Draft + 2010 season + Heisman

Never to early to start thinking about the upcoming draft. Clausen says he's coming out and is said to become first QB taken in the draft. My god, what short memory people have. He completely stunk in last two years, and reporters actually highlighted last years bowl win over Hawaii (!!!) as a positive thing.
Personally I would take Bradford over Clausen any day. Sensational pocket presence and accuracy downfield. He will get back from this injury and if teams are thinking a little more long-term it would be a way smarter pick. Don't get me started on jake Locker and how bad he is.

Otherwise I agree with Markus about the booring bowl-season coming up. I think however Florida will struggle against Cincy, just because this is not where we wanted to be. I would not be suprised if TT sits out this one and gets John Brantley a head start on next season.

I actually also think they should give the Heisman to McCoy. Ingram will anyway win it easily next year.

Next season will be lacking a lot of star players. I can only see Ingram beeing the only real star and he will dominate SEC and college fotball as long as he stays healthy and do not enter draft. Maybe Zack Collaros could also become a Heisman candidate next year.

For the Gators it will be a middle year to break in Brantley and change a lot in the system without the tripple-option available.

Go Gators /Magnus

How sweet it is!

Well, how poorly Oklahoma has been this year the fall of USC makes me feel much better… They are now bound for Emerald Bowl! Does Emerald Bowl even exist?

And they are going to play Boston College, nr 4 in the ACC… What a disaster, and I love it.

I also love how good old Charlie Weis thinks he has been handled tougher by the media by saying: “You could bet that if I were living with a grad student here in South Bend, it would be national news. He's [coach Caroll] doing it in Malibu and it's not national news. What's the difference? I don't understand."

The Bowl season is rather dull this year. I can’t see how:

Texas is going to get crushed by Alabama

TCU will definitly win over Boise State, how can it even be allowed to play football in the state of Idaho?

Florida is going to kill Cinci. Tebow is going to have one of this best games ever an win by at least 3 TDs

Georgia Tech – Idaho? What?

//Markus 

Complete darkness

"Mistakes are made, and regrets are our luggage;
we will drag them with us to slow us down.
The victories are flashes of light, sudden and unlasting, which allow us
to glimpse the road ahead before darkness descends."
/by Christinia

Go Gators /Magnus

Best College Gameday signs ever.

Me and my brother just came home from the US. And it has been a wild journey. From a loss in Lubbock to a big win in Gainesville.

Mangino got fired last night and it reminded me about the awesome College Gameday sign - Mangino ate my sign and I tried to find the page so I could show you the sign. Instead I found a top 20 list with all time signs:
College Gameday Signs

My favorit is obviously: "Tebow helps 3rd world countries - SEC schedules them"

More from our trip is coming up in the next couple of days.

/markus

Senior day

One day away from leaving to the Gator senior day Saturday. What an emotional game it will be at the Swamp, celebrating Tebows last home game at Florida Field.
Exciting also to see the GameDay crew and ESPN roadtrip in Gainesville.
Hopefully Tebow and the rest of the guys can stay focused on the game, because Florida State is never easy.

GO Gators /Magnus

You gotta love this game

Another Saturday gone by, but what a crazy one it turned out to be. Ole Miss – LSU game was total mayhem the last 3 minutes. LSU trailing 2 points, had 27 seconds left on the clock with one time out left. Did not call it until 9 seconds left!!! One hail mary later LSU had the ball caught inside the 10 yard line (BUT WITH 1 SECOND LEFT). Confusion started! The chain gang was also confused. Jeffersson tried to spike the ball but time went out. This was the only play he should NOT DO, but DID. What a misstake –> what entertainment :-)

The controvercy continues as Les Miles clearly called for a spike according to video below, but lied about it afterwards.

Same insanity goes for the Oregon-Arizona game, total crazy in the end with Arizona sudents almost running into the field in belief that they won the game. Jeremia Masoli put up a Heisman comeback to stick it to the Stoops brothers and get Oregon one win away from the Rose bowl.

College football at its best. Next up for me, Markus, GameDay and Espn Roadtrip –> Gainesville next Saturday for the instate rivalry game Seminoles-Gators.

Go Gators /Magnus

Gameday!

It is gameday in Lubbock. last night we did Lubbock, drinking $1,5 drafts and just talked football - obviously we were watching Boise State at Utah State. Not much of a game but still it was football and so far I have watched football every day since coming here.

Lubbock is a fine Texan town, just surrounded by cottonfields for miles and miles... A little bit hotter than in Oklahoma city as well. we are just about to leave for the game right now, so I'll be back later for an update

/Markus

Closing in on Amarillo

Me and mike are just entered Texas. Ballard just took a final breath of oklaho
a air. Have not gotten any air in his lungs since.

We are now closing in on the big red barn BBQ in Amarillo.
We have also geared up on sooner stuff at walmart. I just love this country...

Later!

/Markus

The Trip!

So, tomorrow the big trip is starting for me. It has been decided since March that I was going but the plans have been vague – finally they are settling.

I leave Stockholm – Frankfurt – Houston and finally arrives at OKC tomorrow night where M Ballard hopefully is meeting up.

Friday – after a grand slam – the roadtrip goes thru Oklahoma down to Lubbock Texas!

Saturday the game Oklahoma- Texas is held in Western Texas. Hopefully me, Mike and the gang is getting drunk and watching Laundry Jones put up big numbers again.

Sunday back to Oklahoma and Tulsa. Hanging out at Fanny’s place, playing with the dog, eating out and just celebrating Thanksgivin’

 

Friday comes and I go by flight from Tulsa to Orlando to meet my brother. A car rent later and some hours on the road and we’ll be in the heart of Florida – Gainesville. Staying in Gainesville Friday thru Sunday with the big event is the game Florida State at Florida.

And this is not an ordinary game. This is senior night for Tim Tebow – maybe the best college player ever playing at Florida and his last game in the Swamp. The crowd will be crazy!

 

 

 

After the game and one more night in Gainesville, me and my brother is hitting the road down to Tampa. Watching NFL all night Sunday.

Monday is Busch Garden day – freaking awesome way to end the stay in Tampa. Roller Coasters all day and watching Monday Night Football in some sportsbar in downtown Tampa maybe. And what a game – New England Patriots at the Superdome!

Wednesday we are just heading down to Orlando and a day of shopping – going thru malls and outlets…

Not an ordinary trip – it is a football trip! Yey!

I will try to update from the US – if not: See you later!

/Markus

Notre Dame bound – not so fast my friend

Markus is clearly avoiding the subject in the blog so I guess I have to write about it.

Bob Stoops to Notre Dame!!!!

Link to chicago Sun Times article about it

Seriously, who do the Irish think they are. Going after Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops is like Tottenham trying to sign Lionel Messi. They just do not want to leave better teams and programs for a “has-been” great Notre Dame. Of course Stoops called the rumors ridiculous.

Lets face it Notre Dame is getting way too much media attention for beeing a bad team year after year. OK for the tradition, but there is a new order in fooball and new powers are taking over. I do not see Notre Dame beeing in the top 10 consistently the next decade, like Florida and OU have been and will be.

Well, if they get Urban or Stoops they might, but then Oranges would be growing on trees in my back yard in Sweden first. The odds are better on that.

Go gators /Magnus

A new deal!

In addition to the post below I am really thrilled to see USC taking a beating on the west coast. And how Standford really pounded USC to their biggest point-allowed game ever.

And one must love that Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh went for a 2-pt conversion after Stanfords 7th TD at 48-21 and just a couple of minutes left of the game.

According to sources Coach Carroll said during the mandatory handshake after the game: "What's your deal? What's your deal?" where Harbaugh answered: "What's your deal?" and the conversation ended.

Just as Oklahoma, USC is really having a bad season with loads of injuries. I guess we just need to understand that teams are liking the thought of giving years of losing back to us. And making it look ugly is just fun for them.

So Coach Carroll, try to lick your wounds and stay classy - why not update your Twitter, you are just not as active as before when winning :)

/markus

Recap – week 11 games

Another weekend of games didn’t answer that many questions. Top 3 teams will be intact and the story for all three of them are:

- Florida gets the job done, without any amazing plays.

- Texas keeps putting up big numbers on Cupcake teams.

- Alabama’s defense is outstanding, lead by awesome linebacker Rolando McClain.

Feels setup for a direct semi-final in the SEC championship game, even if Bama or Gators stumble on one of their final 2 games (Not against Chattanooga though).

I watched most of the Bama game and of course all of Gator’s game. South Carolina put up a good fight. They are a good team and extremely well coached. The offense is very hard to defend, with a lot of different looks and also a good QB in Stephen Garcia. It was a typical SEC game with Hard defense and a lot of dive running plays, mostly from Carolina actually. Florida are struggling with every aspect of the offense, except Tebow. He gives the receivers a good chance of making plays, but gets a little help. Also the most productive running game comes from himself. Personally I think they should focus on one running back to get better production in this aspect. Moody is my choice right now.

Also, it seams that Tebow needs high profile games to get him going. He seams boored out there sometimes. I think sparks will fly of him in Atlanta, can’t wait.

Also TCU did not stumble and will probably go to the BCS Orange Bowl or something. No national championship game for them, Sorry.

Also “the stache” is putting up big numbers for OU. It will be a better year next year for OU, also with McCoy gone.

Go Gators /Magnus

CUPCAKES!!!

Well Markus, OU has a masters degree in scheduling Cupcakes.
Tulsa, Idaho state, Baylor, The Kansas cupcake twins, the Aggies, even BYU (you thought).
Don't throw stones in a glass house, Markus.

Go Gators /Magnus

Game I am looking forward to this week

The regular season doesn’t have many intresting games left. I have been searching for good matchups and found some games that still is exciting.

This week

Obviously Florida at South Carolina is always a game to watch with the coaching history in the background. Iowa at the Horseshoe would have been great if it wasn’t for the stumble of Iowa last week. Last but not least, last couple of seasons power house Utah is playing TCU in a BCS-impacting game

But next week is when SEC really gets tough. How about Chattanooga AT Alabama, while Florida International is going to the Swamp.

/markus

Heisman according to Markus

The season is coming to an end soon, and things are looking really bad for Oklahoma. I saw the game this saturday and the offence was just horrible. Laundry Jones was ice cold, and the recievers wasn't helping him. This seasons recruiting seems to be one of Coach Stoops most important he has had at OU. Or is this the end to an era in Oklahoma football?

Once again the defence looked like the finest defence in the country, too bad many of them are going in the draft. Nebraskas D wasn't too bad either :)

When it comes to Heisman, my brother had a post a few days ago. From my point of view I would go against the opinion of the blog readers ( who voted Tebow) and pick Colt McCoy. My pick is based upon fairness, and I believe that the Heisman jury is going to acknowledge McCoys college career as they already have with Tebow and Bradford.

My trip to the states is coming up. I will be in Lubbock for the OU at Texas Tech game in two weeks. And after that head back to Tulsa/Claremore, OK for thanksgiving. Three weeks from now me and my brother is going to Gainesville to see Tebow at his Senior Night. Getting Psyched!

/Markus

To the comment on the last post: No Swede plays a big role at a major school right now. Watch the thread here for more info. http://amerikanskfotboll.egetforum.se/board/svenska-college-spelare-t588.html

Great Halloween costume

Even if my brother might have a different opinion, here is my favorite Halloween costume of the year. Love it!

 

/Markus

Indisputable evidence

Big Ten officials trying hard to get an undefeated team to the BCS. Pure BS

BC(mes)S

It is shaping up to be a real messy ending to the season if the unbeaten teams continue to win. I also have a feeling that LSU will win this weekend vs Bama. Alabama was really bad offensively against Tennesse and there is nobody better then Les Miles to prepare his team for the one-dimensional offense using Ingram in the wildcat.

If LSU wins and eventually meets Florida (I hope) in Atlanta for the SEC championship, we will have havoc in BCS if TCU, Iowa and Boise State wins out. We are talking “congress-hearings-mess”.

Let’s face it. LSU will from now until then have beaten a number 3 team and a number 1 team, as well as SEC opponents, Arkansas and Ole Miss.

Boise will have beaten Louisiana Tech, Idaho, Utah State, Nevada and New Mexisco State. There is NO WAY they will get into the championship game ahead of a one-loss LSU team.

TCU and Iowa has the same problem, they just do not play any good opponents. Accept that Iowa plays Ohio State, where they will loose anyway.

It will in any case be an interesting ending of the season.

Go Gators /Magnus

Big hits!

As the season rolls on another team is off the National Championship game and also the BCS-picture. For those, along with me, who is following Coach Carroll on Twitter it has been awful quiet since Saturday. I read somewhere that this was his biggest loss ever at USC. But the ducks and Masoli is quite a team. Really interesting to see who they eventually is going to meet in the BCS-bowl. Big hit for USC and Pete Carroll anyways!

And how about Jamar Wall out of Texas Tech. That guy is living up to his name. Look at this clip from the Kansas @ Texas Tech game. Damn!  Too bad the clip didn’t show the Kansas player post-tackle reaction…

/Markus

Heisman

Who will win it this crappy year of college football? Thats the question. Why not skip a year?

Well, it has to be delivered to somebody and right now the talk is among these 4. Lets put up + and – on all of them.

Mark Ingram – Alabama

+	-
Exceptional running back, especially for a sophmore.	Alabama can not keep runing the wildcat if they want to win. Must vary the playcalling –> less yards for Ingram.
Has the ability to run over guys and stay north-south bound to gain the extra yards.	Had a bad game against UT with a fumble.

Tim Tebow – Florida

+	-
Arguably the best college QB of all times.	This year? Not so much production.
Strong leader of the team. Puts the whole team on his back and wins games by himself.	More interceptions then TD’s this year so far.

Colt McCoy – Texas

+	-
Very productive passer, escpecially to his “room-mate” Shipley.	Very bad first half of Red River.
Leader of the entire team.	Not so much a down-field threat.

CJ Spiller – Clemson

+	-
Elusive punt/kickoff returner. Percy Harvinish running back style.	Clemson is not doing so well (4-3).
Wins games on his own for Clemson. No fumbles this year.

Jimmy Clausen – Notre Dame

+	-
Very productive year passing.	Decision making skills sometimes bad.
Has won games with final drives for the Irish.	Notre Dame will slip again despite crappy schedule.

 

Personally I think (hope) it is Tim tebows to loose. If Florida wins out, Tebow will have good enough numbers for the voters to put him first.

We will see.

Go Gators /Magnus

Is Cody Heisman bound?

What do ya'll think? Will Alabamas DT Terrence Cody end up in New York at the Heisman Trophy Award Cermony? Two crucial blocked FG in the fourth quarter for "Mount Cody"

Gators still on top

Gators just don’t seem to get any big offense going. Saturday was the same story as previous games with bad conversions in the redzone and no downfield threat. One difference was that Urban Meyer had one of his worst playcalling games ever. The decision to let Tebow throw on 3rd down at the end of the 1 half was just BAD. We could have been 16-3 and game over basically, instead there was a pick-6 and 13-10 and a ballgame. The same thing in the second half with the game basically over and Gators on their own 5 yard line. Another pick-6.

Good for the Gators that Miss State did not have any offense at all.

BSC still has Gators on top, but the strange thing is that Iowa is no 1 in the computers!!! This is the team that won over Northern Iowa with 1 point, Arkansas State with 3 points and Saturday won the game on the last second vs Mich State who are 4-4. Ridiculous!

Still a lot of football left.

Go Gators /Magnus

Off site

I am off site this weekend but will try to see as much football as I can on ESPN360. It feels like the season is over for me, but a quick reminder of my upcoming holiday in USA.

Even though Oklahoma is 3-3 and the hope of a new Big XII title looks fading at best, it is going to be great to go down to Buddy Hollys birthplace and have some steaks and beer and watching OU football. And how about the game in Gainesville? The refs are doing their best to look after both Florida and Bama to be unbeaten until the SEC-championship game. And what a game Tim Tebows last one is going to be at the Swamp. Really psyched!

One developing story is about Bradford and where he will end up in the draft next spring if he goes into surgery. Mel Kiper (ESPN) is thinking pick 10-20, and that is something that Sam really wasn´t looking for. This draft is going to be one of the most intresting the last couple of years. So many Sooners going, and where the hell is Tebow going to end up? Gresham? How are the NFL teams going to think about this years QBs?

/Markus

BCS standings

After a hard evening for a Sooner fan the BCS standings is coming up tomorrow. I am going to try to give you my prediction after a Texas win, a VT loss to Georgia Tech and a Florida not playing good at all – or as some one wrote on ESPN.com Arkansas 20 – Florida 16 – Refs 7. :)  I do not think my brother has the same opinion as me, but some of the calls on the drive that tied the game late in the 4th quarter was just stunning…

Ok, here is my prediction (before the end of the Alabama game, who has some problem with SC):

1. Florida by alot!

2. Alabama

3 Texas

4 Boise State

5. LSU

6. Cincy

7. USC

8. Iowa

9. Miami

10. TCU / Penn State

Otherwise, the sooner game was just plain hard to watch with all sorts of crazy turnovers. The worst, obviously, Franks one which reminded me on the one Mark Bradley decided to pick up in the Orange Bowl 2005 against USC – the play where I lost all confidence in college football players being smart… 

/Markus

Where is Cincy going to end up.

After another good win for Cincy at South Florida (21) last night the Bearcats are bound for something big. Unfourtunatly for Cincinnati their Heisman hopeful QB Tony Pike was injured during the game, and his coach told media that: "it didn´t look good"

So it seems like Pike is out for a couple of weeks, but their backup QB, Zach Collaros, really steped up and ran 75 yards for his first TD and finished of with another TD-run for a 34-17 win.

Key matchups for the Bearcats?
None! Their schedule looks rather easy from now on. They have West Virginia at home and that might cause some problems. Instead Cincy is looking for Boise State to get a loss, and that OU will beat Texas this Saturday. If those two things happens... Something really big might happen to Cincinnati in the beginning of next year.

The Red River Rivalry is coming up

It isn’t often I say that Oklahoma isn’t going to win on a Saturday. But this weekend is different, and what I have seen the last couple of weekends it seems like OU won’t be even close to Texas.

With that said, I have to say that I don’t like Texas this year either. I just don’t think they play well enough. What would be interesting is if OU is to win. Who is going to play Florida in Pasadena i January? Cincinnati or Boise State? Or it might even be Alabama on a re-match of the SEC-championship game, if that match-up is close.

Tebow was back this weekend – and he sure is a fine college football player. He got it in him!  Talking about Tebow, this piece from CBS 60 minutes is quite interesting. It sure reminds you that Football is one of the hardest job one can have. It is like a big lottery where everyone that joins win, but some just don’t come out as winners.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The most intresting game of the week

See you in Parken this Saturday. I´ll be the one shouting the most!

/Markus

Road to Pasadena

It is becoming clearer that if Alabama and Florida fight it of in the SEC championship game, it will be a semifinal to the national in Pasadena. One of those two teams will get a spot. I think that even if let’s say Florida looses to LSU this weekend it will be this way.

The big question is who the other team will be. If Texas wins out, they are in, but if they loose to OU (hope so) it will be tougher. Will USC get the spot, or will there at the end be an undeafeted Big10 team like iowa or Wisconsin? Cincinatti?

What about VT?

Interesting stuff ahead of us.

Go Gators /Magnus

NFL getting more Gatorized

Percy is getting it on in the NFL. Even I am surprised how much production he is able to achieve.

Percy at the top

Where is Matthew Stafford?

Go Gators /Magnus

It wasn’t even close

With the breaks we got from the referees during Q3 – it wasn’t even close. The injuries at QB, TE and now one of the top WR I guess this is what you would expect. Still, the Big12 starts next week and the goal of beating Texass is the main one this season. And to win that Big XII title again.

One wonder if they are letting Sam Bradford in the game again. It is going to look nasty for his NFL chances, that´s for sure – the O-line is just not standing up.

Kiper Jr and McShay nonsense

Starting to get real tired of these 2 guys talking down Tebows possibilities in the NFL. I agree that his style of play may not be directly transferred to the NFL, but you must account for the competitiveness and willing to win.

As for the latest draft talk they even start talking about Jake Locker from Washington beeing even ahead of Colt and Tebow in the draft next year. This is just BS!

If comparing only passing between Tebow and Locker the last 3 years we get:

Tebow: 716 pass (Compl 66%), 6 675 yards (14,2 yards avg), 68 TD, 11 Interceptions

Locker: 557 pass (Compl 51%), 3 576 yards (12,6 yards avg), 21 TD, 18 Interceptions

According to me Locker just Sucks!

Get real Kiper Jr and Mcshay. This is not even professional.

 

Go Gators /Magnus

Big Hit!

How about Miami's Jordan Futch! Go get em Sooners!

See more funny videos and Sports Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Something aint right in west Texas

Following the Houston loss this saturday coach Mike Leach at Texas Tech decided to suspend their own captain Brandon Carter "for a violation on team policies". He might have done some terrible in the aftermath of the game, but I still believe that Leach is making a terrible mistake taking one of the best, if not the best, OL in the country from his team. Later one of the other players made a remark on Coah Leach by using his twitter - Mike Leach responded by banning use of social networks among player.

Something ain't right i Lubbock, Im telling you.

Another news coming from the Texas Tech - Houston game is that the plan invasion following the upset resulted in 3 lost helmets. The coach of the Cougars team now reaching out using his Twitter to try to get the helmets back: "Saturday night was fun, but it will be hard for 3 of our guys to play this week without their helmets. Please return, NO QUESTIONS ASKED"

Don't you just love college football?

No wonder Houston won!

With Houston QB Case Keenum having 2nd half stats like this

AP Pollsters going nuts

Sundays always meens digging into the polls for me. Extra fun is it to go to Pollspeak and see how different AP-writers rank the teams. And in turbulent weeks like this one some people just goes nuts.

For example Doug Lesmerises, writing for Plain Dealer, OH (to the right)
One can also see how high and low people rank their teams simply by clicking on Higher and Lower in the poll. Try it!

/markus

Crazy Saturday

Anyone who could predict the future would have made big bucks yesterday on one of the craziest gamedays I ever seen.

First of Ole Miss loses the thursday game, then Cal takes a beating up at Oregon. Then no 9 Miami got their fist L at VT. Later that night Penn State goes the same way... And after no 1, 2 and 3 right now it is just crazy. What do you guys think?  top 4-10?

Giv me your top 10 in the comments!

My top ten at hte moment would be:
1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Texass
4. LSU
5. Oklahoma
6. Virginia Tech
7. Boise State
8. Ole Miss
9. USC
10. Ok State

Just Crazy!

And then to top everything Tebow gets hammered in Kentucky. A fair hit that send Tebow to the hospital - interesting to watch how he comes back!

/Markus

The clash of two superstars

Incredible hit by Berry and Tebow. Maybe the best defensive player in college football against…well Tebow.

Unpredictable season so far

First three weeks of ballgames have only proved one thing. Pre-season predictions and polls are overrated. There are also very many teams that show us different faces every week so far.
Look at Seminoles for example. First they loose to Miami in the opener and then barely gets by Jacksonville State! Saturday they totally dominated BYU!
Georgia starts by loosing convincinly to OKI state. Saturday they rallied back to beat Arkansas and puts 52 points (!) on the board, their second SEC win.

I think we have at least 2-3 weeks of games before we can see any trends on where teams are and where they are going in competing for BCS and nationals.

Go Gators /Magnus

Upset dawgs

Washington huskies really chocked the college football world last night with their epic victory against the Trojans of USC. Managed to follow the game some in commercial brakes from the Gators-Vols game. It looked to me however that it was the lack of good play from USC that got the W for W. Hats of to Steve Sarkisian for beating his old mentor Pete Carrol and opening up all kinds of possibilities for other teams to get to the national championship game

Think about it! USC is OUT. Ohio State is OUT. BYU is OUT, Utah is OUT. Good guess is that one spot will be held for the winner of the SEC championship game. The other one is open, and right now Texas, Penn State and Miami has the inside track. Lurking behind is OU, if they can (and I surely hope so) beat the Horned nerds in Dallas for the Red River Shootout. Also Michigan has a chance. Personally I hope for the BIG 10 teams to beat each other up and thereby be OUT, and that OU will beat Texas and we will have a re-match of last years game between OU and Gators.

If this would happen, I would actually not be disappointed if OU won the whole thing. I think Sam deserves a national championship before leaving for NFL.

Go Gators /Magnus

How about them canes

So the Hurricanes down in Miami is starting to gain in strength as the game vs Oklahoma is approaching. Last night they seem to have taken a fairly easy W against (13) Georgia Tech. Come this sunday, Miami is going to be closer to the top 10 in the AP poll and ready for OU to come down to stinking Florida.

How about the games this Saturday?

Texas has it's first test in Texas Tech at Austin. Shouldn't be any problem for the Longhorns to seal that deal. And the game of the week is obviously Lane Kiffin's Vols going down to the Swamp for som gator stomping. Intresting to see if Floridas cupcake preperation will affect them, or if they are ready for Tennessee. I called this an upset alert earlier, and still think that this is going to be a close one.

Elsewhere OU is preparing for Hurricane season with Tulsa Golden Hurricanes coming to Norman. Tulsa has had a great start to the season and now is the time for the Sooners to bounce back from BYU.

My last upset alert is going to be Nebraska going to Virginia Tech. Let say 31-21 to the Huskers

/Markus

Tebow motivation speech

Wouldn’t want to be a OU player after this speech. Incredible motivational leader.

Looking forward to seeing them “stomp” Lane Kiffin this Saturday.

Go Gators /Magnus

What can stop USC

With an impressive comeback at The Horseshoe this Saturday I wonder what can stop USC from going to the National Cahmpionship Game?

The true freshman Matt Barkley, who I mentioned before in this blog, made an extremly good impression on me. Just to be able to think in a hostile environment as the Horseshoe is impressive to me. Even more so when I read articles that states that they have never experienced an environment as hostile as this Saturday.

So who is going to stop USC? The computers seems like the only ones who can hold them of from going to Pasadena.

/Markus

We are F*cked

Oklahoma Sooners has seen better days...

Yesterday news came in that TE Jermaine Gresham needs a season ending surgery to his right knee. And this only days after Sam Bradford was hurt and side lined for 2 to 4 weeks. One can just imagine the regret these guys feel for not entering the NFL draft this year.

On the other hand this may mean that we are going to see both Bradford and certainly Gresham for another year in Norman. Anyways, it is going to be a hard season for OU...

Hey Hokies

Here we go again. Rammer Jammer after Bama win Saturday.

Wrap-up week1

"I'm sorry, I'm extremely sorry...". Famous Tebow quote after the Ole Miss loss last year. Time for Sam Bradford to make a similar speech after their opening game loss to BYU. Personally I really feel for OU fans right now. I remeber last year after the Gators Ole Miss loss, the emptiness you feel after this kind of loss. I still think however that it's possible for OU to get back in the National champinohip race. They need some help from other teams, and they of course need to beat Texas and win the BIG 12 championship. BYU also needs to loose a couple of games of course.
Other upsets week 1 was Boise state's win over Oregon, William & Mary (!!!) win over Virginia and to me Georgias loss to Oklahoma State.
Other then that the most surprising to me was Notre Dames convincing win over Nevada, especially the ND defence holding Nevada to 0 points. Also Michigans comfortable win over W Michigan. Week 2 will give us a good game when ND goes to Ann Arbour for the big game.
Other then that no surprises, just glad that the show is finally upon us. Let's enjoy the 141st fotball season.

Go Gators /Magnus

Oregon’s Blount makes a fool of himself

I guess that the scenes after the game corresponds rather well to the poll that ESPN Magazine made among College Football players where 55 % of them said they know of at least one teammate taking PEDs or other steroids.

Blount is not running on a football field in quite some time

Picks for week 1

TGIF! And whatta friday, the season kicks off tomorrow with some very intresting games. Me and my brother are going to watch some of the games at his place.

Here are my picks for week 1:

Oklahoma State over Georgia: 31-21

Upset Alert:
Nevada over Notre Dame 21-17

Gimme your picks!

/Markus

Let's get it started in here!

Ok, so it starts. The 2009-2010 season is finally here! With the kick-off in Raleigh with the game South Carolina at North Carolina State. The Lovgren Brothers are now to make their predictions with some remarks on how the BCS-formula is gonna place the teams before the Bowl games starts in December.

Magnus:

1. Florida Undefeted
2. Oklahoma Undefeted
3. Penn State Undefeted. This will be like Christmas for me when they
miss out on the Nat Champ game due to Cupcake schedule
4. USC 1 loss to Cal or Arizona State
5. Texas 1 loss to OU
6. Florida St 1 loss to Florida (of course)
7. Oregon 1 loss to USC
8. LSU 2 losses to Florida both times
9. Ohio State 2 losses to Penn State and USC
10 Notre Dame 2 losses

Markus:
1. Oklahoma Undefeted
2. USC Undefeted
3. Texas 1 loss to OU
4. Alabama 1 loss at Auburn
5. Florida 1 loss to Alabama, Florida runs the table and finally gets
some decent opposition and doesn’t make it
6. Ohio State 1 loss to USC
7. Virginia Tech 1 loss to Alabama
8. Cal 1 loss to USC
9. LSU 2 losses to Florida and Alabama
10. Oklahoma State 2 losses to Texas and OU

What´s your top 10?

I am as excited as I every will be!

/Markus

USC makes it even more interesting

With just a week to go until the season starts Pete Carroll at USC makes his final call regarding the starting quarterback. The true freshman Matt Barkley will see the first snap up-close at Coliseum on Sept. 5. Worth mentioning is that USC has never started a true freshman before in the history of USC football.

The previous named starter Aaron Corp seems to be hurt from an injury (a crack in his bone just below his left knee), and will sit out on the opener. The question is if USC dares to continue with Barkley week 2 thru 4 when USC probably has the toughest schedule in the country. @Ohio, @Cal and @South Bend!

This is developing to be really interesting, and I will surely follow USC on the opening weeks come September

/Markus

Getting tired...

...of waiting and also of all pre-talk and predictions.
The espn-bloggers and reporters also seams tired of this. Especially of all talk about Florida beeing the favourites and also of Tebow.
On Ivan and Beanos last podcast Ivan did NOT have Florida to play for the national championship. His argument was basically thet he was fed-up with all the Florida talk.
Also Tod Mcshay and Mel Kiper jr talked almost 4 minutes about QB's in college fotball (best, overrated, underrated etc). They never even mentined TT during this whole time. they even had to point out in the end that it could be possible to have a Tim Tebow-less college QB talk !!!

I am fed-up with all of this. Let's start the ball-games and settle it on the field.

Go Gators /Magnus

Early Bird Special?

Finally ESPN launches espn360 for the european market. With this a "Early Bird Special" costing one around 1000 SEK for the complete season.

Instead, the monthly offer seems like a better deal costing 155 SEK a month. With the college football season being just 4 months long there is no need for the full year deal.

My choice will be to get monthly passes whenever ESPN America doesn´t air the games I am interested in.

Anyways, Bringham Young vs Oklahoma is on ESPN360 the 3rd of september. Bring em on!

First college fotball saturday coming up

ESPN Americas TV listing is pretty good Saturday 5th September.
Starting with (Swedish time):
4.00pm College GameDay
6.00pm Navy at Ohio State
9.30pm Georgia at Oklahoma State
2.00am Alabama vs Virginia Tech (from Atlanta, GA)

Very good games on the first week and let's hope the midshipmen, cowboys and hokies can pull the upsets. After that we can focus on the real good teams during the rest of the fall.

Go Gators /Magnus

The pre-season AP poll is out

Coming home from a cruise to Finland I saw that the AP poll was out. No news really:

1. Florida

2. Texas

3. Oklahoma

4. USC

5. Alabama

The Lovgren brothers are going to post their top 10 soon. Have a good evening

/Markus

IT projects

As you might have noticed espn360.com has produced funny statements on their webpage the last couple of days.
It opened up for us Europeans Aug 19 in the morning. I managed to sign up and pay for the package. Later the same day they took it down again, since nothing worked with the notice that:
"please come back and visit us Aug 20th to experience the new version of espn360".
The next day it said the same thing. Now they have changed it to.
"please come back and visit us soon to experience the new version of espn360".

I will try this approach on my professional carrer from now on when asked the finish date of a project.

Soon.

Go Gators / Magnus

Who faster?

I heard the analysis of Usain Bolt @ Espn.com today. Interesting by the way that the world record is not a headline on the frontpage. 3 Baseball news, 1 about Memphis Basketball and one about Plaxico Burress going to jail. Anyways, they had a comparison how fast Usain Bolt would have run at the NFL combine - and the 40 yard dash.

The fastest college player last year was Marylands Darrius Heyward-Bey, with a result of 4,3 s. It is just fantastic to see how Usain Bolt would have done that in 3,82 s... And the guy is like 6-foot-5. I guess that the NFL teams are drewling when they see him. Another comparison was made in the article that if you took Usain's race and converted it onto a football field Usain would run the last 40 yards of the field in 2,95 s...

Early bird...

...gets the worm.
For us unfortunate people operating on the "wrong" side of the pond, it is time to sign up for ESPN360 college fotball.
Launched yesterday with an "early bird" offer. Make sure to sign up.

Go Gators /Magnus

Minnesota makes NFL interesting

It been awhile since I was really interested in the NFL, but things are changing. Today the news came that Brett Favre sealed a deal with the Vikings, which means that Favre might be the starting QB in Minnesota.

With the Sooners Jon Cooper, Phil Loadholt and star running back Adrian Peterson things are looking good for the Vikings in NFC North. It will be even more interesting to see what Favre and former Florida player Percy Harvin can do together.

/Markus

Can’t wait

These last couple of weeks has been torture. Time has never went so slowly. I even made “pärlplattor” with my kids, which is not like me. Well at least I made something useful for work :-)

I also started to realise the utter hatred that is growing against the Gators this season. I guess it comes with beeing so much better then everybody else. I especially like this old lady. You have to admire her passion, surely a Seminole.

Continuing on this I also found a funny Dilbert strip:

Go Gators /Magnus

Where did the Swedes go?

According to a Minnesota Newspaper something terrible has happened to the University of Minnesota just weeks before the season opener against Air Force.

After a legislation that banned serving alcohol in the Golden Gophers brand new stadium 15 of the high prized VIP-boxes were cancelled right away, and even more of the fairly expensive Club Seats as well. Adding up it seems that the University of Minnesota is taking a big economic hit from all this.

Not worth mentioning that the state of Minnesota was colonized by Swedes and that the genes are still working accordingly  :) 

//Markus

Toby Keith does Stockholm

One of the greatest country singers ever is having a concert in Stockholm and Cirkus this November. The sooner born Toby Keith is coming and I am gonna be there screaming “Boomer!”

Found a picture of him on the internet, and one con easily understand why I like him so much!  /Markus

Where will Tebow end up?

I saw an interesting site today where one can see where all the previous Heisman winners are doing today. As Tebow, just like Jason White, isn’t going pro he better read the list and figure out what he is going to do the next couple of years.

Some noticeable persons who can call themself Heisman Winners:

Steve Spurrier (1966 Florida)

The former Florida player does not look a day older now when he works as the head coach at South Carolina.

O.J. Simpson (1968 USC)

Couldn´t hide from his past going to USC – and is now sitting in a Nevada jail.

Billy Sims (1978 Oklahoma)

One of the craziest guys around now having his own BBQ place in Tulsa, OK (with very likeable toilets). Went ballistic at Sam Bradford’s Heisman ceremony screaming “Boomer” 11 times.

Jason White (2003 Oklahoma)

Last and maybe least we have “my” QB Jason White who, like Tebow, just couldn´t make it to the NFL. Nowadays he owns a memorabilia store in Norman.

Also worth mentioning is that Alabama still does not have any Heisman winners, which just is stunning…

/Markus

Go Owls!

Insane (or funny) Bowl prediction that just came out by Bruce Feldman on espn.com.
He is picking FAU vs Texas in the national championship game.
Maybe I have missed something about the Owls this year?

Top 40 according to ESPN’s readers

Today ESPN has a vote on which 40 teams that should, on a hypothetical basis, form a new Division 1-A. I agree on most teams, the most significant ones are in the list. 

One could argue for Louisville or maybe TCU, but a bigger surprise is that Penn State is in the top of the table, and that only 70% of the voters have teams like Michigan, Florida and Texas in their top 40.

So – it is just a stupid poll, and this is just a stupid post. Off to bed!

/Markus

Lee Corso is back for another year

We love College Gameday and we love when Lee Corso makes his mascot picks. But this spring things weren't looking so good for the College Gameday squad when mr Corso found himself getting a stroke.

Orlando Sentinel had a chat with Corso about the incident and how his life was turned upside down.

It is nice to see that Lee Corso is back for the College Gameday Live september 5th in Atlanta for the Alabama at Georgia Tech game. And obviously one is a bit curious how well Corso has recovered and if his fast tongue still works.

Do not be surprised if there is a trunk in the trunk in Atlanta!

Tebow - I am saving myself ... for Georgia

The media frenzy surrounding Tebow is getting ridiculous. Last week at a press conference blogger Clay Travis asked Superman the question if he was saving himself for marriage. He simply responded “Yes”.
Ivan Maisel, the ESPN senior analyst, came up with the answer the stupid “reporter” should have been given. “I am saving myself for Georgia”.

/Magnus

Nothing new on the western front

The Pac-10, or the Pac-1 as some would like to call it, has had it's annual media day. The conference which seems to be getting tired of always having USC end up on top of it's chart again voted USC to be the winner again.

The Trojans got 28 of 32 first place votes, with the Bears having 3 and Oregon getting 1. But again, this might be the year when Pete Carroll goes down for the first time in 7 years. USC has a major shift in it's lineup and the Schedule is looking a bit harder than usual with away games both at Berkley and at Oregon.

But then again, Pete Carroll always seems to find a way to win his conference. Even last year when everything pointed at Oregon State getting the title - lady luck shined down and solved the problem.

Anyways, I am looking forward to the Pac-10 this year. Espacially seing the new QB Aaron Corps in action and how the team will be able to find a new momentum after a huge loss in manpower from last season.

/Markus

No love for Nick Saban

Interesting when Forbes rank the 10 most disliked people in sport. Most of them are, of course, still athletes in various american sports. Leading the pack is the NFL-player Michael Vick with his liking of dogs and what not - getting a huge 70% dislike factor in the poll. I wonder how the Atalanta Falcons react to such figures

More interesting is that Nick Saban ends up at 9th place with 35% disliking him. With a hard SEC season coming up it seems that it is a good thing for Saban that the SEC has a new bad boy in my new favorite Lane Kiffin

Things to watch - upcoming season

These are things to watch for in the college fotball upcoming season in a popular list format.
Sorted in what interest me the most.
These things and many more will certainly be issues to dicuss in the blogg during the fall. Let's follow these up.

10. Will Washington get to at least 1 win this year?
9. The state of Alabama fotball this season?
8. Will Charlie Weis get to at least 7 wins and thereby save his job?
7. Will LSU be the "surprise" SEC team this year? (Homegame against Gators, and yes I know, away in Tuscaloosa)
6. Will Oklahoma State mess up Texas and OU's dreams to be national champion contenders?
5. Will Red River game live up to the hype?
4. Will a BIG-10 team get to the national championship game due to their crappy conference schedule?
3. Will anybody score against Gators this year, with all starters coming back on defense?
2. Who will play the part of Percy Harvin for the Gators?
1. Will Tebow run at all this year or play it safe?

Note. Only fotball related things to watch are on the list. Not for example the whole BCS mess, which certainly will amuse us again this year.

/Magnus

QB insurances

Häftigt med de senaste tidernas försäkringar som har kommit fram på de bästa QB i SEC och BIG12.
Speciellt Colt McCoys och Tim Tebows, där de blir rikligt belönade vid "career ending injuries". Mellan 1-3 Miljoner dollar!
Verkligen ett speciellt system för oss svenskar där de verkligen inte får en spänn för spel i college och allt hopp sätts till att de kommer in i proffs-systemet, och då speciellt NFL.

Som "Gator" är man ju rejält orolig att Tebow kommer att ta det försiktigt i år och bara drillas i NFL-style spel med många snaps-under-center och annat han INTE behärskar så bra. Men efter att ha följt honom under de 3 senaste fantastiska säsongerna kanske man inte borde oroa sig för mhycket. Han har ju bara ett läge. Full gas!

Utsparkad från Gator-camp

Det rapporteras ifrån Gainsville att rekryten Tavadis Glenn blev utsläng från ett Gator-läger när han under en drill gjort Uni. of Miamis "the U-sign". Kommentarer från läsarna säger att de tycker att mr. Glenn kom undan alldeles för lätt: "[They] Should have dragged him off the field by his throat and beaten him to death."

Den 3de oktober möts OU och "the Canes" just i Miami - då lär det inte bli många U:s

Laddar inför säsongstarten

Som ni ser nedan har min äldre bror Magnus också börjat skriva här. Dels för att göra bloggen lite mer dynamisk och dels för att läsvärdheten ska öka med två lite mer frekventa skribenter.

Ett tvåfrontskrig är kanske att vänta, men fokus kommer hela tiden att vara på College Football som stort. Idag gjorde jag en ny header som visar på nystarten!

Oroa er inte, headern kommer att göras om under säsongen!

Mer inom kort, nu fortsätter semestern i Varberg!

SEC Media days - Whodunit

Gästbloggar istället för en "ledig" Mackan. Händer alldeles för mycket just nu för att inte prata college fotball.
Senaste mysteriet/skandalen som precis fick sin upplösning var att en av 11 SEC coacher INTE röstade fram Tim Tebow som bäste SEC QB under kommande säsong. Ha ha ha.
Detta är ju mer eller mindre en skandal (är själv kanske lite partisk i detta då jag andas och lever för Gators).
Det skandalösa är förståss att den kanske bästa QB OCH collegespelaren genom alla tider inte skulle vara den bästa quarterbacken under nästa säsong, i sin egen konferens!!!
Nu visade det sig vara gamle Florida coachen Steve Spurrier som "gjorde ett misstag" och kryssade fel. Visst! Idiotiskt att ge ännu mer bränsle åt Tebow+gang när de senare under säsonen kommer mötas. Han borde tänka på de senaste 2 säsongerna då Gators fullkomligt körde över dem.
I övrigt kommer det skrivas mycket mer under närmaste tiden av både mig och Mackan. Vi kommer att ha 2 helts olika utgångspunkter förståss.

Höjdpunkten är Gators-Seminoles i Swamp den 28:e november. Jag och Mackan kommer att sitta cirka 10 meter bakom Gators sideline och skrika och heja fram Tebows sista föreställning på hemmaplan.

I övrigt kan jag bara tillägga /Go Gators.

Off Season

Det är lite stökigt just nu, jag återkommer när allt lugnat ner sig. Lika peppad fortfarande inför säsongsstarten

Rhett Bomar till NY Giants

Vår gamla QB och bilhandlare hamnade i NY Giants till slut. Så till slut så verkar det som om Bomars misstag i Norman inte stoppade honom från NFL. Man kan tycka vad man vill om hans smarthet, men man måste ändå känna med killen, och det ska bli intressant om han någon gång får starta för Giants.

Manning blir svår att rubba!

Minnesota Sooners

Första OU-spelaren som draftades under 2009 års draft var Phil Loadholt. Han kommer att hjälpa Percy Harvin och framförallt Adrian Peterson i Minnesota Vikings offensiva linje!

Jäkligt kul att se Loadholt och Peterson i samma lag!

First Pick: Matt Stafford

Matt Stafford fick precis möta folkets buande som första val i draften 2009. Han är garanterad 41.7 Millon $…  Heeeeeeelt sjukt!

Jason Smith, den enorma tacklaren från Baylor går som nummer 2. Kommer han att skydda nya qbn Matt Cassel?

Draften fortsätter. Egentligen är det inte så spännande i år. Just nu är det Crabtree, Sanchez och var de första OU-spelarna hamnar…

Jäkligt kul att se Sanchez reaktion när han snackar med NY Jets och får veta att han ska spela i Meadowlands, New Jersey

Crabtree väntar fortfarande. Nu valde Raiders Darrius Heyward Bey. Ingen aning vem det är, men Crabtree känns inte helt nöjd där han sitter i Green Room.

Och nu valde San Fran 49:ers Mike Crabtree. Kul för honom och bra för 49:ers.

Nu skiter jag i det här… Draften måste vara ett av de tråkigaste, mest sega teve-program som finns…

Aaron Corp utsedd till Starter hos USC

Då verkar det som om att Aaron Corp är den som kommer att få axla jobbet efter Mark Sanchez hos USC.

Som jag skrev innan så trodde inte jag att Mitch Mustain var den som låg närmast, men nu rapporterar Mark Sanchez på sin Twitter att Corp är klar som starter. Nedan en video med killen, som verkar sympatisk

Också intressant är vad USC kommer göra med sin mycket lovande freshman Matt Barkley. Kommer de att redshirta honom eller ha honom som back-up till ännu oprövade Corp. 

Lär känna USCs spelare lite bättre

Hittade en kul länk där USCs spelare får svar på lite mer ovanliga frågor. Biggest ladies man ibland coacherna verkar i alla fall Jethro Franklin vara  :)

Matt Stafford tror på förstaplatsen

Återigen en grym lunch! Det finns massor att upptäcka i centrala Stockholm som man helt enkelt inte tar sig till själv. Idag blev det lunch på Åhléns Citys uteservering – aldrig funderat på att gå dit innan, men det var faktiskt ganska bra där uppe i solen.

Matt Stafford berättade för ESPN om sina chanser att nå första platsen i draften och möjligen hamna i Detroit Lions. Ganska troligt, men ser han inte jäkligt löjlig ut?  Kan inte alla se ut som Tom Brady istället?