[Skylab]

It's time to start talking CFB again, fellas! It was quite an off season. The Big Ten is going to be quite something this year. Nebraska is in, Tressell and Pryor are out. We have a title game. Wow.

As for my Northwestern Wildcats, I think you can argue we have the best returning starting QB in the Big Ten. I'm not sure who would even be competition, aside maybe from Denard Robinson. Will be interesting to see how Persa plays coming off the injury last year, but the reports are all good.

How does everyone else's favorite teams look?

 

[J W]

Sooners have had a tough offseason. At least a couple of big losses on defense, but sooners always seem to have somebody step it up on D. Anyway, still #1 in preseason, though that means nothing, I grant yeh. Really excited to watch Sooner offense this season. I'd love to see a OU/Bama championship game. 
 
Big 12 expansion rumors all over the place. Don't give a dang, frankly, but am tired of hearing about it. I prefer to keep it mid-America, though. 

 

[grokit]

USC is picked to win the new Pac-12 South even though they're not "allowed" to.
 
"The real pain starts next year, when USC loses 10 scholarships a year for three seasons."

 

[Uncle Erik]

Rob - thanks for kicking off a thread for 2011!

I sure hope 'SC can pick off the Pac-12 South. It would be good for the school and they have a good class coming in. The scholarship loss will be tough, but they'll make it through. The school and alumni are, and always will be, 100% behind the team. When the restrictions are up, they'll be contending for the Pac-12 championship.

It feels weird to type "Pac-12."

I'm not crazy about the new arrangement, but that's how it is. I love that the last Pac-10 game was USC beating UCLA. Just love it. I do like Colorado and Utah. Hopefully, they'll step up their programs and start kicking butt in bowls and with non-conference games. I've seen games at all the Pac-10 schools, so I'll have to make a couple road trips to see USC play at the new schools. It'll be fun.

 

[grokit]

They're lucky to have Kiffin, if anyone can recruit good new talent there during the sanctions it's him.

 

[Skylab]

I think Utah is ready to compete in the PAC-12. I think they have the talent to win games there. Colorado...not right now. They can get there, but they will have to get back to the late 80's era CU football...they've been pretty bad last few years, and will be the PAC-12 doormat this year, I bet.

 

[TheWuss]

well.  the greatest conference in football will be seeking it's 6th consecutive title. 

i don't think my defending champ tigers will have anything to do with that, however.
i just hope it's not a team wearing crimson... 

 

[Skylab]

Lots of key people to replace at both SEC schools in AL. Very hard to see how things will go. You know it's not your average SEC season when lots of people are picking South Carolina to win it...

 

[TheWuss]

Quote:

Lots of key people to replace at both SEC schools in AL. Very hard to see how things will go. You know it's not your average SEC season when lots of people are picking South Carolina to win it...

You're right, Rob.  It's a strange year in the SEC...
 
Can USC win the East again?  Perhaps.
But will they beat the West in the title game?  Sorry, but that'll be a repeat of last year's waxing, I'm afraid. 

 

 

[Skylab]

You're probably right...but I'm thinking it will be the Bayou Bengals that will be applying said whipping...

 

[J W]

Like Georgia vs Alabama.
 
I also think Auburn can win more than 6 games.

 

[reginalb]

Quote:

It's time to start talking CFB again, fellas! It was quite an off season. The Big Ten is going to be quite something this year. Nebraska is in, Tressell and Pryor are out. We have a title game. Wow.

As for my Northwestern Wildcats, I think you can argue we have the best returning starting QB in the Big Ten. I'm not sure who would even be competition, aside maybe from Denard Robinson. Will be interesting to see how Persa plays coming off the injury last year, but the reports are all good.

How does everyone else's favorite teams look?

Let's. Go. Blue. 
 
And for the Big Ten's best returning starter? Russell Wilson has to be added to that mix. Transfer from NC State to Wisconsin. Denardo should be sick, looking at his year to year improvement from Freshman to Sophomore years, there was a huge jump, and all reports are because he just works so **** hard. And I don't get all of this, "He won't fit in to Hoke's system, because it isn't the spread." That line gets repeated over and over by experts. BRADY HOKE RAN THE SPREAD AT SDSU. It isn't RichRod's spread, but it's still the spread. And you combine that with one of the best D-coordinators in the game? Michigan could be good. OSU will be terrible. Northwestern should be solid, and yeah, Persa also has to be mentioned as being among the best returning QBs. The B10 is wide open this year, but I think that Nebraska and Wisco are the teams to beat, with Michigan as a dark horse (and not just because I am a Michigan homer, although I am a Michigan homer).
 
Next year, and the year after, Michigan is going to DOMINATE. The incoming recruiting classes are absolutely stacked, and we have stolen a bunch of recruits from Dantonio at MSU, and OSU. I was skeptical when Hoke was announced, but I haven't watched a game under him and I am sold. Mattison is a recruiting phenom, and the incoming classes really couldn't get much better.
 
In closing, I repeat: Let's. Go. Blue.

 

[virometal]

Ahhh it must be that time of year again. Well my avy switch, was the real first clue. You know CF is close when a god's team member resides next to my username. 
 
As aside, I'm so glad the pay for play guys (I mean the NFL, not USC and half the SEC) got it together. For a bit I was worried my Fall Sunday's might be spent on honey do's instead of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. That would have made me as restless as a Texas A&M Aggie.
 
BTW, aTm to the SEC is all swell, but FSU? Geesh, I've always joked the SEC should crown its own National Champion. Hell, if they somehow added the Noles and Oklahoma, that joke would turn serious. Let the B1G and Pac play for their Rose Bowl. The real No .1 team would be whomever made it through that tar pit.
 
On the subject of real No. 1. It's Bama. Let's see, they have the best D in the nation, the best O-line in the nation, and the best running back. The QB may be green, kind of like a couple of years ago when McElroy was only required to hand off and throw play action to the tight end. Oh I heard NIcky Saban can coach and recruit too. The Tide is loaded with NFL talent. 
 
Oh you want dark horses for the big trophy? I'll give you MIssouri and Arizona State. Both have experienced D's and playmakers on offense. Missouri especially might really be a top ten team hiding in the 20's. 
 
Now please excuse me. I have to go iron my 100 dollar bills for handshakes and devise new ways to protect the quarterback in college football. 
 
 

 

[reginalb]

     Quote:

BTW, aTm to the SEC is all swell, but FSU?

I don't know, allegedly the SEC said no to A&M. And FSU? A shell of its former self. I went to grad school at UGA, and love them. But I have lived in SEC country for a while now, and I am so SICK of SEC fans that think the conference is god's gift to college football. They have been dominant for a few years, yes. But anyone that knows anything about the history of college football knows that it goes in ebbs and swells. When a conference gets too many teams that are really good, the talent pool starts to spread thin. Teams start knocking each other off, preventing them from being able to win a N.C., and recruits start to look elsewhere. That or you have a really big team that gets the death sentence from the NCAA (SWC). Sorry for the diatribe. SEC fans are just the most annoying I have ever run in to.

 

[TheWuss]

Quote:

...the pay for play guys <snip> ...half the SEC...
 

what makes you think it's only half?