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.

The podcast will be up later today, most likely in the evening. The talkshoe software is experience some problems and last night’s live podcast was not uploaded in time for me to edit it. I have a ticket in with their service department and expect it to be taken care of soon.

Tonight we have two games going on in college football. The first one has the Pittsburgh Panthers traveling to Tampa to play the South Florida Bulls. The Bulls, along with the Connecticut Huskies, look like they are two of the top teams in the Big East. South Florida had a nice win at home a few weeks ago again Kansas, but tonight they will be a bit shorthanded against the Panthers. All-American DE George Selvie (ankle) and DT Terrell McClain (ankle) likely will miss their second consecutive game.

I do think they will still have the fire power and the defensive strength to stop a Panther team who struggled against Syracuse last week, but Pitt always wins one game each year that they had no business winning. Could the Bulls be this year’s West Virginia on Pitt’s schedule. For Pitt to win they must have a better showing on the offensive line, Selvie being out should help, and be able to put a strong hold defensively on South Florida QB Matt Grothe.

In the other Thursday night game, the Oregon State Beavers travel to play the Utah Utes. The Beavers play their second Thursday game in consecutive weeks, and I don’t think I have to remind you about what happened against USC last week. Jacquizz Rodgers is the Pac 10’s leading rusher and is going to see a lot of carries tonight against Utah’s 5th rank run defense. It will be interesting to see if the Beavers have a let down against Utah. Mike Riley is already warning the Beavers against said letdown.

If the Utes aren’t careful their BCS dreams could go up in smoke with a loss tonight. Brian Johnson leds the Utes at QB as they average over 35 points per game. I think it will be a tough night for the Beavers as they will have trouble stopping Utah. Rodgers will not see the same holes he did last night as the Utes will be ready for him.

I think both games have the potential to be good ones, and as we know in the past, on Thursday nights crazy things happen in college football.

Actual picture of a WVU fan’s head exploding

Last week’s games, were to put it bluntly, really boring. There weren’t any great match-ups which made our friend Orson go crazy and pick the Oregon State Beavers to upset Penn State Nitaly Lions. He fully repented to me on last night EDSBS Live, and gives us a whole slue of other picks that we should not follow if we are a betting man.

One of the biggest upsets of this past weekend was East Carolina beating up West Virginia and possibly de-Heismaning Pat White. My first thoughts were not of sorrow for Mountaineer fans, but I immediately wondered if our pal John Radcliff had the stones to write a song mocking his team. John never fails and here is his songbook from this week on how Bill Stewart Ruined His Dreams.

Kate is the only thing more beautiful than Neuheisel

Speaking of Skip Holtz, Sean Keeley over at TNIAAM is already looking forward to the end of the Greg Robinson era and possibly the start of the Skip Holtz era? He points us to an article which discusses the possibility but calls the Syracuse job…a coach killer! Since when has Syracuse drop to the depth of coaching hell that was the Temple Owls? Don’t worry Sean, things can only get better, Midnight Madness for College Basketball is only a short time away.

Rebounding from their Week 1 loss to Bowling Green, who by the way lost to Minnesota this week, Pitt Panther fans are still left scratching their head about their offense. There was a lot of concerned among the faithful when it was found that the offense playbook was leaked on the internet and Buffalo had full access to it. But later it was noted that Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh believes the fact that between the hashes was a no-fly zone for passing.

BYU beat Washington at the end of the game by blocking an extra point. This week they play pretty boy Rick Neuheisel and his upstart UCLA Bruins. For some discussion and analysis on the game where the teams will play 3 times in a matter of 10 months, check out Bruins Nation.

Now for the big game, THE Ohio State BUCKEYES against the USC Trojans. I’ll talk more abotu this game on the podcast tomorrow night with Adam Nettina, but there is already so much good stuff around the blogosphere about the game:

• Conversation With Buckeye Commentary
• Keep Your Friends Close, Enemies Closer: Southern Cal
• Key match-up: The Ohio State D line vs. The USC O line
• Bruce Feldman: Top 10 USC-Ohio State subplots

10. Texas Longhorns - This year the Longhorns will find out if Colt McCoy just had a sophomore slump, or if he really has regressed in his development. Texas has no lack of talent on offense or defense, but it does have some holes to fill from departures. Their offensive line returns 4 of 5 and Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley are back to catch balls for McCoy.

A lot of Texas’ success lies directly on McCoy’s back. He has to protect the ball a bit better than last year and not try to carry the entire load of the team. The weak point in the Longhorns’ defense is their secondary. Fans are excited for new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and they’ll get to see his revamped secondary at work when they play pass happy teams like UTEP, Rice, and Arkansas early on. Those are all games they should win, so it should get the young secondary some much needed practice before the tough slate of Colorado, Oklahoma, and Missouri hit in a row.

9. Clemson Tigers - I don’t think there is much doubt, that on paper, the Clemson Tigers are the best team in the ACC. They have two solid running backs, James Davis and CJ Spiller, two returning wide receivers, Aaron Kelly and Tyler Grisham, and the best quarterback in the ACC Cullen Harper. If the Tigers can get some blocking from their guys up front, this could be one of the most dangerous offenses in the country.

On defense they return 7 starters, with their entire secondary returning. Up front Ricky Sapp, Dorell Scott, and Rashaad Jackson anchor a defensive line and don’t forget about true freshman Da’Quan Bowers who has been turning heads at fall practice. We will see what the Tigers are made up of early when they play Alabama in Atlanta. After that, they really do not have a tough game until the end of September, early October with Maryland and Wake Forest. Wins there and there could be smooth sailing to the ACC Title game.

8. Auburn Tigers - This is a team that I think should be getting a lot more hype, but since Georgia, Florida, and LSU are media darlings, Auburn is flying a bit under the radar. They implemented the spread offense back in the bowl game with offensive coordinator Tony Franklin being the brains of it. Kodi Burns and Chris Todd will be fighting for the quarterback job with Brad Lester back as running back. Their line returns all five starters.

New defensive coordinator, Paul Rhodes, has experience defending spread offensive from his days at Pittsburgh, but now he has more talented players to run his schemes. Rhodes has a good core of 8 returning starters to build off of. The only place they are a little inexperienced is the defensive line. The Tigers schedule starts out slow, but the game against LSU on September 20th could go a long way in deciding who represents the SEC West in the title game. A game to keep an eye on is October 23rd at Morgantown. The Tigers hope that Paul Rhodes’ defense can shut down the WVU spread like he did with Pitt last season.

7. West Virginia Mountaineers - New coach Bill Stewart will have the same general philosophy as the old coach who I will not name. Pat White returns for his senior season, but it will be Noel Devine that lines up behind him, not Steve Slaton like in years past. The Mountaineers have 4 returning starters on the offensive line which should help make holes for their speedy backs.

On defense there are quite a few holes to fill as they only return 4 starters, but two of those starters, Mortty Ivy and Reed Williams were among the top tacklers for the Mountaineers last season. The Mountaineers are riding the high of another BCS bowl win. They hope to erase the heartache of the Pitt loss and start a new chapter under Bill Stewart. They have two tough non-conference games at Colorado and back home against Auburn. If they get past those I know they will be looking forward to revenge at Pittsburgh November 28th. The following week could be for the Big East title as they host South Florida.

6. Missouri Tigers - If you have been keeping track, this is the 3rd team named the Tigers in the rankings 6-10. The Missouri Tigers are led by Heisman Candidate Chase Daniel. Daniel mastered an offense that scored 39.9 points per game, threw for 314 ypg, and overall had 490 yards per game. They were ranked in the top ten in each category. Returning at wide out is the speedy Jeremy Maclin who had over 1000 yards receiving. Their offensive line is nothing to blink at either as tough Ryan Madison and Kurtis Gregory return to anchor it.

The Tigers’ defense wasn’t bad at all last year either, but if I were to nit pick, they do need to improve a bit on the pass defense. That shouldn’t be hard with 4 returning starters in the secondary and I guess the passing stats can be a little misleading since most teams were playing from behind against Missouri. The Tigers open up against Illinois, a team they should be able to handle. But keep an eye out in October when they play both Texas and Colorado. They end up the year in Kansas City against Kansas. If all goes well for Missouri fans they will be back in Kansas City the following week for the Big 12 title game.

[ITB Preseason 11-15]
[ITB Preseason 16-20]
[ITB Preseason 21-25]

I promised it on the podcast and this week I will deliver the In The Bleachers Preseason Top 25 for the 2008 season. My thought process is pretty simple on this one, I am not predicting the final standings, I am predicting the Top 25 based on how good they are right at this moment.

25. Fresno State Bulldogs - If not for their difficult schedule, most experts would be talking about Fresno State in the same breath as BYU as far as Non-BCS schools going to a BCS Bowl game. The Bulldogs return 10 starters on offense, including quarterback Tom Brandstater, who is one of the top senior quarterbacks in the nation. Brandstater is not flashy, but in 2007 he threw only 5 interceptions. Ryan Matthews returns as a sophomore after rushing for 866 yards and 14 touchdowns as a true freshman.

The weak spot for the Bulldogs will be their secondary which will be tested in their first game of the year against Rutgers and their talented wide receivers. Their front seven is also a bit unproven since they lost Marcus Riley and Tyler Clutts. With their first two games being at Rutgers, then back home against Wisconsin, we will find out a lot about the Bulldogs early.

24. Rutgers Scarlet Knights - I have already tooted the Scarlet Knights’ horn last week, as I think they are a team that should challenge for the Big East title. Many are writing off Rutgers all because Ray Rice is gone, but quarterback Mike Teel had a good season last year throwing for 3100 yards with 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. To challenge for the Big East crown however, those numbers must all go up except for the interceptions. With two great receivers such as Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood, I believe that is a good assumption.

Their weak point is obvious, they do not have a proven running back and they are a little suspect along the offensive line. Their defense returns 8 starters from a team that only gave up 170 yards through the air a game. The Knights start off the season with a bang as Fresno State and North Carolina come to town in the first two weeks. Two wins there and they should be 4-0 heading to Morgantown.

23. Wake Forest Demon Deacons - The strength for the Demon Deacons lies clearly on the defensive side of the ball. They return 9 starters from a team that only gave up 22 points per game and 109 yards on the ground. If this team is going to go places in 2008, it will be the defense that carries them. Aaron Curry and Alphonso Smith are two to the top returning defenders. On offense, Riley Skinner is back. Skinner is talent but has to cut down on his interceptions. Josh Adams returns at running back after rushing for 950 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2007.

The weak point for the Deacons is their offensive line and at wide receiver. There are as many as 10 players in the mix to start on the offensive line, but unfortunately for Wake, they don’t return a starter that started more than 8 games. Week 2 and 3 have them going up against Ole Miss and Florida State. Wins there and they should be undefeated when the take on Clemson at home a few weeks later.

22. Illinois Fighting Illini - The Illinois offense was ranked 5th nationally rushing the ball, but now with Rashard Mendenhall gone, they should take a step back. Saying that I expect Juice Williams to improve from last season and become a more consistant player. He turned the ball over a bit too much, but he has the athletic ability to become a supreme threat in the Big Ten. Arrelious Benn showed flashes of brilliance at both wide receiver and in the return game. On defense, the Illini are anchored by their defensive line and second team all Big Ten lineman Will Davis.

As much as he is a plus, Juice Williams unsteady play can be a huge minus if he starts turning the ball over. Half way through the season last year, there was a bit of a QB controversy between Juice and Eddie McGee. If they are going to be successful, the Illini must improve on 168 yards per game through the air. They open up the season with Missouri and then travel to Happy Valley for a prime time game on September 27th.

21. South Florida Bulls - On October 13, 2007, the South Florida Bulls were riding high with a 6-0 record and a top 3 ranking in the BCS standings. It all came crashing down after that as they lost their next 3 games. Matt Grothe will be back for his junior year to quarterback the Bulls. Grothe is both the Bulls’ leading passer and rusher, and I expect him to carry the lions’ share again this season. All American George Selvie is back to wreck havoc on opposing quarterbacks and on the other side of the ball the offensive line should be a strong point.

Their defense lost two extremely good cornerbacks and filling those holes will be no easy task. It also should be interesting to see if the Bulls can still be aggressive with their front seven with inexperience cornerbacks. The Bulls should be 5-0 once again when they open Big East play at home against a talented Pittsburgh Panther team. If they get past them they should be smooth sailing until November 15th against Rutgers.

Each year conferences have teams that sneak up and surprise a front runner with a big upset, or even finish high in the conference. I am sure 2008 will be no different. This post will have 3 of the 6 teams I believe can upset the balance of power in their BCS Conference. The other 3 will be posted in part 2.

Hoyer holds the keys for the Spartans’ success

The Michigan State Spartans finished the season 7-6 and went to their first bowl game in four years but in all reality the season could have been much better. The close losses to Ohio State (7 pts), Wisconsin (3 pts), OT loss to Northwestern, and a 3 point loss to Boston College. A few breaks either way and the Spartans are maybe looking at a 9 or 10 win season.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer finished the season solid in wins against Purdue and Penn State. And he looked good even in their loss to Boston College. Hoyer will be back this year as will running back Javon Ringer who rushed for 1447 yards last season. Mark Dell and Devon Curry are back to be Hoyer’s main targets. Even on the offensive line the Spartans return 3 of 5 starters.

On defense they have to retool a bit, mainly on the defensive line, but coach Mark Dantonio has brought in some good talent and using their agressive-attacking style defense, the Spartans could be a dangerous bunch. An early season game at California will set the barometer for the team. A win against the Bears could go a long way and looking ahead at there schedule, the Spartans could be 7-0 when Ohio State comes to East Lansing.

Rutgers is now Team Teel

The Pittsburgh Panthers are the sexy pick in the Big East for a surprise team, but I feel it will be the Rutgers Scarlet Knights who will surprise a few teams this season. Yes I know Ray Rice is gone, but the Knights return not one…but two record breaking wide receivers for Mike Teel to throw to. Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood both had over 1000 yards receiving last year and will wreck havok in opposing teams defensive backfields.

The same as always, Greg Schiano has a stout defensive line to anchor his defense and returns 3 of 4 starters in the defensive backfield. Rutgers doesn’t have a warm-up game to start the season off though. Fresno State comes to town in week 1, and 10 days later North Carolina comes to town. The Bulldogs are thought to be one of the top Non-BCS schools in the country, so if Rutgers wins that game, it should give them a lot of confidence.

All of their tough conference games are on the road: West Virginia, South Florida, and Pitt. But I think if the Knights can find some sort of a running attack to take the pressure off of Teel, they can put up some big offensive numbers and knock a few teams off.

Snead now has a team to call his own

Coach O might no longer be the coach at Mississippi, but he didn’t leave the cupboards bare at Ole Miss. The Rebels should be strong on both the offensive and defensive lines, Coach O’s specialty. Next insert a transfer quarterback by the name of Jevan Snead who was highly recruiting and initially went to Texas only to transfer after the starting job was given to Colt McCoy, and the Rebels have the makings of a team which will improve offensively from 2007.

Snead has three returning starters at wide receiver but does need to break in a new running back. On defense Ole Miss returns 8 starters. On paper they look like they can make waves and with Snead I think they will be able to hang in games by scoring more. Something that plagued them last season.

With the SEC West being up in the air a bit after Auburn, Ole Miss could be a team that makes some waves. At worst they should be 3-1 when they travel to Florida to play the Gators. If I were fans of Alabama and LSU, I would not take the Rebels lightly even though Ole Miss will be playing both of them on the road. Houston Nutt has been known to get a lot out of his players, and the raw talent is there, Nutt just has to polish it.

In part 2 I will talk about the team in the Pac 10, ACC, and Big 12 which could upset the balance of power in their conference.


1. Georgia (22) 1,438
2. Southern California (14) 1,430
3. Ohio State (14) 1,392
4. Oklahoma (3) 1,329
5. Florida (5) 1,293
6. LSU (3) 1,163
7. Missouri 1,143
8. West Virginia 1,008
9. Clemson 999
10. Texas 979
11. Auburn 888
12. Wisconsin 747
13. Kansas 714
14. Texas Tech 644
15. Virginia Tech 568
16. Arizona State 560
17. Brigham Young 547
18. Tennessee 506
19. Illinois 422
20. Oregon 399
21. South Florida 350
22. Penn State 313
23. Wake Forest 203
24. Michigan 112
25. Fresno State 91


Others receiving votes

Alabama (7-6) 83; South Carolina (6-6) 64; Utah (9-4) 60; Florida State (7-6) 53; Rutgers (8-5) 53; Boston College (11-3) 47; California (7-6) 41; Pittsburgh (5-7) 34; Boise State (10-3) 25; Oregon State (9-4) 23; Nebraska (5-7) 17; Cincinnati (10-3) 13; Virginia (9-4) 12; Connecticut (9-4) 9; Michigan State (7-6) 9; Mississippi State (8-5) 6; Kentucky (8-5) 5; Notre Dame (3-9) 5; TCU (8-5) 5; Maryland (6-7) 4; North Carolina (4-8) 3; Texas A&M (7-6) 3; UCLA (6-7) 3; Central Florida (10-4) 2; Georgia Tech (7-6) 2; Louisville (6-6) 2; Arizona (5-7) 1; Colorado (6-7) 1; Oklahoma State (7-6) 1; Tulsa (10-4) 1.


By Conference
Big 10 - 5
Big 12 - 5
SEC - 5
ACC - 3
Pac 10 - 3
Big East - 2
Mountain West - 1
Western Athletic - 1

The biggest surprise to me is seeing Michigan ranked. Also it looks like the coaches didn’t follow the media and ranked Georgia over Florida. More thoughts to come later. Did I ever mention how much I hate preseason polls?

Yesterday the Big East held their Media Day in which the writers picked who they would finish atop the conference this year. It should come as no surprise that the West Virginia Mountaineers were picked to finish first by 22 of the 24 writers attending, with South Florida and Pittsburgh garnering the other two votes. The rest of the conference shook out as follows:


1. West Virginia (22) 189
2. USF (1) 149
3. Pittsburgh (1) 128
4. Rutgers 110
5. Cincinnati 98
6. Connecticut 97
7. Louisville 69
8. Syracuse 24


I think the real wildcard of the Big East is going to be Pittsburgh. The Panthers have the potential to contend for a conference crown, but in my mind their offensive line is still a bit of a question mark. Then you have USF, who lost their starting two cornerbacks, and it will be interesting to see if they can still play aggressive, blitzing defense losing those two guys.

You have to feel a bit bad for Syracuse, I know I did especially when I talked to Sean Keeley in the Big East Preview Podcast. The Orange are 45 points behind their next highest contender.

All in all I believe that the Media did put a bit of a shaft on Rutgers. I think this team has the potential to be very explosive offensively with wide receivers Underwood and Britt. And we know that on the defensive side of the ball Greg Schiano will have this team prepared.

Tune in tonight to another Live In The Bleachers podcast where I will have three guests along with our regular Jeff Brancolini and his Bologna Chopshop, to preview the Big East.

Tyler Long is the Pitt football Community Leader at the Bleacher Report and will be joining me around 9:20pm EST.

Later in the show, around 9:35pm EST, Sean Keeley from Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician a Syracuse blog will be my guest. Finally, if you have been a follower of the podcast you will know my final guest. At 9:50pm EST, John Radcliff from the Mountainlair will be joining me.

If you can’t make the live podcast, don’t worry. I will still post the file on the site and all of your feedburner and iTunes subscriptions will still get the In The Bleachers Podcast. By doing the show live, we hope to get some listener interaction via the chat room or even if you want to call in.

Once again we will be using Talkshoe to do the live podcast. If you plan on being there, sign up for a username so I know who you are when you are in the chat room. It only takes a few seconds and it is free! The information for tonight’s live podcast is below:

In The Bleachers Live Podcast Link
When: 9:00 EST
Phone Number to Call In: (724) 444-7444
Talkcast ID: 81065

Like it or not, some teams’ win-loss record rides on the shoulder of the man under center. If he gets hurt or has a bad year, that team could go from having 10 or 11 wins to only 7 or 8 wins. Looking through the teams, I have found at least 5 quarterbacks who have to stay healthy all year if their teams want to have a chance at success this season.

Gator Fans cringe at the thought of a hurt Tebow

Question, how do you go and find a replacement for someone who threw for 3200 yards, 32 touchdowns, ran for 895 yards and 23 touchdowns? The answer is you don’t. With an improved defense, the Gators have all eyes set on the SEC Championship and another BCS Championship. The one person that could derail all of those plans is the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

With the type of offense that Urban Meyer runs, Tebow takes a lot of hits. Luckily last season, when Tebow had his broken, non-throwing hand, the Gators had a few weeks off before their Bowl Game. I suspect this year, Meyer might not be as liberal with Tebow late in games with the lead. He might come out and rest because as Gator fans know, he is the horse that will pull Florida’s buggy this season.

On the same lines as Tebow, this player led his team in both rushing and passing in 2007. Pat White threw for 1700 yards and 14 touchdowns while running for another 1300 yards and 14 touchdowns. Under new head coach Bill Stewart, the Mountaineers can expect to run the same type of offense as in years past with the coach whose name I will not mention. West Virgina did lose Steve Slaton to the NFL draft, but expect Noel Devine to pick up on his missing productivity.

Now if you take a look at the two losses West Virginia had last season, South Florida and Pittsburgh, there is one thing that stands out in each of those losses. In both of those games, the Mountaineers lost Pat White for the majority of that game due to injury. That right there tells you how important he is to their offense. In those two games they combined to score 22 points. So needless to say, Patrick White must stay healthy this season if West Virginia wants to go BCS bowling and possibly play for the BCS Championship.

One final, dual threat quarterback that has to stay healthy this season is Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour. The Chippewas were the 2007 MAC Champions and it was due mainly to the play of LeFevour. In 2007, like Pat White, he was the leading passer and rusher for the team throwing for 3600 yards and 27 touchdowns while rushing for 1100 yards and 19 touchdowns.

The Chippewas have three decent BCS teams on their schedule, at Georgia, at Purdue, and at Indiana. If LeFevour can put a good showing up against those teams, he will get some serious main stream media attention. Even so, with him in the lineup, one would have to expect that CMU is one of the favorites to win the MAC this year and head back to the Motor City Bowl. Without him and his offensive production, Central Michigan will be lucky to get the needed 6 wins to become bowl eligible.

Tech fans hope Harrell’s arm doesn’t fall off from all the passing

Moving away from the running and passing quarterbacks, to the traditional drop back quarterbacks, the first person on this list is Texas Tech’s record setting passer Graham Harrell. Harrell’s passing numbers last season are seriously mind boggling. In 2007, he threw for 5700 yards, 48 touchdowns, and a 71% completion percentage. It helps to have a great go to receiver like Michael Crabtree who caught 134 balls for almost 2000 yards.

It isn’t a secret that the Red Raiders are going to air the ball out when you play them. Sometimes Harrell will put the ball in the air upwards of 70 times in a game. They use the short passes to supplement their lack luster running game. This will be Graham’s 3rd year as starter for Texas Tech, and it would be hard to believe that their backup could put up numbers half as good. The Red Raiders are on a lot of lists to be a surprise team this year, and the only way they will do that is if Harrell stays healthy all season.

Moving from a possible surprise team of 2008 to one of the surprise teams of 2007, the Arizona State Sun Devils. It was a big joke around the college football world when former coach Dirk Koetter listened to his players and named Rudy Carpenter the quarterback in 2006. Koetter got fired after the season, but Carpenter continued to shine. In 2007, Rudy threw for 3200 yards and 25 touchdowns for an Arizona State team that went 10-3.

Carpenter is back for his senior season and the Sun Devils are hoping not to repeat the end of the 2007 season where they lost 3 of their last 5 games. One can’t really blame Carpenter for those losses because he played well in all of those games. He brings 3 years of starting experience to the table for Arizona State and with a schedule that has Georgia coming to town and traveling to USC and California, Carpenter has to stay healthy for the Sun Devils to come close to repeating what they did last season.