Marty who is going to win the national title?
I'll be honest I hate this question as much as I hate mushy peas, and I hate me some mushy peas trust me. I need to see all the best teams in action before I render any kind of opinion. Off the top of my head I would guess that the Ohio State Buckeyes and school for bribery and recruiting violations probably has the best chance of going back to the title game. I'll get into that a little more later. I also think that either University of Southern California school for the beautiful and popular kids whomever wins the South Eastern Conference (SEC) will have a darn good chance at playing for the title. But again until I see them play a real opponent I can't really tell how good they are, also it's impossible to tell how the ebb and flow of the season will affect teams. After all you never know who's starting quarterback will have to check into alcohol rehab, who's running back will be seeking the approval of his tutor's father who also played football at that school, who's coaches daughter will get kicked out of school for taking a test for the backup quarterback, or who's starting defensive end will get caught doing steroids and trying to do bad things all the time. That's a reference from "The Program" for those keeping track (nobody).
How do you think
I am a terrible judge of talent when it comes to how they will project in the NFL, except for the fact that I correctly picked Vince Young to be a better NFL quarterback than Marcus Vick. That being said, I usually do pretty well with being able to tell where people will go in the draft (except for Brady Quinn a few years ago and I think we can all agree that he is a warlock and looking into his beautiful eyes causes you to overlook problems with his passing). So I'm open to questions about where or when people will get drafted, but I think I'd rather hold off for a couple of weeks until the season shapes up a bit.
Is living in Southern California amazing?
Yes, and you should endeavor to do it as soon as possible for as long as possible. There are a multitude of reasons for this but the one that is most applicable to this e-mail is that sports come on earlier in the day. So for example I got to see all the NBA finals games that I wanted (which was like 0 but they were on while I was doing something in the background) and they were all done before 9 PM. Sunday night and Monday night football gets done at a reasonable hour. All those 12 o'clock college football games come on at 9 AM here. So I can literally be watching college football 4 hours after I wake up as opposed to 7 hours after I wake up (do the math to figure out what time I get up and win a prize). Oftentimes living back in Virginia I would have to choose between watching the prime time Saturday night game or being social, and if I chose to be social I would have to watch the game on a small TV at a bar or miss the game entirely while striking out with women. Well now that game comes on at a reasonable hour and I have time to watch it and be sociable and strike out with women at my leisure. Or that prime time game comes on right as I'm doing my Saturday laundry…at the bar…which is right next to the laundromat…and it's during happy hour where pints of beer are $1.50…and they have a good jukebox…and the bartenders are really nice..and they have 3 hd tv's and it's not crowded. So all in all life pretty much sucks.
I think
What's your top 25 teams?
I want to wait till week two or three lest there be a Michigan in the crowd ala last year. But I do think Brigham Young may be higher in reality than they are ranked now.
Major Conference Outlooks:
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)- I think the ACC has the potential to be one of the most fun conferences to watch. I say fun but what I really mean is that I doubt you will see any national title contenders out of it unless the Clemson Tigers , Virginia Tech Hokies (some sort of turkey thing apparently) or the Wake Forest Demon Deacons all break out of their traditional "We like to lose a big game somewhere along the path". But all in all watching who wins the conference title could be quite fun. I'd say Wake Forest has a good chance at winning it just because their schedule is very easy. But the conference really is wide open, Grand Canyon esque if you will. Top to bottom this might be the 2nd most competitive or parity laden conference in the country. You could have any number of surprise teams winning it like the Miami Hurricanes (which frankly just feels dirty talking about them as a surprise team as opposed to talking about them as felons), or the Florida State Seminoles, or any one of the teams except Duke or North Carolina or North Carolina State, because those three teams are awful and they should feel awful.
Big 10 - I like Ohio State to win this conference. I think the fighting Illini of Illinois are good but I think they will have a dropoff from last year starting this weekend at Missouri. The Penn State Nittany Lions and Wisconsin Badgers are both pretty good but Wisconsin's problem in being a real BCS contender as usual is their out of conference games (which are weaker than the lick of a kitten), and Penn State is installing a new offense that will fall flat on it's face at least once during the year. The Wolverines of Michigan might have a great program and lots of history, but they lost a talent laden senior class last year and that combined with a new coach usually means bad things. Maybe there will be a surprise team but I really think that Ohio has the talent and the experience to get back to where they were. Although on second thought Wisconsin plays Ohio State, Penn State and Illinois at home and Marshall, Akron, and Fresno State aren't that bad. But it's too late I already wrote this paragraph so I'm sticking with Ohio State.*
*I reserve the right to claim I picked Wisconsin all along when they go undefeated.
Big 12- Everyone else seems to think that the Oklahoma Sooners are just going to run away with this thing. All I can think of is their last game of the year when they got blown up by West Virginia. In the meantime I see a Missouri Tigers team that has real firepower and a senior quarterback and they only lost to Oklahoma last year. I see a Kansas Jayhawks team that was a couple silly plays away from being in the national title game last year and who beat Virginia Tech at the end of the year in a game I don't think anyone thought they would win. I see a Texas Longhorns Team who if anything are a bit below the radar this year. They were 10-3 last year and this year they are a little bit more mature, this is a team that lost to Oklahoma by a touchdown last year. So much like the deli meat I get at the grocery store I'm not sure how fres..I mean I'm not sure how clean cut this conference is, with everyone assuming Oklahoma is going to win. I just think, again like my deli meat, that there is more than meats the eye.
Big East - First of all I don't understand what's up with calling all these conferences the big something or other. It doesn't really add anything to the prestige of the conference. Second, and I truly believe this, the big east is the deepest conference in the nation. Top to bottom it is competitive and I believe last year only the Syracuse Orange and the Pittsburgh Panthers had losing records. This year Pitt is supposed to be a surprise team and Connecticut (Huskies), Cincinnati (Bearcats), South Florida (Hot women), Louisville (Cardinals), Rutgers (Scarlet Knights) and West Virginia (Mountaineers) are all good teams. It's a toss up really, I don't have any idea who is going to win this one, I'll have to see them all play. I can tell you though if I was a major BCS team in the country, I wouldn't want to see anyone from the Big East on the schedule.
Pacific 10 (Pac 10) - My new favorite conference! I could write all day about how there are teams that are good this year and whatnot. But the honest truth is that until someone can step up and actually challenge the University of Southern California Trojans (USC), then it's all just words. USC has the best recruiting every year, they have the most NFL stars, and also probably the best dance team. They play Ohio State in a couple of weeks and that will be a huge game. They could meet the Buckeyes again in the Rose Bowl at the end of the year. So all the Oregon's and Cal's and Arizona State's will all have to step up their game to even be close to USC.
South Eastern Conference (SEC) - This conference won 3 of the last 5 BCS national titles (and many people argue that Auburn got hosed in 2004). They are talked about and loved and ESPN just signed them to a big television deal. There are 6 real contenders for the conference championship and whomever wins this conference has a real chance at being in the National Title game regardless of their record really. Georgia (Bulldogs), Florida (Gators), Louisiana State (LSU Tigers), and Auburn (also Tigers) are all ranked in the Preseason top 10, Tennessee (Volunteers) and Alabama (Crimson Tide) are in the top 25 and South Carolina (Gamecocks) are one vote outside the top 25. So basically what I'm trying to convey (poorly) here is that there's some good teams in the SEC. I don't think any of them will be undefeated at the end of the year, but as we've seen in the past couple of years whomever wins the conference will pander to the media and get voted into the title game based on how good the conference is. I have no idea who will win it all, they all play one another for the most part, they all have good defenses and great athletes, they all have lots of people watching.
Games of the Week:
Appalachian State at #7 LSU - It's an interesting game because it is the defending national champions taking on the defending national champions (1-AA). Appalachian State surprised Michigan last year I don't think they will pull the same thing against LSU. If the Mountaineers do win then their QB Armanti Edwards will be in the Heisman race. But I suspect it won't be the case, it might be close for a half. LSU should win easily.
# 17 Virginia Tech at East Carolina - East Carolina has been talking trash for awhile, saying that VT was lucky to win by 10 last year. I think that will serve to enrage VT Incredible Hulk style. You probably wouldn't like them if they are angry. I think the biggest question will be how well VT's defense plays. Since they lost a ton of defensive talent to the NFL last year. I think VT wins by 10 or so.
Hawaii at # 5 Florida - Heisman Winner QB Tim Tebow is going to put up silly numbers against Hawaii. This game has potential because the Hawaii Rainbows or Warriors or whatever were a BCS team last year and they got beat like a umm non-Michael Phelps swimmer in a Michael Phelps race? Anyhow I don't have much faith in Hawaii given that 1) they are playing away form home where they are terrible 2) They lost their all world quarterback from a year ago and 3) They have a brand new head coach. I think Tim Tebow and the rest of the gators cruise easily against the slower Hawaii defense.
No. 3 USC at Virginia - I'm only including this game because so many people who read this are Virginia Cavalier fans. USC is pretty much going to rule them and it starts with QB Mark Sanchez, but really the USC defense is going to be overpowering like my body odor.
# 24 Alabama at # 9 Clemson - The Clemson Tigers always seem to falter when they are in the big game. They have amazing running backs in C.J. Spiller and James Davis who are comparable in many ways to Felix Jones and Darren McFadden of Arkansas last year. Clemson has a huge defensive line and Alabama will really try to stuff the ball down their throats on the edges, since it probably isn't a great idea to run at the Tigers 310 lbs Defensive Tackle Dorrell Scott unless you want a big hug! Alabama has a very good defense itself and they are very good against the run but for the life of me I can't figure out why the team is ranked so highly given that they lost all their starting receivers from last year and they were only 7-6. People are probably banking on slime ball coach Nick Saban and his great recruiting classes. Playing at home on national television is traditionally poison for Clemson, but I have a feeling that this year they will get it done. This could be a very boring game offensively though given how good the two defenses are supposed to be, so I wouldn't predict them lighting up the scoreboard unless they keep unplugging it and plugging it back in again.
# 20 Illinois at # 6 Missouri - Illinois rankings make no sense, they lost a running back but they still have QB Juice Williams who is a great runner as well, they went to the rose bowl last year how did they lose 10 or more places in the rankings. They should have a solid defense and enough talent to do better then 20th best in the country. Missouri has experienced senior QB Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin who is a hybrid Running back and Receiver/Monster. Last year this game was way under the radar, but it was pretty fun to watch. This year it's the game of the week, and I'm at a loss to pick. I tend to lean toward Missouri because they are playing at home and have the firepower to outscore all but the best defenses in the country. But Illinois and Juice Williams tend to be magicians. In the end I can't get over the fact that Illinois really didn't belong in the Rose Bowl against USC last year. That should have been Missouri's spot in a BCS game and I think Missouri might hold a grudge and win. Just like I hold a grudge against the sea…for taking my kite when I was a young child, I will eventually beat the ocean into submission.
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