2010 College Football Predictions!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 3:20PM One of the big reasons I wanted to restore the blog to its former glory was my desire to keep my tradition of college football predictions going. Last year's picks were reasonably successful (6 out of 10 BCS teams), so we'll see if I can do even better this year.
ACC: The ACC looks stacked this year with 5 teams in the preseason top 25. Because of this, I don't anticipate an ACC team being part of the national title discussion, but there will be plenty of good games to look forward to. I think Florida State actually benefits from Bobby Bowden retiring, but I think they will have a couple years of rebuilding. I enjoy watching the classic option offense of Georgia Tech, but their defense lacks a lot of punch. I was excited about the possibility with North Carolina, but with all the off-field issues that have popped up the last 2-3 weeks, I'm not so sure a team with no recent success can rise above. This leaves Miami and Virginia Tech (as it seems to be most years), and like most years, I give the edge to the Hokies. Their month of November will be very tough, but with only 4 road games they have a built in schedule advantage.
Big East: With Brian Kelly leaving Cincinnati for Notre Dame, we have one less contender in the Big East to worry about. With all due respect to West Virginia, Pittsburgh should roll through this conference relatively untarnished. In fact, Pitt could be a national title contender if they make it past Miami early in the season, which I think they will. Dion Lewis should have a big year as Pitt finishes somewhere in the top 5.
Big 10: Sorry, Hawkeye fans: I'm not buying that Iowa is a national title contender. With Penn State still unsure at QB, and Michigan still transitioning to Rich Rodriguez's offense, I think the conference comes down to Ohio State and Wisconsin. Terrelle Pryor will get lots of publicity for the Buckeyes, but John Clay (think a shorter Toby Gerhart) could prove to be just as potent a scorer for the Badgers. On October 16th when Ohio State visits Wisconsin, I think the Badgers are victorious and go on to the Big 10 title.
Big 12: What will become of the Big 12 in the years to come is an interesting question, but less interesting is how the final (for now) Big 12 championship will set up. In a surprisingly weak year, Nebraska will coast to the North title, with Texas and Oklahoma battling yet again in the south. With Texas having to replace Colt McCoy, OU will have the advantage in the Red River Rivalry and win the South, though I am inclined to think that the South champion will have at least one loss in conference. With a classic (and perhaps final) match up in the Big 12 title, I think Nebraska finishes up an undefeated conference season with a win over the Sooners - sad I know.
Pac 10: Let me be clear here: NOTHING pleases me more than seeing the USC Trojans slowly begin to go down the tubes. Mark my words: USC will not be in a BCS bowl in the next 5 years, NCAA bans or not. Just like last year, I believe the conference will come down to the Civil War between Oregon and Oregon State. The Rodgers brothers are a lot of fun to watch for the Beavers, but Oregon has a much more balanced offensive attack and I think will stand atop the conference.
SEC: With the majority of their starters returning, I don't think there's many people that would pick against Alabama this year. Even with the recent news that Mark Ingram will be out to begin the season I still think 'Bama will have a relatively easy ride through the SEC West. Arkansas could make some noise early in the season, but Alabama's superhuman defense should be able to shut them down. In the East, a 2-team race between Florida and Georgia will be settled at the Cocktail party, with the Gators moving on to the SEC title game (Tebow was important, but not the only talented player for Florida). With a rematch of last year's title game, Alabama once again wins and makes their way to the BCS.
Once again, we will have at least a few teams outside of the major 6 conferences making a run at the BCS. Last year's two outside participants, Boise State and TCU will most likely be the two to compete yet again this year for any at-large spots. However, I think the attention will finally catch up to Boise State; with matchups against 2 top 25 teams in the first month, I think Boise will end up losing at least once and dropping out of consideration. TCU, however, I think has an excellent chance of returning to the BCS yet again, perhaps to the national title, given that they are already ranked quite high.
So, here is my BCS 10:
Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. TCU
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Wisconsin
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Florida
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Ohio State
BCS Championship: Pittsburgh vs. Nebraska
A matchup of two stellar defense may prove less than entertaining, but I believe Pittsburgh will triumph in a low-scoring affair.
And now, for some Heisman thoughts. Since Mark Ingram appears to be out of the running due to injury, and no other returning finalists, this could be a wide-open race. Here are a few people I think could be in the conversation in December:
John Clay, RB, Wisconsin. If the Badgers due manage to win the Big 10, a lot of the credit will have to go to Clay, who could have a huge year running the ball.
Dion Lewis, RB, Pittsburgh. Heisman loves stars on championship teams, and Lewis had a huge freshman season which could lead to the 4th sophomore Heisman in a row.
Andy Dalton, QB, TCU. Gotta put a vote in for my fellow Dalton! His numbers will not be eye-popping so he is likely a long-shot but a second undefeated regular season could get some attention for him.
Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas. Will no doubtedly put up gaudy numbers for the Razobacks, but the question will be whether he can guide his team to a 9 or 10 win season. If he does, he might earn some consideration.
That's the list! As always, if you think I'm off my rocker, let me know in the comments below, or if you'd like to commit your predictions before the season gets underway, do that as well.
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Reader Comments (3)
Hey, happy to see you back! You're probably not surprised to know that this site had lost it's place in the browser history, but now it's back!
Man, if only you had waited one more day to make these predictions. I wonder if any team has ever won the championship after losing their first game of the season to an unranked opponent.
Anyway, look forward to checking back here regularly again.
So of course I've been researching...
1990 Colorado, which split the national championship with Georgia Tech, tied their first game, needed a last-second score to win game two, and lost game three to start the season 1-1-1.
1983 Miami, unranked to start the season, lost to #7 Florida in the first game. They didn't enter the polls until a week 4 win over #13 Notre Dame. They were #5 in the polls heading into the Orange Bowl against #1 Nebraska. You may have heard of that game. Nebraska scored a late TD to pull within 1, then went for 2 instead of kicking the tying extra point. You may remember the rest. Texas was ranked #2 going into Cotton Bowl, but lost to Georgia. #3 Auburn Beat #8 Michigan 9-7 in the Sugar Bowl, and #4 Illinois got blown out by unranked UCLA in the Rose Bowl.
So there you go, 1983 was the last time a team lost its first game and then went on to win the national championships. And it needed a lot of help to do it. Still, I'm watching Pitt now, and they're terrible.
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