We've hit the time of year when rampant speculation on the future of college football occurs. We've gotten through signing day, the coaching silly season is over (unless you're Colorado and get your coach poached), spring semester has started so the transfer market is on simmer. What is there left to talk about? Well, a favorite of mine, and many is what the future of each conference looks like, who is going to defect to who, will a conference fold, where does that leave school X? All fun and great questions. That's what I'm going to tackle below, a crazy speculation laden realignment of sorts of the 5 major conferences for football, with a little thought given for the Olympic sports. In the past I've always thought a 4-16 team conference alignment was coming, but I've since changed that stance and I'm leaning towards 5-16 team conferences, giving us 80 Power 5 schools. Now, the obvious idea is getting 2 8 team divisions in each conference, I still like divisions even though the new school thought is to rid ourselves of divisions. I think divisions are great in all sports, rivalries and division match-ups make sports. Hating the Dodgers is half of being a Giants fan. Also the beauty of the 8 team divisions is in football you get 7 division games, 2 cross-division games, and 3 non-conference games with at least 1 coming vs the Power 5, no more scheduling 3 FCS games Florida. I'll also try to reconnect some old rivals with these, what is college football rivals? All new teams to a conference will be in Italics.
ACC Atlantic: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina State, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Temple and Connecticut. Almost the same, with a couple subtle changes. Adding UCONN can maybe charge up Boston College. UCONN has been looking for a place to play for a while and they can help the ACC, and maybe help their basketball program. Temple, is a program on the rise in a football rich area. The rest of this group is already playing each other, you get some historic power with Florida State, and of course recent success with Clemson. It won't be the best division in the county but hopefully they can continue to go in the right direction. Wake Forest is my when they are good I like rooting them team from the ACC, must be the Tim Duncan effect.
ACC Coastal: Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, and Notre Dame. Bet you didn't see that coming, Notre Dame wants to be in the ACC so they can just join them and stop this half in/half out BS they are pulling now. Giving Maryland back is a tough call, but they belong in the ACC. I enjoyed them in the Big Ten, but they love hating Duke and North Carolina. Notre Dame, Va Tech, and The U all have had history of being good so they can counter Clemson and give them an actual game in the conference championship game. Duke and UNC belong together in basketball. I like this iteration of the ACC. Georgia Tech has the ability to compete.
Big Ten East: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Indiana, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. I'm sorry but you can't break up this division tOSU, Michigan, and Penn State belong together, can't beat someone do better. I know lots of people will scream to get rid of Rutgers but they have to stay, WE LOVE NEW YORK. I added Pittsburgh and West Virginia because #1 they belong together and #2 Penn State hates both of them, so that would be awesome. We need the Backyard Brawl in our lives and what a better way to have it than right after The Game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Indiana will always just be lumped with these guys, they really are in a tough spot.
Big Ten West: Northwestern, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Minnesota, and North Dakota State. You didn't think I would break up my beautiful division did you? The Big Ten West is great in many ways, they do struggle against the big 2 out east in tOSU and PSU but they can close the gap. North Dakota State joining is a big leap as they are only a FCS team at the moment but they are the best FCS team of the last decade and have plenty of FBS scalps on their record. I kept Nebraska with the Big Ten just to spite them, they don't want to be with Texas anyway. Purdue, much like Indiana is just here so they don't get fined. jNorthewestern is here so all the alumni in Chicago can attend a game every other year.
Big Twelve North: Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Colorado, Utah, Brigham Young, Colorado State. Possibly the hardest division to fill. I decided to go east and west to find teams to group up with these 3 average to below average football programs. Kansas State is ok historically, Iowa State in on the rise, and Kansas is a basketball school. Missouri coming back makes sense, they hate Kansas. Bringing Colorado back is also a gamble, but bringing in Utah will help. Plus grouping these teams with Big 12 South will help with recruiting of Texas. Colorado State and Brigham Young are there for rivalry reasons, not sure if Colorado and Colorado State are true "rivals" but we can make it happen.
Big Twelve South: Texas, Texas Christian, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Southern Methodist. It's a division made up entirely of 2 states and oh what a beauty it is. You gotta keep Texas and Oklahoma together, believe me I wanted to put Oklahoma in the north but then you lose the Red River Shootout. The rest of the Texas schools and Okie State all are here by proxy of those other 2 schools. Texas A&M gets brought back because they have the rivalries we want, and adding SMU gives the DFW 2 teams but they can handle it, they had 2 back in the SWAC days.
Pac 12 North: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Stanford, California-Berkley, Boise State, and Fresno State. Another division where we leave well enough alone. Oregon, Stanford, and Washington lead this group, Oregon State and Wazzu are up and down, Cal is there and damn it, we all want Cal to be good. Boise State belongs in the Power 5, they need to get out of the Mountain West, bringing Fresno along helps, plus Fresno fits the footprint.
Pac 12 South: Southern California, California-Los Angeles, Arizona, Arizona State, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, Nevada, and Hawai'i. USC is the obvious leader of the pack, their success will be what leads this division. UCLA used to be so good, and they play in the freaking Rose Bowl, who wouldn't want to play there. Arizona is in Tuscon so I get why they suck, ASU is in Tempe, you should be able to recruit to Tempe. The new schools are all from the Mountain West and we are just raiding that bitch, Nevada and UNLV can both be decent, San Diego State plays in an NFL stadium they would be able to recruit to San Diego, and Hawai'i is freaking Hawai'i, plus they've been decent in the past.
SEC East: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisville, Central Florida, and South Florida. We already know I took Missouri back, and we're flipping Vandy, so we had to add 3, and UCF and USF can be those 2 of those 3. UCF has won a "National Championship" more recently than all of these schools. We gotta keep the rest of the rivalries rolling. UGA vs Florida, and Florida vs Tennessee are storied rivalries. The SEC East has to be a little better counterweight to the West but they are close and Georgia is so close to climbing that mountain. Kentucky is here for hoops and adding Louisville will be a great rivalry for each school.
SEC West: Alabama, Auburn, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Memphis. It's the jewel of college football, this division has won the most national titles since the year 2000, plus they are the only division to have 2 teams play each other for the Natty. Alabama is the top, LSU and Auburn give them fits, Ole Miss and Mississippi State hate each other. Arkansas should be better and can create a rivalry with Memphis. Vanderbilt is here to help the conference GPA, and I flipped them on their division to put Kentucky with Louisville.
That's the 80 teams, sorry to Cincinnati I wanted to find a home for you but decided on Temple instead. Maybe talk Vanderbilt out of sports. For hoops I would do play everyone in your division twice, and find 6 random games from the other division to play, you'll miss someone but you can get them back the next year. For football, you play 7 division game, 2 conference games, where you do a home and home in consecutive years and then not see them again for 6 years. I know this will never happen but it's fun to talk about, and fun to try to figure out. Conference alignment is a neat deal.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Daytona Rewind
Speedweeks is what all us NASCAR fans look forward to from Thanksgiving to February. A week after the Super Bowl every year is pole qualifying and the Busch Clash (formerly the Bud Shootout), it's a non points race and really just a marketing thing to get people excited for the Daytona 500. Thursday brings the qualifying duels, two races that set the starting grid for the 500. And finally on Sunday the big race, the Daytona 500, the biggest race of the year, the top of the top in stock car racing, debatably the most prestigious race in America. (I know the Indy 500, but it doesn't have that affect on me) This years races were something to watch.
The Busch Clash was a slimmed down 18 car field, made up of the elite drivers. It was a crash filled race with plenty of crazy moments, including a car a lap down pushing his teammate to victory. Denny Hamlin (who will be very prominent in this post) in a car held together with tape pushed his damaged teammate Erik Jones to a win, a move he would use again a little over a week later. The Clash was ridiculous with plenty of drama sprinkled in, including a riff perhaps at Penske racing. But it was still 7 days before the 500 so guys had plenty of time to settle down.
The Duels were very tame, since drivers had to use those cars in the 500 they wanted them as perfect as possible.The drivers didn't show any of their cards in those races. There was ominous sign in the duels, right as the cars in the first race were coming to take the green flag a rain storm hit the track and delayed the start, a little foreshadowing of Sunday. Joey Logano brought home the victory in duel 1 and William Byron took the 2nd duel, Byron wouldn't be so lucky on Sunday/Monday.
Sunday hits and we're all excited. It's Daytona Day and everyone is amped to watch. President Trump is the Grand Marshall for the race, a very big deal. He gives the command and drives the Presidential Limo on the track. After all the pomp and circumstance of that is done, the cars get lined up to come to the green and as they come out of turn 4, rain starts. The race is delayed. Just like the duels we get all excited and we get nothing. Well that shower goes through and they dry the track, finally the race gets started and the cars get racing, they line up and race single file for 20 laps before another storm comes in, then another storm and another storm, and finally they say enough and delay the race till Monday. The choice of waiting till 4:00 to restart the race was a bit peculiar to me, but I'm pretty sure Fox wanted the viewers and the race to end under the lights, which it did. So that's it for Sunday, 20 laps and just a tease.
Monday afternoon they get fired back up and get back to racing, I missed the first hour or so of the restarted race getting home from work. I didn't miss much after that. While I wasn't watching though Ricky Stenhouse did turn William Byron causing a 1 car accident. I didn't see it but saw the replay when I got home, it was a dumb accident. After the 1st stage the Toyota brigade came to the front and dominated the 2nd stage. There were a few hickups along the way including Martin Truex Jr, hitting a gas can from Chase Elliot on pit road between stages. The final stage was what it always is in the 500, chaos. The closer you get to the end the more aggressive everyone gets and the more incidents there are on track. There were a couple large accidents, including the "Big One" with around 19 to go. Then with 7 to go there was another wreck, on the following restart Denny Hamlin made his move. Coming to the flag Denny got behind the 6 car of Ryan Newman and pushed him so far in front of the field for 3 laps, nobody could catch them. It was incredible to watch and if the race didn't end the way it did, more people would be talking about that push. Then Denny bailed on Newman and took the lead. In doing so the field caught up to them and another accident happened. They stopped the race to clean up and we had NASCAR overtime, which is a green-white-checkered, a 2 lap sprint to the finish, but we weren't done wrecking yet. With the field getting the green Michael McDowell got into the back of Clint Bowyer and wrecked a few cars with barely getting past the Start/Finish line. So we have to do it again. This time they restart clean and for 1 lap things are fine. The field gets in position to make their moves on the final lap and the entire race changes. First domino to fall is Chase Elliot spins coming out of turn 2, it's a single car incident and I think he kept it going. NASCAR didn't want the 500 to end under caution so they looked at the situation and decided in the split second to keep it green. It happened so quickly and the race to finish continued so the Fox cameras didn't stay with the 9. Heading into turn 3 Ryan Blaney pushed Ryan Newman past Denny, who immediately got behind the 12 of Blaney and shoved him as hard as he could. Now I know I'm a Denny fan but the guy knows how to race in these situations, he is the new king of Daytona. He did exactly what he should've done, he didn't give up. Denny pushing Blaney gave Blaney a huge run on Newman. And Newman blocked him, twice, this is the Daytona 500 people you block as long as you can. After the 2nd block, Blaney decided to give Newman a push, in doing so though he hooked the bumper of Newman and shot him into the wall. Denny barely missed him, and the spin took a lot of momentum from Blaney. Denny passed Blaney coming to the line and won the 2nd closest Daytona 500 ever, (he already won the closest 500 ever in 2016). Now back to Newman, after hitting the wall and flipping Newman's car was compromised and upside down when he was hit by a Corey Lajoie, a driver on a lesser team that was in the running because of the rules package. Newman's car then slid down the front stretch on it's roof before coming to a stop somewhere in turn 1, near the exit of pit road.
The track crews quickly got to Newman, while the Fox broadcast wasn't sure who won. They really didn't know what to say or do. NASCAR eventually ruled Denny the winner, his 3rd 500 victory. Fox did a split screen of Denny's in car and Newman's care on it's roof with a large amount of safety personnel around it. So us viewers at home, see that Newman isn't ok because we got picture in picture going, Denny Hamlin is in a race car with a helmet on, he can't see it, he's also unplugged his radio so communication can't be made. Denny proceeds to do some donuts in the grass, a subdued celebration for him, he is one of the better guys at burning it down after a win. He stayed off the track, didn't even go get the flag. Then Denny went to Victory Lane, and saw the accident on the video board before getting out of the car, his entire demeanor changed. His interview with Fox was very low key, he made sure he put Newman first then talked about the race. There wasn't the usual coke shower or anything. I saw on social media people calling Denny classless and other names, it wasn't his choice to have the victory lane celebration, that's the sport. Once the team knew the seriousness of the crash they were very somber and didn't get overly joyous.
Meanwhile the crews were busy trying to remove Ryan Newman from his car, he was the most important thing in that moment. NASCAR had most of their energy focused on the 6 car. The Fox producers tried to do the normal post race stuff, but it was horrifying to watch as all the drivers looked sick, especially Blaney who really wanted no part of being on TV. There was an ominous feeling on the broadcast. Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon were audibly disturbed in the TV booth and I think they couldn't get off the air quick enough for their liking. Eventually the crews got Newman out of the car and transported him directly to the hospital and thus began the longest 2 hours in NASCAR in a long time. There was no news of his condition which lead to speculation and lots of people assuming the worst. There was prayers, blame, and lots of differing opinions on twitter. I as someone who wears his heart on twitter during sporting events, was at first overjoyed with the finish, I didn't watch the 6 flip and get hit on the first watch as I was concentrating on the 11 and hoping he won. There had been so many accidents at the end of these races I was only focused on the finish, it wasn't until the Fox cameras stayed on the 6 that I realized what happened. After taking a minute, the joy of winning was quickly taken away with fears for the worst. It was as if anyone associated with Denny or his fans wasn't allowed to be happy. I understand the situation but man it was hard to watch. Finally after 2 hours NASCAR read a statement from Newman's race team announcing he was alive and in serious condition, with non life threatening injuries. They updated his status this afternoon that he was awake and talking, without revealing his injuries.
The entire saga of the last lap and how people reacted will what I remember about this Daytona 500, it was an incredible race, but that last 100 yards changed everything. It's moments like that that remind us that racing is dangerous and even though it's been 19 years since a death in NASCAR, it can still happen. How we react matters and what we must remember is not everyone has the same information as we do, it's a 2 1/2 mile track, you can fit a football field on the grass between pit road and the front stretch. It was a scary situation and I feel for Ryan Newman and his family, but he knew the risks and he's spoken out about the cars flipping. We have 3 more races like this yet this year and all we can hope for is this accident isn't repeated.
The Busch Clash was a slimmed down 18 car field, made up of the elite drivers. It was a crash filled race with plenty of crazy moments, including a car a lap down pushing his teammate to victory. Denny Hamlin (who will be very prominent in this post) in a car held together with tape pushed his damaged teammate Erik Jones to a win, a move he would use again a little over a week later. The Clash was ridiculous with plenty of drama sprinkled in, including a riff perhaps at Penske racing. But it was still 7 days before the 500 so guys had plenty of time to settle down.
The Duels were very tame, since drivers had to use those cars in the 500 they wanted them as perfect as possible.The drivers didn't show any of their cards in those races. There was ominous sign in the duels, right as the cars in the first race were coming to take the green flag a rain storm hit the track and delayed the start, a little foreshadowing of Sunday. Joey Logano brought home the victory in duel 1 and William Byron took the 2nd duel, Byron wouldn't be so lucky on Sunday/Monday.
Sunday hits and we're all excited. It's Daytona Day and everyone is amped to watch. President Trump is the Grand Marshall for the race, a very big deal. He gives the command and drives the Presidential Limo on the track. After all the pomp and circumstance of that is done, the cars get lined up to come to the green and as they come out of turn 4, rain starts. The race is delayed. Just like the duels we get all excited and we get nothing. Well that shower goes through and they dry the track, finally the race gets started and the cars get racing, they line up and race single file for 20 laps before another storm comes in, then another storm and another storm, and finally they say enough and delay the race till Monday. The choice of waiting till 4:00 to restart the race was a bit peculiar to me, but I'm pretty sure Fox wanted the viewers and the race to end under the lights, which it did. So that's it for Sunday, 20 laps and just a tease.
Monday afternoon they get fired back up and get back to racing, I missed the first hour or so of the restarted race getting home from work. I didn't miss much after that. While I wasn't watching though Ricky Stenhouse did turn William Byron causing a 1 car accident. I didn't see it but saw the replay when I got home, it was a dumb accident. After the 1st stage the Toyota brigade came to the front and dominated the 2nd stage. There were a few hickups along the way including Martin Truex Jr, hitting a gas can from Chase Elliot on pit road between stages. The final stage was what it always is in the 500, chaos. The closer you get to the end the more aggressive everyone gets and the more incidents there are on track. There were a couple large accidents, including the "Big One" with around 19 to go. Then with 7 to go there was another wreck, on the following restart Denny Hamlin made his move. Coming to the flag Denny got behind the 6 car of Ryan Newman and pushed him so far in front of the field for 3 laps, nobody could catch them. It was incredible to watch and if the race didn't end the way it did, more people would be talking about that push. Then Denny bailed on Newman and took the lead. In doing so the field caught up to them and another accident happened. They stopped the race to clean up and we had NASCAR overtime, which is a green-white-checkered, a 2 lap sprint to the finish, but we weren't done wrecking yet. With the field getting the green Michael McDowell got into the back of Clint Bowyer and wrecked a few cars with barely getting past the Start/Finish line. So we have to do it again. This time they restart clean and for 1 lap things are fine. The field gets in position to make their moves on the final lap and the entire race changes. First domino to fall is Chase Elliot spins coming out of turn 2, it's a single car incident and I think he kept it going. NASCAR didn't want the 500 to end under caution so they looked at the situation and decided in the split second to keep it green. It happened so quickly and the race to finish continued so the Fox cameras didn't stay with the 9. Heading into turn 3 Ryan Blaney pushed Ryan Newman past Denny, who immediately got behind the 12 of Blaney and shoved him as hard as he could. Now I know I'm a Denny fan but the guy knows how to race in these situations, he is the new king of Daytona. He did exactly what he should've done, he didn't give up. Denny pushing Blaney gave Blaney a huge run on Newman. And Newman blocked him, twice, this is the Daytona 500 people you block as long as you can. After the 2nd block, Blaney decided to give Newman a push, in doing so though he hooked the bumper of Newman and shot him into the wall. Denny barely missed him, and the spin took a lot of momentum from Blaney. Denny passed Blaney coming to the line and won the 2nd closest Daytona 500 ever, (he already won the closest 500 ever in 2016). Now back to Newman, after hitting the wall and flipping Newman's car was compromised and upside down when he was hit by a Corey Lajoie, a driver on a lesser team that was in the running because of the rules package. Newman's car then slid down the front stretch on it's roof before coming to a stop somewhere in turn 1, near the exit of pit road.
The track crews quickly got to Newman, while the Fox broadcast wasn't sure who won. They really didn't know what to say or do. NASCAR eventually ruled Denny the winner, his 3rd 500 victory. Fox did a split screen of Denny's in car and Newman's care on it's roof with a large amount of safety personnel around it. So us viewers at home, see that Newman isn't ok because we got picture in picture going, Denny Hamlin is in a race car with a helmet on, he can't see it, he's also unplugged his radio so communication can't be made. Denny proceeds to do some donuts in the grass, a subdued celebration for him, he is one of the better guys at burning it down after a win. He stayed off the track, didn't even go get the flag. Then Denny went to Victory Lane, and saw the accident on the video board before getting out of the car, his entire demeanor changed. His interview with Fox was very low key, he made sure he put Newman first then talked about the race. There wasn't the usual coke shower or anything. I saw on social media people calling Denny classless and other names, it wasn't his choice to have the victory lane celebration, that's the sport. Once the team knew the seriousness of the crash they were very somber and didn't get overly joyous.
Meanwhile the crews were busy trying to remove Ryan Newman from his car, he was the most important thing in that moment. NASCAR had most of their energy focused on the 6 car. The Fox producers tried to do the normal post race stuff, but it was horrifying to watch as all the drivers looked sick, especially Blaney who really wanted no part of being on TV. There was an ominous feeling on the broadcast. Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon were audibly disturbed in the TV booth and I think they couldn't get off the air quick enough for their liking. Eventually the crews got Newman out of the car and transported him directly to the hospital and thus began the longest 2 hours in NASCAR in a long time. There was no news of his condition which lead to speculation and lots of people assuming the worst. There was prayers, blame, and lots of differing opinions on twitter. I as someone who wears his heart on twitter during sporting events, was at first overjoyed with the finish, I didn't watch the 6 flip and get hit on the first watch as I was concentrating on the 11 and hoping he won. There had been so many accidents at the end of these races I was only focused on the finish, it wasn't until the Fox cameras stayed on the 6 that I realized what happened. After taking a minute, the joy of winning was quickly taken away with fears for the worst. It was as if anyone associated with Denny or his fans wasn't allowed to be happy. I understand the situation but man it was hard to watch. Finally after 2 hours NASCAR read a statement from Newman's race team announcing he was alive and in serious condition, with non life threatening injuries. They updated his status this afternoon that he was awake and talking, without revealing his injuries.
The entire saga of the last lap and how people reacted will what I remember about this Daytona 500, it was an incredible race, but that last 100 yards changed everything. It's moments like that that remind us that racing is dangerous and even though it's been 19 years since a death in NASCAR, it can still happen. How we react matters and what we must remember is not everyone has the same information as we do, it's a 2 1/2 mile track, you can fit a football field on the grass between pit road and the front stretch. It was a scary situation and I feel for Ryan Newman and his family, but he knew the risks and he's spoken out about the cars flipping. We have 3 more races like this yet this year and all we can hope for is this accident isn't repeated.
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
2020 NASCAR Vision
Sunday marks the beginning of another season of NASCAR Cup Series racing. Another season of changes as NASCAR has moved away from the series presenting sponsor, they enter the final season of this car style, and they made a few subtle changes to the car package for the short track racing that was ruined last season by the lower horsepower. This season could look a lot like last year, tonight I'm going to give a few bold predictions for how I think 2020 will look.
A mid-tier team will make the final 8 of the Chase. Let's first get a look at the upper class of Cup teams, you have Hendrick, Penske, Stewart-Haas, and Gibbs. Those 5 teams have won every cup championship, but 1 since 2005 (Martin Truex Jr. in 2017). In a past life Rousch was elite but they are now the 3rd Ford team so they are solely in the middle class. The middle class has many great to good drivers, Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch at Ganassi, Ryan Newman at Rousch, Matt Dibenendetto at Wood Bros. Austin Dillon at Childress, and Ricky Stenhouse at JTG Daughtery. All of those guys are formidable in equal equipment, especially Larson and Busch. That said the way the playoffs work out this year with 3 short track races in the first round and Talladega in the 2nd round, I see someone like Stenhouse or Busch getting through both those rounds. Both drivers are Bristol aces and both can compete on a plate track like Dega. If they take a final 8 spot that will be so interesting as it means only 1 or 2 from the elite teams will be there. Predicting who won't be there is almost impossible but the way round 2 shapes up I think it could be a couple Gibbs drivers.
Jimmie Johnson won't win a race. Not the boldest prediction since JJ has struggled recently, but this is his retirement season and the last few years the retiring drivers have fared decently. Jeff Gordon famously won at Martinsville to give himself a chance at championship in his swan song. My thing with Jimmie though is, he hasn't had the speed and I question his team. Hendrick is strong with Chase Elliot but the 48 has seemed like the 3rd or even 4th car in recent years. I don't see where the 48 will be faster than the Stewart-Haas or Gibbs cars. He may use strategy to steal a win but it seems like the Penske teams usually have 3 different strategies in a race to disrupt that. I've grown to respect Jimmie the last few years but I don't see him having that signature moment this year.
Joe Gibbs Racing will break their record for wins in a season. In 2019 JGR set a record for wins by a team, the 4 cars combined to win 19 races and that was with the 20 or Erik Jones only winning once, the other 3 drivers won 18. If Jones can get more comfortable and win a couple more races I think 20-22 race wins will happen. They are racing the same package on the intermediate tracks and the JGR cars dominated those races. They did lose Cole Pearn on the 19 but promoted his disciples to lead the team. Also with 2020 being the final year of the car, I'm not sure how much work teams will put in to find speed since most of the work will be null after the season. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have a knack to make things happen and Martin Trues Jr. is one of the better drivers on restarts. This season is shaping up well for JGR.
Chase Elliot will win the NASCAR Cup Series. I really wanted to tab Denny Hamlin to win this year but I like the way the Playoffs set up for Chase. Making it to the 3rd round will be key for him, he has won at the Roval, which making the 8 is the hardest part. Once in the 3rd round I think he can do his magic at Martinsville, somewhere he's driven well but has had incidents that aren't his own fault in the past. If he makes the final at Phoenix he stands a much better chance than when the final was at Homestead. It's extremely hard to predict something in November but I think this is the year of the 9 car and Chase Elliot leads the next generation of drivers into the new decade and becomes the face that NASCAR wants him to be. He's already the most popular driver but being a Cup Champion will make him even more relevant in the sport.
That's it for this one, be sure to watch the Daytona 500 on Sunday and hopefully Denny gets his 3rd 500 win. My pick is actually Brad Keselowski, I think he makes the moves at the end and avoids his idiot teammate to get the win. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson as I'll be filling up my feed with Daytona talk, enjoy the season.
A mid-tier team will make the final 8 of the Chase. Let's first get a look at the upper class of Cup teams, you have Hendrick, Penske, Stewart-Haas, and Gibbs. Those 5 teams have won every cup championship, but 1 since 2005 (Martin Truex Jr. in 2017). In a past life Rousch was elite but they are now the 3rd Ford team so they are solely in the middle class. The middle class has many great to good drivers, Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch at Ganassi, Ryan Newman at Rousch, Matt Dibenendetto at Wood Bros. Austin Dillon at Childress, and Ricky Stenhouse at JTG Daughtery. All of those guys are formidable in equal equipment, especially Larson and Busch. That said the way the playoffs work out this year with 3 short track races in the first round and Talladega in the 2nd round, I see someone like Stenhouse or Busch getting through both those rounds. Both drivers are Bristol aces and both can compete on a plate track like Dega. If they take a final 8 spot that will be so interesting as it means only 1 or 2 from the elite teams will be there. Predicting who won't be there is almost impossible but the way round 2 shapes up I think it could be a couple Gibbs drivers.
Jimmie Johnson won't win a race. Not the boldest prediction since JJ has struggled recently, but this is his retirement season and the last few years the retiring drivers have fared decently. Jeff Gordon famously won at Martinsville to give himself a chance at championship in his swan song. My thing with Jimmie though is, he hasn't had the speed and I question his team. Hendrick is strong with Chase Elliot but the 48 has seemed like the 3rd or even 4th car in recent years. I don't see where the 48 will be faster than the Stewart-Haas or Gibbs cars. He may use strategy to steal a win but it seems like the Penske teams usually have 3 different strategies in a race to disrupt that. I've grown to respect Jimmie the last few years but I don't see him having that signature moment this year.
Joe Gibbs Racing will break their record for wins in a season. In 2019 JGR set a record for wins by a team, the 4 cars combined to win 19 races and that was with the 20 or Erik Jones only winning once, the other 3 drivers won 18. If Jones can get more comfortable and win a couple more races I think 20-22 race wins will happen. They are racing the same package on the intermediate tracks and the JGR cars dominated those races. They did lose Cole Pearn on the 19 but promoted his disciples to lead the team. Also with 2020 being the final year of the car, I'm not sure how much work teams will put in to find speed since most of the work will be null after the season. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have a knack to make things happen and Martin Trues Jr. is one of the better drivers on restarts. This season is shaping up well for JGR.
Chase Elliot will win the NASCAR Cup Series. I really wanted to tab Denny Hamlin to win this year but I like the way the Playoffs set up for Chase. Making it to the 3rd round will be key for him, he has won at the Roval, which making the 8 is the hardest part. Once in the 3rd round I think he can do his magic at Martinsville, somewhere he's driven well but has had incidents that aren't his own fault in the past. If he makes the final at Phoenix he stands a much better chance than when the final was at Homestead. It's extremely hard to predict something in November but I think this is the year of the 9 car and Chase Elliot leads the next generation of drivers into the new decade and becomes the face that NASCAR wants him to be. He's already the most popular driver but being a Cup Champion will make him even more relevant in the sport.
That's it for this one, be sure to watch the Daytona 500 on Sunday and hopefully Denny gets his 3rd 500 win. My pick is actually Brad Keselowski, I think he makes the moves at the end and avoids his idiot teammate to get the win. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson as I'll be filling up my feed with Daytona talk, enjoy the season.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Thoughts of the Week 2/4/2020 Edition
No theme this week instead just going to give a paragraph on a few sports stories.
Super Bowl of fun, man was that a fun game. I was visiting with my friends a lot during the game so I don't have a super deep breakdown served up, but it was entertaining as hell. The 49ers and Chiefs each played a great game. A few highlights, the bomb from Mahomes to Hill was a game changer. The 49ers defense was no joke till the 4th quarter. Kittle got robbed on the OPI call. Lots of good hitting, 49ers running game was good. Chiefs running game was better than expected. Just a well played, excellent, fun football game. The commercials were fine, halftime was fine. The food at our party was elite.
Wrasslin, I pay attention to college wrestling, I enjoy it a lot. Friday night when #1 Iowa hosted #2 Penn State it was the most watched wrestling telecast in the history of Big Ten Network. It was a dual meet that in the grand scheme really means nothing, yet it was watched by 342,955, and the most watched college athletics broadcast of the night. Throw in the fact that 15,900 people were in attendance, you got yourself some buzz. This season for Iowa could be special as they have the best wrestler in the country in Spencer Lee, and have guys ranked inside the top 8 at every weight class. Watching wrestling, especially Spencer Lee can be very fun, with lots of action and points. Some matches can get bogged down but when you get two really good guys it's entertaining. The Big Ten duals and NCAA Championships are going to awesome, plus it's an Olympic year so after NCAA's there will be trials in State College, PA, plus the actual Olympics in August. Give it a watch, you may enjoy it.
Hoop Dreams, since I stayed away from the NFL I decided to fill my time I would give Iowa hoops my time this winter. They have payed off, this year's team is very fun to watch and even when they struggle I don't get as frustrated as I used to. Now I may be maturing or perhaps this team is pretty good and you never know when they can turn it on. Sunday's game vs Illinois was outstanding to watch, as 2 good teams duked it out for 40 minutes, neither giving an inch. With watching more Iowa, I'm paying more attention to the Big Ten, and boy is this conference something. Wisconsin (who is ok) just beat Michigan State last weekend, Illinois is the shock of the conference with winning 7 in a row until losing at Iowa on Sunday. The league is so deep and anyone can give another team fits any night. It has been fun, and the conference tournament is going to be electric.
Astros Hirings, as we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting, the Astros selected a manager and general manager this week. Dusty Baker was named manager, you might remember Dusty from his previous hits in San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Washington. I for one like Dusty, I know Cubs fans hate him. Dusty was a good manager for the Giants in late 90's/early 00's, he did a good job of making sure the PEDs were well hidden. He did make a huge mistake in Game 6 or the World Series giving the gameball to Russ Ortiz after taking him out, but hey that's almost 20 years ago move on. Dusty will do good for Houston as he's a players manager, but he'll also bring the discipline that AJ Hinch apparently lacked. I know nothing about the GM, except he was from the Rays organization and it seems everyone worked for the Rays lately.
Dantonio Retirinio, in a move that was a little shocking, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio retired today. He has struggled since making the CFP in 2015, with 4 lackluster seasons that followed, plus a few brushes with the media over player behavior. After struggling in 2018, Dantonio reshuffled his offensive coaching staff, but that didn't work. I assume he was getting the ultimatum to fire his staff and start fresh and he didn't like that idea, so he decided to walk away. The timing is odd, since most of the big hires are done. I saw a couple names for the job are Luke Fickell and Pat Narduzzi, not sure if they'll abandon their players this late in the process. Spring workouts have just begun and getting an existing head coach to leave might be tough. I think a Jim Leonhard type might be the right fit for MSU, but they could look for an offensive minded coach since Dantonio was defensive guy. Perhaps they call up Joe Moorhead who was fired by Mississippi State, but hired to be the OC at Oregon, not sure what his fallout at Mississippi State was but maybe his message would work at Michigan State, especially after his success at Penn State.
That's all I got this week, we are getting close to Daytona, pitchers and catchers, plus March Madness, lots to talk about in the coming months. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Super Bowl of fun, man was that a fun game. I was visiting with my friends a lot during the game so I don't have a super deep breakdown served up, but it was entertaining as hell. The 49ers and Chiefs each played a great game. A few highlights, the bomb from Mahomes to Hill was a game changer. The 49ers defense was no joke till the 4th quarter. Kittle got robbed on the OPI call. Lots of good hitting, 49ers running game was good. Chiefs running game was better than expected. Just a well played, excellent, fun football game. The commercials were fine, halftime was fine. The food at our party was elite.
Wrasslin, I pay attention to college wrestling, I enjoy it a lot. Friday night when #1 Iowa hosted #2 Penn State it was the most watched wrestling telecast in the history of Big Ten Network. It was a dual meet that in the grand scheme really means nothing, yet it was watched by 342,955, and the most watched college athletics broadcast of the night. Throw in the fact that 15,900 people were in attendance, you got yourself some buzz. This season for Iowa could be special as they have the best wrestler in the country in Spencer Lee, and have guys ranked inside the top 8 at every weight class. Watching wrestling, especially Spencer Lee can be very fun, with lots of action and points. Some matches can get bogged down but when you get two really good guys it's entertaining. The Big Ten duals and NCAA Championships are going to awesome, plus it's an Olympic year so after NCAA's there will be trials in State College, PA, plus the actual Olympics in August. Give it a watch, you may enjoy it.
Hoop Dreams, since I stayed away from the NFL I decided to fill my time I would give Iowa hoops my time this winter. They have payed off, this year's team is very fun to watch and even when they struggle I don't get as frustrated as I used to. Now I may be maturing or perhaps this team is pretty good and you never know when they can turn it on. Sunday's game vs Illinois was outstanding to watch, as 2 good teams duked it out for 40 minutes, neither giving an inch. With watching more Iowa, I'm paying more attention to the Big Ten, and boy is this conference something. Wisconsin (who is ok) just beat Michigan State last weekend, Illinois is the shock of the conference with winning 7 in a row until losing at Iowa on Sunday. The league is so deep and anyone can give another team fits any night. It has been fun, and the conference tournament is going to be electric.
Astros Hirings, as we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting, the Astros selected a manager and general manager this week. Dusty Baker was named manager, you might remember Dusty from his previous hits in San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Washington. I for one like Dusty, I know Cubs fans hate him. Dusty was a good manager for the Giants in late 90's/early 00's, he did a good job of making sure the PEDs were well hidden. He did make a huge mistake in Game 6 or the World Series giving the gameball to Russ Ortiz after taking him out, but hey that's almost 20 years ago move on. Dusty will do good for Houston as he's a players manager, but he'll also bring the discipline that AJ Hinch apparently lacked. I know nothing about the GM, except he was from the Rays organization and it seems everyone worked for the Rays lately.
Dantonio Retirinio, in a move that was a little shocking, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio retired today. He has struggled since making the CFP in 2015, with 4 lackluster seasons that followed, plus a few brushes with the media over player behavior. After struggling in 2018, Dantonio reshuffled his offensive coaching staff, but that didn't work. I assume he was getting the ultimatum to fire his staff and start fresh and he didn't like that idea, so he decided to walk away. The timing is odd, since most of the big hires are done. I saw a couple names for the job are Luke Fickell and Pat Narduzzi, not sure if they'll abandon their players this late in the process. Spring workouts have just begun and getting an existing head coach to leave might be tough. I think a Jim Leonhard type might be the right fit for MSU, but they could look for an offensive minded coach since Dantonio was defensive guy. Perhaps they call up Joe Moorhead who was fired by Mississippi State, but hired to be the OC at Oregon, not sure what his fallout at Mississippi State was but maybe his message would work at Michigan State, especially after his success at Penn State.
That's all I got this week, we are getting close to Daytona, pitchers and catchers, plus March Madness, lots to talk about in the coming months. Follow me on twitter @derekbredeson.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)