Bleacher Report - Articles by Dale Plymale

College Football Predictions: Four to Watch in Week Four

Dale Plymale — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:17:16 -0400

Hi all! I’m back again with my four-game college football predictions. Last week I went three out of four, but my upset special of UCLA beating BYU didn’t turn out so well. That is in the past, and this week I’ll definitely go undefeated!

The Sure Pick of the Week

Wyoming at No. 15 BYU

Maybe this pick is to make up to BYU fans for my choice of UCLA last week. Maybe I’m finally convinced that BYU is a good team. Maybe Wyoming is just that bad. The only sure thing is that BYU will win big!

Final Score: BYU 45, Wyoming 10

The Upset of the Week

No. 20 Utah at Air Force

Sorry, college football fans in the state of Utah—I don’t mean to pick on you. Two weeks in a row that I have a Utah team on the wrong end of the Upset Special. I see Air Force controlling the clock and winning a squeaker. Air Force is always a tough game.

Final Score: Air Force 20, Utah 17

The Game of the Week

No. 6 LSU at No. 9 Auburn

Do I need to say why this is the game of the week? With two SEC teams in the top 10 going at it for 60 minutes with an undefeated season at stake, this is going to be great. I predict another upset here, but not as big.

I actually think that Auburn has the better team, but LSU is and should be ranked higher. This will change this weekend. I just hope LSU doesn’t fall too far out of the top 10 because they are a great team.

Final Score: Auburn 33, LSU 24

My PS Pick of the Week

This week is my homer pick.

No. 22 West Virginia at Colorado

Tonight in blacked-out Folsom Field. I think that ECU exposed a lot of West Virginia’s flaws. Have those flaws been fixed in the last 10 days?

Also, if the rumors are true, Dan Hawkins has only been using a small amount of his playbook for the first two games of the season. The rumor states that he didn’t want to show anything to WVU, FSU, or Texas.

I don’t know if I believe those rumors, but I kind of hope that it is true. I really want to see Darrell Scott in the I-formation instead of the Spread.

My prediction (I’m a CU homer) is that the Buffs will play solid defense and control the clock. The Mountaineers will look better than they did against ECU, but they still just are not the same team as last year.

Look for me in the stands. I’ll be the one wearing black.

Final Score: CU 35, WVU 21

Three-Game College Football Predictions (Week 3)

Dale Plymale — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:31:15 -0400

Why should anyone listen to my picks? Easy, just like all experts I have all the necessary tools to school the uneducated masses.

What are those tools, you ask? Well, I was trying to keep them a secret, but if you must know, all you need is an Internet connection and a blog.

The sure pick this week:

No. 3 Oklahoma at Washington

No need for the official to blow this game. Although who knows with it being Oklahoma; remember the Oregon win a few years ago? I’ll still stand by my pick and hope the refs are on their best behavior.

Final Score: Oklahoma 41 Washington 10.

The upset of the week:

UCLA at No. 15 BYU

I believe that Slick Rick is going to get UCLA in title contention in a few years, and it hurts me to say that as a CU Buffs fan. I do not have faith that BYU is that great of a team.

They can show me a lot in this game, but I don’t see them beating UCLA. After that, Rick Neuheisel will jump on his chopper to go recruit some more high school kids.

Final Score: UCLA 28 No. 15 BYU 24

The game of the week:

No. 5 Ohio State at No. 1 USC

College football is finally here. No more big boys beating down their little brothers.

This week has a few games that could go here. I think Kansas and South Florida would easily be the game of the week if it didn’t happen to be these two schools playing one another.

I think Beanie Wells is hurt more than people are letting on. If Terrelle Pryor were the starting QB and had a year under his belt, I think this would be a much closer game, but that is not the case.

Final Score: No. 1 USC 37 No. 5 Ohio State 17

P.S. Since I mentioned the Kansas vs. South Florida game I’ll give one additional score.

Final Score: No. 18 South Florida 24 No. 11 Kansas 17

I would have had that game as my upset of the week, but it appears South Florida is the favorite.

No Mas FCS Teams, Por Favor! Colorado Buffaloes Squeak to 2-0

Dale Plymale — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:55:31 -0400

Really, Buffaloes? Really? Eastern Washington? After Montana State two years ago?

OK, now that I got that out of my system: The game wasn’t really as bad as the score shows. And, luckily, the score shows a CU victory, 31-24. Don’t get me wrong, I was looking for a good place to jump off the stadium at halftime. But, looking back on the game after a day, I’ve realized that it was actually a pretty good game.

Eastern Washington has shown the last two weeks they are not afraid of the “Big Boys.” Its quarterback looks like he will get some looks from NFL teams. Our whole section applauded the Eagles off the field after the game.

: The Eagles trot onto the field before the game.

First up, the offense

Cody Hawkins had a decent game, except the pick he threw at the 7:30 mark in the second to put the Eagles up, 21-7. He did complete 28-of-38 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns.

I'm not a fan of running out of the shotgun. Colorado is bigger than the Eagles and needed to show that by pushing the line. Sorry to all those that missed Darrell Scott’s huge run where he hurdled the Eagles player to pick up a first down.

Darrell Scott hurdle's an Eastern Washington defender.

Overall, the running game contributed only 90 yards on 33 carries. This, to me, is unacceptable considering the wealth at the running back position. At least one CU freshman runner got over a hundred yards rushing. Just too bad that it was the new mascot, Ralphie.

The receivers had a much better game, led by Scotty McKnight’s 90 yards on six receptions.

: Colorado mascot Ralphie V charges down the sideline.

Defense not perfect

Eastern Washington’s quarterback, Matt Nichols, had an amazing day. I think we all saw that coming after last week's Texas Tech game considering the weakness in the secondary. Nichols completed 32-of-51 passes for 303 yards. His two interceptions at the end of the game sealed up the CU victory, but if he wasn’t their quarterback, the Eagles would have stood no chance.

The defense stepped up and took the running game out of the equation for the Eagles. So what they are a passing team right? Well it forced them to pass the ball at the end of the game and gave us the victory.

Now for the optimism

The Buffs really could have played a much better game. Josh Smith had another fumble on a punt return that gave EWU a short field. Hawkins gave them a free touchdown and the team kept committing penalties on EWU third downs that gave them extra shots.

The game was really a tale of two halves. The first half, with all the stupid mistakes, gave EWU a 21-7 point lead with the Buffs leaving the field to a chorus of boos. In the second half, the Buffs out scored EWU 24-3 with one of the loudest crowds I’ve heard at Folsom for a non-conference game.

: Colorado readies the snap leading to a late touchdown.

Because of these things, I am still very optimistic looking forward to this season. As of right now, the Buffs are undefeated and still have lots to look forward to.

I can’t wait till next Thursday when West Virginia comes to town. Who knows what to expect in that game.

Colorado Should Always Have a Top Five Recruiting Class

Dale Plymale — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:07:04 -0400

Wow! Freakin’ Wow!

I’ve just had two amazing weeks in this great state.

Last weekend, I visited Glenwood Springs. I went to Hanging Lake—one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is quite a hike to get up there but well worth the trip.

After this we stayed at the Glenwood Springs Lodge and Pool. It was the perfect ending to be in that nice warm pool after such a long hike. I have to thank my mom for the great birthday present sending Kelsey and I up there.

Hanging Lake

So why am I talking about my vacation on a football blog? Am I that much of a narcissist?

Nope! Well at least I don’t think I am. I’ll put up a picture of myself to prove I’m not:

Me behind Hanging Lake Waterfall

While I was in the beauty that is Colorado I became perplexed on how we are not constantly in the top five for recruiting.

I won’t put us as No. 1 because I understand what schools such as Miami and USC bring to the table, but how is it that we are out-recruited on a regular basis by schools such as Ohio State and Nebraska.

I do understand the tradition of those schools brings a lot to the table but when you are looking for a mate do you choose the girl who has been “around” for a while or would you rather have the best looking girl at the party?

If anyone reading this has not had the experience of visiting Boulder, I would highly recommend seeing what a wonderful campus we have here. Make sure you travel just a few miles south and see Eldorado Springs. Its is one of my favorite places to visit and only a 20 minute drive from my house. I cannot imagine a recruit visiting and not being wowed when they leave.

Picture of Eldorado Springs from my balcony

Oh and thanks for the huge B-day win Buffs. If we could only play every year on the birthday.

Hello, My Name is Dale and I’m a Homer

Dale Plymale — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:08:07 -0400

It is hard for me to say those words. I like to think that I am unbiased and reasonable, but in reality I believe the Buffs will win the National Championship.

The Broncos will dominate the NFL and bring the Lombardi trophy back to Denver. The Rockies will pull off another great end of year run to make the playoffs.

The Nuggets will….well….ummm….okay, the Avs can still win the Stanley Cup.

Well guess what? There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking this way. Maybe if I were getting paid for my opinions, I would tone it down a bit. But those thoughts would still be in the back of my head.

Isn’t that the point of sports, to fill us with hope and joy? I won’t be angry or mad if West Virginia beats the Buffs on Sept. 18 but I believe that the Buffs will pull out a huge upset in the John Denver Bowl.

Being a homer gets you ridiculed a lot. Most of the people who make fun or rip on your ideas are either homers themselves (just for another team) or people who don’t truly enjoy sports.

I know a guy who says he is a huge Nuggets fan, but he spends the whole game yelling and screaming at the players on the television. The words he says cannot be repeated in case any young ones are reading this.

At the end of the game, if the Nuggets are the victors he is giving out high fives and saying how great of a job they did. If they just lost, he continues his yelling for about a half hour. Can this really be giving him more joy than stress? The kid probably takes a month off his life every time he watches a game.

I will never questions any person’s ”fanhood” because I don’t really know if he is a better or worse fan than I because of the way that he acts. I can see arguments for both sides.

What upsets me is that these types question my “fanhood” by calling me a homer, that I don’t think the home team can do any wrong.

Of course, my teams do not always play well. The Buffs and Iowa State last year is a great example.

But I would prefer not to rip on the teams I love for every little thing they do wrong. I love watching the game and having hope that everything will turn out right.

Maybe it is because I was raised by Disney and everything always comes out right. Darrell Scott, I mean, Prince Charming will find me one day.