NBL Post Season Sweep 12/18/2008

Hello Bootlegger! I hope you are all rested up and ready to enjoy this most wonderful, festive and highly commercialized time of the year…and no we are not talking about Christmas, we are talking about college football bowl season, which not even Christmas can compare to when it comes to commercialization. So, with that in mind as we here at the Naked Bootleg have done nothing over the last week or so hiatus from college football but get fat and lazy, we will now attempt to shake all the cobwebs off as we bring you our first of several special episodes where we will be previewing each and every bowl match-up and were you will always get our unabashed, unbiased and uncensored view of college football. In this episode we are going to take a look at this years awards recipients for a few minutes prior to taking a look at the Eagle Bank Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl, the St. Petersburg Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, the New Orleans Bowl and the Poinsettia Bowl.

Alright, before we jump into our bowl reviews and post season prognostication, let’s talk about this years college football awards recipients.

*

Heisman Trophy – Sam Bradford (Oklahoma)

*

Maxwell Award (Outstanding Player) – Tim Tebow (Florida)
*

Walter Camp Award (Player of the year) – Colt McCoy (Texas)
*

Dick Butkus Award (Outstanding Linebacker) – Aaron Curry (Wake Forest)
*

Outland Trophy (Outstanding Interior Lineman) – Andre Smith (Alabama)
*

Chuck Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year) – Rey Maualuga (USC)
*

Davey O’Brien Award (National Quarterback Award) – Sam Bradford (Oklahoma)
*

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (Outstanding Sr. QB) – Graham Harrell (Texas Tech)
*

Doak Walker Award (National Running Back Award) – Shonn Greene (Iowa)
*

Fred Biletnikoff Award (Outstanding Wide Receiver) – Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech)
*

Jim Thorpe Award (Outstanding Defensive Back) – Malcolm Jenkins (Ohio St.)
*

John Mackey Award (Outstanding Tight End) – Chase Coffman (Missouri)
*

Lou Groza Award (Collegiate Placekicker Award) – Graham Gano (Florida St.)
*

Bronko Nagurski Award (Defensive Player of the Year) – Brian Orakpo (Texas)
*

Ray Guy Award (Outstanding Punter) – Matt Fodge (Oklahoma St.)
*

Vince Lombardi/Rotary Award (Outstanding Lineman) – Brian Orakpo (Texas)
*

Ted Hendricks Award (Defensive End of the Year Award) – Brian Orakpo (Texas)
*

Rimington Trophy (Outstanding Center) – A.Q. Shipley (Penn State)
*

Home Depot Award (Coach of the Year Award) – Nick Saban (Alabama)
… Alright…On to this week’s scouting report

Eagle Bank Bowl (Navy vs. Wake Forest) – Sat. 12/20
Eric’s Pick – Navy
Randy’s Pick – Navy

New Mexico Bowl (Colorado State vs Fresno State) – Sat 12/20
Eric’s Pick – Fresno State
Randy’s Pick – Fresno State

St. Petersburg Bowl (Memphis vs South Florida) – Sat 12/20
Eric’s Pick – South Florida
Randy’s Pick – South Florida

Las Vegas Bowl (BYU vs Arizona) – Sat 12/20
Eric’s Pick – Arizona
Randy’s Pick – BYU

New Orleans Bowl (Southern Miss vs Troy) – Sun 12/21
Eric’s Pick – Troy
Randy’s Pick – Troy

Poinsettia Bowl (Boise State vs TCU) – Tu 12/23
Eric’s Pick – TCU
Randy’s Pick – TCU

Woody’s Picks – First Bowl Weekend

Bowl season is upon us and though the first few games don’t bring too much excitement to the table there will be plenty to feast upon over the next two weeks. Deeper analysis for next weeks games will hit the site sometime Monday.Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.

NBL Two Minute Drill 12/07/2008

Welcome Bootleggers to the December 7th edition of the Two Minute Drill. Of course today is Pearl Harbor Day so before beginning I’d like to say a word of thanks to the remaining World War II vets, and he’s to hoping that all of our service men and women overseas come home safely to their families. Tonight we’re wrapping up the Two Minute Drill for the year and we’ll be discussing the results of championship game weekend, the NBL Top 20, and we’ll take a few minutes to go over the final BCS rankings and bowl invitations.

Well, since this is the last week of the season we’re mixing it up a bit and starting with After Further Review

For the most part we previewed all of the interesting games for the week, so lets dive right in.

Ball State vs Buffalo – MAC
ECU @ Tulsa – Conference USA
Navy vs Army
Boston College vs Virginia Tech – ACC
Florida vs. Alabama – SEC
Arkansas State @ Troy
Oklahoma vs Missouri – Big 12
Arizona State @ Arizona
Eric finishes the regular season with a 61-47 record while Randy finishes one game behind with a 60-48 record.

On to this week’s NBL Top 20

1-T Oklahoma
1-T Florida
3 Texas
4 Alabama
5 Penn State
6 USC
7 Utah
8 Texas Tech
9 Boise State
10 Ohio State
11 Cincinnati
12 TCU
13 BYU
14 Georgia Tech
15 Michigan State
16 Ball State
17 Oklahoma State
18 Georgia
19 Virginia Tech
20 Oregon

Honorable Mention of the week: The Richmond Spiders for unseating 3 time defending champs, Appalachian State in the FCS quarterfinals.

Honorable Mention of the season: As mentioned last week, the Rice Owls who went 9-3 this season, the best record for Rice since tieing for the SouthWest Conference Championship in 1953. That season they ended the year by beating Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. Congrats to Coach Bailiff and the Owls, and good luck as they prepare for the Texas Bowl.

Now to the BCS Standings.

1. Oklahoma
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State
For those who like crime fiction and action movies be sure to treat yourself and go over to sethharwood.com where you can get Jack Wakes Up for free via mp3 files or PFD.

The bowl invitations have gone out and here is how things break down.

National Championship Oklahoma Florida
Rose Bowl Penn State USC
Orange Bowl Virginia Tech Cincinnati
Sugar Bowl Alabama Utah
Fiesta Bowl Texas Ohio State
Cotton Bowl Texas Tech Ole Miss
Gator Bowl Clemson Nebraska
Capitol One Bowl Michigan State Georgia
Liberty Bowl East Carolina Kentucky
Sun Bowl Pittsburgh Oregon State
Chick-Fil-A Bowl Georgia Tech LSU
Holiday Bowl Oregon Oklahoma State
Independence Bowl Louisiana Tech Northern Illinois
Outback Bowl South Carolina Iowa
Insight Bowl Kansas Minnesota
Champs Sports Bowl Wisconsin Florida State
Las Vegas Bowl BYU Arizona
Alamo Bowl Missouri Northwestern
Motor City Bowl Central Michigan Florida Atlantic
Humanitarian Bowl Nevada Maryland
Music City Bowl Boston College Vanderbilt
GMAC Bowl Tulsa Ball State
Texas Bowl Western Michigan Rice
New Orleans Bowl Troy Southern Miss
Hawaii Bowl Hawaii Notre Dame
Emerald Bowl California Miami, FL
Meineke Car Care Bowl West Virginia North Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl Houston Air Force
Poinsettia Bowl TCU Boise State
Papajohns.com Bowl NC State Rutgers
New Mexico Bowl Fresno State Colorado State
International Bowl Uconn Buffalo
EagleBank Bowl Navy Wake Forest
St. Petersberg Bowl South Florida Memphis

Missed Out: Arkansas State, San Jose State, Bowling Green, Louisiana Lafayette

Thats all there is for this week’s edition of the Two Minute drill. We’ll be back on Thursday this week with the Pre-Snap Read. Until then, thanks from Eric and I for taking your time to listen to our unabashed, unbiased and uncensored view of college football.

NBL Pre-Snap Read 12/04/2008

Welcome Bootlegers, to the last edition of the Pre-Snap Read for the year. Next week we will begin our post season analysis of awards and bowl games. There is plenty of big news this week including the conference championshipmatchups , a few pieces of news related to bowl games, trouble on the Plains of Auburn, but the biggest news of all, and it is not that BarryMelrose is returning to ESPN, is that my recording partner Eric won’t be joining us tonight due to some last minute changes to his work schedule.

First in the news is the conflicting reports on the departure of Tommy Tuberville from Auburn. Some people say he was forced out and some are saying that he left against the wishes of the university and the athletic department. Whichever is true is mostly irrelevant as the fact remains that he is no longer the head coach of the Auburn Tigers. What is extremely relevant is that this is the worst thing outside of NCAA major infractions that could have happened to Auburn. At a time when Alabama is at its strongest point in over a decade coupled with the resurgence of Ole Miss and how strongLSU , Georgia and Florida are we can expect to see Auburn struggle, and quite possibly not just for the next few years. Anytime there is a coaching staff change it affects recruiting, and we know that five verbals have informed Auburn that they will seek to play elsewhere, but it also can have a huge effect on the current roster. At this moment there isn’t a leading candidate to replace Tommy T, but whoever it is better beware as some of the top Auburn boosters aren’t satisfied enough with SEC titles, a perfect season, and even a 7-3 record against hatedBama.

In other news a few rumors have leaked out about bowl invitation. Georgia Tech is scheduled to play in the the Chick-Fil-A bowl in Atlanta, Clemson is scheduled to play in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Southern Miss will face off against the Sun Belt Champion in the New Orleans Bowl held at theSuperDome, Fresno State will accept a bid to play in the New Mexico Bowl and lastly the Rice Owls, the NBL Honorable Mention of the Year will play in the hometown Texas Bowl on Debember 30th.

Randy does a live look-in at the thrashing that Rutgers is putting down on Louisville

Ball State vs Buffalo – Buffalo looked lazy in their loss to Kent State…Ball State has stayed hungry and brings the bigger crowd

ECU @ Tulsa – Tulsa’s offense overpowers an ECU team that has slid too much since big early season wins

Navy vs Army – Navy wins big!!!

BC vs VT – VT’s offense is too inconsistent and BC’s defense should be able to stop them even if they were not

AL vs FL – Maybe next year Tide…Florida is simple the better team offensively and defensively, with better and more experienced talent that knows how to play for these kind of stakes

Ark St @ Troy – not the tastiest item on the menu, but it should be close nonetheless, but Troy wins, simply on their ability to get the better win and stay respectable in their losses

Mizzou vs OU – Bradford for Heisman! Another big offensive performance for the Sooners, and in spite of Daniels best efforts, he will not be able to keep his offense on pace

ASU @ AZ – The Devils seem to have overcome its mid-season ugliness. Arizona lost to New Mexico…ouch!

Randy agrees with Eric’s picks (bolded above) with the exception of the AZ/ASU game which he is certain will go the way of the Wildcat with Tuitama at QB.

Top 20 for November 30th, 2008

One more week of football before the bowl season begins and yet we still don’t have a clear path to a national champion. People assume that the winner of the SEC Championship game will be one-half of the picture, but what happens if Florida wins?

It is conceivable that Texas could be ranked higher in sympathy of them not getting a shot at the Big 12 Championship game. Imagine if Mizzou topples Oklahoma and Florida tops Bama. We could see Texas, Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech, USC, Utah and Boise State all with legitimate arguments saying that they should be in the BCS title game. Should be interesting this weekend.

1 Alabama

2 Oklahoma

3 Florida

4 Texas

5 Penn State

6 Texas Tech

7 Utah

8 USC

9 Boise State

10 Ohio State

11 Cincinnati

12 Ball State

13 TCU

14 BYU

15 Boston College

16 Georgia Tech

17 Missouri

18 Michigan State

19 Georgia

20 Oklahoma State

Receiving Votes: None

Honorable Mention of the week: Kansas, especially Todd Reesing for overcoming injuries and maintaining their composure against Missouri in some of the weirdest weather in this college football season.

Honorable Mention of the season: The Rice Owls who went 9-3 this season, the best record for Rice since tying for the SouthWest Conference Championship in 1953. That season they ended the year by beating Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. Their 9-3 record marks a 6 game swing over last year’s 3-9 squad. Congrats to Coach Bailiff and the Owls.

Woody’s Picks Week 15 (Final)

WEEK 15

LW 19-20-2. All over but the crying.

YTD 108-112-6 (49%)

(All info ATS unless noted)Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.

Next Page »