College Football Hodgepodge Week 9

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Basically, Lee Corso cannot touch me. I went 5-0 three weeks ago with my picks, and although I would have taken a beating if I was betting against the spread, and of course if gambling was permitted here in the great U.S of A, I take solace in the fact that i'm essentially on fire right now. I stay humbled by the fact that I was more than a little off base with my Notre Dame homerism, but still let me give this another spin with this weeks best matchups, followed by an update of my player rankings.

Michigan St. (6-1) at Nebraska (6-1): Michigan St. has run the gauntlet of Ohio St, Michigan, and Wisconsin, coming away with wins in all three. Their defense led by DE Denicos Allen and LB Max Bullough has been arguably the best in the nation. Nebraska has been throwing the ball better, but still is built on the run with Rex Burkhead and Taylor Martinez. In a low scoring game, I look for Sparty to keep rolling here. For Vegas purposes, take the under. Kirk Cousins controlling the game, and the Spartans D holding serve will help Michigan State prevail. (MSU 14-10).

Oklahoma (6-1) at Kansas St. (7-0): Kansas St. has been a nice little story, but even though they're playing this one at home, the fairy tale ends today. There's a reason Oklahoma was the preseason number one team in the country. And they will be plenty pissed off after losing last week. Colin Klein has been arguably the best running QB outside of Taylor Martinez and Denard Robinson, but the pressure of studs Frrank Alexander (11.5 sacks) and Ronnell Lewis (9.5) will be too much to handle. Oklahoma will win big. (Oklahoma 45, Kansas St. 24).

Illinois (6-2) at Penn St. (6-1): Snow football is back in various points on the map this weekend, and they're calling for low 30's temperatures and some white stuff in Happy Valley. Penn St. is another Big 10 squad with a nasty D, but Illinois has gotten a huge year from DE Whitney Mercilus. I think the difference will be the combo of QB Nathan Scheelhaase and WR A.J. Jenkins for the Illini, which is better than anything Penn St. has on that side of the ball. (Illinois 21-17).

Baylor (4-2) at Oklahoma St. (7-0): RG3's Heisman campaign has lost a little bit of its shine as the Bears have fallen out of the top 25. They still will put points on the board in this one, but OSU might have the best set of "triplets" in the nation with Brandon Weedon, Joseph Randle, and Justin Blackmon all up near the top in my offensive rankings. The Oklahoma St. defense will give up some points, but they also will create turnovers with 15 interceptions and 11 forced fumbles on the season. Oklahoma St. stays undefeated in a scoring bonanza (Ok. St. 55-38).

Stanford (7-0) at USC (6-1): The Trojans are somehow 6-1 despite the fact that Lane Kiffin is their coach. Matt Barkley and Robert Woods might be too much for Stanford to handle. That being said, Stanford has Andrew Luck, Andrew Luck's neck beard, and a stable of about 58 RB's to tote the rock. They will wear down the USC D, take advantage of Kiffin doing something stupid like committing a recruiting violation during the game, and come away with a close win in LaLa land. (Stanford 28-23).
Added up to the Minute Bonus: The Stanford band was just playing "Reptila" by the Strokes. They just got infinitely cooler in my book. Gotta love watching College Gameday while writing this half-asleep.

Player Rankings: Here's my up to the minute WR and DB rankings. Interesting to note: This isn't necessarily a Mel Kiper/Todd McShay type list looking at NFL projections. It merely looks at on field production. There's some "system" type people on the list because they play in a spread that puts up heavy numbers. Feel free to argue and enjoy.

WR's
1. Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma (67 catches, 899 yards, 9 td's)
2. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma St. (61-662-7)
3. B.J.Cunningham, Michigan St. (48-723-3)
4. Stedmon Bailey, WVU (41-764-6)
5. Ryan Swope, Texas A&M (44-659-6)
6. Tavon Austin, WVU (48-624-2)
7. Jairus Wright, Arkansas (34-574-6)
8. Marquis Maze, Alabama (39-482-1)
9. Ivan McCartney, West Virginia (35-464-3)
10. Kendall Wright, Baylor (55-757-9)

The disclaimer about system WR's was basically my justification for having 3 people from WVU on the list. Ryan Swope has the best white boy WR title belt right now, but VT's Danny Coale is closing fast. Maze has been having a quietly efficient year for a team that is built on running the ball, and with a new QB. Broyles and Blackmon have been just as good as everyone predicted as soon as they decided to come back to school last spring.

DB's
1. Tyrann Mathieu, LSU (42 tackles, 2 ints, 4 forced fumbles, 5 pass breakups)
2. Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama( 2 forced fumbles, 8 pass breakups)
3. Markelle Martin, Oklahoma St. (43 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 6 breakups)
4. Daimion Stafford, Nebraska (48 tackles, 4 breakups)
5. Daytawion Lowe, Oklahoma St. (47 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles)
6. Carrington Byndum, Texas
7. Tharold Simon, LSU
8. Jay'ron Hosley, VT
9. Broderick Brown, Oklahoma St.
10. Quandre Diggs, Texas

The exploits of Mathieu have been chronicled both nationally and on this blog (one in the same basically with my credibility). Like I said in the game predictions, Oklahoma St gets a lot of turnovers, and gets a lot of them from their DB's. Martin, Lowe, Brown, and Justin Gilbert have been huge for the undefeated Cowboys. Stafford has come on after playing in junior college last year having a huge impact, much like Lavonte David did last season. Simon has been a part of and LSU pass defense that has more depth than anyone in the country.

AFC Power Rankings

We'll start this week with the conference where I don't have a dog in the fight, although if anyone saw the Lions-Bears tilt on Monday night, the Bears fought by committing 58 false starts and letting Jahvid Best go apeshit on their aging and decrepit defense. I'll save this considerable venom after I watch them play Sunday Night and give the NFC power rankings next week, but here's my AFC Rankings, followed by some player rankings by division.

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16. Jacksonville 1-4: They have no playmakers outside of MJD and maybe Paul Posluszny on defense if I'm feeling generous. I think Jack Del Rio will be unemployed soon.

15. Miami 0-4: When the sentence "Chad Henne is out for the season" is classfied as bad news, you do not have a good football team..

14. Indianapolis 0-5: I thought they might start winning some games after they looked decent against Tampa a couple of weeks ago, but let's just say that Curtis Painter is in a bit over his head. They're wasting another great year from Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.

13. Denver 1-4: Von Miller is a beast, but they lack much else on D. I'm in the Pro-Tebow camp, but I still don't see him doing anything other than keeping them more competitive.

12. Kansas City 2-3: Yes I picked up or tried to pick up Jackie Battle in all of my fantasy leagues. Chiefs are getting great years from Tamba Hali and VT alum Brandon Flowers. Could sneak into playoff contention as Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston are starting to come on.

11/10. Cleveland 2-2, Cincinnati 3-2: Flip a coin with these two Ohio sqauds. They're both relatively equal in my book. They have promising young QB's, undervalued defenses that are playing well without the big names, and decent running backs. They also aren't going anywhere significant for at least a year or two.

9. Tennessee 3-2: They'd be in my top 6 had they not looked so terrible last week in Pittsburgh. Losing Kenny Britt kills them unless they can pick up Brandon Lloyd or someone of that ilk soon.

8. New York Jets 2-3: I just don't see the magic of my favorite coach in the NFL happening this year. What the hell happened to Shonne Greene? The Jets can't run, and trading Derrick Mason won't magically ignite the passing attack as long as their QB's jersey says Sanchez on the back of it.

7. Oakland 3-2: Raider Nation might kill me on this one, but I still have to see it for another couple of weeks before I'm fully sold. That being said, winning in Houston was huge last week. The Silver and Black have a hugely underrated weapon in Janikowski, as they're basically in field goal range from the 40 on in with the "Polish Powder Keg" booting the shit out of the ball (I was wanted to work Polish Powder Keg in there somehow).

6. Pittsburgh 3-2: Much like my Bears, I feel as though the Pittsburgh defense is aging before our eyes. Losing James Harrison won't help, but they need the Lamar Woodley's and Lawrence Timmons' of the world to start making more plays and causing more turnovers. They also need to get Rashard Mendenhall going.

5. Houston 3-2: The Texans will be hurt a great deal by losing Mario Williams for the year, as he was having a Pro Bowl/Defensive Player of the Year type season. Antonio Smith is doing his best Robert Mathis impression to Williams playing the role of Freeney, but I'm still not buying in on the rest of the defense. Oh yeah, Andre Johnson is pretty good too, and he's out for at least a couple more weeks.

4. Buffalo 4-1: I've partially been convinced the Bills are for real, but I still can't put them ahead of the traditional powers just yet, even though they beat the Patriots. Fred Jackson has been amazing, their QB is smarter than your QB, and adding pieces like Nick Barnett and Marcel Dareus have led to a D that's giving up a lot of points, but also creating turnovers.

3. San Diego 4-1: Flip Rivers is throwing a lot more interceptions, yet the Chargers are off to an uncharacteristic quick start. Having Vincent Jackson back helps a lot, as does the production they're getting from Ryan Mathews in his second season. Resigning Eric Weddle was huge for the D, as of course Bob Sanders is hurt already.

2. Baltimore 3-1: I'm just gonna pretend that the Tennessee game never happened, as outside of this stumble, the Ravens have been just like the Ravens of old. Forgetting about how shittty Joe Flacco can be at times, everything else is in order for a Super Bowl run. Go ahead and add corner La'Darius Webb to the list of Lewis, Reed, Suggs, and Ngata as perennial pro bowlers.

1. New England 4-1: I'm not sure how to even quantify how insanely gifted this offense is (except for the Buffalo game, and except for Ochocinco). Tom Brady is Tom Brady, Wes Welker might end up with 2500 receiving yards, and Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis is getting talked about so much the clever nickname "law firm" is starting to get played out. If New England and Green Bay end up in the Super Bowl, I'm gonna go ahead and set the over at about 85 points.

All Division Teams:
Much like with College All-Conference Teams, I'm going to give you my All Division Teams for the AFC after the first 5 weeks. The only position I'm not going to attempt to cover is offensive line. Sadly, yahoo does not tabulate pancake blocks as of yet, so I don't have any stats to disect. Also I'm not Mike Lombardi.

AFC East:
QB: Tom Brady, NE
RB: Fred Jackson, Buf
RB: Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis, NE
WR: Wes Welker, NE
WR: Stevie Johnson, Buf
WR: Deion Branch, NE
TE: Rob Gronkowski, NE

DE: Mark Anderson, NE
DT: Vince Wilfork, NE
DT: Mike Devito, NYJ
DE: Jared Odrick, Mia
LB: Nick Barnett, Buf
LB: Cameron Wake, Mia
LB: Bart Scott, NYJ
LB: Bryan Thomas, NYJ
CB: Kyle Arrington, NE
CB: Drayton Florence, Buf
S:  George Wilson, Buf
S:  Bryan Scott, Buf

MVP: Wes Welker- Video game type numbers from possibly the greatest white wide receiver ever.

Defensive POY: George Wilson- No one has heard of him but with 39 tackles, 3 Ints, a forced fumble, and 5 pass breakups, you should.

Rookie of the Year: Daniel Thomas: K-State rookie has made it really a good deal if you trade Reggie Bush for a pizza.

AFC North:
QB: Ben Roethlisberger, Pit
RB: Ray Rice, Bal
RB: Cedric Benson, Cin
WR: Mike Wallace, Pit
WR: A.J. Green, Cin
WR: Torrey Smith, Bal
TE: Jermaine Gresham, Cin

DE: Michael Johnson, Cin
DT: Jonathan Fanene, Cin
DT:  Haloti Ngata, Bal
DE: Jamal Sheard, Clev
LB: Terrell Suggs, Bal
LB: D'Qwell Jackson, Clev
LB: Ray Lewis, Bal
LB: James Harrison, Pit
CB: La'Darius Webb, Bal
CB: Joe Haden, Clev
S: Ed Reed, Bal
S: Reggie Nelson, Cin

Player of the Year: Ray Rice: As I stated earlier, Joe Flacco is not good. Rice is the offensive savior for a team built on D.

Defensive POY: Terrell Suggs: T-Sizzle has slowed down a little, but he's still on pace for 16 sacks and 8 forced fumbles.

Rookie of the Year: A.J. Green: The 4th pick in the draft has lived up to the hype, as he and fellow rookie Andy Dalton have the Bengals off to a 3-2 start.

AFC South:
QB: Matt Hasselbeck, Ten
RB:  Ben Tate, Hou
RB: Maurice Jones-Drew, Jax
WR: Kenny Britt, Ten. 
WR: Andre Johnson, Hou.
WR: Pierre Garcon, Ind.
TE: Owen Daniels, Hou.

DE: Antonio Smith, Hou.
DT: Karl Klug, Ten.
DT: Eric Foster, Ind.
DE: Dwight Freeney, Ind.
LB: Mario Willams, Hou.
LB: Kavell Conner, Ind.
LB: Pat Angerer, Ind.
LB: Paul Posluszny, Jax.
CB: Jason McCourty, Ten.
CB: Jonathan Joseph, Hou.
S: Dwight Lowery, Jax.
S: Daniele Manning, Hou.

Player of the Year: Matt Hasselbeck- The aging veteran has kept the Titans in the playoff race despite not having Kenny Britt.

Defensive POY: Mario Williams- He's out for the season, but Williams was having a great season for the Texans.

Rookies of the Year: Karl Klug: Klug didn't have a great senior year at Iowa, but he's gotten off to a 2 sack, 2 forced fumble start for the Titans.

AFC West:
QB: Phillip Rivers, SD
RB:Darren McFadden, Oak.
RB: Mike Tolbert, SD.
WR:  Eric Decker, Den.
WR: Vincent Jackson, SD
WR: Dwayne Bowe, KC.
TE: Randy McMichael, SD

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DE: Matt Shaughnessy, Oak.
DT: Richard Seymour, Oak.
DT: Tommy Kelly, Oak.
DE: Jason Hunter, Den.
LB: Von Miller, Den.
LB: Tamba Hali, KC.
LB: Rolando McClain, Oak.
LB: Donald Butler, SD.
CB: Brandon Flowers, KC
CB: Stanford Routt, Oak.
S: Matt Giordano, Oak.
S: Jon McGraw, KC

Player of the Year: Darren McFadden- Run DMC has been the catalyst for the Raiders impressive beginning. He's leading the AFC in rushing with 519 yards.

Defensive POY: Von Miller: The number two pick in the draft has been outstanding so far. Miller has 5 sacks, 4 TFL's and 2 forced fumbles, as he's a legit candidate not just for Rookie of the Year honors, but also Defensive POY honors.

Rookies of the Year: Miller

10 Things I Hate About You: Brewers-Cards Preview

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It's fairly common knowledge that I am a Cubs fan. This is unfortunate, because obviously the Cubs are terrible. I like any passionate baseball fan, do not like the teams in my division. The Pirates are harmless because, up until this year, have always been beatable and a borderline laughingstock. The Astros have recently taken up this futility, so they play the role of the shitty team with no chance that I know we get to pad our record against 18 times a year. The Reds used to just play us relatively even and have the likes of Adam Dunn etc. launch 500 foot homers out of Wrigley. They became the enemy last year with their playoff run, and Joey Votto's snub of Marlon Byrd at the All-Star Game. That leaves the Brewers and the Cardinals. We used to be able to call Miller Park our second home, as the place always seemed to be at least split 50-50 between Brewers and Cubs fans, as the Northsiders typically made the short trip North to Milwaukee to take over the stadium. Now, the Brew Crew has arguably the best home field advantage in baseball, with a record of 57-24 this season. St. Louis has always been St. Louis. I've hated them since the days of Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith and his stupid backflips, and Whitey Herzog. When I was 6 and started with my unhealthy sports obsession, my neighbor that lived across the street, Mr. Corcoran used to taunt me hard about how good his Cards were, and how the Cubs were never going to beat them. For the most part aside from some isolated success, he's been right. To sum up, I hate the Cardinals, and I only moderately hate the Brewers. None of this matters in terms of who will win, so here's an attempt at an unbiased breakdown.

Catcher: Yadier Molina has a neck tattoo, while Jonathan Lucroy has a neck beard. They both had solid years, but I give the slight edge to the best of the three Molina brothers. Yadier probably got picked on being the youngest like my brother Matt, and although Bengie doesn't have multiple DUI's, he probably did the same things as me,  like telling Yadier he was adopted in Spanish, serving as motivation to achieve greater than his older brothers. Advantage: Cards

Infield: The Brewers go with Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Jerry Hairston; while the Cards go with Albert Pujols, Nick Punto/Skip Schumaker, Rafael Furcal, and David Freese. Look for Pujols and Fielder to put on a show, effectively campaigning to be the Cubs 1B in 2012. They might have a combined OPS of over 2.000 clamoring for this honor. At this point, I would take Weeks' rookie brother Jermile from Oakland over poor Rickie at this point, as he went 1-15 in NLDS. I'd say the X-factor is Freese, who will be an All-Star if he ever stays healthy for a full season. Advantage: Cards

Outfield: I can't think of anything negative to say about Ryan Braun. If not for Matty Kemp, he'd be the clear-cut MVP this season. And he's taken it up a notch in the postseason, with an average of .467 and an OPS of close to 1.400. We all know about the exploits of a certain ex-National, Tony Plush. And Corey Hart looks like he could be a long lost Sites brother, but is a bit more athletic. Meanwhile, Matt Holliday is banged up, and Lance Berkman is still fat. Advanatage: Brew Crew

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Starting Pitching: I'd go with Chris Carpenter over any of these starters if I had one do or die game to win. (See Friday Night's classic 3 hit shutout). In terms of depth however, I'd side with the Brewers. Although they didn't pitch well against Arizona, Grienke and Marcum had great seasons. I still look at Kyle Lohse as a bit of a fluke, and you really can't trust Edwin Jackson if the White Sox decided he wasn't good enough to play for them and their flaming bag of dogshit baseball season they just completed. Randy Wolf sucks, but I'd take the Milwaukee top 3 over the St. Louis twosome of Carpenter and Jaime Garcia. Advantage: Brew Crew

Bullpen: Jason Motte has been lights out lately, but John Axford has been lights out all year. The erratic Francisco Rodriquez doesn't dazzle anyone with his WHIP numbers, but he always seems to skate out of trouble. The teams are evenly matched here, as Octavio Dotel, Marc Rzaepppppejazzzzsnki, and Fernando Salas all have been solid. Advantage: Even

Bench: I like the edge the Cards have here with Ryan Theriot, Skip Schumaker, and rookies Adren Chambers and Daniel Descalso. The Brewers have Carlos Gomez playing out of his head, but not much else outside of Casey McGehee, who's gone from fantasy sleeper at 3B, to Jerry Hairston's backup in a span of two months. Advantage: Cardinals

Managers: The only memorable thing I can think of with Ron Roenekie's first year is his frequent use of the defensive shift, sometimes to the Brewers detriment. La Russa might win the "manager that holds the title belt for the biggest douchebag in baseball," but you can't argue with the success he's had both in Oakland, and in St. Louis. I give the Cards the nod here. Advantage: Cardinals


Post breakdown, it seems as though I'm unfortunately going to go with St. Louis. I think the pitching is slighly better, they have more options off the bench, and a better overall lineup. I think it will go all 7 games, but look for the Cards to host Game 1 of the World Series against the Rangers.

College Football Hodgepodge: Week 6

I think I went 5-1 last time with my picks, so let's just start there this week before I get into some player rankings, BCS predictions, and my choice for the Heisman and Defensive POY.

Oklahoma-Texas: I know Texas has won 3 out of the last 4, and that both teams are in the top 15, but I don't see this being much of a contest. I don't like Texas' QB situation, even though it's a challenging matchup to have to account for two different types of players that literally have two different playbooks. OU has too much on offense, and despite the fact that the Longhorns young secondary has played well, Ryan Broyles is going to have a field day (Oklahoma 34, Texas 17)

Florida-LSU: Another top 25 game that won't be close. LSU's defense will tee off on Frosh Jeff Driskell, who is a backup to a terrible QB, so probably isn't very good himself. I see Charlie Weis crying and calling Tom Brady on his cell midgame, asking to come back as Wes Welker's man servant while crushing bags of Dorito's. I also see the "Honey Badger" (Tyrann Mathieu) rising to number one in my defensive player rankings with a 12 tackle, 2 sack, 1 Int, 4 PBU type of game. (LSU 45, Florida 14)

Arkansas-Auburn: I'd say this one would be more of an even game, but with Auburn's top two WR's out, I'm going with the Hogs. Jairus Wright and Tyler Wilson went off against a decent defense last week against A&M, and Nick Fairley will be busy putting Jay Cutler in the hospital on Monday night, after knocking out Ryan Mallett in last year's game. Arkansas has holes on D, but Auburn won't be balanced enough to punish them, even though Michael Dyer will have a big day. (Arkansas 35, Auburn 24)

Ohio St.-Nebraska: This one has lost some of its luster with both teams playing like garbage in their Big Ten openers. Ohio State's offense is terrible, and they still don't get Dan Herron or Devier Posey back. Nebraska can at least run the ball, with Rex Burkhead ( think Danny Woodhead college version), and dual threat Taylor Martinez. I still like the Husker Defense, with 3 players in my top 25 rankings, plus preseason All-Americans Alfonzo Dennard and Jared Crick. (Nebraska 24, Ohio St. 17)

Miami-Virginia Tech: I'd love to take the verbal cattle prod to the VT people, as probably half of those that read this are probably Tech alums. I won't do it this week however. After coming out flat against a suprising Clemson team last week, the Hokies will bounce back this week. David Wilson is still a sleeper Heisman candidate, and the defense has played well. I see Jayron Hosely picking off a pass or two, and the Hokies doing something Hokie-like on special teams, coming away with the win. (VT 27, Miami 14).

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Player Rankings:
( This is my unscientific, non-biased look at how players stack up going into Week 6. With apologies to Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, and others that don't have the numbers since their teams beat the shit out of everyone each week, here's how my rankings look so far.

QB
1. Brandon Weedon, Sr. Oklahoma St.
2. Geno Smith, Jr. West Virginia
3. Landry Jones, Jr. Oklahoma
4. Tyler Wilson, Jr. Arkansas
5. B.J. Daniels, Jr. USF

Dual-Threat
1. Taylor Martinez, Soph. Nebraska
(Weedon and Smith are largely putting up numbers because of the systems they play in, but both play for teams that are a combined 9-1. Martinez is Vick-like in his running abilities, but has to be ranked separately because he's barely completing 50 percent of his passes).
RB
1. Trent Richardson, Jr. Alabama
2. Marcus Lattimore, Soph. S.Carolina
3. Joseph Randle, Soph. Oklahoma St.
4. David Wilson, Jr. VT
5. Chris Rainey, Sr. Florida
( Richardson would get my vote for Heisman if I actually had the credibility that would give me a Heisman vote. Lattimore is one of maybe 5 or 6 Gamecocks that will be in the Pro Bowl in 5 years. Randle gives the Cowboys three dynamic playmakers on a potential BCS sleeper).
WR
1. Ryan Broyles, Sr. Oklahoma
2. Justin Blackmon, Jr. Oklahoma St.
3. B.J. Cunningham, Sr. Michigan St.
4. Jairus Wright, Sr. Arkansas
5. Tavon Austin Jr. West Virginia
( Broyles and Blackmon are well-known, but B.J. Cunningham from Michigan St. has quietly put together a reccord-breaking career and hasn't slowed down in his senior year).

Defense
1. Antonio Allen, Sr. South Carolina
2. Tyrann Mathieu, Soph. LSU
3. Chase Thomas, Jr. Stanford
4. Jadevon Clowney Frosh. South Carolina
5. Emmanuel Acho, Sr. Texas
6. Markellle Martin, Sr. Oklahoma St.
7. Melvin Ingram, Sr. South Carolina
8. Dre Kirkpatrick, Jr. Alabama
9. Cameron Meredith, Jr. Nebraska
10. Sean Porter, Jr. Texas A&M
( South Caroliina stands out with 3 in the top 10. Allen has been a monster with 49 tackles, 3 Interceptions, 3 Forced Fumbles, and 4.5 Tackles for Loss. Clowney has more than lived up to the hype of being the number one player in his class. And Ingram has the unlikely combo of 5.5 sacks, and 3 touchdowns from his spot on the D-Line. Mathieu has been all over the field for the Tigers, and Chase Thomas has stepped up for the Cardinal after they lost arguable their best defender (Shayne Skov) to injury).

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11. Tharold Simon, Soph. LSU
12. Chris Borland, Soph. Wisconsin
13. Damion Staffford, Jr. Nebraska
14. Carrington Byndum, Soph. Texas
15. Chris Smith, Soph. Arkansas
16. Lavonte David, Sr. Nebraska
17. Quandre Diggs, Frosh. Texas
18. Kyle Fuller, Soph. VT
18. Andrew Sweat, Sr. Ohio St.
20. James Thomas, Sr. Oklahoma St.
21. Tony Jerod-Eddie, Sr. Texas A&M
22. Frank Alexander, Sr. Oklahoma
23. Daytawion Lowe, Soph. Oklahoma St.
24. Bjorn Werner, Soph. Florida St.
25. Michael Clay, Jr. Oregon

BCS Predictions:

I know it's early, and hopefully I'll be able to put Notre Dame in my next batch of predictions, just for the haters out there. But here's how I see it right now.

National Championship: Alabama-Boise St
Rose Bowl: Oregon-Wisconsin
Orange Bowl: VT-West Virginia
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma-Stanford
Sugar Bowl: LSU-Oklahoma St.

Heisman Leaderboard
1. Trent Richardson
2. Andrew Luck
3. Kellen Moore
4. Ryan Broyles
5. Marcus Lattimore
(Also Receiving Votes: Russell Wilson, Landry Jones, Brandon Weedon, Justin Blackmon, Joseph Randle, David Wilson, Dayne Crist)

Defensive POY
1. Tyrann Mathieu
2. Chase Thomas
3. Emannuel Acho
4. Markelle Martin
5. Dre Kirkpatrick