If I am being honest, the Cincinnati Bearcats are probably in over their head. I have seen them play a couple of times this year and I am not sure that they would be contenders in either the SEC or Big Ten. Make no mistake, they beat Houston, Notre Dame, and Navy. Three pretty good teams, but much of their season was playing second rate teams. Will they be ready to play Alabama?
The Michigan Wolverines are another anomaly. They went into the season unranked and lost to Michigan State (which was the first ranked team they played). They obviously ran out the end of the season strong, beating Ohio State and Iowa, scoring over 80 points in those two games. They have the sort of speed that Big Ten teams (other than the Ohio State) generally do not have. But it seems a little like they stumbled into the playoffs.
Meanwhile the SEC has struggled in the bowl season, winning one and losing four. I know these are their second tier teams, but you don't expect them all to lose. Perhaps that suggests that the SEC might be down and too much credit was given to the big dogs for beating up on the rest of the SEC. On the flipside the Big Ten is 5-0 with impressive victories in several games. Even Bowl substitute 5-7 Rutgers (who only won 2 big team games) is holding their own right now against Wake Forest (who went 7-1 in the ACC). They did have four teams that at one time or another was in the top five in the rankings.
All that being said, Alabama and Georgia are both favored to win. Cincinnati would be huge upset and as a Big Ten fan, I would still be more comfortable with Ohio State than Michigan playing in the spotlight. It feels like Alabama Georgia, but who knows what is possible. I will probably be rooting for Cincinnati and as much as it pains me to say it, I will root for Michigan.
6 comments:
Alabama is my life but
Rutgers perennially sucks to the point that they should be booted from the Big 10 and replaced by a more competitive school. Admittedly I'm biased to my son's alma mater University at Buffalo, but at least UB has produced some NFL standouts Like John Starks (Packers) and Kahlil Mack Raiders/Bears.
Go Michigan.
My own team mauled West Virginia, holding them to about 200 yards while rushing for 250 (two different running backs over 100). They only won 18-6 but missed a short FG, fumbled at the goaline and took a knee inside the five at the end of the game. Could have been 30-6 as easy as 18-6.
They have their QB (27 wins as a starter) best WR, and should have Abrahim back next year (was one of the best in the Big 10 two years ago but was lost due to injury). They return much of their defense as well. Could be a good season for them next year.
I knew him in my senior grade in Rapid City South Dakota.
I was about 6'3" . He made me look like a midget.
South Dakota has had plenty of highly athletic football players throughout its time. Some of them have even went on to have a successful career at the college and professional level. One of these men is John Dutton, who to this day is the highest drafted NFL player in South Dakota history.
Dutton was born in Rapid City and was a graduate of Rapid City high school in 1969. The next school year, Stevens high school opened, and Rapid City high school became known as Central high school. Most of his high school career was spent at Cathedral high school, the catholic school in Rapid City at the time, but when that closed in 1968, he moved over to Rapid City high school to be a Cobbler.
While Dutton is known primarily today for his success in football, his basketball athleticism in high school drew more college scholarship offers than football. During his senior year in 1969, he helped lead the Cobblers to a state basketball championship with a 57-50 win over Brookings in the state title game. He was both a two-time all-state football and basketball player in high school.
Eventually, Dutton decided to pursue a career in football and chose Nebraska to be his college home. He was named both an All-American defensive lineman and received All-Big Eight honors as a senior in 1973. Dutton was a backup his sophomore season when Nebraska won the national championship in the ‘Game of the Century’ against Oklahoma.
In the 1974 National Football League draft, the Baltimore Colts selected Dutton with the fifth overall pick. To this day, no South Dakotan in history has been chosen higher in the NFL draft.
Dutton spent his first five seasons in the NFL with the team that drafted him. He was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team and three Pro Bowl’s throughout his time with Baltimore. While sacks didn’t become an official NFL statistic until 1982, Pro Football Reference has since gone back and calculated every individual player sack since 1960.
Unofficially, Dutton had 46.5 sacks in his first five NFL seasons. In 1979, he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys where he remained for the next nine-seasons, the rest of his career. With Dallas he recorded another 26.5 unofficial sacks and reached the conference championship game in 1980, ’81, and ’82 with the Cowboys. Dutton retired after the 1987 season where he only played in four games.
Go DAWGS
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