College Football Ping.
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Posted on 08/13/2006 3:46:39 PM PDT by MikefromOhio
The College Football season is almost upon us. I thought it would be nice to post a thread with my conference predictions and give a thread to everyone who wants to make predictions about the upcoming College Football season.
Starting with the Big Six conferences…..
ACC – Atlantic Division
This race should come down to Florida State’s offense. If their offense continues to improve from last year, they should win this outright. If they take a step back, or if for whatever reason their defense takes a step back, this entire division becomes a dogfight with Clemson, BC and NC State right behind them. Unless NC State makes a legit run at the division title, he’s done in Raleigh. I think Florida State will win the division.
ACC – Coastal Division
Miami is the best team, but they have the same questions on offense that Florida State does. Will VT find a dependable option at QB? Can Clemson take that next step? Surprisingly enough, this wasn’t as easy to pick as it should be. Miami wins it by 2 games.
Big East
West Virginia is the odds on favorite here. Their biggest obstacle to a Big East crown (and possible BCS title game berth) is the game AT Louisville. Same goes for Louisville. Get past West Virginia and things are looking up in the conference. My pick is for West Virginia to take the conference.
Big Ten
The 11 team Big Ten conference will be a race between 4 teams. Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan and Penn State will all be in the hunt for the conference crown. Of these, uncertainty at QB for Penn State and how much of a mystery that Michigan’s performance overall will continue to be this year eliminates those 2 from realistic contention. That leaves Ohio State and Iowa. It’s very possible that the conference crown will be decided on September 30th in Iowa. For the moment, Ohio State has the better offensive squad and both teams are replacing key players on defense. Ohio State is the pick for now, but that can possibly change.
Big XII – North
The return of Big Red has been hyped all off-season. Nebraska showed some signs of having a killer defense last year, but then went into a slump to end the year. The win over Michigan in the Alamo Bowl is a big shot of confidence for the program. Nebraska wins the North with a good push from Mizzou and Colorado.
Big XII – South
Until Rhett Bomar was kicked off of the team, this was a 3 team race between Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. After his dismissal, I just don’t think Oklahoma has the horses to win the division, although they will knock off either Texas or Texas Tech this year (probably the latter). That leaves Texas and Texas Tech. Can Texas Tech take the next step and get into the elite in the Big XII? They can, but they won’t this year. Texas is way too deep for them. Texas wins it.
SEC – East
Talk about a fight, the entire SEC will beat itself up and probably out of BCS title contention. Can Georgia replace all of the stars it lost? Can Florida pick it up on the offensive side of the ball? Will Tennessee make a bowl game? Can Steve Spurrier make South Carolina into a perennial contender for the Division crown? The answers are no, yes, yes and yes, but I think Florida will eventually win the division crown. They might have 3 conference losses, but the entire SEC will end up looking like a battlefield by the end of the year.
SEC – West
LSU, Auburn and Bama all seem to have legit claims to the SEC West crown. On paper LSU is better than both, but this is the SEC we are talking about here. I think Auburn will win the SEC West, but they will have a LOT of competition from Arkansas, Bama and LSU. I can see any of the 4 winning this conference.
PAC-10
This is USC’s conference until someone takes it from them. It’s that simple. I don’t think that happens this year either, although Oregon and UCLA might have something to say about that. USC is the pick.
Other conferences:
In these enlightened times of the BCS (har har), the expanded “series” will now included some of the smaller conferences. Clearly the leader for this honor is Utah, who already made a BCS appearance in 2004, but Fresno State, Boise State, TCU, Northern Illinois, Miami (OH) and UCF will have something to say about it.
AS for the conferences themselves, here it is quick and dirty:
C-USA East – UCF C-USA West – UTEP
MAC East – Miami (OH) MAC West – Northern Illinois
Mountain West – Utah or TCU
Sun Belt – Louisiana Lafayette
WAC – Fresno State
Let the debate (and the GAMES) begin!
Go Raiders!!!
Wrong thread, I think...
Unless you are talking about Texas Tech that is....
Florida could very well win with three conference losses, the SEC is a tough conference to stay in contention in the National Championship race.
Just havin some fun before Din Din. Go Trojans
yep
And I don't think anyone else in the SEC East will be strong enough to get through their conference slate with fewer than 3 losses either.....
As College Football teams are required to have 12 games this year, the possibility of a 2 loss team getting into the BCS title game are better, but only the SEC or maybe the Big Ten can produce such a team. But I don't think that will happen this year either.
yeah...
I don't think USC will lose the Pac 10 crown this year....
but to be sure, this is THE year the PAC 10 has a chance to catch up.
I don't see Texas as the #2 team in the country.
Vince Young was 80% of their offense, and he ain't there anymore.
I expect Ohio State will kick their butt in Austin week 2.
If I'm wrong, then they're for real.
I'd love to believe it, but I won't jerk with the karma.
ASk me on September 10th :)
"Hear me now, believe me tomorrow."
yeah the CUSA West was a bit of a coin flip for me anyway.
I'll take whatever :)
I will go out on a limb and predict it ends 27-27...
It might....
LOL
Notre Dame will "win" the Big Ten by virtue of beating Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Penn State.
I don't think Notre Dame's defense will allow them to win every game on that schedule. 3-1 is more probabe and anything like 2-2 is a disaster to be sure, but 4-0 is a lot to ask.
That said, unless they play Iowa or Ohio State, I don't think they would be beating the 2 best teams in the conference anyway.
Notre Dame closes out the regular season with a visit to USC.
That will be interesting.
If it was in the beginning of the year, I'd give the Irish the edge due to the uncertainty of the USC Quarterback position (never know how someone will react to a real game), but by game 12, that game could have 100 points in it......
Probably the best game this year that no one will get to see (unless you're fortunate enough to have CSTV). And, of course...GO UTES!!
The Utes--MY UTES!!--will have a big say in TCU's and Boise State's fate, since we play both of them at home this year. Honestly, the real X factor among us "mid-majors" might be Boise State. Though they lose Dan Hawkins to the People's Republic of Colorado, they return something like 20 lettermen from last year's team, plus a bunch of starters--Jared Zabransky, Lee Marks, Korey Hall, among others. However, if BSU is going to even sniff BCS consideration, the game against the Utes is a MUST win. Well, all of them are must wins in a way, but that one specifically.
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