Big Ten Realignment
This week the Big Ten announced the divisions for the conference once Nebraska joins the Big Ten. The currently unnamed divisions will be: Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern in one and Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana. Much of the media attention was on the fact that Michigan and Ohio State were in different divisions. I couldn’t care less about that. I dislike the lack of logic used to assemble the divisions. Look at the big conferences they use geography as a dividing line for divisions (see SEC and Big XII). The Big Ten officials said that they wanted to have competitive balance among the divisions. This is the same thing that the ACC said yet all of the power in the conference resides fully in the Coastal division with Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Miami.
The Big Ten should have simply, logically followed the geography of the conference. This, interestingly enough, does provide competitive balance and preserves regional rivalries. The divisions should have been:
East: Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, and Purdue
West: Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska
The Big Six
I do not like preseason polls in college football. They rely too heavily on a team’s performance from the previous year and have too much impact on the national championship race. Get rid of the BCS and I’m cool with the preseason polls. Keep the BCS and dump the polls until the first week of October. So I will give you the top six teams in the country in no particular order:
Texas, Ohio State, Boise State, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Florida
BCS Conference winners
Big East- Pitt will edge out Cincinnati and Connecticut
Big Ten- Ohio State with a challenge Iowa and Wisconsin
Big XII- Texas over Nebraska in the Big XII title game
Pac 10- It all comes down to the Civil War, Oregon over Oregon State
SEC- The pundits say Alabama but I’m going with Florida over Alabama in SEC Championship. Florida will struggle early but catch fire over the course of the season peaking in December and January.
ACC- The champion will come out of the Coastal division (the Atlantic is a putrid division). With North Carolina’s suspension issues, the edge goes to Virginia Tech once again.
Five solid teams that will not win their conferences
Iowa, Georgia Tech, Arkansas, Connecticut, and Stanford
Four Preseason Heisman Contenders and One Super Long Shot
Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State (my front runner and prediction)- He threw 39 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions as a sophomore and Boise State is loaded (returning 20 of 22 starters from last year’s 14-0 team).
Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State- High profile player on a high profile team.
Dion Lewis, RB, Pitt- Rushed for nearly 1800 yards last year as a freshman.
Case Keenum, QB, Houston- An absolute stat monster. He threw for 5671 yards and 44 touchdowns.
Donald Buckram, RB, UTEP- Was fourth in rushing yards per game last season (132.8 yards) and will be running behind a solid, senior offensive line.
College Uniform Rankings
1. UCLA- Another “throwback” to a simpler time. The baby blue jerseys, created to provide contrast on black and white televisions make the uniform. This year they return to form by having only navy stripes and numbers on the road uniform.
2. Texas- Burnt Orange and white, admittedly an odd combo but its standard bearer for uniforms in college. Iconic logo and simple lines.
3. USC- Consistent, clean, and classic. The uniform trifecta. The simple helmet with the Trojan logo makes the set.
4. Michigan- Uniforms so nice that Rich Rodriguez could not even screw it up. The maize and blue are great but let's face it the helmet makes the uniform.
5. Ohio State- Only minor changes (to the stripes on the jersey) over the decades. The buckeyes on the helmet are a fall classic.
6. Notre Dame- Classic, iconic uniform. Some would say boring or antiquated. No, that’s Penn State. Also a fan of the super secret, rarely used green jersey. Will we see it more under Brian Kelly?
7. Ole Miss- A classic set with navy, grey, and red hearkening back to both the days of Archie Manning. Mirrors the Giants in the NFL in many ways.
8. Georgia- Classic combo with the silver pants, red jerseys, and red helmets with a black “Green Bay” G on them. Fans and Alums take the uni seriously and went crazy when the ‘Dogs introduced a black helmet. Never again.
9. Iowa- In my NFL rankings, I had the Steelers in the top ten. The Hawkeyes literally based their uniform design on the Steelers (down to the same pants and sleeve stripes)
1o. Clemson- When I was growing up, I spent 4 years in South Carolina and went to games at Death Valley. That experience and the sea of orange will always biased me. I love the paw on the helmet and the classic pairing orange and white with just a touch of purple. Though, I can absolutely do without the purple jerseys and purple pants.
Game(s) of the Week
Week one of the College Football Season will be dominated by the two non-BCS schools that get the most press: Boise State and TCU. Boise State plays Virgina Tech and TCU plays Oregon State. I know its the first game of the season for Boise State and TCU but these are must win, statement games. If they want to continue to hang with the big boys in the standings they must win. I think that both will and decisively as well.
I see Boise State beating Virgina Tech 27-13. Kellen Moore is unflappable and will be able to handle the pressure of the VaTech. Boise State has an underrated defense (see last years game against TCU) and will be able to contain the VaTech run game forcing them to throw the ball. TCU, with a chip the size of Texas on their shoulder, will dispatch a very scrappy, tough Oregon State team 38-28 at Cowboys Stadium. TCU will need to contain the Beavers ground attack but the Horned Frogs will present match up problems on both sides of the ball for the spunky Beavers.
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