Sports Then and Now

Finally the SEC was dethroned from atop the BCS rankings in Week 11. Kansas State and Oregon ascended to No.1 and No. 2 respectively.

But then Week 12 found both toppled after reigning one short week. Those SEC football gurus are determined to own the gridiron. They stop at nothing.

Can they do the same to the Big Irish One? Zultan believes, Notre Dame has a direct conduit to the powers that be—the BCS power computers in 2012.

For his part Zultan went 8-2 last week missing on Northwestern’s win and on Oregon’s loss. Only one of you did better than the All-Seeing Seer in Week 12—Kent Gleichman  of West Des Moines, IA—who tipped the board at 9-1.  Congrats, Ken!

This is the final week of the regular season for most conferences. This will also be Zultan’s last column for 2012 as we all prepare to say adieu to college football for another season—waiting for teams to begin bowling in December.

So make your final picks of the season and hope you finally are able to outguess the Mighty Zultan in Week 13.  Zultan will only be highlighting Saturday games so he does not have to forecast Nebraska versus Iowa on Friday—whew. Mom is on the warpath again.

Zultan has enjoyed this conference season picking games. Sayonara, fellow soothsayers.

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When Mom and her Harley-biker buddies returned from their road trip to Minneapolis last Saturday, she drop kicked Zultan’s crystal ball into the Iowa River, cursing his “so-called psychic abilities.”

Mom takes these Hawkeye defeats very hard. She has refused to fix lunch for the all-seeing one for the two past days.

The truth is that an enormous cosmic upheaval wreaked havoc in the Big Ten where it became impossible to win on the road unless you wore the imprint of a wildcat on your helmet.

Most of Zultan’s Big Ten predictions went haywire caused by churning cosmic forces ruling gridirons last Saturday.

That is my story. I am sticking to it. You cannot prove otherwise.

In the meantime hordes of you (24) took this opportunity to pile on the Zultan while he was down. It was that Nebraska game that did Zultan in. Zultan has decided that the Cornhuskers will be his biggest trial in 2011 just like Auburn was in 2010.

Zultan has ordered a new crystal ball from Forecasters Anonymous, Inc. but it will not arrive in time for him to make this week’s prognostications. It is conceivable, therefore, that you may have your best opportunity to outguess the all-seeing seer. He is just like you this week—a mere mortal with limited mental capacity.

So click here to make your picks and we will see mano a mano who is the best at predicting winners in upcoming week No. 10 in college football.

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Penn State won in Week 6.

Zultan is sad to report that after the Iowa Hawkeyes self-destructed in Happy Valley on Saturday, Mom had to be carted off the premises by the guys in the white coats.

Now in rehab, Mom sings the Iowa Fight song from sun up to dusk.  The only thing that can possibly restore her sanity is a win this week over the ever-ruinous Northwestern Wildcats.
After all, Zultan needs Mom to cook his meals.  Come on black birds—win one for the old lady!

The All-Seeing Seer is also forced to report that the “Show-Me” state showed little in the way of winning last Saturday as Missouri failed to upend the Kansas State Wildcats in a Big Z upset. Okay Bill Snyder, you “showed” up the mighty Zultan in Week No. 6.

The ultimate lesson came from Northwestern and their newly refurbished quarterback who showed all the right signs to upset the Michigan Wolverines making their first road trip—but sadly, Persa failed to deliver and Zultan was saddled with three—count them, three losses.

Still – it was better than four from the previous week.  The dozens of you who outguessed the mighty Zultan will be applauded at the end of this article and given your due respect by the All-Seeing magnanimous one.

It is now time to turn our focus to the crystal ball and week seven.  At the conclusion of this weekend of action, the BCS will unload their ranking for the first time this season.  We are already halfway through the 2011 season.

Click here to enter your picks for this week’s slate of ten games and see if you can surpass the mighty Zultan this week. Zultan feels mighty lucky but that could be from a lack of Mom’s Goodwill brownies.

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Zultan's last college football forecast for the regular season.

Here we are at long last at the end of the season.

All the questions we had in September have been answered, for the most part. Some teams exceeded expectations while others fell short.

Most of the perennial favorites remained where they always reside––at the top.

For Week 12, Zultan failed three times––at Iowa, Nebraska and Miami. Miami lost by two touchdowns and Iowa and Nebraska, each by three points.  Besides sharing a border, the Hawkeyes and Huskers shared mutual pain as time ticked down irrevocably on their season.

A dozen did better than Zultan and guest prognosticator, Craig Bancroft. These prophetic soothsayers will be listed at the end of the article along with appropriate kudos.

Be sure to click here to match wits with Zultan himself for the last time in this regular season finale.

As the 2010 regular season fades into the history books, it is time to look forward to Bowl Season. It promises to be another sizzler.

But in the meantime let us look at lucky Week 13 picks:

Game 1: (24) Iowa at Minnesota

After another devastating loss to one of the big guys in the Big Ten, Iowa (7-4, 4-3 Big Ten) heads north to play the Minnesota Gophers (2-9, 1-6, Big Ten) at TCM Stadium in Minneapolis.

The Gophers finally won a Big Ten game on the road at Illinois.

Buoyed, Minnesota will be looking forward to a disheartened Iowa team sitting on their doorstep, poised for another loss.

Iowa, however, after suffering through a two-game losing skid, will be on a mission to end their season on a positive note by defeating the Gophers on the road.

Hopefully, the end result for the Hawkeyes will lead to another great Bowl game someplace warmer than chilly Iowa City.

Pick  Iowa

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