Neat article on the Big East

[ProudBull]

Found this on the WVU boards.  The link wouldn't copy for me so I had to cut and paste.  He seems to have a love affair with Grothe

Though the kickoff of the college football season is still a few

months away, I've been doing some research, going with my instincts,

and looking back at last season for clues as to what I expect to see

this season. At the end of the season, I'll go back and see how I did.

However, the summary of the 2007 season should be, a big year for

Clemson, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Cal and of course West Virginia.

Meanwhile, I expect Matt Grothe, DeMarco Murray, Andre Woodson, Bobby

Reid and DeSean Jackson to become household names while Steve Slaton

and Pat White build upon their legacies.

#  While The "U" rebuilds its fallen dynasty,

Florida State searches for an offense, Georgia Tech searches for a big

play receiver, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils try to I win multiple

games in a season, and Wake Forest attempts to prove 2006 was not a

fluke, the rising Tigers of Clemson will win the ACC Championship.

# Steve Slaton will win the Heisman Trophy.  Colt Brennan will come second. DeSean Jackson will finish third

 

# Darren McFadden will not be invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation.  First of all, he's going to have to share more carries with Felix Jones

who is coming into his own and this season he's got more of a target on

his back.

#  Felix Jones will rush for more yardage than Darren McFadden.

# Junior California wide receiver DeSean Jackson will be the recipient of the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top wide receiver thus fulfilling the prophecy I proclaimed before his freshman season and will not return for his senior season.

I mean who's going to challenge him, Mario Manningham, Keenan Burton,

Adarius Bowman, or the most likely candidate, Davone Bess in the pass

oriented Hawaii offense? I doubt it. After a draft stocked with

excellent college wide receivers, this season is bound to experience a

lull at the receiver position and Jackson is leaps and bounds ahead of

these receivers.

# With the chance to finally carry the bulk of

the carries, Kregg Lumpkin will rush for at least 1,100 yards and 10

TD's this season.

# In a loss to Georgia in the season opener,

Bobby Reid of the Oklahoma State Cowboys will pass for 250 yards, pass

for 2 touchdowns and rush for 80 yards.  Remember the last time we

played a team which featured a quarterback with above average mobility.

Against Georgia, QB Bernard Jackson ran right through our defense for

85 yards and nearly 200 yards passing. Reid is similiar to Jackson but

with a stronger more accurate arm.

# Illinois will win 8 games.  They're setting the stage for a potential Big 10 title in 2008. Juice Williams is one of the fastest quarterbacks in the nation and once he perfects

his passing skills will be a major threat His development is similiar to Troy Smith's.

# Kentucky will challenge Florida and Georgia for the SEC East crown.  Kentucky will finish at least in the Top 2.

#  Andre Woodson will be named SEC Player of the Year.

# Andre Woodson will lead the SEC in passing yardage and Td's thrown. (how many you ask?)Oh just toss a number...3,600 and 33.  This darkhorse Heisman candidate will improve slightly upon his breakout 2006 season where he led the resurgence of Kentucky's football program and accomplished something even Tim Couch could not do-- win(a bowl game). I picked him as my #1 players to watch back in January and he won't dissapoint, especially with wide receiver Keenan Burton returning. 

#  Louisville will lose to Kentucky September 15 and West Virginia November 8.

# By November, Ryan Perrilloux will be the LSU starting quarterback  Early in the season,, the Tigers will use Perrilloux and Matt Flynn as a Cajun form of Tebow-Chris Leak.

# Ike Whitaker will inherit the starting quarterback position from Sean Glennon by November.  Virginia Tech has the same issue at quarterback. Unfortunately, Beamer

made a hasty decision by declaring Glennon as the starter before the

spring even began. It's as if his offenses and his teams experience

their most productive seasons when he's got mobile quarterbacks,(Marcus

Vick, Micheal Vick, Brian Randle) behind the center. Thats just what

Whitaker and true freshman Tyrod Taylor can deliver.

# When Wisconsin and Michigan face-off on November 10, both teams will be undefeated.

#  When Boise State and Hawaii meet on November 23, both teams will enter undefeated.

#  Wisconsin will win the Big 10 title.  The Badgers have the Big Ten's best record since 2004, but their 31 wins have gone virtually unnoticed outside the league because of the headlines grabbed by Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Now the

bright lights are trained on Madison, given the return of 18 starters

from a 12-1 team that won its New Years bowl game against Arkansas you

can expect the Badgers to seize their opportunity. However, they will

be left out the national championship game because of the Big 10's

perceived weakness as a result of Ohio State and Michigan's

performances against Florida and USC respectively last season.

#  Ohio State running back Chris Wells will rush for 1,300 yards and 15 TD's.

# Tennessee will win only 8 games.

#  Notre Dame will win 8 games.  Troy will win the Sun Belt conference title.

# Florida will not have a 1,000 yard rusher this season

# Florida will have at least 3 players rush for over 500 yards.

# Percy Harvin will attain 700 receiving yards, rush for 500 yards and score 10 touchdowns.

# Tim Tebow will not have more wins than Stafford by the end of the season but Tebow will account for more yardage than Stafford.

# Miami Hurricanes running back Javarris James will tally 1,200 rushing yards.

As the cousin of Edgerrin James, Javarris will be the next installment

in the pantheon of great running backs in Miami's history. James did

not make his first start last season until the fourth game but still

gained 802 yards. That was the second most by a Miami freshman since

Clinton Portis (838 yards) in 1999.

# Miami will win 9 games.

# Noel Devine will rush for around 400 yards in his freshmen campaign.

# Colt Brennan will shatter at least 2 of his own NCAA passing records-- which means he'll lead the nation in pretty much ever major passing statistic category again.

# Freshman quarterback  Willy Korn will be the Clemson Tigers full-time starting quarterback by mid-October.  Willy Korn,quarterback, Clemson. No true freshman has played quarterback for the Tigers since 1994, but figure on that run ending in

2007. Korn, who graduated high school in time to attend spring

practice, shot his way up to No. 2 on the depth chart behind Cullen

Harper. He should close the gap even further during fall practice.

#  Ohio State's Antonio Henton, (redshirt freshman qb)  will be the Buckeyes starting qb at some point this season.

# Though he's currently number 2 on the depth chart, redshirt freshman running back (the guy is simply amazing) DeMarco Murray will eventually become the starter and his exciting style of play will quickly replace Adrian Peterson in the immediate recollection of Sooner fans, rush for 1,200 yards, 10 touchdowns and stay healthy through the

entire season.  His performance in the Sooners spring game was

even more incredible, rushing for 103 yards on four carries. Plus he

can play a little wide receiver out of the slot. His movements are

Reggie Bush like and aftyer seeing him play I understand now why ESPN

aired the Sooners spring game.

#  The Texas Longhorns will beat the Oklahoma Sooners in their single meeting this season and go on to win the Big 12 title game.

#  Nebraska will win the Big 12 North followed by Missouri in second place.

# Jarrett Dillard of Rice will lead the nation in receptions.

# Steve Slaton will lead the nation in rushing yardage

#  Pat White will rush for more touchdown's than Steve Slaton.

#    A non-BCS team will crash the party this season and the HawaiiWarriors will go to aBCS Bowl game-- but not the national championship.

#  TCU will win the Mountain West title.

# Ray Rice will compile at least 200 more rushing yards than Darren McFadden.

# Wisconsin running back, P.J. Hill will lead the Big 10 in rushing with 1,600 yards.

# As much as I despise him, Nick Saban will win just as many games at Alabama as Steve Spurrier will at South Carolina this season.

# Tommy Bowden will win more games than Bobby Bowden.

#  The Oregon Ducks will win 10 games.

# C.J. Spiller will rush for over 1,200 yards, and 12 TD's.  After he spent the off season flirting with a transfer to Florida, Tommy Bowden will make sure Spiller becomes a more involved piece of the offense.

#  More than two teams will finished 2007 undefeated.

#  Darius Reynard will be an All-American.

#  Pat White, John David Booty, and Andre Woodson will be All-Americans.

#  The Big East champion will play for a national championship.

#  South Florida sophomore quarterback, Matt Grothe  Bobby Reid will establish himself as one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the nation.  All I'm saying is when you get a chance catch a South Florida game. As a freshman, Grothe was already a moreefficient passer than Pat White though just as dangerous as a runner. In fact,Grothe led South Florida to a victory in their final game of the season over Pat White's Mountaineers which denied WVU of their second consecutive BCS bowl game. If I don't say so myself, Grothe is the definition of

swaggarious. It seems like each conference has built their own specific

brand of football and the Big East is establishing itself as a factory

for exciting offensive players.

#  Pat White will continue his development as a passer and exceed 2,000 passing yards.

#  The California Golden Bears will win the Pac-10 and face West Virginia in the national championship game. I gotta explain why I picked Cal which constantly comes up short over the perennial championship contending Trojans. First off I don't wanna sound like Chris Berman and pick the same teams(Super Bowl XLII: Bills

v. Niners) every season. It just doesn't happen in modern D-1 college

football. Take for example, those great Miami Hurricane teams at the

beginning of the millenium. They should have had a 3-peat, yet outside

factors always seemed to deter them. The Trojans which used to have

that magical aura about them seemed to have lost some of that charm

after they ran into Vince Young. Last season, there was the failed two

point conversion against Oregon Stae and the interception thrown by

Booty which sealed the deal for UCLA. While, I have no doubt that it

will return, right now the Trojans seem to have hit a wall, however,

unlike those Hurricane teams Carroll seems to have learned from Davis'

mistake and plans to stay as long as he can keep the dynasty intact.

Booty is a great quarterback, however, he just doesn't have that

Leinart/Palmer aura about him or an x-factor on offense(i.e. Jarrett,

Bush, Mike Williams, White,etc.)to take the load off his back. With

that said, the Trojans probably have the best defense since their 5

year BCS Bowl run began, however, their offense needs to gather some

experience. As deep as their depth chart is, the majority of the high

profile recruits they've stockpiled on offense are too inexperienced.

With the arrival of Mitch Mustain, the Trojans now possess the top 2

quarterbacks from two seperate recruiting classes as well as a top 3

quarterback from the class of 2007 in Aaron Corp. After losing Steve

Smith and Dwayne Jarrett to the NFL, Patrick Turner, the #1 wide

receiver in the class of 2005, and Vidal Hazelton will have to assume

more responsiblities. With that said, experience, rules for the Bears.

DeSean Jackson will be a Heisman candidate and Nate Longshore will

produce in Jeff Tedford's offensive system. Meanwhile, running back

Justin Forsett proved last season that he can be a great featured back

during Marshawn Lynch's absence due to injury. Now with Lynch's absence

more permanent, I expect Forsett and the Golden Bears to finally break

through for their best shot at a national title.

# Angry at finishing second in the Big East last season, Steve Slaton, Pat White, and Rich Rodriguez will finish what Major Harris and Don Nehlen started by defeating Cal to win the 2008 college football national championship. -- D.J. Dunson

[ProudBull]

Sorry not only on the Big East ;D

[crambone]

GROTHE FTW!

[Joe]

Love the Grothe analysis, but this guy was on crack while writing this article.

Desean Jackson invited to New York? No way. WRs have to be SPECIAL to get that type of invite, and while DeSean Jackson might be the best WR in the country, he's far from SPECIAL

Felix Jones outrushes Darren McFadden? Not unless McFadden gets injured...McFadden saw 130 more carries and rushed for almost 500 yards more. While Jones is a very good running back, McFadden is special.

Illinois wins 8 games? The zooker never won 8 games with all world talent at Florida! While I agree Juice Williams will be a very good player, and Illinois has a lot of talent coming in, they're young. 8 wins this year might be a stretch. Especially coming of a 2 win season.

Cal in the title game? After losing Marshawn Lynch? Not sure about that...

[Paul Wall]

why do you guys care about what joe blows write???? All I care about are the facts... They can say grothe is the biggest baller in the world, but until I see him man up and dominate every game and see us do what so many people expect us to do which is dominate next yr, then I'll get excited. Until then, talk is talk. I can say anything and i've said it before,

My updated rankings..

USF #1

UCF #100

UF #102

UM #109

FSU # 69

Auburn # 20

now thats some cheap talk

[DC]

Quality post, Paul. Lots of analysis was put into your rankings.

[Paul Wall]

Dan man, you don't even know how many painstaking hours it took me to attain the kind of knowledge to forecast rankings such as those. I don't sleep, I just read articles written by joe blows (who could be 10 yrs old like that R Hamiliton guy)about how good or bad USF football is ...

P.S. Dan on Friday you can buy the Green "oUr Shirt" for $5 at the Marshall Center. Lets makes RJ GREEN

[DC]

I'll definitley be there to get a shirt, they sound delicious.