College Football 2009

[Peanut]

One month until the College Football season begins again. As usual, this thread is reserved for discussing the upcoming season. Also, just like in past years, I've made a Pick'em group for the this season. All you need is a yahoo ID to play and the following information:

Group Name: CAA Pick'Em
Group Number: 2847
Password: blah

[Roy Mustang]

Well, I'm now sign up for it.

Big East preseason media poll

1. PITT

2. West Virginia

3. Cincinnati

4. USF

5. Rutgers

6. Connecticut

7. Louisville

8. Syracuse


Big Ten preseason media poll

1. Penn State

2. Ohio State

3. Michigan State

4. Illinois

5. Iowa

6. Minnesota

7. Northwestern

8. Michigan

9. Wisconsin

10. Purdue

11. Indiana

Mountain West preseason media poll

1. TCU
2. BYU
3. Utah
4. Air Force
5. UNLV
6. Colorado State
7. New Mexico
8. San Diego State
9. Wyoming

Sun Belt preseason media poll

1. Troy
2. Arkansas State
3. FAU
4. Middle Tennessee
5. FIU
6. Louisiana-Lafayette
7. Louisiana-Monroe
8. North Texas
9. Western Kentucky


WAC preseason media poll

1. Boise State

2. Nevada

3. Fresno State

4. Louisiana Tech

5. Hawai'i

6. San Jose State

7. Utah State

8. Idaho

9. New Mexico State


PAC-10 preseason media poll

1. USC
2. California
3. Oregon
4. Oregon State
5. Arizona State
6. Stanford
7. UCLA
8. Arizona
9. Washington
10. Washington State

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Peanut]

Seeing the preseason media polls reminds me of this. It's a sight which takes all the preseason predictions from various magazines and other sources and averages them together. I find the section on the Big East particularly interesting. The top two teams are WVU and Pitt (no real surprise there) with WVU being number 1 and Pitt being number 2. However, Pitt was chosen by more publications to win the Big East the WVU was. In fact, the only reason WVU is ranked number 1 is because the vast majority of these preseason predictions have placed them 2nd in the Big East.

So what does this tell us? Well for starters, the loss of a programs greatest player and the majority of their offensive line clearly isn't impacting many people's perception on how WVU will finish. Second, that the loss of LeSean McCoy is being taken a lot more seriously with Pitt (though when you consider how bad the Pitt quarterbacks have been the past few years...I can't blame them). Third, that no one has faith in South Florida anymore. And finally, that unless a team comes together and begins a 2005 WVU or 2008 Cincinnati-esqe run, the Big East is going to have one of those years where 4-5 teams smash each other around and whoever manages to be the most consistent out of them will win the title on tie breaks. To me, Rutgers is that team. They have the lines to do it. Of course, this is assuming that every team around them won't improve dramatically enough to make a dominate run...

Oh and an SEC related note...why do I get the feeling that Florida is going to not repeat as National Champions this year...even though they return their entire 2 deep on defense...eh, we'll see if that hunch is right.

[Roy Mustang]

ACC preseason media poll

Atlantic Division
1. Florida State
2. Clemson
3. NC State
4. Wake Forest
5. Maryland
6. Boston College

Coastal Division
1. Virginia Tech
2. Georgia Tech
3. North Carolina
4. Miami
5. Virginia
6. Duke

Predicted ACC Championship Game Winner

Virginia Tech over Florida State

Big 12 preseason media poll

North Division
1. Nebraska
2. Kansas
3. Missouri
4. Colorado
5. Kansas State
6. Iowa State

South Division
1. Texas
1. Oklahoma
3. Oklahoma State
4. Texas Tech
5. Baylor
6. Texas A&M

Predicted Big 12 Championship Game Winner

Texas over Nebraska

CUSA preseason media poll

East

1. East Carolina
2. Southern Miss
3. Memphis
4. UCF
5. Marshall
6. UAB

West

1. Houston
2. Tulsa
3. UTEP
4. Rice
5. SMU
6. Tulane

Predicted CUSA Championship Game Winner

East Carolina over Houston

SEC preseason media poll

East

1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. South Carolina
4. Tennessee
5. Vanderbilt
6. Kentucky

West

1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Ole Miss
4. Arkansas
5. Auburn
6. Mississippi State

Predicted SEC Championship Game Winner

Florida over Ole Miss


[font="Book Antiqua"]
[color="Red"]
Col. Roy Mustang
[/color][/font]

[Peanut]

You know you want College Football season to start when you decide to watch the Notre Dame "Legends" take on the Japan National Football team...yeah that game was worse then pre-season games...

[Roy Mustang]

You know you want College Football season to start when you decide to watch the Notre Dame "Legends" take on the Japan National Football team...yeah that game was worse then pre-season games...

Two more weeks and it will start. YAY!


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color]
[/font]

[goldenspines]

You two guys look a little lonely in here. XD

While I'm not really an avid fan of college football because it causes my campus to swarm with tons of loud and annoying non-students all day long on game days, I do support my own school's team and I may be one of the few people on here following the WAC. XP

[Roy Mustang]

I do support my own school's team and I may be one of the few people on here following the WAC. XP

Your not the only one. I keep up with all of conferences. I just love football, but I do pull for Hawaii in the WAC, sorry.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Peanut]

Your not the only one. I keep up with all of conferences. I just love football, but I do pull for Hawaii in the WAC, sorry.

Same. Though I do tend to know more about WVU and the Big East then anything else...but I still follow all the conferences.

[Roy Mustang]

Same. Though I do tend to know more about WVU and the Big East then anything else...but I still follow all the conferences.

The same way really. Just with Tennessee and Georgia Tech as the top teams and the SEC and ACC that I mostly follow.

But I keep up with WVU in the Big East.


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[Whitefang]

Your not the only one. I keep up with all of conferences. I just love football, but I do pull for Hawaii in the WAC, sorry.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

Go Warriors!

College football should be good this year. Not so good for my school, but hopefully there are some exciting games to watch.

[Roy Mustang]

I'm really looking forward to this season. Now that Comcast has sign a deal with ESPN 360. I can now watch every college football game on the net for free with ESPN 360.

YAY!

Now I can watch Tennessee and Georgia Tech games that are not plan to be on TV now and watch all of the Hawaii football games now and not have to listen to them on net radio, like I use to.

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[Peanut]

I'm really looking forward to this season. Now that Comcast has sign a deal with ESPN 360. I can now watch every college football game on the net for free with ESPN 360.

YAY!

Now I can watch Tennessee and Georgia Tech games that are not plan to be on TV now and watch all of the Hawaii football games now and not have to listen to them on net radio, like I use to.

[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

Hopefully I'll be able to get ESPN 360 to work this year, as I understand it should be free on my college campus...if not then well...I have other means. Still, ever since my coming to SEU, I've only missed a couple WVU games. In fact, I think I've seen more WVU games down here then I have when I've been in Maryland.

[Roy Mustang]

Hopefully I'll be able to get ESPN 360 to work this year, as I understand it should be free on my college campus.

Who is your ISP?


I do know that if you get ESPN's college gameplan, they throw in ESPN 360 as well, but is where you have to pay for that one.

Where if you have an ISP that has a deal with ESPN 360, its free.

I had to download the program for it tonight as I needed to, since Comcast offer ESPN 360, starting Aug 4th.

I tested it tonight and watch a CFL game on it and it was just as clear as you would get, if you were watching it on tv.

[font="Book Antiqua"]
[color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang
[/color][/font]

[Peanut]

Who is your ISP?

Most likely Brighthouse down here...in Maryland we have Comcast. Still, I tried it out, and as it turns out, my college campus doesn't count when it says "All US College Campuses." Of course, I'm not surprised. Going to a small, private university does have its disadvantages and this happens to be one of them. Oh well, as I said...I have other means to keep track of the games not televised down here.

[Peanut]

Thursday marks the beginning of College Football season. And there's actually a quality game that night...

[Squeakmaster]

I'm a HUGE Georgia fan...so I'm really excited to see them again. I was at the Red vs. Black game, and it was excellent, they should do very well this year. Even without Stafford...*sniff*

[Roy Mustang]

To me, Georgia is going to be better off without Matthew Stafford.

He was a good QB, but he lack the toughest to be a great QB at Georgia. Cox looks to have better leadership and toughest then Stafford and I feel that he will make Georgia fans forget about Stafford.

The person that they will miss the most is Knowshon Moreno.

But still, they will lose to Georgia Tech and Fla this year.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]
[color="red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/color][/font]

[Peanut]

Florida, I would think they would loose too. However I think they might have a good shot at beating Georgia Tech...of course, Paul Johnson coached teams always over achieve so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong.

Only a few days until the College Football season kicks off. I can't wait.

[Roy Mustang]

Florida, I would think they would loose too. However I think they might have a good shot at beating Georgia Tech...of course, Paul Johnson coached teams always over achieve so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong.

Georgia Tech team this year is even better then team that beat Georgia last year and its also being played in Atlanta this year as well.

One sports writer from Georgia said this a few days ago, as long as Mark Richt is the coach of Georgia, they will never beat the Gators or Georgia Tech ever again.

That is some bold words and I may not fully agree with what the guy said, but I say this. Georgia will have a hard time with Georgia Tech for now on.

When Mark Richt came to Georgia, they started to have a hold on recruiting within the state. Tennessee use to get a big number of recruits out of Georgia, until they started to fall apart and they started that a few years ago and just not last year.

The only teams that Georgia had to fight over recruits, were the Gators and FSU in the south, Auburn in the west and SC in east.

That is now change and its now Georgia Tech, Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee again.

Yes, Ca, Texas and Fla has the best state of recruits, but Georgia is in the top five. I know that Georgia will be recruiting in other states, but Georgia is now starting to lose the war within the state of Georgia recruiting.

Tech has started to get most of them now other then southern Ga as they are still a fight between Fla, Ga, GT and now Tennessee as well. Auburn has for years mostly got the kids from west Ga, but now Alabama is moving in.

This doesn't set well for Georgia, when they want to try to get the kids from the Metro area of Atlanta or west Ga no, that they have to fight GT and Alabama as well.

Also, a write up in the Atlanta paper that Tony Barnhart talk about how good Tech will be this year. Paul Johnson now has the players that he wants to run the spread option offense, then he did last year.

Since he was breaking the kids in on his spread option offense last year. He had a very small playbook that he was using. He said that last years playbook was 1/10th of the full playbook that he has for GT and that he will use the full playbook this year.

Last year, LSU was one of the few times to stop GT's spread option, but it makes me wonder if LSU could do that now, since they were not playing with a full playbook at that time.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang [/color][/font]

[Peanut]

It begins...

[mechana2015]

I'll probably be in this year, with my illogical bias towards the WAC and the PAC-10. XD

[Peanut]

So let's see here...

That makes 1 WVU/Big East (as long as your not Pitt) biased individual.

2 SEC biased individuals. One whose bias mostly leans towards Tennessee, the other's leans toward Georgia.

3 WAC biased people (yes I am counting folks twice...)

1 Pac 10 biased individual...

And 1 ACC biased person with a lean towards Georgia Tech.

So, we've got biased individuals towards 4/6 of the BCS conferences, and 2 individuals who are biased towards one of the better Mid Major conferences...I'd say that's pretty good considering the lack of College Football fans who frequent these boards...of course maybe there are some who are hiding somewhere...can't tell really.

[Roy Mustang]

That makes 1 WVU/Big East (as long as your not Pitt) biased individual.

Cough**two people that pull for WVU**cough

But I keep up with WVU in the Big East.

I keep up with Air Force in the MWC as well and Wash in the Pac 10.

[Peanut]

Cough**two people that pull for WVU**cough



I keep up with Air Force in the MWC as well and Wash in the Pac 10.

Ok, then 2 for WVU, 1 for the MXC and 2 for the Pac 10 as well:lol:.

South Carolina and NC State have finished up...and left me believing that both teams are going to have major problems this year.

Currently Boise and Oregon are on which is the real game I was waiting for tonight. So far, no scoring but you just know its coming...

[Roy Mustang]

Both Boise State and Oregon have a lot of work to do this season.

They look sloppy, just not as sloppy as South Carolina and NC State.

Also, it looks like Oregon may have to find a new tailback after what LeGarrette Blount did after the game and he even tried to take a swing at the fans as well.

Really, the ending of the game with the punch and having state police having to take Blount to the dressing room was the best part of the game.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Peanut]

Both Boise State and Oregon have a lot of work to do this season.

They look sloppy, just not as sloppy as South Carolina and NC State.

Also, it looks like Oregon may have to find a new tailback after what LeGarrette Blount did after the game and he even tried to take a swing at the fans as well.

Really, the ending of the game with the punch and having state police having to take Blount to the dressing room was the best part of the game.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

I have to agree with you about all of this (especially the part about Blount). Boise should have slaughtered Oregon though. They had plenty of chances to score, but just couldn't execute. With that being said, Oregon should have actually made that game a, well, game. Thanks to Boise's inability to land the finishing blow, they had tons of chances to make it a one score game but failed each time.

All in all, the first ESPN televised CFB games were sloppy and have problem shattered the confidence of at least 3 fan bases. This first set of games also showed why it may not be a bad idea for teams to schedule FCS teams as their first opponents of the year...as much as that hurts schedule strength, at least it gives you a chance to iron out any problems before you face teams that will take advantage of your sloppy play and mistakes.

[Roy Mustang]

I have to agree with you about all of this (especially the part about Blount). Boise should have slaughtered Oregon though. They had plenty of chances to score, but just couldn't execute. With that being said, Oregon should have actually made that game a, well, game. Thanks to Boise's inability to land the finishing blow, they had tons of chances to make it a one score game but failed each time.

They already talk about Blount's daft stock has gone from maybe the #2 or #3 RB in the daft to now to an un daft pick now. I know that linebacker Byron Hout did say something to him and really he should have kept his mouth shut, but Chris Petersen was right there after Hout trash talk to Blount. As Petersen had a hold of Hout and was talking to him, was when Blount threw the punch.

Petersen will do something about Hout and his trash talking in that game, but Blount had no reason to threw a punch at Hout like that and it was right on the jaw and Hout didn't see it coming. Blount could have really hurt him with a punch like that, since Hout didn't see it coming.

In my eyes, Blount needs to suspend or kick off the team.

This not the first time that Blount has been in trouble as he was suspended for poor attendance at team meetings and workouts over the summer.

Also, if people say that Hout had it coming, because he trash talk to Blount. They must not remember what Blount said to Sports Illustrated last mouth,

"The Ducks owed the Broncos an "butt-whuppin'."

So to the ones that say that Hout got what was coming to him. Just remember that Blount was the first one to trash talk and that was a month before the game.

Do I like trash talking, not at all. But it happens in sports and you know that trash talking is even worst in the NFL and they even trash talk in the game. Do you see players taking a swing at each other between downs?

All in all, the first ESPN televised CFB games were sloppy and have problem shattered the confidence of at least 3 fan bases. This first set of games also showed why it may not be a bad idea for teams to schedule FCS teams as their first opponents of the year...as much as that hurts schedule strength, at least it gives you a chance to iron out any problems before you face teams that will take advantage of your sloppy play and mistakes.

The BSU vs Oregon should have been played around the second or third week of the season. I feel that teams should play cupcake games in the first of the season, if they are going to play cupcake teams at all each year.

Really, I don't think the schedule strength matters like it use to the BCS. After all a few teams got in the BCS bowls last year that didn't have a tough schedule.

To me, this game is going to hurt BSU then it will help them try to get in the BCS. It was just too sloppy to me make people say wow, this team nees to be in a BCS bowl.

If BYU and TCU play well this year and if some how BYU beats Okla on Sat and then wins the rest of their games, they will go to a BCS bowl game.

Too bad that we can't have a 8 team playout after the bowl season or a +1 bowl game after the bowls are over.

In other news,

Oklahoma St. says no to handshake

Sources: Georgia QB Cox sick, expected to play

Update:

Punch at Boise ends Blount's season


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[mechana2015]

You might want to put a link up... it took me a while to find the pick 'ems area.

[Peanut]

You might want to put a link up... it took me a while to find the pick 'ems area.

...woops .

The Link.

I'll also use this as a segway to mention that if anyone is still interested, you can still sign up. Picks are due 5 minutes before the games on Saturday (earliest start at noon est) so if you want to get in during week one...then today or tomorrow morning is the time to due it. However, if you miss week 1 you can still sign up and it won't hurt you in the long run. As usually, I've set up the league so your two lowest scoring weeks will be dropped.

Finally, I don't blame Ok. St for being against the handshake before the game. I know we are trying to be civil and show respect for our opponent...but look at the Boise/Oregon game last night. Tensions were high the entire game and that wasn't even a rivalry game for either team. At some point in the future, somebody is going to do something during one of these handshakes that will cause some sort of conflict to happen. It might not be this year, but I really have a hard time believing that the team captains of teams who happen to be hated rivals are going to show good sportsmenship every time they shake hands before a game. It's a good idea, that will probably end up failing miserably...