I thought it was necessary to post an unbiased “greatest moments” entry after seeing ESPN.com an attempt at doing the same (their list can be found here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=games/decade/2009syracuseunconn).  Their list unfortunately does not rank the games in order of their greatness and only lists 25 games/events.  On the other hand, I have produced an my objectively-reasoned ranking of top [...]

To say it bluntly, 2009  has been a very bad sports year for me.  I’d actually go out on a limb and say that it’s my worst since I began following sports in 1991.  There were very few historic upsets/Cinderellas, and all of my favorite teams lost while most of my least favorites won.  In fact, it was [...]

I have taken this blog, as well as the College Football Researchers Association, to the next level by purchasing domains for each.  All of the CFRA information can now be found at www.cfrapoll.com and all of my regular blog entries can be found at www.sportsentiment.com.

The first round of simulated games has been completed, and you can see the full recap of each below.  Here is the schedule for the second round games:
South  Regional Final
(4) Troy vs. (2) Ohio State, Saturday December 26th at 12:00  in Atlanta, GA (ABC); Line: Ohio St. by 14.5
West Regional Final
(4) Penn State vs. (2) Florida, Saturday December 26th at [...]

                                    VT                       FL
score                           7                         59
1st downs                     5                           16
total offense              176                        646
rushes/yds/td       24/39/0                 30/205/4
comp/att/td           10/27/1               24/42/4
pass yds                      137                       441
3rd downs                   1/14                   10/17
4th downs                   1/2                      2/3
2 pt convs                    0                            0
red/td/fg                     0                         4/4/0
turnovers                    2                             0
fumbles                     2                              0
ints                             0                            0
pr yds                          66                           64
kr yds                          229                         48
total yds                      471                        758
punts/avg                10/43.8                   4/44.5
penalties/yds          4/37                 [...]

Well we’ve played a 64 team bball tournament for 25 years and never had a 16 seed beat a 1, but during the very first year of BTS simulations, the top 1-seed goes down to the worst 4-seed.
                         Troy              Bama
score                   30                    27
1st downs                     8                            16
total offense                 319                     446
rushes/yds/td        22/38/0             35/203/1
comp/atts/td         17/35/2             15/35/2
pass [...]

Another 4-seed over 1-seed upset.  This one isn’t nearly as shocking though.     
                                          Penn St.                 TCU
score                              40                     27
1st downs                                 14                           19
total offense                             398                       427
rushes/yds/td                      32/140/2            30/172
comp/atts/yds                  18/35/1             18/40/3
pass yds                                  258                   255
3rd downs                                 4/16                  3/11
4th downs                                 2/2                    1/2
2 pt convs                                0                      0
red/td/fg                            3/2/1                 4/3/1
turnovers                                  0                      3
fumbles                                     0                      2
ints                                              0                      1
pr yds                                       17                     [...]

Just as a reminder, these summaries are simulated games from my hypothetical Bowl Tournament Series which is described in detail here: http://sportsentiment.com/2009/12/11/2009-bowl-tournament-series-bracket-announced/
                               GT                 OSU
score                     20                  34
1st downs                     9                          13
total offense                 340                   327
rushes/yds/tds          36/180              31/75/1
comp/atts/tds          8/23/1               18/33/2
pass yds                      160                       252
3rd downs                     2-14                  6-15
4th downs                     1-3                      0
2 point conv                  0                        0
red/td/fg                     3/0/2                 2/1/1
turnovers                      3                  [...]

                                    L SU                 Boise
score                    31                    17
1st downs                      14                      16
total offense              494                   379
rushes-yds-td             34-200-1        26-100-1
comp-atts-tds           15-24-3          20-43-1
pass yds                          294                 279
3rd downs                     6-13                6-16
4th downs                     0                      0-3
2 pt conv                        0                        0
red/td/fg                        2/1/0             2/1/0
turnovers                        1                      1
fumbles                            1                      0
ints                                  0                        1
pr yds                         [...]

Here are the picks everybody’s been waiting for.  Enjoy and feel free to make any comments/criticisms you’d like.
New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State 31, Wyoming 10- The Cowboys are probably the worst team in this year’s bowl field, which these days is quite an accomplishment.
St. Petersburg Bowl: Rutgers 14, Central Florida 10- Two teams who managed [...]

Stats            C. Michigan                     Cincinnati
Score                26                                   27
1sts                             17                                           13
total o                       444                                         447
rushes                 25-105-0 td                           21-123-1 td
pass                     23-34-2  td                            21-38-1 td
pass yds                   339                                         324
3rds                          3-12                                        4-14
4ths                          1-2                                          2-3
2 pts                          0-1                                          0
rd/td/fg                4-0-2                                      3-0-2
to                                 1                                              1
fumbles                   0                                              0
int                               1                                              1
pr yds                     26                                           16
kr yds                     122                                         132
total yds               592                                         595
punts/avg          4-41.8                                    6-45.3
pen/yds               5-40                                        5-50
top                        14:42                                     13:31
Player [...]

                                            ECU           Texas
score                                      7                38
1st downs                                        10                     18
total offense                                    198                   449
rushes/yds/td                            20/36                36/187/4
comp/atts/td                              15/31/1             23/34/1
pass yds                                           162                   262
3rd downs                                       1/13                  9/17
4th downs                                       1/2                    1/1
2 pt convs                                        0                        0
red/td/fg                                           1/1/0              5/4/1
turnovers                                              2                      0
fumbles                                                   1                      0
int                                                             1                      0
pr yds                                                  13                     55
kr yds                                                  122                   25
total yds                                     [...]

As promised, I will now provide you with summaries of all of the simulated games in my mock playoff system.  See entry below for the full Bowl Tournament schdule and formatting information.
Final Stats                       Iowa                             Oregon
Score                        33                                  22
1st Downs                        19                                                    9
total offense                483                                                  236
rushes                        39-235-2 tds                         20-98-0
pass                           20-34-1  td                            14-27-2 tds
pass yds                             248                                         138
3rds                                   6-14                                        [...]

With this week’s approval of the playoff bill, I thought it would be a perfect time to post my mock playoff bracket for this year onto the blog.  I have also spend some time tonight listening to the ignorant/humorous remarks of BCS Executive Director, who claims he goes around asking people how they would handle a college football playoff [...]

From top to bottom, it’s probably a slightly below average bowl season, as far as matchups go.  Four of the five BCS games are either as good or better than usual, but the fifth game is absolutely horrible.  It also seems like we are missing those two or three extremely captivating non-BCS bowl games that we usually [...]