College Football Thread

[barryc83]

[ QUOTE ]
Bama fan guy, is Brown really better than Prothro? I don't think I saw one Bama game last year so I have no idea.

UK beats UT this year!! Please God make it happen just once...

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Brown's year last season was better than any season Prothro ever had statistically speaking. That being said I'd rather have Prothro. I don't think he'll ever come back though and if he does, he will be a shell of his former self, JMO. DJ Hall is better than Prothro was and I don't really think its debatable. I guess what I meant to say is that those 2 were the best wr tandem I've ever seen bama have (keep in mind I'm 24).

[orange]

I think UK will definitely have a chance this year to be somewhat competitive. Woodson (sp?) is excellent and that guy Little? is really really good. I think their offense can compete with nearly anyone in the league but their defense has some huge problems.

I also go to University of Nebraska Lincoln, so I know a little bit about the Huskers. Though I'm not a huge fan of NE, I still go to all the games simply because I love college football.

NE will have a great offense this year, arguably better than last year. Our OL is much more experienced and our QB will most likely be upgraded (We got Sam Keller from ASU). Our recieving corps are pretty decent, though hit tremendously in the past few weeks with our number 1 reciever possibly kicked off the team (Maurice Purify).

Our RB is still a ?. We lost starter Brandon Jackson, who went to the Packers. We still have talented Marlon Lucky, who was heralded as the 'next reggie bush' (isnt everyone like that though?) but has yet to live up to all his hype. He's a solid back, no question, but hasn't shown near the productivity that Bush has. Nontheless, our RBs should be okay if Glenn is healthy.

Our defense is a problem. We lost all of our DL (Jay Moore and Carriker both went to the NFL) and this was the strength of our D. Our defensive backs were not good last year. They ranked 77th in Pass defense and every time I saw Grixby isolated one on one I couldnt help but shudder for all the die hard Nebraska fans. Our DBs should be upgraded though with JUCO transfer Asante and a more experienced Andre Jones.

So, we need to replace our entire DL which shouldnt be TOO difficult, but nontheless a large question mark going into next season. Our LBs are definitely the strength of our defense, and IIRC, Nebraska will be switching to a 3-4 instead of a 4-3 next year. Octavian, Ruud, Dillard, Mckeon, etc are all very good and very experienced.

As far as coaches go, we lost Offensive Coordinator Norvell who went to UCLA. Not a huge loss though, because Callahan calls all the plays.

So, as next season is coming through, the main question marks are-
-will the DL come together and succeed?
-will our DBs be improved from last year?
-will Keller live up to all the hype that he generated when he came to UNL?
-will other recievers step up in the place of a potentially lost Mo Purify?


When USC comes marching into town in September, I cannot wait....

[MyTurn2Raise]

just got my Phil Steele's guide

I'm creamin'

Illinois is his #2 improved team, but still only 7th in conference due to a tough schedule

September 1 it all begins

[Needle77]

MT2R,

I've picked up both Steele's and Street and Smith's. Haven't had much of a chance to read them yet. Any reason you got Steele's over S&S? Curious.

[MyTurn2Raise]

I have Steele's, Street&Smith's, Athlon's, and Lindy's
I like many sources being a pro gambler...they're all tax deductible anyway

Steele's is by far the best IMO for the following reasons:
less narrative and more facts
stat breakdowns from last year's games
thorough depth charts
history of being the best at forecasting

Steele's is the Gold Medal award winner
The Gold sheet is the Silver

most of the rest are hit or miss narratives

Street and Smith's throwback covers this year are not my fav

[MyTurn2Raise]

the downside of Steele is he spends too much time touting his past achievements

[orange]

I own lindys/Steeles/Athlon/S&S.

I agree with the Steele comment. I like his mag, it has tons of info and alot of great stats. I do agree that he spends way too much time analyzing QBs from 5-6 years ago though.

About a month and a half left...

[Terrabon98]

Am I crazy to think that Michigan is going to have a bad year? On paper, they are loaded offensively, yes, but so what? They run the same three damn plays no matter what anyway. And defensively, well, it's not good when Trent is the best player in your secondary.

More than that though, I think it's a psychological thing. Anytime Michigan starts preseason ranked really high, it always seems like things come crashing down, whether it's from the pressure or the fact that they were overrated (probably a combination of the two). In fact, our two best years in the past decade were when we started the season ranked relatively low, and fought our way up the rankings.

Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised, and I don't think Michigan will have an awful season, but I would not be surprised if they lost 3 games. I think they will lose one of the big games (OSU, Wisco) and probably drop a random game and probably the bowl game. Hopefully I will be proved wrong, but I just have this looming sensation in the pit of my stomach that I always get when we are ranked so high preseason.

Also, Damaniac, you will love going to the game at Madison. I went two years ago, and it was absolutely nuts. On our way to the game, 4 of us walked into this culdesac to go to a friend's tailgate, and a sea of red surrounded us on all sides and started chanting "[censored]". As we got to the center of the swarm, we stood there for a goood 2-3 minutes just watching at least 100 Badgers yelling and pointing at us. One of the more intense moments of my life. But they gave us drinks after, so it was all good...and their student section is absolutely bat [censored] crazy awesome. It puts ours to shame

[MyTurn2Raise]

ESPN is starting coverage next week with college football live at 3:30 PM EST monday through friday with numerous replays on the U

hopefully, this show will have good insight and analysis like that given by McShay and Lugenbill on the Tuesday Coaches' Show last year

in all likelihood, I'll be watching Corso, Herbstreit, Fowler crap

ESPNU also showing the conference meeting days next week beginning with the BigXII, SEC, and Pac-10

[Austiger]

Orange, TFG, et al,

Auburn has lost one road game in 3 years and we had to miss 5 out of 6 FGs to lose that one in OT (LSU in '05.) Revenge will be a tall order, even in the Swamp.