Tag: CFB

Exxedera’s FBS Top 25 – Week 8

Joe Burrow for Heisman! I’m claiming it now. LSU’s quarterback looks like the best player in the country after a week six win against Florida saw the Tigers jump to 6-0 on the year. I ranked them #1 last week, let’s see how much that may have changed.

Power Rankings

1. LSU Tigers (6-0)

2. Alabama Crimson Tide (6-0)

3. Clemson Tigers (6-0)

4. Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0)

5. Oklahoma Sooners (6-0)

6. Wisconsin Badgers (6-0)

7. Penn State Nittany Lions (6-0)

8. Florida Gators (6-1)

9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-1)

10. Oregon Ducks (5-1)

11. Texas Longhorns (4-2)

12. Georgia Bulldogs (5-1) 

13. Michigan Wolverines (5-1)

14. Auburn Tigers (5-1)

15. Boise State Broncos (6-0)

16. Arizona State Sun Devils (5-1)

17. SMU Mustangs (6-0)

18. Baylor Bears (6-0)

19.

Exxedera’s FCS Top 25 – Week 4

In the first few weeks of the 2019 college football season we have already seen a number of games featuring FBS vs. FCS standoffs. The FCS hasn’t pulled off a large number of upsets as it did in years past however the fact that these teams can push FBS teams to the brink every year should be a positive thing in itself.

Through three weeks which FCS program has seperated themselves from the rest? Let’s take a look.

Top 25

1. North Dakota State (3-0)

2. Kennesaw State (2-1)

3. South Dakota State (3-0)

4.

Exxedera’s Top 10 FBS Quarterbacks For 2019.

The 2019 college football season is only a few days away and that means we’re only a few days away from the start of quarterbacks making electrifying plays with their arms and legs.

Last year’s national championship featured the top two quarterbacks in the nation, but who landed at #1? Who else landed on our list? Read below and find out

#1. Tua Tag

#2. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson

#3. Jake Fromm, Georgia

#4. D’eriq King, Houston

#5. Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma

#6. Justin Herbert, Oregon

#7. Jacob Eason, Wasington

#8. Shea Patterson, Michigan

#9.

Year Two Will Prove If Jimbo Fisher Made A Good Move Or Mistake

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is entering his second year as the head man in college station. Expectations are sky high after Fisher signed a lucrative deal over a year ago to come over from Florida State where he enjoyed a national championship following the 2013 season.

His annual success at Florida State made previously made him a highly mentioned candidate to one day succeed former boss Nick Saban at Alabama. Nonetheless he resisted against the temptation and actually chose the route of clashing against the Crimson Tide year in and year out as SEC West foes.

In his first year as head coach of Texas &M Fisher was able to lead the Aggies to a 9-4 record, their best record since 2013 when former Heisman trophy winner Johnny Manziel was still on campus. Two of their four losses came at the hands of the two teams who faced off in the National Championships, Clemson and Alabama. They also lost two heartbreakers to Mississippi State and Auburn but there’s still reason to believe A&M is definitely headed in the right direction heading into the 2019 season. The loss against Clemson was only a two-point loss and their loss to Auburn was a four point defeat however the Aggies defeated two top 15 teams in Kentucky and LSU.

Texas A&M’s win against LSU showed how much the Aggies have in the tank in order to go the length of the entire season improving. The Aggies defeated the Tigers 74-72 in the longest college football game in history that ended in seven overtimes.

Will The ACC Soon Succeed The SEC As The Most Dominant Conference?

The ACC has enjoyed a handful of success recently.. Wait, that’s wrong.

Clemson has enjoyed a handful of success recently. The Tigers have enjoyed two championships in three seasons as they look to unseat Alabama for the most dominant dynasty of the modern era. Head coach Dabo Swinney has enjoyed that success, having been the Tigers head coach since 2010 and having seen many of his Tigers teams be in national championship contention (2012-15). The first turn of the corner came in 2011 when Clemson knocked off defending champion Auburn in a clash of Tigers to open up the season. From them on it’s been total domination for Clemson, culminating in their first National Championship in 2016 behind the greatness of DeShaun Watson. But they weren’t the first team to unseat an SEC Foe for the big crown.

In 2013, the Florida State Seminoles put together arguably the most underrated season of all-time. Redshirt Freshman Jameis Winston led the team to a perfect 14-0 record behind a prolific offense (They averaged 51.6 points a game) and stingy defense (They yielded 12 points per game, including giving up 31 in the National Championship). The Noles have taken steps backwards every year since and this year they had the first losing season since ___ leaving many to wonder what happened to FSU’s greatness. Well for one, a coaching change happened. Jimbo Fisher had been the head coach since previous HC Boddy Bowden retired in 2011. Then before the 2018 season, he bolted for Texas A&M and their Texas sized football stadium (A&M seats more fans than anyone in the country) and Texas sized yearly payroll. But will Fisher be as successful in the SEC as he was in the ACC?

The Rest of the ACC is rounded out by teams such as Miami, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Louisville and others who have been competitive at times, yet none have pushed the National Championship bill like Clemson and FSU (Besides Miami in 2017 when they started 10-0 and were ranked #2). In retrospect, the ACC is like other conferences in that they are top heavy. The best teams win consistently and run the conference for years and years, however the same can be said of the SEC as of recent.

Alabama and Georgia are by far the cream of the crop of the SEC. Heck, the two teams have faced off in back to back years as the #1 and #2 teams in the nation, 2017 in the National Championship and 2018 in the SEC Championship. But who else in the conference has pushed these two to the brink in the past few years? The only team that comes to mind is Florida this past season, although programs such as Auburn, LSU & Mississippi State had times where they each ranked inside of the top 15 at times.

Will Justin Fields Be Able To Keep Ohio State At The Top Of The Big Ten?

Once upon a time Justin Fields was in a two-headed race with QB Trevor Lawrence to see who would be the number once recruit in the country. Fields then committed to the University of Georgia (UGA) in what was at first viewed as a questionable move seeing that UGA had just lost the CFP National Championship Game with a true freshman quarterback in Jake Fromm. The move only became more questionable when fans barely saw Fields touch the field due to him sitting behind Fromm, who is now slated to be one of the best QB’s in the 2020 NFL draft. In contrast, Trevor Lawrence captured a national championship in just his first season under center and was a late season Heisman trophy candidate after finishing with over 3,200 passing yards and 30 touchdowns.

Can Justin Fields have the same impact for Ohio State that Lawrence had on Clemson?

It is to be noted that Fields isn’t stepping into a situation where his head coach has a championship pedigree (Ryan Day is a rookie head coach) or one where he will have to sit behind a veteran behind getting his snaps (Fields is expected to start at OSU). However it should also be noted that Ohio State isn’t just any slouch even with a rookie head coach at the helm as they’ve won three of the last five Big Ten titles. The Buckeyes are by far the most consistent team in the Big Ten as they are usually top five annually in recruiting and they’re returning a handful of skill players including J.K. Dobbins, Austin Mack, and K.J. hill who will certainly help Fields out by making plays on the perimeter.

The aforementioned skill players have never played with a quarterback as dynamic as Fields either. Hell, Ohio State hasn’t seen a quarterback as dynamic as Fields since Braxton Miller honestly, and that’s no shade to what J.T. Barrett was able to do pre-injury. Dobbins played with Barret and last year’s starter Dwayne Haskins and i’m sure that even he’ll tell you that Fields isn’t as polished of a passer as the two but in terms of athleticism, he tops the two easily.

We haven’t even touched on Ohio State’s defense which is expected to see little to no drop-off despite losing a number of multi-year starters. Fields will be able to benefit heavily from a defense that is able to get off the field on third downs, reminiscent to how Clemson, Alabama and even UGA help their dynamic QB’s get the most out of their abilities. Chase Young and Jonathon Cooper headline the defensive starters who will be a big help to Fields’ first season success at Ohio State.

As long as Justin Fields is able to stay healthy and use his dynamic playmaking ability to win ball games then Ohio State will be just fine and probably be back to their 2014 national championship form.

Exxedera’s Way Too Early CFB Top 25

The 2019 college football season is drawing closer to kickoff and we’re here to list our preseason top 25 list. Last year’s national champion, Clemson, tops our list with the return of freshman sensation Trevor Lawrence. Alabama and Oklahoma follow closely behind to form a 3-headed monster amongst CFB teams.

Our list is based mainly off of how well a team performed last season mixed with how many players they return and their strength in recruiting.

Top 25

1. Clemson (2018 Record: 15-0)

2. Alabama (2018 Record: 14-1)

3. Oklahoma (2018 Record: 12-2)

4. Ohio State (2018 Record: 13-1)

5. Notre Dame (2018 Record: 12-1)

6. Georgia (2018 Record: 11-3)

7. Florida (2018 Record: 10-3)

8. Michigan (2018 Record: 10-3)

9. Oregon (2018 Record: 9-4)

10. LSU (2018 Record: 10-3)

11. UCF (2018 Record: 12-1)

12. Washington (2018 Record: 10-4)

13. Texas (2018 Record: 10-4)

14. Syracuse (2018 Record: 10-3)

15. Texas A&M (2018 Record: 9-4)

16. Washington State (2018 Record: 12-2)

17. Northwerstern (2018 Record: 9-5)

18. Utah (2018 Record: 9-5)

19. Army (2018 Record: 11-2)

20. Utah State (2018 Record: 11-2)

21. West Virginia (2018 Record: 8-4)

22. Iowa (2018 Record: 9-4)

23. Boise State (2018 Record: 10-3)

24. Kentucky (2018 Record: 10-3)

25. Auburn (2018 Record: 8-5)

Giants 6th-Round Draft Pick Corey Ballentine injured in shooting

A day after the New York Giants drafted Corey Ballentine in the 6th-round Of The 2019 NFL draft, he was shot in an off-campus shooting that killed his friend and former teammate.

The shooting occurred during an off-campus situation in Topeka, Kansas. Washburn University a division 2 school in Topeka, Kansas confirmed that junior defensive back Dwane Simmons, 23, was killed during the incident. Washburn University also stated that the New York Giants 6th-round pick Corey Ballentine is expected to make a full recovery following the shooting.

The police report stated that officers responded around 12:45 A.M. in response to gunfire. About 4 blocks away from the school’s campus, police found Dwane Simmons lying unresponsive in the middle of the road.

Dwane Simmons, 23, was a star junior defensive back for Washburn University.

Corey Ballentine who was drafted hours before the incident is very lucky to be alive, as he arrived to the hospital with a non-threatening gunshot wound from the same incident.

The Miami Dolphins Are Finally Headed In The Right Direction

Goodbye Ryan Fitzpatrick. Goodbye Adam Gase.

Hello, the new and improved Miami Dolphins.

The draft day trade by the Dolphins to nab quarterback Josh Rosen from the Arizona Cardinals was by far the best move the Dolphins have made in the last decade. I know he hasn’t played a down in a Fins uniform however Rosen provides tremendous upside to a position (QB) where the Dolphins have been lacking since Dan Marino retired in 1999. Their list of starting QB mediocrity includes Jay Fielder, Gus Ferotte, Cleo Lemon, Chad Pennington, Matt Moore, Ryan Tannehill and their latest misfire, Jay Cutler. Following a lackadaisical 2018 season from Ryan Tannehill the organization finally decided it was time for a change.

Insert: Josh Rosen.

Rosen’s a well-rounded QB who has the potential to be great given he has the right personnel around him for most of his career. In Arizona that wasn’t the case, as he had some weapons in running back David Johnson and veteran wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald however those two were succumbed to a bad offensive line, below-average defense and a rookie head coach that didn’t even get the chance to prove himself (The Cardinals have a new rookie HC now). Now he’ll have a better variety of skill players to get the ball to, a better offensive line and an even more opportunistic defense (Miami forced 28 turnovers last season to Arizona’s 16) but he’ll still be working with a rookie head coach. The good news about his new coach however? He, Brian Flores, had been on the New England Patriots staff since 2004 so he knows a thing or two about being apart of a successful organization.

The Josh Rosen era has officially begun in Miami and the future surely does look brighter now in South Beach. As long as Rosen continues to improve and can grow as a leader in the locker room, the Dolphins should have no regret of this trade when they look back a decade from now.

AAF Power Rankings After Week 6: Iron Get Back To Their Winning Ways

The Birmingham Iron have gotten back to their winning ways after dropping two games in a row. QB Luis Perez threw for three touchdowns in a win against the San Diego Fleet to help boast his team victory.

Keep reading to see this week’s power rankings.

Rankings:

  1. Orlando Apollos (2019 Record: 5-1)
  2. San Antonio Commanders (2019 Record: 4-2)
  3. Birmingham Iron (2019 Record: 4-2)
  4. Arizona Hotshots (2019 Record: 4-2)
  5. San Diego Fleet (2019 Record: 3-3)
  6. Atlanta Legends (2019 Record: 2-4)
  7. Salt Lake City Stallions (2019 Record:2-4)
  8. Memphis Express (2019 Record: 1-5)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRWIhnGC0AI