Final Bowl Week

The final destination

Well folks, we've reached it. It is the last week of predictions. We started here way back in October, and have done fairly well until the bowl games. Now that they have come to pass, our bowl game record stands at 28-21. The end is now here, with the national championship holding all the glory for either Texas or Alabama. Before we get to that though, there is still a tale of two cinderellas, a rushing attack vs. a run defense, and a small bowl game. Let's get started.

Today

Fiesta Bowl: Boise State vs. TCU – 8:00 p.m. (FOX)

Otherwise known as the cop-out bowl by the BCS. I am a supporter of the playoff system, and honestly, this really is a cop-out. Now, that being said, it will still be a fun game to watch. Heisman canididate Kellen Moore threw for over 3,000 yards this season, and expect him to put a run in the Heisman next year. Meanwhile, TCU comes in bringing in a top 5 offense and defense, and I have to say, they look like they could have beaten anyone this season, and I believe they should have had a shot at the MNC. TCU proves a point, 35-21.

Tommorow

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. Iowa – 8:00 p.m. (FOX)

With Iowa's run defense vs. Georgia Tech's flexbone package coupled with QB Josh Nesbitt, makes for a long, long, long game. Iowa likes to run the ball usually, but with Shonn Greene taking the NFL, they have thrown for quite a bit this year. Their only losses came due to the fact that their QB Ricki Stanzi went down in the Northwestern game, and that Ohio State was, well, Ohio State. This game will be dragged along, but look for the Big Ten to go 4-3 in bowl games this year as Iowa wins a close one, 24-20

Wednesday

GMAC Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Troy – 7:00 p.m. (ESPN)

Even with the fact that Central Michigan's head coach Butch Davis is packing his bags to head to Cincy, Dan LeFevour will lead his high powered offensive unit to victory as the Troy Trojans fail to stop them when it matters most. 31-14

Thursday

Citi BCS National Championship Game - No. 1 Alabama vs No. 2 Texas - 8:00 p.m. - ABC

The BCS National Championship game features to high powered offenses led by their quarterbacks Colt Mccoy, and Greg McElroy. On defense, Mount Cody represents the Crimson Tide. Jordan Shipley looks to help Colt with the load of taking down the Bama defense. Of course, you can't forget Heisman winner Mark Ingram either. Although Suh should have won it, Mark Ingram put up great numbers as a sophmore, and now will try and accomplish what Tebow could not. It all starts here for him, and for a Heisman running for others. Although I'm going aganist the Heisman curse, (hey, Matt Leinart did it..) Inside The Shoe gives you the Alabama Crimson Tide as your 2010 BCS National Champions. Even though we have no control over what happens. Good luck to both teams.

Bowl Week 3 (part 3)

On the aftermath of a great Rose Bowl game, and Florida took care of buisness, finally shutting up those darn Bearcat fans, and talking about how they could easily take on a good defense. Their are still games to be played, including another Big Ten team. As of right now, Inside The Shoe´s record stands at 25-19. It looks like our losses are catching up..lets get started!

Today

International Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. USF – 12:00 p.m. (ESPN2)

Northern Illinois has the 17th best rushing attack in the nation, and USF will look to slow down the attack, while Northern Illinois will look to focus on shutting down do-everything QB B.J. Daniels. Look for some talented play, and USF to win, 17-7.

Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss – 2:00 p.m. (FOX)

At the beginning of the season, this could have been an easy OK St win, but now with injuries, and their best passing attack receiver gone, Zac Robinson will be running for his life, as Ole Miss´s Jevan Snead looks to make a good impression on pro scouts. Ole Miss will take their second Cotton Bowl, 38-24.

PapaJohns Bowl: UConn vs. South Carolina – 2:00 p.m. (ESPN)
UConn will want to prove a point early, but South Carolina´s Stephen Garcia looks to avoid the bust label, and the talent and (i can´t believe i´m saying this) speed of the Gamecocks will be way to much for the team that will be playing in memory of Jasper Howard, as they win it 28-17

Liberty Bowl: Arkansas vs. East Carolina – 5:30 p.m. (ESPN)

East Carolina comes off a CUSA championship win, but has to face the Arkansas Hogs and their SEC speed. ECU will give it their best, but i don´t see how their defense can stop former Michigan QB Ryan Mallet, who has been absolutely monstrous this season. With it being ECU, though, look for Arkansas to sleep until near the end, and finally pull it out, 31-24.

Alamo Bowl: Michigan State vs. Texas Tech – 8:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Before the unfair firing of Mike Leach, I would have picked TT. Now, without their head playcaller, Texas Tech has to imporvise, and that generally leads to mistakes. Look for them to have a couple of INT´s or fumbles, as Mark Dantonio´s defensive squad takes advantage, and wins a close one, 21-19

Enjoy watching some good bowl games! The rest of the bowl game predictions will be in Bowl Week 4.

Matching Up: Special Teams

Kicking/Punting

Advantage: Ohio State

Pettrey/Barclay/Thoma: As far as the OSU kicking game goes for 2009, Jim Tressel probably was a little dissatisfied with how it ended up. After a dirty block on kicker Aaron Pettrey during the NMSU game, Devin Barclay had to fill in fast. The 23 year old kicker then proceeded to kick a simple game winning, rose bowl clinching, field goal in ovetime aganist Iowa. I think that Barclay is reliable, but I think we need to use Pettrey in long FG oppritunites, while using Barclay in shorter ones. As for punting, during the course of the season, the punting has been solid by Jon Thoma, but nothing compared to what usual Ohio State punting is. He has gotten the job done, and it has worked out just fine so far.

Rice/Flint: With Flint being the kicker, last year he had trouble getting them in, especially the 35-40 yarders, but this season he has done a pretty good job going 15 of 17 giving him an 88 percent. That is pretty darn good, and should help in the long run aganist Ohio State. Jackson Rice, the freshman punter, earned his starting spot in a duel with the other punter, and has a average of 40.3 yards a punt. For a freshman, that's not something to scoff at, and he will play a key role for the Ducks, because of Ray Small being suspended.

Returning

Advantage: Oregon

Ohio State: With Ray Small, and Duron Carter being gone, the Buckeyes will have to get creative on the punt returns. Laamar Thomas will return with Brandon Saine in the Kick Returns, but for the punt returns, Tress will probably go ahead and use DeVier Posey, and mabye Dane Sanzenbacher. Without Ray Small, though, the returning game, would have gone to the Buckeyes, but without him, it is a much less lethal attack.

Oregon: They to, lost a huge asset to their return game, by losing the Oregon version of Ray Small. Oregon has greater speed, and I wouldn't be to surprised if LeMichael James wasn't used in some sort of situation, either on kick returns or punt returns.

Overall

Advantage: None

Ohio State/Oregon: I'ts really hard to judge special teams, anything can happen. Both teams have speed and quickness, so they are pretty even. This game might come down to special teams, whether it be a FG to win it, or better field position for a game winning drive. Special teams has always been stressed and preached at Ohio State, whenever Jim Tressel is around. He is going to make it better, even with the loss of Small.

Matching Up: Defense

With 2 days until the Rose Bowl, Inside The Shoe is diving deeper into the match up between Oregon and Ohio State by looking at the three main points of the game, and choosing who has the advantage. With Oregon having the advantage on Offense, we now look at Defense.

Defensive Line

Advantage: Ohio State

Gibson/Heyward/Wilson/Larimore: I mean, do you really have to ask? These guys are about as studly as they come. All of the following linemen can pass rush, and of course, stop the run. Thad Gibson is a definte pass rusher and has great agile speed. Heyward and Wilson are similar, they both bring great run coverage and Larimore can do a combination. The D Line really showed their stuff aganist supposdly the best offensive line in the nation, USC. After a lackluster effort at Navy, it looked like the Silver Bullets were back.

Tukuafu/Bair/Ferras/Rowe: Although they all give pretty good pass rush, the defensive line for Oregon was porous when it came to the running game this year and to add on to that, their pass rush fell below expectations this year as well, as Oregon's opponets had a good time running and passing all day long to score a lot of points.

Linebackers

Advantage: Ohio State

Spitler/Rolle/Homan: When the Ohio State Buckeye linebackers took the field aganist Navy, they were filling big shoes, in Marcus Freeman, and James Laurinatis. Spitler was the only one who had game experince, although Ross Homan had quite a bit of playing time whenever the score was run up. As you know, Brian Rolle made an entrance by making the game sealing INT for 2 points aganist Navy. The season has been very good for the Buckeye linebackers, even if they had their downs. At some points they seemed to under achieve, or didn't seem to play all out. This was the closest match up, and the only reason they won this was because overall, they were better.

Matthews/Paysinger/Pleasant: At the beginning of the season, hopes were high for the linebacking core at Oregon, and they should have been. Casey Matthews, The son of former NFL star Clay Matthews, with Paysinger and Pleasant were hoping to carry this defense to a national championship. Overall, they did their jobs, but sometimes just doing your job means giving up big points to the opposing offenses. That will not win games for your team either, but you can't put it all on the linebacking core.

Secondary

Advantage: Oregon

Coleman/Torrence/Chekwa/Russell/Hines: Although very talented, Ohio State's cornerbacks really kill them, otherwise, they would have won. As you saw aganist Iowa, a quality WR gives them trouble. They also tend to leave a lot of space, which means big plays off of bubble screens, and slants. With that being said, Kurt Coleman, Jermale Hines, and (ugh) Anderson Russell have to pick up some of the slack. Russell started out awful, giving up the majority of the passing TD's, but has settled down, and is now a solid contribuitor. Kurt Coleman is, in one word, studly. Jermale Hines does his job effectivly, and likes to bring a big hit up every now and then.

Oregon: They get some players back from injuries, and coming off a huge 2008 season, Oregon's secondary has stepped up, but not to expectations. The secondary looks to correct it's final mistakes, but should worry about run defense more, as Ohio State said it would focus on the run.

Overall

Advantage: Ohio State

Ohio State: If you look at the Silver Bullets this year, they really stepped up, pitching a couple of shut outs at Toledo, Illinois, and New Mexico State. They held Penn State to 7 points, and USC to 18. In my life time, beside the 2002 national championship team, this is the best defense i've seen. That, is my opinion, but i like it, and support it. They will look to stop this crazy Oregon offensive attack, and will hope to have their final great performance.

Oregon: Focus: Stop the run. If you can force Ohio State to throw the football, you have a wayyyyy better chance to put this game under the win column. They have had an underwhelming season, giving huge points up, but it could have to do with always being on the field, because of the quick pace and up-tempo offense Oregon brings to the table.

Bowl Week 3

20-9! With the win over Kentucky last night, Clemson secured a bowl win, and Inside The Shoe´s 20th win in picking. We hope to have more success with this, and will keep moving on. So let´s begin week 3, I am excited, as the bowl games get more intense, all leading up to the BCS bowls.

Today

Independence Bowl: Texas A&M v. Georgia – 5:00 PM (ESPN2)

Expect an all out bout of passing attack as Joe Cox and the Bulldogs face of aganist Texas A&M´s Jerrod Johnson. This game in which two high powered offenses face off aganist the opposing defense´s that are, well, terrible, to put it simply. I like Georgia, but i think i HAVE to go with the upset simply because Georgia tends to let everyone down, Texas A&M 35-31

Tuesday

EagleBank Bowl: UCLA v. Temple – 4:30 PM (ESPN)

In a game that UCLA is lucky to be in, as if Army would have won aganist Navy they would be in and not UCLA, Temple looks to cap off a pretty good season, and will look for the so called "upset". Both teams have nothing spectactular about their offense. Or defense. Or really anything for that matter, so expect a bit of a slow start, middle, and ending, as Temple gets the win 10-7.

Champs Sports Bowl: Miami v. Wisconsin – 8:00 PM (ESPN)

This game brings a lot of attention, 1. Jacory Harris and 2. It´s the first B10 team. Both team´s have their play makers on offense with Jacory Harris and John Clay. Wisky´s defense is not much of a threat, although they can rise to the occasion. Miami´s D-Line is not to be toyed with, so expect Clay to have some trouble finding some holes as Miami takes this one, and will look to have a great season next year, 24-14

Wednesday

Humanitarian Bowl: Bowling Green v. Idaho – 4:30 PM (ESPN)

With the game being full of high scoring and high powered offenses, look for this to be a common, but fun to watch MAC\WAC shootout, Bowling Green´s senior wide-out, Barnes, looks to hold the single season reception record down, if he can get 5 more catches. Look for BG to win, a close one though, 42-35

Holiday Bowl: Arizona v. Nebraska – 8:00 PM (ESPN)

Perhaps the match-up everyone has been waiting for, for awhile now. You have one of the best defenses, Nebraska, and a high powered offense, Arizona. Suh will look to cap off a Heisman running season, into which he leads his team, while Arizona looking for some bowl love, will be led by tailbacks Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin, who combined for over 1100 yards and 9 touchdowns for this season. Expect a struggle for power, with Nebraska pulling it out 20-14.

The rest of the bowl week 3 will be continued in another post, as a majority of the bowls are on Thursday, then we move to the BCS bowls..stay tuned.

Matching Up: Offense

With 5 days until the Rose Bowl match up between Ohio State and Oregon, Inside The Shoe will delve deep into the match ups of the game, as well as deciding who has the advantage point. First up is the Offense. The way this works, we will look at each key point in the offense\defense, and compare it with the opponent´s.

Quarterback

Advantage: Oregon

Terrelle Pryor: First off, this guy is a sophomore at Ohio State, just finishing up learning all the reads and plays. Then you look at his progression from last year, and you see it is definatly noticable, but not as much as expected. He has learned to throw the ball away more when he needs to instead of trying to make a play.  The descion making is not yet there, as well as overall accuracy. Descion making wise, just look at his INT´s this year. You can´t really say he has regressed from last year, because he wasn´t throwing as much when you had Beanie in the backfield. As far as accuracy goes, if you take a look at the Penn State game, he had a couple of deep bombs to Posey that would have been 6 both times, but resulted in an overthrow. Again, he is still young, and tends to get excited. If he can keep his arm under control he should be ok.

Jerimah Masoli: Building off of last year´s success, he lead his team to a 10-1 record (10-2 actually, but he didn´t play in the loss to Stanford) and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Masoli has been said to have one of the best fake handoffs in the game today, but he will need all of his talents to outsmart the Buckeye defense, with his uncanny ability to make a big play whenever need be. Masoli has proved himself capable of throwing in the pocket, and taking off with quick, agile speed. In the USC game, he seemed to know exactly where the defense was looking, and thinking, and would provide the sufficent play. Masoli understands the defense and all of the surrounding players abilitys to make sure the play goes smoothly.

Running Back
Advantage: Oregon

Brandon Saine\Daniel Herron: The Ohio State University is known for it´s power running game, and this year, you look at Boom and Zoom, you don´t really see that big power I-formation back. The closest to being that is Zoom, but the running game this year has been a bit confusing. You can´t replace a Beanie so says Jim Tressel, and that what this season has truly been about. Saine has started to come more into the role of an every down back, but Boom is trying to make his case, this could lead to some switching of the 2 during the Rose Bowl, and leading into next season, with the addition of Carlos Hyde(?) and Jaamal Berry.

LaMichael James\LeGarrette Blount: At the beginning of the season, Oregon fans probably were thinking something along the lines of "What happend to LeGarrette Blount?" After a 1,000 yard rushing season last season, he was held to -5 yards on 8 attempts aganist Boise State. And oh yeah, this. The result led to a year long suspension, but after further review, got taken back, and played his first game since then aganist Oregon St, in which he had 51 yards on 9 attempts with a TD. Enter LaMichael James. James burst on the scene as a true freshman and ended up with an outstanding 1,476 yards on 215 attempts. He is sure to be a great RB someday, and could look forward to a Heisman running in the next couple of years.

Wide Recevier
Advantage: Ohio State

Posey\Sanzenbacher: There´s not much you can say about either team´s receivers, although Ed Dickson for Oregon provides a bit of a knockout punch. Posey and Sanzenbacher are more than sufficant when it comes to making big plays, and more importantly, getting open. Sanzenbacher has deceiving speed, and doesn´t mind going over the middle and\or taking a hit. Posey always runs a good post or even better, a fade route. With the loss of Ray Small and Duron Carter, it looks like Laamar Thomas will finally get his chance. Taurian Washington will also join the mix of WR out on the feild, and it will be intresting to see what he can produce.

Ed Dickson\Jeff Mahel\D.J. Davis: The talented tightend in Ed Dickson is their main receiving threat, and looks to have a great career ending game. As for Mahel and Davis, they provide speed and talent, and will provide Masoli more options to go to. Don´t go counting out the running backs as a passing threat either, James had 13 receptions for 143 yards.

Offensive Line
Advantage: Depends.

Ohio State\Oregon: The offensive line is hard to judge. Both these teams amounted for just about as many rushing yards as each other, with Oregon having more on 2 more attempts. The reason I put depends is merely because the Ohio State line is complicated. On one hand, you can have the USC\Penn St. game line, or the Purdue game. If the USC one shows up, i would have to give it to Ohio State, but Oregon has done such a great job up front, I almost gave this one to them, seeing as they had the better stats, and have put forth a USC effort all year long. So this is for you to judge and decide.



Overall Offense
Advantage: Oregon

So Oregon is the winner of Offense. The Oregon offense has blown up this year, creaming teams like USC, Arizona, etc. Remember there is more to a football game then offense, and the defense and special teams play just as an important part. We here at Inside The Shoe have looked over some film, and decided that Oregon was better on offense..Ohio State, has growing pains at the moment. So, let us know your thoughts.

Speed is Key for Defense.

In my eyes, speed is a factor that is a luxury to have. Speed can define your team, or kill it. Oregon has speed, in both their running backs and our course, their QB Jerimeiah Masoli. Masoli is a reason Oregon fans are sort of glad that they didn´t land Terrelle Pryor. I mean, he can throw way better then Pryor can, by far. The dude can run, and has a the nastiest fake handoff in the book. That is where Jim Tressel and Buckeye nation hopes the defensive line can come in.

Jim Tressel has used the big brain and has decided to use 3rd string quarterback Kenny Guiton as their "Masoli". If you look at the game aganist Texas last year, Colt Mccoy led an offense, not similar to Oregon´s, but ran a hurry up offense. Thad Gibson was arguably Ohio State´s main pass rush threat, and yet he lined up offsides due to the fatigue of the hurry up twice. If Ohio State´s defense can keep up with the speed, they can most certainly have a huge impact. I can argue that this is one of, if not the best, defensive line in the country. They tend to be at their best aganist the "big" teams (See USC, Penn St). They do have a tendancy to slack a little bit, (Purdue, Navy) but that is overcomable.

The secondary is what worries me the most. Although Oregon lost Jamere Holland, they still have some pretty decent deep threats. This secondary is home to some corners that are young, Torrence, under acheiving, Chekwa, and just plain bad, Russell. Their is one star that will have to have a huge game, and I expect him to. That man is Kurt Coleman. Kurt Coleman looks to make a lasting impression by leading the Buckeyes to their first bowl victory since 2005. Ouch. He will also most likely want to make a good showing for the NFL scouts bound to be there. As Yogi mentioned, our corners like to give a little space to the receivers. NOT ALLOWED. Oregon likes throwing the quick little hitches and slants. Of course, look out for the bubble screen to the James.

Once again, please remember. Speed is Key.

Go Bucks.

Don't worry be Happy

Yeah - so said Bob Marley. Easy for him - he did not have to face the Ducks in the Rose Bowl did he. So Buckeye fans... is there something that worries you about this match-up??

From the 4 games I have seen of the Ducks and knowing our team's strengths and weaknesses I am a little worried of 2 things

1) Masoli's ball fake - Man that is a killer. In the USC game there were several instances when Masoli was already rushing past the line of scrimmage before the USC defenders realized he had the ball. His ball fake is simply the best in the business.

2) Up-tempo offense - Our defense is intimidating on most counts save few: Our corners give a lot of cushion to WRs and dont jam em. But more importantly we rely a lot on generating pass rush by rotating linemen. The Ducks once they get a first down start going up-tempo and there is no huddling. Which means no rotation of linemen. Who will captain the defense then - has to be someone on the field. May have been Laurinaitis last year. Who will it be this year - Brian Rolle maybe?. Also, can we get consistent pass rush if the same linemen are in there snap after snap?? Or is it even worth to get a pass rush since the ball is out of Masoli's hands so quickly?

I have exhausted my quota of questions allowed per day so I'll let you guys do the talking now