College FB Week 1

It’s that time again. The greatest time of the year. Time for college football!
I can’t tell you how revved up I am already. The nice thing about being a Royals fan is that baseball season never gets in the way of football season. Don’t get me wrong, I pray for the day that I can’t switch off my “Royals race to not lose 100 games” tracker every September, but that may never happen.
This college football season has already been marred by scandals and conference realignment, but it begins with just as much hype and excitement as any other one.
Will Andrew Luck’s decision to stay help or hurt his future?
Will there be anyone left standing in the Big 12?
How will Colorado, Nebraska, Boise State, and BYU do in their new conferences (or independence)?
Can the Big East gain any respect?
Will someone finally haul off and punch Bob Stoops in the nuts?

And here are my conference predictions (dark-horses in italics):

ACC Coastal: Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Duke
ACC Atlantic: Florida State, Clemson, Boston College, Maryland, Wake Forest, NC State
Florida State over Virginia Tech. I know it’s a popular pick but I think Florida State is back. Good for the ACC, bad for those of us that have always hated them.

Big “12”: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Kansas
That’s right, I’m being a total homer and picking my team as the dark-horse. Watch out for Baylor to make some more waves, and I don’t think Texas is going to just turn it around in one year.

Big East: West Virginia, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Rutgers, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Louisville
Will it be WVU’s offense or Pitt’s defense? And will either team win 9 games?

Big “Ten” “Legends”: Michigan State, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Northwestern, Minnesota
Big “Ten” “Leaders”: Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois
Wisconsin over Michigan State. How much with the scandal and suspensions hinder Ohio State’s success? Can Denard Robinson and Michigan adjust to a new offensive scheme? How many points will Wisconsin score?

C-USA East: Central Florida, East Carolina, Marshall, Southern Miss, Memphis, UAB
C-USA West: Houston, SMU, Tulsa, UTEP, Tulane, Rice
Houston over Central Florida. Case Keenum is bound and determined to lead Houston to the conference title, and put up some gaudy numbers in the process.

Independents: Notre Dame, BYU, Navy, Army
The Irish should be in the BCS discussion, and I expect BYU to drop off a bit.

MAC East: Miami-OH, Temple, Ohio, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Akron, Kent State
MAC West: Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Ball State, Western Michigan, Toledo, Eastern Michigan
Miami-OH over Northern Illinois. The Redhawks could be 11-2, if they get some respect they could be ranked by the end of the year.

MWC: TCU, Boise State, San Diego State, Wyoming, Colorado State, UNLV, New Mexico
Of course it comes down to the winner of TCU and Boise, but watch out for SDSU to sneak in if the others slip up.

Pac-12 North: Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Washington, Washington State
Pac-12 South: Utah, Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA, USC, Colorado
Stanford over Utah. The Utes will rock the conference but fall short against a determined Cardinal and Andrew Luck. Colorado will suck gloriously.

SEC East: South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
SEC West: Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Mississippi
Alabama over South Carolina. The Gamecocks will make a bigger splash than last year, but the Tide is too strong and experienced.

Sun Belt: Troy, Arkansas State, FIU, FAU, North Texas, Western Kentucky, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee State
Always too tough to call. Eight wins would be a miracle for any of these teams.

WAC: Fresno State, Nevada, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State
This will be the swan song for the WAC. I hope these teams find somewhere to call home.

Heisman: Andrew Luck
National Champ: Alabama over Oklahoma
Rose: Stanford over Wisconsin
Orange: TCU over Florida State
Fiesta: Oklahoma State over West Virginia
Sugar: South Carolina over Utah

This Week’s Picks:
Auburn over Utah State
USC over Minnesota
Michigan over Western Michigan
South Carolina over East Carolina
Boise State over Georgia
LSU over Oregon
Boston College over Northwestern
Houston over UCLA
BYU over Mississippi
Hawaii over Colorado