A View From The Earth

This week is a bye week for the Iowa State Cyclone football team. I had a couple of fumbles in last weeks predictions.  I had Oklahoma losing but they won and Iowa losing but they also won.  So for the year I'm 10/12 which is 83%, a B grade, so I could improve. My top team, Oklahoma, beat a very good Florida State team by 10 last week, this week they start conference play with Missouri.  I believe that it will be a good game but in the end I have the Sooners winning by a couple touchdowns. My bottom ranked team, the San Jose State Spartans, lost another one last week to Nevada but by a surprisingly small margin of 4 points.  This week they face New Mexico State at home, this is a game that I think they can win, but it will be a squeaker, the Spartans by a field goal. Iowa beat a good Pittsburgh team in the fourth quarter last week.  They came back and beat the Panthers by 4 points.  Next up for the Hawkeyes is Louisiana - Monroe of t...

The Iowa State Cyclones meet the University of Connecticut Huskies on Friday night. There were some surprises that happened in the college football landscape in Week 2.  But for the teams I mentioned last week, my predicted winners won and the predicted loser lost.  So I was at a 100% again.  But for the spreads I did ok but wasn't spot on.  My top ranked team, Oklahoma had a bye week so that was easy on me.  The bottom feeder, San Jose State, lost by only 10, where I had a loss by multiple touchdowns.  I missed that spread by a bit.  But for the BIG GAME, the Iowa State Cyclones hosting the Iowa Hawkeyes, I predicted a win by two from the Cyclones.  As it turned out it was decided in the third overtime,  Iowa State beat Iowa by three points.  No matter who won, it was one of the most enjoyable games that I've attended in a long time.  But that chapter has closed and it is time to move on to the upcoming weekend. The Oklah...

Another college football season has rolled around again. And again I will offer my measly rankings and prognostications on my top ranked university, bottom ranked university, and the local teams at Iowa and, of course, my beloved Iowa State Cyclones. For the first week, my top ranked team is Oklahoma. The Sooners were very strong last year and it looks like they could be completely unstoppable this year. Oklahoma plays Tulsa on Saturday and I think that the Sooners will roll, winning by 4+ touchdowns. On the other end is my bottom ranked team, which is San Jose State. The Spartans were rather hapless last year with only one win. I'm not seeing all that much improvement for them this year. San Jose State plays Stanford on Saturday and I expect that the Spartans will lose by a margin of over 4+ touchdowns. Iowa hosts Tennessee Tech on Saturday and the Hawkeyes should have an easy time of it with a win of 4+ touchdowns. Iowa State hosts intrastate rival Northern ...

Here's hoping for a good solid win against Northern Iowa. Here are my top ten after the third week of play. Iowa dropped out of the top ten because they were upset by Arizona. Oregon moves up to 9th and Wisconsin enters the picture at 10th. 1. Alabama 2. Ohio State 3. Florida 4. Texas 5. Oklahoma 6. Boise State 7. Texas Christian 8. Nebraska 9. Oregon 10. Wisconsin Iowa State plays Northern Iowa this weekend. Iowa State should handily win over the FCS school. But the Northern Iowa Panthers will definitely put up a good fight and the Cyclones can't overlook them otherwise they could lose to this very good team. And hopefully Iowa State will play better than they did in last week's loss to Kansas State. I'm predicting a 20+ point Cyclone victory. As I mentioned earlier, the Iowa Hawkeyes were upset by Arizona and thus dropped out of my top ten. But this week they play Ball State and they aren't doing all that well. With the Hawkeyes looking for redemption; t...

Pullin' tractors, I thought a fitting photo for the "Farmageddon" game between Iowa State and Kansas State Here are my top ten after the second week of play. No one dropped out of the top ten because they all won with the exception of Boise State who had a bye this week. 1. Alabama 2. Ohio State 3. Florida 4. Texas 5. Oklahoma 6. Boise State 7. Texas Christian 8. Nebraska 9. Iowa 10. Oregon As the photo says, this week is the "Farmageddon" game between Iowa State and Kansas State, both very good agricultural universities. The game is being played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and should be a pretty good game overall. My personal opinion is that if Iowa State plays like it did against Northern Illinois, then the Cyclones should win by a touchdown but if they play like they did last week against Iowa, then the tables are reversed and Kansas State wins by a touchdown. The Iowa Hawkeyes handily beat the Iowa State Cyclones last week. As unhappy as it made...

Cy-Hawk Trophy Here are my top ten after the first week of play. Virginia Tech dropped out of the top ten after their loss to Boise State. Oregon moved up into the tenth spot. 1. Alabama 2. Ohio State 3. Florida 4. Texas 5. Oklahoma 6. Boise State 7. Texas Christian 8. Nebraska 9. Iowa 10. Oregon This week is the Iowa vs Iowa State game otherwise known as the Cy-Hawk Rivalry. My favorites, the Iowa State Cyclones are way down my list at 53 after handling Northern Illinois last week and the Iowa Hawkeyes as you have already seen are at the 9 spot after beating Eastern Illinois. Even with the disparity in the rankings, I believe that the Cyclones will be way up for this game and give the Hawkeyes something to think about. But in the end the Hawkeyes will prevail. My prediction for a score is Iowa 28, Iowa State 17. And finally, the team I have on the bottom, Western Kentucky lost to Nebraska and face Kentucky this week. The Hilltoppers should do better but I believe that Kentucky ...

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a wonk when it comes to American style football especially in the Division 1 College ranks. I've went as far as ranking all 120 teams as to where I think they should be rated. So here are my top ten plus a some others that I find of interest right now. 1. Alabama 2. Ohio State 3. Florida 4. Texas 5. Virginia Tech 6. Oklahoma 7. Boise State 8. Texas Christian 9. Nebraska 10. Iowa My team, Iowa State, is down the list at 55. As the season progresses, I hope that they can climb the ladder to a higher ranking, but we shall see... Northern Illinois is the Iowa State Cyclones first opponent. I have them ranked right now at 50, which would make them better than Iowa State. Well, I still predict a win for the Cyclones because they are playing in Ames which makes a big difference. But it should be a good game and I will be there on Thursday night to watch Iowa State get a season opener win. The Iowa Hawkeyes start out play with the Eastern Illinois...