On the hotseat
ACC - Florida State
Coming off a 6-7 S124, FSU missed being bowl eligible for the first time in over 100 seasons. Coach johnmut took the 'Noles to a national championship 8 seasons ago, but after (only) two straight seasons finishing outside the top 25, boosters are grumbling throughout Seminole nation. Coach Mut may not be on the official hotseat yet, but his chair is warming, and the pressure is on to right the ship.
OFFENSE: The challenge in 124 will be to do so without QB Arthur Jones, now with the Seattle Seahawks. Taking the reins of the Seminoles' pass heavy offense will be stong-armed So.* QB John Lee. Talent-wise, Lee is thought to already be one of the top QBs in the ACC, but he'll have a tough time ahead of him with an unheralded returning WR corp. Thankfully for Noles fans, the team has some RB talent in Jr* and So* RBs Wolfe and Miller, but neither have been counted on to produce much before now.
DEFENSE: The 'Noles return all but 1 starter on defense. Hopefully that means improvement, as the team gave up 439 yards per game last season (in comparison, the 'Noles gave up 303 ypg in the 117 championship season). Unfortunately, the defensive backfield doesn't seem to have the talent needed to shut down any decent passing attacks.
OUTLOOK: It's going to take some time for Coach Johnmut to get seasoned talent worked back into the defense. It's going to be uphill again this season. Assuming wins against all 5 Sim teams, he'll need to beat at least two human coached teams to be bowl eligible and hopefully buy time to restock the shelves.
BELLWETHER GAME: Week 2 vs Cincinnati. Coach Graham1958 of Cincy is only 1 season into a rebuild and returns very few offensive players. It's a must win for the Seminoles, and if it's even close, that likely won't be a good omen for the rest of the Seminoles' schedule.
PREDICTED SEASON: 7-6.
BIG 12 - Missouri
Veteran Missouri coach MrFortune enters his 12th season with the Tigers "In Jeopardy" with pants on fire. He's taken the Tigers to bowl games all but one season of his tenure, but his last top 25 finish was 10 seasons ago, and the Missouri powers-that-be reportedly have delivered their ultimatum.
OFFENSE: The good news is that the Tigers return most of the starters from their explosive pass offense of last season (6779 yards), including all-american senior QB William Joyner and the entire WR & TE corps. The only major loss to graduation was star RB Paul Pruitt (now assistant managing a Wendy's in south Columbia, MO), but the Tigers weren't over reliant on RB passes in 124.
DEFENSE: The bad news is that a defense that gave up 474 ypg last season are going to be hard challenged to improve in 125. Sr* DL James Ayala returns and is one of the best in the country, but the rest of the defense has much to prove, and will be tested often.
BELLWETHER GAME: Syracuse, week 3. The Orangemen are in their second season under rising coach JTD79, and gave up few passing yards in 124, but the Orangemen also lost their top 4 DBs to graduation, and won't have the same talent and experience to rely on in 125. If it plays out electronically like it does on paper, this will be a high scoring affair for both teams, as the Orange threw for 7944 yards last season, around half of those yards to their RBs. All of whom are back, and will sorely test the Missouri defense. The Tigers will be a bit of an underdog, but a win is not impossible, and will go a long way to boost MrFortune's case to stay head coach.
PREDICTED SEASON: 7-6
BIG EAST - Connecticut
It's been 8 seasons since Coach Douglaslee won the conference, 7 since the last top 25 finish, and after a 4-9 finish in 124 coach finds himself the target of the ungrateful fans and talk radio hosts.
OFFENSE: With only 2 seniors on the offense last season, the Husky offense produced the fewest yards in Coach Douglaslee's tenure, scoring only 24 TDs over 13 games. This season, a slightly older, more seasoned, and hopefully improved offense will take the field. Led by JR* QB Derek Espinoza, the traditionally balanced Husky offense will likely see a significant increase in production.
DEFENSE: Last season's defense gave up 390 ypg, which isn't that bad a number once accounting for how much the Huskies had to rely on their defense. Only 2 Srs were lost to graduation, and while they weren't bad players, the Husky defense shouldn't miss a step.
BELLWETHER GAME: Week 1 vs Colorado. The Huskies lost last season's matchup 14-31, in a game they likely should have won. The Buffaloes are a lot like the Huskies, with no obvious stars, but workman like players looking to get the job done. Only losing 4 players from last year's squad, the Huskies will have the edge on talent and experience, and will be eager for revenge. A win here will be a good sign for the rest of the season, and the Huskies could equal (or better) last season's win total going into conference play.
PREDICTED SEASON: 8-5
BIG TEN - Michigan
For the sports fan in Ann Arbor, it seems like you can’t turn to sports talk radio without some Sunday morning knucklehead quarterback spouting off about what the Wolverines head coach needs to do, as if given the reins of the program, he would surely lead Old Blue to the promised land. Those knuckleheads call in even when the coach takes them to the Sugar Bowl and a one-loss season. So they are now just begging for airtime since last season’s Emerald Bowl loss to Rutgers. Since that S119 Sugar Bowl, Coach Nortonis and the Wolverines have seen the L column grow slowly and steadily from 1 loss to last season’s 5 losses, and Coach’s job security got it’s first dent in a long long time.
OFFENSE: Last season’s starting QB, Steven Hart, got the nod as a freshman and then played like one, throwing 25 INTs in 14 games. Hart did complete 63% of his passes, throw 31 TDs, and win the B1G ROY award, but it wasn’t enough as the Saginaw Slinger finds himself modeling a red shirt around campus season, and the command of the offense likely passes to Jr* QB Nicholas Jones. Jones is a mobile QB who has seen plenty of playing time the last two seasons, and while his completion percentage was less than Hart, his extra seasons with the playbook should result in a boost to the Wolverine’s offense. In fact, many of the radio knuckleheads have taken great pains to point out the inexperienced quarterbacks the Wolverines relied on in last season’s 9-5 campaign, and blamed coach Nortonis for not creating a new Tom Brady out of clay and magic pine cones. The Wolverines return two great RBs in Andrew Durham and Marc Lara, and a deep (if untested) offensive line with only 2 returning starters. The real question mark on the offense will be the receiving corp. The Wolverines lost two very good WRs from last season, and the nation’s top TE Clarence Nelson. For a pass first offense like Coach Nortonis likes to run, the pressure will be heavy on QB Nicholas Jones to play mistake free.
DEFENSE: The biggest question mark on the Wolverines defense will be the defensive line. The Wolverines lose their top 2 DL (both drafted in the 1st round) and return only one full season starter on the line. They’ll likely be relying on a redshirt Freshman and a sophomore to fill the gaps left by the graduating seniors, and will no doubt be tested by their opponents. Thankfully for Michigan, the Wolverines return two very good LBs, and a deep, strong defensive backfield, and the back 2/3rds of the defense (whether 4-3 or Nickel) will remain tough. It’s a strength that will be well needed vs the pass happy offenses of Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, and Minnesota.
BELLWETHER GAME: Week 3 vs Maryland. This is a game Michigan is supposed to win. Maryland hasn’t had a losing season in a long long time, but has struggled to break the top 25 for the last 4 seasons. The Terrapins return only 3 DBs from last season’s squad, and while they return some decent DL and LBs, this is a secondary that Michigan’s untried WRs should be able to move the ball against. However, the Terrapins also offer a test for the Wolverine defense, with a very solid players returning (except at TE) and a very very good JR RB William Wong. The Terrapin balanced attack should give the Michigan defense a good test. As stated, Michigan *should* win this game. If they do not, Coach Nortonis’ road forward and back to “Very” secure will get a little more challenging.
PREDICTED SEASON: 10-3
C-USA - SMU
Coach Flippen heads into his 22nd season at the helm of the Mustangs. Coming off a 10 win season which saw the Mustangs stay home to win the Fort Worth Bowl, coach has heard enough from the ungrateful fans who wanted to travel to a more exotic location like Detroit or Houston, and set his sights on a challenging S125 schedule.
OFFENSE: In s124 the traditionally balanced Mustangs saw a much improved pass offense. Of the 46 Ints SMU Sr QB Cramer has thrown in the past 3 seasons, only 1 came in s124, and his completion % jumped from 56% to 66%. Coach Flippen has to be hopeful that Cramer has turned a corner for good, as he’ll likely be relying even heavier on Cramer and the pass game this season, as SMUs best two RBs graduated, and as yet there is no real standout poised to take up the baton. The good news for SMU is that QB Cramer will have some help from Sr WRs McCoy and Webster, and Sr TE Thomas, 3 other 3 year starters - and an OL that only lost 1 starter from s124. The OL includes two very strong Srs, including Shane Fox and Jesse Bragg, who allegedly has got the attention of a few NFL HR departments.
DEFENSE: The Mustangs lost all-conference DL Jay Walker to graduation last season (Walker has opened up a wildly successful dog walking service in Arlington), but return every other starter from a s124 squad that gave up only 331 ypg. While the defense will feel the loss of Walker, overall, this defense should only be tougher.
OUTLOOK: The Mustangs are poised for their best season in a while. While SMU doesn’t have National Championship talent (or a schedule to get there), they have a good shot at their first C-USA CC in 8 seasons. The dark cloud for that silver lining is Coach Flippen will have a hard time with the AD if he doesn’t deliver on the expectations. However, he’s set up a very interesting schedule, and will be fun to watch. 8 human opponents, and while there will be challenging games, there’s not a game on the calendar that is unwinnable. As such, there’s no clear bellwether game, so
GAME TO WATCH: Week 7 at East Carolina. The defending conference champ has a new coach, and while a strong team still, lost some big players to graduation. A win here would set SMU in great position for conference play.
PREDICTED SEASON: 10-3
