2009 College Football Preview

[Umpire in Chief]

Apparently some of you liked my NCAA football pick last year, so here’s my season preview for 2009.

Yes, this time last year I picked Clemson to win it all, well I’ve stopped drinking that Cool-aid. I’ve given this a lot of thought over the past week and watched what a number of the “experts” have had to say. This year I have tried very hard to disagree with the experts and not pick the Florida Gators to win it all again, but every time I had a reason to doubt Florida the facts just hit me in the face. The most glaring facts to me is that they are returning an amazing 20 starters including Tim Tebow. Add to that, that I believe (now hold your breath for those of you who read my rants about the dominance of the SEC) the SEC is not as strong as it was last season.

Their opponent for the BCS title game will be Texas.

Now lets go conference by conference:

ACC: The ACC Champion will be Clemson and here’s why. The ACC Coastal division is so strong this year several teams are going to give VT a run for their money including Georgia Tech, UNC, Miami and even UVA. Duke is the only school in this division which need not make plans for January. The Coastal Division will beat themselves up and not be in as good a shape for the ACC Championship game. The Atlantic Division has Clemson which finally came together late last year their question mark is at QB, Florida State who I don’t believe can offensively match up, but I do like their defense. NC State, Wake Forest & BC will be playing spoiler with their opponents. Clemson beats VT in an awesome ACC championship game.

BIG 12: Okay I bashed the Big 12 all last season and I don’t like them any more this year, but I think they are even stronger offensively this year. The problem is as we saw in the BCS Championship game is they don’t have a clue what defense is. First the Big 12 North. Why the hell do they keep you around? It gives the South a couple of easy wins in their schedule. But not to fear for all your humiliation and hard work for whipping boys for the Big 12 South you will be rewarded with the opportunity to watch some good football games on TV in January.

The South is a much trickier situation. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas are all stronger, including defensively, and Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Baylor are stronger than they were too. Bradford and McCoy are going to be in a much publicized battle for top QB in the Big 12. My gut is telling me Texas. These games will once again be exciting high scoring shout outs in the Big 12 South with the winner going to the BCS title game.

Big East: The Big East has an identity crisis. I don’t think they’ve ever recovered from the break up which sent VT and others to the ACC. They have no truly dominate team, but Pitt, WVU & Conn, are trying hard to establish dominance. But alas they have fallen to a second tier Conference. All their games will be tough and good ones to watch (okay not Syracuse games), which will make all the teams better until someone establishes their dominance. Pitt wins the conference.

Big 10: Like the Big East, they are not the conference they use to be, but unlike the Big East they are further down the road in returning to a top tier conference. Ohio State will Win the conference. But having Ohio State come in to the preseason ranked #6 is a bit generous. The top SEC & Big 12 teams will have to lose 2 games for Ohio State to make the BCS Championship and that will not happen. What I like about the Big 10 is that they do produce some of the most balanced teams in terms of offensive and defensive capability. Watch for Penn St. Illinois.

PAC 10: Who cares? USC will have a cake walk to win the conference and be over rated all year. It’s already started with their preseason #4 ranking. Like Ohio State they have virtually no chance at the title game. Watch for Oregon, but this conference is more hype than ability.

SEC: I begrudgingly admitted earlier that the SEC will not be this year what it was last year. Florida will win the Conference again and the National Championship again. The SEC west division games will be among the best in the country this year because the division is so evenly matched. With the exceptions of Vandy & Mississippi St. all the SEC teams will see action in January, many in BCS games. The West will be a slug out between Ole Miss & LSU, ‘Bama will make a strong showing and play spoiler who ever falls to ‘Bama will lose the SEC West.

CUSA: Need I even mention that ECU will win it all again. Their hard nosed defensive approach to the game and ability to score on defense will be too much, even when matched against offensive powerhouses. The problem for the Pirates is their strength of schedule. Last year if they hadn’t played down to their opponents and lost some games against opponents who they should have clobbered they might have been able to squeeze out a BCS bid as a team from a non-BCS conference. This year the god-like-being known as Skip Holtz will have to work at keeping the team playing at their highest potential even when faced with playing a mediocre team. This years biggest challenges will come from outside the conference by WVU, UNC & VT.

Mountain West: BYU will win this JV conference.

WAC: As much as I hate Boise I have to say they will win this JV conference. If they pull this BCS or we won’t go BS again I hope the committee who assigns the bowl games remembers this and lets their sorry tails sit at home and watch real teams play in January.

If I didn't discuss your conference, that means they are a nother JV conference which won't make much of a difference in any manner.

I will be back next week with my picks for week one.

[HokieUmp]

ACC: The ACC Champion will be Clemson and here’s why. The ACC Coastal division is so strong this year several teams are going to give VT a run for their money including Georgia Tech, UNC, Miami and even UVA. Duke is the only school in this division which need not make plans for January. The Coastal Division will beat themselves up and not be in as good a shape for the ACC Championship game. The Atlantic Division has Clemson which finally came together late last year their question mark is at QB, Florida State who I don’t believe can offensively match up, but I do like their defense. NC State, Wake Forest & BC will be playing spoiler with their opponents. Clemson beats VT in an awesome ACC championship game.

Aaagh, you're killing me, Warren!! If I didn't know better, I'd say you pick against VT here to get me all mad and stuff.

(Actually, I'm in a email group with other VT fans, and I predicted 9-3 and got KILLED for it. Most people weren't going the full 12-0, but there were a lot of 10-2s and all. On the other hand, a lot of people must think highly of us, because we're #7 in all the polls, and there are those saying we're in the MNC hunt. Don't know about that - I think we'll lose to Bama. On the other hand, if we ran the table from there, an 11-1 with the loss being early wouldn't completely rule us out, either.)

I will say this, though, as trash talk: if we're whatever-and-0 when we come to Greenville, get ready for a beat-down. There's the motivation of last year, and the incentive of the MNC, and between that and a Thursday night ESPN game .....

And I say that as a Skip Holtz fan, and even as an ECU fan.

Big 12:

Big East:

Big 10^H1:

PAC 10:

SEC:

CUSA:

Mountain West:

WAC:

Don't care. Don't exist.

Actually, your reasoning is pretty sound, to me, at least.

[HokieUmp]

I've read, although I've not confirmed, that Lou Holtz picked Notre Dame to win it all this year.

I thought weed and heroin were illegal....

Seriously? Notre Dame? Sorry to any/all people from Indiana, or Irish people, or Catholics, or whomever might be offended by the following, but:

No. Effing. Way.

[Umpire in Chief]

Lou did pick ND to win it all. But I think/hope it was not serious ND has been and will be one of the most over-rated teams in history.

As for VT vs ECU that will be the defining game of the season for both teams. Doudy-Ficklin Stadium will be rocking. ECU has much more to gain with a win, but VT has a lot more to lose with a loss. ECUs defense is even tougher than last year the offense is going to be better for the most part even after losing their star RB. The Hokies also have a strong defense but their offense is suspect at the QB.

This will be an awesome match up.

As for picking against Tech just to get you fired up hmmm Not actually I've got to stick by my Pirates it just so happens that their toughest game every year is against Tech.

[Umpire in Chief]

HokieUmp, you have inspired me to hoist the No Quarter flag. This will remain my avatar through the football season, but as soon as Basketball season begins back comes my 'Heels avatar.