J. Andrew Lockwood
Sports Editor / Columnist
Another fall of college football has arrived and with it comes some rather boring news. Florida, the reigning national champion, is the overall favorites to win the whole thing again with #1 rankings in all of the top preseason polls, Tim Tebow should be considered the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy again after another stellar season for the Gators, and let’s just go ahead and crown Urban Meyer as the 45th President of the United States.
Florida is undoubtedly the dynasty program of today, much like the Miami and Nebraska teams of the 1990’s. However, my first bold prediction this season is that Florida will lose not one, but two games over the course of the season. The Gators don’t have the most difficult schedule in the country, but they do play three Top 25 teams with important games against LSU in Baton Rouge and Florida State the last weekend of the regular season. Tim Tebow will be good….but not that good this season.
The second bold prediction I’m making this season is that BYU will appear in a BCS Bowl game. The Cougars have a tough non-conference schedule, highlighted by games against Florida State and Oklahoma as well as Mountain West rivals TCU and Utah, however, they’ll win enough to sneak into a big bowl game by the season’s end. Don’t count out the little guys anymore. Boise State, TCU, and Utah will continue to upset their bigger conference opponents.
Remember South Florida’s breakout season in 2007? This year’s breakout team will be the Stanford Cardinal out of the Pac-10. Under Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, the Cardinal have slowly improved during the past few seasons, recording a 5-7 mark in 2008. You may have to search for the Versus network to find their games, but watch out for the Trees. This could be the best team since Elway’s glory years at Stanford.
How’s this for a bold prediction? The biggest flop in 2009 will be Notre Dame and USC. Little Jimmy Clausen will never live up to the expectations South Bend has placed on his shoulders. Despite a mostly cupcake schedule, if Charlie Weiss doesn’t win ten games this season, the Irish will have a new coach in 2010. Notre Dame will somehow find a way to disappoint. Additionally, Southern Cal will struggle this season with freshly minted QB Matt Barkley. The surfer/signal caller will struggle against Ohio State and will take a while to get adjusted to playing college football. Mark it down, two to three loses for USC this season.
Finally, I’ll give my bold predictions for the Heisman Trophy winner this season. Sam Bradford (QB, Oklahoma) and Tim Tebow (QB, Florida) will most likely finish #1 and #2 in the final voting, but Oregon State RB Jacquizz Rodgers might just sneak up to the #3 position by the season’s end barring injury. He’s small, but elusive and fast and cut through USC’s defense like a knife through hot bread last season. If he picks up the stats again this year, watch out for this Beaver.
Bold predictions, yes, but who would have thought the Tampa Bay Rays would be playing in the World Series a year ago? Or that Boise State would win a bowl game over Oklahoma on a last second trick play? That’s the reason we all watch…to see if our bold predictions come true.
Week 2 Game Predictions
Thursday, Sept 10
Clemson 27, Georgia Tech 35
Saturday, Sept 12
North Carolina 19, UConn 21
Stanford 41, Wake Forest 21
Notre Dame 20, Michigan 21
UCLA 34, Tennessee 31
South Carolina 24, Georgia 17
USC 17, Ohio State 19
Upset Special of the Week: Vanderbilt 31, LSU 30
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