Nate's 2008 NFL Picks

By Nate Sandstrom

Sorry to take most of the week off, but it was my full intention to blog while in North Carolina this weekend. Technical difficulties ensued.

Because its just two hours from the kickoff of the NFL season I'm going to come back to the explanation for these on Friday and Saturday. But here are the predictions in raw form (in cases of ties, NFL tiebreakers determine ranking):

NFC
1. Dallas 13-3
2. New Orleans 10-6
3. Minnesota 9-7
4. Seattle 8-8
5. Washington 10-6
6. Philadelphia 10-6
7. Carolina 9-7
8. St. Louis 8-8
9. Arizona 8-8
10. Green Bay 8-8
11. Chicago 8-8
12. Detroit 8-8
13. San Francisco 7-9
14. Tampa Bay 6-10
15. N.Y. Giants 6-10
16. Atlanta 4-12

AFC
1. New England 14-2
2. San Diego 12-4
3. Indianapolis 11-5
4. Cincinnati 7-9
5. Houston 9-7
6. Jacksonville 9-7
7. Denver 9-7
8. Buffalo 8-8
9. NY Jets 8-8
10. Miami 7-9
11. Tennessee 6-10
12. Cleveland 6-10
13. Pittsburgh 6-10
14. Oakland 5-11
15. Baltimore 4-12
16. Kansas City 3-13

Offensive MVP: Tom Brady, QB, New England
Defensive MVP: Jared Allen, DE, Minnesota
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Dustin Keller, TE, NY Jets
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Chris Long, DE, St. Louis
Coach of the Year: Gary Kubiak, Houston Texans

Wild-card Playoffs
(6) Philadelphia over (3) Minnesota
(4) Seattle over (5) Washington
(6) Jacksonville over (3) Indianapolis
(4) Cincinnati over (5) Houston

Divisional Playoffs
(1) Dallas over (6) Philadelphia
(2) New Orleans over (4) Seattle
(1) New England over (6) Jacksonville
(2) San Diego over (4) Cincinnati

Conference Finals
(2) New Orleans over (1) Dallas
(2) San Diego over (1) New England

Super Bowl
San Diego over New Orleans
Super Bowl MVP: Phil Rivers, QB, San Diego

Five Bold Predictions for the 2008 College Football Season

By Nate Sandstrom

We're just a few hours from the kickoff of the 2008 season, and I couldn't be more excited. I'll be interested in seeing how South Carolina's offense comes out of the gate after struggling so badly late last season. Anyway, here's the final installment of my preseason preview, with "Five Bold Predictions."

1) Losing the last two national title games will cost this year's Ohio State team.

If you read my last post, you'll see that I have Clemson, Oklahoma and Ohio State all finishing the regular season with one loss. In the two weeks between Ohio State finishing their regular season and Clemson and Oklahoma playing in their respective conference championship games, I predict there will be a lot of pundits and writers complaining about the prospect of seeing Ohio State lose badly in a title game for the third straight year. I expect that complaint will weigh on voters, and Ohio State will drop from #1 to #3 in the polls after Clemson and Oklahoma each win their conference title games.

After a Big Ten team is leapfrogged by a conference championship for the second time in three years (Florida passed Michigan in '06), the conference will step up efforts to recruit a 12th team in the upcoming offseason. But they will not bend from otherwise finishing the regular season before Thanksgiving.

2) Michigan will be this year's Notre Dame.

Some people will be shocked to see me slating Michigan to finish just 3-9 and last in the Big Ten. But most people probably wouldn't have have believed Notre Dame would finish 3-9 in 2007.

The Wolverines return just 10 starters; they lose their top 2 passers and receivers, top rusher and top four tacklers. Add to that a new coach in Rich Rodriguez (who went just 4-7 his first year at W. Virginia) with a new offense and I smell disaster.

3) Temple will win as many games (including a bowl win) as they have over the past five years.

How often have you seen a team return 22 starters, plus their kicker and punter? How about bringing back 53 of 55 letterman?

At many schools such a scenario would have the students calling for a national title. But when you are one of the NCAA's perennial losers, your goals have to be a little more modest. And the Temple Owls have not gone bowling since 1979. Prior to going 4-8 last year, they won just four games in the previous four years.

I think a favorable schedule and experience will help to get the Owls build off last year's progress. They get back to a bowl for the first time in three decades and exact revenge on Connecticut for a loss they suffered because of a bad call. One of the year's "feel-good" stories.

4) No one will be this year's Hawaii or Boise State, but BYU and Tulsa will come close.

It might not be "bold" to say that no non-BCS Conference team will go undefeated, but it has happened two years in a row. The team I rate with the best chance to make it three straight years is Tulsa, despite the loss of QB Paul Smith.

The Golden Hurricane return nine starters from an offense that scored 576 points in 14 games. The defense was not so good in 2007, but the unit should be adequate against what Phil Steele ranks as the nation's easiest schedule (toughest games vs. Central Florida, at Arkansas). Alas, I have Tulsa being upset in the Conference USA title game in a rematch with UCF.

The other team I predict running the table until its final game is the BYU Cougars. They also return nine starters from a prolific offense, and have just #86-ranked schedule by Steele. However, they have to play Utah on the road, where I am calling for them to be upset and also bounced out of a conference championship (lose tie-breaker to Utah).

5) Western Illinois will pull the opening weekend stunner by going to Arkansas and pulling out the upset for Coach Don Patterson, who is undergoing treatment for tonsillar cancer.

Maybe its a sentimental pick, but I think there is real reason to think this could happen. Arkansas will be playing their first game with Coach Bobby Petrino and more importantly without Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis.

W. Illinois was just 6-5 last year, but that was in the quality FCS Missouri Valley conference. They return 20 starters and if they are able to get a couple of takeaways I think they can edge out a win.


There you have it. We will have to see how I fare. Enjoy the season everyone!

Nate's 2008 college football predictions — Part 2: Bowls and Final Top 25

By Nate Sandstrom

Alright, back from a sweet O's trouncing of the Sox. In the meantime, I finished the bowl slots and so here you have it:

For the second straight year I'm taking the Oklahoma Sooners to be national champs. I'll get into this more during my five bold predictions, which have been pushed back to Thursday evening (it's late here on the East Coast).

Bowl picks:

BCS Title Game: #1 Oklahoma 30 #2 Clemson 24
GMAC Bowl: #25 Tulsa 41 Northern Illinois 21
Fiesta Bowl: #8 Texas Tech 58 #13 Wisconsin 45
International Bowl: Bowling Green 34 Rutgers 31
Sugar Bowl: #4 Auburn 28 #9 West Virginia 20
Liberty Bowl: Ole Miss 20 Central Florida 13
Cotton Bowl: #11 Texas 27 #15 LSU 24
Orange Bowl: #10 South Florida 27 #6 Florida 21
Rose Bowl: #4 USC 31 #3 Ohio State 23
Capital One Bowl: #7 Georgia 27 #16 Penn State 17
Gator Bowl: Florida State 31 Notre Dame 14
Outback Bowl: #18 South Carolina 20 Iowa 10
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: #17 Virginia Tech 40 #19 Tennessee 20
Insight Bowl: Illinois 30 Texas A&M 17
Music City Bowl: Alabama 21 Miami 13
Sun Bowl: Arizona 31 Kansas 30
Armed Forces Bowl: TCU 28 SMU 14
Holiday Bowl: #12 Missouri 37 #14 Oregon 30
Texas Bowl: UTEP 28 Kansas State 24
Humanitarian Bowl: #22 Boise State 34 Boston College 21
Alamo Bowl: Northwestern 44 Nebraska 41
Papajohns.com Bowl: Cincinnati 34 Kentucky 17
Independence Bowl: Oklahoma State 23 Mississippi State 14
Emerald Bowl: Cal 27 Maryland 17
Champs Sports Bowl: Michigan State 27 #21 North Carolina 20
Meineke Car Care Bowl: Pitt 21 #20 Wake Forest 14
Motor City Bowl: Troy 37 Central Michigan 35
Hawaii Bowl: Oregon State 35 Hawaii 13
Poinsettia Bowl: #24 BYU 44 Arizona State 28
New Orleans Bowl: East Carolina 37 Florida Atlantic 30
Las Vegas Bowl: #23 Utah 40 Nevada 21
New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State 34 UNLV 17
Congressional Bowl: Temple 28 Connecticut 24
St. Petersburg Bowl: Louisville 48 Marshall 31

Predicted Final Top 25 poll:
1. Oklahoma 13-1
2. USC 11-2
3. Auburn 12-2
4. Clemson 12-2
5. Georgia 11-2
6. Ohio State 11-2
7. South Florida 12-1
8. Texas Tech 11-2
9. Texas 11-2
10. Missouri 10-2
11. Florida 11-3
12. Virginia Tech 11-3
13. West Virginia 10-3
14. South Carolina 9-4
15. LSU 9-4
16. Wisconsin 10-3
17. Penn State 9-4
18. Boise State 12-1
19. Oregon 10-3
20. Utah 11-2
21. BYU 12-1
22. Tulsa 13-1
23. Florida State 9-4
24. Michigan State 9-4
25. Tennessee 8-5

Nate's 2008 college football predictions — Part 1

By Nate Sandstrom

I'm off to the Orioles-White Sox game tonight, so I'm posting my picks in three segments. This first segment gives you my predictions for where things will stand at the end of what should be yet another exciting and controversial regular season.

After the game, I will post my projected bowl matchups and final Top 25 rankings. I will also post "Five Bold Predictions" (you can debate whether they are bold) that will give a look inside the raw numbers I'm posting here.

Below I've listed the conference and overall records I am calling for each team to finish with, as well as where I predict they will be ranked in the final Coaches Top 25 poll. In case of a tie, the teams have been ranked in order of head-to-head tie-breaker. An asterisk indicates that I call for that team to win its conference championship game.

One thing you may notice is that I am calling for no teams to finish undefeated and three BCS teams to finish with one loss, meaning another year of controversy on who should play in the national title game. I'll get more into how I am predicting that to break down later tonight in my "Bold Predictions" post.

2008 Preseason Picks — End of regular season

Top 25
1. Oklahoma 12-1
2. Clemson 12-1
3. Ohio State 11-1
4. Auburn 11-2
5. USC 10-2
6. Florida 11-2
7. Georgia 10-2
8. Texas Tech 10-2
9. W. Virginia 10-2
10. S. Florida 11-1
11. Texas 10-2
12. Missouri 11-2
13. Wisconsin 10-2
14, Oregon 10-2
15. LSU 9-3
16. Penn St. 9-3
17. Va. Tech 10-3
18. S. Carolina 8-4
19. Tennessee 8-4
20. Wake Forest 9-3
21 N. Carolina 9-3
22. Boise St. 11-1
23. Utah 10-2
24. BYU 11-1
25.Tulsa 12-1

Standings:
SEC East
1. Florida 7-2 11-2
2. Georgia 6-2 10-2
3. S. Carolina 5-3 8-4
4. Tennessee 4-4 8-4
5. Kentucky 3-5 6-6
6. Vanderbilt 0-8 2-10

SEC West
1. Auburn* 7-2 11-2
2. LSU 5-3 9-3
3. Alabama 4-4 7-5
4. Mississippi 4-4 7-5
5. Miss. State 2-6 6-6
6. Arkansas 2-6 3-9

Big Ten
1. Ohio State 7-1 11-1
2. Wisconsin 6-2 10-2
3. Penn State 5-3 9-3
4. Mich. St. 5-3 8-4
5. Iowa 5-3 8-4
6. N’western 4-4 7-5
7. Illinois 3-5 6-6
8. Purdue 3-5 5-7
9. Minnesota 3-5 5-7
10. Indiana 2-6 5-7
11. Michigan 1-7 3-9

Pac-10
1. USC 8-1 10-2
2. Oregon 7-2 10-2
3. UCLA 5-4 5-7
4. Oregon St. 5-4 7-5
5. Arizona 5-4 8-4
6. Cal 5-4 7-5
7. Arizona St. 4-5 6-6
8. Washington 3-6 4-8
9. Stanford 2-7 3-9
10. Wash. St. 1-8 3-9

Big 12 South
1. Oklahoma* 8-1 12-1
2. Texas Tech 6-2 10-2
3. Texas 6-2 10-2
4. Tex. A&M 4-4 7-5
5. Okl. State 3-5 7-5
6. Baylor 0-8 1-11

Big 12 North
1. Missouri 7-2 11-2
2. Kansas 5-3 8-4
3. Nebraska 3-5 7-5
4. Kansas St. 3-5 6-6
5. Colorado 3-5 5-7
6. Iowa St. 1-7 3-9

ACC Atlantic
1. Clemson* 8-1 12-1
2. Florida St. 5-3 8-4
3. Wake 5-3 9-3
4. Maryland 4-4 8-4
5. N.C. State 2-6 3-9
6. Boston Col. 2-6 6-6

ACC Coastal
1. Va. Tech 7-2 10-3
2. N. Carolina 6-2 9-3
3. Miami 6-2 8-4
4. Duke 3-5 4-8
5. Ga. Tech 1-7 3-9
6. Virginia 0-8 2-10

Big East
1. W. Virginia 6-1 10-2
2. S. Florida 6-1 11-1
3. Cincinnati 4-3 9-4
4. Rutgers 4-3 7-5
5. Pitt 3-4 7-5
6. Louisville 3-4 8-4
7. UConn 2-5 6-6
8. Syracuse 0-7 2-10

Mountain West
1. Utah 7-1 10-2
2, BYU 7-1 11-1
3. TCU 5-3 8-4
4. Wyoming 4-4 5-7
5. UNLV 4-4 6-6
6. S.D. State 3-5 5-7
7. Air Force 2-6 5-7
8. New Mex. 2-6 3-9
9. Col. St. 1-7 2-10

Conf. USA West
1. Tulsa 8-1 12-1
2. SMU 5-3 6-6
3. UTEP 4-4 6-6
4. Houston 3-5 6-6
5. Tulane 2-6 4-8
6. Rice 2-6 4-8

Conf. USA East
1. C. Florida* 7-2 8-5
2. E. Carolina 5-3 7-5
3. Marshall 5-3 6-6
4. Memphis 3-5 5-7
5. So. Miss 2-6 3-9
6. UA-Birm. 2-6 3-9

WAC
1. Boise St. 8-0 11-1
2. Fresno St. 6-2 9-3
3. Hawaii 5-3 7-6
4. Nevada 5-3 7-5
5. San Jose St. 4-4 6-6
6. NMSU 3-5 5-7
7. La. Tech 2-6 3-9
8. Idaho 2-6 3-9
9. Utah State 1-7 1-11

Independents
1. Notre Dame 7-5
2. Navy 5-7
3. Army 3-9
4. W. Kentucky 2-10

MAC West
1. C. Mich.* 7-1 10-3
2. W. Mich. 5-3 8-4
3. No. Ill. 5-3 6-6
4. Ball State 4-4 7-5
5. E. Mich. 2-6 3-9
6. Toledo 1-7 2-10

MAC East
1. Bowl Grn. 7-1 9-4
2. Temple 5-3 7-5
3. Miami 4-4 6-6
4. Kent St. 4-4 5-7
5. Buffalo 3-5 5-7
6. Ohio 2-6 3-9
7. Akron 2-6 2-10

Sun Belt
1. Fla. Atl. 7-0 10-2
2. Troy 6-1 8-4
3. UL-Monroe 4-3 5-7
4. N. Texas 3-4 3-9
5. UL-Laff. 3-4 3-9
6. Ark. State 3-4 5-7
7. M. Tenn. 2-5 2-10
8. Fla. Int’l 1-6 2-10