College Football In Season Thread

Michigan suspends Toussaint (DUI) and Frank Clark (home invasion, but not really as bad as that makes it sound) 'indefinitely'. Sigh. Would've been nice to beat them at full strength. OTOH, maybe Hoke will pull a Shula and suspend them for Air Force or Massachusetts instead.

The Big Ten press expects Toussaint to play in that game.

Yeah, I figured. Still good news though . . .

EDIT: I forgot today's SEC fun fact: In the last 2 years, the top 5 teams in SEC West are 84-6 when not playing each other.

Last weekend of 2012 without some type of football. Anybody out there? Or do you just wait for the SEC to jump out in front before you start whining . . ?

Who knew that touchbacks go to the 25 yard line now? I certainly didn't.

Kickoff and Touchback Starting Lines Moved. The committee voted to move the kickoff to the 35-yard line (currently set at the 30-yard line), and to require that kicking team players must be no further than five yards from the 35 at the kick, which is intended to limit the running start kicking teams have during the play. The committee also voted to move the touchback distance on free kicks to the 25-yard line instead of the 20-yard line to encourage more touchbacks. NCAA data indicates injuries during kickoffs occur more often than in other phases of the game.

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http://www.streakingthelawn.com/2012/7/27/3185437/2012-ncaa-football-rule-changes-UVA-effect

Yep, to reduce injuries. But then, if you're limiting the running start, the kicking team is not going to be as far downfield as they would otherwise be when the ball is caught, yada, yada. We'll have to actually see some data before we know how it's going to end up. Coaches may feel the possibility of a big return is still worth risking the extra five yards, esp. if they have a great return man. Also teams with strong kickers may elect higher kicks that don't go into the end zone, hoping not to give up the extra five yards on the touchback. That latter logic seems less likely though.

In Alabama news, three of our offensive linemen were named to the CBS All-American team. The rest of the team may be nothing but inexperienced or unproven talent -- except at QB -- but man, that line is going to be fun to watch.

Finally, teams report to practice this week

Looks like six wins is still going to be enough for a bowl berth

Linky.

I heard that since so many teams are banned from bowls this year, they might let the South Alabamas and UTSAs go to a game if they win 6 games?

Yeah, here's a linky to a cbs story on that. Remember they already let UCLA in at 6-7 last year after they lost the Pac-12 title game. OTOH, it seems like this is one of those things that people worry about every year that never really causes a problem, kind of like the "there could be EIGHT undefeated teams this year" talk that we always get in late October. The bowl bans do make the fear more legitimate this year though . . .

Several PSU players are leaving for elsewhere. Most notable is Silas Redd moving to the Trojans.

Silas Redd going to USC was probably the best thing for both parties. For Redd, he is going to a team that may contend for a BCS National Championship while USC receives a premiere running back that shores up some questions they had surrounding the depth on their roster.

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Apparently there's a minor stir because some student athlete might get the boot from the USC scholarship due to limits on their program's size due to prior sanctions.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1280550-usc-trojans-lose-integrity-with-recruitment-of-silas-redd

80 + scholarship players are staying .

Players are reporting, fall camps are starting up and meaningless preseason polls are being released. Anybody have any preseason predictions for their teams this fall?

I'd say 10-2 for Alabama, which is what pretty much everyone is saying.

It seems like nobody (including me) is really thinking we're going to have the upper hand heading into Baton Rouge Nov. 3, and pretty much everybody (including me) thinks that we've just got far too much inexperience and unproven talent to avoid dropping at least one game that we ought to win. But again nobody, and again including me, can really seem to find that second loss we all feel is there on the schedule.

The most likely candidates are Michigan, Arkansas and Tennessee. I think Michigan being the first game on the schedule just gives Saban and Smart too much time to prepare. They'd be tougher to beat midseason sandwiched between several teams with less mobile pocket passers behind center. Arkansas seems like the most likely candidate, with Knile Davis back from injury and Tyler Wilson opting not to come out for the draft last year. They're definitely the most talented offense we'll face this year, but OTOH that never seems to matter much in the SEC -- it's always the best defensive teams that come out on top. Tennessee may seem like Arkansas lite in a lot of ways, but they may have more talent at receiver and are definitely the most motivated team of the three. Tennessee fans have been very patient with Dooley as he's struggled through the mess left for him by Kiffin & Co, but improvement is a must this year and a win over Alabama could save his job even if the rest of the season doesn't go as well as hoped.

OR, we could just line up behind that best-in-the-nation O line and eat clock all year

But probably not . . .

EDIT:

ALSO: This brief posting at ESPN gives a concise rundown of how teams will be selected for bowls if not enough teams are eligible, now that the Board of Directors has released the official process.

Is Tennessee that good? I think NC State (should have decent year) plays them 1st game of season.

Demon Deacons to a bowl game

I'll predict 5-7 for Penn State.

dgfred said:

Is Tennessee that good? I think NC State (should have decent year) plays them 1st game of season.

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Tennessee has a premier (college) qb and excellent talent at receiver, but I wouldn't say they're good enough to beat Alabama. But they are a good pick to upset Alabama if you're looking for a second loss on our schedule, just based on matchups, history, circumstances, etc.

That was kind of my point. 10-2 seems like a rational pick for Alabama's regular season record, but it's hard to actually find that second loss among the teams we play. Lines I've seen on the Michigan game have us as 10 to 14 point favorites, and it's hard to imagine lines much closer than that for anything but the LSU game. Maybe Arkansas, but only because it's in Fayetteville.

And there's a lot of that going around. I think preseason lines have USC as double digit favorites over everyone they play this year, and LSU's non-Nov. 3rd schedule looks about as favorable as Alabama's.

But I think Tennessee is only favored by about 4 points vs. NC State. Happy hunting

EDIT: Crap. I get here, read some posts and then forget what I came to post. But I suppose that's a good thing

Clemson star Sammy Watkins is out for the rubber match vs. Auburn to open the season, and Alabama's Brandon Hill was unavailable for the first day of practice with eligibility issues. Hill wasn't highly touted out of high school, but he's one of only three offensive linemen we signed in February . . .

After scores of transfers, Penn State is now less than a TD favorite over the Ohio Bobcats to start the season. Ohio is going to be one of the two best teams in the MAC next year...if Penn State loses anybody else, to transfer or to injury, I think the Bobcats have a 50-50 shot of winning.

As for Bama, yeah, I can see UT beating them this year. The Vols are good enough that they should be able to get at least one marquee win this season. If they don't, I bet they'll be making a coaching change.

I can see Michigan being within two TDs as well. It wouldn't totally shock me if Michigan won, but I wouldn't expect it.

I'm going to see a Michigan game this year, since I'm getting discounted tickets as part of some college application thing.

(que remarks from Ohio people in 3... 2... 1...)

That Tennessee game also comes the week after Alabama's trip to Missouri, which is sure to be a circus. It's our only series of back-to-back road games all year . . .

I think 9-3 for the Buckeyes sounds reasonable this year. I figure we lose to Michigan State and Wisconsin, and drop one of the Michigan/Nebraska/Cal/Illinois/UCF games.

Bobby Petrino would be perfect for UT. I bet that happens in 2 years.

Ohio State losing to UCF would be painful. EDIT: Illinois too, come to think of it. Let me ask you this, and gain some insight into the Big Ten mind. If you HAD to lose one of Michigan, Cal, Illinois or UCF, which would you pick? I ignore Nebraska because it seems like an easy out -- New to the Big Ten but a quality program, so no shame losing there . . .

Petrino to Tennessee wouldn't have seemed like a good culture fit to me even before the scandal, but I'm not really a Tennessee guy

Chris Black is out 3-4 months after surgery following a shoulder injury suffered in Sunday's practice. A true freshman, but a highly touted WR and one of our "big gets" from last year's signing class.

Missouri has sold out its season tickets. First time ever for the program, from what I understand.

Jones, Warmack and Fluker made SI's All-American team, which I'm sure comes as a shock to no one. More telling is that there were no representatives from UA on the defensive side . . .