BAMAPHIN 22
FinHeaven Elite
The following are dark-horse picks for conference titles from Sports Illustrated:
ACC: The most common preseason picks figure to be Virginia Tech, Miami or Florida State. My dark horse: Clemson.The Tigers won five of their last six to end '04, including a victory at Miami. They return one of the nation's most experienced QBs, Charlie Whitehurst, who will be playing in a new, more passer-friendly spread offense installed by ex-Toledo coordinator Rob Spence. Clemson's defense was already fairly tough and has veterans sprinkled throughout. And it gets both Miami and Florida State at home while missing Virginia Tech.
Big East: Louisville and Pittsburgh are the overriding picks here, and it's hard to argue with either of them. My dark horse: Don't laugh -- Rutgers. This is the make-or-break team Greg Schiano has been building for five years and has some of the conference's best offensive weapons (QB Ryan Hart, WR Tres Moses, FB Brian Leonard). The defense needs to improve dramatically, but there's finally experience. Just reaching a bowl, of course, is the more reasonable goal for the Scarlet Knights.
Big 12: You know the drill -- Texas or Oklahoma, Oklahoma or Texas. My dark horse: Texas Tech. You know the Red Raiders' offense will be powerful, because it always is, but for once, they have the potential for a solid defense, with seven starters returning from a unit that improved from 106th to 46th in the nation last year. Tech plays at Texas, but gets Oklahoma and Texas A&M at home and misses Colorado, Missouri and Iowa State from the North.
Pac-10: I suppose any team other than USC is considered a dark horse, but we'll put Cal and Arizona State in the "obvious" category as well. My dark horse: Oregon. The Ducks, who will be changing to a Utah-like offensive scheme this year, have experience at quarterback (Kellen Clemens), tailback and receiver in addition to a strong D-line. Oregon hosts the Trojans in Eugene on Sept. 24, perhaps just early enough to catch them before they hit full stride (USC lost to Cal and barely survived Stanford in their past two Pac-10 openers).
SEC: Tennessee, LSU and Florida are considered the favorites, and recent champs Georgia and Auburn are too obvious. My dark horse: Alabama. The Tide return nine starters from the nation's second-ranked defense and a veteran backfield (QB Brodie Croyle, RBs Ken Darby and Tim Castille), and their only truly formidable road game is the season-ender at Auburn. Of course, the jury's still out on Mike Shula, and 'Bama would probably have to beat someone pretty darn good in the title game.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/stewart_mandel/07/19/cfb.mailbag/index.html
ACC: The most common preseason picks figure to be Virginia Tech, Miami or Florida State. My dark horse: Clemson.The Tigers won five of their last six to end '04, including a victory at Miami. They return one of the nation's most experienced QBs, Charlie Whitehurst, who will be playing in a new, more passer-friendly spread offense installed by ex-Toledo coordinator Rob Spence. Clemson's defense was already fairly tough and has veterans sprinkled throughout. And it gets both Miami and Florida State at home while missing Virginia Tech.
Big East: Louisville and Pittsburgh are the overriding picks here, and it's hard to argue with either of them. My dark horse: Don't laugh -- Rutgers. This is the make-or-break team Greg Schiano has been building for five years and has some of the conference's best offensive weapons (QB Ryan Hart, WR Tres Moses, FB Brian Leonard). The defense needs to improve dramatically, but there's finally experience. Just reaching a bowl, of course, is the more reasonable goal for the Scarlet Knights.
Big 12: You know the drill -- Texas or Oklahoma, Oklahoma or Texas. My dark horse: Texas Tech. You know the Red Raiders' offense will be powerful, because it always is, but for once, they have the potential for a solid defense, with seven starters returning from a unit that improved from 106th to 46th in the nation last year. Tech plays at Texas, but gets Oklahoma and Texas A&M at home and misses Colorado, Missouri and Iowa State from the North.
Pac-10: I suppose any team other than USC is considered a dark horse, but we'll put Cal and Arizona State in the "obvious" category as well. My dark horse: Oregon. The Ducks, who will be changing to a Utah-like offensive scheme this year, have experience at quarterback (Kellen Clemens), tailback and receiver in addition to a strong D-line. Oregon hosts the Trojans in Eugene on Sept. 24, perhaps just early enough to catch them before they hit full stride (USC lost to Cal and barely survived Stanford in their past two Pac-10 openers).
SEC: Tennessee, LSU and Florida are considered the favorites, and recent champs Georgia and Auburn are too obvious. My dark horse: Alabama. The Tide return nine starters from the nation's second-ranked defense and a veteran backfield (QB Brodie Croyle, RBs Ken Darby and Tim Castille), and their only truly formidable road game is the season-ender at Auburn. Of course, the jury's still out on Mike Shula, and 'Bama would probably have to beat someone pretty darn good in the title game.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/stewart_mandel/07/19/cfb.mailbag/index.html
