When the Arkansas offense needs a boost, give them a Cup of Joe to wake them up. Joe Adams has been one of the steadiest wide receivers for the Razorbacks. He is a short speedy slot receiver (5’11 190lbs) that is an excellent playmaker in space and was recently named to the Biletnikoff award watch list for 2011. 

Last season Joe Adams tallied 7 total touchdowns and had three games over 100 receiving yards including 138 vs Tennessee Tech, 130 at Georgia, and 120 vs Ohio State; he also had a combined 99 receiving/rushing yards at Auburn. He is a big contributor in special teams as well having returned a punt for a touchdown last year. 

When he’s not having big games, he is a true working Joe that is the model of consistency. Adams has  caught at least one pass in all 34 games he has played in. He had only three games last season under 45 receiving yards and only six under 60. He has racked up 1,758 receiving yards and 16 total touchdowns over his career of three seasons. 

I have included some YouTube videos of Joe Adams and some links to more information on him. With all the great receivers on the Razorbacks, sometimes people forget about Adams. So next time you are with your friends watching Razorback football let them know if the Hogs need a spark then all they need is a Cup of Joe to wake them up. 

Here are some links with more information on Joe Adams:
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/24442/adams-streak-at-34-games-and-counting
http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/stats/_/id/382617/joe-adams
http://www.arkansassports360.com/25649/quartet-of-razorback-receivers-make-biletnikoff-award-watch-list-for-2011
http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2010/oct/25/adams-named-sec-special-teams-player-week/

The Big East is more like the Big Yeast, because it just seems to lag behind the other BCS conferences in fermentation especially the fine wine of the SEC. The addition of TCU will help the conference greatly since they are in need of recognition. They lack big out of conference wins and only have one team projected to be ranked in the preseason top 25. 

Over the last five years in BCS out of conference games including Utah and Notre Dame (non-bowl games), the Big East is 36-40 (47 percent) compared to SEC which is nine percentage points better at 40-32 (56 percent). Even if you subtracted each conferences worst team versus out of conference BCS teams, the SEC is still much better. The Big East OOC BCS record without Syracuse is 34-32 (52 percent) which is still 10 percentage points less than the SEC’s 39-24 (62 percent) without Vanderbilt. 

On the other hand, the Big East and SEC are very close in percentage points in bowl games over the last five years with the SEC’s record at 31-15 (67 percent) and Big East at 19-9 (68 percent). Despite the bowl wins, they lack consistent dominate teams nationally and in conference. Louisville and Cincinnati had winning streaks, but coaching changes led to a downward winning trend. West Virginia is the only Big East team projected this season to be in the preseason AP top 25. 

TCU’s addition in 2012 will definitely help the Big Yeast ferment. Over the last five seasons, TCU is 4-1 in bowl games and 9-2 in OOC BCS games (Utah not included due to being an in conference game). That would bring the Big East OOC BCS record to 45-42 (52 percent) and bowl record to 23-10 (70 percent) over the last five seasons. TCU also finished second last season in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Poll.

 However until the Horned Frogs arrive, they are still the Big Yeast conference for another season. Fine wine takes time.

Link to "TCU to join Big East Conference" on ESPN.com: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/news/story?id=5862368

The Arkansas Razorbacks versus the Arkansas State Red Wolves will probably never happen and I’m going to tell everyone why. Oh and for people not from Arkansas; yes there is another football team in Arkansas. What sparked this post is an article that I read on www.hogdb.com (click here to read) in which I posted comments on the other day. I decided to continue the discussion on here and repost some of my replies.
 
It is not that the Razorbacks would lose to the Red Wolves. Of course I think that the Hogs would destroy them now. The point I tried to explain to the author of the article on hogdb.com is that it is a business strategy by the University of Arkansas to keep all of college sports programs in state completely irrelevant by keeping a death grip on the state market; Out of sight out of mind. 

Arkansas is one of the smallest states by population in the SEC which has a sports market that is dominated by the Razorbacks and that is why they will never play another team in state. In regards to population, the University of Arkansas resides in the second smallest state for a team in the SEC; Mississippi being the only other state with a smaller population. Even the other states that share big universities (other than Mississippi) would still have close to or better than the same population share as Arkansas if divided up among the major schools. Otherwise, Arkansas being in such a small state never wants to give notice to any other football program even if they are a team from the much weaker Sun Belt conference. 

The Razorbacks want to keep the feeling in Arkansas that the Hogs are a professional team and all the other college teams are just glorified high school teams. I’m not saying that is the way it should or shouldn't be, but it is a clear business strategy by the university to keep dominating a state market that they are not threatened by in regards to both athletics and academics. Arkansas has not played another in state team in many years if ever. I checked the football and basketball schedules of the Razorbacks on ESPN over the past 10 years and they had no other in state teams listed. I'm sure it goes back farther.

The longshot arguments to not have the game between the Razorbacks and Red Wolves still do have some relevance. Even though it is a longshot that ASU would win or that they would get a big recruiting boost, it could only benefit the Red Wolves and the mere publicity would help them. As noted on hogdb.com, Coach Petrino does not recruit in Arkansas as much as before, but one out of five of his recruits are still coming from in the state. Also, players that are overlooked by Arkansas may be more willing to go to ASU if the Red Wolves are publicized more rather than go out of state. It would only give chance for the Razorbacks to help another football team in their same market. 

Another reason which relates to the business perspective and overall advertising of the Arkansas program is that Arkansas does not want to spark any hatred towards the Razorbacks from other colleges in state; for example, the tackling of Brutus the Buckeye of Ohio State by Rufus the Bobcat of Ohio University that I have posted the YouTube video of below. “The whole reason I tried out was so I could come up here to Ohio State and tackle Brutus,”said Brandon Hanning, former Ohio University’s Rufus the Bobcat. There is so much Hog love in Arkansas that the university does not want to create any type of fan opposition. 

Explaining the business strategy of it to some that refuse to understand it may be useless, but I still try. I would watch the game if it ever happen and I would probably go to it. However, I completely understand the rationality of it not happening. Arkansas' strategy has worked well at solidifying the Razorbacks as the top brand in the state so why change it. In the long run, it is a useless argument unless Arkansas State ever gains fan recognition and starts to win. Until then Arkansas will be full of Hog fans and not many are pushing for a game between the two teams. Who wants to see a Razorback punched by a Red Wolf?

Here are a couple links and the YouTube video of Brutus getting tackled by Rufus:
"Arkansas vs Arkansas State: Should we play?" on Hogdb.com: http://www.hogdb.com/2011/07/08/let-me-depart-from-politics-for-a-moment-and-discuss-my-other-passion-%e2%80%93-razorback-football/
"Bobcat: Hittin Brutus was "whole plan"" on ESPN.com: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5596131

Nothing to surprising about my picks, but I may change some before the season starts.These are my BCS conference champion predictions:
ACC: Florida State
Contenders: Florida State is almost everyone's preseason favorite for ACC champion, but Virginia Tech is the frontrunner to win the Coastal division and the conference overall this year should be solid.
Big East: West Virginia
Contenders: Pitt may be the next contender, but overall the conference looks bland coming into this season and West Virginia seems to be the only strong team in the conference.
Big 12: Oklahoma
Contenders: The Sooners are the clear favorite, but the Big 12 does have other contenders for the 2011 championship including Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, and longshot Missouri.
Big 10: Wisconsin
Contenders: It looks as though Ohio State should finally have a down year so that leaves the field wide open. Nebraska may be the next favorite to win championship after Wisconsin and they should win the Legends division, but plenty others have a chance including Michigan State and Michigan.
Pac 12: Oregon
Contenders: With Andrew Luck returning, it makes Stanford a contender, but it will be difficult for them to duplicate last season with all of their other key losses. If USC was not under a ban, then they could possibly win the championship. The Trojans may end up with one of the better records in the Pac 12. Oregon has a wealth of talent and should win another championship this year, but off the field issues are now looming over the program that may have an effect.
SEC: Arkansas/ Alabama
Contenders: I listed two champions for this conference since I am somewhat bias on this selection since I'm a known Hog fan. I do believe the Razorbacks can win the SEC this season, but Alabama is the clear favorite among most others. However, the SEC is stacked with competition with the West having other stout contenders in LSU and Mississippi State as well as in the East division there are contenders in South Carolina, Georgia, and maybe Florida under new coach Will Muschamp.