[obadub]

Assuming nobody else declares for the Draft, no injuries, and all that jazz, which teams are the winners of their conferences?

ACC: VT
Big 12: Oklahoma
Big 10: Ohio State
Big East: WVU (or Pitt)
Pac 10: Oregon (or Stanford)
SEC: Alabama

[Jasonal_98]

ACC: FSU (big rebound under Jimbo)
Big 12: Nebraska
Big 10: Ohio State
Big East: Pitt
Pac 10: Oregon
SEC: Bama

[BigdaddyQH]

Sure. How about a little breakdown with my predictions. These are very preliminary:

ACC: Atlantic. Florida State. Costal. Ga.Tech* Tech returns 16 starters. FSU needs to find a defense.

Big East: West Virginia. Close, but West Virginia returns both lines intact. Cincy will challenge.

Big 10: Ohio State. Iowa is their only legit challenger. Michigan will improve. Penn State loses too many players.

Big 12: North. Nebraska. South. Oklahoma* Nebraska cruises in the North, and could easily win the Big 12. OU returns a now seasoned QB.

Pac 10: Oregon. USC could be in the hunt if they get their coaching problems solved. Washington is the upsetter here.

SEC: East. Florida. West. Alabama* The SEC will be much improved as a whole. Georgia and Tennessee will challenge Florida, and Arkansas and LSU will challenge 'Bama.

* denotes conference champions.

[Mac4Lyfe]

BCS championship next year will be OSU vs UF... book it.

[BigdaddyQH]

Ohio State has a very good chance. With all the defenctions Florida has, it is doubtful that they can run the table, and that is what it may take, especially if Boise State defeats Vriginia Tech in Landover to validate another perfect regular season.

[BrownTown]

[daneblazer]

Florida is losing almost everyone on the team, including half their coaching staff and one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. They lose a senior class and a bunch of early entries that were the "winningest" recruiting class in SEC history. They aren't going to turn into Baylor, but there is no way they don't take a step back especially with a more difficult schedule. To say they won't is somewhat of an insult to the group of players they had the last two years.

[lordswing]

VT's gotta be the favorites at this point to win the conference, they have a sick RB group.

[HoldEmHook!!]

IMO Vtech is hands down the favorite to win the ACC.....they return everyone from a sophomore dominated team.......Fla. will be in re-build mode so there will be equality in the SEC east like never before....Dont be surprised if Geo finds some defense that they could challenge, South Carolina could find some consistancy at qb and possibly challenge.....Tenn. has the makings of contending team with a good defense and a running game to go with the potential of much better qb play. The big 12 is a crap shoot.....Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska depending on how the ball bounces....Bama is the clear favorite to win the SEC west. Oregon is poised to repeat as pac 10 champs....Ohio St. above and away the favorite to win the big 10......The big east is another one that is wide open, Pitt. W.va or Cinn. and always there will always be the Boise, TCU, or Utahs of the world in the mix.....should Boise beat Vtech and Ore St. and go undefeated that will surely throw a wrench into everything.....I dont think Boise beats Vtech and that will be hushed for at least a year. No matter how it pans out I for one cant wait for college football to start. IMO it is the greatest sport season in the world....The BCS championship will be (drum roll please).......The University of Alabama v/s Ohio St. and the winner is ...............Alabama 34 Ohio St. 13......Wooooo Hooooo (Dont forget this is my post)

[RJ89]

Way too early, but here's my predictions:

ACC: Georgia Tech over FSU. (It seems the top 4 teams will all be in the same division with VT, GT, Miami, and UNC all returning many starters. I like GT since most of the ACC defenses look suspect and will have trouble stopping the option, but VT and Miami could easily win.)

Big East: Connecticut. (This is easily the most wide-open BCS conference. WVU and Pitt have the most returning talent, but UConn isn't too far behind and they are the best coached team in the league now that Brian Kelly is gone. They should be much improved on defense and I give them a really good shot to win the league. I think they are a great for a small bet to win the conference at anything +800 or above which we'll probably be able to get. Cincy will have a good offense and can't be completely counted out, Rutgers will beat some teams, and USF will have a shot if we get a decent coach like Skip Holtz.)

Big 12: Nebraska over Texas. (I still like Texas over Oklahoma in the South, because Texas's secondary looks great and they should be ok on offense. Nebraska should win in the rematch in the championship game if their offense is better, and it's got to improve doesn't it?)

Big Ten: Ohio St. (Iowa should be Ohio St.'s top competition, but I'm don't think their defense will be quite as good as it was this year. Wisconsin could be a surprise team.)

Pac Ten: Oregon. (This league could come down to the Civil War again. USC also has a shot.)

SEC: Alabama over anyone is the SEC East. (Arkansas is a sleeper in what should be a much more competitive league. I like Alabama to win, but I would be shocked if they went undefeated. Florida has a ton of talent, but loses almost all of their leadership so the East looks wide open.)

Mountain West (best non-BCS conference by far): TCU

Championship Game: Ohio St. over Boise St. (This game would be a classic. I think Boise St. runs the table and that should be good enough to get to the championship since they will start in the top 10. They get the benefit of playing Oregon St. in September when they usually are weakest and they'll be working in a new QB. I also think they will beat VT, thanks to their underrated defense and an offense that doesn't make too many mistakes.)


Random prediction: The SEC will change their position and support a playoff once a one-loss Alabama is passed over for Boise St in the championship game.

[The DiB]

I'm not sure if I can trust Georgia Tech's defense enough to pencil them in as ACC champs. They weren't impressive by any means last year, even giving up 31 to Vandy. Not to mention they also lose Morgan. Will be interesting to see if Al Groh can fix up that group.

Their schedule also gets tougher this year, having to play @ Virginia Tech, @ Clemson, and @ UNC.

With all that, I think VT is the favorite in the Coastal. VT brings back too much offensively, and you know Bud Foster will have that defense ready.

[rwsmith]

Great points..all around...except I dont really see florida making it this year

[The DiB]

Also not in love with the Ohio State picks. They have to go to Wisconsin and to Iowa, both who will be in the race for the Big 10. Keep in mind Iowa was without Ricky Stanzi last year when they almost upset Ohio State @ the Shoe.

[BigdaddyQH]

Boise State is going to start with a top 3 ranking. If they run the table, and either no team, or just one team goes undefeated, they will be in the BCS Title game. The BCS faces total destrouction at the hands of the Federal Governmnet if they refuse to include Boise State in the Big Game. With all the flack they took in 2008, they can not afford to ignore another undefeated team again for a 1 loss team.

I also agree that Ohio State will lose at least one game, and maybe more. Miami has a decent shot at beating them in Columbus. Then there are the two away games at Wisconsin and at Iowa. Ohio State also has a tendency to lose a game they should win, ala Purdue last season and Illinois in 2007. There are just too many "if's" for me to take this team.

Since this thread first came out, Oregon has lost QB Massoli, their AD, and RB James for the opener. Losing James for the opener is no big deal in itself, but just goes to show the chaos in this program. With games at USC, Cal, and Oregon State, I am not so sure than Oregon is the pick in the Pac 10 now. Oregon State hosts both USC and Oregon, and USC had a tremendous draft and could be very tough this season.

In the SEC East, Tennessee has lost a ton of talent since we first posted in this thread. It now appears that the winner of the Florida-Georgia game will win the SEC East. If UGA can keep their QB healthy, and get a little help on the d-line, they could be tough.

I'm still leaning towards OU in the Big 12, but this will be very tight. Nebraska will obviously have the best defense in the conference, but their offense is very questionable. I also wonder if they can defeat both OU and Texas, or possibly Texas twice in one season.

[Kustac]

Great points..all around...except I dont really see florida making it this year

well said, enjoyed the thread as well

[HoldEmHook!!]

One thing we all can agree is cant wait for the season to start

[BigdaddyQH]

I think the major question is which team is going to be able to keep their players healthy and out of trouble this summer. At the rate these guys are getting arrested, wo kows what could happen to any team.

[Daniel Green]

Nebraska is a lock for the big 12

[BigdaddyQH]

Nebraska is a lock for the big 12

I would agree except that I am not sure if they can defeat Texas twice, or Texas and OU, though a loss to Texas should not affect their winning the North. I would not sell Mizzou short, but the other 4 have no chance.

[chiefw]

ACC: FSU
Big 12: Texas
Big 10: Iowa
Big East: CT
Pac 10: Cal
SEC: LSU

[BigdaddyQH]

Cal in the Pac 10. Now there is an intersting pick. And LSU in the SEC is very interesting. Any paticular reasons for these two picks?

[Cougsky17]

If Boise Junior College takes down VaTech and Oregon State(who is a 9-win team this year IMO), they will run the table and not be jumped by a 1-loss team for the MNC game.

This is the best shot they'll have. Bama should win the SEC again, and all the other conferences have a lot of parity at the top so there may not be any BCS schools that are undefeated after the conference money games.

So I think Bama vs BJC is a good prediction

[frankzig]

some intresting points

[Robber]

hmmm vt for acc