News

The End...and The Beginning

March 28

Those of you who have been here for a while know that I have been doing some work the last several years for CBSSports.com, and before that, CSTV. However, as time has gone on, serving two masters has become increasingly difficult to manage.

I am excited to be a part of the great coverage of college football and basketball at CBSSports.com. Moving my data and writing to CBSSports.com affords me an opportunity to do some things I would have never been able to do on my own. Also, all of my work will be available for free there, so hopefully, that will be better for you too.

As part of the shut down, all subscriptions were canceled so that no more automatic payments would be processed. You will still have access to the site as long as the site remains accessible.

I will always be grateful to all of you who have supported this little adventure of mine. I have been running this site, in one form or another, for 18 years. I never thought more than a handful of people would have any interest it this kind of thing. So, thank you for sharing my interest and passion. And I hope to see you over at CBSSports.com.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at jppalm@yahoo.com.

Palm Readings

December 17

You can see Paul Kislanko's excellent breakdown of our voting each week by clicking on the "Complete Poll" link at the bottom of the top 25.

Others Receiving votes: Notre Dame 11; Louisville 10; BYU, Texas 8; Missouri 6; Arkansas State, Texas A&M 4; Florida State, Georgia Tech, Northern Illinois 3;

Time to pick the bowls. That's a crap-shoot because you never know what you're going to get. Well, I think I know, thus the picks.

Today's games posted first and early. Others to follow this morning.

* - home team.

Game	Bowl/Date	Palm Reading
BCS bowls
LSU 17 Alabama 13	BCS Title Jan 9	This time, LSU should have the home crowd advantage. The Tigers will still have a huge special teams advantage, and that should be the difference again.
Stanford 35 Oklahoma St 34	Fiesta Jan 2	OSU thought it should have been playing for the title. Stanford brings a little more defense to what could be a shootout.
Michigan 34 Virginia Tech 23	Sugar Jan 3	Some people will watch this game thinking it could have been so much better. Some won't watch it because of that.
Clemson 37 West Virginia 30	Orange	The Tigers had a big late season swoon, but came back just in time to beat the Hokies to win the ACC.
Upset of the bowls
Wisconsin 45 Oregon 42 (-6)	Rose Jan 2	Wisconsin will be looking to make amends for last year. I will be looking forward to LaMichael James vs Montee Ball.
Other bowls
Temple 31 Wyoming 20	New Mexico Dec 17	Temple was left out after a good season a year ago. They're happy to be playing and the better team anyway.
Utah St 35 Ohio 32	Famous Idaoho Potato Dec 17	A virtual home game for the Aggies, which are just a short drive from Boise. Ohio isn't thrilled with this assignment.
UL Lafayette 30 San Diego St 21	New Orleans Dec 17	The Ragin' Cajuns had a good season and are better than you probably expect. SDSU is still trying to figure out why they are there.
FIU 34 Marshall 27	Beef O'Brady's Dec 20	FIU beat Big East champ Louisville this year. They should have a good shot against a middlin' C-USA team. TY Hilton is worth watching for the Panthers.
TCU 24 Louisiana Tech 23	Poinsettia Dec 21	TCU isn't excited to be here, and the Bulldogs are good enough to beat them, but TCU usually shows up well for its games, so I'll take the Frogs.
Boise St 41 Arizona St 35	Las Vegas Dec 22	This is the classic bowl trap for Boise St. Their coach has whined loudly about their lot in life, and that's rarely a good sign. ASU is in a coaching transition though, and Boise is just so much better anyway. If ASU wins, I'll be kicking myself for not pulling the trigger on this pick.
Southern Miss 30 Nevada 17	Hawaii Dec 24	The Conference USA champs got at trip to Hawaii for their efforts. Not a bad prize. If the Eagles show up to play, they'll win.
Missouri 27 North Carolina 20	Independence Dec 26	Missouri ended up here on a selection day deal with the Military Bowl to get Air Force. The Tigers should make the most of it.
Louisville 21 NC State 17	Belk Dec 27	If State fans care, this will be a road game for the Cards. I like the way they finished the year.
Purdue 37 Western Michigan 34	Pizza Pizza Dec 27	The Boilers will be without WR OJ Ross (suspension) and RB Ralph Bolden (ACL, natch), but they should still have enough weapons to win a shootout with the Broncos.
Cal 37 Texas 28	Holiday Dec 28	Not sure what to make of either of these teams, but Cal was playing better at the end of the year.
Air Force 60 Toledo 57	Military Dec 28	Toledo plays game with basketball scores. I can't imagine the departure of coach Tim Beckman to Illinois will help the defense.
Baylor 52 Washington 42	Alamo Dec 29	This is the first game on this list with some pizzazz. Heisman winner RG3 against Washington's porous defense. Should be fun. For Baylor, anyway.
Notre Dame 27 Florida St 21	Champs Sports Dec 29	The Irish finished strong, although they may have created a little QB controversy for themselves in the Stanford game. Either way, they should be able to handle FSU.
Tulsa 40 BYU 17	Armed Forces Dec 30	It's taken a lot better team than BYU to beat Tulsa this year.
Oklahoma 42 Iowa 13	Insight Dec 30	Oklahoma may not be excited about its fourth trip to Phoenix in six years, but the Sooners are just much better than Iowa.
Mississippi St 13 Wake Forest 10	Music City Dec 30	It was a disappointing year for MSU, but it should end on a high note.
Iowa St 28 Rutgers 21	Pinstripe Dec 30	Should be a home crowd for Rutgers, right? Because Rutgers is NYC's team. Iowa St coach Paul Rhodes just to a 10-year extension, so an overpriced dinner is on him.
Virginia 21 Auburn 20	Chick-Fil-A Dec 31	I like the way the Hoos played this year. Mike London had his team in the ACC hunt right to the end. Auburn had some highs and lows, and now has lost OC Gus Malzahn to Arkansas St.
Illinois 3 UCLA 0	Kraft Fight Hunger Dec 31	They should rename it the Kraft Fight Boredom bowl. Is there a way for both to lose? Watch it be the most exciting game of the bunch.
Vandy 25 Cinci 20	Liberty Dec 31	I'd probably go with Cinci if Zach Collaros was healthy. Cinci would probably be in the BCS if he were. This has to feel like a let down for them.
Utah 31 Georgia Tech 27	Sun Dec 31	This probably comes down to how well GT can execute. Utah is probably better equipped to face this offense after seeing it from Air Force all those years in the MWC.
Texas A&M 34 Northwestern 24	Meineke Texas Dec 31	SEC vs Big Ten. We know how that goes, right? ;)
Nebraska 10 South Carolina 9	Capitol One Jan 2	Not sure either team's offense will get much done. Nebraska's Rex Burkhead will be the difference maker.
Ohio St 28 Florida 24	Gator Jan 2	Oh, if only Charlie Weis had stayed. This will be a coming out party for Braxton Miller.
Georgia 24 Michigan St 20	Outback Jan 2	Both teams are disappointed to be here, but MSU more so.
Penn St 17 Houston 13	Ticket City Jan 2	Good defense beats good offense. Houston lost their coach, and that's never a good thing.
Arkansas 49 Kansas St 48	Cotton Jan 6	Kansas St isn't happy to be here, but I don't think that will matter much. Both teams should light up the scoreboard, but when it's time for a defense to make a play, it'll be Arkansas' that does.
SMU 38 Pitt 3	BBVA Compass Jan 7	Nobody has whined more about what game it got than Pitt. Then they lost coach Todd Graham to Arizona St. SMU coach June Jones was ready to take that job before the offer got pulled at the last minute.
Northern Illinois 52 Arkansas St 41	GoDaddy Jan 8	NIU QB Chandler Harnish leads a high-powered offense against Gus Malzahn's new team. Too bad Malzahn won't have his offense in yet.

This Week in the BCS

December 4, 10:00 PM

OSU ended up 74 points short of what it needed in the Harris poll to finish #2. That's a decent sized number. So, it's not like we were in a position where one or two voters could have impacted the outcome.

Virginia Tech's selection was a late change too. The Sugar seemed committed to Kansas St, then changed their mind.

December 4, 8:00 PM

December 4, 6:30 PM

December 4, 4:30 PM

There is still no word if TCU qualfied. I'm not optimistic.

December 4, Noon

The Cowboys closed to within 32 points of Alabama, but that's not close enough. It means that OSU must pass Alabama in the Harris poll, and lead by at least five points, in order to finish #2 overall. That isn't likely. The AP poll (an indicator, but it doesn't count) also has Alabama #2.

And that is if the computer projections are correct. Those are the best possible for Oklahoma St, so any discrepancy will favor Alabama.

TCU did have Houston, Georgia and Oklahoma fall behind them, which was good, but Clemson jumped them. They are also going to need some serious help from the voters in the Harris poll.

December 4, 9:30 AM

With the current computer projections, OSU needs to get within the mathematical equivalent of 28 points in Harris and 15 in coaches. They started the week 342 and 166 points behind, respectively, but one team ahead of them, Virginia Tech, lost.

In 2006, Florida started the final week 86 points behind in Harris and 40 back in coaches, but had to actually pass Michigan in the polls due to the fact that they ended up tied in the computers. OSU will likely have a slight computer edge over Alabama.

The coaches poll should be out in a couple hours. We'll know a lot more then.

There is a big gap between them and Michigan in the polls. That may end up being a good spot to slot some of those losing teams.

December 3

December 2

Top 25/Awards

November 27

Player of the Week

Character and Work Ethic Award

If I had a vote

1	LSU	6	Boise St	11	Arkansas	16	TCU	21	Virginia Tech
2	Alabama	7	Wisconsin	12	Kansas St	17	Houston	22	Southern Miss
3	Oklahoma St	8	USC	13	South Carolina	18	Clemson	23	Penn St
4	Oregon	9	Michigan St	14	Michigan	19	Baylor	24	Oklahoma
5	Stanford	10	Georgia	15	Nebraska	20	West Virginia	25	Cincinnati

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