NOTRE DAME AND SMALL GUYS
Oregon will crush Utah and Boise State’s BCS dreams.
Michigan will beat Notre Dame in the second game of the season.
TCU has the best chance to make a BCS appearance, but will come up short.
Notre Dame will lose at least 3 games. I know I have said this about a lot of teams in my pre-season edition, but it is just a fancy way of saying that a team isn’t a contender.
BIG EAST
Some “experts” have picked Cincinnati to win the conference, but Cincinnati will struggle this season because of a new 3-4 defensive scheme and only one starter returning on defense.
Dion Lewis, Pittsburgh’s freshman running back looking to replace LeSean McCoy, will have plenty of mop-up duty during Pittsburgh’s weak non-conference schedule and eventually emerge as the starter and rush for 1,100 yards behind an offensive line that returns four starters.
DID YOU KNOW???
Pittsburgh has had three straight Top-25 Recruiting classes.
West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown will run the high-powered WVU running offense, but will provide the offense with better passing leading to a conference championship for the Mountaineers.
DID YOU KNOW???
Brown completed 73.3 percent of his passes last season in limited action.
Syracuse will make major strides behind first year head coach Doug Marrone.
DID YOU KNOW???
Syracuse has won ten games in the last 4 years.
Greg Paulis will be just as mediocre as a college quarterback as he was as a college point guard.
The Baylor Bears will beat the Connecticut Huskies on Sept. 19 in Waco.
Louisville will give Utah all that they can handle on Sept. 26.
South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe will benefit significantly from Mike Canales spread offense.
Bad kicking will be a major theme of the conference with the majority of the teams looking to replace record-setting kickers.
Brian Kelly and Jim Leavitt will use the “competitive” Big East conference as a career stepping-stone similar to former Big East coaches Bobby Petrino and Rich Rodriguez.
ACC
There are no more excuses for Miami head coach Randy Shannon after the defensive and offensive coordinators were fired during the off-season, it is time for Shannon to produce results in Coral Gables or his third year in Miami will be his last.
Virginia Tech will not win the conference because teams will put Tyrod Taylor in obvious passing situations.
DID YOU KNOW???
Taylor completed only 57% of his passes last season while throwing two touchdown passes and seven interceptions (even more unimpressive if you actually watched how conservative Tech was last season when Taylor was in the game).
Georgia Tech will not live up to the pre-season hype because teams in the conference now have experience against Paul Johnson’s flexbone offense.
DID YOU KNOW???
Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbett was even worse than Taylor with his arm, completing a pathetic 43.9% of his passes with two touchdowns and five interceptions.
A healthy, more experienced Christian Ponder will emerge as the conferences best quarterback and lead the Seminoles to the ACC Championship game.
Jacory Harris, who looked lost last season running the two-minute drill, will have to learn a new offensive system under new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple.
Harris will be thrown to the wolves early. The Hurricane’s top-heavy schedule is ridiculously tough, here is Miami’s first four games: @ Florida State, Georgia Tech, @ Virginia Tech and Oklahoma.
Harris will grow from the top-heavy schedule and Miami will beat Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech to prepare for a run in the ACC Coastal division.
Even a few stumbles in conference play will allow Florida State to capitalize in the ACC Atlantic division, the weaker of the two ACC divisions.
Bobby Bowden will retire after the season as a conference champion.
Jermaine Thomas will rush for over 1,000 yards and the offensive line will emerge as the elite unit on the FSU team.
North Carolina will have one of the best defenses in the ACC, but the offense will not match the defenses production
Clemson, who will not have the same pre-season hype that they have had in recent years, will not win the ACC, but will have arguably the largest national impact when they ruin TCU’s corny Cinderella BCS dreams on Sept. 26 when the Horned Frogs come to Death Valley.
Wake Forest will be near the bottom of the ACC because they lose seven players on defense, including Aaron Curry.
Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell returns to the team this season after being academically ineligible last season.
As if it isn’t bad enough to have an academically ineligible quarterback, but he will also have to learn a new system under first year offensive coordinator, Gregg Brandon.
On that note. Virginia and Duke will compete at the bottom of the conference.
Boston College will not make a Bowl game.
It is never a good sign when you fire your head coach (Jeff Jagodzinski) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers immediately hire him to be there offensive coordinator.
Duke will fall off after one of the best seasons in recent history. Last season Duke won an astonishing four games.
NC State will start off hot and climb in the rankings due to a weak beginning schedule, but will be exposed toward the end of the season when the schedule gets tougher.
Tyrod Taylor’s will be exposed as the most one-dimensional quarterback in Virginia Tech during the opening week of the season against Alabama.
The Virginia Tech streak of consecutive 10-win-seasons ends.
A lot of people are sipping the Georgia Tech Kool-Aid, after last years 9-win season under Johnson, but I am not thirsty.
There is no doubt that this offense can be a nightmare for unprepared teams, but Georgia Tech will not surprise anyone this year. The Yellow Jackets lose both starting offensive tackles and the offensive line has been described as “shaky” which isn’t good for this style of offense.
Georgia Tech will still give a lot of teams headaches, but now that ACC teams have faced the flexbone and have film on it; don’t expect Georgia Tech to be anything more than a middle tier bowl team.
Over half of the teams in the ACC will compete in Bowl games due to weak non-conference scheduling and inconsistency in the conference.
BIG 10
A lot of “experts” are saying that Ohio State will lack offensive weapons with the departure of running back Chris Wells and Brian Robiskie, but lets put this in perspective.
Chris Wells was often injured at Ohio State, Pryor didn’t really throw to the wide receivers anyways and Ohio State is always ranked among the elite recruiting classes in the country.
The Buckeyes return three starters on the offensive line and will have no trouble establishing themselves as one of the best offenses in the country.
Ohio State will defeat USC and win the Big 10 championship behind a strong running game with Dan Herron emerging as the newest star in the backfield for the Buckeyes.
Penn State quarterback Darryll Clark will struggle this season due to the departure of his top-three wide receivers.
DID YOU KNOW???
Penn State loses 13 starters, including all four defensive backs, their top-three wide receivers and one of the most successful kickers in school history.
Michigan State will lose to Michigan. The Spartans lose Ringer, three offensive linemen and will have to replace quarterback Brian Hoyer.
Iowa has switched its playing surface from grass to artificial turf. What is the relevance? I do not know, but thought yall might want to know.
Juice Williams returns for his senior year after a weak encore to his successful 2007 sophomore season. Ron Zook has shown that he can recruit, but can he coach?
The Big 10 has by far the weakest non-conference schedules in the country and with the probable inconsistency of the conference seven teams will appear in Bowl games.
Michigan will win at least eight games.
Has Wisconsin ever played a game before 10 am? Just asking.
Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Indiana…. Not much to say about them. Sorry.
PAC 10
This is the season where Pete Carroll earns his money and shows why he is one of the elite coaches in college football.
USC will transform into a running team and win the Pac-10 Conference.
DID YOU KNOW???
USC has seven consecutive BCS appearances, conference titles and 11-win seasons.
Oregon will help pad USC’s schedule because of games against overrated opponents, Utah and Boise State.
Everson Griffin will be the next superstar on defense for USC and will lead the Trojans will have the top ranked defense in the conference despite returning only three starters.
Jahvid Best will rush for over 2,000 yards for California and win the Doak Walker award.
Oregon will emerge as the conferences most inconsistent defense because of their below average defense.
California will beat Oregon in week 4 and face USC as a top-10 team.
Oregon State will lose to Cal, USC, Oregon and finish near the middle of the conference despite the pre-season hype.
UCLA will beat Oregon State on Halloween.
Jake Locker is the Archie Manning of college football and is surrounded by inferior talent, but will pull of an exciting upset… If he isn’t on crutches.
Mike Stoops has one winning season in his five seasons at Arizona
Washington State’s mew no-huddle offense will make it easier for USC, Cal and Oregon to cover their 30+ point spreads against the Cougars.
Arizona State defensive end Dexter Davis, who has ten sacks in each of the last two seasons, will lead a stingy Arizona State defense, but will finish with a losing conference record.
Can somebody please tell me how none of the Texas schools recruited Jacquizz Rodgers?
Washington will make major strides behind new coach Steve Sarkisian and make small noise in the conference.
Morrell Presley, the top-ranked tight end recruit in the country, will be a first team Pac-10 performer as a true freshman at UCLA.
Big 12
Oklahoma losing four starters on the offensive line will cause the Sooners to lose to the Longhorns on Oct. 17.
The importance of an experienced offensive line cannot be understated. Some will argue that a team like Oklahoma, who gets blue chip recruits every February, will have no trouble replacing offensive linemen, but for proof of the impact that having four new starters on the offensive line just look at Colt McCoy’s struggles as a sophomore.
After a record-setting freshman season, the Longhorns lost three offensive linemen to the NFL and one to injury and McCoy struggled during his sophomore season. When the line became more cohesive McCoy’s junior season, McCoy set an NCAA record for completion percentage and finished second in Heisman voting.
Oklahoma will still be good enough to dominate the other teams in the Big 12, but the inexperienced offensive line will struggle against the Longhorns.
Texas Tech will also have to replace four starters from the best offensive line in school history and could struggle if they fail to protect Taylor Potts.
Kansas will easily start out the season 5-0 and head into Boulder to face a hungry Colorado team coached by Dan Hawkins, who might be coaching for his job this season.
Remember when Texas A&M was a powerhouse in the Big 12? Me neither.
All jokes aside, it is very hard for me to believe that the Aggies will not make a bowl game this season like a lot of experts have predicted.
BOLD PREDICTION: Texas A&M will make a bowl and pull off a road upset over either Oklahoma State, Texas Tech or Arkansas.
Texas A&M running back Christine Michael will rush for over 1,100 yards his freshman year in College Station.
The Big 12 will be more top-heavy than ever this year and the second-tier teams will beat-up on each other leading to
Oklahoma State’s hype will end after the first game of the season when Georgia exposes the Cowboys as an overhyped, soft football team. The Cowboys will lose at least three regular season games this season.
I do not understand the re-hiring of Bill Snyder by Kansas State. Does anyone?
Did I already say Oklahoma State is overrated?
I have been pessimistic and even cynical at times when it comes to my analysis of Texas Tech. Trust me I am working on having a more positive attitude toward my school.
Tech’s question marks this season: Defensive line depth, offensive line and who emerges as the leader of this team.
Tech will have no trouble replacing the players on offense and it seems like Detron Lewis is tired of talking about Crabtree and Harrell.
BOLD PREDICTION: Tech will win eight games total this season and the drop off from previous Leach teams will not be significant.
Baylor will make their first Bowl appearance since 1994, which says a lot about Art Briles’ ability to coach a football team.
If Baylor had a typical Big 12 non-conference schedule last season then the Bears would have made a bowl in 2008 as well.
If Art Briles were the coach at A&M then the Aggies would be on the verge of competing in the Big 12 South. Instead the people in college station are convinced that making a bowl this season will show progress.
Does anyone else find it outrageous that Baylor and Texas A&M have the same goals this season?
Nebraska has the most favorable schedule in the conference, but will be upset in Waco by the Baylor Bears.
Missouri, Kansas or Nebraska in the Big 12 North? Hold on, let me draw from a hat. OK, Kansas it is.
Iowa State… Sorry guys I got nothing.
SEC
Florida will have to replace its best and most important player this season. Tim Tebow gets all of the credit for Florida’s 2008 championship run, but if Percy Harvin doesn’t play hurt in the national championship game then Tebow and the Gators are not the national champions.
Harvin rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown, had five catches for 49 yards and made huge plays that will not show up in the stat column against Oklahoma. Yet Tebow who threw two interceptions and made one of the most overrated, corny post-game speaches after the Ole Miss game gets all of the credit.
DID YOU KNOW???
Harvin accounted for 1,304 all-purpose yards in 2008 compared to
1,323 yards by all of Florida’s returning starters combined.
If Urban Meyer wins a third national championship this season then he has to be mentioned as one of the best coaches in the history of college football.
Florida only loses four starters on offense, but they lose very important players. The Gators lose their best player in Harvin, their leading receiver in Murphy and both offensive tackles.
Georgia has been called an underachieving team, but it is hard for me to call two SEC titles in six years disappointing.
Last season South Carolina finished dead last in the SEC in rushing. Steve Spurrier might need to get a more balanced attack if he wants to escape the SEC cellar.
South Carolina hasn’t won more than eight games under Spurrier.
Tennessee will make major strides under Lane Kiffin and will compete every Saturday at a high level.
UPSET ALERT: Tennessee at Ole Miss on Nov. 14
Ole Miss is without a doubt one of the most overrated squad in the nation and will lose three regular season games despite a favorable schedule.
DID YOU KNOW???
Last season Ole Miss had a lot of close calls against some mediocre teams.
The rebels had one possession wins against Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Arkansas. Even Auburn only lost to the Rebels by ten.
This season the Rebels will not sneak up on anyone and will lose at least three games.
LSU will win the SEC west.
Alabama will be competitive and expose Virginia Tech as an overrated team in the first week of the season. I am amazed that Virginia Tech has been picked as high as five in some pre-season polls.
Sometimes when I watch Alabama play I think it is Sunday and the weekend is almost over. That is just a cheesy was for me to say that Nick Saban’s teams play with NFL-like discipline and style.
Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram will make Alabama one of the most dangerous running teams in the country and keep first year quarterback Greg McElroy comfortable.
Gene Chizik has gotten a lot of grief from the Auburn faithful, but will show improvements at Auburn beginning on Sept. 19 with a win over West Virginia.
Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett (6-7 250 pounds) will have to show some mobility if he wants to be a productive SEC quarterback.
Mississippi State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Sorry guys I got nothing.
The Southeastern conference is the best conference in college football, period.
The conference has won four of the last six national titles and has 12 BCS bowl victories, more than any other conference constantly exposing the weaknesses of teams from weaker conferences.
During the off-season a lot of people from Big 12 country tried to spark a debate between the two conferences, one of the most ignorant, outrageous debates in all of sports and quite frankly a waste of time.
As strong as the SEC currently is; it will only get stronger in the next few years if Auburn and Tennessee can successfully rebuild their superior programs with new head coaches.
Florida is everyone’s pick to win not only the SEC and is also the overwhelming pick to win a second consecutive national championship behind media darling Tim Tebow.
Florida returns 18 starters from last year’s championship team, but must replace Percy Harvin, the most important player from last season’s Gator team.
Last season’s surprise team Ole Miss hopes to dethrone the Gators as conference championships, but will only face Tebow and the Gators if they win the SEC West division and meet
If there is such thing as an easy SEC schedule the Rebels might have it, Ole Miss doesn’t face Florida or Georgia and meet both Alabama and LSU in Oxford during the season.
Other teams with high hopes in 2009 include Alabama, who return eight starters from Nick Saban’s feisty defense, and Georgia, who will have to replace Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, but have plenty of young talent to compete week-to-week in the SEC.
A lot of teams are sleeping on LSU this season, but if Jordan Jefferson can avoid making the dumb mistakes that last years quarterback Jarrett Lee made then LSU should win the SEC West.
Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin made a lot of headlines during the offseason with his mouth, but look for Kiffin to make some noise on the field for the Vols.
It will be interesting to see how Auburn and Arkansas do in 2009, as they try to avoid being associated with Mississippi State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt, the cellar dwellers in the conference.
Teams in USA TODAY Coaches Top 25 Poll (5): Florida (1), Alabama (5), LSU (9), Ole Miss (10) and Georgia (13).
Realistic Conference Championship Hopes: Florida, LSU, Georgia, and Alabama,
Most Underrated Team: Tennessee
Most Overrated Team: Ole Miss (But very favorable schedule)
Predicted Conference Champion: Florida
BIGGEST SEC Games:
Sept. 5 Georgia at Oklahoma State
The Georgia Bulldogs have a chance to expose an overrated pre-season team early in the 2009 season in a similar manner that Alabama exposed the Bulldogs early last season.
This game will also give the rest of the conference an idea of how good Georgia will be and could make the Bulldogs game on Oct. 31 in Florida an even bigger game.
Sept. 19 Tennessee at Florida
A lot of people are anticipating a Tennessee slaughter in the Swamp because of the bulletin board material Kiffin provided the Gators with during the off-season.
At the very least it will be one of the most hyped up games of the season.
Oct. 10 Florida @ LSU
It is going to be interesting to see how Florida performs in big games without Percy Harvin. Tim Tebow gets all of the credit for Florida’s National Championship, but Florida doesn’t win last years Championship if Harvin doesn’t play hurt.
There is no doubt that LSU will be better this season, but if they want to knock off Florida in the Boot Jordan Jefferson will have to make the big plays that last years quarterback Jarrett Lee couldn’t.
Oct. 10 Alabama at Ole Miss
This will be one of the Rebels toughest games of the season and will expose Ole Miss as the most overrated team in the country.
There are a lot of intriguing story lines and questions in the Big 12 Conference this season.
Will Baylor make a Bowl game?
How bad can it get for Texas A&M?
Is Oklahoma State a legitimate contender in the conference?
Who will win the mediocre North division and earn a right to be dominated by the South division in the conference championship?
However, with all of these questions, the main question in the Big 12 conference remains the same. Who will win the conference, Oklahoma or Texas?
This year’s Red River Shootout will not be short on hype and will decide who wins the Big 12 and represents the conference in the National Championship.
Oklahoma State, who has been tagged as a sleeper to win the Big 12, is being called a BCS-buster and this year’s Texas Tech, but the Cowboys did nothing last season to show that they could compete with top-of-the line teams.
Besides a close game with Texas (which wasn’t as close as the score), the Cowboys were dominated by Oklahoma and Tech and finished the season being big-bodied by Oregon in the Holiday Bowl.
This is where Mike Leach earns his money. Texas Tech will not duplicate last season’ success, but it is very important for the Red Raiders to avoid a significant drop off.
If the Red Raiders win seven games, like some magazines have predicted, it would be a huge dissapointment and stop the momentum that the Tech program built last season.
Leach has averaged around eight wins in his time in Lubbock and an eight-win season (not counting the bowl game) this year would not only continue the program’s progress, but would also be one of Leach’s best coaching jobs.
Baylor head coach Art Briles has gotten Baylor a lot of attention and have people in Baylor hoping for their first bowl appearance since 1994. Most people have even picked the Bears to finish ahead of Texas A&M again this season, which would be a humbling and humiliating occurrence for Texas A&M’s program.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the North. Kansas and Nebraska are the popular choices to win the division, but Colorado could prove a lot of people wrong. Just like Mike Leach, Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel will earn his money this season and have to prove he has built a legitimate program in Columbia.
The Big 12 isn’t as good as the SEC, but with all of the intriguing storylines it could be the most exciting conference in the country during the 2009 season.
Teams in USA TODAY Coaches Top 25 Poll (4): Texas (2), Oklahoma (3), Oklahoma State (11) and Nebraska (22).
Realistic Conference Championship Hopes: Texas and Oklahoma.
Most Underrated Team: Texas A&M
Most Overrated Team: Oklahoma State
Predicted Conference Champion: Texas
BIGGEST Big 12 Games:
Sept. 5 Georgia at Oklahoma State
Is Oklahoma State this year’s Texas Tech or last year’s Clemson?
This game will let the country know if the Cowboys are for real or just another overhyped and overrated squad.
If the Cowboys can beat the Bulldogs in the season opener they should be in good shape to be undefeated when they face the Longhorns in Stillwater on Halloween night, adding that matchup to the list of big games in the conference.
Oct. 17 Oklahoma vs. Texas
The Red River Shootout is always mentioned as one of the top matchups during the season and this season will be no different with Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford returning to their respective teams.
The Horns will have to replace Brian Orakpo, a force in last season’s contest, but the Oklahoma offensive line that loses four starters from last year’s Big 12 Championship team will not be nearly as good.
This year’s game is a contest that I don’t really need to hype up; I will let all of the other major networks do that for me.
Oct. 17 Texas Tech at Nebraska
It is no secret that Mike Leach’s Tech teams have struggled on the road in conference play. Last season was Leach’s first winning road season during his time in Lubbock and a win in Lincoln would be a huge stepping stone for the Tech programs continued progression.
For Nebraska this game will be a measuring stick to show they are a legitimate Big 12 contender and not just an average Big 12 North team.
Nov. 21 Baylor at Texas A&M
Hear me out on this one. I know this isn’t a high-profile game like the previously mentioned matchups, but this game is important for the Bears and Aggies.
Everyone has picked the Bears to finish ahead of the Aggies this season after Baylor’s 20-point win over Texas A&M last season. If Baylor defeats the Aggies again then this could mark the lowest of all lows for the Aggie faithful, who swear that Mike Sherman has the program going in the right direction.
The Pac-10 conference has often been called the Pac-1 by college football fans because of Southern California’s domination of the conference under head coach Pete Carroll.
The Trojans have flat-out owned the conference under Carroll, with seven consecutive Pac-10 titles and 11-win seasons.
Usually the other teams in the Pac-10 are given no chance to compete with the men from Troy, but this season could be different.
USC will enter the season with an inexperienced quarterback, only three returning starters from one of the best defenses in the history of college football and new coordinators on both sides of the ball, giving teams like Oregon and California as good of a chance as ever to compete for a Pac-10 Championship.
Oregon looks to build on last years ten-win season that ended with a win over Oklahoma State in the Holiday Bowl, but the Ducks must replace safety Patrick Chung and cornerback Jarius Byrd on a defense that was already near the bottom of the Pac-10 last season.
California, the other Pac-10 contender, returns the best player in the conference in Jahvid Best, who ran for 1,580 yards last season while averaging over 8 yards per carry despite missing a game due to injury.
Oregon and California will both be explosive on offense, but the Bears have the advantage over the Ducks with eight players returning on defense. However, Oregon has the advantage in the scheduling because the Ducks face California, Oregon State and USC in Eugene.
Oregon State surprised a lot of people last year with their mid-season upset over USC, but this season the Beavers will not surprise anyone.
The middle-tier teams in the Pac-10 include UCLA, Arizona State, Arizona and Stanford. None of these teams will compete for a conference title, but could make noise with upsets over teams in the top-tier.
At the bottom of the Pac-10, Washington State and Washington will most likely battle to avoid last place in the Conference.
It appears that this season in the Pac-10 could be very, very competitive, but until someone dethrones the Trojans, this is still USC’s conference to lose.
Teams in USA TODAY Coaches Top 25 Poll (4): USC (4), California (12), Oregon (14), and Oregon State (25)
Realistic Conference Championship Hopes: USC… Maybe Oregon or Cal
Most Underrated Team: None
Most Overrated Team: Oregon State
Predicted Conference Champion: USC
BIGGEST PAC-10 GAMES:
Sept. 3 Oregon @ Boise State
Oregon will have a chance to crush the hopes of Boise State in the first game of the season while giving the Ducks a win that looks good on paper, but in reality wont even be one of their top three most difficult games of the 2009 season.
Sept. 12 USC @ Ohio State
With the way USC has dominated the Pac 10 in recent years this game is pretty much USC’s National Championship game, assuming that USC can fill the voids they lost to the NFL.
This might be disrespectful to the other teams in the conference, but this has been the Pac-1 Conference since Pete Carroll arrived in Southern California and until another team in the conference gives me a reason to think otherwise USC will be given the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how many question marks they have entering the season.
Sept. 26 California at Oregon
California should cruise through their non-conference schedule and head into Eugene to face a Top-10 team in the Ducks, who should have wins over media darlings Boise State and Utah.
This conference match-up will be the game that shows college football fans, which one of these hopeful Pac-10 champions will compete with USC for a Pac-10 championship.
The Big Ten hasn’t performed well on the National stage, most notably in the Rose Bowl and Ohio State’s last two performances in the BCS National Championship game.
A lot of fans from second-tier SEC and Big 12 teams argue that Ohio State, who has dominated the conference and lost in two of the last three national championship games, wouldn’t have the same success in other conferences. This claim is outrageously false.
Ohio State is an elite college football program and the Buckeyes would compete at the top of any conference in the country, including the Big 12 and the SEC.
This season the Buckeyes will look to recapture the at large Big-10 championship after sharing the title with Penn State last season.
Iowa and Michigan State will look to knockoff the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions, but replacing running backs Shonn Greene (Iowa) and Javon Ringer (Michigan State) could be very difficult for the hopeful conference contenders.
Look for Michigan to make some noise in the conference this season after a 3-win season in 2008, but the Wolverines are two years away from competing for a conference championship.
The Big 10 Conference used to come down to the final week of the season when Ohio State and Michigan would battle for a conference championship, but with Michigan rebuilding under Rodriguez this season will be a repeat of last season where the race for the title came down to the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes.
Teams in USA TODAY Coaches Top 25 Poll (3): Ohio State (6), Penn State (8) and Iowa (21)
Realistic Conference Championship Hopes: Ohio State and Penn State
Most Underrated Team: Michigan
Most Overrated Team: Penn State
Predicted Conference Champion: Ohio State
BIGGEST BIG TEN GAMES:
Sept. 12 USC at Ohio State
Ohio State has drawn criticism nationally for not being able to hand with the elite teams in the country during “big games.”
Last year the Trojans destroyed Ohio State, but this seasons game is in Columbus and could be the game that gives Terrelle Pryor the confidence to cruise into Big 10 conference play and establish himself as a star and a legitimate Heisman contender.
If Ohio State beats USC then the Buckeyes could emerge as a favorite to contend for a national title given the way in which they have dominated the Big 10.
Sept. 12 Notre Dame at Michigan
This game doesn’t have high Big 10 implications, but will foreshadow the amount of progress that the Michigan program has made under head coach Rich Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is getting talent that fits his spread system into Ann Arbor and Michigan will definitely make significant strides from last seasons 3-win season.
A win over Notre Dame could provide Michigan with a lot of momentum heading into conference play.
Nov. 7 Ohio State at Penn State
Penn State defeated the Buckeyes in Columbus last season, but Ohio State would’ve beaten the Nittany Lions if Pryor, then a freshman, would’ve executed a simple quarterback sneak.
Ohio State-Michigan used to be the showcase game for the conference, but with Michigan in a transition year under Rich Rodriguez, this will be the game that decides who wins the conference.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has not gotten the amount of national respect that other conferences such as the Big 12 and the SEC have gotten and quite frankly they haven’t deserved it. In recent years the conference has been looked at as nothing more than a BCS Bowl “buzz kill” and has been placed in the same category as weak conferences such as the Big East.
Virginia Tech’s recent dominance of the ACC has gained praise by a lot of the national media, but a cynical college football fan such as myself wonders out loud if the Hokies could achieve the same level of success in the more competitive conferences.
While Virginia Tech is one of three schools (along with USC and Texas) with at least ten wins in the last five seasons, it is hard for me to believe that a team with Virginia Tech’s shaky quarterback situation last season should ever win a conference championship, but that further shows last season’s sub-par level of competition in the ACC.
Miami and Florida State used to be college football powerhouses, but in recent years both schools have blended in among the other mediocre teams in the ACC. Neither Miami nor Florida State has had a 10-win season in the last five years, with the low-point being the 2007 season when the Hurricanes didn’t even make a Bowl game.
It is hard for me to believe that this mediocrity can last much longer for these two former powerhouses, especially in a conference where there isn’t very many dominant teams standing in the ways of the Hurricanes and Seminoles.
Along with Miami and Florida State, NC State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina hope to emerge from the mediocre ACC and represent the conference in a BCS Bowl Game.
The conference has been called “competitive” by a lot of the ACC coaches in order to justify why the conferences representative often has multiple conference losses (Virginia Tech was 10-4 last season), but this isn’t the SEC.
The SEC is a conference where a bunch of good teams beat-up on one another, while the ACC is a conference where a bunch of mediocre teams beat-up on one another.
Whether you call the ACC competitive, like the coaches in the conference, or mediocre (for now, if Miami and FSU emerge in a few years then we could be talking about the ACC as one of the top conferences in college football), like me, this season guarantees to be more of the same and the ACC will continue its recent tradition of producing college football fans with another BCS Bowl “buzz kill” and no legit national champion contender.
Teams in USA TODAY Coaches Top 25 Poll (4): Virginia Tech (7), Georgia Tech (15), Florida State (19) and North Carolina (20).
Realistic Conference Championship Hopes: Florida State, NC State, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, UNC, Miami.
Most Underrated Team: Miami
Most Overrated Team: Georgia Tech
Predicted Conference Champion: FSU
BIGGEST ACC GAMES:
Sept. 5 Alabama at Virginia Tech
Usually the biggest game for a team takes place during conference play, but the season opener against Alabama will show everyone what kind of team Virginia Tech is and most importantly what kind of quarterback Tyrod Taylor will be.
Sept. 7 Miami at Florida State
Who cares if this game isn’t as big as it used to be? This is still one of the most intense games in all of college football and the fact that it is both teams first game of the season will make it that much more intense.
Sept. 17 Georgia Tech at Miami
Regardless of age or inexperience Miami’s performance against the Yellow Jackets was one of the most pathetic performances that I have ever seen by a Miami Hurricane football team. The Hurricanes looked lost and were smacked around the field by Georgia Tech’s flexbone offense.
It is very, very important that the Hurricanes use this game as a statement and send message to the rest of the ACC.
Nov. 14 Miami at North Carolina
The Hurricanes will roll into Chapel Hill very battle tested and this game could have major conference implications in the Coastal division.
Butch Davis would love nothing more than to stick it to his former team and Randy Shannon could be coaching for his job.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if this was the game that cost Shannon his job and led to speculation of Davis’s return to Miami, where it all started?
