2015 Preview SEC and ACC edition

My college football preview for 2015

So, today is August 17, 2015, which means we are less than a month away from the opening weekend. The next 3 weeks are full of trepidation for fans like me. A lot of time left for injuries and criminal behavior. Not just criminole…bunch of other thug teams out there. My daughter starts her freshman year of college at UT in Knoxville, where the Feds are conducting a big investigation into sexual misconduct….how is that for reassuring?

Back to football. Ohio State won it all last season, taking down Bama and Oregon on the CFB. The same buckie team that lost to Va Tech at home early, got on a serious roll and was simply the best team by far, in November, December and the Championship. I like the folks in Columbus, but I don’t like Urban Cryer. Problem is, they are stinking loaded. Everybody is back. The fact that they are poised to go back to back puts a serious bummer to my anticipation of the season! Add to that, the expectation that Notre Dame is supposed to be strong, and dang it… oh well I’ll have a couple of teams to root against all season long – nothing new there. I’ll close with my top whatever, but I want to start down south, where my roots are and where I completely biased, think we have the most fun with our football teams 

SEC West has been the beast for several years now and it appears they will continue to be much stronger than the East again in 2015. Alabama is loaded. Auburn is getting most of the preseason love. Ole Miss has all their chips in for this season, as half their roster will bolt for NFL come January. LSU is deep, and Arkansas was a team NOBODY wanted to see late last season. Miss State has the best returning QB, and Texas A&M can put up points on anybody. All 7 teams in the West are ranked in one of the preseason Top 25 polls. Auburn is the sexy pick, with promising QB and Muschamp calling the Defense. Me, I’m going with Alabama. Not exactly a high risk pick, but Saban is so stinking deep. Doesn’t matter who the QB is, they will be tough. I’m guessing Bama, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, A&M, LSU and Miss State. The Tide opens with Wisconsin and they better not take it lightly, the big10 (can’t count) is much improved…The other opener that the SEC West can’t sleep on is Auburn and Louisville. Cardinals are sneaky good. A&M plays Arizona State in another fantastic opening weekend Power 5 match up. Back to my projected order of finish, how crazy is it that I put the team with the best returning QB at the bottom, or LSU down at 6? Maybe it highlights how little I know about the upcoming season, or maybe it illustrates how competitive the SEC West really is. Other than laying some awful bowl game eggs last season, week in and week out, toughest division in the country. One other note on the East, Gus wears a visor all the time. He is the new offensive guru in a visor. Spurrier was the same in the 90’s down in the Swamp. The East. How many of us realize that Mizzou has owned the East for the last few seasons? For all the hype around Georgia, the Missouri Tigers have joined the SEC and DOMINATED the East. Well, dominated is over stating it, but not Georgia, or Florida or South Carolina or Tennessee, but the Tigers. And this season they have arguably the best returning QB in the East (Dobbs and that guy in Lexington may beg to differ). In 15, Georgia pulls Alabama and Auburn from the West. Ouch. The Vols get Bama and Arkansas, while Mizzu gets Miss St at home and closes the season at Arkansas. The good news for the East teams is that Vandy is horrible. It didn’t take long for the glow of the James Franklin revival to fade completely. Kentucky would be last in the West, although if they stay healthy, will likely embarrass one or two of the other East teams. Spoiler alert…

I’m picking Tennessee to win the East. Crazy I know, but who else? Georgia plays Alabama and then at Tennessee before coming back to Athens to host Mizzu. The winner of UT and UGA on 10/10 will win the East. Tennessee, Mizzu, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina and Vandy. Spurrier will be so disappointed that he will call it quits at the end of the season. BTW, Vandy will win TWO games, IF they can get by Middle Tennessee in the Boro. Another nugget about the East. I have no clue what Florida will do. New coach, not much in the way of skill position fire power, but still some really good players on that roster. Pains me to put them down at 4th in the East, but I suspect they will be up and down. Probably beat a couple teams that they shouldn’t yet lose to a couple as well. The Gator’s best QB is starting for NC State…Butch Jones has 10 offensive starters back from last year, and 8 on the defense. Only Vandy has 18 starters returning and well, who cares. Sorry to be so harsh on the Dores, but Mason is not the answer, if last year’s fiasco is any indication. They went from strong and ascending under Franklin to last in the SEC by a WIDE margin in just one season. Oh how I digress. Vols open in Nashville against Bowling Green. Sounds like a cup cake, but it is not. BG is the top team in the MAC, so it will be an opener against a bowl team. Next week the Oklahoma Sooners come to Knoxville. Certainly one of the most formidable opening set of games in the conference. IF the Vols win those 2, I will feel good about my selecting them to win the East. They have to keep Dobbs healthy…BTW, the dangerous game for UT is Arkansas. Sandwiched between FLORIDA (their nemesis for 10 years straight) and the oh so important Georgia game, is the big physical Hogs. When we took Autumn to move into UT, we walked past the ROCK, which has high prized recruits painted on it. Butch is creative. While mom and daughter fixed up the dorm room, I went to watch the Vols practice – me and 40,000 others! Wow. ACC time. While not near as passionate as the SEC, the ACC is partly southern football. FSU, Clemson, Ga Tech, Louisville, kind of southern. Clemson has to beat FSU this year, if they are ever going to prevail in the Atlantic (admit it, you were not sure were you!). I think the Coastal is the SEC West in the ACC. FSU, Clemson, NC State and Louisville could all prevail in the Coastal, or at least have a great shot. Louisville lost a bunch, so maybe I should back off them giving War Beagles much of a game in the opener…NC State is the dangerous team from this side.

I love Florida State, but I am glad Jameis is gone. Terrific football player, but…The Noles get Miami and Louisville at home, but have to go to Ga Tech and of course to Clemson. They play in the Swamp, but honestly this schedule should NOT have more than 2 losses worst case. Now, if they let that Notre Dame transfer throw tons of interceptions, well that will be nauseating. Really hard to forecast the Coastal. Georgia Tech or Va Tech will likely come out on top, although the BEST coach in the entire conference is David Cutcliffe, so Duke has a shot. OK, another BTW. I loathe Notre Dame. Their pseudo affiliation with the ACC allows them to play UVA, Ga Tech, Pitt, Wake Forest, Boston College and at Clemson. Only the Death Valley game will have any drama….geez!