What an AWESOME night on September 16, 2014 for the Baltimore Orioles. The O's were one win away from clinching the AL east title and bringing it back to Baltimore since their last time winning the championship 17 years ago. The Orioles had a up and down season last year finishing the season 85 and 77 with a .525 winning percentage. The Orioles were win away last year from sealing up the last AL east wild card spot but the same Blue Jays that they defeated on Tuesday to clinch the 2014 title beat them 3-2 to put them out of the playoff race. Despite Chris Davis being suspended a few days ago the O's were able to keep their surge and WIN! The Orioles had some great series wins this season to past opponents that would dominant them. Since the beginning of the season up to this point the Orioles have played the Yankees fifteen times and out of fifteen games the Orioles won eleven of them. The Yankees was the O's speed bump in 2012 in the first round of the playoffs and this was a perfect revenge season for the birds. The question now is will the birds continue with their momentum into the playoffs?
Let's take a ride down 95 south where the 2012 NL east champions reside and NOW!!! 2014 NL east champions reside. The Nationals took their show on the road to Atlanta to play for their second championship in three years. The Nationals proved that they could beat the Braves convincingly and in their back yard with a shut out score of 3-0. The Nationals can thank Pitcher Tanner Roak, closers Tyler Clippard, Drew Storen and short stop Ian Desmond with closing the game strong and sealing the victory for the Nationals. Roak pitched seven scoreless innings, allowed only five hits, no walks and struck out four batters. Roak threw 89 pitches and finished with an era of 2.85 showing the Nationals why he deserves to be on the team by winning big in a pivotal game for the Nationals. Tyler Clippard came in to relieve Roak and closed out the eighth inning retiring the Braves batters handing the game over to Drew Storen to close it out. Despite the Nationals past problems with their closers, Storen came in and pitched right at the braves batters only needing seven pitches to take the air out of Braves stadium. All three batters for the Braves grounded out and that's right the celebration began and the NL East title was in DC again. Ian Desmond gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning with a 443 foot home run after Jayson Werth drew a walk from Aaron Harang. Ian Desmond gave the Nationals an insurance run to start off the ninth inning after doubling by scoring on a wild pitch by the Braves David Carpenter. The Nationals victory came minutes before the Orioles won the AL East title. Now the Nationals must finish their regular season and come with the same drive that they had to win the NL East title into MLB playoffs.
What a saturday in the ACC especially for Virginia, Virginia Tech and Boston College. Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh both had games that should of been easy wins and their scores reflected such games. However, Pittsburgh even though they beat Florida International 42-25 still had problems finishing FIU. The panthers came out flat for their noon game against FIU and it showed in the first quarter of play. Pittsburgh was able to overcome a 16 point deficit in the first quarter with help from sophomore running back James Conner finishing with 177 yards on 31 carries. The Panthers quarterback Chad Voytik contributed with 12 carries and 126 yards and a 32 yard touchdown run. Voytik was 9 for 17 for 89 yards and 1 touchdown in the passing game to help Pitt in their win.
Georgia Tech on the other hand started off strong and had to rally against Georgia Southern to win. The yellow jackets blew a first half lead in the third quarter by allowing Georgia Southern to score 20 points to their 0 points. The yellow jackets Jamal Golden forced a fumble with 4:12 on the clock and the yellow jackets was able to drive down the field and score the game winning touchdown. Justin Thomas the yellow jackets leading rusher saturday completed the pass to D. Hill for the win. Duke, Miami, Syracuse and NC State finished with victories on saturday.
Two teams in the ACC lost saturday and out of the two losses Virginia Techs lost was the worse. Virginia Tech coming off a gigantic win against Ohio State drops the ball against ECU. Virginia Tech jumped into the top 25 after defeating Ohio St. and lost to ECU by a late touchdown by the pirates. Virginia Techs kicker Joey Slye in the 4th quarter kicked the ensuing kick off out of bounds giving the Pirates the ball on the 35 yard line. An illegal substitution penalty on the Hokies aided in the Pirates game winning touchdown run. Wake forest was the other lost of the day in the ACC to Utah State.
This week I have two games that were on my radar as games of the weekend! First up goes to my Virginia Cavaliers, the cavaliers coming off a great victory against in state Richmond headed into saturday as underdogs to than 17th ranked Louisville. A tight game in the fourth quarter lady luck reared her face when Louisville fumbled a punt which was recovered by Kelvin Rainey for Virginia at the Cardinals 25 yard line. Lady Luck came right on time for the Wahoos and four plays later the Cavaliers kicker Ian Frye sealed the victory with a 42-yard field goal. My final game of the weekend and it sits atop the list for games of the week in the ACC. Boston College defeats 9th ranked USC at Boston College 37-31. The game MVP award goes to BC quarter back Tyler Murphy. Murphy help beat USC with his legs saturday boasting 13 carries for 191 yards and the game sealing touchdown of 66 yards. The Eagles were flying high off of emotions wearing red bandannas that showed support for former BC grad and World Trade Center hero Welles Crowther. It doesn't get any better than that america.
Week 4 approaches and the game to watch will be Florida St. vs. Clemson who will win this game? I am going with the Seminoles to take this game. Tell me your picks for the ACC. #theACCDN
Last saturday was a great day for the football teams of the ACC. The conference went 11-0 in outer conference games and the one conference game the panthers of Pitt dominated Boston College. Cavaliers of Virginia were able to bounce back from their opening day lost mainly due to lack of offense to run over the Spiders of Richmond 45-13 scoring one or more touchdowns each quarter. UVAs quarterback duo of Matt Johns and Greyson Lambert lead two scoring drives for the Cavaliers which was a major improvement from their first outer conference game against #7 UCLA. The Cavaliers defense remained stout by forcing seven turnovers from the spiders offense including one of the turnovers being a 22-yard interception return for a touchdown. The Cavaliers will open their ACC play tomorrow hosting newly added #21 ranked Louisville.
The Florida State Seminoles continued their domination with a second outer conference game smashing the Citadel 37-12 keeping the Seminoles atop of the national polls at #1 and #1 in the ACC. Florida St. finished 2-0 in outer conference play starting off with a close victory against Oklahoma St. and of course beating The Citadel, but will begin their ACC play against Clemson on September 20th. Clemson came out strong against South Carolina St. last saturday beating them 73-3 which to me suppose to happen especially against a team that doesn't present a threat. The big question will be can they maintain that same fire against the #1 team in the country next saturday. Clemson couldn't escape Athens with a victory against the Bulldogs and definitely will be challenged on the road in Tallahasee.
The Hurricanes bounced back just as Clemson did after their opening lost to ACC newcomer Louisville by defeating Florida A&M 41-7. Miami continued their offensive troubles by only converting 2 out of 10 third down conversions and 3 turnovers by the offense. Even though they steam rolled the Rattlers that doesn't look good for the Hurricanes offense as a unit. Syracuse held on to beat a good Villanova team which in the eyes of some are on the level of North Dakota St. and Eastern Washington. Villanova who the week before losing to Syracuse demolished the Fordham Rams 50-6 which were ranked #10 in the FCS coaches poll should give Syracuse a sense of accomplishment with beating a solid team.
Georgia Tech was pushed to limit for a second week. In their opener the Yellow Jackets barely escaped with a victory against Tulane and at the half versus Wafford they were only up 10-9 but was able to pull away in the second half. Duke started off their season with two victories against easy opponents in Elon and Troy. The big question will be how will they fair against ACC competition after playing teams that they should beat at least on paper. The Tarheels are 2-0 after two weeks of play but just the majority of the teams across the nation they also played against non competitive schools to begin their season. Their two victories came against Liberty and San Diego State. The Pittsburgh Panthers took their show on the road to Boston College and defeated them convincingly 30-20 with smart field play by running the ball 51 times eating up clock and testing the Eagles defense which couldn't stop James Connor.
NOW!!!!! for my ACC team of the week award goes to the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies took their show on the road to Columbus, Ohio against the than ranked #8 Buckeyes. The Hokies in the eyes of all analyst were underdogs and wasn't suppose to beat the Buckeyes gave reporters a different perspective after saturday nights victory. Virginia Tech than un-ranked wanted the world to see that they should be in the top 10 after holding off the Buckeyes. I know analyst thoughts were that Ohio St. didn't have their top quarterback at the helm, however you recruit players that can step up when someone takes a fall. I could imagine Buckeye stadium in dead silence after the clock read 00:00 at the end of the game and Tech were the victors. The Hokies scored one or more touchdowns in each quarter against Ohio St. except for the third quarter where they couldn't score but made up for it in the fourth quarter scoring 14 points. Great job Hokies from a Cavalier and it was great to see the final score in your favor. That's my week 2 wrap-up I am looking forward to seeing how week 3 unravels as some of the teams start their inner conference play. Stay tuned and continue to read my blogs as I cover all aspects of sports. #theACCDN
It's finally here and it's about time!!!!! Years have gone by and numerous sports reporters and college football players both former and current including myself have wanted a playoff system for college football. The former way of crowning a national champion was flawed and too easy especially if you had a powder puff schedule and finished undefeated year after year. I have always been a supporter of the underdog and the past few years some teams have emerged as giants and have shook the polls. I believe adding the college football playoff system will allow those underdog teams with great records to be seen on a larger stage. One of those teams in my eyes will be North Dakota State. I am glad that we can say good bye to the normal top 5 teams being the front runners and receiving bids to all of the BCS bowls. I definitely believe adding more games to a 10 game schedule is perfect. The College football season is too short with such a huge build up for the season to kick off. I wonder if former players were given a survey asking if they would prefer a playoff system would they say yes? I wonder that because with adding a playoff system it could potential help some of the players stock before entering the draft instead of relying solely on their pro days.
NOWWWWWWW (DRUM ROLL PLEASE) my predictions for the rest of the college season. Week 1 has gone as planned and everyone that was ranked in the top 10 has started off undefeated. Jameis Winston and the current NCAA football champions opened their season with the unranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. Florida St. was able to hold off the Cowboys surge to win 37-31 to remain at the top of the rankings. Alabama who remains at #2 didn't look to well with their opening against West Virginia in the after A.J. McCarron era. West Virginia aided in Alabamas victory with numerous mistakes and not finishing drives in the red zone with touch downs. So I will apologize for not jumping on the Roll Tide bandwagon. Even though the Ducks have lost a huge part of their offense with Thomas I still believe the Ducks will pose a threat to the top two teams and make them play perfect or near perfect each week. I believe that everyone is sleeping on the Michigan State Spartans and they will climb up the ladder but will not have enough fire to take it to the Big Show in January. I know you're patiently waiting for my pick and here it goes. I pick the ACC to remain at the top one more year with the Florida St. Seminoles but it will be another hard fought victory for the Seminoles against the Ducks of Oregon. #theACCDN
