Well it's that time of year again. The Cincinnati Reds are in the midst of their annual "Rip Buck's heart out of his chest, last place sputter-fuck of a season." And while I do enjoy Yankee baseball, Jason Giambi's moustache just creeps me out....So let's talk college football!
[I was in the airport the other day and I purchased Athlon Sports 2008 College Football Preview mag. Here's the rundown of their pre-season top ten. Just figured I'd throw my two cents in and also see what you guys have to say about the list. I know, I know. Preseason doesn't really mean jack squat, but it's always fun to speculate!
1. Florida-Well you've got the first Sophomore Heisman trophy winner coming back for his encore performance. I think this ranking is a bit lofty, or at least it will be once Tim Tebow's triple duties as QB, Runningback and Fullback land him in the Emergency Room. Plus the SEC tends to cannibalize itself so this ranking won't last very long.
2. Ohio State-I think if you wanted to seriously talk National Title with Jim Tressel at the beginning of last season, he would have pointed to this one as the year they made their run. They've got 18 starters returning. Maybe the best LB in the country in Road Warrior Animal's son, and a serious Heisman contender in the man-child Chris Wells. Throw in one of the country's best DB units and for shits and giggles the nation's number 1 high school prospect Terrelle Pryor as a third stringer QB who will be used in spread formations and you have a team that will get absolutely ZERO respect from the media because they haven't beaten an SEC team in a bowl game.
3.Oklahoma-I remember when they used to give you a blindfold and a cigarette before you played against the Sooners. Now, not so much. But this is still one of the most talented teams in the country. I expect them to own the Big 12 as long as they actually show up to every game.
4.USC-I think the University of Spoiled Children should pretty much be preseason number 1 by default every single year. You can't name another team that regularly brings in as much talent as this school. On paper, their third stringers would start at almost any other school. It's almost gotten to the point that winning the Pac10 is a given and a BCS bowl is always in the cards. The only question is will they play for a national title. Three games in, Ohio State comes to LA for a showdown. This means USC will probably start either 1 or 2 just for the extra hype.
5.Georgia-Some of the prognosticators have Georgia as number 1. Personally I think they are always perennial underachievers. The phrase "hottest team in the country" gets used a lot with this team. Like when they finished the season on a 7 game winning streak....After losing to Tennessee 35-14. This year they have a bunch of newbies on the O-Line. And no kicker to speak of.
6.Missouri-Yeah Chase Daniel is pretty good. Yeah their offense is exciting. Yeah they lost twice to Oklahoma by like a combined 31 points. I don't really see Mizzou competing on the big stage if only because they won't be able to win their own conference.
7.West Virginia-The Big Ten gets a lot of shit for being a weak conference. How come nobody ever talks about the Big East? West Virginia will get their annual pass to a BCS game if they can manage to defeat the likes of Syracuse, Cincinnati and Connecticut. Plus they have to survive their non-conference schedule with Western Michigan, Marshall and East Carolina. But you can't take anything away from Pat White. He reminds me of Tommy Frazier....if he were genetically cross-bred with MosDef.
8.Auburn-I'm tellin' you, don't sleep on Auburn. Their schedule is a nightmare. I'm circling October 23rd at West Virginia. I'd love to see Auburn win the SEC and get redemption from a couple years back when they went unbeaten and got snubbed out of a title shot.
9.LSU-They are young and their perp quarterback got kicked off the team. I expect the SEC to hammer them with payback week in and week out. Their non-conference is really soft this year though. Appy State, Troy, North Texas, and Tulane. Might win the SEC West, but I doubt it. It's all about Auburn this year.
10.Clemson. I'm going out on a limb here and saying that Clemson has a really good shot to win the ACC and play for a national title. They lost three games last year to good teams. They've got 15 starters coming back. If they survive the opener against 'Bama, they've got The Citadel, NC State, South Carolina State, Maryland and Wake Forest. Those are very winnable games. This could be their year.
So what do you guys think? I know we got some different opinions here. But here's my all or nothing pre-season picks...
Heisman Trophy: I think Tebow will fall short because he'll either be dead or crippled thanks to Urban Meyer's disregard for his safety. I'm going with Chris Wells. Or maybe Juice Williams.
Biggest disappointment: Michigan. Rich Rodriguez can burn in hell. He's got no quarterback and a fancy new system that none of his players know how to run.
Best Conference: SEC
Most Overrated Conference: SEC
Conference most likely to be sucked off by Trev Albert: SEC
Conference most likely to have its salad tossed by Mark May: SEC
Darkhorse: Tennessee. I don't know if I'm really looking for them to actually accomplish anything in terms of a conference or national championship, or even a string of wins. It's just nice to have a good darkhorse.
National Championship Game: Clemson vs. Ohio State. This is insane! But I bet nobody else picks it.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
2008 College Football Discussion!!!
4 comments:
I apologize for the presentation of this post. My understanding of HTML is rudimentary at best. More like a caveman trying to do your taxes.
Fixed it, no big deal; it's a result of the code for the collapsible posting, but I really don't understand why posting in HTML makes the post come out so wonky. It would make sense if it just didn't put the Read More/Summary Only cut it in, not completely rearrange the post.
More to the point, Florida's defense is really going to have to be better for them to stay in the title race. OSU is probably going to be better than last year, more on par with the 2006 squad; hopefully Tressel and co. have learned how to make adjustments during the game. (God only knows how good they'll be when Terrell Pryor is ready to go. Could we see five straight OSU National Title appearances? Would the resulting outrage put an end to the BCS?)
Oklahoma will probably have some of the same problems as last year with a sophomore QB, USC is poised for a very entertaining downswing, and I think Georgia got lucky at the end of last year. Missouri/Kansas will be interchangeable if not both of them falling back to mediocrity. This will probably be WVU's last season as a major power, but they'll do well as a "fuck you" to RRod. Auburn is usually on the verge of something, but I don't expect a lot from LSU given their situation at QB.
Clemson has all the tools to win a national title as long as you don't consider quality coaching a "tool", although personally I consider both Tommy Bowden and Rob Spence major tools. If you're ever watching a Clemson game with anyone, before every Clemson play on offense that looks like it might be a pass, call out "SCREEN" and pick a direction, right or left; 95% of the time you'll guess correctly and look like a genius prognosticator. Or if it looks like a run, they'll be running to whatever side the tight end moves to AND THEY WILL NEVER CHANGE IT UP TO FOOL THE DEFENSE. Why use a fullback as a lead blocker to avoid giving away your call when you can use a tight end to move around and look like your offense is complicated? Motion right, run right. Motion left, run left. 5 yard loss, shit pants in fury. I hate Tommy Bowden and Rob Spence. A lot.
The Heisman is Tebow's as long as he's still standing at the end of the season and all Tebow needs to stand up is 3/4 of a leg so it's his. Ten thousand yards of total offense and 150 TDs, book it.
I don't think Michigan will be a disappointment this year unless they manage to lose to a I-AA team that hasn't won the I-AA title 4 or 5 straight times in ridiculous fashion. RRod did a great job of running off pussies, though.
Trev Albert is still on TV? I need to know which channel so I can block it. Mark May actually became bearable after Albert was fired from ESPN.
National Championship game: OSU vs. Big XII champion, whoever the hell that turns out to be, unless the SEC doesn't kill itself this year.
I'm telling you! Clemson! You like that team! You should pick them for a title shot. Here's their schedule:
Bama
Citadel
NC State
South Carolina State
Maryland
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
BC
Florida State
Duke
Virginia
South Carolina
Although I do believe that Tommy Bowden may be mildly retarted.
Here's how that schedule is gonna break down:
Alabama is a neutral site game, so there's a 60% chance that Clemson guns Bama down in spectacular fashion and a 40% chance that it's decided by a field goal in either direction. They'll steamroll the Citadel, pull one out of their ass in OT against NC State when they should win it in regulation and then steamroll SC State. Maryland, Wake Forest and GA Tech should be 3 easy victories but they'll lose one or possibly two of them by a combined margin of less than 21, one of them being an OT loss that should be won in regulation.
If they lose two of those three they'll follow that up with losses to BC and FSU. Then they'll beat Duke and split the Virginia and South Carolina games to finish 6-6 and make a shitty bowl unless they brawl with South Carolina players and impose punishment upon themselves by declining a bowl invitation again.
If they lose one or fewer of those three they'll split the BC and FSU games, beat Duke and Virginia, and toss it up at South Carolina to finish somewhere between 10-2 and 8-4, probably splitting the difference at 9-3 with at least 2 divisional losses and won't qualify for the ACC title game, going the Peach or Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
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