, was also played on New Year's. This was a matchup between #5 Iowa ad #6 Stanford. However, this game was nowhere near close. Heisman runner-up Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey caught a pass and ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game. Quarterback Kevin Hogan ran for an 8-yard touchdown and then Quentin Meeks picked off Iowa QB C.J. Beathard and took the ball back 66 yards for a touchdown. Stanford had a 21-0 lead, but they were far from finished. Not even a minute into the second quarter, Iowa punted only to see Christian McCaffrey return to punt back 63 yards to the end zone. Stanford led 35-0 at halftime. Iowa tried to come back, but still lost 45-16. Christian McCaffrey broke the Rose Bowl record for all-purpose yards (368). He was also the first player in Rose Bowl history to have at least 100 yards receiving (105) and rushing (172). Iowa finished 9th with a 12-2 record while Stanford leaped to #3 with a 12-2 record as well.
The Sugar Bowl was another blowout. Number 12 Ole Miss crushed #16 Oklahoma State 48-20. The Rebels were led by quarterback Chad Kelly, who threw for 302 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception, which was on the first drive of the game. Since the interception, Ole Miss rolled to a 34-6 halftime lead. Oklahoma State finished the season all the way down at #20 with a 10-3 record, with a 3-game losing streak to end the season. Ole Miss joined the top 10, sitting at #10 with a 10-3 record.
The national championship game, Alabama vs. Clemson, was tied at the half (14-14). The rest of the game was a close one, but Alabama clinched their fourth national championship in the past seven seasons, defeating previously-unbeaten Clemson 45-40. Clemson had more offensive consistency, but couldn't pull away with the championship. Deshaun Watson threw for 405 yards with 4 touchdowns and an interception as Jake Coker threw 335 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Heisman-winning Alabama running back Derrick Henry (He will go into the NFL draft later this year) ran for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns. Alabama finished atop the top 25 with a 14-1 record while Clemson sat at second, sharing the same record as Alabama.
So here is the final AP top 25:
1. Alabama (14-1) (Southeastern Conference)
2. Clemson (14-1) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
3. Stanford (12-2) (Pacific-12 Conference)
4. Ohio State (12-1) (Big Ten Conference)
5. Oklahoma (11-2) (Big 12 Conference)
6. Michigan State (12-2) (Big Ten Conference)
7. TCU (11-2) (Big 12 Conference)
8. Houston (13-1) (American Athletic Conference)
9. Iowa (12-2) (Big Ten Conference)
10. Ole Miss (10-3) (Southeastern Conference)
11. Notre Dame (10-3) (Independent, not part of any conference)
12. Michigan (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
13. Baylor (10-3) (Big 12 Conference)
14. Florida State (10-3) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
15. North Carolina (11-3) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
16. LSU (9-3) (Southeastern Conference)
17. Utah (10-3) (Pacific-12 Conference)
18. Navy (11-2) (American Athletic Conference)
19. Oregon (9-4) (Pacific-12 Conference)
20. Oklahoma State (10-3) (Big 12 Conference)
21. Wisconsin (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
22. Tennessee (9-4) (Southeastern Conference)
23. Northwestern (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
24. Western Kentucky (12-2) (Conference USA)
25. Florida (10-4) (Southeastern Conference)
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Part 13: UCLA vs. Nebraska (Foster Farms Bowl)
The UCLA Bruins football team traveled up to the site of the 50th Super Bowl, Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, to play in the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl. They played against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who had 5 wins and 7 losses before the game. UCLA had 8 wins and 4 losses.
In the first quarter, the Bruins hit the scoreboard on their first drive, finished with a 1-yard TD rush from running back Paul Perkins. Nebraska answered with another 1-yard TD rush, this time by Imani Cross. The two teams both punted on their following drives, tied at 7 by the end of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen threw a beautiful 60-yard touchdown pass to receiver Kenneth Walker, who was the fastest receiver on the team. Later, Rosen threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to running back Nate Starks. The Bruins had a 2-touchdown lead (21-7), but blew that as Nebraska scored two touchdowns to tie the game at 21 at the half. Before the end of the half, there was a bad targeting call on Nebraska defender Nate Gerry, as this finished off his playing time for Nebraska this season.
The third quarter was when everything started to get really bad for UCLA. Nebraska took their first lead of the game on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong to WR Stanley Morgan. The extra point was blocked, but that didn't stop the Huskers. Later, they kicked a short field goal to take a 30-21 lead. The game practically ended early in the final quarter of the season. Tommy Armstrong ran for a touchdown and the Huskers led 37-21. By this point, UCLA allowed over 300 yards of rushing from Nebraska. A 9-yard touchdown pass from Rosen to WR Jordan Payton cut the score to 37-27. The two-point conversion was successful and the score was 37-29. Later in the quarter, during the waning 2 minutes, Rosen threw a Hail Mary attempt, which would be the final pass of Rosen's freshman year at UCLA. That resulted as an interception in the end zone and a touchback. Nebraska finished the game off with a 26-yard third down rush from fullback Cethan Carter.
UCLA football finished the season with 8 wins and 5 losses, 4 of which were upset losses. An upset loss is when a team loses to another team that is ranked below them. This usually happens when a top 25 team loses to an unranked team. UCLA's upset wins came against then-#20 California (40-24) at the Rose Bowl and then-#13 Utah (17-9) in Salt Lake City. Their upset losses were against Arizona State (38-23, UCLA was ranked 7th) at the Rose Bowl, Washington State (31-27, UCLA was ranked 19th) also at the Rose Bowl, USC (40-21, UCLA was ranked 22nd) and Nebraska (talked about in this post). The Bruins' other loss was against then-#15 Stanford (56-35, UCLA was ranked 18th) up in Northern California.
As of the end of the season, many key players for UCLA will either graduate from the university or go into the NFL draft early. Here is a list of key Bruins who will leave the team:
WR #7 Devin Fuller (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 6th round pick)
WR #9 Jordan Payton (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 7th round pick)
PK #15 Ka'imi Fairbairn (graduating)
TE #18 Thomas Duarte (going into NFL draft, possible late-round pick)
P #19 Matt Mengel (graduating)
RB #24 Paul Perkins (going into NFL draft, possible 3rd/4th round pick)
LB #30 Myles Jack (going into NFL draft, already left UCLA, possible 1st round pick)
OL #51 Alex Redmond (disqualified from Foster Farms Bowl due to hiring an agent, going into NFL draft, possible 4th round pick)
LB #51 Aaron Wallace (graduating)
C #54 Jake Brendel (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 2nd round pick)
OL #74 Caleb Benenoch (going into NFL draft, possible 3rd round pick)
DL #97 Kenny Clark (going into NFL draft, possible 1st round pick)
Like said in the list above, Myles Jack and Kenny Clark are both predicted to go into the first round (first 30 or so players) of the NFL draft. Each player in the list has been a key part to UCLA football for the past 3 or 4 years, each having at least 25 starts in their careers as Bruins.
There has also been a coaching change for UCLA. Running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu was promoted to offensive coordinator since former offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone left to be the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Speaking of Texas A&M, the Bruins will travel to College Station, Texas and open next season against the Aggies on September 3rd, 2016. Quarterback Josh Rosen will return for the Bruins and hopefully, starts off strong. At the same time, the Bruins need to avoid having bunches of injuries like the past season. I am really excited about next season. Gooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!
In the first quarter, the Bruins hit the scoreboard on their first drive, finished with a 1-yard TD rush from running back Paul Perkins. Nebraska answered with another 1-yard TD rush, this time by Imani Cross. The two teams both punted on their following drives, tied at 7 by the end of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen threw a beautiful 60-yard touchdown pass to receiver Kenneth Walker, who was the fastest receiver on the team. Later, Rosen threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to running back Nate Starks. The Bruins had a 2-touchdown lead (21-7), but blew that as Nebraska scored two touchdowns to tie the game at 21 at the half. Before the end of the half, there was a bad targeting call on Nebraska defender Nate Gerry, as this finished off his playing time for Nebraska this season.
The third quarter was when everything started to get really bad for UCLA. Nebraska took their first lead of the game on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong to WR Stanley Morgan. The extra point was blocked, but that didn't stop the Huskers. Later, they kicked a short field goal to take a 30-21 lead. The game practically ended early in the final quarter of the season. Tommy Armstrong ran for a touchdown and the Huskers led 37-21. By this point, UCLA allowed over 300 yards of rushing from Nebraska. A 9-yard touchdown pass from Rosen to WR Jordan Payton cut the score to 37-27. The two-point conversion was successful and the score was 37-29. Later in the quarter, during the waning 2 minutes, Rosen threw a Hail Mary attempt, which would be the final pass of Rosen's freshman year at UCLA. That resulted as an interception in the end zone and a touchback. Nebraska finished the game off with a 26-yard third down rush from fullback Cethan Carter.
UCLA football finished the season with 8 wins and 5 losses, 4 of which were upset losses. An upset loss is when a team loses to another team that is ranked below them. This usually happens when a top 25 team loses to an unranked team. UCLA's upset wins came against then-#20 California (40-24) at the Rose Bowl and then-#13 Utah (17-9) in Salt Lake City. Their upset losses were against Arizona State (38-23, UCLA was ranked 7th) at the Rose Bowl, Washington State (31-27, UCLA was ranked 19th) also at the Rose Bowl, USC (40-21, UCLA was ranked 22nd) and Nebraska (talked about in this post). The Bruins' other loss was against then-#15 Stanford (56-35, UCLA was ranked 18th) up in Northern California.
As of the end of the season, many key players for UCLA will either graduate from the university or go into the NFL draft early. Here is a list of key Bruins who will leave the team:
WR #7 Devin Fuller (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 6th round pick)
WR #9 Jordan Payton (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 7th round pick)
PK #15 Ka'imi Fairbairn (graduating)
TE #18 Thomas Duarte (going into NFL draft, possible late-round pick)
P #19 Matt Mengel (graduating)
RB #24 Paul Perkins (going into NFL draft, possible 3rd/4th round pick)
LB #30 Myles Jack (going into NFL draft, already left UCLA, possible 1st round pick)
OL #51 Alex Redmond (disqualified from Foster Farms Bowl due to hiring an agent, going into NFL draft, possible 4th round pick)
LB #51 Aaron Wallace (graduating)
C #54 Jake Brendel (graduating, going into NFL draft, possible 2nd round pick)
OL #74 Caleb Benenoch (going into NFL draft, possible 3rd round pick)
DL #97 Kenny Clark (going into NFL draft, possible 1st round pick)
Like said in the list above, Myles Jack and Kenny Clark are both predicted to go into the first round (first 30 or so players) of the NFL draft. Each player in the list has been a key part to UCLA football for the past 3 or 4 years, each having at least 25 starts in their careers as Bruins.
There has also been a coaching change for UCLA. Running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu was promoted to offensive coordinator since former offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone left to be the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Speaking of Texas A&M, the Bruins will travel to College Station, Texas and open next season against the Aggies on September 3rd, 2016. Quarterback Josh Rosen will return for the Bruins and hopefully, starts off strong. At the same time, the Bruins need to avoid having bunches of injuries like the past season. I am really excited about next season. Gooooooooooooo Bruins!!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)