The State of Sports Dec. 5th

-College Football

-Bowl Game Matchups: A First Look
Right now we have a perfect BCS seedings with no problems. Fact is, the two undefeated teams in the country are playing each other for the National Championship. It really doesnt get any better than that. I really cant wait for the Vegas lines to come out so I can really start going who's expected to win. College football lines are great because those truly are the upsets that you just go...what?

Great example. UCLA vs Wyoming last year. Wyoming is the 14 point underdogs. I pick Wyoming to win the game, and they come through. Too bad I didnt actually bet on the game. But, College Football upsets are great and they make the game real and exciting. I will illustrate this with the losses of Virgina Tech and LSU this weekend. Both expected to win the automatic bids, but end up getting upset.

Bosoxguy said that VTech was a very good team. In fact, he said that they should be the team that should be playing in the national championship game...the week after they beat BC. They lost to a Florida State team that lost to NC State and Virgina. VTech's defense is very good. But so wasnt LSU's.

LSU was the team that you just had to root for. They played all season on the fritz because of the hurricane and you just had to root for them. This team had the opening 28 point fourth quarter vs a ranked Arizona State. They beat out a ranked Florida, Alabama, and Auburn. But lost to Shockley and the rest of the Bulldogs. Upsets are great arent they. Maybe I shouldnt be so suprised about how the BCS choose Georgia and Florida State.

-Other surprises:
-How did Virgina and NC State get better bowl games than BC. That is bull, but I really cant complain about where BC is. Boise State won a share of the WAC with Nevada. As I mentioned about a month ago, the WAC is probably the one of the best conferences in football. They may be bad vs. ranked opponents (0-8) vs the Mountain West (1-6). But I give them the edge because the scoring offenses of Boise State (8th), Fresno State (5th), and Hawaii's #1 passing offense, are top in the Nation. No one else comes close, except the defense of TCU, which has some very good stats (11th in scoring defense and #1 in Int's)

-I did a list of how each minor conference fared vs Ranked and BCS Opponents. If you are ranked, this doesnt include in league ranked losses, and you have been in the poll at least twice at one time or another.

Conference /vs. Ranked /vs. BCS Teams

Conference USA /1-6 /1-28 (Duke)
MAC /1-9 /1-28 (Pitt.)
Mountain West /1-6 /5-8 (Okla., NC St., Mizzou, Miss., and Wash.)
Sun Belt /0-4 /1-15 (Vandy)
WAC /0-8 /0-15

-In looking at this list, the most surprising thing is the amount of BCS victories the Mountain West has. I mentioned that I thought that the WAC had some good teams, but were 0-15 vs. the BCS teams overall. Just something to consider for each conference's representation, when ever you either pick a game or bet on it. To refresh your memory, these teams are BYU, Utah, TCU for Mountain West, and Nevada, Boise State, and Fresno State for the WAC.

-More to come when the spreads come out