10 Things to look forward to in Spring of '08

Alright. It's spring football time. Is there any greater time on a college campus than spring. You have spring break, hot girls wearing bikinis to class, finals are far away, and the football teams are getting ready for the new season.

Every school, no matter how dismal there season may have been, is brimming with optimism for the upcoming fall. The highly touted freshmen are getting acquainted with college life, and the upperclassmen are working hard to end their career in style.

Spring also brings a lot of questions and builds extraordinary anticipation among die-hard fans. I am anxious to learn more about the upcoming season. I have chosen the 10 most important things to look forward to heading into the new college football season.


1.Which Big Ten(Eleven) school will finally get speed?
I hate Big Ten(Eleven) football. Their fans are annoying and their teams are easily the most over hyped. That being said, college football would not be college football without the Big Ten(Eleven).

Over the past few years the Big Ten(Eleven) has developed a deserving reputation of being incredibly slow. The only exception lately being Illinois, thanks to SEC- bred Ron Zook. However one player holds two Big Ten(Eleven) teams future in his hands. Terrelle Pryor.

Pryor is the Lebron James of high-school football this year. He is a lightning-quick quarterback with all the tools to run a spread offense on the collegiate level. There are three schools right now that have an opportunity of landing the wife-beater, I mean, quarterback. They are, in order of likelihood they get him, Michigan, Ohio State & Penn State. All 3 of these schools desperately need to add speed if they wish to compete on the national level. Just look at Ohio St.'s last two National Championship games vs Florida and LSU, or Michigan's loss to speedy Appalachian St.

Whichever of the three schools Pryor Chooses would immediately be a favorite for the national championship in the next few years, especially playing through the weak Big Ten(Eleven) conference schedule.


2.How good will Florida and Georgia be?
Both Florida and Georgia will be favorites for the National Championship next year. Whoever wins the annual showdown in Jacksonville should be the favorite to win it all.

Florida returns Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow, along with Heisman trophy hopeful Percy Harvin. The Gators also add USC transfer Emmanuel Moody to help with the run-game. The Gators' weakness last year was defense. With Major Wright and Joe Haden returning healthy, and several top recruits coming in at linebacker and defensive line, the Gators seemed to have shored up that area. Also, Kyle Jackson graduated. Addition by subtraction.

Georgia returns perhaps the most exciting running back in the nation in Knowshon Moreno. Moreno, incidentally, had his coming out party vs. Florida last year. Georgia also returns keg-chucker Matthew Stafford at quarterback. By the way, Stafford has passed up Jay Cutler as the dumbest looking quarterback of all time. It just looks like he should be working on an oil rig in Montana. Georgia's defense will be the key to their success next season. Georgia is very solid on both sides of the ball and should open up the season in the top 3.


3. Will Noel Devine stay out of jail long enough to dazzle Heisman voters?
Noel Devine is a straight up bonafide superstar. He is the next Barry Sanders. Anyone who can make a defense forget about Steve Slaton and Pat White while they're on the field must be something special. The problem with Devine is that he can's stay out of trouble. Devine had character issues coming out of high school in Florida and it seems those issues are catching back up to him. If Devine can stay on the football field, look for West Virginia to not miss a step without Slaton or coach Rich Rodriguez.


4. Which coaches will not make it through the season?
College football is not known for in-season firings. However, this has happened in the recent years. The list of recent coaches to be canned mid season include; Guy Morriss, Ron Zook, Phil Bennett and John L. Smith among others.

This years list of possible lame duck coaches; Gregg Robinson, Syracuse; David Bailiff, Rice; Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville; Bob Toledo, Tulane; Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern


5. Coaching Changes
Staying on the topic of coaching, there are several intriguing coaching moves to keep an eye on this upcoming season. I have broken down the changes in 2 columns of upgrade or downgrade.

Upgrade......................................................Downgrade
David Cutcliffe- Duke................................Mike Sherman - Texas A&M
Paul Johnson - Georgia Tech...................Bill Stewart - West Virginia
Art Briles - Baylor.....................................Kevin Sumlin - Houston
Bo Pelini - Nebraska..................................Larry Fedora - Southern Miss
Rich Rodriguez - Michigan........................Ken Niumatalolo - Navy
June Jones - SMU......................................Jerry Kill - Northern Illinois
Steve Fairchild - Colorado St....................Bobby Petrino - Arkansas
Rick Neuheisel - UCLA..............................Greg McMackin - Hawaii
Paul Wulff - Washington St.
Houston Nutt - Ole Miss


6. New Bowlers?
Every season brings about new teams to go bowling that no one ever envisioned. There are a few teams this year that have a chance to improve on last season and make a bowl game.

Miami(FL) - Of course Miami is going to make it back to a bowl game. Last year was a down year to say the least for the Hurricanes. With a year under Randy Shannon, look for the 'Canes to even compete for a berth in the ACC Championship game.

Northwestern - The Wildcats are always one of my favorite teams to pick to resurrect themselves and make a bowl game. This year is no different. With the return of quarterback C.J. Bacher and running back Tyrell Sutton, look for the Wildcats to make a mid-level bowl.

UTEP- UTEP is another one of my yearly picks just like Northwestern. As long as Mike Price is coaching a team in Conference USA, I don't see how they can manage to miss a bowl game again.

Buffalo- The Bulls have done a tremendous job under Turner Gill turning their program around. Going from a laughing stock in college football to one of the upstart programs in a few years has led Gill to be named in several head coaching discussions. Look for Buffalo to make the MAC Championship game and play in the Motor City Bowl.

Ohio - See Buffalo. Replace Turner Gill with Frank Solich.

Arizona- In a make or break year for Mike Stoops, the Wildcats should be vastly improved on both sides of the ball. A .500 record should get 'Zona bowling.

Washington- See Arizona. Replace Mike Stoops with Tyrone Willingham.

Ole Miss- Houston Nutt should lead the Rebels to the biggest turnaround of any team in the 2008 season. Even though Ole Miss has to get through the difficult SEC, they should be improved enough to make a bowl.


7. Very Early Heisman Favorites
Tim Tebow QB Florida ....................................James Davis RB Clemson
Percy Harvin WR Florida.................................P.J. Hill RB Wisconsin
Knowshon Moreno RB Georgia.......................Pat White QB West Virginia
Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech.................DeMarco Murray RB Oklahoma
Sam Bradford QB Oklahoma...........................LeSean McCoy RB Pittsburgh
Chris Wells RB Ohio State...............................Matt Grothe QB South Florida
Noel Devine RB West Virginia........................Juice Williams QB Illinois
Colt McCoy QB Texas......................................Arrelious Benn WR Illinois
Jake Locker QB Washington...........................Todd Reesing QB Kansas
Graham Harrell QB Texas Tech....................Joe McKnight RB USC



8. How Bad Will Notre Dame Be Again?
Last year I correctly predicted that Notre Dame would not have a winning record. This year it seems every one is once again penciling in the Irish to compete and make a bowl game. I honestly don't see how? Jimmy Claussen and Evan Sharpley are still the only answers at QB (and not very good ones). The Irish have no running or passing game to speak of. Granted ND's defense should be much improved, but I don't see them being a whole lot better than last year. This year's schedule for the Irish:

vs. San Diego St. Win

vs. Michigan Loss

at Michigan St. Loss

vs Purdue Loss

vs Stanford Loss

at North Carolina Loss

at Washington Loss

vs Pittsburgh Loss

at Boston College Win

vs Navy Win

vs Syracuse Win

at USC Loss

That's a 4-8 record. Hopefully, the Irish will wise up and fire Charlie Weiss. He is easily the most over-hyped coach in the history of the program.



9. Which Teams Have A Shot of Running the Table?
It's hard every year to single out a team or two that has a shot to run the table. You have to take into account that team's schedule, conference, and depth, among other factors. There are a few teams this year, however, that might have a shot of running the table.

Florida and Georgia will be the two top teams next year. However, it will be extremely difficult for either one of the two to remain undefeated. Whoever survives the showdown in Jacksonville still has to overcome a very tough conference schedule. Florida could possibly slip up vs LSU, while Georgia always seems to have trouble against South Carolina and Tennessee. It's hard to see any team from the SEC going undefeated any time soon.

The Big Ten(Eleven) is likely to produce an undefeated contender for the National Championship. This is because of the lack of depth in the league. Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio St. could all run the table in conference. The most likely candidates are Michigan and Ohio St. With OSU playing USC in non-conference, it seems Michigan would be the favorite here. For that to happen, Michigan would have to finally overcome the Buckeyes in the season finale. All this being said, if the Big Ten(Eleven) were able to produce an undefeated regular season champ, that team would surely fall to a much better 1-loss team in the NC.

The one team with the best shot of finishing the regular season undefeated would be the Boise St. Broncos. The Broncos play in the WeAC, which is more like a Texas high school varsity league. Hawaii lost it's entire offense, as did Oregon (which Boise St. plays in non-conference). The only team that could provide a real threat to knock off Boise St. would be Fresno St., and the Bulldogs go to Boise the last game of the year. Since it is unlikely Boise St. would get a NC bid even with an undefeated record, they would also have a shot of winning their bowl game and finishing up with a perfect record.



10.Will the Entire SEC Go Bowling?
The SEC should once again be the deepest conference in America in 2008. You could make a case for every school in the conference to be a bowl team.

In the SEC East, Florida and Georgia are locks. Tennessee should make a bowl. South Carolina would only need to improve on last year's record by a win to get a bowl berth. Vanderbilt should be much improved with another year under Bobby Johnson. Kentucky seems to be the only team that would be hard-pressed to improve on last year.

In the SEC West, LSU, Auburn and Alabama are locks. Mississippi St. should make another bowl appearance. Ole Miss will be vastly improved under Houston Nutt. Arkansas will drop-off a bit from last year without Run-DMC or Felix Jones, but they should still be able to sneak into a bowl game.