NCAA Football 2010 Week 1: Boise St vs VT tonight (discussion here)

[SkinsHokieFan]

D'oh. I actually meant 2011 when I wrote that.

It's possible he'll go early. He might not though. He's kind of small- about 5'8'' and 180. I don't know how great his NFL prospects as a corner will be. As a return man/nickel corner, maybe, but I think his size will ultimately limit him at the next level.

Reid won't be in the NFL in 2012?

Jeff Luc is a man beast:

The 2012 FSU starting defense will feature:

Jeff Luc and Christian Jones (another 5 star recruit) at LB (and maybe James Wilder depending on how the RB thing pans out), with a secondary made up of Greg Reid:

And LaMarcus Joyner (another 5 star recruit) at CB, and 2011 5 star safety recruit Karlos Williams at safety.

Did I mention that the all-5 star secondary will be coached by Mark Stoops, the same guy who coached Sean Taylor, Antrel Rolle, and Ed Reed at UM? And Antoine Cason at Arizona?

Take it to the FSU thread in the NCAA forum :pfft:

Actually though, this excites me. I have been looking forward to FSU being a competitive team in the ACC for a few years now. It'll only raise our game that much more

[ABQCOWBOY]

Basically, yeah.

OU would've probably won the Big 12 last year if Bradford and Gresham hadn't both gotten hurt.

Gilbert will be a good one soon enough, but Landry Jones started almost all of last year and threw for over 3,000 yards and 26 TDs. It's not like they're breaking in anyone new on offense. And their o-line should be a lot more settled this year than it was entering the season last year.

Texas had OU beat regardless IMO. OU will have an advantage at QB this year but the key will be how Texas addresses OL graduations.

BTW, Malcolm Brown announced that he will be playing for Texas. That's a huge get for UT.

[Spartacus87]

Take it to the FSU thread in the NCAA forum :pfft:

Actually though, this excites me. I have been looking forward to FSU being a competitive team in the ACC for a few years now. It'll only raise our game that much more

Oh yeah, you've been looking forward to FSU finally rebuilding?

Imagine how lucky I feel to have gone to school there right in the last half of the "Lost Decade" to see us getting blown out at home in the rain by Wake Forest, Xavier Lee throwing his career away under Jeff Bowden, and UF taking the opportunity of having completely down FSU and Miami programs to dominate the Florida scene and turn it into BCS Championships. Talk about a nightmare.

However much you've been looking forward to it, multiply it by about a million for me.

If Fisher can get everything on track within the next couple of years (and it's fair to say that he's having a pretty good start, and landing James Wilder is just another piece of that puzzle), and get FSU back and running at its full strength as a program, there isn't a program in the ACC that can compete with the Seminoles year in and year out. There just isn't. Not in resources, recruiting base, national exposure, etc. The only other program that's close is Miami, but their resources suck and ultimately that's their big problem.

Forget 2010. I'm sure it'll be fun with Ponder and whatever else. I'm ready for 2012 baby!

And I would move this to an FSU Thread in the NCAA Forum, but there isn't one already and nobody would read one if I made it down there.

Texas had OU beat regardless IMO. OU will have an advantage at QB this year but the key will be how Texas addresses OL graduations.

BTW, Malcolm Brown announced that he will be playing for Texas. That's a huge get for UT.

It's hard to say that Texas had OU beat last year. The Red River Shootout was a very close game, even with Landry Jones and his interceptions. Replace him with an experienced Sam Bradford and who knows?

Brown was always a Texas lock. UT gets their kids to commit fairly early, and once they're committed, that's it. It's impossible to steal kids away from the Longhorns.

He's a sick RB though. Brown and Wilder are the top two, and Clemson is getting yet another really good one in Mike Bellamy.

[ABQCOWBOY]

It's hard to say that Texas had OU beat last year. The Red River Shootout was a very close game, even with Landry Jones and his interceptions. Replace him with an experienced Sam Bradford and who knows?

Brown was always a Texas lock. UT gets their kids to commit fairly early, and once they're committed, that's it. It's impossible to steal kids away from the Longhorns.

He's a sick RB though. Brown and Wilder are the top two, and Clemson is getting yet another really good one in Mike Bellamy.

Jones threw 2 ints, McCoy threw 1. Jones threw for 327 yards in that game. I seriously doubt that Bradford would have done much more. OU didn't lose that game because of Jones or because they didn't have Bradford. They lost that game because they rushed for -16 yards the entire game. Texas dominated their running game. I mean, you can say that Bradford would have beaten Texas if he were healthy but there is certainly no proof of that. Bradford only beat Texas once while at OU and even then, he was outplayed by McCoy. Bradford has never outplayed McCoy head to head and it shows on the score board.

As far as Brown goes, he was not a sure thing for Texas. Brown is not from Texas. He grew up in Mississippi. He was an SEC guy growing up. He only moved to Texas later in HS. He was seriously considering Bama and in truth, had Texas not commited to the Power I, Brown would have commited to Bama.

Texas is lucky to have gotten Brown. If Bama were not loaded in the backfield already, Brown may still have decided to go to Bama.

[royallypwned]

SMU got a vote! :wavetowel

[Beans]

3. The SEC is both top heavy and deep. 6-8 SECteams would have legitamte shots to win the ACC or B10. I don't believe any ACC team could win the SECOND (and would struggle to win more than 4 conf games), and only OSU would challenge for atlanta from the big 10.

This is a joke, right? After FLA and AL it gets pretty mediocre really quick. LSU hasn't been the same for a while. UGA, underachieving and overrated. Remember the decacle when the SEC slobbing pundits had them at #1 to start the season? Auburn is a huge question mark.

Ole Miss? Kentucky? Vanderbilt? Miss St.? Tennessee? Arkansas?

I think in a year or two, any SEC team will be FSU's *****. Fear the turtle!:point2sky

[heytred]

Off Topic.... but should I be ashamed that in 5th grade I got beat up by my then good friend Chas Henry? Is being whooped up on by the Gators punter a shameful admission?

hehehehe embarrassing, but true story.

[The Tris]

This is a joke, right?

No joke. Just a realistic ACC alum's opinion about the best conference in college football

After FLA and AL it gets pretty mediocre really quick. LSU hasn't been the same for a while.

LSU certainly hasn't been a national championship contender since it won in 2007, posting two sub-10 win seasons, but in 2008, it finished the year absolutely demolishing a 14th ranked GT when they were unranked.

In 2009, as the 12th ranked team they lost a close defensive game to #13 PSU to miss out on their 10th win, but still finished the year ranked higher than all but two ACC teams (the Techs).

Now if "by the same" you mean best team in the country, then sure, after winning twice as many National Championships as all ACC teams combined, and being one of the best teams of the past decade, sure, they "haven't been the same" for two whole years. But if you think they wouldn't have a legitimate shot at winning the ACC, you're crazy. Let's just see what happens when they play UNC in a couple of weeks, then we can revisit how mediocre LSU is.

UGA, underachieving and overrated. Remember the decacle when the SEC slobbing pundits had them at #1 to start the season?

Georgia was a legit National Title contender in 2007, going 11-2, and finished the season ranked #2 AP and #3 Coaches behind an LSU team who graduated or had most of their offense declare early, and a transitional USC team. So its not like a bunch of "SEC slobbering pundits" manufatured UGA as a #1 team in 2008, especially considering they were returning the best QB and one of the best RBs in CFB.

AP gave them 22 first place votes. So lets say all 14 AP voters from SEC states voted them #1, they still had 8 national voters who thought they deserved it. On the coaches side, they also got 22 first place votes. Funny, I thought the SEC only had 12 teams? Guess those 10 other coaches were slobbering SEC homers as well.

Regardless, Georgia did not live up to the preseason hype, finishing 10-3 (losing to UF, Bama and GT) and ranked 13th. Still good for better than any ACC team, and never mind that they played the hardest schedule in college football that year. Still, I guess you can call that a debacle, when a #1 team fails to win the national championship.

Georgia is going to be very good this season, and again, a team that has averaged 10 wins a season for the past decade in the SEC would easily be one of the top teams in the ACC.

Auburn is a huge question mark.

Auburn is a huge question mark. But it is impressive to see a 5-7 to 8-5 in the SEC with a new coach, and who took Alabama down to the wire last season. They certainly came a whole lot closer to beating them than the class of the ACC did last year.

Arkansas?

Not sure why you are laughing at the 19th ranked team in the country, which is basically FSU (amazing QB, potent offense, highly suspect defense). And I stand by my opinion that Arkansas, along with the other 5 teams mentioned above, would all be legitimate contenders to win the ACC.

I think in a year or two, any SEC team will be FSU's *****. Fear the turtle!:point2sky

Maybe. If they keep recruiting well, and Jimbo turns out to be the real deal, I could see FSU returning to power. But this is today. And today, FSU is an up and coming team, as is the rest of the ACC. And until it is proven on the field, until they can crack .500 in bowl games, all we are going to see is the potential, not the results. An ACC team has not appeared in the BCS Championship in nine years, and are 10 years removed from the last title. I am all for the ACC establishing itself as one of the best conferences in football. I am an ACC fan, and an ACC alum.

But facts are facts, and dogging teams for routinely finishing in the top 15 when the ACC rarely has a more than VT in the top 15 rings pretty hollow. I routinely argue with my SEC coworkers that the ACC is one of the deepest conferences in the nation, and I have to routinely face facts that while we are one of the deepest, we are not the deepest. This is a critical year for the ACC, and there are two huge games for the pro-ACC contingent the first week that can set the tone for the rest of the season.

[ixcuincle]

The best part of college football is all the trash talking between fans, in fact, could extrapolate that to pro football too. You know football time is coming up when smack is being exchanged.

Looking forward to LSU and UNC in a few weeks. LSU may not be the lion they once were, but UNC is abysmal at QB and we'll see how things play out

[fullnelson9999]

I keep hearing that the VT/BSU game has not sold out, and that they have yet to break 70k tickets sold. This makes me angry.

[SkinsHokieFan]

I keep hearing that the VT/BSU game has not sold out, and that they have yet to break 70k tickets sold. This makes me angry.

I believe it has broken 70k and there are about 10-11k seats left.

[Beans]

LSU certainly hasn't been a national championship contender since it won in 2007, posting two sub-10 win seasons, but in 2008, it finished the year absolutely demolishing a 14th ranked GT when they were unranked.

.

That game was a fluke. GT didn't even show up. GT is actually an institution of higher learning, the players more than likely spent the time studying for finals;). LSU is a football factory. GT's scheme is also a problem. With weeks to prepare, it's not hard to stop the triple option. But on a week to week basis it's hell. Wasn't that the same year that GT rushed for over 500 yards against GA?

The dominance of the SEC is a myth, propagated by a flawed BCS Championship system, in which it is profitable to give them favorable match ups in Bowl games. Nobody spends money on College football like S.E.C. fans. Hawaii vs. GA? (Hawaii's O-line was as heavy as GA's linebacker) Auburn vs. Northwestern? (would of lost this game if the damn N.W. kicker didn't miss like 4 or 5 field goals).I could go on and on.

The SEC is good (very top heavy), if not the best (currently, I'll give you that), but not by as big of a margin as many suspect.

[Beans]

Maybe. If they keep recruiting well, and Jimbo turns out to be the real deal, I could see FSU returning to power. But this is today. And today, FSU is an up and coming team, as is the rest of the ACC. And until it is proven on the field, until they can crack .500 in bowl games, all we are going to see is the potential, not the results. An ACC team has not appeared in the BCS Championship in nine years, and are 10 years removed from the last title. I am all for the ACC establishing itself as one of the best conferences in football. I am an ACC fan, and an ACC alum.

To a lot of schools, bowl games are an afterthought, played too long after the season ends.

Also, have you seen some of the five star recruits FSU has brought in recently?

[Elessar78]

The best part of college football is all the trash talking between fans, in fact, could extrapolate that to pro football too. You know football time is coming up when smack is being exchanged.

Looking forward to LSU and UNC in a few weeks. LSU may not be the lion they once were, but UNC is abysmal at QB and we'll see how things play out

Frankly, it annoys me. It's rarely apples to apples and so much is conjecture. Most fans know one team in depth (IF THAT!) and everything else is regurgitated info that they got from the media—which everyone else has access to! It's not like it's an original thought or anything. Then they act like college FB experts.

Not to mention, most fans watch one team extensively and are bold enough to say that their team would unequivocally dominate another team they only saw in highlights, or read about. Even if they saw the other team play once, it still doesn't mean much.

[ixcuincle]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5481489

Alabama starts this season where it ended last season -- No. 1.

Coach Nick Saban has the Tide rolling the way Bear Bryant did in his day, in the top spot of The Associated Press preseason poll for the first time since 1978.

Alabama received 54 of 60 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,491 points to easily outdistance No. 2 Ohio State in the Top 25 released Saturday.

The Buckeyes, who have been ranked no lower than 11th in the last eight preseason polls, received three first-place votes.

Boise State is No. 3, its best preseason ranking, following another undefeated season. Underdogs no more, the Broncos even received one first-place vote.

[The Tris]

GT is actually an institution of higher learning, the players more than likely spent the time studying for finals;). LSU is a football factory.

And here we have the favorite defense of ACC football, the "yeah but our academics are stronger!"

The dominance of the SEC is a myth, propagated by a flawed BCS Championship system, in which it is profitable to give them favorable match ups in Bowl games. Nobody spends money on College football like S.E.C. fans. Hawaii vs. GA? (Hawaii's O-line was as heavy as GA's linebacker) Auburn vs. Northwestern? (would of lost this game if the damn N.W. kicker didn't miss like 4 or 5 field goals).I could go on and on.

The SEC is good (very top heavy), if not the best (currently, I'll give you that), but not by as big of a margin as many suspect.

So there is a massive conspiracy by the NCAA, the media, and the BCS to prop up the SEC? Yeah ok.

I think Big 10 fans would take exception to your claim that no one spends money on college football like the SEC.

To a lot of schools, bowl games are an afterthought, played too long after the season ends.

Also, have you seen some of the five star recruits FSU has brought in recently?

Bowl games an afterthought? To who?

Like I said, FSU is a comer these days. Once that translates to the field, they should have success. But you act like no other school gets great recruiting classes. The past two classes Alabama has gotten have been outrageous. Hopefully for the ACC that FSU's comparable classes have the same effect on the national picture.

[SkinsHokieFan]

OP updated with AP poll

[Ford]

Texas had OU beat regardless IMO.

Texas was outgained and sneaked by with a 3-point win. You don't think inserting the defending Heisman winner and future #1 draft-pick into the equation, along with his first-round TE would have changed the dynamic of that game? OU lost, I'm over it, and the past is the past ... but I think that's a hard statement to defend.

OU is a better team than Texas this year on paper. The game should be close and the winner will likely play Nebraska in the championship game. The main point of concern for OU, which people don't seem to be picking up on, is the receiving corps. Ryan Broyles, as the #1 guy, is developing into one of the best players in the country. The guys behind him aren't developing to the coaches' satisfaction. Watch for true freshman Kenny Stills (from California), who has been turning some heads, to see the field a ton and probably start.

As for Malcolm Brown .. he's a huge get for Texas, but I think it's been pretty clear he'd be wearing burnt orange for a while. The running game has been pretty awful for a few years and Brown is a physical, impressive runner. I'm less concerned with OU losing out on him (they've got a stable of young RB talent themselves) than I am with Texas finally acquiring a dangerous rusher.

[CrypticVillain]

LOL, if Boise States wins against VT, you might as well put them in the National Championship game. The rest of their schedule is ridiculously easy. The computers might rob them because of that, but I think they will be so high on the polls that it won't matter.

My prediction, Boise State versus Alabama in the title game. Alabama repeats and so does Mark Ingram as the Heisman winner. I know that is the "popular" choice, but this is college football. Anything can happen.........

[ACW]

MLS, Boise's also got Oregon State.

Boise vs. Alabama: The traditional power and defending champs) vs. the ultimate party crasher. I'd love to see that.

[ixcuincle]

LOL, if Boise States wins against VT, you might as well put them in the National Championship game. The rest of their schedule is ridiculously easy. The computers might rob them because of that, but I think they will be so high on the polls that it won't matter.

My prediction, Boise State versus Alabama in the title game. Alabama repeats and so does Mark Ingram as the Heisman winner. I know that is the "popular" choice, but this is college football. Anything can happen.........

I would say Boise State against Michigan

Proof

Seriously though, jokes aside, I hope VT beats BSU in Game 1 to quash the BSU championship game talk early

[BayouBrave86]

LSU certainly hasn't been a national championship contender since it won in 2007, posting two sub-10 win seasons, but in 2008, it finished the year absolutely demolishing a 14th ranked GT when they were unranked.

In 2009, as the 12th ranked team they lost a close defensive game to #13 PSU to miss out on their 10th win, but still finished the year ranked higher than all but two ACC teams (the Techs).

Now if "by the same" you mean best team in the country, then sure, after winning twice as many National Championships as all ACC teams combined, and being one of the best teams of the past decade, sure, they "haven't been the same" for two whole years. But if you think they wouldn't have a legitimate shot at winning the ACC, you're crazy. Let's just see what happens when they play UNC in a couple of weeks, then we can revisit how mediocre LSU is.

BOOOOOOOOM.

LSU is going to bring the noise against UNC in two weekends. I see LSU finishing anywhere from 10-2 to 8-4 this year. Boom or bust. I guarantee this though, they will defeat Bama or Florida this year. But they'll also probably drop a game to Auburn or Arkansas.

[Spartacus87]

BOOOOOOOOM.

LSU is going to bring the noise against UNC in two weekends. I see LSU finishing anywhere from 10-2 to 8-4 this year. Boom or bust. I guarantee this though, they will defeat Bama or Florida this year. But they'll also probably drop a game to Auburn or Arkansas.

I think 8-4 is far more likely than 10-2.

[BayouBrave86]

If the LB's can hold their own, the defense is going to be scary. LSU has the best secondary in the country. On offense there is no real proven threat at RB, but the WR group has the most potential in the country. Just need Jefferson to get them the ball. Should be an interesting year. If Miles could only discipline the team...

[Spartacus87]

If the LB's can hold their own, the defense is going to be scary. LSU has the best secondary in the country. On offense there is no real proven threat at RB, but the WR group has the most potential in the country. Just need Jefferson to get them the ball. Should be an interesting year. If Miles could only discipline the team...

Which is why I think they'll be a lot closer to 8-4 than anything else.

I think getting Billy Gonzales away from UF was a huge steal and should help the LSU offense, but retaining Crowton was sort of a gamble on Miles' part, and from what I've heard from camp, the LSU o-line still isn't looking very good.

I'd love for LSU to be great again. And I'd love for it to be sooner rather than later. But as long as Miles is there, it's going to be hard for LSU to not screw themselves up.

LSU in the SEC is actually somewhat similar to Georgia. Very good, but not great programs, and not truly living up to their potential due to their head coaches. But while UGA has Richt, who's ultimately just too soft a HC to take them all the way, Miles simply makes mind-numbing decisions and flat out seems a bit over his head running a program as powerful as LSU.