2015 NCAA NCSS Rankings: Week 3

I'm a day late due to a massive amount of rain taking up my focus yesterday. We're on to another week of College football schedules after last week saw no cancellations and thus no changes needing to be made.

A few conferences also kicked off conference play last week, with more to come this week. We also saw our first schedule-based disqualification in Boston College, who opened with two straight FCS opponents. From what I hear, it was forced because an FBS opponent cancelled some time before the season began and they couldn't find anyone else, but I'm not backing down. We'll see if this comes into play at the end of the season.

Without further ado, here's a look at the Week 3 Non Conference Schedule Strength, by conference.

2015 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 2

We're officially through two weeks of the college football season. 51 teams still remain undefeated, but there is a lot of football left to play.

Last week we didn't have any playoff points to speak of. Today, now that you have teams having played more than one game, the numbers will start to open up and I can really start to rank everyone.

So, like last week, I am going to go conference by conference and list out their win averages and average Playoff Points, both First and Second Degree. These are going to be a major factor when we really start to look into the Death to the BCS Playoff field.

2015 NBA Tournament of Champions: Quarterfinals

We take a break from several days of football talk on this solemn day to bring you some basketball updates.

Back in July, I started a massive tournament with the last 64 NBA champions to find the best of all time. We're down to eight now, with quite the stark difference from the 2013 Tournament. Only four teams that made the Quarterfinals in 2013 are back this year, with only one team that made it to at least the semis still alive: our defending champion '96 Bulls. Our biggest turn of events: the '92 Bulls, who had the tough draw in 2013 with that year's Miami Heat, have made it this far while their eliminator from 2013 is out after last round. Most interestingly though, our top two seeds in the '15 Warriors and the '86 Celtics are still alive and might be on a collision course for the championship... but obstacles remain.

I was able to catch up on the stat lines from the last round, so you can view complete Elimination Round stats on my Google Sheet. I will also update the sheet again in the aftermath of the quarterfinals.

As for the series I'm going through today: like the last couple rounds, they are best of seven played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. Home court advantage did get complicated in this round though, with seeding based on Group Play finish still being the primary criteria, though if their seeds are the same, record in Group Play is the first tiebreaker, followed by point differential from Group Play. I set up the bracket so that the one seeds were arranged in a standard seeded bracket format: the top 1 seed would face the 8th-best 1 seed, the second best would face the seventh-best, and so on. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it.

2015 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em Week 1

We've made it! The NFL season is here! After months of offseason moves, anticipation, unsubstantiated screams of "CHEATER!" and the tyrant Roger Goodell seeing his power trip blow up in his face, we can finally start watching games that matter.

The season kicks off tonight with the defending champs taking the field, and with it comes probably the most fun series of posts I've done since I started Confessions of a Sportscaster: the Pigskin Pick 'Em.

For the fourth straight year, I have assembled a nice group of people to pick games against the spread for the regular season. I could just post my picks on my own... but what fun would that be? For the second straight season, my friend Adam Quinn is joining me every week to post his picks on here.

Last year, Grabbing the Bull Horns blogger Geoffrey Clark beat both of us, and he is back this season to defend his crown. We'll see if he can do so. This season, my dad will also be joining us. He told me he may regret it, but that's another one we'll have to see on. However, most likely Adam and I will be the only ones actually posting our picks on here, though once games go active you can check the group to see what everyone picked, and I'll update standings as the season goes on.

On a separate note, I have also joined my colleagues at UKEndZone in a straight pick 'em competition. You can view our Week 1 picks here.

So, without further ado, here are Adam's and my picks for Week 1. We disagree on seven of the first 16 games, which is fine as long as this week doesn't go like Weeks 11-16 last year. And even if it does, I intend to follow the advice of my UKEndZone editor Ollie Connolly.

@northsider89 @UKEndZone life should always be lived as a hero Lucas. Always.

— Ollie Connolly (@OllieUKEZ) September 9, 2015

2015 NCAA NCSS Rankings: Week 2

Everything got pushed back a day following the Ohio State-Virginia Tech game on Monday night, so today I'm looking at the Week 2 schedule for college football.

Week 1 was, unless you're a Mountain West school, a pretty good week for scheduling. A grand total of 46 schools got their one allotted cupcake out of the way, and many more schools who played tough Week 1 games will eat theirs this week in an effort to "prepare" their team for the upcoming gauntlets.

I also want to note before we dive into the Week 2 schedule that there were a couple game cancellations this week that impact the Non Conference Schedule Strength. LSU's game against McNeese State got cancelled due to a lightning storm, so they got back their one point they lost. Toledo's game started, but had to be delayed for a long stretch due to severe weather, and ultimately saw the game get cancelled and ruled a "no contest", so Toledo also got their point back. I've already made the changes on my Google Sheet and made notes about the zeroes on there.

So without further ado, let's see how those, plus this week's games, affect NCSS. For this week and every week hereafter, I will post two numbers after each conference: their weekly score and their cumulative score for the season. The rankings will be by cumulative score, but in the event of a tie (and I mean a true tie without the rounding), the higher score for the week will be the tiebreaker. I will also note for future reference: all blue zeroes on the sheet will indicate conference games.

2015 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 1

Labor Day having a game pushed this post back a day later than it normally would have been. Today, we catch up on it.

Every week, I will be doing a minimum of two college-football related posts with regards to the Death to the BCS Playoffs coming up. Last week I previewed the schedule for the opening week of the season, and today brings the other side of that coin.

I touched on this a little bit before the season, but I wanted to go on an in-depth look at how the Playoff Points system works for the playoff system. It's based on the IHSA model, though I added a degree to it. For First Degree Playoff Points, or PP1, the score is a cumulative total of the number of wins from each team a given school beat during the season. For example, a 3-9 team that beat a 6-6 team, a 1-11 team, and another 6-6 team would have 10 First Degree Playoff Points. This number will take some time to grow over the course of the season, but it will serve as a good value to see just how good a team is beyond its record.

On top of that, I also use Second Degree Playoff Points, or PP2, which is an average per win of the First Degree Playoff Points of each team beaten over the course of the season. As an example, take South Florida's 2014 season: they had four wins over an FCS team, Connecticut, Tulsa and SMU. The FCS team netted no PP1, UConn had nine PP1, Tulsa four, and SMU two. That's a sum of 15 points, divided by the four wins gives USF a PP2 of 3.75.

Every week I'm going to run through the Playoff Points totals as an average for each conference, though I will link to my spreadsheet where I'm keeping track of all of this. I also want to note again so the example isn't an exception: wins over FCS teams are worth no Playoff Points whatsoever, and will be represented int he spreadsheet by a red zero.

Hopefully that's an explanation that makes sense. Either way, let's take a look at the scores for this week. For each conference, I will share the average win total, PP1 and PP2.

2015 AFC East Preview

Happy Labor Day! I hope you're enjoying your day off as we approach the start of the 2015 NFL season!

Today is the final day of NFL previewing, since with this I'll have a blurb on all 32 teams. If you want to go more in-depth for previews or see some different takes, my friends over at UKEndZone have done a bigger preview of every division in the past week or so as well. I'm also extending one final invitation to join in on picking games against the spread as part of my ESPN Pigskin Pick 'Em group. Adam Quinn and I will be back on Thursday with our Week 1 picks, and we'll be competing against my dad and Grabbing the Bull Horns blogger Geoffrey Clark this season. This should be fun.

And now, let's get our final division previewed.

AFC East

Common opponents on schedule: AFC South, NFC East

1. New England Patriots
2014: 12-4 (1st), won Super Bowl XLIX
I'm just going to start this preview by saying this: Roger Goodell is a tyrant who must be removed from office. Fortunately for the Patriots, Tom Brady stuck to his guns and a judge saw through the NFL's lies and slander and Brady will play all 16 games. This means certain doom, because if anyone is going to use the last few months to fuel his competitive fire, it's Brady. I see the pretty good ground game of LaGarrette Blount and Jonas Gray providing balance while Brady rains hellfire down upon opposing defenses with a good receiving corps and Gronk being Gronk. Defensively, this unit took a step back after losing Brandon Browner and Darelle Revis in the secondary, though Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler is probably ready to step up, though Bradley Fletcher on the other end concerns me. The rest of the unit is, overall, pretty solid. While this year is the best chance for the rest of the division to try and overthrow New England, there's too much firepower here, and you don't want to mess with a pissed off Brady.
2015 Prediction: 11-5

2. Miami Dolphins
2014: 8-8 (3rd), missed playoffs
Of all the teams in the division best poised to topple New England, I think it has to be Miami. Ryan Tannehill has taken steps forward each of the last few years, but he's overpaid with his new contract. He does have good weapons though with Greg Jennings along to complement Kenny Stills and Jarvis Landry. Lamar Miller is also poised for a breakout year, so the Dolphins will be able to put points on the board. Their defense, which was middle of the pack last year, will definitely improve solely with the addition of Ndamukong Suh. I think that alone has them in the conversation for the playoffs and the division title.
2015 Prediction: 9-7

3. Buffalo Bills
2014: 9-7 (2nd), missed playoffs
Injuries abound with this Buffalo team going into the year, but they boast probably the best defense in the division, largely thanks to that defensive line. Their back seven isn't bad either, and they're going to be a thorn in the side of every team they face especially with Rex Ryan in charge. So why do I have them finishing third in the division? They're heavily banged up on offense, including with Lesean McCoy up in the air for Week 1. The receiving corps is very talented with Sammy Watkins and Percy Harvin, as well as Charles Clay at tight end. The big question, like with every Rex team, is at quarterback. Tyrod Taylor was named the starter last week over guys like Matt Cassel and EJ Manuel, and Taylor has a total of 35 NFL passes on his resume. I think the inexperience will come back to bite the Bills a little bit.
2015 Prediction: 8-8

4. New York Jets
2014: 4-12 (4th), missed playoffs
Ah, the Jets... Ryan Fitzpatrick will start the year under center while Geno Smith recovers from getting punched in the jaw by IK Enemkpali. Both have some decent targets, including getting Brandon Marshall from the Bears in a deal they will love until Marshall decides to be a loudmouth idiot again. The ground game will help a little bit, but the fun part will be on defense. Darelle Revis returned to his original team and, along with Antonio Cromartie, will help lock down opposing passing attacks. The defense overall will be good thanks to new head coach Todd Bowles, but there's still just too much dysfunction here. They'll improve on their 2014 mark, but not by much.
2015 Prediction: 5-11

So with the entire NFL complete (I finished the NFC yesterday), here's your look at the AFC Playoff picture:

1. Indianapolis Colts (12-4)
2. Denver Broncos (12-4)
3. New England Patriots (11-5)
4. Baltimore Ravens (10-6)
5. Houston Texans (10-6)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6)

Thus complete my NFL predictions for the 2015 season: some of which will be right, others of which will be not even close.

The next couple days, I will go back to college football with a look at results from Week 1 and how they relate to Playoff Points, then on Wednesday I will look at the Week 2 schedule from a non conference standpoint. Finally, on Thursday I will go back to the NFL as Adam and I (and possibly some special guests) bring you our Week 1 NFL picks.

Good luck to your teams this season!