Wide Open Big East

The college football season is almost over. Most of the conferences know who will be the unquestioned champion. Not so fast. The Big East still has to answer that question. At the beginning of the season, it was basically a three-way tie for preseason BE championship honors between Pitt, UConn, and West Virginia. Throw in Cincinnati or Rutgers as a sort of wild card pick. That tie still is pretty much the theoretical way the BE standings are, but Syracuse is having a breakout year, and Louisville looks to have a little spunk as well. Pitt and UConn stumbled early, while WVU and 'Cuse were the top dogs back then. UConn had a make-or-break game a few weeks ago against WVU at home and pulled out the 16-13 overtime win. That gave them some hope for the Pitt game this past week. They again pulled out a tight win, 30-28. Towards the middle part of the season, Pitt started to look like the team they were hyped to be in the preseason, while UConn and WVU kept tripping up. After UConn beat both teams, they are quite possibly the hottest team in the BE and except to travel to the Carrier Dome for a showdown with Syracuse this Saturday. If they win, and Pitt would trip up again this week or next, UConn is in a great position to still push for the title. Being that the BE has an automatic BCS bowl bid, amidst controversy, a UConn team that wins out at 8-4 could get that berth. With Pitt, WVU, and possibly Syracuse succumbing to the Huskies, followed by a late season home game with Cincy, there probably isn't a whole lot that will stop them. They're young and talented, like Pitt, and Randy Edsall's teams play smart, fundamental football. They have Jordan Todman on their side, and the pressure has lessened with being 5-4. This season in the BE is not over yet, and you gotta check out some of these games coming up. These will be a great last few weeks of football season! (There's always the Big East basketball season :) )

Go Huskies!

District 5-A Championship

After a perfect 9-0 regular season and a strong showing in the district playoffs have led the Northern Bedford Black Panthers to prominence, it's time to take home the District 5 crown. We are the No. 2 seed this year. The North Star Cougars will be our opponent. The Cougars are a great team, being the No. 4 seed. More importantly, North Star upended No. 1 seed and previously unbeaten Berlin 21-14 last Friday. Our offense was held in check by the Conemaugh Twp. defense for the first half on Saturday, but we exploded later to win 28-7. Our QB went down vs. Meyersdale a couple weeks ago, so we implemented a wildcat-type offense to specifically accommodate our needs. This appears to be the same plan for this week. Both Conemaugh and North Star boast great quarterbacks. We've taken care of Township, as our stifling defense held strong. We look to do the same again and although our last game really wasn't as close as many thought, I believe this will be the closest we've had. Let's get the job done this week as we have all season...Let's Go Panthers!

Perfect!

After another season of football, history has been made for the Northern Bedford Black Panthers. They have achieved a perfect regular season record of 9-0. This was our first perfect season since 1975. They've got a lot of momentum heading into the District 5 Class A playoffs. Meyersdale will come to town this Friday to face off in a first round playoff game. Berlin is the top seed in D5 A and appears as if they will be the Panthers' challengers for the championship. Look for it to be a great game when (or if) these two area powerhouses meet. I'm sure we'll be looking into the weaknesses that Berlin has and use them to our advantage in the event of a potential game matchup. We defeated West Branch 42-0 last Friday on Senior Night to clinch our perfect regular season. I think we'll be pumped and ready for the start of the 2010 high school postseason.

Week 7 College Football

The week is over, and its time to review the games. This week featured a few major upsets that will surely mess up the polls and BCS standings. Conference frontrunners have been jumbled from week to week. There still looks to be little to no definition of a conference champion in many leagues. What does the future hold? I'm not sure, and sometimes I love to see shake-ups. Although not good for the teams ending up the losers, it adds more depth to the sport; makes it fun to watch no matter who you're cheering for. Here's some pivotal games and upsets from Week 7.

Auburn 65, Arkansas 43: Auburn should really start to get into some of the national title talk with this win over the Razorbacks.

Texas 20, Nebraska 13: Texas looked like the team we thought they were earlier in the year as they smacked Nebraska around to get the win on the road.

Ohio State 18, Wisconsin 31: OSU knew this game was a potential trap game, going up to Camp Randall Stadium, one of the toughest places to play in the country.

Mississippi State 10, Florida 7: Florida continues to slide down with an ugly loss to the Bulldogs, led by coach Dan Mullen, who was once a member of the Gator staff.

Iowa 38, Michigan 28: Just having Denard Robinson on their side was not enough to upset the powerful Iowa Hawkeyes, who are now in the the front of the pack for the Big 10 race.

I'm ready and excited for Week 8 to come. You can never have too much football.

Week 7 Football

It was once again a victorious week for the Black Panthers. They defeated the Southern Huntington Rockets by a score of 46-7. The win brought the Panthers' record to 7-0 heading into a Week 8 matchup with the struggling Mount Union Trojans. The Panthers are in sole possession of the ICC South and are a top team in the ICC, along with Juniata Valley and Berlin Brothersvalley. Turnovers were prominent in the game, with all turnovers resulting in points for the Panthers. The Panther defense has been utterly dominant this year. The defense is part of a total one-two punch the Panthers bring every game. The offense is high-scoring and incredibly potent led by tailback Preston Albright who had scored five touchdowns en route to the trampling. High profile games have not proven to be a very difficult challenge for the experienced Panthers, being that a magnificent Glendale team, a speedy Southern Huntingdon team, and a physical Tussey Mountain team have all fallen victim. Three more games remain to be played on the schedule, the next of which is Mount Union. I expect a Panther victory in each upcoming game. The playoffs will be great games to watch. Anyone thinking state playoffs?

HS Football Week 6+7

I'm back! I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to keep this updated as much as I would like to, so please forgive me. Time for some football! Week 6 was spectacular for my Panthers, but not so much for Tussey Mountain as we trampled them, 49-6. I said here last week that I'd be shocked if we won by more than 10 points, but I was obviously wrong and I give a lot of credit to us. I thought Tussey was worthy of the hype despite the record they had coming into the game. It was Homecoming for them, it was the Backyard Brawl, it was just an important game overall, and they couldn't find a way to keep it close. My Panthers, however, proved they have all that it takes to be an undefeated team at the end of the season and enter the playoffs locked and loaded. We face another important test Friday against Southern Huntingdon. The Rockets are 4-2 and are a great, tough team that may very well test our limits the way that Tussey was supposedly to have done. I do believe that with a win tomorrow, we will clinch the ICC South with an overall record of 7-0. I'll be up in the cozy press box and cheering for my team tomorrow night. My birthday's Monday, so I'd love to have a Panther victory as an early birthday present....Go Panthers!

College Football Picks For Week 6

I can't believe just how fast the season is flying by. Seems like just a couple weeks ago we were intensely studying the Preseason top 25 and hyping highly anticipated games...but now it's October and we're in the heart of football season. Here are some of my Week 6 picks:

UConn at Rutgers: UConn, but not by much I'm afraid. (Sorry, I'm biased :P)

Pitt at Notre Dame: Toss up, but I give ND the edge. Beating FIU doesn't really count for much.

Illinois at Penn State: PSU. Still too good for Illinois.

Michigan State at Michigan: If Denard Robinson plays well early, Michigan no doubt...not so well, watch out Michigan!

Oregon State at Arizona: Arizona in a close one.

LSU at Florida: Hmmm...I'll say Florida. Very close call.

Florida State at Miami: Florida State in an upset win. Jacory Harris is too inconsistent at times.

USC at Stanford: USC. Stanford may still have the aftermath of Oregon fresh in their minds, but they do have a chance.

P.S.

I love making picks. They're not everyone's favorite, but I just love them. I guess I'll just have to wait until Saturday to see how well I did :)