Kyle Hunter sports picks – A degree in finance and a great ability to follow important trends and statistics set him apart from the rest. Totals are Kyle's specialty, so look for a lot of totals picks from NBA, NCAAF, & the NFL. Check out his plays today.
Penn State’s 2012 football season was as successful on the field as anyone could have imagined. After losing their home opener to the Ohio Bobcats, Penn State won eight of their last 11 games to finish off a very tough season with an 8-4 record. Bill O’Brien did nothing short of a masterful job with this team in his first year at the school.
Are you ready for some football? The NFL is back with the first game of the preseason this weekend. It’s the NFL Hall of Fame Game in Canton.
The Big Ten Conference will have a completely different look next year, but it is the Legends and Leaders once again this season. Wisconsin and Nebraska met in the Big Ten Championship game last season. Ohio State finished the 2012 season undefeated, but they were ineligible for postseason play. Penn State is the only team ineligible for postseason action this year.
Like many conferences, the Sun Belt has a totally different look in 2013. Florida International, Florida Atlantic, MTSU, and North Texas left the conference after last season. Texas State and Georgia State were added to the Sun Belt, so the team now has eight teams.
Conference USA is getting bigger. The conference picked up some new teams and has now gone to an East and West division format. There are 14 teams in the conference as a whole, and each division will have seven teams.
The Mid-American Conference is one of the best “mid-major” football conferences in the nation. Northern Illinois from the MAC went to a BCS bowl last year, and this conference has a history of pulling off upsets against the major conference schools.
Bret Bielema did a great job with the Wisconsin Badgers football program. Wisconsin has won a lot of games the last few years. Bielema decided to head to the SEC and Arkansas in the offseason, which left the Badgers looking for a new coach. Gary Andersen from Utah State was the guy the Badgers hired, and I believe that was a very good hire.
Darrell Hazell did an amazing job of turning around the Kent State program in just two years. The Golden Flashes went 11-3 and almost went to a BCS bowl game last year. Hazell spent the 2004 through 2010 seasons working as an assistant at Ohio State, so he has plenty of experience in the Big Ten.
To say that Tim Beckman’s first-year as head coach of the Illinois football program was a disappointment is a massive understatement. It was a disaster!
The 2012 season was a massive improvement from 2011 for the Indiana Hoosiers. Kevin Wilson’s team piled up the points last year, and they were able to come out on top in four games. While this team certainly still has lots of room to grow, they are definitely on the right path.
After the massive 11-2 season in 2011, the Michigan Wolverines 8-5 season in 2012 had to be seen as a disappointment. Still, it’s obvious that Brady Hoke has this program continuing on the right path.
Isn’t it about time that Pat Fitzgerald starts getting recognized as one of the best coaches in the country? Northwestern isn’t an easy job to get top notch recruits, so Fitzgerald had to start off winning games with far less talent than almost any other team in the Big Ten.
Jerry Kill has done an amazing job with this Minnesota Golden Gophers program. Someone looking on from the outside may not be terribly impressed by a 6-7 record last year, but those who have followed this team know just how much progress the Golden Gophers have made since Kill took over as the head coach.
The Michigan State Spartans were so close to having a big season in 2012, but their inability to come up with big plays in crunch time cost them in many games. Five of their six losses came by a grand total of 13 points.
It’s tough to figure out the Iowa Hawkeyes. Kirk Ferentz was seen as one of college football’s top coaches a few years ago when the Hawkeyes were shocking the Big Ten and playing like one of the nation’s top teams.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers went 10-4 last season, but it’s hard to consider their season much of a success thanks to the way it ended. Nebraska was absolutely embarrassed 70-31 by Wisconsin in the Big 10 Conference Championship Game.
