Monday, December 21, 2009

My All-Americans for College Football 2009

With all the All-Americans being announced lately, here's my 2009 college football All-America team
First Team Offense

Quarterback: Colt McCoy, Texas
Running back: Toby Gerhart, Stanford
Running back: Mark Ingram, Alabama
Receiver: Jordan Shipley, Texas
Receiver: Golden Tate, Notre Dame
Tight End: Aaron Hernandez, Florida
Offensive Line:
Russell Okung, Oklahoma State
Trent Williams, Oklahoma
Mike Iupati, Idaho
Mike Johnson, Alabama
Chris Hall, Texas
Return Man: CJ Spiller, Clemson
Kicker: Leigh Tiffin, Alabama

First Team Defense
Defensive Ends:
Derrick Morgan, Georgia Tech
Jerry Hughes, TCU
Defensive Tackles:
Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska
Terrence Cody, Alabama
Linebackers:
Rolando McClain, Alabama
Eric Norwood, South Carolina
Sean Weatherspoon,Missouri
Cornerbacks:
Joe Haden, Florida
Kyle Wilson, Boise State
Safeties:
Eric Berry, Tennessee
Earl Thomas, Texas
Punter: Chas Henry, Sophomore, Florida

Saturday, December 19, 2009

What a win for Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl

Wyoming 35, Fresno State 28 (Double Overtime)
Wow. What a shock. For the second straight year, the Fresno State Bulldogs are upset in the New Mexico Bowl. Wyoming almost had a heartbreak as Ian Watts missed a 40 yard field goal that would have won the game in the first overtime after Wyoming's goal-line stand stopping Ryan Mathews on the half-yard line three times and also preventing a QB sneak. In the second overtime, he didn't have anything to worry about thanks to the sensational play of true freshman Wyoming quarterback Austin Carta-Samuels. Samuels was flushed out of the pocket and on the run made a perfectly placed pass to David Leonard in the endzone who made a great catch. Fresno had a chance to tie it, but did not put the ball in the hands of their best playmaker, Ryan Mathews, and it cost them as Ryan Colburn got sacked on 4th down to end the game.
Fresno had a scare when Mathews went into the locker room in the first quarter, but he turned out to be okay. Mathews finished with 144 yards on 30 carries and didn't break off any big runs, while Wyoming had a couple of big plays against the Fresno defense. I am very impressed with the young quarterback Wyoming has and how the defense rose up in the clutch especially linebacker Josh Biezuns, who was the stopper all game long and made three crucial stops that saved the game in overtime.
My Player of the Game: Austin Carta-Samuels, Wyoming Quarterback
Honorable Mention: Josh Biezuns, Wyoming Linebacker

My take on this weekend's bowl games

Last night, Villanova beat Montana 23-21 to win the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) national championship. Now it's time for some Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) where for some reason, we don't have a fucking playoff. But bowl season is finally here as we get ready for January 7th's national championship game between Texas and Alabama. The bowl schedule gets started today with two games and another on Sunday before resuming again on Tuesday.

Saturday, December 19
New Mexico Bowl, 4:30pm on ESPN
Fresno State Bulldogs (8-4) vs. Wyoming Cowboys (6-6)

It's postseason time in college football! Fresno State is back in the New Mexico Bowl to open the bowl season this year. Wyoming is a rejuvenated football team under first year head coach Dave Christenson. Fresno finished the season winning 7 of their last 8 games including that unreal ending in the season finale against Illinois. The Bulldogs are a veteran club while Wyoming is just breaking onto the stage. This win would be huge for the Cowboys to establish themselves as an above-average team to strengthen the Mountain West Conference's standing in its bid to become an automatic-BCS qualifying conference. But there's too much firepower on Fresno's offense. Tailback Ryan Mathews leads the nation with 151.3 yards per game and I watched him a few times this year and he is much more explosive than he looks. Wyoming's defense gives up 170.5 rushing yards per game. In other words, they're probably not stopping Mathews. Don't sleep on Fresno's passing game either with Ryan Colburn finding Seyi Arijotutu downfield.
Prediction: Fresno State 38, Wyoming 17

St. Petersburg Bowl, 8pm on ESPN
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-4) vs. Central Florida Knights (8-4)

Central Florida is no longer a pushover and showed that especially in their upset of Houston. Rutgers sports the same colors as Houston, but they won't lose to UCF. The Knights have one of the best pass rushes in the nation with Bruce Miller and they have the 4th best rushing defense, but Rutgers has won its last three bowl games and doesn't get big plays through the run game very often except with true freshman receiver Mohamed Sanu in the wildcat which has been very effective. Houston was also a team that doesn't play much defense; Rutgers is second in the nation in tackles for loss. Rutgers is still progressing towards contending in the Big East and head coach Greg Schiano is trying to open bigger recruiting efforts in Florida. This game will be a good showcase for the Florida recruits interested in Rutgers. While Rutgers is young, true freshman quarterback Tom Savage has been one of the best quarterbacks in the Big East. I watched this kid play in the High School All-America game last year and he is the real deal and he and Sanu will be a good quarterback-receiver duo for years to come. Rutgers also has one of the best left tackles in the nation with junior Anthony Davis (I rank #3 offensive tackle for the 2010 NFL Draft), and I think Davis should be able to lock up Miller. If Savage has time and isn't rushed in mistakes, Rutgers will roll in this game.
Prediction: Rutgers 27, Central Florida 20

Sunday, December 20
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, 8:30pm on ESPN
Southern Miss Golden Eagles (7-5) vs. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (9-3)

Southern Miss had a chance to win Conference USA until they lost quarterback Austin Davis to a torn ACL. Middle Tennessee is going for a 10 win season for the first time in a long time. Statistically, these two teams are identical when placed side by side in almost every category. Middle Tennessee however has the more stout defense, while Southern Miss has more playmakers on the field. Junior Montavious Young has filled in very nicely for Davis and has thrown only one interception on the season. At quarterback on the other side is one of the biggest playmakers in the Sun Belt Conference with Dwight Dasher. The Blue Raiders also lead the nation in tackles for loss and have a good pass rush, so it will be important for the Eagles to be able to run the ball with Damion Fletcher, who is the most underrated player in the country. If Middle Tennessee can take away Fletcher (which they will not), and force Southern Miss to pass, they'll be finding Young in the backfield.
Prediction: Southern Miss 31, Middle Tennessee 27

Hey Everyone

Hey to everyone and Happy Holidays!

I'm proud to announce that I just created this blog. For years I have been keeping a blog on MySpace and posting notes on Facebook, but to get more exposure I will try to keep up to date on this blog.

I'm a high school senior and these AP classes are killing my time, but I still dedicate most of my time to college football and college basketball; those two sports are my life.

I'm also the "only true Texas fan east of the Mississippi" one of my teachers call me. I love my Texas Longhorns.

I am a sports man, in fact somebody created a page on facebook called "Who needs ESPN, we have Patrick Woo" and I don't know who made it yet, but I will find out, ha.

My ultimate goal in life is to go to the University of Texas at Austin as I get ready for a dream job at ESPN as a college football analyst. And speaking of college football, it's Bowl Season, what a great time of year! My bowl blogs I used to keep on MySpace will be posted shortly.

-Patrick.