SB Nation User Blog: TomReagan

Conference Predictions--2009 ed.

TomReagan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:46:54 -0000

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.

SEC East

Winner--Gates. I hate Florida.

Surprise--UGA. I also hate the thought of jinxing the Dawgs. But I'm assuming that Cox will take care of the ball. My other, possibly bigger assumption, is that Samuel will do the same. So long as we do that, I expect a more effecient, if less spectacular offense, than we've seen for the past couple of seasons. The coaches may not be able to dial up any play from any spot of the field without Stafford's arm, but maybe calling a few less 25 yard passing plays will be a good thing. Those Big12 offenses do pretty well with a steady diet of the underneath stuff. We'll go to a BCS bowl.

Disappointment--I'm going Cackalack here. As much as I'd love Lainey to fall on his face, I think that he'll get at least one big win. I don't see Spurrier winning anything of significance this season. And I'm calling a loss tomorrow night.

SEC West

Winner--The shine has worn off of Ole Miss in the past few months. But they get LSU and Bama at home, don't play UGA or Florida, and have the best QB of the Big3 in the West. I think LSU's the best team in the division, though.

Surprise--Arkansas. They'll beat at least one of the Big3. I wouldn't be surprised if they're the Western team to upset UF this year. They catch Florida the week after the Gators return from Death Valley.

Disappointment--LSU, but only because I think back to back games against Georgia and Florida early in the year and Ole Miss and Arkansas to close it out will be tough on the Tigers. They'll lose 2 and maybe even 3 of those. It's not a good year to have easily the toughest draw from the East.

Conference--UF

Big12 North

Winner--Colorado. They disappointed me last year, but I think Hawkins is a good coach, and they've got to turn it around at some point.

Disappointment--Kansas. Again.

Big12 South

Winner--Texas. BOOM!!! MOTHER... Also conference champs.

Disappointment--Oklahoma. Their schedule is as tough as anyone in the Big12's. At least 2 losses in the regular season.

Pac10

Winner--USC. Even with the freshman at QB.

Surprise--Stanford. Harbaugh shows that the toilet was worth the money. They're boring offensively, but I've read good things about their new QB.

Disappointment--Cal. Much of this is because they're one of the few Pac10 teams that anyone expects much out of. They'll finish with a strong record, but the early season trip to the new stadium up in Minnessotta may trip them up.

UGA VII

TomReagan — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:07:52 -0000

UGA VII

This is "A" mountain in Tempe. Occasionally rival schools will paint it to reflect their colors...

TomReagan — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:34:39 -0000

This is "A" mountain in Tempe. Occasionally rival schools will paint it to reflect their colors for big games.

That is all.

Mark Dantonio

TomReagan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:25:59 -0000

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.

Not Cool.

TomReagan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:57:02 -0000

Not Cool.

Mayor, you may have lost your title

TomReagan — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:48:07 -0000

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.

Poll

Which freshman faces the highest expectations?

Pryor

11 votes

Green

6 votes

Jones

2 votes

19 votes | Poll has closed

Which of these teams will reemerge as national contenders?

TomReagan — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:47:31 -0000

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.

Bama QB

TomReagan — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:32:39 -0000

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?

Look at what he's working with--John Parker Wilson. The guy's one of the more erratic passers in the league, and even when he's on he's not exactly Snake Stabler. To be fair to the kid, he's working on at least his third OC this year.

What I'm looking at even more, though, is Star Jackson, Greg McElroy, Nick Fanuzzi and the battle to follow John Parker. While Jackson and Fanuzzi were both decent QB recruits, frankly, I haven't heard anything out of Bama's camp that makes me think either of them is the man to lead Bama back to the promised land. They've got AJ McCarron coming in next year and he's the most highly rated guy out of the bunch, but he won't be able to contribute meaningfully until 2010 at the earliest.

I know Saban won it all with Mauck in the Sugar and LSU did it again last year with Flynn BUT

1. the 2003 LSU team was, in my opinion, a pretty poor national champion and

2. last year's LSU defense was overwhelming and Bama's a long way away from fielding a defense like that.

In short, Saban may face the cold reality that everyone else in the SEC is discovering. Unless you have the 85 Bears on defense, you'd better have a pretty damn good quarterback under center if you want to be successful in the best conference in the country.

Conference predictions--part two

TomReagan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:33:54 -0000

Now comes the Pac10, Big East and SEC

Pac10

Winner--USC. They're a machine.

Disappointment--Cal. Every year this team gets hyped up pretty good and some years/games they actually have been very good. But in many other games/seasons they've been huge disappointments. Since toppling #1 USC in 03, they've posted a 6-8 record against top 25 teams. I'm thinking their overrated ways continue this season.

Surprise--I'll go with Arizona. No one really excites me in the group, although I'm sure there will be some solid teams throughout the conference. Just no top tier talent after USC.

Big OOC losses--Oregon/Purdue; Cal/MSU; ASU/UGA; UCLA/BYU; UW/everyone

Big East

Winner--South Florida. They have a wealth of talent and Mike Ford is just the type of back that could win a game at WVU in December.

Disappointment--Rutgers. Sorry, this crowd may be on the way up in the world and should have many NorthEasterners licking their chops for their upcoming series with ND, but I think they'll lose 5 and maybe even 6 games in the regular season.

Surprise--Cincinnati. They're quietly building a decent little program. I don't think they'll win 10 again, but they'll win at least 8 and maybe 9 in the regular season. Unfortunately, they'll have to replace Kelly in a couple of years. He's in for big things.

Big OOC losses--WVU/Auburn; Rutgers/UNC; Rutgers/Fresno

SEC

Winner--UGA. Shocker.

Disappointment--Bama. Saban's bringing in a lot more talent and they've apparentl gotten into much better shape, but he's still a year away from an impressive record. After he loses to Auburn again there will be open questioning of him as the right fit for Bama. He's going to carry the full burden of the streak, not just the games he's lost.

Surprise--Ole Miss. Nutt's a pretty good coach and he's got a lot of Orgeron recruited talent in Oxford. They have a quality quarterback in Snead and Greg Hardy's the best DE in the SEC when he wants to be. In a weak west, I think they win enough to go bowling and upset Wake and possibly Bama.

Big OOC losses--Bama/Clemson; Miss State/Tech; Ark/UT#1

Small school picks

Utah and BYU fight for a BCS slot in the Civil War with Utah winning

Fresno will beat Rutgers on opening weekend

Troy will beat Oklahoma State again

That's it. I shudder to think how bad these will look in one month, much less 4.

ACL injuries

TomReagan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:05:41 -0000

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.

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