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!
I have the College Gameday package on DirecTV :)
If Ohio STate isn't playing at the same time, chances are I'll be watching it.
I think Utah has the team to win it.
NOw they have to perform.
The big problem Texas Tech has is that they get the players UT, A&M and Oklahoma have passed over. I also think that their offense works well, but that a lot of it has to do with the fact that so few teams play it. I think they can be a solid top 15 team, but they'll have a difficult time getting into the top five. It's tough to get top flight talent to go to Lubbock.
yeah although their recruiting classes are light years ahead of what they were even 5 years ago.
If Oklahoma or Texas ever slip up, Texas Tech will be right there.
ACC: Miami
Big 11: Iowa
Big 12: Texas
Big East: West Virginia
Pac 10: USC
SEC: LSU
Big 11?
We all know the Big 11 is still holding their breaths waiting to add Notre Dame and make their conference complete. Sorta like me holding my breath waiting for Ann Coulter to accept my wedding proposal.
Not really.
The Big Ten has said that Notre Dame will have to ask them to be added. They gave up on ND in the late 90s....
My guess is that their next target will be Missouri with TCU replacing them in the Big XII.
Isnt there 11 teams in the Big Ten? AT least thats what I count on there website.
I was being facetious :)
Ahhh...
In either case I think the predictions are solid, and very early this year we will see what teams are bonafide contendors, like Nebraska vs USC, OSU vs Texas etc...If Nebraska stays within a TD of USC at USC's home then they will be not only a BCS contender but could very well show they have the skill to win the Big 12 outright..
We do have a solid team coming back this year, but if we don't lose games we have in the can--the L's to Colorado State and New Mexico come to mind--we'll be alright.
Of course beating UCLA in the Rose Bowl on Labor Day weekend could really get the ball rolling.
Yep
The schedules in the next couple years will be very interesting.
And if by some miracle that Ohio State gets through Texas in Texas, the Iowa game will be their last probable obstacle to a BCS game.
Hope you guys can play defense.
That's one thing that UCLA still excels at.
One thing about the Utes over the past half dozen seasons or so is when we absolutely have to, we can play D "above our weight class" so to speak. A few schools from the BCS conferences can attest to that...e.g: Georgia Tech in the Emerald Bowl last year.
I think if OSU beats Texas at Texas then the MNC will be theres to win, but you Big Ten'rs have a way of spoiling each others parties so you never know.
I think Missouri enjoys their rivalry with Kansas too much to change. Now that you have Penn St. in the fold and the Big East is weakened, Pitt seems like the best match. Or Syracuse if you want to think outside the box.
yeah the Big Ten generally plays like the SEC will this year.
The teams are rather evenly talented across the board on 4 or 5 teams and they knock each other out.
This year though, it's really down to 2, Iowa and OSU.
They haven't really talked about either one of those and Syracuse is on a downward trend anyway.
Missouri will always be second banana in the Big XII but if they move to the Big Ten, they would instantly be the best team other than Iowa in the region.
Tech wins the Big XII South and Conference Title game
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