My Predictions for College Championships

Hello everyone, and welcome back to My Take. This week I will give my predictions on the two most important conference championship games that will determine College Football Playoff bids – the SEC championship game and the Big Ten championship game.

Alabama vs. Florida

Coming into this week’s championship game in the SEC are the Alabama Crimson Tide and The Florida Gators. Both teams had different paths of getting to this game, so I will dive in and give you a summary of both their seasons so far. Alabama has had almost a perfect year on paper, expect for losing to Ole Miss at home during week 3. Since that game, head coach Nick Saban has the team playing together to win all of their remaining season games with a strong defense, a great run game led by star running back Derrick Henry, and improved game management with quarterback Jake Coker. On the flip side, Florida has had a great first year with new coach Jim McElwain. Their only SEC loss is to LSU, which is why they won the SEC East. They also lost to rival Florida State on Saturday. This team is also known for their strong defense, but that is about their only strength. With all this in mind, here is my prediction. I believe Florida will start out strong in the first half, but by the second half Alabama’s offense lead by Derrick Henry will win over. I predict the final score will be Alabama 27 and Florida 17.

Michigan State vs. Iowa

In this particular game, there is a debate that one of these teams shouldn’t even be there. Michigan State definitely earned their way to the championship with the fantastic play of Connor Cook and the tremendous play of their defense. They have signature wins over Oregon, Michigan, and most recently Ohio State. On the other hand, the Iowa Hawkeyes haven’t had any signature wins over any Top Ten opponent this year. And, the way their schedule worked out this year, they didn’t have to play Michigan, Michigan State or Ohio State. This allowed Iowa to walk into the championship game. If Michigan, Michigan State or Ohio State were in that division of the conference, this would have evened out the competition between the divisions. My Take on this is that one of the Michigan teams or Ohio State should be moved into the West division because of the lack of competition there, and this championship game will expose that. I’m predicting Michigan State to win 51 to 20. Hopefully this will encourage the Big Ten to make some changes to the divisions in the near future.

Thanks for reading this week’s edition of My Take. I will have more to cover in the world of sports next week.

Getting It Right

Hello everyone and welcome back to My Take. This week I will reflect on referees and recent game changing calls in college football and the NFL.

Michigan State and Nebraska

On Saturday night, Michigan State went on the road to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was a a close game that went back and forth right until the end. One highlight for MSU was their quarterback, Connor Cook, setting a new school record for the most career touchdown passes. MSU started strong and led 17 to 13 at half time. However, they couldn’t put the game out of reach. In the 4^th quarter, with less than a minute left, Nebraska marched down the field to score a go-ahead touchdown that put the score 39-38. On the touchdown play, there was a very controversial call. The Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong threw a pass deep down field to his wide receiver, Brandon Riley, who stepped out of bounds for a few steps. While the ball was in the air, Riley came back in bounds and caught the pass for a touchdown. MSU was outraged because he went out of bounds and then was allowed to catch the pass for a touchdown. There is a rule that says when the wide receiver is forced out of bounds he is allowed to come back in to catch the ball, but only if he is forced out. The referees ruled that was the case with the pass to Riley. I believe that after this season, they should change this rule, so the opposing team can challenge whether the receiver is really forced out. In this game, being able to review the force-out would have changed the outcome.

Lions and Seahawks

That brings me to another point – I believe all calls made in the final two minutes of the game should be challengeable. For example, look at the Lions vs. Seahawks game this year. With little time left in the game, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw a pass to star receiver Calvin Johnson. He caught the ball and ran for the end zone, this score could have won the game for the Lions. Yet he lost the ball at the one-yard line, and the ball went into the end zone which was punched out of bounds purposely by a Seahawks player out of bounds. NFL rules state that   if a defensive player aids the ball out of bounds, the offense keeps the ball at the 20-yard line. But the referee said it wasn’t purposeful and they gave the ball to the Seahawks. Again, if this was challengeable it would most likely have had a different outcome to the game. The Lions would have kept the ball and would have had another chance to score and win the game. So why are the NFL and college football allowing bad calls to determine the out come of a game. I believe the NFL and college football officials could end this unrest by making everything reviewable within the last 2 minutes of a game. It would make sure the referees would have a second chance to look at the call, and make sure they got it right.

Thanks for tuning into My Take. I will have more to cover in the world of sports next week.

NBA regular season predictions

Hello everyone and welcome back to My Take! I promised a few weeks ago to make my NBA regular season predictions. I will give my predictions on the MVP as well as the NBA Finals teams and winner.

Being a MVP in the NBA and almost any sport is an honor. Fans and players of the NBA especially take the MVP seriously. Last year the Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry won the MVP in impressive fashion. He averaged 23.8 points per game, even though most of the time he didn’t even any play in the 4^th quarter because usually they were winning games with a considerable lead. His season finished with a victory over LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. If we look around the league this year, there are still many players that can win the MVP – Jimmy Butler with the Chicago Bulls, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and no one can forget LeBron James. But I believe that Stephen Curry can and will win the MVP again this year. He is simply at a whole other level compared with the other candidates. Last Saturday he had a 53-point game, which told me that he isn’t giving up that trophy any time soon.

Predicting this year’s NBA Finals will be tricky, because the Western Conference of the NBA is stacked with good teams that can win it all like the Clippers, Oklahoma City, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Golden State Warriors, just  to name a few. In the East Conference however, it is LeBron James’ Cavaliers vs. the Chicago Bulls. Even though the Bulls beat the Cavs in their opening game in Chicago, I think the Cavs will beat them in the playoffs. So, my prediction is that the San Antonio Spurs will win the Western Conference with the help of their new all-star power forward Lamarcus Aldridge. I believe LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will win the Eastern Conference, but in the end I believe San Antonio will pull out the victory in the NBA Finals. The Spurs have what I believe to be one of the best basketball coaches ever, Gregg Popovich. He is just a basketball genius who does so much with what some people would call average players. But in the off-season, they made a move to land all-star power forward Lamarcus Aldridge, adding the first all-star free agent to their roster in a long time. I believe this addition will help the Spurs to win their 6^th Championship.

Thanks for tuning into My Take this week. I will have more to say about the world of sports next week.