5 more predicitions for the upcoming football season

So after I chimed in with my thoughts for the first blog, Tad naturally had to add his:

5 more predictions for the upcoming college football season

1. Florida’s Tim Tebow will not run amok over the SEC – I’m not downplaying how vital Tebow was for the Gators last season; he was absolutely a key piece of the puzzle in Florida’s national championship. But now, with a year of film on him, SEC teams will go back to watch the tapes and discover that Tebow is, indeed, white. And white people are not fast. Once defenders realize that, they will stop him with ease.
2. USC will NOT win the national title – I’ve about had it with people handing the Trojans the championship like it’s a warm piece of pie or something. It’s not. It’s a trophy. Southern Cal plays in the Pac-10 that features arguably the nation’s best competition. And I don’t just mean the best competition right now, I mean ever. Meanwhile, you’ve got teams like LSU and Michigan that play in joke conferences. It’s not fair.
3. Miami-FIU Brawl II will be even better – There’s still a lot of bad blood between these two teams. By now, we all know what happened: FIU threw Miami’s kicker down like he was a feather, Miami’s Brandon Meriweather stomped opposing players and Anthony Reddick swung his helmet like Andy Roddick swings a tennis racket. So when these teams meet again on Sept. 15, the historic rivalry will continue. Right now, Miami leads in the all-time series 1-0 after a 37-0 victory, but this time, I’m guessing FIU stabs the ‘Canes with their cleats. That means ANYTHING can happen.
4. This year’s Boise State? The Boise State Broncos – Unlike Dan, I’ve got this feeling in the pit of my stomach that Boise State will not change its name to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. In all honesty, it would be a weird decision after there is already a team with that name. But here’s a bold prediction: not a single cheerleader will marry a Bronco this year.
5. The ACC will make you cry in its BCS game – Widely known as one of the best conferences, the ACC has a ridiculous record of 1-8 in BCS bowl games, with its only win coming in the 2000 Sugar Bowl (Florida State). And if Wake Forest couldn’t win the 2007 Orange Bowl, then you can just forget about it – NO ONE can win then. Prediction: N.C. State falls in a nailbiter to Boise State (this year’s “Boise State,” by the way), 2-0, in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl. The Broncos record a safety in the game’s waning minutes for the win. Go ahead and call your bookie, Tim Donaghy.

5 predicitions for the upcoming college football season

So with football season right around the corner I thought it would be fun to make some predictions for the first entry to the Instant Replay blog:


1. USC will win the national championship - I know that's a pretty common opinion, but it's justified. In what was supposed to be a down year last year, USC lost two games by a total of 6 points, won the conference, and beat up on a good Michigan team in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans return everybody on a defense that improved a great deal over the course of last season. The offense lost a wide receiver tandem that is as good as some NFL duos, but the talent is still there at the wideout spot with Big, athletic wide outs Patrick Turner and Vidal Hazleton. They have maybe the best lineman in the country (Sam Baker) and one with the most potential (Jeff Byers) if they can replace all-american center Ryan Kalil the line will be fine. The running game needs to improve, but pick your 5 star talent to do so (Chauncey Washington, CJ Gable, Joe McKnight, etc) And they return a QB who threw for 3,300 yards 29tds and 9ints in John David Booty. Yikes.

2. Somebody will run the table in the SEC and that somebody is LSU- Not another earth shattering prediction, but the SEC is tough and coming through unscathed is no small feat. However, the schedule sets up very nicely for the Bayou Bengals, the nation's second most talented team after the Men of Troy. You can't get a better home slate than South Carolina, Florida, Auburn and Arkansas. They also don't have to play Georgia or Tennessee. The only conference foe that may be able to beat them when LSU goes on the road is Alabama, but talent wise LSU is better. If Matt Flynn can replicate his Peach Bowl performance from two years ago, LSU will overcome Les Miles' substandard coaching ability and play the Trojans for the national title. With the recent smack talk from Ol' Les towards the Trojans, that's the game college football NEEDS for the title game.

3. The nation's best player will once again NOT win the Heisman Trophy- The best player in college football resides in Fayetteville, Arkansas and wears #5. The schedule sets up the same as it did last year and IF the pigs make it to the SEC title game again McFadden will win the Heisman, but I just can't see it happening with all the turmoil that has gone on in Arkansas this offseason. With the public complaint and defection of QB Mitch Mustain and text message scandals and all it's hard to imagine Arkansas being able to overcome that. They won't sneak up on people the way they did last year either. If Arkansas loses to Alabama in week 2, they could lose 4 conference games which would probably relegate them to something like the Independence Bowl or Peach Bowl and if they lose 4 conference games then McFadden will watch someone else take his trophy in New York. My guess? John David Booty if USC runs the table or Colt Brennan, which brings me to...

4. This year's Boise State? The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors- Many people would say TCU, but going to Austin on September 8th is way more difficult than anything Hawaii has to do this season. This is what Hawaii has games 1-10: Northern Colorado, at La Tech, at UNLV, Charleston Southern, at Idaho, Utah State, at San Jose state, New Mexico State, Fresno State and at Nevada. If Hawaii isn't 10-0 at the point I'll be shocked. They close out with their two toughest games against Boise State and Washington, but both games are at home. Colt Brennan isn't a product of June Jones' run and shoot offense, he's a real big time talent with really good targets (Davone Bass and Jason Rivers) to throw to. They should cruise through the first ten and by the Boise State game the offensive line questions should be worked out. If the defense can hold opponents to 28-30 points a game, Hawaii should still win most of their games easily.

5. I will die from too much college football joy on September 8th- Just look at this slate of games:

Miami at Oklahoma
Oregon at Michigan
South Carolina at Georgia
Notre Dame at Penn State
TCU at Texas
Virginia Tech at LSU

Then throw in some interesting ones to follow like former BC head coach Tom O'Brien going back to Boston with his NC State team and a potential upset special upstart South Florida against Auburn and it makes for a great day of college football. My heart will probably explode by the end of it. Sooner if Texas loses to TCU.