By Lena Blietz 

1. Clemson

With a big start to the season, the eighth ranked Tigers must start off strong against the Georgia Bulldogs this Saturday.  With an eleven win season (and the most wins since their 1982 national championship winning team) behind them, Dabo Swinny heads into his sixth season with the Tigers lead by Heisman hopeful and Senior quarterback Tajh Boyd. On offense, Clemson is banking on Boyd’s health this season (he was sacked 31 times in 2012) and Sammy Watkins’ continued success. Regardless of the losses of Andre Ellington and DeAndre Hopkins, the Tigers have a solid depth chart on the offense. However, the defense is not so set.  The strong line will have to make up for the lack of secondary players under the DC Brent Venables second season with the Tigers. Don’t miss the Tigers take on the Seminoles on 8/19 and in-state rival USC on 11/30.

2. Florida State

The 2013 ACC champions are definitely bloodthirsty for a repeat conference title as they start the season with the rare Tuesday night game at Pittsburgh. Look out for the battle of the red-shirt quarterbacks between Jameis Winston (the fan favorite) and Jacob Coker (the sleeper pick with rumors of transferring).  Although the nation is ready to hop on the Jameis Winston train, FSU only named him the starter for game one last Monday. While the youth of this ‘Noles team could prove to be a problem, look at running backs Devonta Freeman and James Wilder Jr. for success on the offense.

3. Miami 

Absent from the preseason poll, Miami looks to go against the odds and fight for the conference championship with its experienced players. However, the coaching staff is full of new faces as Al Golden starts his third season with the ‘Canes with new coaches at OC, WR, TE and RB.  The U looks to balance its offence vs. defense ratio mainly by creating a working defense.  The unintimidating and unimpressive defense mostly returns this year with hopefully more experience, power and motivation. Yet, the offense brings a sigh of relief as QB Stephen Morris returns with his partner-in-crime, Duke Johnson.  This year’s rivalry game against the tenth ranked Gators falls early in the season on 8/17 and then the ‘Canes have a few weeks before taking on the less important (but actually still very important) other in-state rival Florida State on 11/2. 

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Yep. It's that time again. Amongst the booze, cigarettes, great good and general drunken debauchery, no tailgate is quite complete without a solid playlist. The YHTSers put together some of the songs they love to tailgate to and then some. Also, like Jackie Robinson's '42', we're motioning the universal  retirement of "Wagon Wheel". Every legend must have its end. 

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By YHTS Staff

College Football starts today. I don't think that I need to spend any time explaining why that is the best thing you've heard all month. For the Grand Finale of the YHTS Countdown to Kickoff 2013, I asked the YHTS staff to send in their predictions for the 6 "major" conferences and the BCS Bowl Games. We promise to stand by these predictions. (At least until  everything goes to shit by Week 4 and somehow Kansas has made its way to the front of the pack.) 

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By Marshall Weber 

Ursula Coyote/AMC

Let's hug it out, bitch. Whether or not using an Entourage reference is morally acceptable, sadly neither Jesse nor Walt uttered this phrase...as much as I wanted them to. As Breaking Bad gets closer and closer to its coda, its final hours are proving to be its finest and the tension has never been higher.  


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By Adam Zimmerman

Conference Pride is a very strange thing. In the SEC, there is such little room at the top that fans of the bottom feeders learn that it is more fun to root for the SEC than worrying about your team losing five games a year. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves watching Mississippi State, Kentucky, or cough Tennessee cough, lose once again, fans of SEC teams label themselves as SEC fans and chant SEC whenever they see a team that beat their team's ass play (and win) against Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas, Oregon and Oklahoma (losers in 6 of the last 7 National Championship games.) 

Personally, I don't get it. I will not root for Alabama or Oklahoma to win. Anything. And I don't root for the other teams in the NFC East that aren't the Cowboys. I may not mind if TCU, Kansas State, Arkansas or the like wins, but I never feel that their success will make Texas or Tennessee any better. 

With all that being said, it can be fun to talk about/debate/scream at each other over which conference is "the best". Obviously the disagreements begin the as soon as the discussion begins. Do you judge a conference based on its best team? best 2 teams? 4 teams? all the way down? Well comparing conferences' worst teams is as useful as comparing third string quarterbacks or graduate assistant coaches. You have to look at the best teams. In some conferences that may mean picking the top 4 teams, in some it may include 6 teams and some may just have one clear cut favorite (Big 10). In 2013, it is finally interesting to try to slot the top 3 conferences. To do this, albeit in a very subjective way, I ran the SEC, Big 12 and Pac-12 through the following test:

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A Baker’s Dozen of Pac-12 Players-to-Watch

By Andrew Brown

1.    De’Anthony Thomas, RB/All-purpose-stud Oregon

Photo from fishduck.com

In terms of sheer awe-factor, Thomas is unmatched.

This third year back has more moves than Jagger and would be my favorite to win a foot race against anybody in the country. Depending on what kind of weight program Thomas has been on this summer and offseason, Thomas may be more durable and complete as a runner than we have seen him.

If that is the case then the sky is the limit for this second (hopefully legal) coming of Reggie Bush.

If Thomas is healthy enough to endure the bulk of the running work load in the Oregon offense that ranked third in rushing last season, averaging 315 yards per game, then he could see inflated numbers and finish the season hoisting the Heisman (not really though, Clowney is going to win it regardless) and working his way into the top-10 of next year’s NFL draft.

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By Marshall Weber. 

Welcome to history. Well, not really. But here's YHTS' first stab at the English Premier League.

1. Manchester United, 1-0-0 

No other team looked as dominate over the weekend as Manchester United. The reigning Premier League Champions were at Swansea this past weekend and left little doubt that they're still the best club in the league. They won in dominating fashion too. Robin Van Persie and Danny Welbeck each finished the match with two goals in United's 4-1 crushing victory against the Welsh club. 

Next EPL Match: Chelsea 

2. Manchester City, 1-0-0 

The Jennifer Lawerence of the EPL, according to Ted Lasso, also won in dominating fashion this weekend in their home win against Newcastle. Due to the strong midfield play of the speedy Jesus Navarro and scores from Nasir, Toure, Aguero and Silva, the Citizens City were able to dominate Newcastle 4-0. 

City looked brilliant as ever on the defensive side of the ball as well. With the offensive weapons Man City added in the off-season, it's already looking like another year in which the EPL is dominated by the Manchester Clubs. 

Next EPL Match: Cardiff 

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By Adam Zimmerman 

One Week until Football. We are coming up on the final, non-football weekend for the next 21 weeks. I think we are finally running out of things to talk about and analyze and predict. But not quite. So, without further adieu, here are what should be the 7 Best Offenses in 2013. (I'm not saying they'll rank 1-7 in total points at the end of the season. Some of these teams have to play in the SEC. These are who I believe defenses hate to see the most.)

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By Brett Neal 

With the start of the NFL season less than a month a way, fake managers everywhere are scrambling to put together their fake teams that they will be fake coaching. For many of you reading this, I bet you've been for fiending for this fantasy football like Amanda Bynes craves cocaine. Many of you have read Matthew Berry's Draft Day Manifesto, memorized Karabell's Do Not Draft list, and bookmarked ESPN's Cheat Sheets. Some of you are creating excel spreadsheets of players you may end up with in case God burdens you with the dreaded 10th pick. And a couple of you have even started rosterbating in the mock draft lobby. If this is you, please seek counseling. 

For those of you looking to get ahead of the curve and potentially take home a championship, you've come to the right place. I have managed a total of 15 teams over the past 7 years, making it to the championship game 9 times, winning a total of 7 championships. My pledge brahs from Sigma Chi will admit I'm sort of a fantasy nuisance. U mad? 

Moving on to the draft formula, I'm about to let you in on my strategy and secrets. For you who take my advice, it should truly benefit you more than that of Matthew Berry. I'm not saying that he doesn't have some great advice, because he really does. The problem is that there are 9 other guys in your draft that are all listening to the same advice. This means wide receivers like Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns, and Chris Givens of the St. Louis Rams (who Berry suggests you reach for in the 10th round) will be snagged by some idiot in the 8th round. My advice is a little different: don't draft receivers from the Browns or Rams... ever.

Now, I don't have the time or the drive to break down the top 32 players at every position. Instead I will go through each position, giving my opinion on the top 10 according to ESPN rankings, then offer up a couple more players whose value should be higher than predicted. Let's start with the QB...

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By Brett Neal

ESPN's Top 10 D/ST's

1. Seahawks (103)

2. 49ers (113)

3. Texans (122)

4. Bears (130)

5. Broncos (133)

6. Bengals (139)

7. Patriots (143)

8. Steelers (148)

9. Rams (149)

10. Packers (150)

I'm not going to argue too much about where each Defense/Special Teams should be ranked, but I will let you know when you should pick your defense. One thing that can kill a fantasy draft is reaching for a D/ST three rounds ahead of their projected spot. 

Lets say its the middle of the 10th round, a guy drafting two spots in front of you is on the clock. He has drafted all of his starting position players and a couple back ups. With the 90th pick the Seahawks D/ST looks tempting, but the St. Louis Rams starting RB, Daryl Richardson, is still on the board. He makes the call to take the Seahawks D/ST, probably a 50-50 move. Spades have been broken. The guy drafting directly in front of you starts freaking out with the clock winding down and the top defense off the board, he takes the 49ers D/ST. You have already selected 2 QB's, 3 RB's, 3 WR, and a TE. You are now left with a choice: you can take the Texans D/ST, from your hometown, or you can take a starting RB who could wind up on your bench all season.

Boom goes the dynamite, you take the Texans D/ST with the 92nd overall pick, 30 spots ahead of where they should have gone. Even if the Texans did end up being the 3rd (or even 2nd) best D/ST on the year, you cannot be overly cautious with how fragile running backs and can be. In 2011, 5 starting running backs saw their year come to an end by tearing their ACL's: Adrian Peterson, Jamal Charles, Knowshon Moreno, Rashard Mendenhall, and Tim Hightower. Those are just the knee injuries, several others missed time with broken bones, cracked ribs, back ailments, concussions, and turf toe. Its wise to have 4 starting RB's on your team, just in case this happens to you. Best case scenario, everyone stays healthy and you end up with trade bait. 

The Dallas Cowboys D/ST is my underrated defense of the year. They really aren't that bad ever, but Tony Romo is. His turnovers have always put the defense in a bad position, giving them the bad rap they don't necessarily deserve. However, Head Coach Jason Garrett is no longer calling the plays. The play calling duties have been handed over to Bill Callahan, whose background is an offensive line coach. This means two things: the Cowboys will run the football with DeMarco Murray a lot more, and the O-line will hopefully do a better job protecting Romo. If these things happen, the Defense can stay off the field a lot longer, boosting their fantasy point total exponentially. I slotted them into my number 8 spot. Of course, I could've just jinxed them. (4 days after I wrote this, the Cowboys had 6 turnovers in their 2nd preseason game. Sorry Dallas fans.)

BPN's top 10 D/ST's

1. Seahawks

2. 49ers

3. Texans

4. Bears

5. Broncos

6. Bengals

7. Packers

8. Cowboys

9. Steelers

10. Ravens

ESPN's Top 10 Kickers

1. Stephen Gostkowski

2. Blair Walsh

3. Matt Bryant

4. Justin Tucker

5. Matt Prater

6. Phil Dawson

7. Randy Bullock

8. Josh Brown

9. Sebastian Janikowski

10. David Akers

My advice is that your league take ESPN's top 15 kickers and make a random drawing. Or better yet, write everyone's name down and... spin the wheel!

Everyone loves spinning a wheel!

I'm not even going to rank my top kickers; just don't draft this guy (or girl).

By Adam Zimmerman

And....that's the last we'll see of you on this countdown, Mack

For today's edition of the Countdown, we are going to rank who I perceive to be the best coaches in college football. There are tons of factors anyone can use when evaluating coaches - wins, recruiting, revenue, stability, cleanliness, aggressive vs. conservative - and how much importance you place on each of those will greatly affect how the rankings pan out. If (when) these rankings upset you, take a breath and remember - only 9 days until Kickoff.

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By Marshall Weber 

Am I under arrest? Last night, the Hank-Skyler diner scene rivaled the awkwardness of the infamous post-drunk, post-coitus meal not unlike the scene in Knocked Up. Like two strangers who woke up randomly next to each other and decided to go have breakfast, Skyler and Hank sat in complete discomfort, asking themselves millions of questions in their heads. 

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By Brett Neal

Two tickets to the gun show

ESPN's Top 10 TE's

1. Jimmy Graham (29)

2. Rob Gronkowski (41)

3. Tony Gonzales (57)

4. Jason Whitten (61)

5. Vernon Davis (70)

6. Kyle Rudolph (83)

7. Owen Daniels (90)

8. Greg Olsen (93)

9. Antonio Gates (96)

10. Brandon Myers? (106)

I don't even know why ESPN still ranks tight ends, and who the hell is Brandon Myers? Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints would be a clutch grab if he is still available in the late 3rd or early 4th round, but go ahead and plan for life with out him. I may take Gronkowski in the late 5th, but not while there are still starting running backs like DeMarco Murray and Reggie Bush that fit nicely in the flex position. Oh, and a word of advice: don't draft Antonio Gates.

  

One guy I would wait on is Minnesota's Kyle Rudolph "the red-zone reindeer," currently projected to go in the early 9th round. One thing everyone in the NFL can agree on is that Adrian Peterson is really good at running the football. But He's just so much better when he has more field to work with. Once you get down in the red zone, teams will double down to stop Peterson, putting 8 or 9 guys in the box. That means its Kyle Rudolph time. With only two years of experience under his belt, Rudolph has already become a safety net for young QB Christian Ponder, as he's reeled in 20 of 23 red-zone targets. Rudolph's 87% catch rate from under 20 yards to the end zone is an unbelievable. Second best in that time span is Gronkowski at 65%, over 20 points lower. Although he only had 502 receiving yards, his 8 touchdowns was third among tight ends. He also was named NFC MVP of the Pro Bowl. 

Beyond the top 6 guys is a shot in the dark, so have some fun and draft a guy who you can live with for three weeks until the hot hand shows himself in the free agency. If I don't get a top 6 guy, I'm probably going to take a chance on Green Bay's Jermichael Finley, Chicago's Martellus Bennett, or Washington's Fred Davis. 

BPN's top 10 TE's

1. Jimmy Graham

2. Rob Gronkowski

3. Jason Whitten

4. Kyle Rudolph

5. Tony Gonzales

6. Vernon Davis

7. Greg Olsen

8. Owen Daniels

9. Antonio Gates

10. Martellus Bennett

Oh, and apparently this drunk guy is Brandon Myers...

By Adam Zimmerman 

We're almost there people. 2 weeks from last night we'll be watching as Rece Davis once again starts another year of punishment (having to turn Mark May and Lou Holtz into a semi-watchable product) and kicks it from the studio in Bristol to the booth in Nashville for the first, meaningful college football since January. But that's 13 days from now. Longest 13 days of the year if you ask me. But have no fear, here are 13 Things to Do to Kill the Time until Kickoff:


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By Adam Zimmerman

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By Brett Neal

ESPN's Top 1o WR's

1. Calvin Johnson (10)

2. A.J. Green (13)

3. Dez Bryant (16)

4. Brandon Marshall (20)

5. Julio Jones (22)

6. Demaryius Thomas (24)

7. Roddy White (26)

8. Vincent Jackson (28)

9. Andre Johnson (30)

10. Randall Cobb (33)

The wide receiver pool is always pretty deep, especially because "running the football" has become somewhat of an ancient art, kind of like calligraphy. Most of these ESPN top 10 deserve to be on that list, but I just don't think they deserve to be that high up on the overall draft board. Calvin Johnson is good, and I mean real good, but is he "draft before Aaron Rodgers" good? Same thing can be said for A.J. Green and Drew Brees, or Dez Bryant and Payton Manning. I would like to have those receivers on my team, but not if it means getting Matt Ryan over Aaron Rodgers as my QB. So, be careful when you draft a top 5 receiver. Pay attention to your draft position, make sure there are plenty of arms still on the board you would be comfortable with, especially if your towards the book-ends of your snake draft. 

My other recommendation would to make sure you take a running back before you pick a receiver. As cool as it would be to have Calvin Johnson, it is not cool to take him and get stuck with Steven Jackson, Matt Forte, or Stevan Ridley as your #1 running back. I'd rather take LeSean McCoy in the late first round, then snag Drew Brees or Peyton Manning when it comes back around, then grab Vincent Jackson in the 3rd.  

The difference between the best wide receiver (Calvin Johnson) and the 16th best receiver (James Jones) was 3.5 points per game. This means if you pass on Megatron, and still manage to pick up Vincent Jackson (8th best WR), then you've only lost about 2 points per game at the wide receiver position. Instead of Johnson, you might have picked up Drew Brees, this year's 2nd best QB, who averaged 21.1 points last year. Brees' 21.1 point average is already 2 points above the 3rd best quarterback, Peyton Manning, who averaged 19 points per game. Although I do not recommend drafting him in the first round, if at the start of the second round nobody has taken Calvin Johnson, then you've just stolen Spiderman and Inspector Gadget's love-child. If you are playing in a PPR (points per reception) league, then disregard everything you just read and go get that sucker middle or late 1st round.

"Professor Neal, I screwed up, It's the 5th Round and I don't have a wide receiver yet."

No worries kid, there's plenty of receivers that I like still on the draft board. This is where you will find your bounce-back receiver of the year, which went to Vincent Jackson in 2012. These were guys you might have considered top 10 guys a year ago, but have fallen back after one hiccup. We have Reggie Wayne (42), Mike Wallace (43), Hakeem Nicks (48), Steve Smith (50), and Dwayne Bowe (54). This whole group has had multiple solid years in the past, and warrant a 5th round selection. If you want to get real gutsy, take Danny Amendola, Tom Brady's new #1 receiver who is projected to go 47th overall. If Tom Brady can take a 5'9" white guy from Texas Tech and make him a potential hall-of-famer, then imagine what he can do with a 5'11 white guy from Texas Tech. 

Later on, you find more has-beens in the 6th and 7th round: Jordy Nelson (62), Pierre Garcon (64), DeSean Jackson (68), Torrey Smith (71), and Minnesota's new #1 wide out Greg Jennings (72). Stocking up on receivers like these guys is never a bad idea, especially because their trade value is better then that of a backup running back. 

My one sleeper pick this year is Vincent Brown of the San Diego Padres (Chargers, whatever.) My only worry is that Brown was considered a sleeper last year too, but never woke up (he must have hit the snooze). My logic is that Phillip Rivers used to be pretty good, and Ryan Mathews is still pretty bad. Overall, the Chargers are a pretty bad football team looking to get back to their former glory as a "sub par team that snuck into the playoffs every year." They will do so by throwing the football to Malcom Floyd Danario Alexander Vincent Brown. Alexander torn his ACL about a week ago, and Floyd tweaked his ACL Tuesday. Floyd hopes to be back sooner than expected since no structural damage was found in the knee, but always plan for the worst. This makes Brown much more valuable than his 132nd overall ranking suggests. Take him as early as the 9th round, your backup tight end can wait.

BPN's top 10 WR's

1. Calvin Johnson

2. A.J. Green

3. Brandon Marshall

4. Julio Jones

5. Vincent Jackson

6. Dez Bryant 

7. Roddy White

8. Andre Johnson

9. Demaryius Thomas

10. Wes Welker

Sit tight Greg Olsen, we'll be back

By Marshall Weber 

This is short and a bit vapid. But here is my Pre-Season All-Big 12 team. I also added an extra tailback and defensive back. Sue meh. 

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By Brett Neal

ESPN's Top 10 RB's

1. Adrian Peterson (1)

2. Arian Foster (2)

3. Marshawn Lynch (3)

4. Ray Rice (4)

5. Doug Martin (5)

6. Jamal Charles (6)

7. C.J. Spiller (7)

8. Trent Richardson (8)

9. Alfred Morris (9)

10. LeSean McCoy (11)

You can't argue with Peterson or Foster, they're both going to make you a very happy fantasy owner. The rest of the order is up for debate. The only reason I think Marshawn Lynch is up there in the three spot is the 67 yard run from the 2011 payoffs. 

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By Brett Neal 

With the start of the NFL season less than a month a way, fake managers everywhere are scrambling to put together their fake teams that they will be fake coaching. For many of you reading this, I bet you've been for fiending for this fantasy football like Amanda Bynes craves cocaine. Many of you have read Matthew Berry's Draft Day Manifesto, memorized Karabell's Do Not Draft list, and bookmarked ESPN's Cheat Sheets. Some of you are creating excel spreadsheets of players you may end up with in case God burdens you with the dreaded 10th pick. And a couple of you have even started rosterbating in the mock draft lobby. If this is you, please seek counseling. 

For those of you looking to get ahead of the curve and potentially take home a championship, you've come to the right place. I have managed a total of 15 teams over the past 7 years, making it to the championship game 9 times, winning a total of 7 championships. My pledge brahs from Sigma Chi will admit I'm sort of a fantasy nuisance. U mad? 

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By Andrew Brown 

A Chaos Theory Pt. 2: Rise from the Ashes

“It's best to have failure happen early in life. It wakes up the Phoenix bird in you so you rise from the ashes.”

-Anne Baxter

Johnny Football has drawn a lot of scrutiny during the offseason for his various shenanigans and general disregard for the NCAA rules (agree with them or don’t, but rules are rules). The media has done a fabulous job of completely running the story, as well as JFF’s credibility, obnoxiously into the dust.

What the media has failed to cover in much depth is the story of a quarterback who tumbled from the graces of national prestige, fell victim to the allure of his own shadow, and is now rebuilding and rising from the ashes of the failure that nearly destroyed his future.

In other words, Casey Pachall (AKA Professor Chaos, as he is so loveably called by the good people here at YHTS) is the anti-Johnny Football.

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