NFL Power Rankings Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/14/2016

Mob rule is rarely a good thing. It is especially damaging when NFL franchises - multibillion dollar entities - become too sensitive to the will of its fan base. When ownership and front offices start making decisions based more on kowtowing to the public rather than maintaining a long-term plan then things can go awry quickly.

NFL Power Rankings Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/7/2016

Last week's opening included a blind list of the best quarterbacks of the most recent generation. My baseline was guys with at least 130 starts. (I made an exception for Matt Stafford and his 105 starts just because his numbers were so intriguing. And because I like even-numbered lists.)

NFL Power Rankings Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 11/30/2016

In lieu of a snappy opening to this week's power rankings, I wanted to have you help me by taking part in a little experiment. Below are stats for 12 of the top quarterbacks in the NFL over the last 10 (or so) years. What I would like you to do - on a piece of paper, in a Word document, in your head - is to rank these quarterbacks based on the stats you see before you.

NFL Power Rankings Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/23/2016

Anyone that suggests that the NFL's extra point rule, changed prior to the 2015 season, is "great" or "smart" or "exciting" is a total and complete asshole. General media consensus the past two seasons is that moving the extra point back to the 15-yard-line rather than the 2-yard-line was a stroke of genius by NFL decision makers. But after watching a Sunday with 12 extra points either blocked or missed, can anyone actually say that this type of ineptitude is good for the game?

NFL Power Rankings Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/16/2016

Before we get into this week's NFL Power Rankings I want to point out that next week these will be posted early on Wednesday. Also, all of Doc's handicappers will have their football selections for next week posted at 6 p.m. on Wednesday to accommodate the Thanksgiving holiday.

2016 SEC Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 11/11/2016

All we heard last year about the SEC was about the Renaissance that was occurring in this football-centric conference. However, it never quite materialized. And after spending last season trying to live up to the hype surrounding Kentucky, Ben Simmons, and several high-profile coaching hires, the SEC enters the 2016-17 campaign as one of the weakest and most disjointed leagues in the country.

NFL Power Rankings Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/9/2016

I've worked in sports, first as a reporter and then as a handicapper, long enough to be jaded by its seedier behind-the-scene elements. I'm not big on people hyping the importance of sporting events, and I think that a lot of people take them way, way too seriously relative to real-life issues. But there is no denying that sports are a fantastic escape and distraction from those issues and that they play a very important role in our national consciousness and identity.

2016 ACC Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 11/8/2016

Bloated or loaded? That's the question the 15-team ACC has to ask itself heading into the 2016-17 season. There are very clear tiers in this monster conference. But even so, an unbalanced schedule and a lot of uncertainty is going to make it very difficult to discern who's who and what's what from top to bottom in this league.

2016 Big Ten Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 11/8/2016

I will say that last season was a slightly disappointing one for the Big Ten. They entered the year with no fewer than four potential Final Four teams, and I projected that eight teams would make the field. But the Big Ten sent only seven to the dance, including one (Michigan) that was relegated to a First Four play-in game. The league's highest seed, No. 2 Michigan State, was embarrassed in the first round, and all three of the Big Ten's Sweet 16 participants lost in that round.

2016 Pac-12 Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 11/8/2016

The Pac-12 continues to produce some of the top teams and most explosive talent in college basketball. This year the league enters the season with two teams in the AP Top 10, a Final Four favorite (Oregon), one of the potentially most exciting and explosive teams in the nation (UCLA), and with six of the Top 20 freshmen in the country a bevy of potential one-and-done players.

2016 Big 12 Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 11/4/2016

The Big 12 was easily the best conference in the country last season, sending seven of its 10 members to the NCAA Tournament and posting the No. 1 conference RPI for the third straight year. But heartland hoops is undergoing a transplant this year. Eleven of the top 15 players from last year's All-Big 12 teams are gone. That includes three- and four-year starters like Perry Ellis, Georges Niang and Buddy Hield, to name a few.

NFL Power Rankings Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 11/2/2016

With four overtime games, one tie, and a second game that was nearly a tie it is safe to say that things are tightening up throughout the NFL. Early-season optimism has given way to mid-season crisis and desperation, and every team in the league is fighting to stay relevant and in the hunt heading into the second half of the season.

NFL Power Rankings Week 8
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2016

I know it seems like piling on right now, but NFL football is a mess. Last weekend was a cavalcade of all the problems that bobblehead media members have been pointing to as to why the league is suffering a serious ratings decline. The primetime games were boring and poorly played. (And this week's lineup - featuring the Jags-Titans and Vikings-Bears games - doesn't look any more appealing.) The Sunday games weren't much better, with a clown car of stupidity dominating the proceedings.

2016 Big East Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and Futures Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2016

Last season was a banner year for the reconstructed Big East. Once the most dominating conference in college basketball, the hoops-only league will never be able to reach the heights of its predecessor. But if last season is as good as it gets, well, I think everyone will agree that's still pretty damn good.

College Basketball Handicapping: Over- and Underrated Teams for 2016
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2016

Unlike college football - whose preseason polls actually play a significant roll in determining the National Champion - preseason polls in college basketball are of little consequence. However, as several writers (most notably, Ken Pomeroy) have pointed out, college basketball preseason polls have been fairly strong indicators of who the best teams in the country will be by the time the NCAA Tournament rolls around.

NCAA Basketball Handicapping: Talent Down Across the Country This Season
by Robert Ferringo - 10/26/2016

Last year was a high-water mark for college basketball. There were several incredible teams performing throughout an exciting and entertaining regular season. There was a level of experience and talent scattered throughout the country that we probably haven't seen at any other time this century. The season was capped by another thrilling NCAA Tournament that ended with an all-time great championship game.

NFL Power Rankings Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/19/2016

"Who have you played and who have you beaten?" A certain college basketball analyst is fond of using this phrase to help simplify the sometimes mystifying process of selecting at-large teams to the NCAA Tournament. It seems like a simple mantra. But the point of the question is to say that teams aren't always what their records - and public perceptions - purport them to be.

2016 AAC Basketball Predictions with Expert Handicapping and American Athletic Odds
by Robert Ferringo - 10/18/2016

American Athletic Conference basketball has been an under-the-radar bastion for serious hoop heads the past several seasons. Prominent power programs like Connecticut and Cincinnati have been toiling in relative obscurity in a league that was set up with football in mind and basketball as an afterthought. Venerable mid-majors Temple and Memphis has been using the league as a ladder to climb up to "major program" status. And resurgent squads like SMU and Tulsa, thanks to well-regarded coaches, have been fighting their way to NCAA Tournament bids and national prominence.

NFL Power Rankings Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/12/2016

One of the reasons being cited for the decline in football viewership this year is fans' exasperation over how convoluted the NFL's games have become. No one seems to know what a catch is, no one seems to understand how the games are officiated (or why officiating is so inconsistent), and on the whole there are a lot of average fans out there that just don't seem to be able to follow what is going on in the game.

NFL Power Rankings Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 10/5/2016

Quarterback is the most overrated position in sports. This isn't some trolling Hot Take. And I'm not trying to take anything away from what is the most difficult and important position in sports. (Although I'm sure starting pitchers and hockey goalies would make their case otherwise.) Quarterbacks are conductors in our weekly symphony of violence. And no other position requires the talent and focus, both physically and mentally, as NFL quarterback.