Predictions: Who was right, wrong about ’11?
Since predictions for the 2012 college football season are already out, I figured now might be a good time to look back on some of the prognostications for the season that isn’t even 24 hours in the books.
The prognosticators?
Us here at OPUBCO headquarters.
Every year, we do a football preview section, and this year, our college football coverage team picked all sorts of things. Best players. Best games. I got a kick out of going back through some of them.
None of us picked Alabama and LSU to play in the national championship game. Then again, who could’ve seen a rematch in the title game?
Good news is, six of the eight us had one of the two teams in the title game. Alabama was a pick for OU beat writer Mike Baldwin, OSU recruting writer Jason Kersey, sports editor Mike Sherman, assistant sports editor Ryan Sharp and yours truly. OSU beat writer John Helsley had LSU in the game.
Only my fellow columnist Berry Tramel and OU recruiting writer Ryan Aber had neither SEC school in the game. Berry liked Boise State vs. Virginia Tech while Ryan went with Oklahoma and Oregon.
Four of us actually had the Crimson Tide winning the whole thing — Baldwin, Sherman, Sharp and I.
Maybe we do know what we’re talking about occassionally.
It was interesting to see what teams everyone picked to play in the BCS bowls. Everyone had at least five of the 10 teams, a pretty good batting average if you ask me.
The best?
Well, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I picked eight of the 10 BCS teams. Alabama. LSU. OSU. Stanford. Wisconsin. Oregon. West Virginia. Virginia Tech. I only whiffed on OU and Boise State.
Of course, I also said Roy Finch would be the Sooners’ most thrilling player and that former OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson would win seven games in his first season at Indiana.
Finch struggled to get on the field the first half of the season, and the Hoosiers struggled to one win.
Hello, humble pie.
It’s just interesting to look back at predictions and remember that they all have to be taken with a grain of salt. And hey, we did ours in August. These predictions that are coming out now are being made before we even know all of the players who are headed to the NFL. The deadline to declare isn’t until Sunday.
I love predictions as much as the next person, but really, it’s more fun than serious.
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Comments
dear mr trammel
still sure about who “we” have absolurely not identified as the best team in america?
how does that Crimson Crow taste today?
Roll Tide!
EO/Class of ’73
The University of Alabama
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Ed:
If you want to communicate directly with Berry, you might try his blog or his email addy. He’s at btramel@opubco.com.
Jenni
Oh, yes and who picked OU to win the Big 12, with A&M next and OSU 3rd. Right on.
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Mack:
I dunno. Who?
I don’t remember picking the Big 12 standings, but I was never a big believer in A&M. I said that repeatedly. If I picked ‘em second, someone must’ve hit me over the head right before I did it.
Jenni
Jenni, good job on the predictions though. It is a difficult business and I rarely get it right myself.
Jenni C. Where are the 2012 picks located? The locals picks, not the espn(extremely stupid picking nitwits), who will undoubtly have OSU around 58th or something. I’ll hang up and wait for the answer.
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J C:
We had ‘em in our football preview section, which published the last Sunday of August.
Jenni
Indiana finished 1-11 this year.
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Chris:
Right you are! As near as I can tell, I was looking at their 2010 schedule instead of their 2011 schedule. Sorry for my mistake, and thanks for correcting me.
I knew it was bad … but yeesh.
Jenni
Ironic that one of the writers who picked Bama to win it all chose to write about this topic. Coincidence? I wonder if the same writer does this column every season, no matter what the outcome of their predictions.
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G_Houston:
I’d have done it regardless. It’s difficult business to predict in August what’s going to happen in January. I’m proud of everyone for putting their picks out there for all the world to see.
I had fun looking back. Just wanted to share the fun.
Jenni