Do not look now, but the Philadelphia Eagles are heating up. For all of those critics that bashed the “dream team”, we could very well be witnessing the same thing that NBA fans saw with the Miami Heat team that went to the NBA Finals a year ago.
Preview: The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season may be winding down, but the Chase battle is firing up. After last week’s mayhem at Martinsville, race winner Tony Stewart moved up two spots in the championship standings, now just 8 points behind leader Carl Edwards with three races to go.
Race: AAA Texas 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
Date: Sunday, November 6, 2011
Time: 3:16 PM ET (scheduled Green Flag)
TV: 3:00 PM ET on ESPN
This week, the circuit heads to the very fast 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, where both Stewart and Edwards are previous winners. This track has been friendly to Roush-Fenway drivers through the years, with Matt Kenseth the most recent winner here in April. The race will be led to green by three Roush teammates: Greg Biffle (pole), David Ragan, and Matt Kenseth.
Carl Edwards (7/1): In 22 races overall at Texas Motor Speedway, Edwards has made 13 starts and has three wins, making him the winningest active driver here. He swept this track in 2008 and also won the November race in 2005. Edwards finished 3rd here in April after starting 2nd. He starts 7th on Sunday.
Kurt Busch (16/1): Kurt will start 14th on Sunday and is a previous Texas winner, having won the November race in 2009. Busch finished 10th here in the spring race and rolls off 14th on Sunday. Busch is currently 8th in championship point standings. [ad-8757089]
Greg Biffle (22/1): Biffle won at Texas in the spring of 2005 and has posted six straight top-10 finishes heading into Sunday’s race, where he will be starting on the pole. Biffle ran 4th here in the spring and is one of the non-Chase contenders who doesn’t have much to lose by going for a win before the season is out.
Notes: Matt Kenseth has the best average finish at Texas Motor Speedway, followed by Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson.
Kenseth won the spring race here after leading 169 laps. Edwards and Kenseth both go off at 7/1 odds, but Edwards may have the greater motivation as he tries to put gain some distance on Tony Stewart in the Chase standings.
Stewart’s previous Texas win came in this race in 2006.
Kyle Busch, who was tied with Jimmie Johnson as a favorite with 5/1 odds, was parked by NASCAR Saturday morning following a vicious hit on Ron Hornaday in Friday night’s truck race; Busch will not race in either the Nationwide or Cup race this weekend.
Syracuse was in the news a lot over the past few months, but that was because the school will be leaving the Big East to join the ACC in a couple years. Jim Boeheim has made it clear he’s no fan of the move, but at this point there really isn’t anything he can do about it.
2011- 2012 Syracuse Orange College Basketball Preview
Syracuse 2011-2012 Odds to Win NCAA Championship from Bookmaker: +1,200
Syracuse 2011-2012 Odds to Win Big East Regular Season Championship from 5Dimes: +250
For the time being, the Big East will still be the deepest and best conference in college basketball. Syracuse is being as good of a chance as anyone to top the league this season. Can the Orange be serious title contender?
Last Year’s Results: 27-8 (Loss in Round of 32 to Marquette)
Syracuse didn’t lose until mid-January last year. It was an up and down season for the Orange. After starting 18-0, they lost six of their next eight games. The Orange were a team with plenty of talent, but they lacked a clear leader on the floor. Syracuse was one of the youngest teams in the Big East in 2010-2011. The team appeared ready to make a fairly deep run in the tournament, but they upset on the first weekend to fellow Big East member Marquette.
Roster Changes
Rick Jackson was the only senior on the Syracuse team last year. Jackson was one of the better big men in the league, and the team will certainly miss his rebounding and his shot blocking presence on the defensive end. Many were concerned that talented freshman Dion Waters may transfer after last season, but he stayed with the team. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The good news for Syracuse is that Rakeem Christmas will step right into the role of Rick Jackson. Christmas may be the best shot blocker entering college this year. Michael Carter-Williams is a point guard who has the ability to be an absolute star for Syracuse. Trevor Cooney doesn’t get as much attention as the other two, but he is a knockdown shooter from beyond the arc. This year’s recruiting class has several players that should contribute right away.
Top Players
Kris Joseph is probably the team’s best all-around player. Joseph is a 6’7 forward who can shoot it from distance and take the ball to the rim. Joseph is also one of the best defenders in the Big East. Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche are both very talented guards, but neither of them is particularly consistent when it comes to shooting the basketball. When Jardine and Triche are on, this team is tough to beat, but they can also go cold for extended periods of time. C.J. Fair and Fab Melo didn’t do too much as freshmen last year, but people around the program have high hopes for both of these players.
Syracuse 2011-2012 College Basketball Prediction: #3 Seed in NCAA Tournament (Loss in Sweet Sixteen in NCAA Tournament)
The Orange are going to be even more athletic than they were last season, but the shooting woes could still be an issue. Their athleticism should carry them through most games, but I think the lack of a consistent scoring guard will keep them from advancing past the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament.
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Pittsburgh was the top team in the Big East last year in the regular season with a conference record of 15-3, but an early exit in the conference tournament with a 76-74 loss to Connecticut as a 5.5-point favorite helped set the stage for an even more disappointing early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Washington may not be the top team in the expanded PAC-12 this season, but it will be more than capable of beating anyone on a given night.
Last year the Huskies were picked to finish 9th in the Big East. If they hadn’t won the Big East tournament they might have sat out the Madness leaving someone else to become champs. This year, even without Kemba Walker, the expectations are much higher, but justifiably so.
There isn’t a poll I have seen that doesn’t have North Carolina at the very top. It is difficult to argue with that positioning too because even though there are some other very talented teams out there, this one is primarily relying on experienced players who have shown that they are very good at the collegiate level already.
In what has shaped up to be the most intriguing final week of the CFL season in the history of the league, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will shoot for a win and first place in the Eastern Conference and the Calgary Stampeders will hope that a win will carry them to the Western Conference title.
Two teams in search of just their second win of the season meet on Sunday in a clash of the NFC West basement.
One streak will come to an end on Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers travel to Washington to take on the Redskins. For the 49ers, they put an impressive five game win streak on the line and for Washington; they hope to end a three game losing skid.
Coming into the season not many people expected much of anything from the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals enter this game at 5-2, and very much in the thick of the AFC North race.
It’s been a tale of two seasons so far for the Chiefs this year. They started the season 0-3, and now they have claimed victories in four straight. Meanwhile, the Dolphins wish they could say they have won just one straight this season. They come into this one at 0-7.
When: Sunday, 1:00 PM EST
Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO
TV: CBS
LINE: -4 (Kansas City), O/U 40
Kansas City is coming off of a 23-20 overtime thriller against the Chargers a week ago. After not reaching 20 points in the first three games of the season, they have now done it in four consecutive weeks.
Ironically, their luck seemed to turn after Jamaal Charles got hurt. Jackie Battle was the man that took the reins, and he has averaged at least 4.4 yards per carry in every game until last week. But he made up for it by scoring his first touchdown of the season.
If they are going to keep up their recently found success, it will be centered mainly around Battle. Nevertheless, they are going to have to find a way to get the passing game going to avoid being a one-dimensional offense..
The targets are there. Dwayne Bowe, Steve Breaston, and Dexter McCluster are all guys that can make things happen with the football. Matt Cassel just has to find some way to get the ball to these guys on a more consistent basis. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
These two things hold true in the rankings as well. They are averaging just 184 yards per game in the air. If you have the weapons that they do. You should never average that little in the air.
KC also has a top ten running game thanks in large part to the emergence of Battle. But don’t forget about McCluster back there either. He is a very explosive player that can make people miss in the open field. Making him very capable of getting the big play an offense like this desperately needs from game to game.
As for the Fins, they are a team in total disarray. Too bad too, because they honestly looked pretty solid on paper heading into the season.
Miami gave a pretty solid showing in their opener on the offensive side of the ball. Chad Henne slung the ball around pretty well, and he also ran the ball well. Now he is on the shelf, and Matt Moore just flat out isn’t getting the job done.
However, they actually played pretty well a week ago as they jumped out to a 14-3 lead on the Giants mainly because of the play from Reggie Bush. He looked like the Reggie of USC averaging 6.9 yards a carry(15 carries for 103 yards). If they can get some more of that play from him, they aren’t completely overmatched here.
Matt’s Prediction: Kansas City 24, Miami 17–
While the Dolphins have a horrid pass defense, that likely won’t hurt them too bad in this one. Their run defense is the key. It is a very solid group, and that is what is going to keep this game tight all the way through. If Bush can get it going early, I look for the Dolphins to play with the Chiefs at every step here.
That being said, it is just hard to win in Kansas City.
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Both Oakland and Denver will be looking to have rebound in this one. The Raiders are coming off of a shot to the mouth against Kansas City dropping them to 4-3 on the season, while Tim Tebow and the Broncos took a shellacking at the hands of the Detroit Lions a week ago falling to a dismal 2-5.
This is the battle every college football fan has been waiting for, the one that has been talked about incessantly all week.
It seems all people are talking about when it comes to the Colts (0-8) is if they should take Andrew Luck and trade Peyton Manning if they end up with the #1 pick.
The #1 vs. #2, LSU vs. Alabama tilt will get all the publicity this week, but this game is still another premier SEC West division match-up. It is very seldom that such a good game against two Top 10 teams will get lost in the shadows.
