A lot of teams up north are only beginning their spring drills, but for Miami, Texas, Mississippi State, and Auburn, last weekend was finale for their 2008 spring campaigns with their spring scrimmages. For the most part these games are just glorified practices put on for us, the fans, as a way to drum up interest for the upcoming season. Rarely does a game like this tell anything about how the team will fair in the fall…but since it is the last day of March, and we haven’t had football for almost two months, let’s pretend like it matters.

Marve looks to be the Canes’ QB

Freshman quarterbacks are what is left for the Hurricanes to choose from and from everything I am reading, they did look like freshman. Robert Marve, who was expected to have the edge going into spring practice, kept that slight lead on the others, but it is by no means safe. And for those Hurricane fans thinking that they were going to work their way back to the top of the ACC in 2008, they might want to hold off their celebrations for another year. With up to 10 freshman going to start the season for the Canes this fall, growing pains will happen early and often for this team. But before you jump off the bridge, Miami has a ton of young talented players, especially at tailback, quarterback, and linebacker, so once these players get some game experience, this team will be dangerous once again. Speaking of tailbacks Graig Cooper was the star of the spring game running for 91 yards. The defense defeated the offense 32-29.

All Eyes on Colt this Fall

Defense, was the talk at the Longhorns spring game. The Texas defense only allowed the offense to score 7 points the entire game. I’ve said this a few times in the offseason but let me reiterate it again, this is an extremely important year for Colt McCoy. He has started two years now and must learn to protect the ball. McCoy’s touchdown to interception ratio was not good last season and in this game he went 4 of 9 for 20 yards. New defensive coordinator Will Muschamp made a name for himself already with his first team defense mustering up two sacks in the game. The “Pride” beat the “Tradition” 14-10 in front of 43,000 fans.

Auburn is a team who could put a scare into many SEC defense coordinators hearts come this fall. The Tigers are charged up with a new offense that ran six plays in under 2 minutes and at one point had 11 straight passes. Kodi Burns and Chris Todd both looked good at quarterback, and from what I am hearing, Burns could end up being a stud. The Blue beat the White team 30-14.

Finally in Starkville, where the 2007 season began, the Mississippi State Bulldogs concluded their spring drills. 6,000 fans came out to see a scoreless regulation and Co-Eric Riley catch a 25 yard touchdown pass in overtime to lift the Maroon team to victory in overtime 6-0. Wes Carroll expected to be the starter went 2-for-6 for 16 yards and an interception. Robert Elliott (Meat Market star) led State’s running backs with 15 yards on six carries.

Last night I appeared on the Under Center show hosted by Adam Nettina. I recorded the interviewed and those who could not listen to it live, can listen to it in this podcast. Adam and I talk about some teams we think could be surprises and disappointments this season. Also we look at who will be the top teams heading into 2008 and do a little bit of a spring football preview To download this episode click here. I apologize for the audio quality at the end, my computer decided to go into sleep mode and the sound got choppy.

Remember, if you want the podcast you must subscribe to the Feedbuner but if you want to subscribe to the blog please use the RSS feed. This is for iTunes to be able to archive the shows. Enjoy this week’s episode of In The Bleachers and if you have any questions or comments to the show please email them to inthebleachers AT gmail DOT com.

Mr. Sweatervest isn’t going anywhere for awhile

With the recent acquisition of Terrelle Pryor to their 2008 recruiting class, THE Ohio State Buckeyes are locked and loaded for years to come. Even without him, this team will continue to retool and reload each year, no matter how much they lose.

For instance, flash back to January of 2007; the Buckeyes were coming off an embarrassing loss to the Florida Gators in the BCS Championship game. After that game it was like abandon ship on the Titanic, not only did Ohio State lose seniors like Troy Smith but other talent such as Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, and Antonio Pittman decided to jump ship and go to the NFL. On offense, many thought that the Buckeyes would struggle, but as I said before they just reloaded and became dangerous. When most people (such as myself) were predicting them to finish no better than third; they went out and won the Big Ten conference outright for the second year in a row. Likewise for the second year in a row, they went to the BCS Title game…and lost.

Which brings us to the 2008 season, and there should be no surprise to anyone when I make this statement…Ohio State has to be one of the top 5 favorites to be in the BCS title game this season. Returning on offense is Todd Boeckman at quarterback, and now with Pryor, they can bring him in as a chance of pace; Chris Wells a Heisman candidate, returns at running back, and Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie return at receiver. Their offensive line is always good, so there are no worries at that position. On defense the Buckeyes’ return the Animal James Laurinaitis at linebacker as well as a slue of other talented players.

GO BUCKEYES!!

Now let’s take a look at their schedule. Ohio State starts out with two cupcakes, and then they travel to Los Angeles to play USC. Even if the Buckeyes’ lose that game, their title hopes would not be dashed. Looking at the Big Ten this season, I do not see it to be as tough as other years . In my opinion, Wisconsin will be their biggest obstacle and that game will be on the road. Penn State returns a lot of starters, but as we all know the Nittany Lions have had issues beating ranked teams on the road and the game this year is at Ohio Stadium. One can’t forget Illinois, but I suspect the Buckeyes will not take them lightly two years in a row. Then we have the rivalry game with the Wolverines…which I think the Buckeyes should dominate for at least another two years. Mainly until RichRod gets the right players in his offensive system.

So for those hoping not to see Ohio State in the BCS title game in 2009, I am sorry to burst your bubble. I realize there will most likely be a backlash with the voters if the Buckeye are tied with a few other teams for the final two spots, but if they can somehow get past USC, it could be smooth sailing. And with the way the Big Ten looks, the Buckeyes have another good opportunity to win it again and force their way into the BCS Title game. The big question now is…Which SEC team will have the luxury of blowing them out this year? Could it be Georgia?

As I told you last week, Big Head from MizzouRAH assembled some bloggers to take part in some premature preseason predicting. Our first stop was to submit our Top 10 for the 2008 season. I listed mine last week, but below is the total from the list of bloggers assembled by Big Head. You can also read more about the poll by checking out MizzouRAH.

As you will see, Georgia is the unanimous #1 getting all 10 first place votes, which surprises me a little. Even though I did vote for them as #1, I expected someone to throw a USC vote in there, or even with all the Mizzou homers out there, maybe the Tigers would get one. Ten points were given for a first place vote; all the way to one for a tenth place vote. The total points are in parentheses.

1. Georgia (80)
2t. Oklahoma (65)
2t. USC (65)
4. Florida (48)
5. Mizzou (46)
6.the Ohio State (45)
7. LSU (23)
8. Clemson (17)
9.West Virginia (15)
10. Wisconsin (14)

Also receiving votes: Texas (11), Texas Tech (3), Penn State (3), Auburn (2), Fresno State (1)

Voters were from Corn Nation, Rock M Nation, Big MO Sports, In The Bleachers, MizzouRAH, CFB Weekly, and DXP

Rutgers fans rush the field after Thursday night victory over Louisville

Thursday is the only other day that college football should be played, beside Saturday of course. I understand that some of the Non-BCS Schools need TV exposure and will play on Monday, Tuesday, or even Friday. As the schedules are slowly coming out; here are the 2008 games (so far) that have been slated to play on Thursday night. We’ve seen some great games the past few years on Thursdays: Rutgers upset of Louisville, Louisville beating West Virginia, Boston College coming back to beat Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium are a few that come to my mind. No network is given, but as we all know they are usually on ESPN or ESPN2.

August 28
NC State at South Carolina
Oregon State at Stanford

September 4
South Carolina at Vanderbilt

September 11
North Carolina at Rutgers

September 18
West Virginia at Colorado

September 25
Southern Cal at Oregon State

October 2
Pittsburgh at South Florida
Memphis at UAB

October 9
Clemson at Wake Forest

October 16
Florida State at NC State

October 23
Auburn at West Virginia

October 30
South Florida at Cincinnati

November 6
Maryland at Virginia Tech

November 13
Virginia at Miami (Fla)
Buffalo at Akron

November 20
Miami (Fla) at Georgia Tech

November 27 - Thanksgiving
Texas at Texas A&M

December 4
Louisville at Rutgers

Beaver Stadium is the “new” Big House in college football

For years the term Big House was synonymous with Michigan Stadium since it does seat more fans than any other college football stadium in the country…well it did. According to the Michigan Daily the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America agreed to drop the lawsuit in return for a commitment from the University to add more wheelchair-accessible seating and make changes to stadium facilities like bathrooms and ramps to bring them into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. That will take the capacity of Michigan Stadium from 107,501 people and make it 106,201 people for the next two years before it is expanding.

That also means that Penn State’s Beaver Stadium which seats 107,282 people, will now become the largest stadium in the country for the next two years. Good news for Penn State fans because they finally beat Michigan in something football related.

In The Bleachers will be teaming up with our friend MizzouRAH and CFB Weekly to bring you some good old spring time football predictions for the 2008 season. I know Big Head has some great writers and bloggers lined up and we all plan on giving our thoughts on the 2008 season. Big Head has told me that this Friday he will come out with our Bold Predictions Top 10. Just to make it known, here is who I voted for in the poll:

1. Georgia
2. USC
3. Oklahoma
4. Ohio State
5. Florida
6. Missouri
7. LSU
8. WVU
9. Clemson
10. Auburn

With an honorable mention to Texas Tech and Wisconsin. We are also going to be predicting the player of the year, surprise teams, teams set up for disappointment, BCS and New Years Day Bowl predictions, and maybe even some conference champions.

After a little bit of a delay, the 2007 College Football Blogger Awards have been slowly announced over the past few days. In The Bleachers was fortunate enough to be nominated for the Podcast or Best Audio award. Although we did not win this award, we finished second to a deserving EDSBS Live podcast and am fortunate that enough people though enough of the podcast to vote it in second place.

I would like to thank everyone who visits this site, reads the blog, and listens to the podcast. I know I personally enjoy the podcasting more than the writing, but what I enjoy much more is when people actually take time out to read or listen to what I have to say. I appreciate all comments, good and bad, on the blog and the podcast. Hopefully in the coming weeks I will find time to update this layout and make it more pleasing to the eye.

I have a few other thanks to throw out. I first want to thank Ron Juckett for getting all of this started. Many of you might not know this but Ron started the blog called Smart Guys Sports back in 2005 which is where the In The Bleachers Podcast originated from. He along with Charlie Swager and Chris Mason are regulars on the podcast and have been here since the beginning. Those guys really added a lot to the podcast, and hopefully in the future our schedules will align and we can begin talking football once again.

I also want to thank all of the bloggers who have come on the show and those who have been kind enough to advertise the podcast on their site…John Radcliff from Mountainlair, Bastard Sons of Pinfall Marks, and the AOL Fanhouse…Jon Johnston from Corn Nation…Big Head from MizzouRAH…Ben from BCS Busters…Bruce Feldman from ESPN.com…Adam Nettina from Pitch Right and now Under Center…Mike from Rizzosports…along with two of my friends who have been co-hosts, Budd Shaffer and Lou Nemec.

I do not plan on quitting this anytime soon, I am having too much fun. My goal is to get more bloggers and guests on the podcasts because I think it makes the podcast more interesting. If you are a blogger and want to come on the show, please shoot me an email and I’d be glad to have you on. The next podcast should be coming out within the week as I will have Orson Swindle from EDSBS on the show.

Thanks again everyone…now we can proceed with our regularly scheduled programming.

My final trip around the BCS conference for the spring takes me to arguably the best conference in the country, the SEC. The defending champions LSU is going to face some stiff competition from Florida and Georgia for top dog next year. Also in their own conference both Auburn and Alabama look to be teams on the rise.

SEC East

Georgia
Spring Practice Begins - March 3
Spring Practice Ends - April 5 with their squad scrimmage that day.

The Bulldogs are going to be close to, if not at the top of many pundit’s preseason polls, and rightfully so since they return a lot of starters. Knowshon Moreno has developed into a running threat but Matthew Stafford must continue on with his development. For that to happen the Dawgs’ must find Stafford some real threat wide receivers. The loss of kicker Brandon Coutu will force Georgia to find an ever important kicker.

Tennessee
Spring Practice Begins - March 11
Spring Practice Ends - April 19 with their squad scrimmage that day.

The Vols biggest loss might be their offensive coordinator to the Duke Bluedevils. The first job for the new offensive staff is to find a new quarterback now that Erik Ainge is gone. Jonathan Crompton looks to be the front runner, but Nick Stephens will push him. On defense, the Vols lost a lot up front, mainly linebacker Jerod Mayo. Ellix Wilson and Rico McCoy will be two people filling in that slot.

Florida
Spring Practice Begins - March 19
Spring Practice Ends - April 12 with their squad scrimmage that day.

Florida needs a running back to compliment Tebow, and so he doesn’t have to take as many hits. The Gators get that blessing with USC transfer Emmanuel Moody. Defensive end Derrick Harvey left for the NFL early. Jermaine Cunningham and Carlos Dunlap are two athletes that will compete for Harvey’s spot. Finally, the Gators need to find some lock down corners to allow the defensive to blitz freely and put some needed pressure on the quarterback.

Kentucky
Spring Practice Begins - March 26
Spring Practice Ends - April 19 with their squad scrimmage that day.

There are a few glaring holes for the Wildcats to fill. The first one is they need to find a replacement for quarterback Andre Woodson. Curtis Pulley, Mike Hartline, and Matt Lentz will be three returning players looking to win that spot. Kentucky will also be a little young at wide receiver which will not help the development of a young quarterback. If that was not enough, Rafael Little is gone at running back; Tony Dixon among others are suspected to fill that void.

South Carolina
Spring Practice Begins - March 19
Spring Practice Ends - April 19 with their squad scrimmage that day.

Gone are the days where Coach Spurrier had an assembly line of quarterbacks waiting to be plugged into his offense. Sophomore Chris Smelley has shown signs that he can get the job done, but needs to work on his consistency. The Gamecocks also need to work on making their SEC worst running game a little more potent in order for their passing game to work.

Vanderbilt
Spring Practice Begins - March 11
Spring Practice Ends – TBD with their squad scrimmage on March 29.

The Commodores were not good at all on the offensive side of the ball, mainly because they could not get good play from their quarterback position. Mackenzi Adams and Chris Nickson will fight for the starting position, and from what I hear, both of them have a lot of talent. But for those guys to have a good year, they must get good blocking up front. That is hard to do when you lose all 5 offensive linemen to graduation.

SEC West

LSU
Spring Practice Begins – February 29
Spring Practice Ends – April 5 with their squad scrimmage on that day.

The Tigers thought they were set at quarterback but with the recent troubles of Ryan Perrilloux, coach Les Miles should start there. On defense, LSU has some talent on the defensive line with Marlon Favorite, Ricky Jean-Francois, and Tyson Jackson, but they will have improve since the luxury of Glenn Dorsey getting extra attention from them will not be there anymore. Losing two starters from the secondary will also make that an area of attention.

Auburn
Spring Practice Begins – February 24
Spring Practice Ends – March 29 with their squad scrimmage on that day.

Brandon Cox is gone from under center for the Tigers, which means Kodi Burns, (transfer) Chris Todd, Neil Caudle, or DeRon Furr will be the one to run Tony Franklin’s spread offense. Game breaking wide receivers are another need for Auburn. On defense, the Tigers need to fill the huge hole left by defensive tackle Pat Sims. Converted defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks, Zach Clayton, Mike Blanc, and Jemarcus Ricks, and Kyle Coulahan will battle to win that position and the other one on the defensive line.

Arkansas
Spring Practice Begins – April 3
Spring Practice Ends – April 26 with their squad scrimmage on that day.

It will be Bobby Petrino’s first spring in Arkansas and one ENORMUS hole comes to mind; the one in the backfield left by Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. He’ll also have to find a quarterback to run his passing offense (Casey Dick returns) and some receivers to get open and catch the ball. To make things simple, the entire offensive side of the ball has some holes to fill.

Alabama
Spring Practice Begins – March 13
Spring Practice Ends – April 15 with their squad scrimmage April 12.
I wonder if 92,000 fans will show up again this year for the Tide’s spring game. John Parker Wilson is back at quarterback, but Alabama will have to find another game breaker at wide receiver since DJ Hall Keith Brown and Matt Caddell are gone. The Tide fans might have to wait till this fall when Julio Jones comes to camp.

Mississippi
Spring Practice Begins – March 17
Spring Practice Ends – April 12 with their squad scrimmage that day.

The Houston Nutt era begins in Mississippi. He inherits a lot of talent left by the old coach, most of all a quarterback transfer from Texas Jevan Snead. UCLA transfer Jeremy McGee and Cordera Eason could become Nutt’s next duel thread in the backfield.

Mississippi State
Spring Practice Begins – February 25
Spring Practice Ends – March 29 with their squad scrimmage that day.

The Bulldogs must work on their passing game to compliment a rushing game that has the potential to be dangerous. Two players, Michael Henig and Wesley Carroll, are competing for the starting quarterback job. Both have weaknesses as Hening can’t stay healthy and Carroll does not have much experience.