Ripper Ramblings

Heisman Race: The Heisman Pundit tabs John David Booty and Darren McFadden as the two clear front runners for the best individual award in sports. In my view the award has become even more dependent on team success in the last few years. Specifically, participation in the BCS. Troy Smith ran away with the award on the bases of being the engine of the nation's regular season number one team. In the two previous years the only player invited to New York to not play in the BCS title game was Alex Smith, who only guided Utah to becoming the first non-BCS conference school to play in a BCS bowl game. The other candidates where Reggie Bush, Matt Leinhart, and Vince Young in '05 and Reggie Bush, Matt Leinhart, Jason White, and Adrian Peterson in '04. My point is this: If USC does not play in the BCS title game, Booty has no chance and if McFadden is going to take home the Bronze Stiff Arm, Arkansas would have to have another 10 win regular season.

Empty Orange Bowl: There has been a lot of talk about Miami leaving the Orange Bowl. Much of the writing has been critical of the move. The fact is Miami has drawn terrible in the Orange Bowl. Miami averaged 41,908 fans per game last year which put them just above Stanford and just below UTEP. The Orange Bowl was filled to only 58% of capacity on the season. Those numbers indicated a major problem for a program with the type of success Miami has had. Whether the Orange Bowl is a better venue for college football than Dolphin Stadium is irrelevant. The U needs to do something to improve those horrid attendance numbers.

Braggin' Rights need to head home: The Illinois vs. Missouri basketball game, also known as the "Busch Braggin' Rights" game is played in St. Louis and has been very successful. The two schools have tried to translate that success onto the gridiron. The two schools have signed up to play in St. Louis's sleepy Edward Jones Dome until 2010. The two programs would be much better served if the game was played where college football is meant to be played, in open air on college campuses.

Notre Dame turns to Chicago's Public League: Every Y-chromosome on Chicago's southwest side dreams of starring in Chicago's Catholic League and then going on to play college ball under the golden dome. For years the Chicago Catholic League has roughed up the Chicago Public League (CPL) in high school football. The Catholic League uses CPL games as non-conference fodder to toughen them up for conference games and suburban schools. They have also beaten them up in the now meaningless Prep Bowl. Ironically, catholic football's most prestigious institution, Notre Dame, will turn to the CPL this coming season. Potential quarterback starter Demetrius Jones (Morgan Park) and new defensive coordinator Corwin Brown (Julian) are both CPL products.

The best story in college football resides in a distant land: Our 50th state is home to college football's most intriguing story of 2007. Hawaii's football program faces many challenges in their pursuit of a BCS bowl. June Jones's offense has long been considered gimmicky and he will need to convince people that it can fly against the heavy weights of the game. How will he go about that? By putting up offensive numbers like never before. Some are calling for Hawaii to average 60+ points per game. Many say that Hawaii's schedule is too soft to warrant BCS consideration. The fact is Hawaii made many attempts to schedule tougher games, but BCS conference schools just don't want to play them. Hawaii offered big bucks for schools to come to the island. They even had trouble scheduling road games. Currently the NCAA offers an incentive for schools to play at Hawaii by allowing them to play an additional regular season game. However, with the addition of a 12th game and the improvement of the Hawaii program, this incentive is not good enough. In the short run, Hawaii will try to deal with their weak schedule problem by beating opponents brains in. This season Hawaii's Colt Brennan will try to become the first Heisman Trophy winner for a mid-major since Ty Detmer. He too faces the gimmicky offense and weak schedule problems. His only chance to win the award is to have the best statistical season ever by a college quarterback. Expect him to do that, but even that might not be good enough. Hawaii will line up with a team featuring 79 Polynesian players, which is incredible for a state with a population of 1.2 million (Polynesian includes those from other pacific islands). Hawaii represents so many issues unique to college football. I look forward to watching them fight - both on the field and in the court of public perception - for a BCS bowl, even if I have to stay up until 3 am to do it.

Only 1 More Day!

The Degenerate's Corner

These picks are for entertainment purposes only. Please don't break my legs if you lose money on these picks. I'll post them every Wednesday during the season. Good luck this year.

Clemson +3.5 vs Florida State
Purdue -6.5 @ Toledo
Kansas State +13.5 @ Auburn
Georgia -6 vs. Oklahoma State
Georgia Tech +2.5 @ Notre Dame
Western Michigan +23.5 @ West Virginia
Florida International +38 @ Penn State
(winners in bold)

Finally It's Week 1

Guru's Big East Picks

The 6th best conference in the nation is the Big East. Honestly I don't feel good about putting them this low, however due to the size of the conference it's tough to match them up against the other conferences in the nation. To be clear on things I think in terms of ratios the Big East is as good or better than just about any other conference. The Big East this season has 2 legit national title contenders, 2 very strong teams, 2 average teams who could be good, and 2 lower rung teams. However this translates to only 4 strong teams in the conference, which makes it tough to stack up against other conferences who have 6-9 legitimate bowl hopeful teams.

Last year the Big East did just about everything it could to prove itself against the other conferences. For a while there was 3 undefeated squads in the conference with Rutgers being one of the biggest surprises in the nation. Up until the bowls last season, there was no team with a real tough out of conference schedule. Louisville however knocked off Miami (FL) and their annual showdown with Kentucky. Once the bowl season came, the Big East really made their mark going 5-0.

In my opinion it's still going to take a while for this conference to get respect from others. When they lost Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Miami (arguably the 3 best teams in the conference) to the ACC many people saw this as a sign of weakness within the conference. Even now many people are not going to put a lot of stock into last season's success of Rutgers, West Virginia, and Louisville simply due to a "watered down" conference. Unfortunately I feel that a lot of people look at the Big East as a stepping stone between mid major and BCS conferences. This perception will slowly change with the more competition the conference faces in the future. However much like mid majors there isn't a whole lot of room for error. If West Virginia had lost to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl 2 years ago, it would have taken a lot to earn the respect of college and SEC fans in particular. Having seasons such as last year with high profile teams and a lot of out of conference success is what it will take to get the conference more respect.

With that being said, the Big East has a fair out of conference schedule this season. The signature game that could really earn the conference a lot of respect is when a very underrated South Florida squad travels to the plains of Auburn to take on a vulnerable big time SEC team. West Virginia will host Mississippi State and travel to Maryland. Louisville hosts Kentucky and Utah and travels to Raleigh to take on NC State. Rutgers will take on Maryland and Navy amongst others at home this season.

3 Big Questions in the Big East This Season:

1. Will the Big East get a team to the National Championship this season?

2. Is Rutgers for real? Can they match or surpass the success from last season?

3. What will the image of the conference be at season's end? There's going to be a lot of negativity surrounding the conference from other conferences, especially if they are in the running for a championship game birth. Will the Big East finally be able to put the negativity to rest?

West Virginia and Louisville can match up with the top teams in any conference and both have a great shot at making the championship game. The loss of Bobby Petrino is going to set back Louisville a little bit, but Steve Kragthorpe is a more than adequate replacement. West Virginia has as good of a 1-2 punch as any team in the country. In my opinion Rutgers is going to be here to stay. They truly are a sleeping giant in the college game that finally woke up last season. New Jersey is a state with a lot of talent that gets picked through by other programs. If Rutgers can continue their success from last season, there's a very good chance they'll be able to lock down these recruits. South Florida is another team that is very legit. Last season's victory at West Virginia is no fluke. One may argue that Matt Grothe is the best quarterback in the state of Florida right now. Much like Rutgers they come from a recruiting hot bed. They've also come on recently at a time when many of the in state powers are going through a rough stretch. It's tough to get a good read on what kind of teams Pittsburgh and Cincinnati will be this season. Cincinnati showed a lot of improvement last season, but lost their head coach to Michigan State. Brian Kelly was a very sought after head coach after last season's success at Central Michigan, but it may take some time for him to develop his team. Pittsburgh is a team with good talent, but they are very inconsistent. It's shocking that Syracuse is as bad as they are defensively with Greg Robinson as the head coach. He had a lot of success before coming to Syracuse but they're team was at the very bottom statistically on defense. I look for their struggles to continue until they find a new coach.

1. West Virginia 12-0 (7-0)

2. Louisville 10-2 (5-2)

3. Rutgers 10-2 (5-2)

4. S. Florida 9-3 (5-2)

5. Pittsburgh 7-5 (3-4)

6. Cincinnati 6-6 (2-5)

7. Connecticut 5-7 (1-6)

8. Syracuse 1-11 (0-7)

Guru's ACC Picks

The 5th best conference this season is the ACC. The conference has no legitimate national title contenders but is very strong from top to bottom. There may however not be a conference with more question marks this season than the ACC.

Last season the ACC was average at best as a conference. They were 9-20 in significant out of conference games last season and went 4-4 in the bowl games. It was a strange year for the conference as many of the traditional powerhouses (Florida State, Clemson, and Miami) posted sub par seasons. In light of this there were teams that emerged out of nowhere to lead the league. The surprise story of college football was the success of conference champion Wake Forest.

A lot of the mediocrity from the last few seasons has caused coaching changes throughout the conference. 4 teams in the conference have gotten new head coaches in the off season. The most significant addition to the conference is the return of Butch Davis to the college ranks as he takes over a bottom dwelling North Carolina squad. His first off season yielded arguably the best recruiting class in the ACC and one of the top squads in the nation. His presence should be felt in the conference, but it may take a few years to build up a legitimate conference title contender. Tom O' Brien headed down the coast to fill Chuck Amato's shoes at NC State leaving Boston College to hire Jeff Jagodzinski away from the Green Bay Packers. The final coaching change was the promotion of Randy Shannon at Miami to the head of the Hurricanes. Shannon has taken on the role of establishing credibility and discipline to the Miami program after a few years of on and off the field turmoil.

The ACC is going to be involved in its fair share of competitive out of conference games this season. The marquee match up comes week 2 when Virginia Tech travels to Baton Rouge to take on LSU. This will be a match up between the best from the ACC and the SEC. Wake Forest will host Nebraska that same week; which should be a great indicator game as to whether or not Wake or Nebraska is a legitimate team this season. Florida State has the toughest out of conference schedule in the conference as they take on Alabama in Jacksonville and travel to Colorado and Florida. Miami takes on the big boys from the Big 12 when they travel to Oklahoma and host Texas A&M this season. Look for Shannon's squad to win one of those games. Georgia Tech, Duke, and Boston college all travel to South Bend to take on Notre Dame this season. Lastly Georgia Tech and Clemson have their annual showdowns against their respective SEC rivals Georgia and South Carolina.

Three Big Questions in the ACC:

1. Will Randy Shannon improve the quality of the Miami team while keeping his players out of trouble?

2. What impact will Butch Davis have at North Carolina this season?

3. Can Tommy Bowden rebound from an embarrassing end to the Clemson Tigers season, and keep his job?

With the exception of Virginia Tech there doesn't seem to be a real legitimate national title contender from the ACC, but top to bottom the league is going to be strong. Conceivably by the end of the season the only team that will remain overlooked by the competition will be Duke , who is currently riding a 20 game losing streak. Many teams took the step in the right direction this off season. All the coaching changes with the exception of possibly Jagodzinski should improve each squad. Maybe the most important coaching hire this off season was Florida State hiring Jimbo Fisher as the team's new offensive coordinator. He comes from an LSU squad that posted the nation's #11 offense last season. If FSU can figure out there quarterback situation, they could be a force to be reckoned with once again.

ATLANTIC
1. Florida State 8-4 (6-2)
2. Wake Forest 8-4 (5-3)
3. Clemson 8-4 (5-3)
4. NC State 7-5 (4-4)
5. Boston College 7-5 (4-4)
6. Maryland 4-8 (2-6)

COASTAL
1. Virginia Tech 10-2 (7-1)
2. Georgia Tech 10-2 (7-1)
3. Miami 8-4 (5-3)
4. Virginia 6-6 (2-6)
5. North Carolina 3-9 (1-7)
6. Duke 1-11 (0-8)

Virginia Tech beats Florida State in the conference championship.

Guru's Big 12 Picks

The 4th best conference in college football this season should be the Big 12. They should be able to rebound from a down season last year. The two giants of the Big 12, Oklahoma and Texas, both had 3 loss seasons while battling through adversity. This should have been expected, however with Texas having to replace Vince Young at quarterback with a freshmen and Oklahoma losing blue chip quarterback Rhett Bomar right before the start of the season due to NCAA infractions. Throughout the rest of the conference, there were no major surprises beyond the emergence of Missouri as an offensive powerhouse finishing 8th in the NCAA in total offense. Out of conference for the Big 12 last season was not very good. The Big 12 was able to get 8 teams bowl births, but they went 3-5 in the bowl games including Texas barely edging a down Iowa team and Texas Tech needing to overcome a 31 point deficit to edge out a bad Minnesota team. Other notable losses out of conference for the Big 12 last season included Texas losing at home to Ohio State, Oklahoma losing to Oregon, Nebraska falling to USC, Oklahoma State losing to Houston, and Texas Tech losing an in state battle to TCU.

Despite all this negativity from last season, there are a lot of reasons to believe the Big 12 is going to rebound this season. Oklahoma and Texas are both going to come into this season with a lot more comfort in their quarterback than last year. Nebraska has brought on a high profile quarterback in Sam Keller who can thrive in the West Coast Offense. Missouri barely loses anybody from a very good offense from last season. Kansas State and Colorado should both get better with another year under the belts with their coaches. Lastly Iowa State has nowhere to go but up after the hiring of Gene Chizik.

Chizik was the most underrated hire of this off season. He has had great success everywhere he has gone. For Iowa State to be able to land Chizik speaks volumes about the direction this program is trying to take. Iowa State may not show drastic improvement this season, but look for them to become a defensive powerhouse in the Big 12 in the years to come. Look for Chizik to have a signature win this season to signal his arrival at Iowa State.

One of the most interesting things to look forward to this season is how the Big 12 fares in their out of conference match ups. Most notably will be the match ups for Texas and Baylor against in state mid major powerhouse TCU. If Gary Patterson can knock off Texas, it could lead TCU to become the next Louisville in the world of college football. Both Oklahoma and Texas A&M square off against Randy Shannon's Miami Hurricanes which should be a good indicator of the strength of the conference and the strides Shannon has made thus far at Miami. Nebraska hosts USC week 3 in hopes of winning a signature game to mark the revival of the program under Callahan. Other notable match ups include Oklahoma State traveling to Athens, GA to take on the Bulldogs, Kansas State going to the plains of Auburn, and Colorado taking on Arizona State and Florida State.

3 Big Questions in the Big 12 This Season:

1. What impact will Gene Chizik have on Iowa State this season?

2. Will the loss of Sonny Dykes have an impact on Texas Tech's aerial assault?

3. Can Bill Callahan take Nebraska to the next level this season?

Look for Oklahoma and Texas to battle once again not only for the Big 12 championship, but possibly even for the chance to play for the BCS Championship. Both teams are loaded with talent and good coaches. The Big 12 south in general this season is going to be very tough. Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State are all very strong teams this season. In the north it's still a crap shoot. Nebraska should be able to win the Big 12 north this season, but they are going to receive a lot of pressure from Missouri. Kansas State and Colorado should both improve from last season and the wild card will be Iowa State. All in all I'm expecting improvement amongst the Big 12 across the board in which should be one of the more competitive leagues in the NCAA

BIG 12 SOUTH

1. Texas 12-0 (8-0)

2. Oklahoma 10-2 (6-2)

3. Texas Tech 9-3 (5-3)

4. Texas A&M 7-5 (4-4)

5. Oklahoma St 6-6 (3-5)

6. Baylor4-8 (1-7)

BIG 12 NORTH

1. Nebraska 10-2 (7-1)

2. Missouri 7-5 (5-3)

3. Kansas State 8-4 (5-3)

4. Iowa State 6-6 (2-6)

5. Colorado 4-8 (1-7)

6. Kansas 4-8 (1-7)

Big 12 Championship: Texas over Nebraska

Guru's Pac 10 Picks

The third best conference this season is the Pac 10. The conference boasts 2 teams fighting for a national championship birth along with 5 other good teams that could make some noise. Last season the Pac 10 went 3-2 in their bowl games and had a strong showing in their out of conference schedule. USC was able to knock off Arkansas, Nebraska and Michigan. Cal lost badly at Tennessee, but was able to knock off Minnesota and Texas A&M handily in the Holiday Bowl. UCLA beat Utah and should have knocked off Notre Dame in South Bend if it weren't for some late game heroics and a complete melt down by the UCLA defense who otherwise played great.

This off season there were 2 coaching changes in the PAC 10. Legendary coach Dennis Erickson takes over an Arizona State team that couldn't quite put everything together under Dirk Koetter. Look for Rudy Carpenter to thrive in Erickson air it out offense. At Stanford young, energetic, and outspoken Jim Harbaugh has become the head coach. He had done a phenomenal job in his only previous head coaching job at San Diego by compiling a 29-6 record (won 27 of last 29 games). Unfortunately for Jim, he didn't acquire a lot of talent. He may have to wait until blue chip quarterback Andrew Luck arrives on campus.

The Pac 10's out of conference schedule has several games against big name teams along with showdowns against BYU and Utah. The highlight of the Pac 10's out of conference schedule is the rematch between Cal and Tennessee in Berkeley on September 1st. USC's rigorous out of conference schedule continues this season with games at Nebraska and Notre Dame. Oregon plays Michigan in week 2 at the Big House. UCLA is going to be looking for revenge against Notre Dame during the first week of October. UCLA and Arizona both take on BYU this season. Oregon State and UCLA go up against Utah. Other intriguing out of conference games include Washington hosting Boise State and Ohio State. Lastly Washington State travels to Madison to challenge a very strong Wisconsin Badger squad. The Pac 10 - unlike the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and ACC - play nine conference games to round up a full round robin.

Three Big Questions in the Pac 10 this season:

1. Will USC get its chance to silence it's out of conference critics? USC has taken plenty of criticism, especially from certain SEC coaches working in Baton Rouge, but will they run the table and play for the championship against either LSU or another SEC opponent.

2. How will Dennis Erickson and Jim Harbaugh fair in their first season at new schools coaching in the Pac 10?

3. Will the addition of Sonny Dykes make Arizona a big time player in the Pac 10?

This season USC is the clear cut favorite to win the Pac 10 and is going to be ranked at the top of all preseason polls nationally. There will definitely be a lot of heat coming from a few schools in the conference trying to knock them off their throne. One of those teams will be cross town rival UCLA who knocked off USC to end their national title dreams last season and has 20 starters returning. We'll find out a lot about the caliber of Cal's team in week one when they host SEC power Tennessee. A team that should make a lot of noise this season in the conference is Arizona. They had a stellar defense under Mike Stoops and now the addition of Sonny Dykes should give them the offense to hang with the big boys in the conference. They should have the greatest improvement this season. Oregon State is a team to watch after they ended their season last year going 8-1 including wins over USC, Oregon, Hawaii on the road, and Missouri. In the end, look for USC to come out on top after a tough schedule this season.

1. USC 11-1 (8-1)

2. Cal 10-2 (7-2)

3. Arizona 9-3 (6-3)

4. UCLA 9-3 (6-3)

5. Oregon 8-4 (6-3)

6. Oregon State 8-4 (5-4)

7. Arizona State 5-7 (3-6)

8. Washington St. 4-8 (2-7)

9. Stanford 2-10 (1-8)

10. Washington 2-11 (1-8)