I did these last year, with mixed results. Ole Miss and Cincinnatti as surprises--good calls. Penn State and Bama as disappointments--bad calls.

Here's hoping I'll hit over .600 this year.

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Bumped from the FanPosts. What do y'all think?

Found out today that Dantonio played DB for y'all back in the 70s.

This guy's one of the brightest young coaches in the country.  Is there any sentiment in Columbia to bring him back to his alma mater when Spurrier finally steps down?

He's currently making $1.1 at Michigan State, and I'm not sure you'd be able to pull him away, but I'd definitely have him in the back of my mind if I were a Gamecock fan.

Although I'd argue that post length doesn't necessarily equal verbosity, I think the sheer length of this single post may cause you to lose your title as the most verbose blogger in the college football world.

As one of the commenters noted.

Dude. This is 27 pages single-spaced at .7 inch margins, when taking out the images.

That's just a little bit obsessive.

They really do have a lot of SEC in them.

Here's a list of 'name' programs that have been down lately and whose conferences desperately need them to reemerge as national programs.  The recent SEC-centric college football coverage is mostly attributable to a lack of traditionally strong programs in the other conferences carrying their water.

Whether fair or not, when Kansas is atop the Big12 instead of Nebraska 90% of the country thinks that the Big12 is down.  So here's a list of 10 teams that have quality name value and could return to national prominence with the right circumstances and my quick thoughts on how far away they are from that goal.

Nebraska--why in the world did this team can Frank Solich?  What was once the most consistent team in college football is now getting regularly shredded.  I have no idea how Pelini will do as a head coach

Colorado--very close.  As I posted a few days ago, this is a team that I think is on the brink of big success.  They will be a very tough out when we visit Boulder in 2010. 

A&M--Mike Sherman is Chan Gaily, the Sequel.  They'll beat some good teams, but Sherman will not bring this team to the level of OU or Texas.  Realistically, that's about the best that they've ever consistently been anyway.

UCLA--a program chasing Rick Neuheisel just doesn't get it.  Whatever you think makes a solid program, one thing is always constant--consistency.  Neuheisel will be gone within 5 years and UCLA will be no further as a program than they are today.

Washington--they were once the rugged northwestern power that played great defense and had great athletes behind big o-lines on offense.  But that was a long while ago.  Unfortunately, I don't think that UW will ever return to upper echelon status.  Oregon is now the power in the northwest.

Penn State--everyone knows about the issues with Paterno, etc, but this program may be the proof that the Big10 really is a tough league.  Penn State entered the league as a top 10 program and now they've been reduced to second tier status within the conference--at best. 

Michigan State--like Colorado, I'm high on these guys.  Someone has to step up in the Big10 besides Wiscy and Michigan so that Ohio State doesn't have the luxury of sacking up about 3 to 4 times a year and coasting through the rest of their schedule.  If Dantonio can recruit like his predecessors, he'll make sure those guys win 8-9 games consistently with the occasional 10 win season thrown in.

Georgia Tech--Johnson will make them a top 20 team within 4 years.  That man's brilliant.

Pitt--whether the Wannstache is the man to get them over the hump remains to be seen, but he has proven that they can recruit talent.  They should be in BCS games once every three years with their conference set up, but I think they'll need a good hire after Wannstache is fired to do so, think Richt replacing Donnan.

Syracuse--unfortunately for them, I think it's a lost cause.  Stick to the hardcourt.

There's no doubt that Saban's improving Bama's overall talent level and generally whipping the Tuscaloosa Tuskmen into shape.  My question is, is there a coach in the SEC who's future is more tied to doubtful quarterback play?

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Now comes the Pac10, Big East and SEC

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With all of the attention Ingram's attention has been getting today, Savage--the CB at Auburn--has been ignored.

Florida has a ready replacement in Aaron Hernandez--the Plainsmen don't have a lot of secondary depth.  This makes me feel a lot better about our trip to the plains.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler

So, with the season approaching, I thought I'd put my thoughts on the conference champs, disappointments, surprise teams, and the big OOC losses for each conference. 

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I've somehow lost my old Stuntman moniker, so I've assumed a new identity.  My first post concerns what I think is one of the most overlooked aspects of SEC dominance over the last several years.

Constantly we hear of the dominance of SEC speed and sometimes (and more accurately) overall athleticism and DEPTH of athleticism as the driving force behind SEC power.  That is true, to an extent, but when, exactly, has the SEC NOT had the quickest, most athletic athletes in the nation?  It's been a constant, but the league hasn't always dominated nationally like we have lately.  What, then, is different now?

First, and this is a topic that has actually been discussed in the blogosphere a little, but not as much as I think it deserves, is the tremendous collection of coaches in this conference.  Spurrier, Fulmer, Saban, Meyer, and Miles all have national championship rings.  Tubberville has an undefeated season, which is something that neither Miles, Saban, nor Spurrier can claim.  Richt is widely regarded as the equal of any of the coaches named above.  Throw in Johnson, Croom, Brooks, and even Nutt and now Petrino and you're looking at a group that may be unmatched in the history of the country.  This current collection may one day be looked at like the old crop of Bear, Butts, Dodd, Dooley, Vaught, Neyland, Dietzel, McLendon, Jordan, etc. from the 60s through 70s.

Second, and this is the point that the college football world refuses to acknowledge, is that the SEC has become a QB hotbed.  I suppose the reluctance to accept this fact is because it would redefine concept of the conference as a pound it out, three yards and a cloud of dust meatgrinder.  The SEC is still the home of the most violent defenses in the country and some of the most rugged games, but it's also become the home of the best group of quarterbacks in the country. A team must have good QB play to be successful on a national level.  If you doubt that, ask FSU or Penn State what good tremendous defenses will do for you with a joke at QB.  Check out this analysis done over at SundaymorningQB.  He looks at the improvement rates of freshmen QB.  The analysis itself isn't important for this post, but the names are.

The names on that list aren't all world beaters, and we mock some of them.  But, realistically, that's a damn good list of college quarterbacks.  Look at last year--Tebow, Stafford, Flynn, Woodson, and Ainge, to a lesser extent, lead their teams to better than expected or very successful seasons while guys like Cox, Wilson, and Dick all disappointed on otherwise talented teams.  In a league where the ypg differential is so small , QB play is at a super premium.  You're not going to out-athlete anyone in this league, and coaches are realizing that and are putting in the necessary resources to pull the best in the country into the conference.  And it's paying off big time.

Now I'll jump off my soapbox.