For the incoming class of freshman, if they have not already reported to school for summer sessions, they will be there within a week or two. In that time they will get acclimated with the rigors of being a student and being to work out with their new teammates. So if you’ve been busy getting your freshman ready for school…here is what you missed in the past week.

What we’ve been working on:

We once again went out and got you another quality guest for the podcast. ESPN’s Bruce Feldman joined us last week to talk SEC and Pac 10 football. The podcast is pretty USC heavy, but when you are annually one of the best teams in the country, who has won 7 straight Pac Ten titles, and have one of the hottest starting quarterback battles going on…well you are going to hear about it. For you SEC fans, Bruce has some interesting thoughts on the SEC West, which should be a fun race to watch this year.

Just so you don’t think we are going to rest on our past accomplishments, Adam and I have another great guest lined up for a podcast which will be ready for your listening pleasure tomorrow morning. We feel bad that we have neglected the Big XII, so tomorrow you will hear Adam and I, along with The Wiz from The Wiz of Odds, discuss the Big XII. On paper it looks as if both the North and South could go down to the wire again when deciding who will play in the Big XII Championship game. Also, we’ll pick his brain about some National News.

Adam has continued to countdown his list of Top 50 Best Non-BCS Players. In his latest installment, Bryan Anderson, a wide receiver from Central Michigan is his choice at #34. Something tells me that Anderson will have a pretty big effect on another player that has yet to be named on this list.

Navy only returns 23% of last year’s offensive yards with potentially NFL bound players Shun White and Eric Kettani gone. Adam sits down and talks with Bobby Doyle about the endless barrage of questions he and the other Navy slotbacks are getting on how they are going to replace 77% of last year’s offense which has now graduated.

For the second year in a row the Big East Conference looks to be wide open. A lot of experts think it is going to come down between Pittsburgh and Rutgers, but neither are very solid under center. Brian talks about which players have the leg up to win the quarterback battles at both schools.

What we’ve been reading:

On a sad note, yesterday was the 3 year anniversary of Randy Walkers passing. Over at Lake The Post they are asking for a moment of silence to remember his passing.

He will go down in history for the murder that he did did not commit, and will be forever known as Nordberg in the Naked Gun movies; but before all of that he was a Heisman Trophy winner. Prolate Spheroid rehashes OJ’s career at USC.

Bruce Feldman picks the top 10 toughest non-conference schedule. A few teams that I mentioned made the list. But one team you won’t find on that list, who is Phil Steele’s #1 surprise team, the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Adam has talked about reviving a countdown he started last year where he picked the Top 10 potential upsets of a FCS team over a FBS team. Double T Nation has an early preview of the Red Raiders game against the North Dakota State Fighting Sioux. I am fairly certain this game will not make Adam’s list.

The Georgia Bulldogs suffered a heartbreaking and somewhat surprising upset loss to their rival Georgia Tech last year. Paul Westerdawg of the Georgia Sports Blog gives his thoughts on how to defend Tech’s option.

The Quad continues their countdown from 120 to 1. Yesterday they previewed the Navy Midshipmen at number 64.

Annually one of the best offensive line units in the country resides in the state of Oklahoma. The Crimson and Cream Machine previews this year’s crop of linemen for the Sooners.

NCAA Football 2010 comes out for video game consoles on July 14th. Over the Pylon has a sneak peak of Ball State’s Scheumann Stadium and Kentucky’s Commonwealth Stadium.

When Coach Wannstedt first arrived at Pitt, he was pulling in one good recruiting class after another, but after only going to one bowl game in his tenure, he finds himself still chasing a 82 year old man who is stealing recruits out of his own back yard. Recently, Wannstedt and the Panthers got a commitment from TJ Clemmings, a defensive tackle from New Jersey. But according to Zags Blog and Clemmings he did not commit.

Finally, I leave you with a sign of the Apocalypse. Evan Berry the younger brother of Tennessee safety Eric Berry has verbally committed to the Vols. Did I mention that Evan was 13 years old?

There has been a lot of talk lately about how with the BCS, college programs are looking to go the easier route with their out of conference scheduling. Some teams claim that their conference schedule is hard enough and they just want to have a few cupcakes on their schedule, while other claim they need the 7 or 8 home games a year to fund the rest of their sports. I did a quick glance and found a few schools that should be proud of their scheduling.

In the Pac 10, a move was made a few years ago, once the 12th game was added, to play 9 conference games. Therefore, that leaves only 3 games on the out of conference slate to fill in. Both USC and Oregon filled them up with some quality opponents.

The Trojans have their yearly tilt at the end of the year against Notre Dame, who many thing will be top 10 material this year. Including the Domers, the Trojans also travel to Columbus to play Ohio State. Their final OOC game is San Jose State, which is not a tough game for them, but after playing two (potential) top 10 teams, I can let this one slide.

Oregon opens up the season traveling to the blue turf at Boise State and has other out of conference games with Utah and Purdue. I have to give the Ducks credit because those are three quality schools. Purdue will be a bit down this year but the games at Boise State and against Utah are better than the majority of the teams that can schedule 4 OOC games.

If you listened to the Phil Steele interview we had on Monday, you’ll remember how he mentioned that BYU controls their own destiny when it comes to making the BCS Championship game. You heard it right, not just a BCS Bowl, but the BCS Championship game. They open the season versus Oklahoma, and have Florida State later in the year. Those are two quality programs to go along with an increasingly tougher Mountain West and you have a difficult schedule for the Cougars.

Sticking in the Non-BCS conference, the Bulldogs of Fresno State once again loaded up their out of conference scheduling. If you remember last year they played both Rutgers and Wisconsin in back to back weeks. This year they play Wisconsin, Cincinnati (defending Big East champions), and Illinois all on the road. I won’t get on them too much for scheduling UC Davis because of what they have to face in the other 3 games.

Remember last year when there was a big deal made about Georgia finally leaving the south to play an out of conference game against Arizona State? Well hold on to your hats, the Dawgs are going west again to play the Oklahoma State Cowboys. It should be interesting to see how the Dawgs can handle the Cowboys’ high scoring offense. Besides the Cowboys, Georgia has a return game against Arizona State at home and travels to play Georgia Tech in their yearly rivalry match. With those three games, I give them a free pass (much like with Fresno State) in playing Tennessee Tech.

Finally we come to the Hokies of Virginia Tech who are no strangers to scheduling tough out of conference opponents. A few years ago they opened up with USC in our Nation’s Capital, this year they have a neutral site game against Alabama. I am really looking forward to this game. Alabama will have some holes to fill but Nick Saban has had some great recruiting classes, and Virginia Tech is clamoring to be the favorite in the ACC. A win here by the Hokies would do wonders for the ACC’s image. The Hokies also have a home game against Nebraska, who many think is the favorite in the Big 12 North, and take a trip to play East Carolina who surprised them last year. I’m sure that loss to the Pirates last year will not be forgotten when that game comes around.

As college football fans we’d love to see more games and schedules like the ones I mentioned above. For the most part, a lot of these schedules are made 6 or 7 years in advance, and that’s plenty of time for teams that were once good to go south and stink. But having said that, you never know what games or teams will come up to bite you. Who thought last year that East Carolina would beat both West Virginia and Virginia Tech? Just because it doesn’t look good on paper, does not mean it won’t be a quality game.

For some of you who were wondering, and also for those of you who weren’t, yes I am still alive. Thanks to Adam for dropping in his 2 cents here and there along the way while I recover from real life duties and real life injuries that included a separated shoulder. It’s hell turning 30. Speaking of injuries, I’d like to wish Spencer Hall from EDSBS a quick and speedy recovery as he hurt his back from a pull up accident. No word on if those pull ups were in attempt of actual exercise or to get the last beer off the top shelf.

Special thanks to Dr. Montgomery for taking good care of me!

Getting to the world of college football; as Adam mentioned, the bible of college football otherwise known as Phil Steele’s College Football Preview will be out in stores on June 9th. If you have never heard of Phil Steele, you must live under a rock because his magazine is THE BEST preview magazine and it is a must have for all statistical junkies like myself. Nothing is confirmed yet but hopefully we will have Mr. Steele joining us on a podcast in the near future.

Speaking of Adam, be sure to head over to GoMids to check out some of his latest work. Yesterday he got to talk to Navy’s defensive coordinator Buddy Green and the turnaround in his defense from the 2007 season to the 2008 season.

In the news of transfer quarterbacks not named Greg Paulus, our friends over at Boiled Sports have posted that former Miami Hurricanes quarterback Robert Marve will choose the Boilers over Tennessee. Joel at Rocky Top Talk is not as confident that Marve will pick the Vols, but he is not ready to throw in the towel just yet. The official announcement will come this Friday.

The College Football Cafeteria has an interesting piece about my favorite college football coach, Joe Paterno. Recently Paterno went on record saying that the Big Ten needs to get a 12th team in order to have a conference championship game and stay relevant in the voters minds later in the season. Yes this is all true, but I really believe the Big Ten brass is still holding onto a pipe dream that Notre Dame will some day join the conference, and with the new deal that they just signed with NBC a year ago, I do not see that happening anytime soon.

On second thought his release is a bit wide

Other schools such as Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Rutgers were also bounced around. You all know how I feel about the Big Ten, but when you look at Big East basketball, really only the ACC rivals it. I cannot see either Pittsburgh or Syracuse leaving the Big East since they are such strong basketball schools to move to the Big Ten. Rutgers might be a good idea if they are looking for a team, but does the Big Ten, which still is having trouble accepting Penn State because of their Eastern Ties, want to bring in a school that is even further east? I really think not.

The Heisman Pundit is back writing again and I could not help but get a chuckle from his new one where he discusses how Tim Tebow is working on his throwing motion for the NFL. Here is probably THE best player of the past two seasons messing with his throwing motion. Why fix what isn’t broke? I can’t exactly see Urban Meyer jumping up and down at the possibility of Tebow starting the season trying the work out the new kinks of throwing the ball differently.

Finally it is never too early for Preseason Polls right? Well, yes it is too early, but they are fun to debate. Mark Schlabach over at ESPN puts out his 3rd version (to date) of the 2009 Preseason Poll. I do have a few critiques…in my opinion, no Big Ten team should be ranked in the top 10. They ALL have way too many holes to fill. My other gripe is with Virgina Tech, why all the love for Tyrod Taylor? I just don’t see it and I do not see the Hokies finishing higher than 15th this year.

Even with the impending cold front which could bring snow threatens the northeast, it isn’t enough to damper my excitement of the spring games that happened this weekend. For the most part the the majority of the teams have their games in the latter part of the month, but we were able to get a glimpse of at least 1 team that could have title implications in their game this past weekend.

Spring is in the air

The Texas Longhorns concluded their spring practice with an offense vs defense scrimmage. It wasn’t too long ago that Mack Brown and the rest of his staff were coming into the 2008 season worried about their secondary. Well in their scrimmage Sunday, it was their secondary that played the best.

Earl Thomas and Nolan Brewster each had a pick; and Thomas took his to the house. Colt McCoy didn’t have his best game, but Mack Brown doesn’t feel the need to worry. McCoy went 11-of-24 for 95 yards. The folks over at Barking Carnival have a nice recap of the Longhorns’ spring game highlighting both the offense and the defense.

Most of the news on the Florida State Seminoles has not been good. Just a few weeks ago the NCAA came down on sanctions against the school which included stripping them of 14 wins and losing some scholarships.

Coach Bowden was hoping that the players put that behind them to have a successful spring. In their scrimmage he was really impressed with the work of the defensive secondary. During most of the spring the offense had the upper hand, but it was the defense who forced 5 turnovers on fumbles and won the scrimmage 39-27 in front of 36,000 people.

Ty Jones who has had a good spring, did not have a good spring game fumbling the ball four times. Unfortunately the bad news for Florida State did not end there; wide receiver Rod Owens was arrested after the game and charged with driving under the influence.

Moving out west, the Air Force Falcons had their spring scrimmage, and even after it coach Troy Calhoun is still not sure who will be his starting quarterback. Tim Jefferson, who started last year as a freshman and fellow classmate Asher Clark will both head into the fall fighting for the job.

Can Griffin turn Baylor around?

The reason behind Calhoun’s indecision is that neither quarterback had enough practice time to get fully evaluated. Jefferson only participated in 5 practices due to academics and Clark had a knee injury that required surgery. Calhoun was force to go with untested junior-to-be Ben Cochran and sophomore-to-be Connor Dietz for most of the spring.

If you watched any of the TCU Horned Frogs last year, you could not help but to come away impressed with their defense. Even with some holes left due to graduation, the Horned Frogs still look impressive on that side of the ball. In their spring game, they only allowed the offense to score on one occasion, and coach Gary Patterson came away with a feeling of ease that his defense could be back to its 2008 form.

Linebacker Tanner Brock, who had 625 tackles in high school impressed everyone in his first scrimmage. Brock ran with second-team defense Saturday after earning reps with the first-team ‘D’ during spring practice.

If I were to guess, I think Baylor’s time as being the Big 12 whipping boy is coming to an end. Quarterback Robert Griffin is developing into a star, and he took one more step towards stardom in the Bears’ spring game.

Griffin completed 19-of-25 passes for 310 yards, with touchdown passes of 60, 35 and 43 yards to three different receivers. He also ran for 41 yards and a touchdown. Griffin wasn’t the only star as running back Jarred Salubi had a nice day gaining 40 yards on 12 carries.

At Arizona, head coach Mike Stoops decided to do things differently this year. He allowed two of his captains to have a draft and pick the teams for this year’s spring game. Most of the concern for the Wildcats is; who will replace Willie Tuitama. Tuitama left the school as the career leader in passes, attempts, yards and touchdowns, and capped his career by leading the Wildcats to a 31-21 victory over BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl in December.

The two candidates in line to replace him are Sophomore Matt Scott who completed 11 of 20 passes for 206 yards with one interception. Scott was the backup to Tuitama last season. Nick Foles is the other guy. Foles is a sophomore transfer from Michigan State, led the Blue team going 16-for-24 for 183 yards with no picks.

It was Nick Scott who got the last laugh as he completed a touchdown pass on the last play to lead his team, the White Team, to a 23-21 victory. Stoops likes what he sees from both Scott and Foles but is not ready to name a starter yet. He even went as far as saying he would ponder the idea of rotating them during the season until one stood out.

What will Miami’s offense look like?

With the transfer of Robert Marve the Hurricanes believe they’ve finally found their man at quarterback in Jacory Harris, who has already gone on record of saying the team’s production should be profoundly improved with new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple at the helm. Still, Miami didn’t look all that hot at a recent spring scrimmage, and there are lingering questions at backup quarterback should Harris struggle to open the year. With Jarrvis James and Graig Cooper returning at running back the Noles have the talent in the backfield to win the ACC, now it’s just a question of whether or not Whipple can get Harris and the rest of the offense to absorb enough of the scheme to be successful against top ranked ACC defenses.

Is Boston College in for a giant step back?

While Florida State has been the subject of recent offseason talk, the Boston College Eagles were the team caught squarely in the media’s headlights as the calendar passed from 2008 to 2009 this offseason, as head coach Jeff Jagodzinski was fired and defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani took over the team. While Spaziani is a brilliant defensive mind and the Eagles do return one of the nation’s top defenders in linebacker Mark Herzlich, BC must deal with the loss of the 700-lb, two-headed monster in the form of Ron Brace and BJ Raji at defensive tackle. While they return 14 starters overall the situation on offense remains up in the air, with another new OC coming in and another new scheme to learn. Boston College has benefiting tremendously from a standstill in the ACC over recent years, but unless the Eagles can replace their two top defensive linemen and find an answer on offense we could see them slip to the bottom of the conference standings.

Will it be next man up for Wake Defense?

Jim Grobe has built Wake Forest into a legitimate ACC contender with three straight winning seasons, including last year’s 8-5 finish with a bowl win over Navy in the inaugural EagleBank Bowl. Last year’s success however came largely on the heals of terrific defensive play, as Wake finished 16^th in the country in total defense including an impressive 12^th in the nation in pass efficiency defense. This offseason Grobe and his staff must replace eight defensive starters to include All American caliber performers in linebacker Aaron Curry and cornerback Alphonso Smith, who both look like first round picks going into April’s NFL draft. With an offense that ranked 106^th nationally a year ago it is imperative that Grobe is able to bring Wake’s young defense along this spring, as even a veteran Riley Skinner and eight other offensive returnees may not be enough to sustain the program’s run of four straight bowl games.

Can North Carolina find a playmaker?

The Tar Heels won eight games a season ago even when devastated by injury and inconsistent quarterback play, foreshadowing a possible ACC title run under third year head coach Butch Davis for 2009. With both TJ Yates and Cam Sexton coming back the Tar Heals should be better at quarterback this spring, but there’s still the issue of replacing the team’s top three receiving threats. The departure of Brooks Foster, Brandon Tate, and Hakeem Nicks leaves Davis with a group of wideouts that accounted for just 18% of the team’s receiving production a year ago, the second lowest returning mark in the conference. There aren’t many steady veterans waiting in the wings to take over either, and for the Tar Heels to come out of spring with a reliable go-to wide receiver they’ll likely have to search for a replacement among the ranks of a talented, but untested, group of redshirt freshmen and sophomores.

What is year two like for the triple option?

Paul Johnson led an amazing turnaround at Georgia Tech a season ago, installing a completely new offense with a host of inexperienced and ill-equipped players on the depth chart. The last time he took over a team in such a position (Navy in 2002) he went 2-10 before taking the Mids to a bowl and an 8-5 record in his second season. Will the Yellow Jackets see similar improvement from year one to year two under Johnson this time around, or will ACC defenses be better repaired to stop Josh Nesbitt and the nation’s fourth best rushing attack? If not than Johnson, along with nine starters back on offense from a year ago, could field the ACC favorite headed into the summer.

ACC Spring Game Dates

Boston College (April 25th)

Clemson (April 11th)

Duke (April 18th)

Florida State (April 4th)

Georgia Tech (April 18th)

Maryland (April 25th)

Miami (March 28th)

North Carolina (March 28th)

NC State (April 18th)

Virginia (April 18th)

Virginia Tech (April 25th)

Wake Forest (April 18th)

It has been rumored to be coming for a few days now, but finally the NCAA has released its punishment on Florida State for academic fraud. Football was included with 10 other sports at Florida State where student-athletes received improper benefits from tutors and supports staff. Those other sports were baseball, men’s track and field, women’s track and field, men’s swimming, women’s swimming, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball and men’s golf.

Some of the punishments include four years probation, scholarship reductions in football; men’s and women’s basketball; men’s and women’s swimming; men’s and women’s track and field; baseball; softball; and men’s golf, and vacating all wins in sports where any of the 61 student athletes participated in.

This brings up an interesting scenario since football is one of those sports, does Bobby Bowden have those wins stripped from his record? I would have to think so, but in the past, teams who have had to vacate wins lobbied to have the coach keep the wins on his record, see Bob Stoops.

The Seminoles won 7 games each year in 2006 and 2007 which would lower Bowden’s win total from 382 to 368. Florida State has 15 days to appeal these measures. To read the full detailed report you can click here.

I hate doing this. I really do. But considering giving ridiculously early preseason “lookaheads” is all the rage these days, I thought I might as well share my Top 10 coming out of 2008 and going into 2009. Keep in mind we still have eight months to go before the start of next season, and between spring ball, a semester without football, and fall camp a lot can happen. Also, don’t forget that some of these rankings are contingent on big name stars coming back for another season, like Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford or USC’s Mark Sanchez. Still, here’s where some of the nation’s top teams figure to fall going into the long, slow thaw of winter.

1) Florida-Hey, it’s not like I wouldn’t like to be contrarian here, but fresh off a National Title this team is just scary good and only figures to get better. Percy Harvin moves on to the NFL from the offense but the unit isn’t short on experience or playmakers, with Jeffery Demps and Chris Rainey waiting in the wings. The defense should be stacked - with or without Brandon Spikes- and you know the coaching staff won’t have any off days with Urban Meyer at the helm. All of this would make for a Top 5 team at least, but when you factor in the return of one of the greatest college football players ever, well, now it just starts to become unfair.

2) Texas-The team that many thought should be playing for a National Title this year may very well find itself playing for one in 2009, as the return of QB Colt McCoy, WR Jordan Shipley, and four of five starting offensive linemen make Texas’ explosive offensive attack arguably the best in the Big XII. Losing stud DE Brian Orakpo hurts, but the return of LB’s Sergio Kindle and Rodderick Muckelroy leave the Longhorn’s no shortage of talent on Will Muschamp’s defense. The secondary - young and inconsistent at times in 2008 -  should be much improved.

3) Alabama-It may be tempting to drop the Crimson Tide a few spots when you consider just how poorly they played without soon-to-be NFL bound left tackle Andre Smith in the Sugar Bowl, but remember that as a hole this team was remarkably young this past season. Losing Logan Coffee and John Parker Wilson hurt on offense, but the majority of the defense will be back as will emerging playmakers Mark Ingram at running back and Julio Jones at wide receiver. If this team can find a capable quarterback they look like the favorite in the SEC West.

4) Oklahoma-We’ll know by Thursday whether or not Sam Bradford is coming back or not, but in either case the Sooners should return a strong defense anchored by nine returning starters. The return of Ryan Reynolds (injured against Texas) at linebacker should bolster the unit, and even with the losses on the offense line and skill positions there is enough talent in the pipe to keep this team in the hunt for a Big XII and National Title.

5) USC-I know, I know. East Coast bias, right? Wrong. I like USC to make it back to a BCS bowl in 2009, but given the fact that they’re going to have to replace six of their starting front seven on defense gives me cause for concern, especially considering their recent history of midseason PAC-10 hiccups. This might be the most talented team in the country, but if anything college football has shown us that experience trumps talent with the new 12-game schedule format.

6) Georgia Tech- Leave it to a longtime Navy fan to go out on a limb on this one. I know Georgia Tech was handled in the Peach Bowl and that ranking them above the LSU Tigers may seem blasphemous to our friends in SEC country, but consider for a moment that Johnson was working with an offense built primarily from freshmen and sophomores recruited for a radically different system. The last time he did that - 2002 at Navy- his team went 2-10 his first year but came around to finish 8-5 in 2003. Even if the defense isn’t as good as it was in 2008 I don’t see any reason to expect that Johnson’s offense won’t be incredibly more productive in 2009, making them the ACC favorite.

7) LSU-Settle down Tiger fans, I did not forget you. Had QB Jordan Jefferson and the Tigers played the rest of the 2008 season like they did in the 2008 Peach Bowl we may have had a different matchup in the SEC Title game, but even the 38-3 stomping of Georgia Tech is not enough for me to overlook the painful inconsistency of Les Miles’ team in 2008. I like the Tiger offense moving forward under Jefferson, but a likely overhaul of the front seven on defense keeps me skeptical.

8 ) Ohio State-I know some analysts are already drinking the Terrelle Pryor cool-aid, but the Buckeyes do suffer some pretty significant personnel losses going into next season. Chris Wells and Brian Robiskie depart, and joining them may be fellow wideout Brian Hartline. Defensively the Buckeyes will have to retool, and despite the fact that they’ve replaced NFL talent in the past I think they struggle moving forward without all everything linebacker James Laurinaitis. Still, this looks like the Big 10’s best team heading into 2009.

9) Oklahoma State-Here’s a comparison for you: How about the Cowboys as next year’s version of the 2008 Red Raiders? The defense may struggle, but with all the playmakers back on offense this could end up being a team which just outscores its opponents more often than not. Quarterback Zach Robinson and wideout Dez Bryant are legitimate Heisman darkhorses.

10) Boise State-I don’t know if Boise State is really the tenth best team going into next season (ok, so I know they’re not) but I do think they represent the best shot of a non-automatic qualifier getting to a BCS bowl game in 2009, which in and of itself deserves mention on a list like this. This season’s freshmen sensation Kellen Moore returns at quarterback to direct an explosive offense which features several other young but talented skill position players.

Others to Consider:Virginia Tech, Penn State, Ole Miss, Kansas, Notre (gasp!) Dame

Wake Forest 7-5 (4-4), 3rd ACC Atlantic Division
vs

Navy 8-4, Independent

Saturday, December 20 11am ESPN

Back on September 27th, Navy beat Wake Forest 24-17. The Inaugural EagleBank Bowl will have a rematch of that game since Maryland was unable to fulfill this spot due to the fact that their players have finals this week. Wake Forest quarterback, Riley Skinner had one of his worst games of his career that day against Navy. He threw four interceptions, but the fact that the Demon Deacons could only muster 43 yards on the ground, did not help him any.

Navy on the other hand 292 yards on the ground and a healthy Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who ran for two touchdowns that day. Although Kaipo came back against Army, one has to think that he is still a bit banged up and might not be as effective as he was early in the season.

In my opinion, Wake Forest peaked early in the season with their win against Florida State. The ACC really didn’t have any powerful offenses or strong rushing games like Navy. Riley Skinner is going to have to have a good game and take advantage of a weaker Midshipmen secondary. Last game he had 4 INTs (he only had 3 more the rest of the season) and they only lost by 7. Close game, and I am giving the edge to the Deacons.

Tale of the Tape

Wake Forest
Offense - 300 ypg, 188 ypg passing, 112 ypg rushing
Defense - 300 ypg, 184 ypg passing, 116 ypg rushing
Quality Wins versus Bowl Teams - Mississippi, Florida State, Clemson, & Vanderbilt

Navy
Offense - 361 ypg, 63 ypg passing, 298 ypg rushing
Defense - 341 ypg, 215ypg passing, 126 ypg rushing
Quality Wins versus Bowl Teams - Wake Forest, Air Force, & Northern Illinois

Prediction: Wake Forest 27 Navy 21

Yesterday I gave the scenarios in which teams could win the Big Ten, Pac Ten, and Big 12. Today I’ll finish up the BCS Conferences by looking at the ACC, SEC, and Big East. The ACC right now is a big mess, so I might have missed something.

SEC

This is the easiest of all the conferences. Both Florida and Alabama have clinched their respective halves of the SEC and will meet in the conference championship game.

Big East

Cincinnati - The Bearcats just need to win out against Pitt and Syracuse and they will be in a BCS Bowl game. If they lose to Pitt, they will need West Virginia and Connecticut to beat Pitt. And also, West Virginia would have to lose to South Florida.
Pitt - The Panthers need to win their last three games against Cincinnati, West Virginia, and Connecticut to win the Big East. If they lose to Cincinnati, they are out. If they lose to either Connecticut or West Virginia, they will need a lot of help because Rutgers (who beat Pitt) would still be in the mix.
West Virginia - The Mountaineers need to win against Pittsburgh, South Florida and Louisville, and have Cincinnati lose to either Pittsburgh or Syracuse.
Rutgers - Rutgers needs to beat Louisville and then have all of the following happen: West Virginia lose at least 2 of their last 3 games, Cincinnati lose to both Pitt and Syracuse, and Pitt lose to either Connecticut or West Virginia.
Connecticut - The Huskies need to win out and have the following happen: Rutgers lose to Louisville, West Virginia lose 2 of their last 3, and Cincinnati lose 1 of their last 2.

ACC Coastal
Miami - The Canes need to beat both Georgia Tech and NC State.
Georgia Tech - The Yellow Jackets must beat Miami, then have the following happen: UNC lose to either Duke or NC State, Virginia Tech lose to Duke, Virginia lose one of their last two to Clemson or Virginia Tech.
North Carolina - The Tar Heels must beat Duke and NC State then have the follow occur: Miami lose to either Georgia Tech or NC State, Virginia Tech lose to Duke, Virginia lose one of their last two to Clemson or Virginia Tech.
Virginia - The Cavs need to beat Virginia Tech and Clemson, and have Miami lost to both Georgia Tech and NC State.

ACC Atlantic
Maryland - The Terps just need to beat Florida State and Boston College.
Florida State - The Seminoles have to beat Maryland, have Wake Forest lose to Boston College, and have Maryland beat Boston College.
Wake Forest - The Demon Deacons have to beat Boston College and Maryland has to lose to both Florida State and Boston College.
Boston College - The Eagles control their own destiny. They win the Atlantic with wins over Wake Forest and Maryland.

It is Wednesday two days before one of the biggest rivalries in Big 12 and the nation, the Red River Shootout. This game will have two of the top quarterbacks in the country (sorry Chase) in the game with Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford. As a Texas fan, you have to be happy at the way Colt is protecting the ball, and how he is now making plays with his feet.

I know a lot of Texas and Oklahoma fans who wish that they could just take a little cat nap and when they wake up it is Gametime! Wouldn’t we all love to do that!?!!? But just think if you did that, you would miss out on all of the trash talk during the week that leads up to the game. Peter Bean wastes no bones and tells us what he thinks of Oklahoma.

Kate will help you through your mid-week blues

By now we all know about the ever so popular Fulmer Cup that Spencer runs at EDSBS, but that only includes incidents by football players. I am hereby starting a grassroots program to have Marching Bands added to the Fulmer Cup for this offseason.

You ask why? In the past two weeks two marching bands have been suspended for sexual harrassment among other things. Those bands are UC Davis and the Wisconsin’s band. It’s too easy to make the…”This one time…at band camp” joke here.

It’s week six and two topics will be ramping up in interest in the coming weeks, the Heisman Trophy talk and the BCS debate. The first we have to deal with…the second well a lot of us have a problem with. If you are really jonesing for some Heisman rankings, go over to The Quad as they have ranked their top 5 players.

The BCS standings don’t come out for a few weeks, due to the fact that many computer polls are not up to date yet, but with the Harris Poll now officially published and 5 of the 6 computer rankings out, Jeremy over at MWC breaks down some of the rankings.

I mentioned in the last post about how Adam and I are going to talk about some surprise story lines so far this season. Bruce Feldman at ESPN.com has a nice list of the top 5 compelling story lines so far this season.

Predictions, predictions, and more predictions. We all love making them and feel even better when they come right. One person who I trust making predictions is my pal Jim Gindin over at Football Frontier. He’s great at breaking down games and finding the strengths and weaknesses in a team. Check out his predicitions for this weekend.