The College Football Playoff Committee are Fanboy Idiots

The first college football playoff rankings were released last night. For college football fans, like myself, this is a big deal. Things can, and definitely will change in the next four weeks, but the release of the first CFP ranking kind of marks the 3/4 mark of the season. We are getting near the end of the regular season.

I do not have much of a problem with the initial rankings, except two teams, who I will get to shortly. Georgia is clearly the number one team. They have beaten the pants off of every opponent, they have the best defense in the country and they can win with both of their QB's. They are really, really good. As much as it pained me to watch last weekend, I think Michigan State is in the right spot at three. They have won every game, they have the front runner, that isn't a QB, for the Heisman and they have found ways to win. Oregon rightfully deserves to be ahead of the university of Ohio State because they beat them, and they beat them in Columbus. It only seems fair. I love that Wake Forest is in the top ten. I don't think Michigan deserves the nine spot, but that is because I am never optimistic about that team. I'm not that upset by Oklahoma being eight because they have had one of the easiest schedules in the country, but they have made all eight of their wins, save for last week, much closer than they should have been. As for the teams outside the top ten, I love UTSA being ranked. They have earned it. I would have put Oklahoma State a little higher. I like that Minnesota is finally getting some recognition. Wisconsin has rebounded nicely after a rough start. Texas A&M has been riding high since beating Alabama, and they have a chance to make a real jump this weekend. And I like that teams like San Diego State and Fresno State got some love.

But, like I said at the top, there are two teams, one that got royally screwed, and one that seems to get their way no matter how they perform on the field. The fact that Alabama is two and Cincinnati is six is a total joke. Again, lots of things are going to change, but to put Cincinnati that low is such a bad look for the CFP committee. And putting Alabama that high, after they have a loss at Texas A&M, makes them look worse. It is clear now that no matter what Alabama does, no matter how many wins and losses they have, this committee will continue to find a way to get them into the top four. They will find a way. They will make excuses. I heard the chair of the committee explain why they put Alabama that high, and it was all nonsense. He was stating ridiculous facts. They have some wins in the top 25, he said. Their loss was a last second field goal on the road to the 14th ranked team. Alabama will play tougher teams. It is all pure nonsense from a college football perspective. And he had the nerve to go on tv and claim, "who has Cincinnati beat besides Notre Dame?". Again, this was like pushing in the knife after already stabbing someone. It was salt on a wound. He sounded like a fan, and that committee is supposed to be non biased. Cincinnati went to South Bend and pretty easily handled Notre Dame. They beat Indiana by two touchdowns in Bloomington. Say all you want about Indiana, but they are a solid football team. They crushed UCF when people thought they could be better than we all thought. They struggled with Navy, but like Michigan State, found a way to win the game. And they easily dismissed Tulane, who put a scare into Oklahoma in week one. They also have one of the best defenses in the country, and while I loathe their coach, he is doing a great job, and I would be stunned if he isn't at a big time power five school next year. Alabama crushed Miami, well they are 4-4. Look at that game like you look at Indiana on Cincinnati's schedule. They beat Florida in The Swamp they may say. Okay, they are 4-4. Their best win is Ole Miss, who they did smoke, but Cincinnati's best win is against a much better, higher ranked team, and it was on the road. I'm fed up with this committee finding excuses to get their beloved Alabama in the CFP. They are a good team, and they may still very well make it to the CFP, but to have them at two in the initial ranking is a spit in the face to the Big 10, the Pac 12 and, most importantly, the Cincinnati Bearcats football team. They got totally screwed by this committee. It is clear they do not have a level playing field. Cincinnati should be two, and hell, I'd put the university of Ohio State, Wake Forest and Oklahoma ahead of Alabama. Michigan State should be ranked higher. Oregon should be ranked higher due to a much better high profile win.

If someone asked me what I think the top four should be right now I'd go with, from 1-4, Georgia, Cincinnati, Michigan State and Oregon. Then I'd have Oklahoma, Wake Forest, the university of Ohio State and then Alabama. I'd have them at eight in the rankings right now. But I'm just a Michigan fan that lives in the Midwest. But I also watch a ton of college football, and I can tell you, on November 3rd, Alabama is not the second best team, Cincinnati is, and they should be ranked as the second best team in the country, like every other major poll has them. This is a bummer, I hope it gets fixed, but also, it just goes to show how stupid and pointless ranking college football teams truly is. It is a genuine waste of time. They should just wait until every game has been played and then make a final decision.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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This Year's College Football Playoff is Made for TV

Next week will be my best of lists. I am still working on some things, and I need a little more time. It is a bit tougher for certain things because I have been busy watching old shows or movies with my kids. With that, this week is going to be some sports, a movie review and some random pop culture things.

To start this week, I want to talk about the College Football Playoff. The four teams that made it, Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and the university of Ohio State, were totally expected by me, and some others I knew. And I am not here to shit on two teams I despise, or how it really feels like it will be Clemson-Alabama for the title for the third or fourth time playing for the title. That is not my point at all. And while I feel bad for Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Florida, they each had reasons why they didn't get put in. The only team of these three that has a real argument is Texas A&M. But they didn't get picked, and they will just have to get over that. I actually feel worse for Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina. Both those teams finished their seasons undefeated, playing double digit games. But they both play in lower level conferences, and the playoff is constructed to keep these teams out. It is just like the BCS, and how they treated Boise State. The lower level teams do not get a fair shake, and that has to change. They need to add more teams. Now is the time to make it an eight or twelve team playoff. They could've easily expanded this season, used COVID as to why, and no one would be griping like they have for two days now. It would have been cut and dry, and everyone would've been happy.

My real point today, the four teams that made it are in there strictly for TV purposes. Alabama and Clemson deserve their spots. Alabama is undefeated, won every game, and won them mostly by wide margins and no one put a real scare into them. Clemson is 10-1, but the 1 was with a backup QB on the road, and it took overtime for Notre Dame to beat them. We just saw in the rematch what a fully healthy Clemson can do against the very same team. Now we have Notre Dame and the university of Ohio State. The university of Ohio State is undefeated. They beat four teams by well over 30 points. They have a Heisman candidate at QB. They were picked to run away with the Big Ten. They did win the Big Ten title game, but it was too close. They also only played six games. One cancellation was their fault, the other two were their opponents. The Big Ten also changed their rules to allow them to play in the conference title game. Do I think they will play well against Clemson in their matchup, yes. Do I think they will win, no. They still have COVID issues, Justin Fields does not look as good as he did last year and they barely beat Northwestern and Indiana. Those are two ranked teams, but the university of Ohio State didn't do to them what Clemson just did to Notre Dame, or what Alabama did to the whole SEC. The reason the university of Ohio State is in is because they will draw so many more people to TV than Coastal Carolina, Cincinnati or even Florida and Texas A&M. They have one of the biggest fanbases in the world. And hey, they did win every game they played. Notre Dame did beat Clemson early in the year, albeit shorthanded. They won every game they played until this past week. They did struggle with some inferior opponents, but found ways to win. This Notre Dame team reminds me of the team that played Alabama in the BCS title game when they had Manti Teo. Or even better, the one that made the playoff a few years back and got crushed by a freshman led Trevor Lawrence Clemson team. Notre Dame is a solid team, with a good run game. But, I don't trust their QB to win a game, and their defense should get shredded by Alabama. This may be Alabama's best offensive team, and that is saying something. I think they will fight and play hard, but, just like this past weekend, Alabama is just a better team. I wouldn't be stunned if Alabama wins by four touchdowns. But again, Notre Dame has fans all over the world. They will draw so many eyeballs because we are all home and watching games from our living rooms. And that matchup, Notre Dame and Alabama is much more enticing than Alabama and Cincinnati.

So when my friends that I chat sports with ask me if the committee got it right, I say no to the teams, but unequivocally yes to the TV market. These four teams, this playoff, during this pandemic, was all about getting people to watch so the NCAA could try and recoup some kind of money they lost from all the cancellations and postponements and lack of fans at the games. The teams they pick actually makes so much sense to me, even if I disagree with their top four. College football is a business, and the people at the top know that. That much is clear with the CFP this season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Love it or Hate it, Cincinnati does have some Interesting Chili

Baby, if you ever wondered what became of the most interesting chili. It is in Cincinnati.

I just spent the last 3 and a half days visiting my brother and his family in Cincinnati over the 4th of July. We go there occasionally on the fourth for our family vacation. Cincinnati, in my opinion, is kind of a dull town. But, there is some good food and some cool things to do.

For one, if you go there, check out Findlay Market. It's a very cool farmers market with great shops and equally great food. Reds games are cheap and they have a cool playground for young kids inside the stadium. Cincinnati is the home of Grater's Ice Cream, which may be the best ice cream in the whole United States. Loveland, the town my brother lives in, is very cool and hip with some neat downtown stuff to check out.

The thing I look most forward too, besides seeing family, is Skyline. Skyline is just like any other fast food restaurant, but it has a very special niche. Skyline is famous for their chili. I think it has chocolate or cinnamon, or both, and it's very interesting. I know that a lot of people do not care for their take on chili. My brother, RD, will not eat it when we go there. I believe Drew Magary,of Deadspin, called it "prison chili". Then, there is just a lot of random people that just don't enjoy the taste. I am not one of these people. Skyline is one of my highlights and must hit spots when my family visits.

Now, I don't eat the chili just plain, in a bowl. I am not a big fan of soups, stews, anything like that, so chili in a bowl is not my thing. But, put that chili on a hot dog with some cheese, or put it on fries with cheese, I'm in. What sets Skyline apart, aside from the sweet chili, is the hot dog and the bun. The hot dogs are very tiny and they appear to be steamed. This steaming technique gives the hot dog a very juicy taste. It's very tasty. The buns, also small, are steamed as well. The whole chili dog experience has a juiciness to it that is exquisite. The icing on the chili dog cake is the finely shredded cheddar cheese they they load on top of the dog. It is so god damn good. This is the best part of the whole eating experience. When you take that first bite and get a bit of sweet chili, steamed hot dog and bun, and finish it off with a big bite of cheese, man, my mouth is watering just thinking about it, and I ate three of them no less than an hour ago. I LOVE these chili dogs. The sweetness of the chili offsets the saltiness of the rest of the food perfectly. The same thing with the chili fries, instead the salt portion is the fry. These are almost as good as the dogs, almost. The best part of the fries is, once again, the heaping portion of cheese on top. I think the cheese at Skyline may be the best shredded cheese on Earth. It's dynamite.

I know that outside of, and even inside, Cincinnati, the chili can get a bad rap, but I think it's great. If you have never been to Cincinnati and are planning a trip there, you have to go to Skyline, get some chili dogs and chili cheese fries. You will thank me later. And thank you Skyline for always coming through every time I visit Cincinnati. You guys are the best.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He wishes Skyline had breakfast, then he would only have to visit one restaurant in the Queen City. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty takes a few guesses with his Men's College Basketball Preview

Finishing up with all my basketball previews, I'm going to preview the upcoming NCAA season. Now, before I get started. I want to point out how hard this will be for me. I was doing research last night, and during my research, I found out that I don't know many of the new "stars" in college basketball today.

That's a problem.

Men's college basketball is now being defined by this new "one and done" culture, and I hate it. There's no continuity anymore, and players come and go after one season. We don't get any sense of how good a team can truly be because of the rule that you have to be one year removed from high school before you can go pro. I wasn't a fan of the straight from high school to the pros, but the "one and done" culture may be worse. These athletes are basically rentals. A school recruits these kids knowing that they will only be there for one season, and coaches and upperclassmen don't seem to care. Every year it's a revolving door. A five star comes to a school like Duke or Kentucky or Kansas, leaves after the season and a new crop of five star recruits come in. Another thing that blows my mind, pundits and professional broadcasters can't seem to understand how a team like Wichita State or Gonzaga can compete with the blue bloods of college basketball. It's simple dummies, the Wichita State's and Gonzaga's of the world have something that these teams that play mostly freshman don't have, camaraderie. The kids playing at Wichita State or Gonzaga have been playing together for four, or at the very least, three years. They know each other and they know each others tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. The teams led by freshman don't have this and it hurts them when it matters most.

Take last years Final Four game between Wisconsin and Kentucky. Kentucky was undefeated, led by a bunch of All Americans and had just come off their closest game of the year in the Elite Eight against Notre Dame. Wisconsin steamrolled Arizona, another freshman laden team, and they were ready for Kentucky. Wisconsin was also led by a senior(Frank Kaminsky), a junior(Sam Dekker) and a slew of upperclassmen. Wisconsin beat Kentucky up and by the end of the game, the freshman at Kentucky were bruised, battered and physically and emotionally tired. Age won out. Now, that didn't work in the championship game against Duke, another team with mostly freshman, but Coach K is a better coach than Bo Ryan.

Men's college basketball is becoming tough to watch. It's a shit show of, look how high I can jump to dunk this ball, or look at how many threes I can shoot in 10 minutes, or look at the little amount of interest I show in playing defense. It's not very good. The talent is better, but the product has gotten worse. When Geno Auriemma, head coach of UConn's women's team, said that men's college basketball is unwatchable, I, at first, vehemently disagreed with him, but now, I'm coming over to his side. It's not that much fun to watch anymore.

With all this being said, I'm going to give a brief breakdown of the upcoming season and pick who I think, and it will be a flat out guess, is going to win the title. I'll also pick a player of the year as well. When researching, I stumbled upon a great article on cbssports.com, rating every team in division one basketball with a one or two sentence description of the team. I'm going to use this article, but only for the rankings.

They have UNC as their preseason number one. This team actually has one upperclassmen, Marcus Paige, on their roster. He's their point guard, and everything runs through him. If he plays well, UNC will be good, but the rest of his supporting cast are either freshman or sophomores and I know very little about them. Staying in the ACC, other good teams will be Duke, Virginia, Notre Dame and Miami. Duke lost three of their five best players to the draft, but they have a bunch of five stars coming in to take their place. They won't win the title again, but they'll be good, they always are. Virginia and Notre Dame are senior laden teams, but both lost their best players to the draft. They'll still make the tournament, but their runs won't be as deep. Miami should be better this year, they get better every year, and they should challenge UVA and Notre Dame for the third spot in the conference.

CBS's number two team is Kentucky. Yep, the same team that lost 7, I repeat 7, players to the NBA draft is preseason number two. They just did what Calipari does, and out recruited everyone and replace five five stars, with five more. Kentucky is the only SEC team that will do any sort of damage on a major scope this season. LSU does have the top incoming recruit, Ben Simmons, but he won't make them a contender in his one college season. And Vanderbilt may make some noise, but they are very, very far behind Kentucky.

Kansas was their number three team and they will be, once again, the class of the Big 12. They lost Cliff alexander and Kelly Oubre Jr to the pros, but they do get Perry Alexander back and they also have "star" freshman coming into Lawrence. The Jayhawks could, and will be challenged by Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma. Iowa State did lose their coach to the pros, but they have most of their starting five back, and that includes Georges Niang. He's one of the anomalies, and decided to stay in school to improve his game. Baylor is always lurking, and they have been for almost a decade now. It's time to take Baylor serious and stop calling them a surprise contender. And Oklahoma may have the best player in all of college basketball in Buddy Hield. He leads that team and he can do great things with the basketball.

The first Big 10 team to crack CBS's poll is Maryland, coming in at number four. Maryland surprised a lot of people last year by how well they played, and they may be the best team in all of college basketball. They did lose Dez Wells to graduation, but they have Jake Layman and Melo Trimble back. Trimble may be Hield's only competition for player of the year. The other Big 10 teams that will fight with Maryland are the usual suspects. Teams like Michigan State, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan will all be tournament teams. Michigan State has a fine recruiting class coming in and Denzel Valentine is back. Indiana has one of the best offenses in the country and they have some serious recruits coming in. Ohio State will be down from where they have been, but they will still be decent. Purdue has a huge frontcourt, and they will be hard to score on in the post. And Michigan, if they can stay healthy, will be lethal from the outside.

The first Big East team to make their poll is Villanova. They're coming off a 30 plus win season and look to be in good shape once again. Georgetown and Providence will be fine, but the Big East is Villanova's to lose.

The Pac 12 should be competitive. Teams like Utah, Arizona, Oregon and California will be good. Utah did lose Delon Wright to the NBA, but Jakob Poeltl is back and he's a beast inside. Arizona replaces McDonalds All Americans with more McDonalds All Americans. Oregon is a fine team, but they're not really a threat nationally. And Cal. How in the hell is Cal in this discussion? I'll tell you how, they snagged three of the best recruits in the nation somehow, and they will be really competitive for one season. I'm sure an investigation will come out in a year or two involving Cal and recruiting violations, because they haven't been relevant since Jason Kidd played point guard for them in the 90's.

The AAC has three good teams in UConn, Cincinnati and SMU. SMU loses respect because of the sanctions just handed down, so they're not relevant. Cincinnati will win a lot of games they shouldn't, make the tournament with a decent seeding, then crap out in the first or second round. UConn is the class of the conference, and they will win it going away. They have a good recruiting class, and the best coach in their league.

Outside of the power conferences, there's only two teams that really warrant a mention. These teams are the afformentioned Wichita State and Gonzaga. Wichita State returns everybody from a team that should've made the Final Four last year, and the same goes for Gonzaga. If they're ever going to finally make the jump to elite status, this is Gonzaga's best, and probably last chance.

These are the teams I wanted to break down today. There's over 300 division one men's college basketball teams, but the ones I wrote about today, in my opinion, are the only real threats to do damage. Tell me why I'm wrong and who I left out in the comment section. For a more in depth look, if that's what you want, I suggest checking out the CBS website I mentioned earlier.

As far as predictions go, my Final Four teams, right now, are Maryland, Wichita State, Gonzaga and UNC. I think the title game will feature Gonzaga and Maryland, and I'm picking Maryland to win the whole thing. Melo Trimble will also take home player of the year. This will be a big, big season for Maryland basketball. I'll revisit this later in the season, but that's how I see things right at this very moment, 2:49pm central time on October 19th. Thanks and leave a comment telling me why I'm right or wrong.

College basketball and the NBA are almost here folks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. His first big sports heartbreak happened after an ill fated time out call in the NCAA Men's Basketball championship game. I think UNC played in that game. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik 

Ty's College Football Season Preview

Official ball from the 1988 all backyard suburban league championship

Today is August 17th, which means it is only 17 more days until the 2015 college football season kicks off.

This is the biggest "holiday" in my life. I'm as giddy as a kid opening a present when college football season starts. College football is, by far, my favorite sport. It may not be the cleanest, most ethical sport (what NCAA sport is?) yet it's so entertaining. College football, and sports in general, are the only TV show or movie that there's any real drama involved. There's dramatic TV shows and movies, but the outcome, for the most part, is positive. Not the case in sports. Sports can make you extremely happy and can depress you for hours or days, depending on how your team plays that particular day. College football, in my opinion, holds the most drama of all sports. College football also has the best die hard fans. We aren't fans, we are fanatics.

Which brings me to my main reason for my blog today, it's my college football preview. I will make this a yearly thing, so this marks the first annual, "Ty's College Football Season Preview". I'm not going to pick a preseason top 25, because that's stupid and pointless. I'm going to pick my winners of the major conferences, I'll talk about teams that can surprise, I'll give you my favorites for the Heisman and who I think the four playoff teams will be, and who I think will win the whole thing. So let's get started.

First, the Pac 12. You have the usual suspects competing for the Pac 12 title this year in Oregon, USC and UCLA. Of those three teams, I would pick Oregon to, once again, be in contention and most likely win the Pac 12 again. The transfer quarterback from Eastern Washington, Vernon Adams, will somewhat ease the loss of last year's Heisman winner, Marcus Mariota. It's always hard to replace a player like Mariota, but I think that Adams will run this offense very well, and they won't miss Mariota as much as other people think they will. USC returns star quarterback, Cody Kessler, but I don't think that Steve Sarkisian is the answer at head coach. The last time USC had this kind of preseason buzz was the year they started out as preseason number one, lost badly at Arizona State on a late Saturday night game, fired Lane Kiffin when they returned home and finished the year 7-6. I personally don't trust USC. UCLA also has to replace an all Pac 12 QB in Brett Hundley, but they have Myles Jack coming back, and they have a decent defense. They're good for 8 to 10 wins. Teams like Arizona, Arizona State and Washington will be decent too. Arizona won't be as good as last season, they played completely out of their minds, but they have a good young core and are led by the best linebacker in the country in Scooby Wright. Arizona State will be good on offense and sub par on defense, and Washington's opener versus Boise State will tell you everything about their season. If they win or win big, they will be a really good team, and if they lose, it will be a long season for the Huskies. With all that being said, I see Oregon winning the conference again this season.

On to the "powerful" SEC. I'd like to start by saying, I think the SEC is very overrated and I wish companies like ESPN would stop with the constant coverage, it drives me nuts. Anyway, here's another conference with the usual suspects. Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, Georgia and Ole Miss are the class of the conference. Alabama is Alabama, they will be good for 10 wins at least, anything less is a failure. They will be good, probably great, all season. It's Alabama after all. Auburn and Ole Miss are very similar in my opinion. They both have decent offenses, Ole Miss is better with LaQuean Treadwell coming back after that horrific injury last season and they both have very good defenses. Auburn got a great hire in Will Muschamp as their new defensive coordinator. He was not a good head coach, but the guy is a defensive genius. They're also helped by the addition of graduate transfer, Blake Countess. That guy is a great cover corner. Ole Miss still has the Nkemdichi brothers, and Robert Nkemdichi is, by far, the best interior defensive lineman since Ndamonkong Suh. The guy is unblockable. Mississippi State has their QB, Dak Prescott, back and he runs Dan Mullen's read option to perfection. I don't think they'll be as good this season as they were last season, but they're still good for 8 or 9 wins. Georgia lost Todd Gurley, but replace him with Nick Chubb. They also have a decent defense. They should win at least 9 games. LSU and Arkansas are kind of a mystery to me. LSU has a lights out defense and probably the best running back in the nation in Leonard Fournette, but they have no QB capable of running an offense. Arkansas has a so so defense, but their running game is legit. Even with the injury to star running back, Jonathan Williams, they have a stable of guys willing to take his place. Missouri and Kentucky are probably your next level of teams. They'll compete, but if either of them wins more than 8 games, I'll be surprised. I'm going to have to go with Alabama to be the champ of the SEC again. Two conferences, two repeat champions.

Next, the Big 12. The Big 12 might be the most explosive offensive collection of teams in the country. First of all, there's Baylor and TCU. Baylor has to replace Bryce Petty, but it seems like anyone can come in there and throw for damn near 4,000 yards. That's how well their offense is coached and run by the players. On defense, they showed flashes, but disappeared late in games last season. Look at the Cotton Bowl loss to Michigan State last season for evidence. They do have a freakish athlete on that side of the ball. Go do a google image of Shawn Oakman and be aghast at how big and quick and nimble he is. The dude is a beast. TCU's offense is led by their explosive QB Trevoyne Boykin. He may be the best QB in the country and he runs their offense to a T. He's crazy accurate, can run if need be and makes the right decision 99% of the time. Their coach, Gary Patterson, is known for his defensive mind, but he will rely heavily on the offense this year. They shouldn't disappoint either. They should be one of the most explosive offenses in college football history. After these two teams, there's a pretty big dip. Oklahoma is Oklahoma. They should be decent, but they could also very well disappoint. That's the bummer of being an Oklahoma fan. They should compete every year, but they are on a down swing for them right now. Texas is still rebuilding, but you have to give them another two to four years before they are making any kind of noise in the national conversation. I do like their coach, Charlie Strong a lot. He doesn't take any crap from anybody. Oklahoma State has all these pending violations and recruiting problems that I think will affect their play on the field this season. Kansas State will be a 7 or 8 win team at best, and the same goes for West Virginia. I think that TCU basically runs away with the Big 12. Baylor will make it interesting, but TCU is going to be really special this season.

Next, the Big Ten. Full disclosure, I'm a die hard Michigan Wolverines fan, but that won't sway me from being biased. That being said, the story of this offseason is the hiring of Jim Harbaugh by Michigan. He's expected to return this team to glory, and with his track record, he should do that. In fairness, this season will be tough for him and my beloved Wolverines. I expect them to make a bowl game and I think they should have, at least, 7 wins, but their schedule is tough and we will see if the running game can finally live up to the hype and see if the defense can be as good, if not better than last season. Okay, I talked about Michigan. The Big Ten will be about two teams this season, Ohio State and Michigan State (ed note: That was the hardest sentence Ty has ever written). Ohio State is the defending national champions. They have three great QB's and one of them is now playing receiver(Braxton Miller). They have one of the best running backs in the country in Ezekial Elliot. But, I don't see many explosive receivers on this team and I think teams will stack the box on them. That doesn't mean they'll stop them, but they will be predictable on offense. I also think that both JT Barrett and Cardale Jones will take a step back. Cardale Jones made a mistake in not turning pro, because his stock will never be as high as it was at the end of last season. Ohio State has a great defense. Nothing more needs to be said. There defense will be hard to get points on. Michigan State has Connor Cook back and a highly aggressive, hard hitting defense. Cook is one of the top QB's in the country. A lot of his top receivers have graduated or are in the NFL, so he will have to find new guys, but he will, he's good. Their running game will be by committee, but that's what works for them. While having a great defense, they play undisciplined and get penalized a ton. They are one of the dirtiest teams I've ever watched, but that gets in other teams heads and takes them off their game. You do what works for you. I feel like this is Michigan State's last, best shot at doing something special. They better take advantage. After that we have, the aforementioned Michigan Wolverines, Penn State, Iowa and Minnesota. Penn State should be good, but they haven't really lived up to any expectations lately and their offensive line has got to play better for them to win. Iowa will be good on the ground, but the QB situation is clearer, with Jake Rudock transferring to Michigan, but we will see how CJ Beathard does as a full time starter. Their defense is in a down swing right now too. Minnesota is a good team. They're predictable, but they have an awesome offensive line and a bunch of good running backs. Mitch Leidner does exactly what the coaching staff asks him to do too. They are not great on defense and that will hold them back. Rutgers, Maryland and Northwestern are teams, like Missouri and Kentucky in the SEC, that will compete, but anything more than 7 wins will shock me. It boils my blood, but I think Ohio State will win the Big 10 once again (ed note: Sorry Ty).

Lots of the same conference champs for me. I'm going to bundle the ACC and the AAC, because these are both jokes of conferences. The ACC has only three teams that are legit. There's Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson. Georgia Tech will run the triple option really well and confuse a lot of opponents, but they will take a step back from last season. Florida State is replacing Jameis Winston with Everett Golson, so they will not miss a beat, They'll be good, but blow some games late, like they always do. Clemson should be really good this year and they may make the ACC look like a halfway decent conference. Duke will be decent again, but not as good as last season. I'm going to pick Clemson to win the ACC. I don't watch the AAC at all, but I know that Cincinnati is in the conference. The only other teams I know are UCF, SMU and maybe Temple. I know UCF was good a few years ago with Blake Bortles at QB, but this conference is such a joke, I guess I'll pick SMU to win it this year. That's just a blind guess on my part and for all my AAC fans out there, sorry but your conference stinks.

As far as independent and teams from other conferences go, I'd like to talk about Notre Dame, BYU, Boise State and Marshall. Notre Dame is kind of an enigma to me. At the start of last season they looked like world beaters to me, then they fell on their faces when they played Arizona State, but closed out the season with a bowl win over LSU. They will either be a 10 win team or a 6 win team to me. It all depends on how well new starter Malik Zaire plays. If he plays like he did against LSU, they'll be good, but if he regresses or gets found out, they will be lucky to win 6 games. He has good offensive players around him, but it's always on the QB. BYU gets QB Taysom Hill back, and he's almost unstoppable running the read option. The problem lies with him though, when he got hurt, they were terrible. I believe they lost 4 or 5 straight after he got hurt. That team is completely reliant on the health of their QB and that's a double edged sword. Boise State had a down year for them and they still won 9 games and played Ole Miss tough in the opener. The same goes for them as goes for Washington. It all depends on who wins that game to see who will have the better season. I think Boise State will be good this year. Marshall almost went undefeated last season. They were led by their all world QB, Rakeem Cato, but he's graduated, and I think this marks the end of Marshall winning double digit games. It's not happening.

As far as the Heisman Trophy goes this season, I see it coming down to a lot of running backs and one QB. I think we'll see Ohio State's Ezekial Elliot, Georgia's Nick Chubb, LSU's Leonard Fournette and TCU's QB Trevoyne Boykin get invited to New York. I see Boykin winning the Heisman in an almost landslide vote. He's going to have a special season if he stays healthy.

Now the playoff.  I see the Big 12 being represented by TCU, the SEC sending Alabama and the shocker being the Big 10 getting two teams in, in Ohio State and Michigan State. I think in order of ranking the final four teams, it will be Ohio State 1, Alabama 2, TCU 3 and Michigan State 4. So, we'll get an Ohio State-Michigan State game for the third time this season and I see Ohio State winning this time and we will get Alabama-TCU in the other playoff game and I see TCU pulling away late in that game to advance to the title game. So that leaves us with Ohio State and TCU playing for the championship. I see this game being close for about 2 and a half quarters and then TCU puling away and winning by at least 17 points. So, TCU will be your 2016 NCAA Football National Champions.

Tell me why I'm right or wrong in the comment section and sit back and enjoy watching football. It will be here before we know it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The editor is eagerly awaiting his NCAA Division 3 football preview. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik