The best time of the year is finally
here as college football season kicks off for real this week. There’s several
ways to enjoy college football season. There’s a million games on tv every Saturday.
You can tailgate or go to games. It’s also a time where it’s acceptable to
spend the entire day at a bar. Lastly, it’s one of the greatest sports for
degenerate gamblers. Throw some money down and you’ve got a full day of
entertainment. To get ready for this season, I wrote up a preview of every
conference (some more in-depth than others). Enjoy, and happy Football Eve.
Sun
Belt
I’ll be
honest-unless a Sun Belt team is playing against Wisconsin (Georgia State this
year), I usually won’t watch any Sun Belt football until the kickoff of the New
Orleans Bowl (for some strange reason, usually one of the better bowl games). This
year, it looks like the Sun Belt took a page out of MACtion’s playbook and is
gonna have a few Wednesday games on ESPN this year so I might actually catch
some regular season Sun Belt.
The Pick:
I’ll go with Appalachian State. Finished 11-2 last year, solid program that
owns a win over Michigan like 10 years ago.
Also keep an
eye on: Georgia Southern and Arkansas State. Georgia Southern runs a
traditional option offense and scores a lot of points. I bet against them in
bowl season last year and lost.
MACtion
One of my
favorite things every year is when November rolls around and MAC football is on
ESPN on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Nothing better to get you through the
week than a 51-45 shootout on a cold November Tuesday in Dekalb, Illinois in a
3-quarters empty stadium.
As a Midwest
guy, I’ll always appreciate the MAC. There may not be a lot of defense played
in this conference but you got to give these guys credit for willingly going to
play in places like Akron, Toledo, and Muncie. And the ultimate goal is a trip
to Detroit at the end of the year. Gotta love it.
The Pick: I
see a bit of a changing of the guard this year. The NIU Huskies have typically
been top dogs of the conference, but I see them taking a step back. They did
not look good in the MAC championship and their bowl game (even though they
were down to their 5th string QB, no excuses). I like Western
Michigan this year. Their coach, PJ Fleck has recruited pretty well for a MAC
school. He wears a shirt and tie every game so he’s a guy that means business.
They return a senior QB and have a solid ground game led by Jarvion Franklin. I’ll
take them to hoist the prized MAC championship trophy in Detroit after beating
Bowling Green, who is my pick to win the east division.
Conference USA
This is a weird conference. I feel
like the majority of these teams either weren’t D-1 or didn’t have a football
program before the year 2000. Not much history here, except for Southern Miss,
which produced the greatest gunslinger of all time, Brett Favre. I also feel
like I never see any of these teams on TV. Not sure which channel they hide
these games on. This is definitely the conference that got hit the hardest by
all the realignment. Used to be a pretty solid football/basketball conference,
kinda sad to see what it’s left with.
My pick: I
honestly don’t know much about this league anymore. What I do know: Western
Kentucky can score with just about anybody (except for their week 2 matchup
with Alabama, which probably won’t go well). They actually finished last year
ranked in the Top 25, and as long as they find an adequate replacement for
graduated QB Brandon Doughty, I think they’ll repeat as C-USA champs this year.
They’ll beat Southern Miss in a rematch of last years title game.
Mountain West
Now we finally get to a league which
has a couple of contenders for that “Group of 5” spot in the New Year’s bowls.
If either Boise State or San Diego State can get past through their
non-conference slates unscathed, they’ll be in prime position for one of those
slots. I like San Diego State’s odds a little better. Their toughest
non-conference game is at home against Cal, who is likely in rebuilding mode.
Boise’s toughest game is at home, but it’s against a pretty good Washington
State team that returns QB Luke Falk.
That being
said, while Boise and SDSU are my picks to reach the title game, it won’t be a
cakewalk through the conference. Air Force and the triple option always make
for a tough game, and they’re coming off an appearance in the MWC championship
game last season. Former Notre Dame coach and ESPN announcer Bob Davie has New
Mexico looking to improve on their bowl appearance last year. The Utah State
Aggies should be tough as well even though I think Chuckie Keeton finally
graduated after 7 years at quarterback.
My pick:
I’ll take San Diego State over Boise State. SDSU is actually ranked 25th
to start the year, they have a favorable schedule and have one of the best
running backs in the country in Donnell Pumphrey.
American Athletic Conference
There’s one team everybody’s got their eye on in this league
this year-Houston. QB Greg Ward Jr. returns to the team that beat Florida State
in the Peach Bowl last year and is the odds-on favorite for the Group of Five
spot in the New Years bowls. The question is-can Houston crash the playoff if
they run the table? They have the schedule which may give them a chance. It
starts week 1 against #3 Oklahoma. They also play Louisville out of conference
in November. In addition to winning those games, they’ll need the rest of the
conference to look strong. Memphis and Navy had good seasons last year, but are
breaking in new quarterbacks. I think Navy will have the lesser drop-off of the
two, but replacing Keenan Reynolds won’t be easy.
Temple made
some noise last year, beating Penn State and playing Notre Dame down to the
wire. They’re a solid defensive team. They won’t play Houston this year, unless
they meet in the conference title game. I actually like South Florida to win
the East division. The Bulls have a strong running game (QB Quinton Flowers
actually ran for over 1000 yards last year). They host Florida State Sept. 24-I
don’t think they’ll beat the Seminoles but it’ll be closer than people
expect. I also can’t talk about the AAC
without mentioning UConn, who has the most insane coach in college football.
Bob Diaco literally thinks they’ll win a national championship. The best thing
he’s done is create a rivalry game, trophy and everything (without the
acknowledgement of the other school). UConn and UCF have almost no history
against each other, but Diaco went ahead, had a trophy made and decided this
game will now be known as the Civil ConFLiCT. Can’t make this shit up. I think
UCF could care less.
The pick:
Houston over USF in the title game. I don’t see Houston running the table. I
think their playoff hopes will die week 1 against Oklahoma, but it will be a
close game. I do, however like them to earn the spot in a New Years bowl
(Likely the Cotton Bowl).
Part 2 featuring the Power 5 Conferences will drop either tomorrow or Friday.
