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Posts Tagged ‘UConn Huskies’

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Let’s Play Some College Football!

September 1st, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Football

2010 gridiron action kicks off Thursday night!

Utes fans await the Pitt Panthers for Thursday night action.

Can it be here already? That “here” would be the 2010 college football season.

After an active summer when several colleges announced that they would be leaving their leagues for brighter horizons, the conference transfer rumors quickly died down and practice for the season began. Those warm ups are now over and the first games will be held tomorrow night with opening weekend action continuing through Labor Day.

Thursday Night

The very first game of this season and weekend will kick off at 6:30 p.m. as Presbyterian plays at Wake Forest. The weekend’s action concludes on Monday at 8 p.m. when Boise State and Virginia Tech duke it out in Washington, D.C. Key games are getting air time with some getting national coverage while others are being shown locally.

Although there are a number of lopsided contests scheduled for this weekend–considering that college football doesn’t have a preseason like the NFL that is understandable–there are a number of contests worth following this weekend including:

Southern Miss at South Carolina – The Golden Eagles take on the Gamecocks in Columbia, a contest between a middle of the road Conference USA team and a middle of the road SEC school. I’m picking the Gamecocks to win at home.

Pittsburgh at Utah — Of course, THE game to watch on Thursday night is the Panthers at the Utes. The Panthers are the top choice for Big East honors this year while the Utes will be heading to the Pac 10 (12) next year. A lot is riding on this game for both teams, but I’m going with Utah in a close one.

Friday action is a disappointment as the only games scheduled are Villanova at Temple and Arizona at Toledo. Seems to me someone could have put a marquee game on; plenty of people won’t be able to tune in on Thursday night, but they will on Friday.

UConn at Michigan – Of all the Saturday contests, this one could be easily overlooked. Michigan is improved and so are the Huskies. I’m going with UConn to pull out an upset in front of 110,000 disappointed Wolverine fans in Ann Arbor.

San Jose State at Alabama – The only reason to watch this game is to see last year’s national champions start off their quest for a repeat. You’ll watch the game long enough for the real action to begin the following hour. Obviously, the Crimson Tide will romp.

Oregon State at TCU – 45 minutes after the ‘Bama game starts, these two teams will hash it out in Texas. I’m not sure why, but I keep thinking that the Beavers will dispose of the Horned Frogs in Arlington.

LSU at North Carolina — I like this match up because it is one of the more even games between ranked teams. Though I live only 30 minutes from Chapel Hill, I believe the Tigers will prevail.

Sunday will be like Friday as Tulsa takes on East Carolina followed by Southern Methodist at Texas Tech. Instead, fire up the grill and invite some friends over.

Labor Day games risk getting overlooked as people head back from the shore and are relaxing by cooking out or are preparing to head back to school. Though you may not be interested in tuning in to Navy at Maryland at 4 p.m. ET, you’ll want to make sure that you view the 8 p.m. contest between Boise State and Virginia Tech. Yes, the best game has been saved for last! I believe the Hokies will squeeze by the Broncos who, by the way, no longer are a surprise or underrated college football team.

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Photo courtesy of the University of Utah.


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UConn to the BCS & Other Mysteries

July 29th, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Football

Title Town For Someone

The UConn Huskies playing in a BCS game seems almost farfetched, but when you consider how close they played in each of their losses last season, the Huskies stand a chance to prove themselves nationally this year. Winning the Big East Conference championship would provide the Huskies with that access; who’s to say that UConn won’t win it all?

The Bleacher Report is just one of many websites offering up their predictions about how the 2010 college football season might unfold. And writer Ben Carson got one thing dead right: most avid fans think about college football year ’round, thus the prognostications are never too early.

SEC Rules

One thing on most fan’s mind is this: will the SEC fill out the glove and claim their fifth consecutive championship? Importantly, are the Tennessee Volunteers good enough to knock off the Tide and keep all challengers at bay?

Clearly, college football is one of the hardest sports to predict with supposed top teams going from glory to gloom in just one season. Yes, Hawaii got creamed by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl a few years back, but there always seems to be a handful of Cinderella teams who defy the odds and get an unaccustomed January play date.

Best Guess

Personally, I haven’t bothered to throw my predictions out there, not that I’m afraid of what you may think. I simply find it too difficult to offer anything that could possibly be taken seriously; then again I see the following trends unfolding in 2010:

New Champ — This will be the season that the national champion won’t be from the SEC. Instead, I see Texas (not Oklahoma as Carson suggested) winning the Big 12 and playing for the national title. The Longhorns will face off against an SEC opponent and surprise everyone with a statement making win.

No Irish — This is the year that the Irish will turn the corner. Not so fast.  Brian Kelly will make some much needed improvements including getting the Notre Dame defense to do their job, but I don’t expect they’ll manage much more than a lower tier bowl bid this year. Three years out and the Irish could be playing for the national championship.

Mountaineers Run It – UConn may be the odds on favorite for some, but I see West Virginia winning the Big East on the legs of Noel Devine. If Devine rushes for 2,000 yards, he’ll lead a perfect West Virginia team to a shot to play for the national championhip. Yes, they’ll have to beat LSU, UConn and Pitt on the road along the way.

In a few weeks we’ll take a look at the first games of the season and offer up our predictions then.

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March Madness: Follow the Action!

March 15th, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Men's Basketball

College professors will have to be a bit forgiving over the next few weeks. With hoop action heating up for men and women alike, students across hundreds of college campuses are following the exploits of their favorite teams on all three levels of play: Divisions I, II and III. They’re somewhat distracted and you can thank a certain orange round ball with causing that problem.

Final FourForgive me if I’m not too excited about Divisions II and III although I did graduate from a college who competed on the smallest of the three levels. When it comes to late season basketball—March Madness—what happens on the Division I level gets all the press. And, not to put the women out, men’s basketball has by far the biggest following of all.

Besides, a UConn Lady Huskies repeat is a given, right?

I wrote this article before the final conference championship games were played which means what I have to say won’t include details about Selection Sunday and the 65 teams chosen to go to the big dance. But, there are certain givens about this year’s tournament, stuff we already know will happen no matter who makes the tournament or where they are seeded.

Major Downer – UConn and UNC are perennial performers who make it the NCAA and go deep. Last year the Tarheels won the championship, this year they won’t be going to the dance. Neither will the Huskies. Both teams were expected to shine this year, instead they have disappointed their fans. Better luck in 2011.

No Duds – It seems every year a Cinderella team finds their way in the tournament, a 13-18 team from a bottom feeder conference who suddenly livened up at season’s end to win their conference title. Well, not this year. True, there are a handful of teams who got in who weren’t expected to including Winthrop and East Tennessee State, but at least they have winning records. And, they’ll most likely get trashed in the opening round by a top seeded team.

Baylor – Who would have ever thought that the Baylor Bears would be a force in college basketball? Last year, they just missed out on the NCAA tournament but made it to the NIT before losing in the championship game. This year, they’re testing everyone including the high flying Kansas Jayhawks. Just remember the names Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn—you’ll hear their names repeated as long as Baylor stays alive in the Big Dance. Did I mention Ekpe Udoh? Three players who could help Baylor surprise this year.

Tourney Hosts – 14 cities host opening, first/second round, regional and final four action, giving these locales a chance to bring in rapid money spending fans to bolster the local economy. Pity Dayton, Ohio who gets to host just one game—the forgetful opening round play in game no one cares about. Buffalo will be hosting first/second round action March 19-21 which raises a pair of questions: what if the city is socked in by a blizzard and what is there to do in Buffalo anyway? The best deal belongs to Indianapolis as that hoops crazed town will host the Final Four which will be held at Lucas Oil Arena April 3 & 5.

Stay sane….March Madness is here!

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College Basketball Surprises (Or Not)

February 9th, 2010 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Collegiate Sports, NCAA Men's Basketball

The regular season for men’s college basketball is nearly two-thirds complete, with schools now playing the second half of their conference season. This time next month we will be in the midst of March Madness with Selection Sunday announcing the 65 teams who made the tournament, with the first game played two days later.

basketballOddly, the defending national champion UNC Tarheels look like that they will sit this one out unless they manage to win the conference tournament, thereby receiving an automatic bid. But at 13-10, that isn’t a likely scenario with the more realistic picture having the Tarheels play in the NIT.

But the Tarheels are not the only surprise team of 2010. There are at least four more teams who have raised eyebrows at some point this season with some not on everyone’s radar, at least just yet:

Pitt Panthers – Being 17-6 and ranked #21 isn’t a bad place to be, but when the expectations for your team were so much higher, the Panthers seem to be a disappointment. At 7-4 in the Big East, Pitt lost a pair of games in recent weeks that they should have won against Seton Hall and South Florida. Still, don’t count Pitt out just yet: they’ll make the NCAA and they could go deep. A close second Big East surprise is the Uconn Huskies who, like UNC, will probably not make the tournament.

Charlotte 49ers – The Dayton Flyers were expected to waltz through the Atlantic 10 this year as Xavier, Rhode Island, Temple and St. Joe’s lost their most talented players to the NBA last season. But Dayton is 5-3 and in sixth place in the conference with Charlotte leading all-comers at 8-1. Forward Shamari Spears and guard Derrio Green are leading the 49ers effort this season, combining for 31 points per game. Tomorrow night’s game at Dayton is a must win for the Flyers.

Cornell Big Red – The Ivy League will likely never field a national champion, but they usually can be counted on for fielding a team with the potential to slay a giant. Princeton and Pennsylvania once had a lockhold on the conference for smart people, but Cornell is 6-0 and will most likely win the conference if they knock down challenges from Princeton and Harvard. The Big Red’s open seasoning victory at Alabama and five point loss to #1 Kansas has put Cornell on the NCAA conference map.

Lafayette Leopards – Not exactly a power conference but one where the tournament winner receives an automatic bid, the Patriot League has its own surprise in the form of Lafayette. Everyone had the Leopards finishing dead last, but they started out their conference season on top of the league. Now 5-3, Lafeyette is one game behind Lehigh, but within striking distance of the top. At 14-9 overall, the Pennsylvania school may be a surprise entry in the Field of 65 come March 14.

West Coast

I realize that this list is skewed toward eastern teams, but I think that may be due mostly to the strength of the east versus the west. Indeed, when a power conference such as the PAC 10 cannot place a single team in the Top 25, then you know that a shift has taken place. Gonzaga, New Mexico, Brigham Young, and UNLV are the top teams of the west, but the dearth of a dominating team from that area of the country is simply stunning.


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