NBL NCAA Tournament Special

Here we go folks. You get to hear me rant about Kansas, Duke, and Kentucky and then I get with the picks. Who knows, maybe if you use my picks and pray to the diety of your choice… and if you happen to be born under the right astrological sign, and if you have 17 lucky rabbits feet, one of which is still attached to the rabbit… well, you just might get one or two games right.

But NO Promises.

 

Click here to download this episode

NBL Preseason Blitz 02/16/2009

Hello Bootleggers! Just because the snow is still on the ground and most people are more interested in the forthcoming March Madness doesn’t mean that it is too early to discuss college football…especially with signing day happening so recently.

The show notes are a bit sparse, so I guess you will just have to listed and Randy and I discuss tactics and the results of a good recruiting campaign and how NCAA teams have done so far.

NBL Preseason Blitz 08/25/2008

In this final installment of the Preseason Blitzfor hte 2008 season, Randy and Eric will be featuring an indepth look at the SEC and the Sun Belt.

SEC Overview

Florida – most complete team in the SEC
Georgia – toughest schedule in the nation? Can’t live up to the pressure from Georgia fans
South Carolina – Spurrier teams are always scrappy, and they’ll upset Georgia or Florida and maybe Clemson
Tennessee – Fulmer struggles without Cutcliffe around, but still has a good, not great seaon… will lose 3 games amongst SoCar, UGa, FL, Aub
Kentucky – Natural drop off after the loss of Andre Woodson, Jacob Tamme and Wesley Woodyard. 4/5 top rec gone
Vanderbilt – New O Line for Vandy means its going to be a long season. Have both Duke and Rice at home, but may not beat both.

Auburn – Rodreriqus Smith need to be a clutch receiver, but thanks to a down year in the West, its a managable schedule for the Tigers.
LSU – No Hester, Flynn, or Perriloux.
Ole Miss – New players and new coach for Ole Miss. Excited about the Houston Nutt era.
Alabama – John Parker Wilson needs to find solid targets in the passing game. Top 3 rec gone.
Mississippi State – Croom is a great coach. Miss St. has exp in the air and on the ground. D will be solid like in the Joe Lee Dunn days
Arkansas – Petrino isn’t the answer at Arkansas, and they’ll regret losing Nutt. Losing McFadden and Jones has a more immediate impact.

Sun Belt Overview

FAU – Schnellenberger is DA MAN. 10 returning starters on O. Will not scare Texas. Will beat Minnesota @ MN.
Troy – No more Omar means a step back for the year…. but just for this year
UNT – Todd Dodge ignites the squad from Denton. Riley gets his chance to shine.
ASU – Decimated O line and Secondary.
ULL – Michael Desormeaux is the biggest dual threat West of the Mississippi.
FIU – 18 returning starters of Florida Talent should be an improved squad, but will their record be better???
MTSU – More experienced this year. If Dasher hits a sophmore slump you can go ahead and write the season off.
ULM – Warhawks take on new identity, but still keep their losing ways.

We would also like to give one additional plug to Mur Lafferty. Her book hit Amazon today, and as of our recording time, Mur is #16 in book sales according to the sales charts. This is certainly an impressive feat and we’re glad that we were able to do our small part in helping Mur get the word out.

Today we’re going to leave you with a new promo for Seth Harwood’s Young Junius. Drop us a line and let us know what you think about our taking the time to find these podcasts and playing their promos on our show. Of course, you can always leave us feedback through our contact form on this website.

All music on todays podcast was graciously provided by Rising Conviction. Please check out their website at www.risingconviction.com. The Preseason Blitz is brought to you by The Naked Bootleg.com and Twelve October Productions. All Rights Reserved 2008.

NBL Preseason Blitz 08/20/2008

Hello Bootleggers, and welcome back to the Pre-season Blitz. The Naked Bootleg brings you two podcasts each week so you can git your fix of our unabashed, unbiased and uncensored view of college football. This is episode 6 and we’ll be banging out the Big East and MAC previews.

In our Top 20 episode earlier this week, we mentioned that we had been working on a special project for Mur Lafferty. In the run up to the release date of Mur’s book Playing for Keeps, she has re-opened the “Stories of the Third Wave” to members of the podcasting community and asked them to come up with some creative tie-ins to her 7th City saga. We decided that the best way to tie the NBL in with Mur’s hero novel was to stage a radio production where we were out at a football game, and a villian from 7th city attacks during the game, thus “Ruckus at Lafferty Field” was born. The concept and story was developed by Randy, with audio production and post-production produced by Eric, and we must say that It turned out better than we could have hoped. We don’t have a release date yet for our story, but once we do we’ll fill you in. You’ll be able to download our story, as well as the Playing for Keeps podiobook and Stories of the Third Wave by going to playingforkeepsnovel.com and we’ll be sure to have the link in the show notes. Just a reminder that you can purchase the Playing For Keeps novel starting August 25th from Amazon.com.

And now for the Big East Preview:

USF – 10 returning starters on an already potent offense. Groethe is the man – hopefully no more Gro-hawk. Geroge Selvie leads the D.
West Virginia – Noel Devine should shine with Pat White running less. Defense is really depelted, with the strength in the linebacking corps in their 3-3-5 alignment
Rutgers – Mike Teel to Kenny Britt is a call we’ll be hearing all year. Only losing 3 starters on D is a huge asset heading into this loaded conference.
UConn – Randy Edsel’s team improves bit by bit each year. They need a big play receiver, but they do have a solid O. LY the D held 10 of 13 to under 20. If they do that this year, they win 9 games.
Cincinnati – Biggest question is the starting QB, which might be a battle throughout the season. Bearcat D is strong, especially in the middle.
Louisville – Decimated Defense and O line. Several transfers into the program should help.
Pittsburgh – Largest weakness is going to be the O and D line… you can’t win if you can’t control the trenches
Syracuse – Greg Robinson’s last year in the Carrier Dome. Even with 3/5 O line returning they gave up 54 sacks last season. Biggest strength is the return game.

Now, over to the MAC:

CMU – Dan LeFevour is best QB since Roethlisberger in the MAC. Chippewas have inside track for 3rd MAC championship in a row. Game @ UGa will be ugly, but might be able to upset Purdue
WMU – 16 returning starters with the biggest Qs on the O line. Brandon West should have another 2000 All-purpose yards season. CB Londen Fryan is 2x All-MAC.
Buffalo – 1st winning season for Turner Gill and his Bulls if the D front 7 can come together as a unit and QB Drew Willy stays healthy
Ball State – Offense will be explosive with Davis, Love and Hill. D Line is inexperienced but will get acclimated through a soft early season schedule before going to Indiana
Temple – Tons of returning talent for this Owls team. Defense is already solid, the offense needs to come up from its #112 overall ranking.
Miami, OH – Inside track on MAC title game, but a tough November MAC schedule might prevent it. Need to find a sold starter at tailback
NIU – Duo of Clanton and Anderson at TB should be trouble for most MAC opponents. Need to improve on their -17 TO margain which ranked #117
Kent State – 16 returning starters on a team that scored 21.6 ppg but gave up 29.2 ppg does not spell a recipe for success.
Ohio – Bang-up secondary should help in pass happy MAC, but dueling QBs could spell trouble, especially with an O that ranked #83 overall last year.
Akron – Running a 3-3-5 in the MAC is wise, but all 5 DBs are new (including former RB Bryan Williams). Strong O line should ease transition of new RBs and Recvs
EMU – LY EMU had +11 TO margain and still only managed a 4-8 record. Daniel Holtzclaw is the shining light on this defense with 125 tackles LY.
Toledo – Defense ranked #116 last year in scoring. If that doesn’t improve it doesn’t matter what QB Aaron Opelt and his stable of receivers do.
Bowling Green – Defense has to improve on giving up over 200 ypg on the ground. Tougher schedule this year for the Falcons.

One quick mention before we go. A few shows ago, we mentioned the Young Junius story by Seth Harwood. The first episode of this new podiobook has been released, and the story was better than we expected it to be, and with Seth’s stories, expectations are always high. Seth even took a minute to give some Palms Father love to us here at the bootleg.

Thank you for taking your time to join us today. All music on todays podcast was graciously provided by Rising Conviction. Please check out their website at www.risingconviction.com. The Preseason Blitz is brought to you by The Naked Bootleg.com and Twelve October Productions. All Rights Reserved 2008.

NBL Preseason Blitz 08/17/2008

On today’s show we’re taking a break from our conference preview’s to bring you the Top 20 games of September, and if you want to be technical, there might be one or two from August on the list as well. Now I know there are still some conferences that we haven’t previewed with you yet, so if you are wondering why you favorite team or a particular game you are excited about didn’t make this week’s episode, it may be because certain conference implications or a number of other reasons. Some of the games to keep an eye on in the early season include:
8/30 – Michigan State @ California
8/30 – Illinois @ Missouri
8/30 – Fresno State @ Rutgers
9/6 – BYU @ Washington
9/11 – UNC @ Rutgers
9/12 – Kansas @ South Florida
9/13 – California @ Maryland
9/13 – SMU @ Texas Tech
9/13 – Oklahoma @ Washington
9/13 Georgia @ South Carolina
9/13 – Ohio State @ USC
9/13 – Wisconsin @ Fresno State
9/17 – K-State @ Louisville
9/20 – Wake Forest @ Florida State
9/20 – Mississippi State @ Georgia Tech
9/20 – Florida @ Tennessee
9/20 – LSU @ Auburn
9/20 – Miami @ Texas A&M
9/27 – Maryland @ Clemson
9/27 – Illinois @ Penn State

All music on todays podcast was graciously provided by Rising Conviction. Please check out their website at www.risingconviction.com. The Preseason Blitz is brought to you by The Naked Bootleg.com and Twelve October Productions. All Rights Reserved 2008.

NBL Preseason Blitz 08/13/2008

This is episode 4 and we’ll be banging out the Big 12 and the Mountain West Conferences

Big 12 Preview

North

• Mizzou – Far and away the best team in the North. Great targets for Daniel.
  
• Nebraska – Solid front 4 on D, but no real experience at LB, traditionally a strong point on Neb Ds. Joe Ganz has a great year.
  
• Kansas – Good team, but a brutal B12 sched forces them to take a step back. Talib won’t be missed as much as McAnderson.
  
• Colorado – Need to solidify the O line. Tougher schedule this year.
  
• Kansas State – Ron Prince can’t quite get them over the hump. Need to find replacements for Jordy Nelson and James Johnson
  
• Iowa State – Gene Chizik’s team isn’t able to build on last year, esp after losing Bret Meyer and Todd Blythe.
  

South

• Oklahoma – Deep stable of backs. Solid line. Great QB. Some questions as to who will start in the secondary, but still plenty of depth.
  
• Texas – Will Muschamp will need to revitalize the Texas D if they want to do better than 9-3. Colt McCoy is solid, but I still haven’t bought into all his hype. Depth needed at WR.
  
• Texas A&M – Only 1 conference road game against a team predicted to have a winning record (Texas).
  
• Texas Tech – Most overrated team in the U.S. O will be spectacular, but they can’t beat OU on the road, and the D will not be an unknown commodity like it was last year.
  
• Oklahoma State – 4/5 returning on the O line. Lack of depth at WR. Lack of experience on the D line.
  
• Baylor – Art Briles will turn this program around, might win 2 conference games this year (ISU, @OKSt) for the 2nd time since 2000

MWC Preview

BYU – The biggest questions have to do with the secondary as the offense should be better than last years 14.7 YPP
Utah – High powered O and solid D give them a chance to compete in the Big House for the season opener
TCU – Most returning starters since 2002. Solid ground game.
Air Force – Lots of questions at the skill positions, and only 8 starters returning. D line has the most experience of any unit, and will have to be solid if they want to take the C-I-C this year.
New Mexico – Strong Secondary should keep opposing offenses at bay, but the O line has a lot of new faces.
San Diego State – 8 returning starters on D, but they gave up 34.4 ppg last year.
Wyoming – Both the offensive and defensive lines are strong, returning all eight starters. Biggest question is K.
Colorado State – Start rebuilding with a solid ground game with 4/5 OL returning as well as Top 3 rushers returning.
UNLV – Phil Steele has them as his 4th best team in the WAC, but I don’t them coming up from the cellar. Offense has 9 returners, but the D will take a step back.

This episodes concludes with a  promo for Seth Harwood’s new project Young Junius. For those unfamiliar with Seth’s body of work, Seth has written a trilogy of novels called the Jack Palms series. Here is a brief synopsis of the first book in the series, Jack Wakes Up that is coming out in May 2009

“What does a movie-star one-hit-wonder and ex-drug-addict do when he’s cleaned up, down on his luck, and running out of money?
In the three years since Jack Palms went clean  – no drugs, no drinking, no life? He’s added fourteen pounds of muscle, read 83 books, and played it as straight as anyone can ask him. Now, when an old friend from L.A. calls, he hits the streets of San Francisco to help a group of Czech drug buyers make one big score, a single drug deal that he hopes will set him up for life.
But when people start turning up dead, and an old nemesis on the police force calls, Jack finds himself with just 24 hours to track down San Francisco’s biggest drug supplier or face charges that will put him behind bars.
Only an Oscar-caliber performance will get him through this alive. “

The Young Junius project is an off-shoot of the Jack Palms series focusing on a young gang-banger named Junius Ponds. Like all of Seth’s work, Young Junius is sure to be full of action, drama, women and drugs. As Seth would say, “This isn’t fit for your mini-van, so get those ear muffs on your kids.” Please check out Seth’s work at sethharwood.com

All music on todays podcast was graciously provided by Rising Conviction. Please check out their website at www.risingconviction.com. The Preseason Blitz is brought to you by The Naked Bootleg.com and Twelve October Productions. All Rights Reserved 2008.

NBL Preseason Blitz 08/11/2008

In this episode, Eric and Randy give their insights into the WAC and PAC-10 conferences

PAC-10

USC – Mark Sanchez gets his shot. USC’s D will be killer again. Biggest question is the O line.
ASU – Strong D… toughest games are on the road
Wash – Jake Locker gets Pac-10 QB of the year. Solid O line.
AZ – Finally go bowling. Willie Tuitama leads a very experienced offense. The defense is very inexperienced
Cal – Struggle to finish opponents off. Oct 18 – Nov 15 will decide whether they go bowling or not.
UCLA – Neuheisel era starts off with a bang. Will win one of first two games (TN, @BYU) Biggest question is the O line.
Oregon – Losing Jonathan Stewart hurts more than losing Dennis Dixon. Need to win 4 of their first 5 if they want to go bowling.
Oregon State – All new front 7 on defense spells trouble and a losing season. 3/4 top rushers are gone as well
Stanford – Very experienced D. I see a lot of close games for this year, and building to a successful winning season… for next year
Wash St – Take a step back under 1st yr coach Wulff. Will be able to build onto things for next year.

WAC

Boise St – New QB, but Ian Johnson and the top receivers return. Strong LB corps
Fresno St – Wins WAC in last game of season @BSU. Brandsteter leads this powerful O again this year. Should build on last year’s 8-4 record
LT – If the line solidifies I see Patrick Jackson leading LT to a winning season under coach Derek Dooley. New marketing deal will also help get the home field to be more of an advantage
NMSU – Chase Holbrook and the strong receiving corps finally bring a winning season to Las Crueces. Hopefully they get their first bowl bid since 1960
Nevada – Offense should build on last year, but defense will be very susceptible against the run
Hawaii – The Hawaii team everyone remembers is gone, and they won’t be back this year. Hawaii goes 5-8 this season.
SJSU – No experience at RB or QB leads to a long season. Defense that gave up over 400 ypg last year loses it’s best players
ID – Defense that gave up 11.3 YPP doesn’t improve losing 5/6 top tacklers. If Idaho doubles last year’s win total that will be a successful season.
USU – Last year D allowed 450 ypg. should improve this year. Young guards need to step up if the O is to have any success.

All music on todays podcast was graciously provided by Rising Conviction. Please check out their website at www.risingconviction.com. The Preseason Blitz is brought to you by The Naked Bootleg.com and Twelve October Productions. All Rights Reserved 2008.

NBL Preseason Blitz 08/10/2008

In this 2nd episode of the Preseason Blitz, Randy and Eric discuss the biased college football media and provide their previews of the ACC and Conference-USA.

ACC

• Clemson – Best shot at an ACC title in years, with Cullen Harper poised for a stellar season.
• Wake Forest – Will give Clemson a run for their money by making use of their powerful offensive backfield and 9 retuning starters on defense.
• Maryland – Returning 9 offensive starters on offense and having one of the toughest defenses the Terps have seen in a while, sure doesn’t hurt their chances.
• Florida State – Bowden has to overcome all sorts of obstacles such as their special teams, an inexperienced offensive line, not to mention legal issues with players, academic probations, or injuries dating back to the spring.
• Boston College – the arrival of a new running game is promising, but the losses of Ryan, Callendar, Whitworth are telling.
• N.C. State – Well…at least they get to play William & Mary at home.
• Virginia Tech – Although young, they will still likely dominate the Coastal conference
• Georgia Tech – New coaching staff, new triple option offense, tough road schedule…its like the excitement of opening a Christmas present only to find out that you don’t have the batteries you need for it to work.
• Miami – A lot to overcome with a young team, but as long as no one takes their helmet off and swings it at the other team, they should be OK.
• North Carolina – Returning 18 starters and a manageable schedule…its now or never for the Tarheels.
• Virginia – Opening their season against USC? What were they thinking?
• Duke – Returning most of your starters is usually a good thing, but returning them from a 1 win team…who knows. They do appear a bit tougher, leaner, and quicker. Let the rebuilding begin.

Conference USA

• Central Florida – Defense wins championships and with 9 returning starters, you have to love the odds. tough offensive losses from last season may keep that great defense on the field a bit too much though.
• East Carolina – Moving away from a two QB rotation can only help bring consistency.
• Southern Miss – Damian Fletcher? while all eyes were on  the other running powerhouses last season, he racked up 1586 rushing yards. If he can do it again, expect good things for Southern Miss
• Univ. Alabama-Birmingham – You can reasonably expect some improvement when you return 17 starters, which is essential coming off a 2 win season
• Marshall – new no huddle, west coast offense…should be fun to watch
• Memphis – Still reeling from the loss of DeAngelo Williams, this team may be grateful to get even 4 wins
• Southern Methodist – June Jones! We could stop here, but trying times are coming, especially with having to retrofit your QB’s to the new run and shoot offense.
• Tulsa – A new no-huddle offense is introduced to the 9 returning offensive starters. Can the offense also return to the nearly 550 yards average per game from last season?
• Univ. Texas – El Paso – A completely new defensive coaching staff and a new defensive scheme breaths new life into 9 returning defensive starters. Unfortunately for UTEP, they will have to play offense at some point
• Tulane – experienced offense and defense should make life a bit easier for the Green Wave
• Rice – if they can find an offensive line, this will likely be the most potent passing game in the conference
• Houston – with 8 starters returning on defense, expect better than the 30 points per game average they gave up last season.

Thank you for taking your time to join us today. All music on today’s podcast was graciously provided by Rising Conviction. Please check out their website at www.risingconviction.com.

The Preseason Blitz is brought to you by The Naked Bootleg.com and Twelve October Productions. All Rights Reserved 2008.

NBL Preseason Blitz 08/03/2008

In our inaugural episode of the Preseason Blitz, Randy and Eric discuss the recently refined website, the merits of preseason polls and their previews of independents and Big 10 teams.

Big 10 Preview

• Penn State – Will the loss of Dan Connor hurt more than the loss of Morelli? Is Joe Paterno a factor and how much is enough? Are the standards
• OSU – Return a lot of great athletes, but is it enough to keep them in the BCS championship hunt?
• Michigan – Will Rich Rodriguez become to Michigan what Coach Fran was to Texas A&M? Can they overcome a rough previous season?
• Michigan State – I Dantonio’s 2^nd season, can they pull of a better record than the 1^st?
• Purdue – How will Tiller’s last year play out? Will the senior leadership of Painter and Sheets be enough to overcome “D” that needs help?
• Indiana – Can Bill Lynch keep the magic rolling for his team and improve on one of the best Hoosier seasons in years?
• Iowa – If they are able to solidify the QB position, will their offensive productivity be able to overcome a questionable defense?
• Illinois – Who replaces Rashard Mendenhall? The loss of J Lehman hurts, but will Juice have what it takes to bring about another impressive season?
• Northwestern – How will the new defensive scheme impact the Wildcats? Can Tyrell Sutton step up and remain healthy enough to contribute?
• Wisconsin – How does the QB situation shake out? What are their chances to win the conference title?
• Minnesota – With little depth, little experience and no real rising stars, is their anything they can do to stay in the season?

Independent Preview section

• Navy – How will key losses at receiver impact their season? Can they improve on last year or is it all down hill from here?
• Army – Can Army do better than the 3 win season of last year?
• Notre Dame – Does Notre Dame conquer the ghosts of last season?
• Western Kentucky – With the move into the Sun Belt next year, can they avoid a losing season this year?

Thank you for taking your time to join us today. All music on today’s podcast was graciously provided by Rising Conviction. Please check out their website at www.risingconviction.com.

The Naked Bootleg would also like to thank Casey Shultz at SciFi Surplus for helping with some audio testing for this program. The Preseason Blitz is brought to you by The Naked Bootleg.com and Twelve October Productions. All Rights Reserved 2008.