The top 25 players: WAC

Over the past few seasons, the WAC has been the cream of the crop when it comes to non-BCS conferences.

Two years ago the Boise St. Broncos pulled off one of the biggest upsets in conference history with their victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

Last season, the Hawaii Warriors made it through the regular season undefeated. This year Boise St. is trying to wrestle back control of the conference. However, a lot of "experts" are picking Fresno St. to make a run at the title.

Here's my list of the top 25 players in the WAC.


1. Ian Johnson - Boise St. RB - Ian Johnson could be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy this season. The now famous back is a touchdown machine. With a new QB, Johnson should get plenty of carries once again.

2. Chase Holbrook - New Mexico St. QB - Holbrook has quietly put up some astronomically numbers for the Aggies. NMSU is in danger of losing it's 1-a status. In order to save the program, Holbrook will have to get accompany those numbers with wins.

3. Luke Lippincott - Nevada RB - A lot of people underestimate Lippincott at the RB position. However, whenever I watched a Wolfpack game last season, I saw this kid make play after play. I think he deserves this ranking.

4. Jeremy Childs - Boise St. WR - Childs is yet another play maker for Chris Petersen and the Broncos. I don't see how people can pick Fresno St. above them.

5. Solomon Elimimian - Hawaii LB - The Warrior defense will need to step up in a big way this season. They lost too much on offense to rely on that unit once again.

6. Chris Williams - New Mexico St. WR - Williams is the preferred target for QB Chase Holbrook at NMSU. Hal Mumme will dig deep in his playbook to find ways to get this guy the ball as much as possible.

7. Adam Leonard - Hawaii LB - Leonard joins Elimimian on a very solid linebacker unit. Coach McMackin knows he can count on these two to lead his defense this season.

8. Andrew Woodruff - Boise St. OL - Woodruff is usually the man in charge for clearing running lanes for Ian Johnson. Based on Johnson's stats, you can tell Woodruff is good at what he does.

9. Colin Kaepernick - Nevada QB - Caepernick is probably the least known of all the dual threat quarterbacks in America. This guy may actually be a bigger threat on the ground than through the air.

10. John Estes - Hawaii OL - Estes' talents may go unnoticed this season. That's largely due to the fact that there is absolutely nothing left on offense for the Warriors. Despite this, Estes will still be plugging away on the line.

The rest:

11. Antonio Baker Louisiana Tech DB
12.David Veikune Hawaii DL
13. Joshua Mauga Nevada LB
14. Christopher Owens San Jose St. DB
15. Bear Pascoe Fresno St. TE
16. Jon Monga Fresno St. DL
17. Kevin Jurovich San Jose St. WR
18. Marko Mitchell Nevada WR
19. Kyle Wilson Boise St. DB
20. Cole Popovich Boise St. OL
21. Dominic Green Nevada OL
22. Shiloh Keo Idaho DB
23. Jarron Gilbert San Jose St. DL
24. Bobby Lepori Fresno St. OL
25. Tom Brandstater Fresno St. QB

10 Things that won't change in '08

Every preseason magazine of website focuses on what to expect in 2008. Usually these pages are filled with predictions of changes for the upcoming year. Everyone seems to have an opinion on how the '08 season will unfold.

I thought I should take a look at some things that will stay the same boring course with no changes at all.



1. Notre Dame will still suck. I don't see why so many people thing the Irish will do any better. They still have the most overrated coach in the history of sports, their offense is horrible, and their defense has too many holes for new DC John Tenuta to fix. Plus, Notre Dame's schedule is not to their advantage. Here is their schedule for 2008:

1.San Diego St.- Win
2.Michigan- Win
3.at Michigan St.- Loss
4.Purdue- Loss
5.Stanford- Win
6.at North Carolina- Loss
7.at Washington- Loss
8.Pittsburgh-Loss
9.at Boston College- Loss
10.at Navy- Loss
11.Syracuse- Win
12.at USC- Loss

That's a 4-8 record. I might be giving the Irish too much credit.




2. Ohio St. will win the Big Eleven. Again. No one in the Big Eleven has the tools necessary to unseat the defending champs. Now I'm not ready to put the Buckeyes back in the BCS title game, but I think they should be able to win yet another conference crown. The only conference games that should worry the Buckeyes are at Wisconsin and at Illinois, which defeated Ohio St. at home last season. Also, the Buckeyes should keep an eye out for Purdue. I'm sure the Boilermakers would like nothing more than to send out Joe Tiller with a stunning upset.













3. The SEC will be the best conference. This argument will be closer than recent years. The Big XII has closed the gap some on the boys down South for the right to call themselves the best conference. Sometimes, it seems like the SEC should just break off from the rest of college football. Last year 10 of the 12 teams were bowl eligible. Vanderbilt and Ole Miss were the only two to not make the 6-6 mark. This year, Ole Miss should be much improved with Houston Nutt at head coach and Jevan Snead stepping into QB. Vanderbilt probably still has no shot at a bowl, although they should be more competitive.












4.There will be a non-BCS school in a BCS game. The previous two years has seen two teams from the WAC crash the BCS party. Two years ago the Boise St. Broncos defeated heavily favored Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in what was one of the greatest college football games ever. Last year, the Hawaii Warriors were demolished by the superior Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. This year there are a few teams that have a shot to crack the BCS. In the WAC, Boise St. and Fresno St. are dark horses to make it in, while in the Mountain West BYU is the overwhelming favorite to get a berth. I like the Cougars of BYU to go undefeated and make a BCS bowl.






5. The national champion will come from the SEC. I've already touched on the SEC being the greatest thing to hit college football since female cheerleaders. What I didn't mention is that the SEC has produced the previous two national champions. I look for that to remain the same this season. The favorites to win it all are Georgia and Florida. Of course I like Florida to win it all. I would keep an eye on Auburn as a sleeper NC contender from the SEC West.










6. The Miami Hurricanes will not make a bowl game. Last year marked the first time in ages that the Miami Hurricanes did not get a bowl berth. I do expect the Hurricanes to be better this season, especially on defense. However, I just don't see Miami getting 6 wins from their schedule. One thing working against the Hurricanes is that they will be starting a freshman QB in Robert Marve.









7. Tim Tebow will win the Heisman. This might be my most controversial prediction for this season. Only one player has ever won the Heisman Trophy twice, and that was of course Archie Griffin of Ohio St. I expect Tebow to have better passing numbers than last season, and I expect his rushing numbers to be about the same. So if a Heisman winner improves upon his Heisman winning season, then he should be a lock to win the trophy once again. Also, the Gators will be in national title contention all season, further boosting Tebow's chances.













8. Oklahoma will lose their bowl game. This has become a yearly tradition. When you think of Oklahoma football, you think of Boomer Sooner, the Red River Shootout, Bedlam, and now bowl game losses. It's a staple of the Bob Stoops era lately in Norman. I have Oklahoma making the BCS title game. Since that means the Sooners will be facing an almighty SEC team, of course they're going to lose.















9.Graham Harrell will get no respect despite gaudy numbers. Texas Tech quarterbacks are always overlooked on the national level. Harrell continues the trend of Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons, Sonny Cumbie and others before him. Harrell will lead the NCAA in passing , partly because of Mike Leech's system, partly because of receiver Michael Crabtree, and party because he is that good.














10. West Virginia will lose a national title shot on the last game of the season. Last year, the Mountaineers had a national championship game bid all locked up heading into the final game of the season. All they had to do was beat the lowly Pittsburgh Panthers. Of course, Pittsburgh came out and pull off a shocking upset of West Virginia. I look for West Virginia to navigate a tough schedule this season and continue to fight for a NC bid all season long. The Mountaineers are talented enough to do just that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if West Virginia made it to the last week of the season undefeated. However, I can easily see the Mountaineers losing to the visiting South Florida Bulls and once again falling one game short of the NC.

Expansion? It's the PAC-10's turn.

I recently did a blog referring to the possible expansion of the Big East and how awesome that would be. Now it's time for me to show you how smart I am by discussing the possible expansion of the PAC-10.

PAC-10 expansion is a bit more unlikely than Big East expansion. Most PAC-10 fans will argue that bringing in two more teams will go against the tradition that the conference has built up. I agree there is a certain air about PAC-10 schools that doesn't exist anywhere else in the West. Bringing in two more teams would somewhat dilute that.

Also, the main reason for expanding would be the implementation of a conference title game to generate more revenue for the conference itself. This argument might not hold up in the PAC-10 because a title game might not be all that more profitable. Unlike the SEC and Big XII, the PAC-10 fan base is not exactly obsessed about it's football. I compare the PAC-10 more to the ACC, and we have seen how much of a struggle that conference is having with it's title game.

Despite these drawbacks, expanding the PAC-10 to allow a conference title game could be beneficial to all of college football.

Here are six possible candidates that I believe would get some consideration if the PAC-10 were ever to expand.

1. Boise St.- The Broncos have been the class of the non-BCS schools of recent years. From 2002-2006, Boise St. won 5 straight WAC titles. Of course, Boise St. is remembered most for knocking off the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl after a perfect 2006 season.

Boise St. would bring with them a fan base that would rival top PAC-10 programs. Other than USC, California and UCLA, Boise St. might have one of the better fan bases in the PAC-10.

The downside to Boise St. is that they play in a small market. Idaho doesn't exactly scream PAC-10. Also, the blue turf that the Broncos play on would have to go as it is seen as nothing more than a gimmick by the PAC-10 powers.

2.Colorado- A few years back it was reported that the Buffs would welcome a move to the PAC-10 from the Big 12. Colorado might not fit in with the rest of the PAC-10 geographically, but that's been done before (i.e. Penn State in the Big Ten, Arkansas in the SEC, Iowa St. in the Big XII.) Since the Big XII started playing title games back in 1996, Colorado has participated in 4 of them. Also, Colorado would bring a national championship to the PAC-10 with their title in 1990 (shared with Georgia Tech.) Colorado would be able to match the other PAC-10 schools in terms of tradition and name recognition, which would be a big seller.

A drawback for Colorado to join the PAC-10 would be the fact that the Buffaloes will undoubtedly have to pay some sort of fine to the Big XII. The move to the PAC-10 would have to be overwhelmingly positive for Colorado to even consider throwing away money like that.

As a side note, this would allow Colorado, Washington and UCLA to compete for the Neuheisel cup every year. Good stuff.

3.Utah- Utah is a respected state university that would fit the mold of a PAC-10 institution. Also, bringing in Utah would allow the PAC-10 to capture the Salt Lake City market. Since the Mountain West conference came into existence in 1999, the Utes have won 3 conference titles. Also, Utah defeated Pittsburgh after their perfect 2004 season to become the first non-BCS school to win a BCS bowl game.

Utah is always one of the more respected non-BCS schools in the country. However, the Utes have lost some of their luster after the departure of head coach Urban Meyer to Florida.

4.Fresno St.- The Bulldogs already play in a PAC-10 market in Fresno, CA. The ability to keep the geographical boundaries that currently exist would be a big draw for the PAC-10 in regards to Fresno St. The Bulldogs have won three WAC titles under Pat Hill and have always taken the role of fearless underdog when playing against BCS competition.

One thing the Bulldogs lack is a defining win. Fresno St. has had their share of upsets but they have never really captured the college football world like Boise St. and Utah have. Also, lately Fresno St. has been labeled an underachiever and last time I checked the PAC-10 already has a UCLA.

5. BYU- The Cougars have gradually become one of the better non-BCS teams in college football recently. This year BYU is expected to make a run at a BCS bid. If that were to happen, it would greatly improve their stock in this discussion. BYU has won 4 Mountain West conference titles including back to back championships the past two seasons.

The Cougars definitely have the goods on the field, but BYU is not a research institution, which is almost a mandatory requirement for the PAC-10. BYU's religious affiliation may be too much to overcome for them to be seriously considered for the PAC-10.

6. UNLV- The Rebels are easily the least credentialed football team on this list. One thing that UNLV does have that the other schools don't is a very solid basketball program. The b-ball program would help UNLV in the expansion discussion.

Also, UNLV would give the PAC-10 the Las Vegas market. This could either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you want to look at it.

UNLV might have the smoothest transition of the 6 schools listed into the PAC-10 because the Rebels roster is loaded with USC transfers.