NFL Draft Combine-Who Impressed?

Today, Sportacular Sports will be looking at who impressed at this weekend's NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis.

1. Tavon Austin- West Virginia- Wide Receiver
The speedster ran an official 4.34 40 yard dash after unofficially being clocked in the 4.2 range. While the official high of the day (4.27) came from track star Marquise Goodwin out of Texas, Austin impressed the scouts with his hands. While Austin isn't projected to go in either of Mel Kiper's or Todd McShay's first round, chatter has begun about Austin. What was supposed to hold Austin back is his small frame. 5 feet 8 inches and only 173. While I think he'll fit perfectly in the slot, Tavon had many doubters. That all changed Sunday. Austin caught the ball beautiful only to augment to the already great speed. Scouts instantly moved him up their draft boards, including John Clayton from ESPN who claims Austin might slip into the first round. Possible suitors for Austin could be New England or his hometown Baltimore Ravens. New England could be satisfied to replace pending free agent Wes Welker with some newer legs while Baltimore could look to sign defensive players over Jacoby Jones. Austin works well in the return game as well which is only a plus. Austin impressed and that is why he ranks number 1 on today's list.

2. Geno Smith-West Virginia- Quarterback
You might think I'm a West Virginia fan at this point but I am not. I'm just impressed by both guys out of this University. As he declined from Heisman Front Runner to just about no one during the College Football Season, Geno Smith gained a ton of doubters. Then, to much surprise, rumors this weekend began to swirl that Geno could be taken first overall to the Kansas City Chiefs. While I don't believe this, the question must be asked-Why did Geno impress today-Simply because of his speed. While it was known Smith had valuable speed, he clocked in at an unexpected 4.59 highest in the draft class. In today's evolving quarterback class, speed is almost a necessary element. Cam Newton, RGIII, Russell Wilson are all revolutionizing the game and the Quarterback needs speed more than ever these days. Smith may have boosted his draft stock but will it be enough to get to the top?

3. Matt Barkley-USC- Quarterback
You might be thinking-Matt Barkley? He didn't he attend this weekends combine. While this is true, multiple reports have come out stating that Barkley will make it nowhere past the 7th spot in the draft owned by the Arizona Cardinals. While Barkley is still recovering from injury, this is major news. Pre-season the Trojans were Number 1 and Barkley was supposed to be the #1 pick after receiving the Heisman. Everything went wrong, yet Barkley might be lucking out. In a draft filled with needs at Quarterback, a weaker Quarterback class might be doing better than expected. While Barkley has time to impress at the USC Pro-day, apparently he's done enough to be a top 10 pick.

Others:
Terron Armstead-ran a 4.71 as an Offensive Lineman
Cordarrelle Patterson- Rated as the top wide receiver only impressed with his great frame and blazing speed

Report:
Top 5 projected pick- Star Lotulelei- out of Hawaii has been removed from the Combine list for Monday. The defensive tackle has been diagnosed with poor deficiency in one of his ventricles. The condition is not life threatening but he is in no shape to participate. Lotulelei's draft stock shouldn't fall much unless worse reports come out.

Which team has the best chance of being upset this Rivalry Saturday?

This college basketball season has been filled with crazy upsets and one would think the same would follow this weekend. This entire week is filled with games matching up hated rivals. All the action finishes today. When a rival comes to town, especially with a number 1-25 next to their name, a team seems to play inspired basketball which leaves those aforementioned ranked squads in serious danger if they don't come to play. So as I said before, one would think we would see many upsets this weekend yet I feel otherwise.










As I scanned the matchups for today, I really couldn't put my finger on any that caught my eye. But when I analyzed it deeply I figured the Number 2 team in the land could be in grave danger.

#2 Duke Blue Devils vs. Maryland Terrapins
The Duke squad has already won their major rivalry game this week handling a feisty UNC team which leaves me to believe they won't be as motivated come 6pm Saturday. Maryland on the other hand as been reeling losing 3 out of their last 5 and falling from the tournament contenders. UMD really needs a statement win and there is no greater opportunity than today. The Terps have the team that can match up with this Duke team.

Key matchup: Mason Plumlee vs. Alex Len
The last time these two teams played, the show was stolen by freshman Rasheed Sulaimon who dropped 25 points at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But when the game got close, the Blue Devils went to Senior Mason Plumlee to finish the game. He did rightly so and Duke took care of business on their home court. Today though could be a much different result. The Terps will obviously be ready to play in front of their home crowd and Len performs better at the Comcast Center. If Alex Len can dominate inside, Maryland will be able to defend the deadly shooters out on the perimeter and exploit the loss of Ryan Kelly.

                      Prediction:

Do I think Maryland will be able to get the job done? Unfortunately, no. Mason Plumlee has been the best player in the entire nation the past two weeks and Len simply won't be able to stop him. Len might play well but not well enough to stop the Blue Devils. Seth Curry is too much for Maryland at the point. The living chance that Maryland has is Sophomore standout Dez Wells who can put up 30 points in the blink of an eye. If he wants to have a serious coming out party, there would be no greater moment than tonight.

Final Score: Duke-72 Maryland-66

Could the road to a National Championship be easier than winning the Big Ten Tournament?

Today we will look at the question, Could the road to a National Championship be easier than a Big Ten Tournament Championship?

For this example the current BIG 10 standings will be used. Indiana ranks as the Number 1 seed because of a tie break win over Michigain State. MSU, Wisconsin, and Michigain round out the first round byes respectively. Therefore a pre-season National Championship contender, Ohio State, would not receive a first round bye in their conference tournament.

The first round matchups would be as follows (higher ranked team first)
Ohio State vs. Penn State
Minnesota vs. Nebraska
Illinois vs. Northwestern
Purdue vs. Iowa

With the unpredictability of this year's College Basketball of course any team could go down at any moment. But for example's sake let's assume the top teams take care of business in the first round.

Last years NCAA tournament was crazy with two #2 seeds falling in the opening room but the chances that one falls again this season are extremely slim. Looking past those upsets the top 4 seeds could potentially receive Number 1 or 2 seeds equaling a first round bye.

The Quarterfinal matchups in the BIG 10 tourney would then be:
Indiana vs. Purdue
Michigain State vs. Illinois
Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
Michigain vs. Ohio State

The quarters are where things would get interesting. The Kentucky Wildcats were National Champions last season and I would argue that UK's second round matchup, Iowa State, is somewhat of an equal to the Boilermaker squad. Obviously, the other matchups would be a College Basketball fan's dream with games like upset ready Illinois vs a well coached Sparty squad. An underrated Badger team against Minnesota who is prone to heat up. And of course another matchup between the Buckeyes and Wolverines.

Again assuming the top seeds advance the semi-final matchups would be:
Indiana vs. Michigan
Michigain State vs. Wisconsin

Those matchups rights there could potentially be the National Semi-Final yet they could be in the Semis of a Conference. Kentucky faced a worse Indiana squad, Baylor, and Louisville on their championship run. All 4 teams remaining in the BIG 10 tournament would be better than that Baylor team and the Louisville team. To think Indiana would have to face a National Championship contender in a game not named the Championship would be unforeseeable in a conference tournament. And we aren't done.

The BIG 10 title game would be a hot Michigan State squad against projected National Champion, Indiana. I think it's a valid argument to say that Michigan State could rank amongst Duke and Miami the other top teams in the nation. As a cause of this, I definitely believe that it is a fair question to ask which title run will be tougher. While I've stated exactly all the reasons why a BIG 10 title would be harder, I'm going to stick with the Big Dance and say this. When it comes to March, you don't want to play the team that is hot. For example, Uconn 2 years ago. In addition, you are playing an extra game. And finally, the tournament is where upsets happen. The NCAA tournament is such a great event because you never know what is going to happen. So my closing decision would be the BIG 10 title run is almost equal to a National Championship run.

Down Goes Number 1 (again)

For the 5th consecutive week, the number 1 team in our great nation has been defeated. Most recently (last night) Illinois pulled off a comeback in the second half to once again defeat a top ranked Big 10 squad.

Illinois had been reeling in BIG 10 play owning a record of 3-7 in the conference. They had a convincing win over Ohio State but that was all they had to show for. In John Groce's first season as head coach, the Illini needed some statement wins to make a resume for March and there was no better place to start than last night in Champaign.

Trailing by 12 at the half, the Illini began to get rolling and a step back jumper followed by two Brandon Paul free throws tied the game at 72 apiece. Paul's first free throw, feeling the pressure, banked in after hitting every part of the rim and backboard. He then calmly swished the ensuing free throw as number 1 was on the ropes again.

Player of the week, Victor Oladipo, brought the ball up the court with only a 2 second difference between play and shot clock. The Hoosiers were planning on taking the last shot and began their offense with 10 ticks remaining. As Oladipo drove right he attempted to crossover behind his back but was stripped by D.J. Richardson who went coast to coast only to get blocked from behind with 0.9 seconds remaining. With no timeouts, Illinois had the ball under Indiana's basket and attempted to set screens for a shot in he corner but then mayhem broke loose. Indiana big man Cody Zeller flanked to the corner to cover a shot but left his man. And then greatness happened. Illinois big man Tyler Griffey cut to the basket and flicked the ball up right before the red light lit. Good!! Illinois wins the game on a back cut as time expired. The student section rushed the court and there will be a new number 1 come Monday.

What this means for Indiana? Nothing really, they will be fine. Either a 1 or 2 seed depending on their finish in the BIG 10. But for Illinois they suddenly have a sign of a life. Potentially they could finish only 2 games below 500 in the BIG 10. If the Illini do damage in the conference tournament I could definitely see this team sneaking into the March tournament. What a game!

Final score: 74-72 Illinois

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The Baltimore Ravens are Super Bowl Champions

The Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 47 by the score of 34-31. Super Bowl 47 was the longest SB of all time and included perhaps the most exciting non-4th quarter in Super Bowl history. Before we recap the amazing 3rd quarter, lets first look at the beginning half.

The Ravens got off to a roaring start. After causing a quick Niners possession, the bird gang scored quickly with a Joe Flacco to Anquan Boldin connection. Unfortunately while the Ravens were putting up points, safety Bernard Pollard was in the locker room for the first time in this injury plagued Super Bowl.

When I talked to Pollard early in the team hotel on Monday he said, "I feel sore, I'm just hurting from the broken ribs. I've been dealing with them all season, I'll be fine though. " I thought to myself, what, this guy has broken ribs? But then again these are the toughest guys in the world and Pollard is one of the hardest hitting safeties in the league. Could his rib situation have led to an uncharacteristic missed tackle on Michael Crabtree's third quarter touchdown, sure, but that comes later.

The scoring was capped by a David Akers 34 yard field goal. I commend Akers on his Super Bowl performance after all the scrutiny he faced leading up to the game. Even though he received a mulligan on one attempt, Akers finished a perfect 3 for 3 on the night.

Joe Flacco got the scoring started in the 2nd quarter with a 1 yard pitch and catch to Tight End Dennis Pitta. The real big play in the quarter though came from hometown hero Jacoby Jones.

"It's always the goal to win the Super Bowl and by me being able to come home and play, that was like icing on the cake. You can drop the cherry on it, the strawberry, and the sprinkles." Jones had mentioned how excited he was to play in his hometown throughout the week and him scoring his ankle-breaking touchdown was truly an amazing moment yet not his greatest of the night. An Akers field goal closed the scoring for the half and left us with an incredible halftime show.

Now to the 3rd quarter. As I mentioned above, this quarter could have possibly been the most exciting or action packed quarter before the final 15 in NFL history. The excitement began with the beginning kickoff of the 2nd half. Jacoby Jones took Aker's kick 109 later changed to 108 yards right down the middle of a suspect Niners coverage team. It was one broken arm tackle and then the rest was history. (See who it costs $600,000)

After this amazing kick return even more excitement followed including a 34 minute delay caused by the outage in the Super Dome. Had the Ravens not held on, this Super delay would have been the most disputed event ever in football. Why would it have been so disputed? Because this outage clearly changed the momentum and killed all the rhythm the Ravens had going for them. Ravens fans were so loud and the Ravens were rolling but all of a sudden the lights go out and we see a whole new 49er squad. The 49ers eventually went on a 80 yard drive including the aforementioned Michael Crabtree touchdown. As the Niners fans began to get loud, the Ravens had a quick possession and poor punt by Sam Koch leading to a walk in touchdown by Frank Gore. All of a sudden a 22 point lead was down to one score.

Ray Rice coughed up the pigskin only a few plays later but a key stand by the Ravens defense somewhat weathered the storm. An Akers field goal put the game within 5 points. This ultimately raps up the greatest 15 minutes of the game yet we still had 15 more to play.

The Ravens really needed to stop the bleeding and Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco took that challenge under his belt. Flacco led the Ravens down the field but were held to a short field goal by rookie Justin Tucker. The FG at least pushed the lead back to 8 points but Colin Kaepernick wasn't done. He answered quickly including his run down the left sideline in which he scampered 15 yards into the red and gold endzone. Kaepernick did his trademark kissing of the bicep and the Niners had a chance to tie the game. A questionable play call on the 2 point conversion left Kaep zinging the ball over top of Randy Moss' head.

Up 31-29, Flacco answered again. He led the team back into the redzone but Patrick Willis and company held on again. This was the moment that one realized the Niners had stormed all the way back and had implemented the "bend don't break strategy". The Ravens had given up a little over 350 yards per game during the regular season ranking 17th in the league but Baltimore always buckled down in the redzone. The irony seemed to be rising as San Fran came up with 2 key holds and had given themselves the chance to win the game a formula Baltimore had been utilizing all season.

Kaepernick got the ball back and simply marched down the field. A Frank Gore rush sent the Niners down to the 7 yard line. A read option for two yards by LaMichael James sent the clock tumbling down to the two minute warning.

As the Ravens prepared for 3 more plays Joe Flacco sat on the sideline wondering if he would get the ball back one more time. "I was sitting there thinking there's no way, there's no way we stop them here. But we did."

While Joe didn't fully trust the defense Ray Lewis knew there was no greater way to go out on his final ride than with a goal line stand. "The most exciting things ever were the conversations we were having on the goal line. Nobody ever panicked. There was no panic. When you have that, when your back is against the wall … for us to stand up like that is just a testament to what we've been through all year."

With Haloti Ngata sitting out the final 20 minutes of the game, San Francisco opted to throw 3 times within the 5 yard line. Kaepernick showed who his favorite receiver was as he targeted Crabtree on all three throws. The final one coming with a minute and fifty seconds as the ball sailed out of bounds. Jimmy Smith grabbed a handful of Crabtree's jersey but the referee's indecision let the play stand and left the Baltimore Ravens as Super Bowl Champions.











Super Bowl MVP-Joe Flacco

Final Score: 34-31

#1 Michigan at #3 Indiana

Headline:
The #1 Michigan Wolverines travel to Assembly Hall to face the #3 Indiana Hoosiers
Michigan Wolverines:
Trey Burke and company have withstand the curse of the 1 for a long run of 1 games. They easily defeated Northwestern in only turning the ball twice in that game. The curse of number 1 might rear its head again tonight. While Michigan could possibly fall from the top rank tonight or in their next 4 games, (Indiana, Michigan St, Wisconsin, and Ohio State) the Wolverines long term goal is a National Championship. These are the games that truly show who the top teams in the nation are. If Michigan comes away from this grueling stretch in a positive way, the Wolverines can consider themselves a contender. Freshman Nik Stauskas and Junior Tim Hardaway Jr. will look to lead the Wolverines to their first title since 1989.

Indiana Hoosiers:
The Hoosiers were pre-season ranked #1 and show they nearly deserve that title. Indiana seemed to return to relevancy last season most notably against the top ranked Wildcats. Each of those teams have gone in opposite directions. The Wildcats have fallen out of the ranks after a National Championship but the Hoosiers have jumped into the top 5 for most of this season. The Hoosiers run with big man Cody Zeller and get excellent guard play from Victor Oladipo.

Prediction:
Their are two keys to this game. The guard matchup between Burke and Hardaway Jr. against Oladipo, Hulls, and Sheehey. In addition, can Michigan big men slow down Cody Zeller and Senior Christian Watford. Whoever wins these matchups wins the game.

Final Score:
Indiana-67
Michigan- 63

Line:
Indiana -5.5
Over/Under:
144.5

3 Underdog Stories of Super Bowl 47

Super Bowl 47 is only 2 more days away and if you have recently flipped onto any type of ESPN channel you will see continuous coverage of the Big Game. When watching Sportscenter you might have heard of Ray Lewis or Colin Kaepernick or possibly even the Harbaugh brothers but like most of the free world I am getting tired of those stories. This is why we are breaking down the top 3 underdog stories of Super Bowl 47.

3. Ray Lewis' first career sack
I have seen the story about Niners coach Jim Harbaugh being a starting quarterback a multitude of times. One thing they leave out, unless you catch it on the bottom ticker, is who got his first career sack on Jim. Obviously from the headline above you guessed it Ray Lewis. It's quite ironic even in the circle of life that Ray Lewis would bring down the coach of his opponent for his second Super Bowl. I think that this story deserved more publicity and would've like to heard that question posed at Media Day.

2. Randy Moss riding off into the sunsets? (G.O.A.T)
I'm sure you've heard by now Randy Moss' comments pertaining to being the best wide receiver in NFL history. I'm pretty sure not one person reading this will agree with that (see Jerry Rice) but still a classic quote from old Randy. Randy Moss does not have a Super Bowl ring and this may be his last chance. He claims he wants to play another year yet with a different team. I'm not sure how many Super Bowl contending teams still believe in Moss therefore Sunday could be his last chance to establish himself among the top 3 WR of all time.

1. Ed Reed "Final Ride" (Free agency)
We all know that this is the great 52's last run at the Lombardi trophy but while it won't be for Ed Reed, it might be in the Purple and Black. Ed Reed has been very forthcoming in his answers to questions regarding playing in Foxboro next season. As a die hard Raven fan this is tugs at my heart and reminds me of Brett Favre playing for the Vikings. Whether or not Ed leaves, the ball hawk could cement himself atop the greatest safeties with a Super Bowl ring.

Notable stories:
Niners/Ravens distractions
-Both the 49ers and Ravens have had to deal with the usual distractions throughout the week but how will each team react is the question. Chris Culliver's anti-gay statements and Ray Lewis' deer spray report have flooded the news. From multiple reports from New Orleans, the looser team is Baltimore but will that be a good thing come game day. The Ravens have been plagued with injuries and bad omens all season including a move from the practice facility late on Thursday. But the bird gang won't be distracted, or will they? We'll see come Sunday.

If you want a personal account from Super Bowl Sunday save this link as I will be fortunate to be attending the game and will be giving live updates throughout the day.