Sunday 1/6 Preview

I’ll recap Saturday when I get a chance, but figured I should get the Sunday Preview done before the NFL gets started.

Bucs-Giants is first today.  Bucs have been silent all year, but solid.  Giants have made more noise as they are in New York and have a Manning at QB.  Giants finished well and played the Pats tough, but suffered some injuries in that game.  I like the Bucs to win today, 24-17.

2nd Game of the day is Titans-Chargers.  Interesting match up of a team that got in by beating the Colts backups, and a team that won the worst division in the NFL.  I like the Chargers offense with Rivers and LT, the Titans are hurt by injuries with Vince Young being a game time decision and several other players hurt.  Because of those injuries, I like the Chargers to advance, 35-14.

Election debate again today, but it’s not gonna get much coverage as it’s Republican’s only and doesn’t include Ron Paul.  I’m not even sure when it is.  American Gladiator premier tonight.  Could be interesting.

Saturday January 5th Preview

Alright… it’s a big day tomorrow.  Our latest edition of the NFL playoffs kicks off.

First up is Washington going to Seattle.  Washington has finished extremely strong, and come together after the tragic death of Sean Taylor.  But can they go to Seattle and win on the road in the playoffs?  I don’t think so.  Washington is starting Todd Collins at QB.  That Todd Collins.  The one who is famous (infamous) for being the player with the largest gap between starts in NFL history at over 10 years.  There is a reason for that.  Good QBs don’t go 10 years without starting by accident.  Todd Collins is not capable of leading this team to a road victory in the playoffs in my opinion.  I’m taking the Seahawks 28-10

So the Jaguars are going into the Steel City, where they won a few weeks ago.  Can they do it again?  I think so.  Pittsburgh is in trouble with Willie Parker, the leading RB in the NFL at the time.  The Jaguars are built to win in situations like this.  I don’t buy into David Garrard as a good QB for the playoffs yet, but I think he’s good enough to beat the Steelers.

Jaguars win 27-17.

The Maverick hockey team has a big series at Western Michigan.  UNO, struggling all year, is still “in it” technically for a top 4 seed (trailing Michigan St. by 7 points with 2 to play (a sweep at MSU makes it 3 points… but MSU still has 3 extra games more than UNO).  They would need to go on a run unlike anything we’ve seen at any point this year though to pull that off.  Trying to get a 5-8 seed is much easier.  The 5th place team (Bowling Green) has 12 points while UNO is back in 8th with 11.  Ferris State, Northern Michigan, and Alaska are also right there with 12, 12 and 10 respectively.  UNO travels to Northern and Alaska over the next month or so, and has an opportunity to put some ground on those teams.  The Mavs can definitely get that first round home game if they play well down the stretch.  It won’t take a great stretch of wins, just picking up wins over teams they should beat and maybe a few surprises.

Anyways, back to this weekend.  Western is in 2nd to last with just 4 points and a 2-8-0 record in conference, but we tied last place Lake Superior State for their only 2 conference points (0-9-2) at home in our last conference action… so who knows if this is gonna be doable on the road.  UNO really needs to sweep.  Western is not a good team.  The return of Juha Uotlia was key last weekend.  He added some more depth and some much needed experience to the blue line.  The Mavs need someone in goal to step up.  Jerad Kaufmann struggled Friday night, and Jeremie Dupont did the same Sunday night last time out.  I’m not sure who’s starting this weekend.  Kaufmann, Dupont and Aarnio all have the potential to step up and win games, but until one of them steps up and establishes himself as the go to goaltender down the stretch, this team is doomed to struggle I fear.

Bryan Marshall is silently having a spectacular season and career.  He now has 8G and 20A in 20 games on the year, giving him 135 points in his career.  That’s only 9 behind David Brisson for 2nd place (behind Mr. Mav Hockey Scott Parse’s 197).  So don’t forget when you’re watching him play how great he really is.  Marshall is 3rd in the NCAA with his 28 points, only 3 behind Michigan’s Kevin Porter.  His 20 assists are top in the NCAA.  Mick Lawrence’s 7 PPG goals places him 4th in the NCAA.

Also, UNO’s opponent for next weekend, Miami, lost to Bowling Green 4-2 tonight, meaning UNO will not be hosting the #1 team after all.  Doh.  Our favorite goalie Jimmy Spratt was featured on the front page of USCHO.com… I can’t wait til the perverts come to the Civic… GET YOUR SHARPIES READY!!!!!

Creighton Basketball faces a tough road trip to Springfield Missouri.  The team is desperate for a win now having started Valley season 0-2 (okay so 14-4 is sounding unlikely for our conference record now…)   The Jays, 9-3 on the year, take on the Bears of Missouri St. (8-6 on the year) at 7 on Saturday.  Creighton’s starters aren’t gonna change and we need to accept that.  I don’t think it will cost them games.  The team can come back if they get down early.  The 0-2 conference record is CU’s worst start since 93-94 (Pre-Dana). That team went 0-7 to start.. yikes. This team is gonna have to look to Dane Watts to lead them.  He is the only player in the conference in the top 7 in points and boards.  He is going to have to have a big game against Missouri St.  Josh Dotzler is gonna need to take care of business.  No sloppy turnovers, good passing, hard defense.  He can’t force shots either.  Chad Millard needs to step up and shows us something as he’s been a bit of a disappointment at CU so far.  Nick Bahe and Pierce Hibma need to use whatever minutes they get effectively.

Off the bench, P’Allen Stinnett will be playing a big game.  In an interview with 590’s Matt Perault, Dana Altman said if P doesn’t stop complaining about foul calls to the refs, he will sit him.  This is going to be interesting to see, how does he respond?  P has loads of talent, but he hasn’t totally bought into the system yet and he’ starting to draw the ire of the coaches it appears.  Casey Harriman, Cavel Witter, Booker Woodfox, Kaleb Korver all need to play their roles.  I’d like to see some 3s out of Casey, to see Cavel stay under a bit more control, and for Booker to continue his hot shooting. Maybe some 3s out of Korver ?  Kenny Lawson and Kenton Walker will hopefully get some time to continue their development.  How well these two do could play a big difference in this team’s season.

Defensively the Jays will worry about the Bear’s Deven Mitchell who leads the league with 16.9 points per game. Blake Ahearn is finally gone though!

Booker Woodfox’s shooting has finally come around.  Earlier in the year the coaches talked about him needing to get some confidence and start knocking down some shots.  Well, it’s happened.  He now leads the team with 17 3s and 42.5% shooting.  He’s 13-21 (61.9%!!!) the last 5 games.  Does Altman think about starting him anytime soon?  He is a junior and he’s playing very well lately.

I’m not gonna take the Jays to win in Springfield.  I hope they do, but I’m taking the Bears 74-69.  Jays will stop the losing at home next week… but it continues Saturday night.

Finally, the Republicans and Democrats have a big debate Saturday night.  It’s gonna be in prime time on ABC.  I will be taping it so I can watch sports and then the debate.  New Hampshire is coming up on Tuesday so this is the last chance for many of the candidates to get their message out to the state as a whole.

Republicans from 6-7:30 CST..

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-NYC
Former Governor Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.
Senator John McCain, R-Ariz.
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex.
Former Governor Mitt Romney, R-Mass.
Former Senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.

Democrats from 7:45-9:15 CST…
Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C.
Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Governor Bill Richardson, D-N.M.

I’m looking forward to the first debate for the Democrats where the marginal candidates are gone.   These three can now turn to each other (Richardson is around… oh well) and we’ll see what they have to say.  As far as the Republicans go.  This is a big debate as these all are still in it (though Paul has 0% chance I still believe).  Don’t be fooled by Gulliani’s poor showing so far.  He’s focusing on Super Tuesday, not these early states.

So there’s your Saturday preview.  A big fun day coming up!