No.2 Oklahoma State: This is most likely the team that could pose the largest challenge for the Ducks, as Brandon Weeden is shaping up to be a Heisman candidate along with his star receiver JustinBlackmon. The Cowboys kill some and sneak past others, and with only two games remaining, they control their own destiny. 

The Stats: The Cowboys are second in the country in passing yards with around 400 per game. They are also second in points scored with an average of 51 points per game, although their defense has let up 26 PPG, which is 62nd in the nation.

The Schedule: So far their closest game was a nailbiter win over Texas A-M, 30, 29. This week they crushed Texas Tech by scoring 49 points in the first half to win 66, 6. Later this year the Cowboys do have to face the No.6 Sooners in bedlam which has proven to be trouble for this team, but if they survive that game, they go to the natty.

No.3 Alabama: Even though the Crimson Tide has lost a game, it was only by three points in overtime to the number one team in the country. It still seems like Alabama should be undefeated, and they still have a huge chance of getting to the title game. Well, only if Oklahoma State loses, of course. 

The Stats: Alabama most likely has the best defense in the country, and the stats show it too as they allow the least amount of points in the country (7.1). The Tide scores pretty well with 34 PPG which is ranked 34th and the team rushes  for an average of 215 yards which is ranked 18th overall.

The Schedule: Alabama’s loss, against LSU, was no a bad one and does not tarnish their chances much. The Crimson Tide have defeated two top 15 (at they time of the game) teams including Arkansas and Florida by a combined 52 points. If Alabama was to drop in the rankings, it would have to be in their final game against No.20 Auburn.

Okay, so this is who would have to lose if the Ducks would have a chance to make it to the National Championship Game. But what do the Ducks have to do? Lets check out their resume-

No.7 Oregon: The Ducks lost their first game back in September against still undefeated LSU, but since then Darren Thomas, LaMicheal James, and Kenjon Barner have been blowing enemies out of the water, and after a blowout of Stanford, the Ducks might have a chance to get to New Orleans.

The Stats: The Ducks have proven that they are the scariest offense to face in the nation, and have earned the nickname “The Quack Attack”. Oregon has the 5th best rushing attack in the country, averaging almost 300 yards per game on the ground. The Ducks also are ranked third in points scored with an average of 46 per game.

The Schedule: Of course the Ducks got their biggest win of the season this week beating No.4 Stanford by 20+ points, but they also have some other impressive wins over #18 Arizona State and Washington by double digits. As a matter of fact, no team has ever got within 13 points of the Ducks since LSU beat them in week 1. Oregon does have to face USC and Oregon State to close out the season, but neither has beat the Ducks lately.

My Prediction: I don’t think that the Ducks will make it to the National Championship Game for a few reasons. One, I don’t think Oklahoma State is going to lose, and two, Alabama is the better one-loss team. Still, I think that Oregon will score a Rose Bowl bid against the Big Ten champion, which I think is a game that they can most certainly win.

Pictures: Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, newnfldraft.com

So where did they start? Well with Stafford of course. But they also made some smart draft choices in the following years that got them to 2011. In 2010, the Lions grabbed Jahvid Best, who comes up big on third-and-short situations. Out of Cal, Best has the potential to be the Lions No.1 back for years to come. Also in 2010, Detroit drafted stellar Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who can deliver big sacks when necessary. He brought the quarterback to the ground 10 times last season and tacked on 66 tackles. As we move to 2011, another big rusher comes into play. Nick Fairley, who lead the eventual BCS-Championship winning defense in Auburn was Detroit’s big pick this year. Fairley totaled for 11.5 sacks and 56 tackles in 2010 with the Tigers and will most likely complement Suh on the d-line later this year. Who else did the Lions snatch up in New York this April? He scored over 2,000 yards and almost 20 touchdowns with Boise State in 2009 and 2010. That’s right, Titus Young. Young is definitely ready for the NFL, as he has played most of his career under star QB Kellen Moore. He will be perfect lining up on the other side of Calvin Johnson.

There is risk in molding your team completely around young players, but so far this year, the Lions have shown great talent. Detroit has started 3-0 for the first time in… well nobody knows that! But this year, and in years to come, the Lions could emerge as a possible contender consistently.

Who else has sucked for the last 15 years? Well the Bills of course! Buffalo has had zero superstars for the entire 21st century, and it may stay that way for a few more years. Even so, this team has built up their roster in a similar yet dissimilar way that Detroit has. The Bills have a veteran experience with a splash of young talent as opposed to all recent draft picks. Ryan Fitzpatrick seems to be the long-term QB for Buffalo, as he is proving this year that he is worthy of it by throwing for over 800 yards and 9 touchdowns after just 3 games. His targets include Steve Johnson, who leads the team in REC yards with 256, but David Nelson has also been reliable with over 200 yards already. Fred Jackson has stood out as the top running back with over 300 yards, although 2010 draft selection C.J. Spiller also shows great potential, along with some young athleticism.

The Bills have a very tough division to compete with in the AFC East which includes the New England Patriots and New York Jets. Still, Buffalo has started off 3-0 and could continue winning week after week if everybody does their job.

The Bills and Lions have shown great potential this year, don’t get me wrong, but I need to see more. You can’t judge any team from its first three games. I still want to see if Ryan Fitzpatrick can continue to march down the field like they have done so far this season. The Lions have yet to face a strong opponent, and I would like to see how they fare down the road against the Falcons or Packers.

Thanks for reading, Ethan

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Sources: espn.com, detroitlions.com, pro-football-reference.com

What defines Boise State? Underdogs? Well, this year it couldn’t be more well put than seniors. The top 4 running backs last year are seniors along with three out of the top five receivers including their longtime starting quarterback Kellen Moore. Speaking of Kellen Moore, the wide known QB has thrown for 90 more touchdowns than interceptions during his three years with Boise State. Along with his teammates, he has high expectations. I tend to disagree. Moore had two tremendous passing targets last year including Titus Young and Austin Pettis. He lost both of those players to the NFL (They happened to be the only two who left). Right now, his top passing target is Tyler Shoemaker. Shoemaker didn’t catch half the passes that Young or Pettis did. And he recorded less than half of the yards that Titus did. Together the two receivers caught over 2,000 yards over the course of the 2010-11 season. That’s more than half of the yards that Kellen Moore threw for.

So who does have high expectations for the new season? Running back Doug Martin, who was the Broncos leading rusher last season with 1260 yards. Combine that with his receiving yards and he has more yards than Adrian Peterson did last season in the NFL. Martin also has an excellent offensive line defending him, led by definite NFL first-rounder Nate Potter. He should produce the same yards and possibly even more. Other running back talent in college football? Look to the SEC.

Alabama has proven to be one of the top powers in college football year after year. Who has helped them along the way? Mark Ingram. Well, he’s off to the pros and a new ‘Bama star has stepped into the spotlight. Trent Richardson has always been coach Nick Saban’s second choice. Now he has become the Crimson Tide back along with topping all the best running-back lists this year. In his previous two years, he has combined for about 1400 yards over around 200 carries. This year (his junior season), I expect him to rush for over a thousand yards with around 200 carries with Ingram out of the way. Freshman Philip Sims will be the ‘Bama starting QB this season, and without Julio Jones at reciever, he may hand the ball off more, giving Richardson more oppertunities. But which top-tier receiver is still around? Head on up to Oklahoma.

Ryan Broyles has been the number one receiver on the Sooners for his entire career with Oklahoma, dating back to the Sam Bradford ERA. This year he will continue this streak of dominance, this time with Landry Jones at QB. Broyles may even become the top receiver in the country if Jones continues passing the ball as often as past years. The wideout has shown great yardage numbers, along with a pretty good amount of touchdowns. The junior caught 1,622 yards with 14 touches last year and is in position to do it once again. Without DeMarco Murray to steal some of the Sooners plays (last year he had over 1200 yards), Broyles may get even more looks. So this year he will most likely catch for a little over 1,700 yards with about 17 touchdowns. A lot to ask? Maybe. But Ryan Broyles has the skills and the team to perform at a nation-high level. Another squad that should produce at a nation-high level? Let’s head back to Tuscaloosa.

The Crimson Tide defense was monstrous last year. Suprisingly, their defense will inprove even with the loss of Marcell Darius. They may have lost Darius to the draft, he was the only one that isn’t coming back to a stifling D. They have 10 starters returning including All-SEC’s Dont’a Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick, Mark Barron and Robert Lester. These superstars plus the new recruits that Nick Saban lured to Alabama can combine to bring the Tide back to the title. Last year they averaged 14.1 points allowed per game. This year they could lower that, along with their yards allowed per game which was 296 last season. Both of those catogories, Alabama ranked in the top 10 in the country. They could reach the top 5 in 2012. So I looked at all the best players in the league, but what about the best team? With every preview you have to predict a champ.

Auburn won the National Championship in Phoenix last year. They have just about no chance to win in New Orleans this year. Why? Because they lost the quarterback who made the big difference and his targets. So who does have a chance to compete for the title? Well lets look first to the team who did it a decade ago.

Oklahoma has always had high expectations. Almost every year critics and analysts belive they can compete for a title. But really they haven’t been really close since they lost in 2007. But this year they have 3 of their top 5 running backs returning including Roy Finch. For receivers, they have superstar Ryan Broyles, who caught for 1600 yards last season and can repeat. What about a QB? Landry Jones has been suitable for the spot and has two years of experience. But he may have to look to pass more due to the loss of star back DeMarco Murray. But still I think that Oklahoma will be a runner-up to my champion.

Who will win the National Championship this year? Nobody really knows. But you can make an educated guess. My guess: Alabama. As I featured in the article, the Crimson Tide have improved much on defense, giving them plenty of breathing room on offense. They have four all-SEC’s returning including their new recruits. With Trent Richardson in the backfield, the offense should not be a problem either, as he could rush for over 1,000 yards this year. I think that this team under Nick Saban, can win the NCAA Championship. Can.

P.S. Don’t tell anyone, but my real title contender is Boise State, with Kellen Moore and his senior class. But there is no way that they will get ranked high enough even if they go undefeated.

What they saw that day was a man wearing all white (most likely to be recognizable from a long distance), sitting in the outfield stands, just to the right of centerfield so a batter could look just to the right of the pitchers head and spot the man. It was perfectly placed, which made it more suspicious. Now how was he stealing the signs you ask? Well that is hard to tell. Does he have a friend with binoculars somewhere near the catcher relaying the signs? Who knows. But what we do know is how he’s telling the players. It is one simple movement. He lifts his arm up. The man only does this when he knows an offspeed pitch is coming, like a curveball or a change-up. The only pitch he does nothing for is the fastball. This signaling is well put together; just the lift of an arm. But is it working? The stats say YES.

It is almost obvious that the signaling is working as intended. First of all, the Jays have a big difference in home runs and in slugging percentage at home versus on the road. They also had a 32% higher home run frequency at home than on the road. And to add to it all, Toronto’s home run rate was twice their opponents in Rogers Center during 2010. And don’t forget the extreme home-road individual splits. Jose Bautista, arguably the Jays top hitter had a 1.118 OPS (on-base plus slugging) and 33 home runs at Rogers Centre. Bautista’s OPS free-falled to .879 with 21 homers away from home. For Adam Lind, he earned a .759 OPS with 15 homers at home, and only 8 home runs with a .660 OPS on the road. Aaron Hill shows the same with a split of .730-.605. But Vernon Wells is the real specimen. Wells had an OPS of .990 at home last year with 21 home runs. Away, he put up a shocking .699 OPS with just 10 jacks. And to make it even more suspicious, Wells was traded to Los Angeles where his OPS fell to .552 AT HOME. That seems a little to crazy to belive. Those stats could be a coincidence, but it definitely could have been because of the signals.

Even though the MLB has not taken action to stop this matter, the signs have been spotted by many different teams in the past year or two. The first sighting was back in the spring of 2009, but nobody knew for sure so they forgot about it. Even so, Bautista and Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos both denied these actions. ”First of all, I don’t even know how you can do that,” Bautista said. “And second of all, it’s obviously something that’s not legal in the game. We do not cheat.” Anthopoulos backed him up stating, ”That never happened, will never happen, not even a possibility. If it did happen, we’d be winning a lot more games at home … I think it’s a nonstory because no one ever has picked up the phone and called me about it. It’s never been an issue, and I would expect them to do so if it was.”

So are the Blue Jays cheating? Only the future knows that. Could Vernon Wells crack and spill it out or will Toronto just quietly stop all-together? You Vote!

That night all went wrong for all the Cleveland fans, who burned LeBron jerseys and tore down signs they used to admire when they were so close to that championship. Now they had been sent back, struggling to find even one regular starter on the team. Many thought that Anderson Varejao was the top players on the team, even though if he was playing in a different city he would probably just make the cut for the starting center. They had guard Mo Williams, who was decent, but he was a role player, not a star. They traded him midseason for Baron Davis, who didn’t help a lot either. Antawn Jamison was good in his day, but he was at the end of his career. It was hard to imagine that this same team that had just broken the record for the longest losing streak in NBA history and had been in contention for the worst record in NBA history at the beginning of the season had been so close to winning the title multiple times, including the past year or two.

LeBron had been the one that bound the team together in recent years and now with him gone, there was no stars, only players who were so used to having someone to pass the ball to and someone gain momentum late in the game. Now they had no one who could do that, and they finished with the second worst record in basketball, ahead of only the Timberwolves, who seemed to always be there.

Everybody knew that they needed to clear out all of the players that had been around when LeBron was there. They could do something like what Miami did, clean out the roster and start fresh. But with that lockout looming on July 1st, it might be unsafe. Even so, they still had the top draft pick and the fourth, so they might be able to steal some young talent. Yet what was interesting was the fact that they didn’t fill out any weak spots, they only added more players to their few stronger positions. They selected Kyrie Irving with the first overall pick in the draft, a point guard. That selection was very interesting, because they had depth at the point guard position with Daniel Gibson and Baron Davis. They must of thought that Kyrie Irving was the best player in the draft period, so they picked him up. He does have great playmaking and leadership skills, similar to Kemba Walker, who was picked ninth. The only downside is that he had very limited time on the floor in his only season at Duke and he missed just about all the year with an injury. Even so, it was a good selection and I don’t think they will regret it. Now the next pick that Cleveland had was the fourth, which they selected Tristian Thompson with. The freshman Longhorn center only played one season in college, similar to Irving, but he had more experience. He was a great defensive playmaker in the NCAA and he could block shots and grab rebounds. The only downside with Thompson is that he has trouble scoring. This is why this pick seemed unlikely, because the team needs more offense, not defense. They already have Varejao at the center position where he can do exactly what Thompson promises, but he’s already doing it. Still, he was a good addition.

So where do the Cavs go from here? Well they do have to act fast because the labor dispute is likely to become a lockout at the end of this month. They need to dart for a small forward and a power forward that have promise and athleticism. The team has to address the issue of age and maybe make some trades for players in their prime. Still, this is not a one year thing. The healing process will take multiple seasons and hard work from the Cavs front office. Can they get back into contention this year with their draft picks? No chance. But it is the start of the rebuilding of this team in need.

But what could be more unexpected than the Bruins coming back the following year and sweeping Philly In the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals. Boston coach Claude Julian would have been on the hot seat if they would have lost that series again. They advanced to play Tampa, which they finished off in game 7, similar to their series victory over Montreal in the first round.

So they were off to the Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver with their hot goalie Tim Thomas, uprising star Brad Marchand, and top postseason goal scorer David Krejci. They had been through some tough situations early on in the series that included falling to the Canucks by giving up the lone goal of the game with 16 seconds to play in regulation in game 1, losing Nate Horton to a concussion due to a dirty hit in game two, and then getting struck hard after handing over the game winning goal to Vancouver just seconds into overtime. They found themselves in a hole after going on the verge of elimination in game 5, losing to the Canucks in Vancouver again. But now they were going home, where they had dominated in game 3, winning 8-1 in a momentum changer. Then they once again changed the momentum at home, keeping the Stanley cup within reach and forcing a game 7. The definite final game of the season was exiting for Bruins fans, but not for many others. They tore apart Roberto Luongo, arguably the second best goalie in the NHL that regular season, scoring four goals and taking him out. I knew after that first break-the-ice goal in the first period that Boston would win. Once again Tim Thomas shutout the Canucks who had many chances and little results.

Boston would be going home with their first Stanley Cup victory since 1972, a long 39 years for Bostonians. Before the game, police had been prepared for riots and they were lined up around the TD Garden area like an army. But for the exeption of fireworks on a parking garage, everything was mainly quiet. Only nine arrests were made, unlike Vancouver where there was rioting for many days and there were fires on the streets and cars tipped over, which was what was expected in Boston.

Even so, the Bruins fans may have just been just been saving the noise and craziness for the victory celebration parade. The fans were packed up on every sidewalk and street corner hours before the parade began, even just to see there precious superstars for just a few memorable seconds. Some fans even got to their spots the night before and slept out on the streets. But when captain Zdeno Chara held up the Stanley cup on the duck boats the fans vent wild, shouting “We got the cup!” at the top of their lungs. Even a lucky few got to touch the cup at the dispersal area. This had been the title that capped off the decade of dominance in Boston, where every major sports team had won a title in a decade. But this one may have just been the most exiting.

After the next goal that Halldor scored he quickly thought of the idea of doing a “Rambo” celebration. When he met his first teammates, he threw some punches and knocked them down. Next he made a gun with his fingers and shot down the next two. To finish, he sniped his goalkeeper and did a slide at midfield. Once again, the video views piled up. In an interview with ESPN, Halldor said that he was surprised by all the popularity that his team was getting just by having fun and celebrating in funny ways. So they kept the ideas flowing.

Following a score, Halldor stuffed the ball in his shirt and fell to the ground. Then Johann leaned over and pulled the ball out of his shirt and held it up to the fans. His teammates went along with it and cheered. This was named “The Birth”. Halldor thought Johann’s idea was great. “It was like the Lion King film.”, he said. What was really amazing about this celebration was that it was not planned out at all. In fact, most of the celebrations just happen and the team just comes up with the next action as they go along. Halldor even said that “We don’t practice our celebrations, we just talk about what we might do in the locker room and it just happens.”

Now they were addicted to these celebrations. They just kept pumping them out. “The Bicycle” was next. To start the team made what looked like a bicycle. Halldor got on and started to pedal using a player who was on the bottom’s hands. He also held on to imaginary handlebars. Next was the “Toilet”. The players made a toilet that Halldor lifted a seat up that was made out of two arms. He sat down and began to read an imaginary newspaper. After he was done, he put the seat back down and pulled down a hand that flushed the toilet.

There are sure to be many more celebrations to come for this team. Stjarnan coach Bjarni Johansson is also a fan of the celebrations. When asked if the team is better at scoring goals or celebration he replied, “I’m not sure.”