College football is nearly upon us. To get you ready for the season, I’ve put together my picks along with some recent news and notes. A few teams have made news in the final days of preparation. The biggest news? USC coach Pete Carroll bit the bullet and named Matt Barkley as their starter. In a much less newsworthy position battle, Texas finally chose a running back — even though it’ll be more of a 1A/1B situation.
Now, prepare yourself for some expert analysis. I’m extremely biased and think that Colt McCoy will win the Heisman. Tebow and Bradford have a great chance to win but I doubt they can put up numbers much better than they have in the past. Voters will be hesitant to make either player the second two-time Heisman winner without mind-boggling stats. The fact that both have already won the award almost works against them. I have a penchant for looking extremely stupid, so I’ll pick darkhorse candidates too. The Oklahoma State Cowboys have a disgustingly awesome combo of Zac Robinson-Kendall Hunter-Dez Bryant. At first glance, I’d say that Dez Bryant has the best opportunity to win because he puts up ridiculous numbers (19 TDs last year). But for some reason, I have a gut feeling that Kendall Hunter could have a shot. Drum roll please…
PICK: Colt McCoy: He completed 78% of his passes and led his team in rushing. Did Tim Tebow do that?
DARKHORSE PICK: Kendall Hunter: He’s one of the most explosive runners in college football (career 6.5 YPC).
SUPER DUPER DARKHORSE PICK: Julio Jones: JJ = unstoppable monster.
For the BCS National Championship, I’ll put my Longhorns in there. The Horns have an extremely favorable schedule outside of the Big 12 South slate. I’d really like to pick Florida, but going 1-2 for the BCS title game is pretty weak. Oklahoma can’t play Texas (in all likelihood) and I can’t put USC or ‘Bama in the big game with green QBs. Out of the remaining top 10 teams, I like Ohio State, LSU, and Ole Miss the most. The SEC will be a slugfest, so it’ll be tough for any of those teams to make it out alive. The Buckeyes seem to have a fairly easy schedule playing in the relatively weak Big 10. The highest ranked opponent in the Buckeyes’ path is #4 USC. Luckily for Ohio State, they face them in the second week of the season at the Horseshoe. That means USC’s freshman quarterback Matt Barkley will be playing in his second game in front of 100,000 people. As long as Ohio State doesn’t stumble against a conference foe, they have a legitimate shot at the Rose Bowl. Yep, I predict a Fiesta Bowl rematch. And pencil in Pryor for a 4th place finish in the Heisman voting. Now that I look sufficiently foolish, below are some links to recent college football happenings.
ROSE BOWL: Texas vs. Ohio State
NEWS & NOTES
Kirk Herbstreit makes Colt McCoy his Heisman pick. Vondrell McGee was named Texas starting running back.
LA Times says it’s too much, too soon for Barkley.
Florida Gators to plan to use DE Justin Trattou as a tight end in certain situation.
Miami coach Randy Shannon held a 5:45AM practice. The U sucks now.
Former Syracuse QB Don McPherson thinks Greg Paulus will succeed. Paulus threw for 11,763 yards and 152 TDs in his high school career.
Oklahoma Sooners may be lacking receiver depth.
Tags: college football, colt mccoy, dez bryant, florida gators, heisman trophy, kendall hunter, ohio state buckeyes, rose bowl, sam bradford, texas longhorns, tim tebow, zac robinson
