First Post: Overview and Predictions

There is a smörgåsbord of topics that I want to address all at once. That reality is probably what drove me to create this blog in the first place. The weekend has been pretty jam packed with happenings all across the sporting landscape. Alabama and Boise State avoided upsets as Texas plummeted in the rankings. The Saints fell on their home turf to the Falcons and Brett Farve navigated the Vikings to a less than graceful win. In the MLB the Phillies and the Rangers clinched playoff berth while the Yanks and the Reds put themselves on the brink. And tons and tons more.

So what does all of this mean? Well as the Groundskeeper I have a unique (fictional and delusional) insiders look at what is going on in the sporting world. Lets start with NCAA Football. The new AP Top 25 was released over the weekend- http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings?poll=1.

In spite of my unrelenting efforts to sway them to my point of view, the AP once again got it wrong. So I have taken it upon myself to create and release the Groundskeeper Top 25:

1. Alabama
2. TCU
3. Nebraska
4. Boise State
5. Ohio State
6. Florida
7. Oregon
8. Stanford
9. Oklahoma
10. LSU
11. Auburn
12. Utah
13. Arkansas
14. Wisconsin
15. USC
16. Michigan
17. South Carolina
18. Arizona
19. Michigan State
20. Miami
21. Oklahoma State
22. Florida State
23. Iowa
24. North Carolina State
25. Nevada

Yes I left Texas out. They got embarrassed by UCLA, who in turn got beat by a fellow Big Twelve team Kansas State. Now, I fully expect Texas to go on and have a strong season, but as of right now they are looking pretty awful. In my mind Ohio State and Oregon do not deserve their high AP rankings because those seem to be predicated solely on name recognition and the huge point totals they are putting up. They are both clearly top 10 teams... but not clearly top 5 teams. (Ohio State barely made it due to their win over Miami). I am really looking forward to the Oregon v. Stanford game this coming weekend.

Speaking of upcoming games... here are my picks for this weekends big games:

Alabama v. Florida: 24-17
Florida is led by a great Coach in Urban Meyer. He will undoubtedly have his players prepared for the Crimson Tide. However, as we saw the Hogs QB Ryan Mallett falter against Alabama's front line pressure, we can only expect the same or less from Florida QB John Brantley. Florida is a very talented team, next year look out.

Oklahoma v. Texas: 35-21
The Red River Rivalry has lost much of its luster this year in the wake of Texas's humiliating loss against UCLA. This game still might live up to its billing though. I fully expect DeMarco Murray to have a big game as the Sooners go on to live another day in the decrepit Big 12.

Stanford v. Oregon: 42-37
This one should be a very high scoring game. Two of the Nation's top scoring offenses will be lining up toe to toe. If Andrew Luck can avoid turnovers the Cardinals should go on to win this one.

Wisconsin v. Michigan State: 24-14
Penn State v. Iowa: 14-10

NFL
The NFL season is underway and we are starting to get a better idea of what to expect from certain teams. In this post I am going to simply make my predictions on how teams will rank when the dust settles at playoff time.

NFC East
Dallas
Philadelphia
Washington
New York

NFC North
Green Bay
Minnesota
Chicago
Detroit

NFC South
New Orleans
Atlanta
Tampa Bay
Carolina

NFC West
Seattle
San Francisco
Arizona
St. Louis

AFC East
New England
New York
Miami
Buffalo

AFC North
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland

AFC South
Indianapolis
Tennessee
Houston
Jacksonville

AFC West
Denver
Kansas City
San Diego
Oakland

MLB
The regular season is coming to an end and in the ensuing days I will be writing more on my awards for regular season performances as well as my post season predictions. Stay tuned.

NBA
Training day is here alas! NBA players are priming their games and teams are making their final preparations for what promises to be a jam packed NBA season. The Groundskeeper NBA Season Preview is just around the corner!

Miscellaneous
I have for a long time been interested in rankings and statistics with respect to various sports. With that said I am going to from time to time be compiling and releasing lists of rankings in an array of various categories ranging from NBA's Top 50 to MLB's Greatest Pitchers to NFL's Greatest Logos to Funkiest Athlete Haircuts. I really look forward to your comments on what I have complied and your suggestions for future compilations.

Best,
Andrew