The College Football Thread

[Commander Vaughn]

It's getting to be toward the end of July, which means football season is just over a month away. Media days are starting to crank up, so I figured this is as good a time as any to start up a college football thread.

As a lot of you college football old-timers know, I'm a bit of a Michigan fan. Last year was not the most fun one to sit through, but I'm thinking Captain Rich Rod can right the ship this year, and at least get back to a bowl game. If Michigan even challenges for the Big 10 title, I'll be happy.

But it looks like Penn State and Ohio State will continue to sit on top of the league. Both teams are reloading a bit this year, but given the talent those programs attract I don't think there will be much of a drop off. Sparty should be pretty good again this year. It pains me to think of Michigan being the second best football school in Michigan. (Last year they may have been the sixth or seventh best, behind the directional Michigan schools Eastern, Western, Central, Sparty, some high school football champions and maybe the people I played pickup football with).


But that was last year. This year Michigan will return to being great. And since I seem to jinx whichever team I choose to win the Big 10, I will pick Ohio State.

So what about everyone else? What teams are you pulling for this year? Who do you see winning your favorite conference? Let's get some football talk started!

 

[Mallory]

I'll still rooting for the Oregon Ducks again this year, although I doubt that they'll go 10-2 again. We have a new head coach and a lot of people graduated and moved on. Also, the Ducks had three quarterbacks leave the program since last season. For a team that's gotten down to it's fifth string QB the past three years, that's a frightening lack of depth.

 

[Kira's Mom]

My alma mater is Colorado State. Their football program hasn't been good for a few years now.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

Bellotti is still with the university isn't he? I thought he resigned the coaching job to take an AD spot with the school. That means he probably got to pick his successor, so there shouldn't be a huge difference in cultures.

Hopefully the Ducks burn through fewer quarterbacks this year. It definitely was pretty ridiculous last year. Personally, I think they only got hurt so they could avoid having to wear those Oregon uniforms.

 

[Mallory]

Yeah, Bellotti took the AD job. The new head coach is Chip Kelly, who's been the OC for the past two years. And you'll be happy to know that Oregon has new uniforms and helmets for this year, they still can slap together a few hundred different combinations but at least that ghastly "Lightning Yellow" has been permanently retired.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

Too bad about those yellow uniforms. Seeing how bad they look made me feel better about my fashion sense.

 

[Mallory]

We need to get Neroon and JM1776 in here to liven things up a little.

 

[1001001]

Well...

Oh, you know what I'm going to say.

 

[Royal Fizzbin]

Kentucky fan here. Things are looking like they can improve a bit from last year so we're hoping to get another bowl bid and maybe a better one than the past few years. It'd be nice to make some noise in the division, even though I don't think anyone's got a breath of taking it away from Florida this year.

 

[Mallory]

Well...

Oh, you know what I'm going to say.

Yeah, but hope springs eternal.

 

[Neroon]

OSU has a new QB coach, one who has a penchant for a little more aggressive play. Plus, Pryor has been wowing folks with his throwing in practice. Even if it is only practice, that's encouraging.

Sept. 12 we will see.............

Right now... Florida seems a shoo-in to win it all again. Tebow is back, and they haven't lost a step on offensive speed. And that nasty defense lacked only experience last year... which means they have that experience THIS year.

 

[Mallory]

The Ducks don't get a break with their schedule this year, that's for sure. Their non-conference opponents are Boise State, Purdue and Utah. Ouch.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

OSU has a new QB coach, one who has a penchant for a little more aggressive play. Plus, Pryor has been wowing folks with his throwing in practice. Even if it is only practice, that's encouraging.

He's going to need the practice, since Michigan is coming for him this year. Captain Rich Rod has righted the ship, and you Suckeyes are going down.

Sept. 12 we will see.............

Right now... Florida seems a shoo-in to win it all again. Tebow is back, and they haven't lost a step on offensive speed. And that nasty defense lacked only experience last year... which means they have that experience THIS year.

Feel free to beat USC on September 12. One of the few times during the year I'll be pulling for Ohio State. I don't care for USC, and it'll make Michigan beating Ohio State in November way more fun.

As for Florida, they'll be really good again this year, but I'm not crowning them just yet. The title game in the SEC is always a toss-up. And thats assuming they even make the title game.

 

[Neroon]

He's going to need the practice, since Michigan is coming for him this year. Captain Rich Rod has righted the ship, and you Suckeyes are going down.

Ya know... that's probably what Lloyd Carr kept saying,but then there was that whole Troy Smith thing.....

I don't care for USC, and it'll make Michigan beating Ohio State in November way more fun.

As my good friend Marcus Cole likes to say, "If you're going to have delusions, might as well go for the truly satisfying ones."

As for Florida, they'll be really good again this year, but I'm not crowning them just yet. The title game in the SEC is always a toss-up. And thats assuming they even make the title game.

Always a concern, but nobody in the SEC seems to be returning such a high percentage of such high talent this year.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

As much as I liked Lloyd Carr, Rich Rod is not Lloyd Carr. In all seriousness, I'm interested to see what year two of Michigan's offense will look like. Because it was awful looking last year.

As for Florida, they are brining back a bunch of talent, and I can see why they're favorites to repeat. I just don't see it happening. Repeating as national champs is just too tough to do.

 

[tomalak301]

So I keep hearing Cal might be a team to be reckoned with this year. I can't wait until the USC games (For both Cal and Stanford) but I doubt Cal will do anything because for some reason Tedford just can't get over that hump. Hopefully it happens, but for some reason I see another Poinsettia Bowl
/holiday bowl or something. They seem to play a lot of games in San Diego during bowl season.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

^Can you blame them? From what I've seen, San Diego is a beautiful city. Especially in December/January.

As for Cal, I'll definitely be pulling for them against USC. It wasn't all that long ago where Cal and USC were having pretty close games. I think Tedford can at least make a game out of it against USC, especially since Cal gets them at home. Plus seeing the Trojans lose never really seems to get old.

 

[tomalak301]

^Amen to USC losing. Always a fun time, especially when Stanford did it. Also, I was looking at the Cal Football bowl history, and they've only played in San Diego twice in the decade. I thought it was more. Still, I expect them to get one of those between Christmas/New Years bowls again.

 

[1001001]

Plus seeing the Trojans lose never really seems to get old.

It also happens so rarely....



I don't know what to think about this year's team. It should be interesting. A lot of tough road games this year.

 

[Mallory]

Yeah, your guys have to come to Oregon this year. At least you get OSU at home, Corvallis seems to have some bad effect on SC.