August 27, 2013

2013 Boise State Football Preview





Boise State football returns this upcoming weekend, here's everything you need to know about the 2013 season.


2012 Season Recap

Boise State started the 2012 season 0-1 when they lost to Michigan State on the road, 17-13. It was the first time the Broncos started 0-1 since the Georgia nightmare in 2005. After dropping the close contest that ended the BCS talk months too early, Boise State reeled off 7 straight wins in a row before getting shocked by SD State at HOME ON THE BLUE, 21-19. However, the Broncos still ended up with a share of the Mountain West title, and ended the season with a last minute win over the Washington Huskies in the Las Vegas Bowl for the 3rd consecutive season. 2012 was different from the past, with the defense actually carrying the team. Boise State finished with the #8 ranked defense in the country, and FOR SURE if they had played @Michigan St in November they would have been successful. In the end, what was supposed to be a "re-building year" (post Kellen Moore era) Boise State finished 11-2.

Do yourself a favor and watch the game highlights from the Vegas bowl:





2013 Schedule Overview

This year's schedule, like nearly other year, includes a season opening road game in a hostile environment vs a non-conference team. These types of teams love to schedule Boise State early on, so that when they lose, they can rest on the idea that it is still very early in year with plenty of time to make up for a non conference loss.

This year, pre-season ranked #19 Boise State's toughest test is week 1, which is this upcoming Saturday. @ Washington. It was interesting that these two teams were paired up in the Vegas Bowl last December, especially already knowing this game was on the schedule. As mentioned, Boise State won that game with a field goal just over a minute left. Boise State is actually a 4 point underdog for this road contest, so the sharps think they will lose. My prediction is that the Broncos find a way to win again vs. Washington. Here is their brief history with the Huskies. Its a rubber match of sorts after these most recent matchups:

2012: W 28-26 in Las Vegas Bowl
2007: L 24-10 @ Washington


After Washington in Week 1, Boise State's schedule only gets slightly easier. The only other games I can foresee the Broncos possibly losing are to Fresno St, Utah St, and BYU. I would normally include SD State in there but there's a virtual 0% chance the Broncos lose to the Aztecs after last year's shocker.

3 of the 4 toughest games come before October, with 3 of those on the road. If Boise State gets off to a fast, unblemished start, look for them to crash the BCS party once again.

Here is the complete schedule:




Offense

The offense is returning with 5 starters, including Senior QB Joe Southwick, who was noticeably better the latter half of 2012. I expect Southwick to make a nice leap this year. He struggled last year in the red zone, and on 3rd downs, but a year of starting under his belt is likely going to help with all of that this year. Southwick can run too, so defenses must stay honest against him.

The RB corps is the largest question on offense after senior DJ Harper has graduated. This year they will be lead by sophomore Jay Ajayi. Watch and enjoy:




Obviously Ajayi is an electric runner. The problem at runningback is depth , Boise state has no clear back up rb, and Coach Peterson usually like to run a committee so we will see who emerges alongside Ajayi. (Jack Fields, Derek Thomas, Aaron Baltazar)

The WR corps, a major strength of this team, will once again be lead by junior Matt Miller- who has been a regular contributor since his freshman year. He will contend for all Mountain West honors at the end of the season. Outside of Miller the Broncos have a plethora of talented wide outs. Junior Geraldo Boldewijn is primed for a break out season... he had a nice TD in the Vegas Bowl and has the talent to really do some damage. Senior Aaron Burks, sophomore Shane Willams-Rhodes, and junior Dallas Burroughs are all worth mentioning as well.

The Offensive line for the Broncos is excellent. They have a couple studs up front that should pave the way nicely for the running backs, The depth and skill level of the back up lineman isn't ideal... but if the starters stay healthy this offense will thrive in 2013.




Defense

The defense carried the Broncos last year, however after a bunch of departures the unit will be relying on a few new faces in 2013. Both cornerback positions are up for grabs... I wouldn't be surprised to see a large rotation to start the year between all the DBs.

The D-Line will remain strong this year... Boise State likes to rotate a bunch of guys on this side of the ball and they have 6 or 7 starting caliber D lineman. The cream of the crop is All-American junior DE DeMarcus Lawrence and inside lineman Ricky Tjong-a-Tjoe. Somehow, that isn't a typo.

The Linebackers, like the other 2 units, will be heavily rotated this season. Unfortunately JC Percy and Tommy Smith have graduated, so the LB crew will have a different look this season. Blake Renaud is penciled in as the starting MLB, he's your typical hard-hitting, loud leader. I'm not sure who else will emerge for this unit, but Boise State is laced with young talent so I am sure they will be fine.



Prediction

I am confident in Boise State winning at Washington this Saturday night. I am confident they will win the Mountain West and it only makes sense that they crash the BCS in the last year of it's existence.

 Why? Cuz of this guy:




Coach Peterson was recently named the 3rd best coach in the country. He's an absolute animal when it comes to scheming, preparing, and executing a game plan. Realistically, his days on the Blue are probably numbered, as it's only a matter of time before Peterson is offered a big time SEC job he can't turn down. For now, lets have some fun with his career numbers at Boise State:

8 Seasons
84-8 overall record
5-2 Bowl record
2 losses at home
3 BCS Appearances
2 BCS Bowl wins
2 Paul Bear Bryant Awards (only 2 time winner)
2 Undefeated Seasons (06 and 09)
7 1st or 2nd round NFL draft picks

So, in closing:







GO BRONCOS!!!



August 12, 2013

Typical Mark Sanchez




This was the first drive of the first Jets preseason game. Can't make this shit up. Somehow my boy Jeremy still wants this clown to be the QB of his team.





Big Daddy Duff City- PGA Championship results




Big Daddy Duff fired a 68 yesterday and held off the bird man Jim Furyk for the last Major win of the season. This victory must taste extra sweet for Dufner after his playoff loss to Keegan Bradley in the PGA 2 years ago. 

Dufner of course is unique and seems to be friends with most of the guys on tour, I would think every player in the field is happy to see Duff win his 1st major. On Friday he fired a course record 63 (which ties the lowest round for anyone in any major) so he definitely deserved the win.


Other notes:

-Dufner came up big for all of us who were patiently waiting to see him and his wife interact right after he won. Amanda Dufner is well known because she is hot and Jason Dufner is not. It was funny because on national TV he clearly grabbed her ass. The legend of Dufner grows...









In other news, I wanted to officially update the Me and Tiger vs Abe and Fowler bet. We agreed to bet $20 during each major on who's guy was going to win. Obviously Tiger is  the better bet.... but Abe doesn't care. Tiger finished better at the Masters, Ricky shot better at the US Open, and Tiger regained the lead after the British.




This week, however, Tiger (+4) played like shit and lost to Ricky (-1) again, evening the Summer series at 2-2 (Pretty much best case scenario for Abe.) To break this tie, we are going to each place $20 down on who places better during the FedEx Cup Playoff (the 4 tournament "playoff" the PGA does each year. Snedeker won last year. The DeutscheBank is one of the tourneys which is awesome because it's here in Mass)

AND NOW... .the final results for the PGA fantasy challenge...





WINNER- Adam Beckvold


The extra -6 given to the team with the winner (Dufner) boosted Adam up to the Win over Paul.



Adam +5
Paul +7
Sean +9
James +10
Beckerman +10
Dan +16
CBell +19
Bill +19
Jeremy +27
Abe +35


Team scores including +4 for MCs
WDs were scored as +27 (+23 was last place) 




Team Jeremy
Snedeker +9
Van Pelt +27 (WD)
Stenson -7
Weekly -2

Total +27


Team CBell
Scott -5
Schwartzel +8 (MC)
English +8
Watson +8 (MC)

Total +19


Team James
Z Johnson -3
Els +10 (MC)
Westwood +3
Thompson E

Total +10


Team Paul
Kuchar E 
Rose +3
Furyk  -8
Spieth +12 (MC)

Total +7


Team Dan-
McIlroy -3
Donald +9 (MC)
Stricker -2
Manaserro +12

Total  +16


Team Beckerman-
Fowler -1
D Johnson -3
Kaymer +3
Harrington +11 (MC)

Total +10


Team Adam-
Mikelson +12
Dufner -16 (Winner) 
Haas +1
Love III +8 (MC)

Total +5


Team Bill-
Tiger +4
Garcia +8
Poulter +8
Matsuyama -1

Total +19


Team Sean-
Bradley -1
Mahan +7
Simpson +1
Jimenez +2

Total +9


Team Abe-
Day -3
McDowell -2
Cabrera +27 (WD)
Jacobson +13

Total +35



Now, there was a lot of bitching from Dan (shocker) during this tournament that players that MC deserve a harsher penalty than just +4. No, this was not brought up before the tourney started and Yes, we have used a similar penalty in the past with 0 complaints, but Dan found a way to be a pill once again.

Let me clearly explain my reasoning behind the +4.

When a player misses a cut, they don't get to play the weekend. For most tournaments, there would be no penalty necessary, since most golfers score under par routinely. Thus, simply missing the cut sucks because your golfer doesn't have the opportunity to lower the team score. Any player that makes the cut has a good chance at scoring under par and bettering the team score.

Now, For the Majors this isn't always the case. A lot of times, Even par is a great score. This is the reason why we give a penalty to players who miss the cut... because if we don't add anything it basically assumes they would shoot even par over the least 2 days which would definitely improve the overall team average.

The average score of all the golfers who made the cut in their final 2 rounds of the 2013  PGA championship was 71.58, which is about +1.5 over par.

That's the average of 148 rounds from 74 golfers.

I think its fair to give these players who MC a worse than average score, seeing as they were worse than average over the first 2 rounds (which caused them to miss the cut.) However, I think it is much too harsh to punish these golfers by giving them the same score of the golfer who has the worst day in each round 3 and 4.

So, if we can agree that out of the 148 scores, we give the players who MC the 75% mark of the worst score (or, the 111th place score) that would mean for this tourney the score of each golfer who MC would be 73. That's +3.


third quartile (designated Q3) = upper quartile = 75th percentile (splits off the highest 25% of data from the lowest 75%)


We gave a penalty of +4, so after doing all this number crunching, I am confident we had the most fair/accurate penalty for MC.

Anything worse is much too harsh. A golfer who misses the cut by one stroke (shooting +4 over 2 days of golf) doesn't deserve to get the worst score over the next 2 days.



August 9, 2013

2013 PGA scoring update


Scoring update after Round 1 of the 2013 PGA Championship:




Paul -6
Sean -2
CBell Even
Dan Even
Adam +1
James +1
Bill +2
Beckerman +6
Abe +12
Jeremy +15



As of 8:45am on Friday:

Team Jeremy
Snedeker E
Van Pelt WD (+14 for now) 
Stenson -2
Weekly +3

Total +15


Team CBell
Scott -5
Schwartzel +1
English +3
Watson +1

Total Even


Team James
Z Johnson -1
Els +4
Westwood -4
Thompson +2

Total +1


Team Paul
Kuchar -3 
Rose -2
Furyk  -5
Spieth +4

Total -6


Team Dan-
McIlroy E
Donald +1
Stricker -2
Manaserro +1

Total  E


Team Beckerman-
Fowler E
D Johnson +2
Kaymer -2
Harrington +6

Total +6


Team Adam-
Mikelson +1
Dufner -2
Haas -2
Love III +4

Total +1


Team Bill-
Tiger +1
Garcia -1
Poulter E
Matsuyama +2

Total +2


Team Sean-
Bradley -1
Mahan E
Simpson E
Jimenez -1

Total -2


Team Abe-
Day -5
McDowell E
Cabrera +11
Jacobson +6

Total +12

August 8, 2013

2013 PGA Championship challenge






Major Golf is back, The 2013 PGA Championship. Me and some friends are once again doing a fantasy challenge.  Everyone will choose 4 golfers and the best combined score will win. Any player who misses the cut will get +4 added to their score. 

Whoever picks the winner will get -6 strokes from their team score.


The Players &  the Draft Order-


1. Bill-
Masters: 6th out of 6
US Open: 1st out of 8
British Open: 10th out of 10



2. Adam-
Masters: 5th out of 6
US Open: 4th out of 8
British Open: 4th out of 10



3. Campbell-
British Open: 5th out of 10



4. Sean-
US Open: 7th out of 8
British Open: 8th out of 10



5. Jeremy-
British Open: 2nd out of 10



6. Dan-
Masters: 2nd out of 6
US Open: 2nd out of 8
British Open: 6th out of 10



7. Paul-
Masters: 2nd out of 6
US Open: 5th out of 8
British Open: 1st out of 10




8. James-
Masters: 4th out of 6
US Open: 3rd out of 8
British Open: 3rd out of 10



9. Beck-
US Open: 8th out of 8
British Open: 9th out of 10



10. Abe-
Masters: 1st out of 6
US Open: 6th out of 8
British Open: 7th out of 10







The Draft-

Round 1
1. Bill- Tiger Woods
2. Adam- Phil Mikelson 
3. Campbell- Adam Scott
4. Sean- Keegan Bradley
5. Jeremy- Brandt Snedeker 
6. Dan- Rory McIlroy
7. Paul- Matt Kuchar
8. James- Lee Westwood
9. Beck- Ricky Fowler 
10. Abe- Jason Day

Round 2
11. Abe- Grahame McDowell
12. Beck- Dustin Johnson
13. James- Zach Johnson 
14. Paul- Justin Rose
15. Dan- Luke Donald 
16. Jeremy- Henrik Stenson 
17. Sean- Hunter Mahan 
18. Campbell- Charl Schwartzel
19. Adam- Jason Dufner 
20. Bill- Sergio Garcia

Round 3
1. Bill- Ian Poulter
2. Adam- Bill Haas
3. Campbell- Bubba Watson
4. Sean- Webb Simpson 
5. Jeremy- Louis Oosthuzien (Boo Weekley)
6. Dan- Steve Stricker
7. Paul- Jim Furyk
8. James- Ernie Els
9. Beck- Martin Kaymer
10. Abe- Angel Cabrera 

Round 4
11. Abe- Freddie Jacobson
12. Beck- Padraig Harrington
13. James- Michael Thompson
14. Paul- Jordan Spieth
15. Dan- Matteo Manassero
16. Jeremy- Bo Van Pelt
17. Sean- Miguel Jimenez 
18. Campbell- Harris English 
19. Adam- Davis Love III
20. Bill- Hideki Matsuyama



Team Rosters:

Team James (Westwood, Z Johnson, Els, Thompson)
Team Jeremy (Snedeker, Stenson, Van Pelt, Weekley)
Team Paul (Kuchar, Rose, Furyk, Spieth)
Team Abe (Day, McDowell, Cabrera, Jaconson)
Team Sean (Bradley, Mahan, Simpson, Jimenez)
Team Adam (Mikelson, Dufner, Haas, DLIII)
Team Bill (Tiger, Garcia, Poulter, Matsuyama)
Team Beckerman (Fowler, D Johnson, Kaymer, Harrington)
Team CBell (Scott, Schwartzel, Watson, English)
Team Dan (McIlroy, Donald, Stricker, Manassero)