Monday, January 24, 2011

College Football Championship

For my hypothetical college football playoffs, here is the simulated championship game after six exciting weeks of playoffs.

Stanford 40, Florida St. 37
Stanford was able to hang on and claim the college football championship in an amazing fashion, fighting through three overtime periods to seal the win with a 23 yard field goal by Nate Whitaker. Neither team was able to stake a lead of more than seven points for the entire day. E.J. Manuel hit Taiwan Easterling for a 10 yard touchdown pass to open the scoring in the 1st quarter, but the score was tied 10-10 by halftime. The teams traded touchdowns in the 3rd quarter. In the fourth quarter the teams continued to swap the lead, with Dustin Hopkins hitting a 37 yard field goal as time expired to tie the game 27-27.

Both teams scored field goals in the first overtime, and then they both scored touchdowns in the second. In the third overtime, Florida St. had the ball first and E.J. Manuel threw an interception on 3rd and long. Stanford took over and started with a 17 yard run by Stepfan Taylor that set up Whitaker's short field goal to win the game.

Taylor finished with 127 yards while Andrew Luck threw for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns, two of which went to Doug Baldwin.

Now that college football season is finished, I'll spend the next few months posting the results of previous year's playoffs that I have simulated. I'll also eventually post the scheduling system I've used to determine which teams go to which region.

The 2010-2011 season is behind us, so it's time to start discussing what's coming up in 2011-2012. The new conference alignments should be interesting, since now there will be a championship game for the Pac-12 and the Big 10, but not for the Big 12. Who do you think is the favorite for next year?

Monday, January 17, 2011

College Football Playoffs, Round 5

The semifinal results are in.

Rose Bowl
Stanford 36, Arkansas 31

Stepfan Taylor had another tremendous game for the Cardinal, rushing for 166 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead Stanford to a Rose Bowl victory over Arkansas. Ryan Mallett's four interceptions were too much for the Razorbacks to overcome, even though he also threw for 437 yards and 3 touchdowns. Stanford heads back to Glendale, AZ for the championship game next Saturday.

Orange Bowl
Florida St. 34, Alabama 23

Even though Mark Ingram ran for 155 yards and a touchdown for Alabama, it was the Seminoles defense that controlled the game and allowed Florida St. to advance to the championship. They recorded three sacks and three interceptions to contain Alabama while Jermaine Thomas contributed with 2 touchdowns and 54 yards. Florida State also recorded touchdowns on a Chris Thompson run and an E.J. Manuel pass to Rodney Smith.

Next week is the big championship game between two teams who have worked hard to make it there. Stanford entered the tournament seeded 11th as the highest ranked team without a conference championship, while Florida St. was seeded 26th after losing the ACC championship. Who do you think would win in a real championship game that came at the end of an exciting playoff tournament?

Monday, January 10, 2011

College Football Playoffs, Round 4

West Region Championship
Stanford 43, Nebraska 24

Stepfan Taylor led the Cardinal to a Fiesta Bowl victory as he rushed for 110 yards and 3 touchdowns. Anthony Wilkerson and Andrew Luck also added rushing touchdowns of their own. Stanford led 30-17 at halftime and prevented Nebraska from scoring the entire second half until Taylor Martinez connected with Niles Paul for a touchdown in the final two minutes. Stanford advances to the Rose Bowl semifinal next week.

Central Region Championship
Arkansas 33, TCU 3

The final unbeaten team fell in the Cotton Bowl as the TCU offense was shut down by the Razorback defense. TCU had only 267 yards of total offense, compared to Arkansas's production of 532 yards. Zach Hocker kicked four field goals, including a 49 yarder, and Knile Davis ran for 161 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Razorbacks to victory. Ryan Mallett threw for 327 yards including a 50 yard pass to D.J. Williams who totaled 104 yards for the day.

Midwest Region Championship
Alabama 45, Michigan St. 13

After a slow start for both teams, Alabama led 21-6 at the end of the third quarter before blowing the game open in the fourth. Greg McElroy connected with Julio Jones at the beginning of the fourth to take the score to 28-6, then Trent Richardson scored twice in the next ten minutes on runs of 30 and 31 yards. Richardson finished the game with three touchdowns and 154 yards rushing, while McElroy threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns. Edwin Baker ran for 134 yards and a touchdown for Michigan State.

East Region Championship
Florida St. 34, West Virginia 17

Chris Thompson ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns and Ty Jones added two touchdowns to lead the Seminoles to victory in Orlando on Saturday. Florida State kept the Mountaineer defense off of the field for most of the game, holding Noel Devine to only 56 yards rushing. Geno Smith threw for only 148 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. Florida State heads south to the Orange Bowl for their semifinal matchup with Alabama.

The semifinals are set, with Stanford playing Arkansas in the Rose Bowl, and Alabam meeting Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Stanford finished second in the PAC-10 with their only loss this year at Oregon. Arkansas finished second in the SEC West, having only lost to Alabama and Auburn. Alabama finished in the middle of the SEC, losing to LSU, South Carolina, and Auburn. Florida St. won the Atlantic division of the ACC but lost in the championship game to Virginia Tech. Florida St.'s first round game was against the Connecticut team that beat West Virginia.

So who do you think would win? I think whoever would win the Stanford-Arkansas matchup would win the championship, since both of those teams seem better then either team in the Orange Bowl. Check out the updated bracket here.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

College Football Playoffs, Round 3

Nebraska 21, Arizona 14
Arizona's win streak was ended by Nebraska in the Insight Bowl in Tempe, AZ. Taylor Martinez led the Cornhuskers with 3 touchdown passes for 161 yards, along with 62 yards rushing. Nebraska will remain in Arizona for the West Region Championship match-up with Stanford.

Stanford 46, Hawaii 31
Stepfan Taylor ran all over Hawaii, scoring 3 touchdowns while rushing for 132 yards. Andrew Luck contributed two touchdown passes and 293 yards for Stanford. Hawaii had a big 2nd quarter scoring 17, but Stanford dominated the other three for the victory.

TCU 27, Missouri 20
TCU escaped a fourth quarter rally by Missouri and pulled off the win in the Alamo Bowl. Down 27-10 at the end of the fourth quarter, Missouri started to comeback on a Grant Ressel field goal. A later drive was capped by a De'Vion Moore touchdown with just over a minute left, but the onside kick was recovered by TCU. Andy Dalton led TCU with 208 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Arkansas 38, Oklahoma 17
Knile Davis led the Razorbacks to a Sun Bowl victory with 188 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Arkansas's defense came up big as well, with 8 different players recording a sack. Arkansas is now set to play TCU in the Central Region championship next week.

Michigan St. 38, Auburn 17
Auburn could not get their offense going as they converted only 3 of 13 3rd attempts and Cam Newton threw two interceptions. They opened the game with a field goal and scored on a 73 yard punt return in the 2nd quarter, while the Spartans scored one or more touchdowns in every quarter. Edwin Baker ran for 234 yards and a touchdown while Kirk Cousins threw for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns. Michigan St. heads to New Orleans for the Midwest Region championship at the Sugar Bowl.

Alabama 24, Wisconsin 14
High winds played havoc with the kicking game, but that didn't stop the Alabama offense as Greg McElroy threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns, and Mark Ingram ran for 169 yards. The Crimson Tide defense stymied Wisconsin all day, allowing only 3 of 13 3rd down conversions. Alabama will face another Big 10 team next week when they take on Michigan St. in the Sugar Bowl.

West Virginia 34, Florida International 20
Florida International's unlikely run in the playoffs ended in the Outback Bowl, as Noel Devine ran for 174 yards and a touchdown to advance the Mountaineers in the playoffs. West Virginia led 20-13 at halftime, but a Devine touchdown in the 3rd and a Geno Smith scramble for a touchdown in the 4th put the game away.

Florida St. 33, Maryland 24
Three field goals in the fourth quarter secured the victory for Florida State. Bert Reed tied the game at 24 near the end of the 3rd on a 45 yard pass from EJ Manuel, but it was Dustin Hopkins who was the hero in the fourth quarter. The Seminole kicker made field goals of 36, 49, and 38 yards to advance Florida St. to next week's Capital One Bowl.

So the regional championship games are set. Nebraska will face Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl, TCU will play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl, Michigan St. will play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and West Virginia matches up against Florida St. in the Capital One Bowl. You can see the complete bracket here. TCU is the only #1 seed and the only conference champion remaining. Will they be able to make it all the way to the championship?