Winning NFL picks, odds and power rankings all from our friends at Doc's Sports Service.

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Week #5 is here and there are several games between ranked teams that have the potential for future BCS implications. While some teams are trying to stay on top, there are a couple of smaller teams that will be hoping for some upsets. Here are a few previews as well as my predictions for the week...

#21 Texas at #8 Oklahoma - Coming off an embarassing 22 point loss last week at home to UCLA, Mack Brown is going to stop at nothing to prevent back to back losses, getting knocked from the top 25 and even worse a loss to OU. Last week Texas gave up 27 passing yards and still lost. They also gave up 264 on the ground and you have got to believe that the OU running game is going to have a great day and the Texas defense will have a hell of a time trying to keep Landry Jones from having big numbers. Gilbert has been anything but incredible so far in trying to make Texas fans forget Colt McCoy thus far. This Texas team is just not the same without a leader at QB, and they still don't have a RB that has over 200yds rushing. Texas will have a descent season, but I just don't think this will be a game Texas will want to remember...Oklahoma 41, Texas 24

#7 Florida at #1 Alabama - If the top 25 polls didn't come out until this week I am just not sure Florida would be in the top 10. They, much like Texas, are attempting to replace the face of their football program for the past few years under center. John Brantley is doing pretty well so far with 6tds and only 1 int. but the offense has taken some criticism for their slow starts, one in particular was the Miami Oh. game to open the season. One can only wonder what the QB position may look like had 2007 Freshman Cameron Newton had stayed at Florida, but I'd say they are probably pretty happy with the outcome. Brantley will continue to do fine....Just not this Saturday night. John will leave the swamp and enter the sea of crimson under the lights at 'Bama. Alabama has 3RBs that have over 25 carries and each average over 7 yards per carry.  Oh and by the way, they also have the reigning Heisman winner in Ingram. I am sure the Florida defense will find a way to keep it entertaining to watch, but I expect Alabama to pull away late and wear Florida down as well as force Brantley to make poor decisions. Alabama has no business losing this game...Alabama 31, Florida 20

#19 Michigan at Indiana - I may be the only person reading this that cares at all about this game, but that's just fine by me. I don't have a good feeling about this game Saturday. I am a UM fan and the thought of Rich Fraudriguez on the sidelines screaming at the miserable defense throughout the entire game as Ben Chappell looks like the 2nd coming of Joe Namath is making me lose sleep. I want to believe. I want to believe that Denard is going to stay healthy, throw for 200, run for 120 and the UM defense will grow up right before my very eyes. The thing is, I know better. I know what a Rodriguez version of Michigan football looks like and it doesn't sit well with me. The defensive backfield has almost no experience and the WR turned Safety Cameron Gordon, while he hits hard, is slow. My problem with this game isn't the offense at all, I am scared that the Indiana offense may have a bigger day than the Michigan offense and that is hard to believe I know. I hope Rodriguez proves me wrong...But until then...Indiana 37, Michigan 35

OSU 49, Illinois 13

Wisconsin 23, Michigan St. 21

Stanford 31, Oregon 30

Iowa 28, Penn St. 24

Boston College 16, Notre Dame 9  (One can only hope)

College Football college football picks, texas, oklahoma, florida, alabama, michigan, indiana

Memo to the NCAA, Boise St. fans are going to be contacting you when at the end of the season when OSU and Alabama are undefeated and Boise who is also undefeated is playing TCU in another "battle of the little program that could" BCS game. Sorry Boise St. fan but it is true. Assuming OSU doesn't screw it up, the Buckeyes have no business losing a regular season game this year and will end up in the BCS National Championship game versus another SEC school (just their luck huh?). If Alabama, OSU and Boise St. ALL finish the season undefeated there is ZERO chance that Boise or TCU for that matter, with their remaining schedules, will ever jump either OSU or Bama. With that being said....is that fair?

With the system set up the way it is there is a lot of debate over if it is fair. There is no playoff and the BCS is set up for the two best teams to play each other in the National Championship game. How do we know Boise St. and TCU aren't better than Alabama and OSU? We don't, but we go off what we know- OSU and Bama play in big time conferences and have big name players, while Boise St. and TCU do not. Who plays QB for TCU? Exactly. Do you know who Doug Martin is? You probably don't. The tradition that these small time schools have is little at most. Is the lack of tradition that these two schools have the fault of their programs? No. They are up and coming programs that just happen to be in non BCS conferences. The next question is how would Boise St. or TCU fair if they were in the Big 10 or SEC or even the ACC or Pac 10? We will never know that for sure, but what we do know is that teams like this deserve a chance to prove themselves against the big boys of college football.

I am 100% in favor of a playoff system. There are many college football fans who chuckle at the thought of Boise St. or TCU beating a big name school. They may be right, and if they are right, then the best teams will still play in the title game. How interesting would it be though if they were wrong and TCU knocked off a powerhouse to move to the next round? I am not going to get into how the playoff system would work, everyone seems to have a brilliant idea, but I will say that college football needs one. Schools that have a strong winning football tradition, long, long ago had to earn it. It took years to do so, but they did it by winning consistently over a long period of time. I believe the NCAA needs to allow smaller schools a true shot to earn powerhouse status. Don't get me wrong, smaller schools like these are to blame as well. Just because you play in a non BCS conference doesn't mean you can't schedule strong non-conference opponents. Now am I speaking too early about 3-4 programs possibly all going undefeated this season? Yes, but it is still a fun debate.

Over time, Boise St. and TCU may fade away and return years later and other small schools will pop up and be the next big thing, but a lot of "big name programs" do as well. Ask Michigan, Tennessee, Florida St., Nebraska and Notre Dame about this. All I am saying is that with the way the NCAA has this currently set up, there is zero chance of a smaller school earning enough respect to reach the BCS championship game unless enough teams lose. For all I know Bama and OSU could both lose and Boise St. gets their shot to play in the big game and they get beat by 30 points. The smaller school haters would be all over the NCAA for allowing this to happen, but does the BCS Championship game always live up to the hype? Since the BCS championship games began back in 1998, only 4 games have been decided by fewer than 10 points. It is time to stop protecting the teams with tradition, and force Goliath to beat David...

See you next week for week #5.

College Football boise st., bcs, college football, osu, alabama

As we enter the 4th week of what has been an interesting year of college football so far, I want to spotlight a couple of games that I will be following and give predictions on other games as well.

#1 Bama vs. #10 Arkansas
This is the best game of the week as far as I am concerned. I expect this to be a classic. The giant that is Ryan Mallett will try his hand at the Alabama defense today at home. I haven't seen a QB confuse a defense more with his play action abilities more than Mallett. This kid is a pro when it comes to disguising whether it is a run or a pass. I want to see how Bama will deal with this today. The Arkansas running game hasn't been stellar so far so I expect Mallett to be forced to toss the ball atleast 35x. If his oline can defend the Bama pass rush, then they may have a chance to knock off the champs. On the other hand, Bama's offense isn't a slouch either. Ingram is just getting warmed up and could have another great game, and if another RB is needed Richardson and Lacy provide a combined 7.0 yard per carry average. I just have a feeling that Mallett will put his name well above Denard Robinson in the race for the Heisman after today... Arkansas 35   Alabama 31

#24 Oregon St. vs. #3 Boise St.
I am sure fans in Boise will be scoreboard watching today and the entire campus at Boise will be Razorback fans today. Even if Boise wins tonight, there won't be a chance of them jumping OSU or Bama without those teams losing a game this season. Oregon St. decided to paint their practice field blue this week in an effort to simulate the blue turf at Boise St. I get the idea, but still pretty silly to me. Instead maybe they should have tried to simulate the Boise St. offense. I do believe Kellen Moore is legit as is Boise, but something just tells me that this game will be far from a snoozer. I am picking another upset this week...But it won't be this game... The Rodgers brothers are impressive, but I think Boise will pull this one out in a close one... Boise St. 37  Oregon St. 30

Michigan 45   Bowling Green 27

Florida 31   UK 17

South Carolina 24   Auburn 23

Stanford 27    Notre Dame 21

OSU 56  EMU 7

College Football michigan, alabama, uk, ryan mallett, boise state, notre dame

For me, not a very exciting week as far as matchups go in college football. Only one game of top 25 teams and even that game (Iowa v Arizona) doesn't excite me all that much. I am very glad I decided against finishing this blog entry in time to preview the UC game. That would have been a waste. UC is quickly looking to go 1-3 after a loss to Oklahoma next Saturday. So instead of giving some in depth analysis on a handful of particular games, this week I am going to give some quick bulletpoints on what I want/expect to see this Saturday afternoon and evening as well as give some predictions on games. Next week I'll be able to go back to picking some games and going into each one. There are some really interesting games going on next week.

*If Boise St. loses at any point in their cupcake schedule it will give ESPN a lot less to talk about. I think I'll root for Wyoming today...

*It would be nice to see Texas Tech pull off the upset today. The game is at Texas Tech, under the lights? You never know...

*I dislike all teams from Florida so go Vols!

*The kid from UMass talking all kinds of smack about Michigan and the Big House is either the biggest idiot of the day or someone that will be mentioned all year if they pull off the upset...

*Denard Robinson will run for about 80yds in the 1st half and then be benched after the 2nd series in the 3rd qtr. All Heisman comments and Twitter trending topics will die down for a week...

*Notre Dame @ Michigan St. intrigues me a bit. I dislike both teams but a little part of me wants to see Coach Kelly lose to both Michigan schools...

OU- 14   OSU- 41

UMass- 17     Michigan- 38

Arkansas- 31      Georgia- 24

Florida- 24     Tennessee- 27

Notre Dame- 23      Michigan St.- 28

Iowa- 17        Arizona- 16

That's all for this week, as I look forward to next week here are some of the games I will be previewing. Bama @ Arkansas, South Carolina @ Auburn, W. Virginia @ LSU.

College Football college football picks, florida gators, tennessee vols, notre dame fighting irish

After a lengthy two-year hiatus, I have returned to the getsportsinfo.com team as a college football contributor. I'm hoping to write a few blog posts per week on different topics regarding the college football world. Every week I will post my outlook for the upcoming week and take a dive into some of the more interesting matchups and give my predictions. If anyone would like to contact me, you can email me at Scott.Heckle@yahoo.com or feel free to leave comments at the bottom of every post. With that being said, lets get into week 2 and some of the more intriguing games. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @scottheckle

Michigan at Notre Dame   -4 1/2
So let me get this straight... Michigan opens the season with a boom and has a running QB throw 18-21 and run for almost 200yds and still be a 4 1/2 point dog. How could this be? Because it's Rodriguez vs. Kelly. I am sorry but as a self proclaimed UM fanatic, Rodriguez has been embarassing to watch over the past couple of years. Saturdays game, Brian Kelly's first big rivalry game, at home versus Michigan is a game I can not envision his team losing. The Wolverine nation is going ga-ga over a QB that last year we cringed at when he took the field to throw a pass is now expected to be a one man Army, turn into Pat White and run 29 times against a Notre Dame defense? Not going to happen. I have a very good feeling that Notre Dame will cause Denard to struggle early and by the 3rd qtr if not sooner, Tate Forcier will be under center. I know Tate has been in the dog house lately, but I cannot imagine Rodriguez putting in Devin Gardner as a #2 QB when you have a QB who has played ND, and beaten ND already. Dayne Crist has got to be foaming at the mouth for a shot at the skeleton crew that is the Michigan defensive backfield. I look for the Notre Dame running backs to have over 150yds rushing combined. Unless the Michigan defense can force a few turnovers and compile a few sacks I don't think Rodriguez and co. will be able to keep up. J.T. Floyd, Craig Roh, Mike Martin and Cameron Gordon will be the key to Michigan success on defense if it is going to happen. As far as the Irish go, Manti Te'o will introduce himself to "Shoelace" on more than one occasion and slow the fast paced Michigan offense down considerably. This game will be close, but in the end Michigan just isn't there yet and Rodriguez just isn't going to cut it in the Big 10...If Michigan wins, I will be very surprised. Memo to coach Kelly: We miss ya in Cincinnati already. -  Notre Dame 31 Michigan 23

#18 Penn St at #1 Alabama  -11 1/2
Joe Paterno is back and older than ever. But as long as he can produce quality teams, PSU will let him wander the sidelines. This season is no exception for the Nittany Lions. PSU is off to a fast start and with a Freshman at QB named Rob Bolden who beat out Kevin Newsome among others for the starting role. Bolden was named co-Big Ten Freshman of the week for his part in the 44-14 beating of Youngstown St. With Evan Royster and Brett Brackett as just a few of the other offensive weapons in the PSU arsenal, they seem ready to make some noise this year. But a funny thing happened on the way to Glendale...The returning National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide. Now I am a die hard Big Ten guy who loves a good game versus the SEC but I am not very confident that PSU will be able to hang with Bama all that long. A night game at Bama spells disaster for a Freshman QB on the road. Even with Mark Ingram likely out for Saturdays game, Lacy and Richardson are more than capable of filling the Heisman winners shoes. Greg McElroy will face a very difficult task in facing a PSU defense, but I can't see Alabama losing at home under the lights. PSU is 4-8 versus #1 ranked teams and old Joe Pa hasn't beat a #1 since 1990 and I don't see it happening this year either. Roll Tide... - Alabama 37 Penn St. 24

#12 Miami Fl. at The Ohio State University  -8 1/2
Saving the best for last we have the Hurricanes and the Buckeyes. This is the first rematch of a game that determined a BCS national title. Unlike the game played back then, the drama will be minimal as far as I am concerned. I have been going back and forth on this game for a few weeks wondering whether or not Miami has what it takes to keep up with an Ohio State team who honestly has no business losing a regular season game this year. After reading all I could read and listening to self proclaimed experts, I still can't see this game being as close as a lot of people imagine it will. Fans have had a love/dislike (won't say hate yet, lets wait until after Saturdays performance), with Pryor. Pryor has been frustraing to watch over the past two seasons but also amazing to watch at times. For me he seems to be coming around to being a very good QB and a great athlete, not just a great athlete. As long as Saine can stay healthy and the oline can block well two things will happen. Pryor will get a chance to excel and OSUwill see less of Boom Herron. More Saine is a good thing. Posey and Sanzenbacher are huge threats to the Hurricane defense who I am sure will be amped up to play and I am sure will come out swinging. The OSU defense may not have all the star names they are used to having but they are still strong none the less and I can't imagine Jacory Harris having a successful afternoon in the Shoe. Am I giving Miami enough respect from where they have come in the past few years, probably not. No disrespect to Miami, I am sure they will go on to achieve great things this season, but I just cannot envision OSU losing at home at any point this season to any team. They are just too good. OSU is 57-7 at home and 31-4 versus non-conference opponents under the Vest. Few teams will score over 20 points against the Buckeye defense and I can't see Miami scoring much more than that. Saturday, Miami will need to be in the upper 20s or 30s to hang late with OSU... OSU 34 Miami 21

Other games of interest:

#22 Georgia  28   -  #24 South Carolina 24

UC  42  -  Indiana St. 17

#10 Oklahoma 31   -   #17 FSU 30

College Football college football, osu, alabama, ncaa, michigan, pryor, uc

Let's take a look at some injury concerns heading into Sunday...Get the final word with our LIVE BLOG on Sunday morning...

QUARTERBACKS
Aaron Rodgers (shoulder) - decision will come down to wire
Carson Palmer (elbow) - looking like he's going to start
Ben Roethlisberger (shoulder) - questionable; expected to go

RUNNING BACKS
Brian Westbrook (ankle) - may not be 100%, but likely to play
Willis McGahee (chest) - will be a legit game-time decision
LenDale White (shoulder) - will be limited even if he goes
Willie Parker (knee) - will return after Week 6 bye

WIDE RECEIVERS
Anquan Boldin (sinus) - out for Week 5 following surgery
Roy Williams (knee) - a late addition to the injury report
Bernard Berrian (knee) - questionable for Monday Night
Plaxico Burress (suspension) - suspended by team for Week 5
Brandon Lloyd (knee) - Has been ruled out for Week 5

Fantasy Football aaron rodgers, carson palmer, ben roethlisberger, brian westbrook, willis mcgahee, lendale white, willie parker, anquan boldin, roy williams, bernard berrian, plaxico burress, brandon lloyd, sidney rice

In week 2, I predicted Miami (Fl.) would hold there own vs. Florida, and up till the 4th. qtr. began they did. OSU struggled a bit more than anyone would have thought against OU. UC realized they may only be half (52-26) as good as Oklahoma, and Michigan should have lost against Miami. This week, the matchups appear to be a bit more intriguing. I will save the best for last...

Kansas 37 South Florida 27-  The little QB that could, Todd Reesing, will lead his 2-0 Kansas Jayhawks this Friday night against #19 South Florida. Reesing is coming off a season where he threw for 3,400+yards, 33tds, and Kansas was the darlings of the Big 12. This season they try to better their performance and South Florida will have their 1st real test Friday. Coach Mangino and his Jayhawks will be without 2007s leading receiver Dexton Fields for this game. But don't fear, look for WR Dezmon Briscoe to step up and continue with his great 2008 start. South Florida just managed to sneak by a Kevin Smith-less UCF last week and this week won't be any easier. Super Man, lil' Tebow, 1 man show, whatever you call him, Matt Grothe has been USFs offense for the past couple of years. For those that don't remember, last year QB Matt Grothe threw for 2,670 yards, 60% completion percentage, 14tds passing, 10tds rushing, led the team with 198 rushing attempts, and led the team with 872 rushing yards. I am not sure what would happen to this team if Grothe went down. This offense was designed for him, but he can't do it all forever. The last big test SFU had was last years bowl against a Dennis Dixon-less Oregon and they were blown out 56-21. Grothe, struggled in that game. When Grothe struggles, SFU loses. This week, Kansas, even without Aqib Talib, will be able to control Matt Grothe and South Florida enough to pull out a win. 

Michigan 24 Notre Dame 23- This is a hard one for me to pick. It is honestly a tossup to me. Both teams will probably struggle to sniff .500 this year, but this game will always be special to me. So much tradition and pride is wrapped in this game. I am not exactly sure how I even expect UM to score 24 points, but I am hoping they do it with Steven Threet at QB and Sam Mcguffie/Mike Shaw at RB. Mcguffie and Shaw are about the only spark in the Wolverines offense. If the o-line can block well enough, and if Coach Rodriguez can rally the troops, I can see UM pulling this out in South Bend.  Sunshine, from Remember the Titans (google it), must have decided to transfer to Notre Dame and play QB. Jimmy Claussen (until Terrell Pryor came along) was the most hyped QB I have ever heard of when he came into ND last year. Claussen is a very talented QB, but just like former ND QB Brady Quinn, if Claussen gets rattled, it's hard for him to come back and regain his composure. If Brandon Graham and co. can apply pressure to Claussen, I have no doubt that Michigan will win on Saturday. The question will be can the Michigan offense put the ball in the hands of the play makers they do have. The talent on offense is there, but the handicap is at QB. Hopefully at the end of the day on Saturday, the sun will not shine for ND.

Georgia 31 South Carolina 17- Yes, I know that SC beat Georgia last year at Georgia 16-12. I also know that Knowshon Moreno only ran 14 times that day. With a national championship dream on the line, Matthew Stafford will lead his offense into South Carolina with a lot to lose. The 'ole ball coach is in for a rude awakening  when Moreno runs all over his gamecocks. Look for Mohamed Massaquoi to have another big game. Coming off a loss at Vandy last week, S.C. will be looking to bounce back, unfortunately they will fall below .500 before next weeks titanic struggle against mighty Wofford. Look, this has the making to be a season changer for S.C. and they will play their hearts out, but I just don't feel that Tommy Beecher, Chris Smelley, hell even Steve Taneyhill (google it) would have a chance to beat Georgia this weekend. I predict that S.C. keeps it close up till half time. After that, UGA rolls on...

 Now for the big one...

OSU 34 USC 31- OSU will have Beanie, stop worrying. This is a game that I have been waiting for for quite some time. Not because I am a OSU fan, because I am not, but this is a chance to, for at least a week, put the Big 10 back where it belongs. On top. As a die hard Michigan fan, it kills me to pick them, but I think the Vest will have his troops ready for USC. The pressure is on USC. They are at home, 10+ point favorite, OSU is expected to lose and to even some, lose big. You don't think the Vest has told his players all this? They are going to play the game of their lives and trust me anything less, will result in a loss. USC may have more talent and may even be faster at some positions, but the experience and talent that OSU has will trump USC. Also, Sanchez has never seen a defense like this before. James Laurinaitis will make his presence known early and often. If Todd struggles Saturday night, which I expect him to, look for Pryor to take the field more often than you would hope he would have to. Pryor loves the spotlight. He loves to showcase his talent on the biggest stage possible, and it will never get any bigger any sooner for Pryor than under the lights in Southern California. The nation will take notice, and OSU will move towards the #1 spot once again. The Vest has got to win this game because he knows that if they lose to USC, even if OSU wins out after the loss, the chance that the voters will take a 3rd chance on putting OSU in the national championship will be slim. Win this one for the conference. 

College Football kansas, south florida, michigan, notre dame, georgia, south carolina, ohio state, usc

Coming up on week #2 in the college football season, there aren't a lot of intriguing matchups, but there still are a few games that I find interesting. I will be back next week with my picks for Week 3. I will have much more to write about next week. Feel free to email anytime at Scott.heckle@yahoo.com. 

OSU 49  OU 10- Shocker I know. I am not understanding why everyone is going nuts about Chris Wells and his "toe problem." You could probably pass every play if your OSU and win vs OU. Yes, I understand that next week is USC, but he will be ready, don't worry. But even if Wells isn't ready for USC, the combo of M. Wells, Saine, Herron and others will be enough. I truly believe that. This OSU team, as much as it bothers me to say it, is the best team in the country with Wells, and one of the best without Wells. OSU will beat USC next week, I am sure of that. OU QB Theo Scott may have to throw 50+ times on Saturday and it still won't be enough to even compete with OSU. A caller on a local sports talk show summed it up best when commenting on this game saying "it's pre season game #2 for OSU."  

Michigan 27  Miami (Ohio) 17- My beloved Wolverines have issues. Not only do they not have a QB who is capable of running the spread offense, I now doubt the oline's ability to block for one if they had a QB. Well, they do have one QB who is physically able to run it, Justin Feagin, but that's right, Coach Rodriguez decided Sunday to red shirt him. Apparently he isn't "getting it." Sheridan looked like he belongs with Thomas More College more so than Michigan. (No offense to TMC) With Threet as the only real shot at a descent QB this year, I look for another poor to so-so performance by the passing game. A sobered up Kevin Grady will finally get his shot to run the ball Saturday and along with Minor, Shaw, Brown (if he plays) and McGuffie, I think the running game will have a good enough game to win. You may be saying based on what? The stellar performance versus Utah? I am aware of Clayton Mullins and the 9 returning starters on defense that could cause some chaos, but I expect Michigan to be up for this game, more so than last week and Raudabaugh will have a similar game to the Vandy game he had last week. Not so good. Miami RB, Thomas Merriweather, did look descent last week, and will most likely become the featured back, but coming into the Big House for the 1st time isn't always so easy...... Unless you are in Div1AA or from the WAC.

Oklahoma 35  UC 30- This game is the hardest for me to pick because my head says Demarco Murray and company but my heart says UC. UC has developed themselves into a state of relevance in the college football world and losing to Oklahoma wouldn't crush that, but damn wouldn't it be nice to see what would happen if they walk out with a win Saturday evening? Just imagine what fun this could be to turn on ESPN Sports Center and see highlights of UC knocking off OU and all of the nation saw it! I am hoping for it too. It could happen. But, if I had money on the game and had to make a pick based on no spread, I would go with Oklahoma. Sam Bradford, Manuel Johnson, Juaquin Iglesias and of course the stud that is Demarco Murray are capable of putting up 40+ points Saturday. The question is, can Grutza and company pull this off on offense? I truly think UC has an offense capable of scoring on Oklahoma, unfortunately I don't think UC's defense will stop Oklahoma on offense as much as Oklahoma's defense will stop UC on offense...

Florida 38  Miami (FL) 27- I truly see this game being closer than most see it. Robert Marve has been given the keys to this one time Corvette of a team in Miami, that has recently been known as a lemon.  Marve is coming back off a 1 game suspension and even worse a life threatening car accident last year where he almost lost some fingers. Marve will make his debut playing on a place where you don't want to make a debut, in the Swamp. Marve will be accompanied in the 2 QB system Miami has installed by Jacory Harris. Harris started last week throwing for 190 yards. I know this is Florida they are playing against, but I think Miami will come very close to pulling this game off. Florida will win, but I think with the success Miami has had of late in the recruiting process, the pride of "The U" will be restored eventually. This may be a long process for Miami, but I think Saturday has a chance to get them one step closer. 

College Football college football, ohio state, ohio, michigan, oklahoma, cincinnati, miami (oh), chris wells, florida, miami (fl)

My name is Scott Heckle. I am proud to be a part of this site. I have been following and writing about college football years. Some old school, die hard, sports talk radio fans may remember me as the moderator for Lance McAlister's forum a couple of years ago. I plan to be a weekly contributor to this site of not more. I will post things I find as well as write my own thoughts about upcoming games that week and anything else that involves college football. I will try to cover local stories as well as national. I hope you enjoy and can't wait for the season to begin!

Growing up a Michigan football fan, watching what OSU has done to the Big 10 these past years has been a hard pill to swallow. While my boys in blue may be starting a walk on QB and Freshman at RB this week versus Utah, OSU looks to begin there march towards another shot at the BCS championship. 

As you will come to find out later on, I am a geek when it comes to college football recruiting. It is one of my hobbies. So obviously, this year it was hard for me to watch as I saw the talent that OSU received once again in this years class. How many of them will make an impact? Who knows. But my one big question for OSU fans is this...How long of a leash does the Vest have on Boeckman? Since the day that Terrell Pryor put on the scarlet and grey cap earlier this year, people have been calling for him to start and to sit Todd Boeckman. Pryor is a once in a decade type of talent, I will admit that. But I can't see starting this kid right now. I wonder how long will it take before Pryor gets the keys to the car for the next 3-4 years? If Boeckman struggles versus USC in a few weeks, is that it for Todd? This is just one of the questions I have for this years team. 

Now getting down to the season itself. IF OSU comes out of Southern California with a win, I truly believe that they will walk straight through the rest of the Big 10, and Beanie Wells will get a ring along with the Heisman Trophy. OSU does travel to Wisconsin, MSU, Northwestern and Illinois, but I feel the only team that has a chance to knock them off other than USC will be Illinois. Juice Williams will only get better, and I have heard that this game may be a night game as well. My mighty Wolverines, I predict will fall short this year...again...But I will get to them later on...

OFFENSE

Boeckman will be blessed to start off the season with what I believe to be one of the best WR duos in the nation with Robiske and Hartline. Former LaSalle product and current OSU Freshman DeVier Posey will also be a nice addition to the future of OSU WRs. Chris Wells is simply put, a beast. Anyone trying to tackle this load should brace themselves. Beanie is the best RB in the game today period. He is what OSU fans hoped Clarett would have been. Maurice Wells and Daniel Herron along with Beanie make for a nice RB corp. OSU fans will have nothing to worry about with the O-line this year. All 5 starters will help the offense to a great season offensively. You want to know something that many people aren't talking about? The incoming kids for 2008 that OSU has to play the O-line in the future will probably be the best ever. Mike Adams, Mike Brewester and J.B. Shugarts? WOW! Just remember those names in the future. 

DEFENSE
James Laurinaitis will go down as one of the greatest OSU LBs to have ever played. I am a huge fan of him. James, along with Freeman, Jenkins and Heyward will all help anchor this amazing OSU defense. Another name to remember- Etienne Sabino. This is the future at LB for OSU. Write his name down, store it away in your head because you will remember it some day. How soon? Depends on when the coaches get this kid in there to play. This 6'3" 225lb. LB from Miami FL., had 281 tackles in his final 2 years of high school and had offers on the table from Tennessee, USC, Florida St., Miami and Notre Dame. Rivals.com had him ranked as the #1 inside LB in the nation. It is hard to find weaknesses on this defense, but if I had to point the finger I would say that I am curious to see how the defensive backfield is. With future 1st round pick Malcolm Jenkins on one side, Sophomore, Chimdi Chekwa will be on the other. Juniors Anderson Russell and Kurt Coleman start at Safety for OSU, and I am sure they will do great things, I am just curious how this will all play out. 

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