THANKS EVERYONE!

I wasn't sure how this twist on BUCFP would be taken. I liked the idea of less administration and I liked the idea of a charity benefitting from the fun. While there are still a few more hours until the final chance to register, we hit a nice milestone - 20 players! That means, at the end of the whole shebang, some lucky charity will receive $500 from the BUCFP faithful! Not too shabby.

Thanks for joining me again.

Now...LET'S GET BUCFPING!

Ultimate Bill Looks at the Top 25

I had an intention of writing a paragraph long analysis of each pick but I've run out of time. I decided to wing it with one sentence stream-of-consciousness. I've laid out the teams and I started on the first five. For the rest, I'm giving myself five minutes to complete the task. Clock is starting....NOW

1. Alabama (58 of 62 first place votes) - Not sure what the 4 brain dead non voters were thinking. Oh wait! They're brain dead...they weren't thinking. The Tide will likely cruise against my beloved Hokies and then face what might be the toughest test of the season against Texas A&M the second week of the season. Though I predict that the Tide will take care of business all while Manziel tweets about his golden flaked Nike shoes. The thing is, the Tide, for the SEC, has a relatively light slate with no Georgia, Florida, or South Carolina (the SEC East might be back - finally). Furthermore, and this a huge travesty, there are two contests, the likes of which are so embarrassing that they may stain college football forever. Really Alabama, as returning National Champ you need Georgia State and Chattanooga on your schedule?
2. Ohio State (3 votes) - Maybe these 3 number one voters are on to something. The Buckeyes have the following three toughies at home in September: Buffalo, San Diego State, and Florida A&M. These challenging duels bookend a visit to Cal the 3rd week of September. This is followed by a tepid Big 10 slate that includes three preseason ranked teams, none higher than #17 Michigan (a suspect ranking in itself). The 'Nuts might cruise again this year, only this time they'll be tested in a bowl game.
3. Oregon - New coach, new multi-bazillion dollar facility, new uniform every quarter, new results? Oregon has pretty much been the same program through its last few coaches. No reason to think the engine won't keep running on all cylinders.
4. Stanford - see Oregon without the new coach or multi-bamillion facility.
5. Georgia - Heard this one before. The Bulldawgs pull the opposite move as Ohio State, opening with #8 Clemson, then getting #6 South Carolina at home, taking a break with north Texas, and then right back in it with #12 LSU at home.
6. Texas A&M (1 vote) - Prediction? Manzeilian fall to Earth.
7. South Carolina - Jadeveon Clowney is going to wonder why he gave up millions of dollars to go through a season of competitiveness, only to fall short of the SEC title game...again.
8. Clemson - Is Taj Boyd the real deal? He gets to test against Georgia to start and South Carolina to finish. I predict the predictable. Clemson will fall on its backside at some point in a most inexplicable and astounding fashion.
9. Louisville - Get your no count Big East arse out of the top ten. This won't last.
10. Florida - Still haven't not had a quarterback since Tebow. And if you count the Pat's definition, since Leak.
11. Notre Dame - Sure, why not?
12. Florida State - FSU IS BACK BABY! (Rinse, repeat since 2001)
13. LSU - Miles of road to travel giving too many chances for Miles to be Miles.
14. Oklahoma State - Three Big 12 (or whatever they're called now) teams back to back to back. Two of these three, hint - not Oklahoma State, will vault into the top five within three weeks based on nothing, only to plummet, based on something.
15. Texas - Three Big 12 (or whatever they're called now) teams back to back to back. Two of these three, hint - not Oklahoma State, will vault into the top five within three weeks based on nothing, only to plummet, based on something.
16. Oklahoma - Three Big 12 (or whatever they're called now) teams back to back to back. Two of these three, hint - not Oklahoma State, will vault into the top five within three weeks based on nothing, only to plummet, based on something.
17. Michigan - No Denard? No get yard. Catchy eh?
18. Nebraska - I don't think the Cornhuskers planned on being a middlin' team in a middlin' conference but here we are.
19. Boise St. - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
20. TCU - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
21. UCLA - Just beat USC. PLEASE.
22. Northwestern - Over Wisconsin? Really? Meh - 22rd spot. Who cares
23. Wisconsin - See 22nd spot
24. USC - I really, REALLY hope USC doesn't live up to these most mediocre of expectations.
25. Oregon St. - Does anyone even in your state know you play? Have you seen Oregon's locker room?

And time!  4:35... not too shabby.

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT

CHARITY: The Detroit No. 1 Kiwanis Club

SPONSORING PARTICIPANT: Eagles

On the web: http://www.kiwanis1.org/public/index.aspx

What It Does:

Kiwanis International is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Kiwanis and its youth-oriented Service Leadership Programs serve communities in more than 80 countries and geographic areas. Founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan, Kiwanis International now comprises 600,000 members — men, women boys and girls — worldwide. .

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT

CHARITY: Supreme Athlete Mentoring

SPONSORING PARTICIPANT: Eagles

On the web: http://supremebeinginc.com/services/supreme-athlete-mentoring/

What It Does:

(From the website): Supreme Athletes mission is to serve communities by reaching and teaching our youths through academics and athletics. Our work focuses on the academic, social, and athletic development of our youths.

NCAA Ruminations - Off Season Roundup!

While I was seesawing about whether or not to relaunch BUCFP this summer, I couldn't help but notice it was one of the juiciest summers on record for college football stories. Admittedly, most of the juice came from one source. See the following chart for an explanation:

Still, there was so much going on I just knew that this season was going to deliver big (if it ever gets here). Let's look at some highlights of the off season shall we:

Off Season Highlights

1. Johnny Football: How do I put this? For the few female participants in our pool, I'm going to share with you something that you may not all ready know. From the ages of 18 through about 23, males are not smart. Not even by the furthest stretch of the imagination. Those in that age bracket that excel, do so by pure luck. Those that excel in sports do so because a) they are immensely talented, b) they probably work hard, and c) they have coaches or other adults that spend unGodly amounts on security details to be sure they don't get in trouble. Well, when you are a freshmen at one of the Holy Churches of college football (located in College Station) and you win the Heisman, I guess all bets are off. If you took me at age 20, removed a few pounds, added a few inches, added some speed, added athletic ability, added talent, etc. (you get the picture)... you'd get johnny Football. Yes, if I won the Heisman, I'd have scooped up every deal imaginable. I have to admit, while I recognize he isn't the sharpest tool int he shed, I admire his spiteful ways! And if it took Johnny Football and Jay Bilas to get the NCAA to ALMOST admit to mountainous levels of hypocrisy, then I'm all aboard! In my dream scenario, Johnny Manziel scores on a run in the season opener and celebrates by pulling a roll of twenties out of his jock and making it rain on the crowd.
2. Preseason Polls: The SEC has FIVE teams in the top ten because...of course it does. Ohio State nabs the #2 spot because it beat nobody last season and because Urban Meyer is tight with the one we call Beelzebub. Clemson is #8 just because the fall from #5 would have been too spectacular. Notre Dame is #11 because teh Title Game beating simply wasn't bad enough, apparently. Florida State is #12 because the Noles are back for the eleventh consecutive year. Texas is #15 because the Longhorns actually bought the USA Today Coaches Poll with excess cash flow. 
3. Geaux Air Tigers: New LSU offensive coordinator Cam Cameron says the passing game will be "spectacular", thereby assuring the rest of the world that Les Miles is going to call for running plays whenever it doesn't make sense.
4. If one is to believe the hype, and one couldn't be blamed for doing so: Jadeveon Clowney is the single most impressive force displayed by mankind in history.
5. Oregon, putting the student in student athlete: I really can't say more...just click the link: I do believe the NCAA Amateur status jumped the proverbial shark 

This is where the Osama Bin Laden raid was planned and commanded...wait, I thought you said this was "The War Room"? It is? Oh for crying out loud...

That's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure a LOT more will surface prior to the start of the season. Keeps your eyes peeled!

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT

CHARITY: Kiva

SPONSORING PARTICIPANT: Ver1010

On the web: http://www.kiva.org/start

What It Does:

(From the website): We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

Welcome to the New Bill's Ultimate College Football Pool!

Friends, as you know, BUCFP has been providing college football based entertainment for nearly two decades. What began as a meager, spreadsheet based pool between a few friends, has blossomed into a multi-state, dynamic pool community. Having served in that capacity for many years, and enjoying the results, I decided to step back and look at how to change the pool, maintain its excellence, but reduce the administrative burden. As many of you know, the answer to that challenge was to rejigger the entire thing. That's right, you will still get the same fill of weekly competition from your fellow participants. You will still get the cutting edge journalism that will fill these blog pages. And there will still be a big winner. However, unlike years past, the big winner will be something bigger than each of us as individuals. The real winner will be the worthy charity of choice, selected by the one participant that bests us all!

How it works

As in years past, there will be a main pool, This pool will consist of picking games, against the spread, week in and week out. The games will be based on that week's AP Top 25 (usually between 15 and 20 games per week.) Each correct pick will be worth one point. The player with the most points at the end of the regular season will be declared the 2013 BUCFP Champion! More importantly, the remaining players will all, based upon their pledge (as noted on the Yahoo! page), stroke a check for $25 to the designated charity of the champions. Had this been in place for last year's pool, some lucky charity would have received $900! I've received a lot of positive responses and have ten players registered so far (so all ready a cool $250!)

How to register

If you've not all ready done so, log in to Yahoo! and join our group by going to http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college, picking Group #1303, and the same password as always (check your email, or email me to find out.) Once that's done, watch your email and this blog for updates, college football musings, and more.

What else?

Look for new features this year in the blog, and possibly other places. For starters, look for the CHARITY SPOTLIGHT. Throughout the season, I will spotlight the selected charities of each player so we all know why we are doing this crazy thing. Who knows? You may see something new that you would like to support too. Depending on feedback received, we may try something for the post season. We also may try a Facebook page for those interested in that type of interaction.

NOW LET'S GET BUCFPING!