Great Lakes Sports

The USC Trojans Reloads

The USC Trojans who has lost their starting Quarterback, but still return nine starters back on offense, and only three starters back on defense will be much pressed to have as good of year as they had last year when they went a stellar 12-1. The USC Trojans also lost eleven players to the NFL including QB Mark Sanchez, and all four starting LB, but with all good teams they don’t rebuild they just reload. The Trojans had one of the more solid recruiting classes in the country highlighted by a stud at QB in 6’3" 220LB Matt Barkley from Newport Beach, CA (Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, CA) who was ranked number #1 in the country at Quarterback by Rivals sports. There will be questions surrounding the depth of the USC Trojans, and also if young sophomore QB 6’4" 195LB Aaron Corp can carry the potent USC offense. We here at Great Lakes Sports look for the USC Trojans to be alright, as head coach Pete Carroll to have his troops ready for the start of the College Football season. The only questions we here at Great Lakes Sports have are the schedule, as the Trojans are on the road at Ohio State, California, Notre Dame, and Oregon. We look for the USC Trojans to be up to the task and is Great Lakes Sports choice to win the 2009-2010 National Championship and as always-good luck from Great Lakes Sports.

March Madness Is Here For The 2008-2009 Season

Here we go with another exciting March in the world of College Basketball, as this is my favorite time of year when the smaller less notable schools will have a chance to knock off the more high profile schools, and every year their will be a Cinderella team in this year field with this year will be the same as always. The entire country that follow College Basketball will be watching the selection shows on Sunday, and trying to get as much information as possible when they fill out their office pools in hopes to find that dark horse or upset to put them over the top. We here at Great Lakes Sports will give you a prediction on who we like to be the top four seeds in this years Big Dance. This will be a very exciting College Basketball Tournament with no clear cut favorite this year as almost every week there is a new number one team, but come selection time on Sunday we like the first number one seed to be North Carolina as they bring loads of experience, and depth to this year’s tournament. The second number one team is one of Great Lakes Sports favorite to contend for the national title this year, and it is the Pittsburgh Panthers with their speed, and athletic ability they will also grab a number one seed. The third number one seed will be Oklahoma with a strong inside game led by superstar Blake Grifin the Sooners could end up in the final four this year. The last number one seed we feel will be the U Conn Huskies with also a strong inside presence and coming out of the strongest conference in all of College Basketball they know how to win the big game, and they could also go a long way in the NCAA tournament this year. We here Great Lakes Sports will like to wish you good luck, and hopes that you will have a very successful College Basketball Tournament.

Philadelphia Phillies Are World Series Champions

The Philadelphia Phillies have won their first World Series since 1980 in what could have been the most controversial game in history.  The game that we are referring to is game number five when it was suspended in the bottom of the sixth inning due to poor field conditions.  I think this situation could have been handle much better for example if the umpires were going to suspend the game they should have done it after the fifth inning when both teams had the same amount at bats.  There is talk about playing the World Series in a neutral field such as a dome stadium or a warm weather climate.  I couldn't of disagree more that the answer is to move the World Series to a neutral field, and break up great tradition from America’s greatest game.  In my opinion shorten the Major League Baseball season to 154 games like they did in the 1940’s and 1950’s, and start the playoffs in the last week of September.  The other thing that could improve the game is play more games out of your division, and we here at Great Lakes Sports think it is also ludicrous to play a team in your division nineteen times which is way to much, and Major League Baseball should go back to the old schedule format of playing a team in your division twelve times and maybe Major League Baseball won’t be playing the World Series in these terrible conditions.  We here at Great Lakes Sports would like to extend our congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies on a job well done, and on being World Series Champions.

College Football Week #9 Recap

  There were a few good match-ups last weekend, and we will recap some of the highly touted match-ups from last week.  The first game that we here at Great Lakes Sports will talk about is the Texas Tech Red Raiders going to Lawrence Kansas to face the Kansas Jayhawks. The Texas Tech Red Raiders routed the Kansas Jayhawks in a game that wasn’t even that close 63-21, and the Red Raiders out-stated the Kansas Jayhawks 556-315 in total yards including a first down advantage of 29-19.  This Red Raiders team will surely be tested this week when they will play the top ranked Texas Longhorns this weekend.  The second game was a huge game for Great Lakes Sports as it was our 5* College Football Game Of The Year on Alabama (-5.5)  which was an easy 29-9 winner over the home standing Tennessee Volunteers in which the Alabama out-stated Tennessee in total yards 366-173, and in first downs 23-10.  The third game was a tough defensive battle between the Penn State Nittany Lions, and the Ohio State Buckeyes in which Penn State capitalized on a Buckeye turnover late in the game to beat Ohio State 13-6 in a thriller.  The last game we will talk about is when the top ranked Texas Longhorns has their handful against a scrappy Oklahoma State Cowboys team in which the Longhorns hung on to a 28-24 win to keep their number one ranking.  This was a recap of week # 9 in College Football, and as always good luck from Great Lakes Sports.

Tribute to Jack Reynolds

This is a sad day not only in the sports world but for everyone who knew the late Jack Reynolds who died yesterday at the age of 71. When I received an email from Marc Lawrence yesterday about the passing of Jack Reynolds I was deeply sadden as we all lost a very dear friend. I had the pleasure of being introduce to Jack Reynolds by Marc Lawrence, and Jack has always treated me with the upmost respect, and I will always cherish the wonderful memories of Jack Reynolds doing the WWF announcing with Jesse the “Body” Ventura, and also of the solid Handicapping of his Wise Guys selections. I will always be fond of Jack Reynolds, and my heart goes out to his entire family as we have lost a true friend a dear family man, and a loving father, and we hear at Great Lakes Sports send our condolences out to the entire Jack Reynolds family, and I just wanted to say rest in peace my friend I will miss you.

College Football Week Six Recap by Great Lakes Sports

  This week in College Football their were only one big upset when the Pittsburgh Panthers defeated the number #10 ranked South Florida Bulls on the road 26-21. The Pittsburgh Panthers dominated in total yards outgaining the South Florida Bulls 374-245 in total yards where the Pitt Panthers were led by running back McCoy who had 142 yards rushing with a 5.1 yards per carry average, and the Panthers also dominated time of position 36:54 to just 23:06 for the South Florida Bulls. There were one other upset when the North Carolina Tarheels roll over the number #24 ranked Connecticut Huskies 38-12 at Chapel Hill. The U Conn Huskies dominated the game with 378-263 in total yards but turned the ball over three times for the North Carolina route. The Tarheels were led by running back D. Brown who had 33 carries for 161 yard with 4.9 yards per carry average which help the North Carolina Tarheels for the solid victory over the Connecticut Huskies. There were two very close games with ranked teams, the first one is when the number the two ranked Alabama Crimson Tide beat the unranked Kentucky Wildcats 17-14 even though they dominated the stats with 388-276 in total yards, and the big difference in this game was the dominated rushing attack by the Crimson Tide 282 yards to a dismal 35 yards rushing by Kentucky which the Crimson Tide were led by running back Coffee who had 218 yards rushing on 25 carries for a 8.7ypc average that led the Alabama Crimson Tide to the conference win. The last game that we will talk about was the amazing come from behind victory for the Kansas Jayhawks. The Jayhawks were trailing 20-0 at halftime before they woke up in the second half for a 35-33 win over unranked Iowa State Cyclones behind the leadership of QB Arnaud who had a very solid game with 268 yards passing with 3 touchdowns, and the Jayhawks led in total yards 436-365 for the come from behind victory. This is the week six College Football recap, and as always good luck from Great Lakes Sports.

College Football Preview Week 5

This week has a couple of good games on tap for Saturday nights action highlighted by a huge game between the number 8 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide traveling between the hedges to face the number 3 ranked Georgia Bulldogs which should be a real barn burner. The Crimson Tide behind Head Coach Nick Saban is a perfect 4-0, and not has had a close game yet, and a big part of their success has been their stout defense who is giving up only 9 points per game so far this season, and will need to bring forth their “A” game against a very good Georgia Bulldogs team, and will be playing in front of the hostile Bulldogs crowd. The Georgia Bulldogs like the Crimson Tide is a perfect 4-0, and they have out scored their opponents 142-55 so far this season, and the Bulldogs are led QB Matt Stafford who has thrown for 919 yards completing 60.8% of his passes with 5 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Check out who Great Lakes Sports has for this game, and a solid Saturday full of action here at Great Lakes Sports. The other game we would like to talk about is the Penn State vs Illinois football game when number 12 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions playing host to number 22 Illinois team which will be the first true test for Joe Pa’s Nittany Lions team. The Nittany Lions are a 4-0 perfect this year averaging 53 points per game while giving up only 10 points per game, and while The Fighting Illini has the Michigan Wolverines on deck in which they are 0-4 ATS before the Michigan game. The Penn State Nittany Lions is a solid 6-2 ATS at home with conference revenge. We look for the Penn State Nittany Lions to roll over the Illinois Fighting Illini for the home ATS win & cover in this key Big Ten conference showdown, and will get their revenge from a 27-20 loss to Illinois last year. Here is a couple of previews for some key match-ups this week, and one other quick note their will be a new number one this week when USC went downed to Oregon State 27-21, and this Alabama against Georgia game will have major BCS Bowl implications this week. We here at Great Lakes Sports wish you a very solid winning week, and as always good luck here at Great Lakes Sports.

The Cleveland Browns Loses Home Opener

The Cleveland Browns who have high expectations this year started off the season being demolished at home 28-10 by the Dallas Cowboys, and the game wasn’t even that close as they were out stated in total yards 487-205, and in first downs where the Cowboys have 30 first downs to just 11 for the Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns do have some injuries but they were out played in every part of the game, and their biggest week spot looks like the ability to rush the passer as they had no sacks in the Dallas Cowboys game. I see the problem is that we got two very strong run stoppers that played in the 3-4 in Williams, and Rogers when they played inside in the 4-3 defense last year, and will need time to adjust to the 3-4 defense. The other problem the Cleveland Browns have is that they are very week in the secondary giving up a lot of big pass plays so far, and it be might be even worst with their best secondary went down last week in Safety Sean Jones who will be out for about a month with a knee injury, and which the Cleveland Browns have no depth in the secondary to begin with. We look for the Cleveland Browns who will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in a key divisional game this Sunday to come out and move the ball on offense, but will have trouble stopping RB Willie Parker & company on defense, and this game should be a high scoring affair with the Browns winning by a field goal late in the game. One other quick note is that the Cleveland Browns schedule does not get any easier so they will need to shore up their defense if they have any hopes of winning the AFC North Division.

College Football Opening Week Recap

This past week went pretty much as expected except for a couple of games that I will touch upon starting off with the first upset of the season as the Bowling Green Falcons went into Pittsburgh stadium and dismantle the Panthers 27-17 even though they were out gained in total yards 393-254. The Falcons did force three Pitt turnovers to help them with one of the best win in quite sometime for the Falcons. The second game that I wanted to bring to your attention is what could be the biggest upset of the day when the Arkansas Red Wolves when into College Station and beat the Texas A&M Aggies 18-14, and had 415 total offense to 303 for the Aggies this could be the biggest win in Arkansas State history. The last game that I will touch upon is the Alabama Crimson rolling over the underachieving Clemson Tigers 34-10, and out stated the overrated Clemson Tigers 419 yards to a dismal 188 yards of which all of Clemson’s yards were through the air as the potent Tigers running game was shut out with no yards rushing, and to my knowledge this is the first time a ranked team did not have a single yard rushing. There is one other amazing stat is the Crimson Tide had the ball for 41:13 minutes to a terrible 18:47 for the Clemson Tigers. The Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Lou Saban has his troops running on all cylinders so far this young season, and if they keep playing this well the Alabama Crimson Tide could find themselves playing for a BCS Bowl Game this season.

College Football Opening Week Preview

Welcome to another exciting year in College Football, and we here at Great Lakes Sports look for another solid year. This opening week of action has some very intriguing match-ups starting off on a Thursday night with NC State vs South Carolina, and their will be a full slate of games on Saturday highlighted by Oklahoma State vs Washington State, Utah vs Michigan, Illinois vs Missouri , and Alabama vs Clemson. This weekends games doesn’t stop their on Sunday it will be an interstate rival Kentucky vs Louisville, and then we wind up this weeks action with to very good match-ups with the first games being Fresno State traveling to New Jersey to play Rutgers, and the last game of the weekend having a SEC vs Pac 10 showdown with Tennessee traveling to California to face UCLA. If this is any indication on how this year College Football season is shaping up we are all in for a real treat. We here at Great Lakes Sports especially like the Alabama vs Clemson match-up with both teams having very high expectations this year, and also with a strong recruiting class by both teams especially the Alabama Crimson Tide with one of the recruiting classes in the country. The Alabama Crimson Tide returns fifteen starters this year while the Clemson Tigers has eighteen returning starters led by a strong pair of running backs in junior CJ Spiller, and senior James Davis which will be going up against the solid defense of the Alabama Crimson Tide. We look for this game to go down to the wire, and the one that has the football last could end up the winner. This is just one of many intriguing games this weekend so sit back, and enjoy the games, and as always good luck from Great Lakes Sports.