An annual right of summer is to gather the various college football magazines and go over the predictions from each conference. As a writer and sports handicapper, I have been pouring over data for months now and have strong feelings and opinions about how the various conferences races could play out. Part of winning college football wagers is having the necessary information to place your self into a position to win. This is why I annually make pilgrimages to the various book stores to purchase all the magazines (thankfully, the StatFox Edge was delivered to me) containing college football material.The reasons for doing this are attaining knowledge and giving myself the best chance to win. First, I’m seeking information on the coaches and teams I may have missed in my own personal research. No matter how hard or far you dig, you will always find other useful nuggets. Next, is learning about all the players, particularly the difference-makers on each team, which is a powerful tool to understand if a team may be over or underrated before the season starts. Lastly, just to see what other so-called experts believe in making predictions. For example, in the Big East, FIVE DIFFERENT teams have been chosen to finish first and earn the BCS berth, talk about a difference of opinion! This is worth reading to understand why these publications would have such varying of beliefs. You can judge for yourself if the points are valid or just nonsense. Plus this allows one to find strong situations to place futures wagers at places like DiamondSportsbook.com on particular teams.
Listed below is the accumulation of all the conferences and the teams ranked in order, taking all the pre-season publications that were acquired, along with further analysis. Today we will at the ACC, Big East, MWC, Big 12, WAC, C-USA and Independents.
ACC -Atlantic
1) Florida State
2) Clemson
3) N.C. State
4) Wake Forest
5) Boston College
6) Maryland
ACC – Coastal
1) Virginia Tech
2) Georgia Tech
3) North Carolina
4) Miami
5) Virginia
6) Duke
Analysis- Virginia Tech ended the ACC’s eight-year BCS bowl drought with 20-7 win over Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl last season. Now, coach Frank Beamer wants to climb back into the national spotlight and an opening game victory over Alabama could do just that. Virginia Tech is unanimous choice to play in ACC title tilt. Georgia Tech has 17 starters back and is thought to be the only team in the Coastal Division to give the Hokies a run. Butch Davis is acquiring more talent annually in Chapel Hill; however the offensive losses hold North Carolina back. Florida State was almost everyone’s pick to capture the Atlantic Division, as talent is getting back towards the glory years, still with quite a ways to go. Clemson and North Carolina State are the most likely contenders to take down the Seminoles. Both have offensive weapons, which are curtailed with defensive deficiencies. The Nov. 14 contest in Raleigh could be meaningful. Its clearer today why Tom O’Brien left Boston College, as the Eagles could be grounded. This conference has a great deal of ground to makeup to be in elite status, but should be competitive. They must find the right place for ACC title game, since the crowds are embarrassment to league.
Big East
1) West Virginia
2) South Florida
3) Rutgers
4) Pittsburgh
5) Cincinnati
6) Connecticut
7) Louisville
8) Syracuse
Analysis- Conference’s that are not particularly outstanding will talk about having balance. This can make for extraordinarily entertaining football on the campuses involved, but it plays havoc trying to pick a winner. In reviewing the different college football magazines, the Big East stood out with five different teams chosen to finish atop the conference. Here is the other really crazy aspect, four of the top five listed above were also picked to finish 5th. (Rutgers was exception, there lowest rating was 4th) What makes this conference so confounding is every positive is outweighed by a negative. New quarterbacks, changing defenses and sometimes questionable coaching, suggest this league is ripe for underdogs to flourish.
Mountain West
1) Utah
2) TCU
3) BYU
4) Air Force
5) Colorado State
6) UNLV
7) New Mexico
8) San Diego State
9) Wyoming
Analysis – Utah completed second unbeaten season in five years, with big time blowout win against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The Utes might not have finished with a perfect record, since they hosted nearest competitors TCU and BYU in Salt Lake City. Everything won’t be quite so easy in 2009, having to play those teams on the road in what should be three hotly-contested affairs between the best three squads in the Mountain West. The Horned Frogs are more settled on offense and has better athletes on defense than BYU, giving them slight edge. The rest of the conference will have three new head coaches and the chasm between the top teams and the rest is roughly about the length of the Continental Divide across the western United States.
Big 12 North
1) Nebraska
2) Kansas
3) Missouri
4) Colorado
5) Kansas State
6) Iowa State
Big 12 South
1) Texas
2) Oklahoma
3) Oklahoma State
4) Texas Tech
5) Baylor
6) Texas A&M
Analysis – The quarterback position in the Big 12 won’t have the same depth as last season; nevertheless the conference should feature more than enough firepower from its field generals. Current Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford returns to Oklahoma, just not with the same cast on offense that averaged video game-like 51.1 points per contest. The Sooners defense should be considerably tougher with nine starters back and they picked up a few first place votes over favored Texas. In almost any other year, Colt McCoy would have won the Heisman himself, after completing NCAA record 76.7 percent of pass attempts. The Longhorns only weak spots are finding every down running back and defensive linemen to chase down talented signal callers. Oklahoma State should break into top three in the South, with QB Zac Robinson, RB Kendall Hunter and WR Dez Bryant leading the way. In the North Division, Nebraska has few more talented football players than Kansas; however don’t count the Jayhawks out with Todd Reesing at the controls. Missouri will fall without Chase Daniels around. Colorado is sleeper pick (in this case good or bad), with 10 offensive starters back and home games against Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Buffs have only four starters returning on defense that ranked 78th in 2008.
WAC
1) Boise State
2) Nevada
3) Louisiana Tech
4) Fresno State
5) Hawaii
6) San Jose State
7) Utah State
8) Idaho
9) New Mexico State
Analysis- Last season was to be rebuilding year for Boise State and all they did was finish 12-0 and lost 17-16 to very good TCU outfit in the Poinsettia Bowl. Now the Broncos are still relatively youthful with a ton of experience and everyone’s choice to win the WAC yet again. In the unlikely event Boise State stumbles, look for Nevada to be ready to step in. The Wolf Pack has quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who plays like the Pistol offense was made for him. Louisiana Tech with 17 starters back in the fold and a running game that averaged 4.65 yards per carry could make noise in the WAC. If the Bulldogs should upset Nevada on the road in October, mark down Nov.6 as the biggest day ever potentially in Ruston, LA, with Boise State coming to town. Fresno State and Hawaii are middle of the pack in the WAC, with San Jose State the best of the rest.
Conference USA East Division
1) East Carolina
2) Southern Miss
3) Memphis
4) Marshall
5) Central Florida
6) UAB
Conference USA West Division
1) Houston
2) Tulsa
3) UTEP
4) SMU
5) Rice
6) Tulane
Analysis- The Big 12 offenses last season averaged a college football best 439.6 yards per game, guess who was second? That’s right football wizard, Conference USA at 401.8 yards per game. Every one has to find their niche in life and after much turmoil; C-USA is attracting offensive talent, which just isn’t determined good enough for the bigger conferences. It was also a banner postseason for the conference with 4-1 SU and ATS record. Houston has unfinished business of losing the West Division in last regular season contest to city rival Rice. Nearly everyone figures quarterback Case Keenum will finish the deal in 2009. Tulsa and UTEP are next in line, but several paces behind. In the East Division, a slight edge goes to East Carolina, being the surprise defending conference champions, with 18 regulars back in Greenville. Southern Miss is loaded as well, with 16 starters and they visit ECU on Nov. 28. The only true unanimous choice in C-USA action is UAB will finish last.
Independents
1) Notre Dame
2) Navy
3) Army
Analysis- Being the football coach and quarterback at Notre Dame are always pressure-packed positions, but maybe never more than this year. It’s BCS or join the unemployment line for Charley Weis in South Bend. Most magazines have Jimmy Clausen rated 13th to 23rd best quarterback in the country, if he’s not in Top 10 by season’s end, he and the Irish will have failed. The beat keeps rolling along for the Navy, with another winning season and minor bowl to compete in. Normally conservative Army stepped out of character and brought in Rich Ellerson to change results of 12 straight losing seasons. Ellerson was known innovator at Cal Poly and will install triple-option offense with passing efficiency a real key.
Part 2 - Friday
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