Tag: Jerry Palm

Oklahoma Sooners underrated heading into 2022?

After being considered overrated by a couple of writers in CBS Sports Big 12 preview, others consider the Sooners underrated ahead of 2022.

CBS Sports has a deep roster of writers with varying opinions, especially regarding college football. Last week, CBS Sports writers chronicled the Big 12, where they looked at the league heading into 2022. Oklahoma was listed as one of the Big 12’s more overrated teams by writers Shehan Jeyarajah and Barrett Sallee.

This time around, the CBS Sports’ writing team is looking at the college football landscape as a whole, and lo and behold, Oklahoma is on the other side of the discussion. CBS Sports David Cobb believes Oklahoma is underrated as the 2022 season approaches.

The Big 12 looks wide open at the top as five programs, which translates to half the league, received at least one first-place vote in the preseason media poll. But that scattershot of opinions discounts how well-equipped Oklahoma is to thrive in Year 1 under new coach Brent Venables. The offense won’t miss a beat with UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel at quarterback, and the defense should immediately improve after years of mediocrity under former coach Lincoln Riley. With Baylor’s questions at the skill positions, Oklahoma State’s significant defensive losses and the general inconsistency of Texas, it’s Oklahoma that still stands out as the class of the Big 12. – Cobb, CBS Sports

In contrast to his colleagues, Cobb notes how Oklahoma has equipped itself to handle the turnover. Another factor Cobb considered are the losses its direct competition underwent as well.

You don’t win six straight conference titles and then fade into obscurity at a program with the resources of Oklahoma. Especially if you hired one of the sport’s best defensive minds’ as your head coach and one of the brightest offensive minds to pair with him.

Cobb and his colleague Jerry Palm even predicted that Oklahoma would make the College Football Playoff as the fourth seed along with Ohio State, Alabama, and Clemson.

Venables was Cobb and Palm’s preseason pick for coach of the year.

The Sooners’ steady athletic leadership picked the perfect replacement for Riley by hiring a coveted name with Oklahoma roots in Venables, the long-time Clemson defensive coordinator. Though defense is his speciality, he already avoided the trap of pigeon-holing his program into a one-dimensional box by hiring Jeff Lebby as offensive coordinator. Venables and Lebby have been among the best coordinators in the sport for several years, and their coalescence at a university of personal significance to both is a recipe for immediate success. Venables will get the Sooners headed in the right direction defensively while implementing elements of Clemson’s culture in a way that keeps this team in national title contention. – Cobb, CBS Sports

This season will be a test of different proportions for Venables in his first year as a head coach. If the Sooners find themselves in the playoffs, there’s no reason Venables wouldn’t deserve coach of the year consideration.

[listicle id=70000]

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm predicts Notre Dame-Clemson in Orange Bowl

Would you like to see this rematch?

We have no idea how Notre Dame’s season will play out. Sure, it probably will be a very good one like everyone is predicting, but those predictions are just those. You can say that for just about every team in college football. Still, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports took a crack at predicting every bowl matchup for the coming season, and he has the Irish and Clemson in the Orange Bowl less than two months after the programs’ Nov. 5 meeting at Notre Dame Stadium.

If this comes to pass, five of the Irish’s seven most recent bowls will have been a New Year’s Six bowl. It would give the Irish their third chance since 2018 to beat the Tigers on a big stage after failing badly in the 2018 Cotton Bowl and the 2020 ACC title game. It also would be the Irish’s first Orange Bowl berth since a 31-26 loss to Florida State on New Year’s Day in 1996.

You know you want to see [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and his team tossing the oranges from that trophy out to whoever is in the vicinity after that game, so let’s see them make it happen.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Alabama’s projected seeding on Selection Sunday

Let’s see Alabama’s projected seeding on Selection Sunday

Good Sunday morning ladies and gentlemen. I am sure everyone is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after springing forward in time last night. Even with somewhat heavy eyes, I do have some news to report early this Sunday morning.

The college basketball conference tournaments will conclude later this afternoon and the NCAA tournament committee will release its official tournament bracket at 5:00 p.m. CT on CBS.

Some changes could obviously happen with a handful of bubble teams still fighting for spot in the tournament but fortunately for the Tide, Alabama is securely in the field of 68.

Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Jerry Palm of CBS were both up in the wee hours of the morning to update their respective projected brackets.

According to Lunardi’s bracket, Alabama is the sixth seed on the East side of the bracket and will be matching up with the eleventh seed Rutgers.

In Palm’s latest bracket, Alabama is the seventh seed on the West side and is matched up with ten seed Wyoming.

Rub the sleep out of your eyes and get your popcorn ready, March Madness is about to kick into high gear.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for updated bracket projections and for Alabama’s official seeding in the 2022 NCAA tournament.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on Twitter @Blackwood89.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

Different seeds, same opponent for Tigers in latest CBS Sports and ESPN bracketology projections

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Tigers as a No. 6 seed, while CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm has them on the seven-seed line. Both, however, have them drawing Wyoming.

LSU missed an opportunity to add a gem to its resume on Wednesday night against an Arkansas team that is playing like one of the nation’s best right now. Still, the loss on the road to a team that had won 14 of its last 15 entering the matchup won’t reflect too poorly on Will Wade’s squad.

This team is an essential lock to make the NCAA Tournament with 20 wins on the year already and a NET Ranking in the top 20. But it’s not playing its best basketball in the second half of the season.

Since Jan. 15, this team is just 5-9. It played back-to-back opponents tough on the road, holding second-half leads at Kentucky and against the Razorbacks. Neither panned out, though, and the Tigers may not find themselves in the best seeding position if they don’t win the finale against Alabama on Saturday and make a nice run in next week’s SEC Tournament.

Here’s how the Tigers fare in the most recent bracket projections heading into the final game of the regular season.

Next: ESPN Bracketology from Joe Lunardi

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Here’s where LSU stands in the latest expert bracketology projections

The Tigers saw their seed line drop in one projection after the loss to South Carolina.

Missing the NCAA Tournament isn’t much of a concern for the Tigers at this point. With a top-20 ranking in the NET, they’re essentially a lock to go dancing in March.

But LSU may have done some damage to its seeding on Saturday with a surprising road loss to South Carolina. The Gamecocks orchestrated a come-from-behind two-point win that ended the Tigers’ three-game winning streak.

Now, things don’t get any easier for LSU, who takes on Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Wednesday night. Heading into what is the most challenging game remaining on the schedule, here’s what the experts think about LSU’s tournament resume.

Next: ESPN bracketology from Joe Lunardi

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Here’s where Florida lands in the latest bracketology predictions heading into Auburn game

The consensus opinion is that the Gators are a bubble team currently on the outside of the projected NCAA Tournament field.

It’s been a bad week for Florida basketball. The Gators’ lost their four-game winning streak on Saturday with a blowout loss on the road against Kentucky, and Tuesday night’s follow-up loss against Texas A&M may have dealt the final blow to this team’s NCAA Tournament chances.

There may still be a glimmer of hope, but making it to the big dance at this point would likely require either an upset win on Saturday against No. 2 Auburn at home or in the rematch against the Wildcats in Gainesville in the regular-season finale.

Most bracket projections at this point don’t include the Gators. Most have coach Mike White‘s squad on the bubble but on the wrong side of the field. Here’s where the Gators stand in all of the most recent expert predictions.

Music City Bowl: Jerry Palm previews Purdue

Music City Bowl: Jerry Palm previews Purdue ahead of playing Tennessee

Tennessee (7-5, 4-4 SEC) will play in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl against Purdue (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten).

The contest will take place Dec. 30 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. EST and ESPN will televise the matchup.

Ahead of the matchup, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports joined the show “Football Two-A-Days” and previewed Purdue. The show can be listened to here or below.

2021 Tennessee Vols’ football schedule

  • Sept. 2 Bowling Green (W, 38-6)
  • Sept. 11 Pittsburgh (L, 41-34)
  • Sept. 18 Tennessee Tech (W, 56-0)
  • Sept. 25 at Florida (L, 38-14)
  • Oct. 2 at Missouri (W, 62-24)
  • Oct. 9 South Carolina (W, 45-20)
  • Oct. 16 Ole Miss (L, 31-26)
  • Oct. 23 at Alabama (L, 52-24)
  • Nov. 6 at Kentucky (W, 45-42)
  • Nov. 13 Georgia (L, 41-17)
  • Nov. 20 South Alabama (W, 60-14)
  • Nov. 27 Vanderbilt (W, 45-21)

Follow us at @VolsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of University of Tennessee athletics.

[vertical-gallery id=30632]

Florida hanging on to a tournament spot in CBS Sports bracketology

Florida remains in the tournament field in Jerry Palm’s bracketology, but just barely.

Florida’s strong start to the season was entirely derailed on Monday night with a 69-54 loss to a Texas Southern team that entered the game with an 0-7 record. It’s one of the worst losses in program history for the Gators, and having a Quadrant 4 loss on the resume will only make things more difficult for them heading into SEC play in a league that is the strongest it has been in quite a while.

Still, in spite of that, Florida is still a projected NCAA Tournament team in the latest bracketology from CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, albeit barely. Palm has UF as a No. 10 seed in the West Region, drawing No. 7-seeded West Virginia in the first round. The Gators would likely draw two-seeded Gonzaga in the second round with a win if this projection were accurate, with the top seed in the region being Iowa State.

With regard to the SEC (and truthfully, in general) Palm’s bracket projection differs greatly from the latest projection from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Palm has Alabama as a No. 1 seed in his bracket followed by Tennessee and LSU on the four-seed line. Meanwhile, he has Auburn as a No. 5 seed and Arkansas as a No. 8 seed.

Perhaps the most surprising placement in this bracketology has to do with a team whose absence you may have noticed above. Palm doesn’t have Kentucky in the tournament field, instead, relegating the Wildcats to the First Four Out despite the fact that they rank No. 10 in the country and have only one loss, which came against Duke.

This goes to show that predicting the tournament field, especially in December, is more art than science. But either way, both Palm and Lunardi are in agreement that Florida is getting closer to the bubble line, and it will likely need a few big wins in conference play (and to avoid any more non-conference slipups) to avoid missing the tournament for the first time since coach Mike White‘s first season.

[lawrence-related id=63237]

[listicle id=63117]

[vertical-gallery id=63131]

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Here’s where CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm thinks the Gators are going bowling

Palm has the Gators taking on a rival in the Gator Bowl.

Florida fell to just 4-4 on the season after Saturday’s 34-7 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs. The Gators were competitive for most of the first half and kept it close, but three touchdowns in two and a half minutes from UGA (capitalizing off a trio of Anthony Richardson turnovers) allowed it to stretch its lead before half.

UF was never able to recover, and now it enters the final four seasons without much to play for aside from avoiding the worst finish coach Dan Mullen has had at Florida. According to CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, the Gators will be returning to Jacksonville on New Year’s Eve to take on in-state rival Miami in the Gator Bowl.

Though the Gator Bowl was a common landing spot for the team in the past, it hasn’t played in the game many times in recent years. The most recent was in 2011 when the Gators defeated Ohio State in the final game under coach Luke Fickell before Urban Meyer took over.

Miami leads the all-time series over the Gators 29-27, and in the seven contests between the two teams this century, UF has only won two of them. However, it did capture a win in the most recent game when it beat the Hurricanes 24-20 in Orlando to kick off the 2019 season.

This would be a disappointing outcome, no doubt, but it would at least provide a game with some intrigue in a historic and geographically close bowl game.

[lawrence-related id=59156,59151,59145,58891]

[listicle id=59175]

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

CBS Sports Jerry Palm predicts where Notre Dame lands in first CFP rankings

Is this a good spot for the Irish?

The first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings are set to be announced next Tuesday and many are wondering where their favorite teams will ultimately get ranked. There is still plenty of time until the final CFP rankings are released, but it’s alway good to gauge where a team is that time point in the season.

For the Irish, they have unfortunately had a loss this year, albeit to his No. 5 ranked Cincinnati. Jerry Palm of CBS Sports doesn’t dock them too much for that defeat, as the ranked them No. 9 in his initial projection of the CFP rankings. He, however, wasn’t as kind to the rest of the Irish’s opponents so far this season.

The Fighting Irish have what measure out to be a good schedule because there are horrible teams on it. – Palm

Palm ranks Georgia, Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State in his top four, seemingly showing that the SEC and Big Ten are the top conferences this fall. We are all eagerly awaiting to find out if he is correct in his assessment next week.