College football is here. Finally, after all the off-season drama, scandals, firings, and suspension, it is time for the players to get on the field. It’s time for the marching bands to march onto the field. It’s time for thousands of tailgaters to fire up their grills. It’s time for fans, students, and alumni to pack into their churches they call stadiums.
Last season, Cam Newton led the Auburn Tigers to a national championship by beating the Oregon Ducks. This year, Newton is gone and Auburn is not expected to return to the BCS Championship game. The Ducks have a good shot at returning though. Running back LaMichael James, the leading rusher last season, returns to the explosive offense of Chip Kelly (no relation to Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly). How explosive was that offense? Check out these scores: 72-0, 69-0, 60-13, and 53-16. #3 Oregon will have to be ready immediately; their first game will be against the #4 LSU Tigers Saturday night.
Challenging Oregon for the new PAC-12 title will be the #7 Stanford Cardinal and their godsend of a quarterback, Andrew Luck. Even though the Cardinal lost head coach Jim Harbaugh, Luck is the greater asset. Luck is not only the leading Heisman Trophy (an award given to the best player at the end of the season) candidate but is the projected number one pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. I watched two games of Andrew Luck’s last year and the guy is hard to stop. He’s not gonna beat you by running all over the field or throwing it deep, he’s gonna beat you by being smart.
Big 12
Just east of the PAC-12 is the badly maligned Big 12. Two schools left the conference over the summer and Texas A&M has already said they will leave after the 2011 season. The Big 12 (currently 10 schools) all play in one division and will not have a conference championship. This creates a race between the top two teams coming into the season, #1 Oklahoma and #9 Oklahoma State; Bedlam indeed. The Oklahoma Sooners return QB Landry Jones and WR Ryan Browles. Both of these players were at the top of their positions’ statistical leader boards last season and they should be even better this year. The Oklahoma State Cowboys have Justin Blackmon. He’s a dynamic wide receiver that can catch any ball thrown to him.
SEC
The Southeastern Conference has won the BCS Championship the last five seasons with 4 different teams. This is the best conference in America. It is home to the best players and the best teams. (As well as the most lenient guidelines to be admitted into the school and full of scandals but that’s a different story for a different day).
There are eight SEC teams currently ranked in the Top 25: #2 Alabama, #4 LSU, #12 South Carolina, #15 Arkansas, #19 Georgia, #20 Mississippi State, #22 Florida, #23 Auburn. Alabama is a definite contender. They have an outstanding defense and even better running back Trent Richardson. The Crimson Tide has a new starting quarterback, but the rest of the team has enough talent to compensate for that.
LSU and South Carolina are always unknowns. Both teams always come into the season with a high ranking, and then win a game in which they’re underdogs, and finally lose to a team they should beat. For example, last season the South Carolina Gamecocks beat then #1 Alabama, then lost to Kentucky the next week. I’ve been high on the Gamecocks for awhile and I think they’ll be the best team in the SEC East. Quarterback Stephen Garcia, who has struggled to be a great quarterback and leader, won’t need to be a game changer while offensive weapons Marcus Lattimore and Alshon Jefferson are on the field.
Eight LSU Tigers have been suspended because of a bar fight. It’ll be interesting to see how the team plays Saturday night against the #3 Oregon Ducks. If they can win that game then I will take them seriously as contenders.
ACC
There are really only two teams that even have dreams of reaching the national title game in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Those two are the #13 Virginia Tech Hokies and #6 Florida State Seminoles. I feel like people are obligated to rank the Hokies in the Top 25 every year. Seriously, what have the Hokies done in the past 10 years to make anybody think they have a chance to win anything? The Florida State Seminoles are expected to not only win the ACC but to win a BCS game. I’m not seeing it happen. They lost starting quarterback Christian Ponder and didn’t seem too dominant last season. Supposedly, they have a strong defense and good replacement quarterback.
Big East
The Big East is hands down the deepest and most dominant league in college basketball, the complete opposite of college football. Not one team finished in the Top 25 at the end of the 2010 season. The Big East Champion, UConn, got demolished by TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. This conference has A LOT of work to do if they’re expecting to be taken seriously. All the teams are pretty equal, nobody is gonna win a national championship, but nobody’s gonna go winless.
Big 10
I’ve already done a full preview for the new look Big 10. Check it out here:
http://basementball.blogspot.com/2011/08/2011-big-ten-football-preview.html
My predictions:
PAC 12: Oregon will represent the North Division and Utah the South Division. Oregon will win the game and play in the Rose Bowl.
Big 12: Oklahoma and Oklahoma St. will be the leading teams all season. When the two teams meet the final weekend in December it will ultimately decide who wins the conference championship. The Oklahoma Sooners win that game and then play for the national title.
SEC: Alabama and South Carolina will represent the East and West divisions. Alabama will win the game and go on to win the national championship. South Carolina plays in the Sugar Bowl.
ACC: Florida St. wins the conference and plays in the Orange Bowl.
Big East: I could probably pick just as well if I put all the names in a hat and drew one out. I’ll go with the South Florida Bulls winning the conference and playing in the Orange Bowl.
Big 10: Nebraska will represent the new Legends division, and Wisconsin will represent the Leaders. Wisconsin wins the conference championship game in Indianapolis and goes on to the play in the Rose Bowl.
Orange Bowl: South Florida vs. Florida State
Sugar Bowl: South Carolina vs. Notre Dame
Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Oregon
Fiesta Bowl: Boise St. vs. Oklahoma State
BCS National Championship: Alabama vs. Oklahoma
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