It’s been a long 7 months, but it’s finally upon us; the 2009 College Football season is just weeks away. I can feel the tingling starting in my toes. By the time that fall camp is in full swing, I’ll barely be able to control myself. Fall is already my favorite time of the year. The colorful leaves, the crisp air, nostalgia abounds. But to add the start of the college football season to that, it’s magical. I can’t really describe how happy it makes me. I’m smiling just thinking about it. Honest.
In any case, this post is the start of my newest blog, which is a continuation of a thread of college football pick ‘em posts that I’ve been writing every week of the last few seasons on an old blog (a link to the archived posts will be to your left). I’ve noticed that there aren’t a heck of a lot of sports blogs on Tumblr. But, maybe I’ll find an audience among the hipster denizens and funny link-posters.
Being that the sure to be glorious 2009 season is just around the corner and that the Preseason Coaches Poll was released this morning, I figured that it’s time for me to roll out my own Preseason Top 25. Here goes:
- Florida - Their defense gets a year older and a year faster, they still have Tebow and their cadre of quarkbacks. Where else would they be but #1? Spurrier probably left them off his ballot in favor of Duke, though.
- Texas - Sure, Sooners fans are going to be pissed that I put Texas over them, but I still think that Texas should have been in the National Title game last year.
- Oregon - Whoa!! Yes, Oregon. They have a new coach, some new receivers and a few new faces on the O-line, but trust me, they’re more explosive than even their space-age uniforms would suggest. I think that they have a shot at knocking off perennial Pac-10 champ USC this year. There, I said it.
- Oklahoma - They don’t lose much, but I think that the road will be a little more rocky for them this year. I’m not convinced that Sam Bradford won’t have trouble behind a relatively new offensive line.
- USC - Yes, USC. They round out the Top 5 because they simply have too much talent at every position not to. But they are breaking in a new QB, so there’s hope for the rest of college football yet.
- LSU - Les Miles will have his troops in Baton Rouge back on top of the SEC West again this year, Crimson Tide be damned.
- Penn State - Even though they have to replace the most talented threesome of WR’s in school history, I think that the Nittany Lions will get back to the Rose Bowl, at least. The Big Ten doesn’t look that impressive this year.
- Utah - They lose QB Brian Johnson, but not much else. Can Kyle Wittingham lead them to another BCS-busting 13-0?
- Ole Miss - Houston Nutt manages to make things work in a giggity giggity fantastic way every place he lands. In Oxford, he has more talent across the board than he did at Arkansas. Let’s see what he can do with it.
- Alabama - It’s not that I don’t like Nick Saban enough to put him higher, it’s just that I don’t like Nick Saban enough to put him higher.
- Oklahoma State - Mike Gundy’s team is going to surprise someone this year. It might be Texas, it might be Oklahoma, but they’re going to ruin someone’s season, you watch.
- Boise State - They return many of their starters from last year, including QB Kellen Moore. Their season opener with Oregon will tell us a lot about the kind of season they will have.
- Ohio State - Tyrelle Prior has had another offseason to get better. That’s not a good thing for the Buckeyes opponents. But I think that they still run into a few hiccups along the way.
- Oregon State - The Beavers have proved to be a tough, hard-nosed team for the past few years. Just ask USC.
- TCU - The Horned Frogs played Oklahoma tough last year and has a pretty easy non-conference schedule this year. Might be another undefeated season.
- Georgia - They have to replace Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, so the first few games might be a bit rough. They’ll knock someone down a few pegs later on in the season, though.
- Cincinnati - Brian Kelley seems to be able to make chocolate cake out of dogshit for the Bearcats. They went through six QBs last year and still won the Big East. Imagine what he can do with a healthy QB for an entire season.
- Georgia Tech - The triple-option is back in major college football. I, for one, am happy with this development. The Yellow Jackets are going to annoy the shit out of a few teams and roll right over others this year.
- Notre Dame - They have the talent at every specialty position (Jimmy Clausen at QB, three talented RBs, Michael Floyd and Golden Tate at WR and Kyle Rudolph at TE), their defense is young and deep, the schedule is pretty vanilla, this is all going to come down to whether or not their offensive line decides to show up.
- Texas Tech - Mike Leach will plug another unheralded QB into his system and come out with the most potent passing offense in the land, again.
- Iowa - The Hawkeyes pounded their way through the Big Ten last year with decent results. They knocked off high-flying Penn State, even. If they can find another big, bruising RB to hand off to, watch out.
- BYU - Lightweight conference + veteran QB + power running game = success.
- Nebraska - Big Red is slowly but surely crawling back into relevance in the Big 12. Look for them to represent the North in the title game come December.
- North Carolina - Butch Davis has talent and now that they’ve had a couple of years to mature and gel, this will be a team to be reckoned with.
- Miami - The Hurricanes are being rebuilt the right way, with hard work and talent. They might be one more year away from competing on a Top 10 level, but they’ll surprise some people this year.
So, there it is. I’ll be back periodically before the season starts to weigh in on this and that. I’ll also be sharing links and other points of interest that I run across. Enjoy!
