One of my favorite articles every week.

Here it is: Locals in the NFL

What the bleep is wrong down south?

I am not sure if I can post all my thoughts on this. It just might take to long. With Utah going into the Pac-12 (Colorado confirmed entry into the league in 2011) and Utah performing so well on the field this year, I think there may be some green leaking into the blue in Provo. Growing up, I would never have guessed that this would be the case. Right now though, it seems evident. I don't think they have anything to be insecure about though. Over the last 5 years (2005-2009 season's), Utah is 41-17 in the regular season and 5-0 in bowl games. BYU in that same span is 46-13 and 3-2 in bowl games. I think the big difference is that BYU doesn't have that "signature" win over a big time team. Yah I don't want to here about Oklahoma because their Offensive line was crap and they turned out to be a mediocre team.

BYU was in danger of being 2nd fiddle in the conference that they created to a team that was a junior college when Ty Detmer was throwing the ball all over the place, had they stayed in the MWC. So they venture into the unknown of independence. Could be good, could blow up in their faces. At this point, it's to early to tell. But to me, it looked like a knee jerk reaction to Utah going into the Pac-12.

Right now, on the field the cougars are a mess. As I said in an earlier edition, they are sloppy. Sloppy tacklers, sloppy down field coverage, sloppy gap coverage and Andrew Rich looks like the only defender with energy. Offense is even worse. With the inconsistency at the QB position finally settled, the rest of the offense has to get with the program. Those receiver's need to notice that the ball is only spinning one way right now and learn to catch it when it's thrown to them. The offensive line is a joke. I worry about Jake Heaps' health when going against defensive front's like TCU or Utah. Their lone bright spot has been the play of JJ Deluigi and even that has been sporadic. He is a good back, but he just seems to not be able to handle the work load of being the go to back like Harvey Unga was. He also needs to learn blitz pickups better. He is going to get Heaps killed.

I could get into a lot more but I think for cougar fans, the biggest problem is that they see a lot of similarities of this year's team to Utah of last year. Which isn't the case. Not even close. Utah had 6 draft picks in last years NFL draft, most in the first 3 rounds. Name 3 cougars who have that distinction this year. I doubt you could. They have a lot of young talent that need to start seeing the field. Last years Utes also had Asiatta to fall back on, and when he got injured, Eddie Wide III (who surprised me with his productivity) stepped in to lead the conference in rushing. Again, who do the cougars have to fill that role?

Something needs to happen to change the fortunes because as you saw, if BYU falls against either Sand Diego State or (heaven forbid) Utah State, they will only win 6 games this year. That is NOT enough for cougar fans, regardless of what Bronco Mendenhall says about the fans opinions not mattering.

Saturday's results

Wow, all I can say is that I grossly under/over estimated some teams. Utah vs. SJS was ugly. I mean REAL ugly. I said Utah by 42 and it was Utah by 53. They are good.

I said SDSU by 10 over Utah State. I did it twice here. I over estimated Utah State and Under estimated San Diego State. 41-7 SDSU. The Aztecs threw it all over the field and Utah State just couldn't get anything going. Well Utah State, there is always the WAC schedule...

I said Nevada by 8 over BYU. I did the same thing here. The score was 27-13 Nevada, however, that is NOT indicative of how the game played out. Nevada had the ball for 36 minutes and honestly looked as though they were content to just run the ball or dink and dunk pass the ball for short yardage to play keep away from BYU. Now, Jake Heaps looked pretty good. His numbers don't really show it, 24/45 for 229 yards, but he had several receivers drop well thrown balls. BYU just looks bad this year. They are sloppy on offense and sloppy on defense. They may win next week against Utah State, even though that's not a guarantee, but their schedule does not line up well for them. Let's go over it for a bit:

vs. Washington W 23-17

@ Air Force L 35-14

@ Florida State L 34-10

vs. Nevada L 27-13

@ Utah State Prediction: W

vs. San Diego State Prediction: W (only cause it's at home)

@ TCU Prediction: L

vs. Wyoming Prediction: W

vs. UNLV Prediction: W

@ Colorado State Prediction: W

vs. New Mexico Prediction: W

@ Utah Prediction: L

I just predicted 7 wins for BYU. And I believe I was liberal with the W key. Wyoming, UNLV, CSU all look like easy wins for Bingham High school right now, so BYU should have an easy road there. The next 2 games though (USU, SDSU) could be tough. Utah State always plays BYU tough in Logan. Remember 2 years ago Y fans? Well, the fans have become even more rabid since than and the team is better. SDSU look better than it has in years and could present a problem. Is this going to be good enough for Y fans? I don't think so. The perceived arrogance of Bronco Mendenhall and the continued poor performance without NFL quality offensive players already has BYU fans nervous. (Actually, it even makes me think: "Was Max Hall actually good? Nah) I think coach Mendenhall needs a fall guy (WR's coach?) quick.

I said Boise State by 13 and the score was BSU 37-24 over OSU. Man, I nailed that one on the head. Both good teams and OSU showed a TON of fight after getting down early. OSU just played the 2nd of the 2 toughest games they will play all season. They may lose to USC, Stanford, and maybe even Oregon, but I think they will surprise at least one of those teams and maybe fight for the Rose Bowl.

I did it again with Stanford and Notre Dame. I said Stanford by 9 and the score was 37-14 Stanford. They look really good. And really tough. A hard nosed offense with maybe one of the best passing QB's in the country in Andrew Luck, followed by a hard hitting and tough defense. My prediction is Stanford in the Rose Bowl. And Notre Dame, wow, they do not look good and have a scary schedule.

Well, those are the results this week but you'll hear from me more often because I want to chime in on the purposed Andrei Kirilenko trade and more BYU stuff, cause that's just fun to do right now. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I'm ignoring Washington State until they look better than Weber State. Might be a while. GO COUGS!

Thursday Predictions.

Time for this weeks predictions. I am going to be trying some things here and there to see what I feel best about. Some times I may be picking spreads (for you gamblers out there), sometimes scores, sometimes just the game.

Utah is hosting San Jose State. Thankfully for San Jose fans, they won't be able to watch this game on TV. It's going to be ugly. It's a good bet that Jordan Wynn will start at QB, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is pulled (for his safety) after the first quarter. Than San Jose State will get a steady dose of Terrence Cain and I suspect that the middle of the 3rd quarter you may even see Freshman Griff Robles. Utah by 42.

Utah State is playing in Sand Diego against the Aztecs. Sadly, with SDSU getting better and finally finding a running game, this may get out of hand. SDSU is a 7 1/2 point favorite in this game and I would bet on them covering the spread. SDSU by 10

BYU is hosting Nevada. What has been the BYU defensive achilles heal over the past few years? Mobile and athletic QB's. What is Colin Kaepernick? A mobile, athletic QB who is heading up the nations #5 rushing attack and total offense at #3. Maybe the best QB BYU has faced or even will face all year. BYU's defense is #119 out of 120 schools. Are they in trouble? Yes. Conversely, Nevada is #88 in pass defense and now with Jake Heaps under center for the Y, maybe they can develop a passing attack. This is the week to do it. So do I believe that BYU will get blown out? No, I think this is the week the offense wakes up and plays like a BYU offense, all the drama notwithstanding. Do I believe the Y can win. No. BYU is a 4 point favorite in this game. I think it's going to be a shootout and Nevada's running game will win out. Nevada by 8.

My National picks are easy ones this week. The first is Boise State hosting Oregon State. Now this is interesting because this is considered Boise's biggest game outside of Va Tech and is even bigger than that one now. Oregon State is a really good football team. Possibly, after this week the best 1-2 football team in America. I think with BSU's offense and defense combination, they are one of the top 3 football teams in NCAA right now. BSU is a 17 point favorite. I don't think it will be that big of a blow out. Again, OSU is really good, they just have misfortune of playing TCU and BSU in the first 3 weeks. Who else has had to play 2 of the top 3 teams in the country? BSU by 13.

Stanford at Notre Dame. Stanford is favored by 5 and however I look at this, I can't believe it will be that close. As much as I want ND to only lose to Utah from here on out, this has Stanford written all over it. Stanford by 9.

Saturday's results

I was right on about half the games. At least on the results, not the scores. So let's compare and see why I was off.

First off, Utah at New Mexico. Utah 56- New Mexico 14. They are THAT bad. Wow, New Mexico is in a sad state and I feel bad for them, plus, they are down to their 3rd QB on the depth chart. Scary. I was off on the score by 1 TD by Utah and a PAT by UNM. I just didn't realize that Utah's 3rd QB and RB's were that good to score twice on UNM.

Second game, Wazzu at SMU. Washington State 21-SMU 35. I couldn't find this game anywhere on TV so I couldn't tell you a thing about it. The just scored more than I thought they could.

Fresno State 41- Utah State 24. Yah, Maybe Gary Anderson's defense isn't where I thought it would be yet. Let's hope they rally and start winning in the WAC.

Florida State 34-The hapless Cougars 10. The only good thing I have to say about this game for BYU is that they at least had some offensive continuity because they finally played Jake Heaps for most the game. Knowing Bronco Mehndenhall though, they won't stay with him. The WR's are dropping balls like they are on fire. The RB Bryan Kirya (or however it's spelled) dropped one ball that was a sure TD and one that was a sure first down. Went right through his hands. That has got to be fixed before they can expect to win the big games. They ask to much of their defense because the offense is so bad. In the fourth quarter they were so tired that the players who were making sure tackles earlier were arm tackling.

The Air Force Oklahoma game was a really good one. OU 27- AF 24. Just 2 really good teams slugging it out. It was fun to watch.

All in all, I went 3-3 not counting the Nevada Cal game because I didn't pull it out before the game. Next week I will do the same on Thursday and just call games, not scores. It's easier that way. Oh, and go Seahawks!

Saturday's Predictions

I'll start with my teams. Utah is going into New Mexico. New Mexico is the worst team I have ever seen. Bingham High school could beat them, and I'm not kidding. Utah is going to come out with a back up QB and lay the wood down. 47-13.

Washington State is playing SMU. I want to say WSU is getting better, but how can they not? They were one of the worst teams last year, but they had to do a 4th quarter comeback to beat Montana State last week! SMU will win today and might run away. SMU 28 Wazzu 17

Utah State will be hosting Fresno State in what could be Coach Gary Anderson's coming out party in the WAC. Plus, USU is upset with Fresno for going against the agreement to stay in the WAC, which consequently left USU out of the MWC. I really want to pick Utah State here, they are getting better and will be a team to beat down the road, they just don't have the athletes to keep up right now. Fresno 21 Utah State 17

BYU playing in Tallahassee against Florida State. Last year FSU came into Provo and whooped BYU. They took BYU by the hand, led them to the woodshed and proceeded to beat them down with a wooden mallet. The big piece of that win was FSU's returning QB Christian Ponder's ability to run, even though he is known as a throwing QB. BYU this year isn't as good as they were a year ago. They look disheveled on defense and in their loss to Air Force, they looked slow. The offense right now is a joke. They can't decide on a QB, the RB's look meek, the WR's are dropping balls and not even finishing the routes. A couple of those problems can be fixed by picked a QB. Jake Heaps is a right handed pure passer who can run. Riley Nelson is a left handed run first, run second and pass third QB. I remember listing to an interview with Jerry Rice talking about Steve Young vs. Joe Montana and he said that he worked harder with Young at first because he wasn't used to the lefty spin. If the BYU wideouts have to deal with a different spin on every other series, they may drop even more passes this year. Also, when Riley is in the game, some of the WR's don't finish their routes, they go 10 yards and start looking for someone to block because Riley is always looking for a way out of the pocket. He has been named the starter this week and got the majority of practice snaps. We may see a lot of option at BYU this week. Yes, I said option in the BYU offense. Even Brandon Doman only ran it a few times a game. This is going to be ugly against a pissed off FSU team that got blown out last week against Oklahoma. FSU 47- BYU 24

Now I'm going to pick 2 national games. The first is Air Force going into Norman to play Oklahoma. Oklahoma has looked blah and super in consecutive weeks. Against Utah State the game went down to the last minute. Against FSU, the game went down to the middle of the first quarter before it was over. Air Force looks really good scoring 65 in their first game and beating BYU down last week. National pundits have said OU will roll in this game and I don't believe it. I am saying upset. AF 34 OU 31

Well, the game I wanted to pick was last night. Nevada and Cal. Nevada blew them up for a 52-31 victory. So, I would have got that right, but no where near the right score.

Is this your idea of a professional?

Wow, I didn't mean to post such a large picture, but I do have a question. Why would anyone in America were this outfit to work? And yes, this woman is working as a reporter on an NFL sideline, not the corner of 27th and Broadway. And yes, that is a media pass around her neck.

The answer to my question is simple. She covers the NFL for TV AZTECA in Mexico. It's kind of like our TMZ from what I understand. just a little more, shall we say, open? Most of us have seen some sort of hispanic TV show and seen the women they have on them. They are a little more free thinking down there, and that's ok. My only beef is that she is NOT in Mexico. She is covering an NFL game and going into the locker room to do it (an outdated policy in my opinion). I don't think she should be allowed to dress that way. The NFL is a fortune 500 company that should, and does, enforce a lot of rules that would not go over well in another form of business. They could step in and say the now have a dress code for media members (who mostly wear suits). Could you imagine Hannah Storm walking the sidelines in an outfit like this? I can't even imagine Erin Andrews doing that and she is known for pushing the boundaries. ESPN would not allow them to go on air looking this way.

My other point of all the issues that the Jets are going through right now is because some meathead's in the locker room thought that it was just a locker room at that moment and cat-called her. A male journalist went up to her and apologized to her for them and said he was embarrassed for her. WHAT?! This is one of the things that bugs me most of all! Some guy thought she might be offended so he went to all the trouble of informing the NFL. Good for him. Take a stand! You are totally right. In fact, she was so offended she said this:

During an interview on Monday, Ines Sainz said, "In my opinion, I never felt I was attacked, I went to the locker room and started to talk about commentary and sports. Another reporter approached me to say he was sorry these things were happening...and that evidently people were making fun of me."

"I was embarrassed, I didn't take it to heart and didn't realize it was going to become such a big deal, It was definitely a joking tone, very amicable," Sainz said in an interview with a colleague. "I wasn't offended."

That was taken from an interview she had the following morning. Yup, she was totally embarrassed by the whole ordeal. Come on man, mind your own business and you won't needlessly cause others pain. These things can cost jobs. I have seen it first hand.

Back in the Saddle

It's been a while since I've blogged. I've decided that instead of using facebook to post my ideas, I'll go back to this. I'll just start with what's going on in my little world of sports. Utah is going to the Pac-12, BYU is going independent in football and joining the WCC in all other sports. Old new by now, but just some of the happenings.

The Utah Jazz have changed quite a bit. Wesley Matthews, the stud 2 guard undrafted rookie last season, has signed with the Portland Trail Blazers. Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver have both signed with the Chicago Bulls. In fact, so did Ronnie Brewer. They look like they have a really good team out there. The Utah Jazz have decided to replace them by resigned Raja Bell to a contract. Also, they signed Al Jefferson. A big man from Minnesota.

Both of these moves by the Jazz I really like. Bringing in Raja Bell is a good move if he is healthy. He is a spot up shooter and an amazing defender. Probably the perimeter defender in the league. Al Jefferson I think fits Jerry Sloan's system better than Carlos Boozer did. Jefferson said it best. "I like to be in the paint." Watching some of his games, I loved that he went to the basket aggressively and his moves are designed to get him to the basket. Boozer was the other way around. I think this will be good for D Will as well.

All in all, with the Jazz, I'm pretty excited about this season. I think they are built better to be a deeper playoff team.

With Utah going to the Pac-10 (12), this I am really excited about. I think Coach Wittingham is an incredible coach who has taken his program higher than we have seen in utah since the great 1981-91 BYU teams. I heard today that the Defensive Line could be on an NFL team right now. That is after Koa Misi went to the Dolphins last year, Sioni Paoha went to the Jets last year, and Paul Kruger (who's little brother's are both on this years D-line) went to the Ravens the year before. I mean, these D-line's are awesome every year! This year only has 2 senior's. This D-Line is going to be good for at least a few years down the road. Saying that, with how well they have done in the MWC not being able to see the games where a lot of these guys are from, going to the Pac-12 with a TV deal reportedly on FOX, they will have the opportunity to become even better. I think Utah is going to be known as D-Line U.

The offense just reloaded as well. David Reed, who was THE go to guy last year, was drafted by the Ravens and is seeing time on the field. He blew up a punt returner as he caught the ball and the announcer said "That is why you get guys from the University of Utah. He is a receiver and has the aggressive attitude to get after guys." I loved it. I digress, I was worried, as well as most the media here, that the WR's were not going to be any good. I mean Jereme Brooks coming back was going to be big (even though he isn't 5'7" and 170 lbs. dripping wet), and Shaky Smithson was suppose to step up this year. But the first game of the year, an unknown stepped up and ate Pitt apart. DeVonte Christopher came out and had a great game. 8 catches for 155 yards. It was awesome! And Shaky Smithson recovered from a bad game against Pitt (2 fumbles) to have a great game vs. UNLV. He returned a punt for a touchdown that was awesome! He caught the ball and moved forward about a yard and stopped. He checked out the coverage, moved right, which set up his blockers, and bolted left and turned on the jet's up the sideline. It was awesome and made ESPN's top plays that night. He also had 1 catch for 55 yards and a TD to solidify his game breaker status.

The RB's are also good. Eddie Wide took over last year for the injured Matt Asiatta and was the 2nd best back in the MWC behind only the underused Harvey Unga at BYU. Both backs are back this year and should be doing more than they are. I think it's the offense they are running this year though and I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The offense this year so far is awesome. I haven't liked the play calling this much since Urban Meyer. I don't know who is designing the offense because they have a duel Offensive Coordinator's. But with Aaron Roddick calling the plays, this offense is rolling and looks like it's only getting stronger.

With all that being said, the move from the MWC to the Pac-12 is going to be huge. The U of U could contend for the top spot this year and with Jordan Wynn being older and more experienced next year and hopefully his senior year, I think they will contend in '11 and '12. Who else is better? I know you Pac guys will scream USC, Oregon and Oregon State, and I agree. USC can't be the champs because of the sanctions and Utah is every bit as good as Oregon right now and I think they would split if they played 2 games and Utah could beat OSU 3 of 4 times. The dangerous thing for Utah is depth. Not at D-line or WR or QB or even RB, but O-line, LB's and DB's are thin. But, who knows where they will be after recruiting for 2 years with the Pac-12 in mind. They are going to be competitive and maybe knock off some teams to go to the Rose Bowl in the next 5 years! Hey, it's not called the Biased Sports Report for nothin'.

Now the BYU thing. I don't know if it will work but I feel better about it than I did a month ago. The first 2 years they will be scheduling what's left of the WAC and a few other's. How is that better than the MWC with Boise, Nevada and Fresno? After that, they will schedule bigger teams with the help of ESPN supposedly. They have a 6 year deal with Notre Dame and they have said other as well. So here is what I think they will have every year, Utah State, Hawaii, Notre Dame, Utah. There is 4 games. Maybe they could get some deal with UCLA right now because of the Norm Chow connection. So that is 5. They need 12. I would guess Navy and Army as well because of the independent thing. 7. They want to play some eastern teams to get more coverage nationwide. Private church schools would be more apt to play BYU. So I'm going to say Boston College would do something with them. That's a big get for BYU so it's a stretch. But, it takes us to 8. Now let's go middle America. Let's say Iowa State and Wisconsin, just for kicks and giggles. 10. I would than want to go into the states of Florida and Texas for recruiting. In Texas, let's stay with the idea of private church schools. Baylor works for that, SMU works better, easier game and a renewal of a great rivalry in the 80's and 90's. So in Florida, I just don't know which school works better, but they have Florida State on the schedule this year and they have a slight history with Miami. So I bet they could get those plus Southern Florida or someone like that. 12. That's a tougher schedule than anything they have seen in the last 20 years.

What about Bowl games? They don't have a deal with the BCS like ND does and needs to be in the top 8 to even be considered and aren't guaranteed a spot unless they are top 4. So they can't have the BCS or bust attitude. Which bowl games are going to sign up for a deal with BYU? Vegas? They would love that but the either the MWC or Pac-12 would have to relinquish their spot. the Pac-12 spot just got sweeter now with the #4 team still being in the top third of the conference instead of a middle of the pack team. Maybe the Holiday Bowl with BYU's great history in that game. I don't think so though. I think a lot of the continued success of the BYU program depends on being able to go into a kids house and saying that he will be playing in a post season game against a quality opponent. Let's face it, BYU recruits against Utah and the LDS kid who thinks that he wants to play in meaningful games, may chose to go north instead. BYU will still get BYU kids. The ones that grow up dreaming of chucking the ball all over the field in Provo (Jake Heaps). But if they can't get a consistent Bowl deal and playing against big programs every year, will they still get the kids who kinda sorta wanna go to BYU? Or will more and more of them go to ND, Stanford, and UCLA?