The Pittsburgh Pirates have been the biggest surprise in Major League Baseball so far this season. It seems the Pirates are in the playoff race to stay this year. The Cubs have a solid home record, but they have been awful on the road.
The Angels have lost 2 straight and are now in 3rd place in the AL West 1/2 game back of the red-hot A’s and 5 games back of the Rangers. However, they traded for starter Zack Greinke they are poised to make a run at the division title.
The Rams had a forgettable 2011. The team won just two games, and the only thing that can make that worse, is the fact that things don’t look a whole lot better for the 2012 season either.
The 49ers finally got it right last year, and because of that, many people (including their biggest critics) will be expecting them to be back in the hunt again this coming season.
The Cardinals had a pretty up and down season a year ago, and a little more consistency under center could do wonders for this team’s playoff aspirations in the 2012-2013 season.
Illinois started the 2011 season 6-0 and it looked like the team was ready for big things. The Fighting Illini then proceeded to lose six straight games. Illinois fired coach Ron Zook before the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl game last year. Illinois did rally for 20-14 win over UCLA in that game.
Kevin Wilson’s first year with the Indiana Hoosiers didn’t go exactly as planned. Everyone knew he was walking into a difficult situation, but a 1-11 season in 2011 was definitely a disappointment. In fact, the team’s only win came over a non FBS school (South Carolina State).
Joe Tiller took the Purdue Boilermakers to 10 bowl games in 12 seasons. The pressure was on Danny Hope to get the Boilers back to a bowl game in 2011. Hope did get Purdue to their first bowl game in three years. In fact, the Boilers edged Western Michigan 37-32 to end the season with their first bowl victory since 2007.
The Michigan State Spartans have won 22 games in the past two seasons. The team won a Big Ten Legends Division title and picked up their first bowl win since 2011. There is no doubt that the last couple years have been two of the most successful in the school’s history. Mark Dantonio started a rebuilding process when he showed up four years.
The Patriots are, once again, the big favorites to win the AFC East and while the Jets, Dolphins, and Bills have the talent to, maybe, make the playoffs unseating the Pats as division champs is very unlikely.
The Yankees lost yesterday’s game against the hated Red Sox, but they are still running away with the AL East with a 8.5 game lead over the Rays and Orioles. White the Red Sox are in the basement of the AL East they are still in the playoff race only 5 games out of the Wild Card lead.
You won’t see many playoff teams make as big of a change as the Broncos made this past off-season.
They traded the quarterback that seemingly orchestrated their playoff run a season ago, and signed a guy that didn’t take a single snap in the 2011 season.
All of the air was taken out of the Ohio State Buckeyes sails a year ago. Ohio State went 6-7 and the fan base in Columbus was more upset than they have been in years. In November 2011, when Ohio State hired Urban Meyer, it seemed the program had already taken a major step to getting back on track.
Mike Leach was bound to find another job sooner or later because of his past success, and it turns out the Washington State Cougars were the team to give him a chance. Leach left Texas Tech under tons of controversy, but he definitely took the Red Raiders program to far more success than they had ever seen before.
2011 could be coined the year of mediocrity for the Cal Golden Bears. The team wasn’t all that bad in any one area, but they also didn’t have any great strengths as a team. California finished 7-6 and just 4-5 in the PAC 12 Conference in the 2011 season.
All eyes will be on Peyton Manning and how he plays for the Broncos this season, but oddsmakers have the AFC West as one of the most wide-open divisions. There is not only pressure on Manning, but also the other QB’s in the division in Phillip Rivers, Carson Palmers and Matt Cassel.
