The Crystal Maze Vol. II
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time. It is that time of the year when hopes and dreams come crushing down, it is also when legends are born. It is the time when we all make predictions of how the season is going to go, and we put ourselves out there and risk looking like fools. I already know I am a fool ad I am going to let you guys see that some more. I have done that with the Maze already so why not continue? We are going to go through each conference and talk about them a bit and then at the end I will pick who is going to be the king of the hill
ACC
We have a conference that’s packed. We only have 4 Sim AI coached teams in the conference, so there are very few easy wins in conference play for the coaches. We have 3 new coaches in the conference and they are all in the same division. That might be advantage to the coach at Boston College who has been there a while with these new coaches. Now with that in mind I expect Boston college to make it to the conference championship game from their division. From the other division, I fully expect coach bama2448 to win his division and for my money win the conference again. I know they have a young QB but I think the coach and the wealth of talent he has might be able to figure it out to get that conference title. The young QB might be the reason they do not win it all for my money and, they play a tough schedule. The young QB had an okay season last year but he was not the starter, the pressure is now different. With all that said I am still going to stick with the Hurricanes. I would not count out the other coaches in the Hurricane division, you better get your wins against this team whilst the QB is young guys.
BIG 12
Now let us look at the conference with the reigning national champion. This conference should be one to watch. Remember last year when they had a ton of teams all looking like they are going to make it into the big game. This year we wait to see if the Colorado team with coach lyonzfanz will be back again and run everyone tight and just win games like its nothing. I expect the Rams to do big things this year. Colorado like Miami(FL) has a young QB and that might hurt them but still I expect a lot from this team. I can see them be in the conversation for the title, which title? You know which title. In their division, they have the great coach willgibson. The coach and his Cornhuskers are always there or thereabouts. I think it is going to be the same story this year. They have a senior QB and a schedule they can get through without a loss or maybe one loss, but still they will be in the hunt for a title. I think they might be in the hunt for 2 titles in one season. We have two other coaches in the division who have been improving their teams every year and this year I think they will have breakout seasons so be on the lookout for them. On the other side of the conference we have the reigning champs with coach blitziscomin who we had the pleasure of interviewing earlier this week (Many thanks again for doing that coach). The coach has an okay schedule but like the others he also has a youngish QB which might hurt him, but knowing him I think he will excel even with a youngish QB. I expect the Sooners to be sniffing around the sharp end of the rankings. We also have the mighty Longhorns with the legendary coach bkdries. The Longhorns have a schedule that is very winnable but they have a stretch of human coached teams sandwiched between 2 Sim AI games to start off the season and to finish off the season. Now with those sandwiched games I can see maybe 2 losses max. They are the defending conference champions and with that in mind I expect them to retain their title and make a run for the big one. Coach arcadecowboy has been improving his team and this has been showing up in the win column and I expect that this year there will be another great showing from his team. We won’t even look at the other team in this division. Pathetic Aggies. Sad!
BIG EAST
Now to the most packed conference of them all, with 12 human coaches. Yeah you read that right, 12 human coaches. That means no easy win in conference play because well you are dealing with the 8 human beings. I think we should rename this conference the D12, the dirty dozen. It was too easy and I had to go for it. I wonder who their Eminem would be? The conference added some new coaches this past offseason and I expect them to raise the competition level as time progresses and they get to grips with their new teams. From the East division, I am expecting Pittsburgh with coach bjschumacher to emerge victorious and retain is conference title and make it a 3peat year for himself. I expect him to go up against coach da_goat this year for that title. The coach has had a bit of time to morph that roster into the GOAT roster from where it was left by hookemhorns7. Hookem left the world altogether, towards the end it wasn’t looking good, says the guy who lost to him. Hookem I’m just kidding. The new coach has had time with the players and has turned the ship around and with that expectations have gone up. Now there is enough quality in this conference such that I could be way off in my predictions and I will be okay with that because I will know the other coaches would have used this as whiteboard material.
BIG 10
Now this conference had some drama to keep everyone entertained before the return of the Maze. I think there might be an MTV Reality show coming from this conference. But back to the football, I expect the Wolverines to face up against the Buckeyes in the conference title game. I know there are other great coaches in the conference but for my money these two right now have squads that are a bit ahead of everyone else. Then again this might be the year when the Irish and the Nittany Lions decide to shut down the Buckeyes, but I doubt it. If anyone is to shut down the Buckeyes I think it will be the Nittany Lions. This might be their year, they have the right ingredients this year, an okay schedule and an older QB who is good. I think they might go undefeated until conference play were they only must worry about the other two elites in their division. The worst they can do is to have 1 defeat to the Buckeyes who I predict to go to the conference title game but only to lose it. If the Nittany Lions win out they go to the title game hopefully if their SOS is good enough which it might not be with all those Sim AI games.
Conference USA
I think from this conference we might have a storyline developing, well I’m starting it. It’s gonna be coach ebel331 vs coach badaxe every year for the title, with the other coach looking for revenge from the previous season loss. With that said this year it is going to be coach ebel331 looking for revenge for his loss last year and then next year it will be the other way around. How is that for a storyline? Make it true guys, for me please. I am not discrediting the other coaches but I think this would be an interesting storyline for the conference to follow. The other coach will be there to stop these two from having a duopoly on the title like there is in the Spanish top flight with Real Madrid and Barcelona sharing the title. Side note, the El Classico is this weekend and I hope everyone takes the time to catch it because it might be a good one. I expect coach jjl58 and coach flippen to throw their weight around and cause the most headaches for the other coaches I mentioned. The other coaches will cause headaches too but not as much.
MAC
Which horse do you bet on in the MAC? I do not know but I am going to give it a shot anyway. The defending champ for the conference is coach BTINLA with his Ball State team, and they have an older QB who can take them back to the promised land again and their schedule is not too tricky. They might have problems in their division with the other coaches who have a had a bit of time to get their teams sorted for an assault on the division, but with that said I expect Ball State to go back and represent their division again. Now on the other side of the conference we have two new coaches in the conference and two veterans of the conference. I think one of the veteran coaches will take their team back to the conference title game and we will have a repeat of last year’s game in the conference title, with Ball State taking on Akron and I have a feeling the result will be the same as last season unfortunately for coach saintjo and his squad.
PAC 10
Now this is always an interesting conference because it almost always produces one of the teams that plays in the national title games. The last few seasons it has been the boy out of Berkeley who have made it there to represent their conference. There were just there last year and I bet they want to go back again. They have older QBs who won’t be fazed by anything and they also have a schedule that will hold up and improve their SOS, so be on the lookout for them going back of they manage to get through the schedule unscathed. That national title rematch is one to watch in week 5. I have Cal winning their fifth conference title so that they have a ring for each finger and the thumb, just to complete the set. Things are more interesting in the other division because I think this might be the year Stanford gets back to the top of the mountain. They won the conference title a while back in season 124 and I think they have gone through enough cycles to be ready for another run at it. In my eyes the only team to stop them will be the Trojans who always look good. They have not won any silverware in a while and I think the pressure might be mounting in southern California for some silverware.
SEC
It has been a few recruiting cycles for coach awags to get his brand of players in and with that in mind I fully expect him to roll over a few more teams than he has managed to do these last few seasons. Now with that said I do not expect them to challenge for any titles yet. From their division, I expect the Tigers to emerge as division winners to take on either the Vols or the Gators. I am torn on this one, not sure who to go for. I think I might just toss a coin to pick one. I have tossed the coin and it said Gators. I have the Gators battling the Tigers for the title of king of the south east. From that fight, I must go with the Gators, the south east is their territory, but if the fight was in Asia I would have gone with the Tigers all day. The Gators have set themselves up for a run at the national title again and if they play well I think the WIS gods will smile on them and they might make it back. They play a tough schedule which will help with the SOS but it also increases the chances of losing but again it challenges them which is why we play the game right. The Tigers also have a tough schedule which will help with that SOS if they win everything. Their schedule might be tougher than the Gators schedule. They play 11 great human coaches. Keep an eye out for the Tigers, also because Tigers like sneaking up on prey so just keep an eye out for any Tigers.
Sun Belt
Anyone against coach bols getting a 3peat in this conference? I am sure the other coaches just raised their hands right now but I do not see it happening. I fully expect him to make it a hat trick of championships. He has a senior QB and an okay schedule so the smart money is on him and his squad. Now the other coach will be out to stop him. Now coach slider4480 will be out to represent the division and to improve his job stats by going to the conference title game, and he is equipped with the tools to do it so it is just matter of how he uses those tools to stop coach bols. From the other side, we have a new coach at Navy who will be looking at taking the team back to a conference title win. But with him being a new coach I suspect the other coaches have a different story. I think that Army will be able to stop Navy and go to the conference title game but not be able to finish the job. They have youngish QBs to rely on and that always hurts you in the end but you can try your best to gameplan around it.
WAC
Now in any conference that has Pete in it, you would put your mortgage on him winning the title, but I think it might be too early to do that in this conference. This is going to be only his second year at Hawaii, so I doubt he has all the required tools for a run at the conference. That does not mean he will not be a thorn in your side when you face him. He still knows how to gameplan. In his division, I have my eye on coach slicknick777, he has been to the conference title game and know how bright those lights are and I am sure he can now handle it and will be on the charge to get back there this year. He has the talent and an okay schedule that allows him to do so. On the other side, we have coach gimpy_88 hoping to improve on the down season he had last year which came after winning the title. We have coach mitt0108 looking for a repeat and I am sure he will get it. He has the talent still there and the schedule looks good for him, so expect him to get back to the title game.
Now I hope everyone understands that this is all just nonsense that I have typed out because well, I got bored and decided to predict what is going to happen in the future solely based on my but feeling. I have a big gut so it has a lot of feelings. For the coaches, I have losing and the others I have not even mentioned please forgive me and prove me wrong. I really hope you have great seasons and things work out well for you this year. The coaches I have given the nod please do not hate me when things go wrong and say I have cursed you, I do not have such power (look at my team). I hope we can revisit this at the end of the season to see how wrong I was. Good luck to all on the new season.
