The Race For Andrew Luck (Or the #1 Pick in Next April’s NFL Draft)

The Race For Andrew Luck (Or the #1 Overall Pick in Next April's NFL Draft



With the Rams’ 31-21 upset victory over the Saints this afternoon, only two NFL teams remain winless this season, but a number of teams are in the race for the #1 overall pick in next April's NFL Draft.

Team                           W-L        GB          GL Rec of Rem. Opponents Predicted Draft Position

Indianapolis Colts        0-8          ----         8       29-31                                         1

Miami Dolphins           0-7          ½            9       45-33                                        2

Arizona Cardinals        1-6          1 ½         9       29-32                                        4

St. Louis Rams             1-6          1 ½         9       37-34                                         3

Carolina Panthers        2-6          2            8       32-28                                          6

Jacksonville Jaguars    2-6          2             8       24-34                                         7

Minnesota Vikings       2-6          2             8       35-22                                         5

*-Record of Remaining Opponents accurate as of 10/30/11 at 6:57pm CT (does not include this week’s SNF or MNF games)

Mountaineers Headed West For Big 12

It's been an incredible ride for the West Virginia Mountaineers over the last couple of days.  Two days ago, the Big 12 Conference announced that West Virginia was on track to join the Conference as soon as next summer.  But a surprising turn of events began to occur.  The Big 12 informed the Mountaineer nation on Thursday that their move west was on hold due to Missouri's likely departure for the SEC.  The world was then turned upside down once more, as the Big 12 surprised the sports world this morning with an official invitation for the Mountaineers to join the conference for the 2012-2013 school year.  The loss of Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and West Virginia over the past few weeks likely will end the Big East's run with an automatic BCS bid.

College Football's First Super Humongous Conference

The college sports landscape continues to change.  The planned meeting of Big East, Conference USA, and Mountain West officials was announced early Tuesday to determine the futures of college football in their conferences.  The unexpected departure of Pittsburgh and Syracuse has left the six remaining football-playing schools in the Big East with uncertainty about their future.  West Virginia, Louisville, Rutgers, and Connecticut have turned to the Big 12 and ACC as potential destinations for their future.  The announcement could save the conference forever, merging it with the Mountain West and Conference USA, and securing its automatic BCS bid.  The deal plans to create a 28-team conference with 4 divisions.  The division champions would then compete for the conference's automatic BCS berth in a four team playoff.
Although many dislike the proposed deal, the playoff system set up for the conference could revolutionize college football forever.

Young & Cruz Lead Rangers to Pennant, 2nd Consecutive Trip to WS

Heading into tonight's ALCS Game 6, most of America expected the Rangers to finish off the Tigers.  Detroit definitely didn't make the game easy for the Rangers early on as the Tigers hit solo home runs in both the first and second inning and led 2-0.  Texas manager Ron Washington looked worried about sending Starting Pitcher Derek Holland back out in the third, but a 1-2-3 inning gave both Washington and Rangers' fans hope.  The Rangers responded in the bottom of the third with nine runs, six hits, four walks, and fourteen batters to get back to their dominating postseason play.  The third inning began what would become a memorable night in the franchise's history.  The Rangers finished the night with fifteen runs and seventeen hits, both franchise records, and became the first American League Champion to make back-to-back trips to the World Series since the 2000-2001 Yankees.

The Rangers couldn't have accomplished what they did this season without the work of First Baseman Michael Young and Rightfielder Nelson Cruz.  Young went 3-6 tonight with five RBIs, two runs, and a solo home run in the seventh.  Cruz set the MLB postseason record for number of home runs in a single postseason series (6) with his seventh inning solo shot to center.  The Rangers now look forward to Wednesday's World Series Game 1 against the National League Champion, either St. Louis or Milwaukee, for the chance to win the first World Series Championship in team history.

College Football Back in Full Force; TCU Joins Big 12

It has been a great past few days of NCAA Football and the AP Top 10 didn't smudge one bit with the release of the weekly poll.  The top three teams in the country outscored their opponents by a combined 102 points on Saturday and #1 LSU even made their 30 point victory over Florida an interesting one. LSU punter Brad Wing appeared to score a first quarter touchdown on a fake punt, but was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty because of an early celebration.  The AP Top 25 also knocked both Florida and in-state rival Florida State from the poll, leaving the Sunshine State without a ranked team for the first time since December 6, 1982.  The #2 Sooners and #3 Crimson Tide took care of business as well.  Oklahoma blew out arch-rival and then-#11 Texas at the Cotton Bowl in the annual Red River Rivalry and Alabama dominated Vanderbilt at home.

Not all the excitement of college football came from the AP Top 25 or even the FBS this weekend.  On Saturday, two FCS independent programs and first year programs faced off in the Alamo City.  The South Alabama Jaguars headed west on Interstate 10 to face the UTSA Roadrunners at the Alamodome.  South Alabama entered the game as the clear favorites, but the Roadrunners were in the game from the beginning.  The Jaguars took the early lead, but UTSA responded and held a 17-10 lead at haltime.  The Jaguars scored early in the second half to tie up the game at 17, but the rest of the half was controlled by the defenses.  Late in the game, Quarterback Eric Soza drove the Roadrunners down the field and put his kicker in position to win the game.  The kick was blocked as time expired and both teams were headed to their first ever overtime game.  The blocked kick gave South Alabama momentum and eventually a 30-27 victory in the second overtime to improve their inaugural season record to 3-2.  The Roadrunners, on the other hand, lost their 2nd consecutive game to fall to 2-4 on the season.

Although Mondays don't usually bring excitement for College Football fans, today was different.  The Big East announced its intention to add six additional football programs to their conference and secure its significance as a major BCS conference.  The Big East is interested in adding the three Armed Forces schools (Army, Air Force, and Navy), and three of the following: Memphis, Central Florida, East Carolina, Temple, or Villanova.  The finalization of TCU to the Big 12 occurred hours later, but the Big 12 plans to expand even further in the near future.  Louisville, BYU, Boise State, and West Virginia have appeared as the favorites to join the conference, but the reuniting of TCU with SWC rivals Texas, Texas Tech, and Baylor could influence the conference to go after other former SWC members, such as Houston, Rice, and SMU.