2012 NCAA Football Thread

[borromini]

Here we go...it's that time of year where anticipation starts climbing toward those Saturday kick-offs...and without further ado, here's this year's CFB questions for our HDF members:

• Will USC survive a season with a DL that lacks depth and win the Pac 12 title?
• Penn State has so far lost 9 players to transfers…predict their W/L record for 2012?
• Cowboys lost much to graduation and probably won’t snatch the Big 12 title…will it be Oklahoma or Texas as conference champ?
• Is Michigan’s preseason ranking of #8 in the coaches poll correct? Can they win the B1G title, if not who?
• Will anyone from the B1G conference vie for the national title?
• Reusing verbatim a question from last year…who wins the Big East and can that team win a BCS bowl?
• Everyone knows the SEC West will be won by either Alabama or LSU, but who will win the SEC East?
• Another preseason Top 10 team with a duplicate question from last year…is Florida State really back to dominating college football?
• Year 3 has historically been a crucial barometer for Notre Dame coaches and this will be Brian Kelly’s third. Will he get 8 or more wins with what ESPN says is the toughest schedule in the country?
• It’s our second to last season using the BCS formula. Who will be the non AQ programs to get to a BCS Bowl bid…Boise State, TCU, or ...?
• Who’s your Heisman pick?
• The new HCs taking over successful or moderately successful programs are Paul Chryst (Pitt), Mike Leach (WSU), John L. Smith (Arkansas) and Rich Rodrigues (Arizona). Of these, which one is most likely to trip and falter?
• Which “hot-seat” coach is most likely to get fired: Joker Phillips (Kentucky), Frank Spaziani (Boston College), Derek Dooley (Tennessee), Mike Riley (Oregon State), Randy Edsall (Maryland)?
• And the usual last but not least question...who wins the title this year?

[drock912001]

I think Mike Leach can make WSU relevant out West if they pick up his system quick enough.John L. Williams will struggle at Arkansas he has some big shoes to fill.Derek Dooley will get fired and so will Brian Kelly he never have the same level of success he had at Cincy.

[borromini]

Disagree about B. Kelly getting fired. That won't happen in his 3rd year with the toughest schedule in the country. They'll give him 5 years to have a breakout season.

[drbrosco]

thanks for the questinnaire Borromini as you know I am a HUGE fan of your pre season questions & will try to get them filled out today or tomorrow.

also if anyone else is interested me & lsilvest is gonna be doing the Yahoo College Football picks together this year & looking for any other challengers, as it will be some good clean fun picking the games each week.
I will post a link soon as i get it started.

[borromini]

I'm in...just let us know when it's ready...

[borromini]

Tyrann Mathieu kicked off of the #1 preseason team. Some kids just never learn from their mistakes. He failed his 3rd drug test.

[drbrosco]

ok i got this college picks on yahoo started......i made it private so you will need the password.

GROUP NAME: HDF College Football Pix

GROUP ID#: 7759

PASSWORD: bluray

if you have any trouble joining it then just give me your email address in my inbox & I will send you the link via email.

EDIT: ok i took the link i posted here out cause it only makes you go back to main page....so when you go to the main page for Yahoo college pick em, you just click on join & on right side it gives you the opton to enter the group # & password & you should be good to go.


I was not sure what you guys wanted to do aas far as details so i picked the following(if you guys dont like them i can try to change it if it lets me)
1. we pick Yahoo's select games plus any AP Top 25 games each week

2. we pick against the spread

3. we use confidence points to rank how confident we are in each pick

And its up to you guys but i surely dont care of you want to invite a friend, family, coworker ect. as there should be plenty of room i would think as we probably only have me, lsilvest, borromini for sure & I will ask war eagle & sobay.

well good luck finishing 2nd fellas!

[drbrosco]

Originally Posted by borromini

Here we go...it's that time of year where anticipation starts climbing toward those Saturday kick-offs...and without further ado, here's this year's CFB questions for our HDF members:

• Will USC survive a season with a DL that lacks depth and win the Pac 12 title? USC will win the PAC 12 easily
• Penn State has so far lost 9 players to transfers…predict their W/L record for 2012? 1-11
• Cowboys lost much to graduation and probably won’t snatch the Big 12 title…will it be Oklahoma or Texas as conference champ? Oklahoma because Landry has HUGE bounceback season
• Is Michigan’s preseason ranking of #8 in the coaches poll correct? Can they win the B1G title, if not who? being a OSU fan it is hard to say this but YES Michigan wins Big 10
• Will anyone from the B1G conference vie for the national title? Michigan definitely has a shot
• Reusing verbatim a question from last year…who wins the Big East and can that team win a BCS bowl? Louisville & USF are faves everywhere but I am taking the the high octane offense of Cincinnati, yes a hometown pick but this conference is so wide open & 6-7 have a legit shot imo
• Everyone knows the SEC West will be won by either Alabama or LSU, but who will win the SEC East? i am going with S. Carolina as Spurrier has them playin a bit of defense! & Lattimore is supposedly 100% & thats huge.
• Another preseason Top 10 team with a duplicate question from last year…is Florida State really back to dominating college football? While i think they have a very, very good team & should win 10+ games i believe "dominating" is too strong of a word to apply to this team yet. So I have to say no
• Year 3 has historically been a crucial barometer for Notre Dame coaches and this will be Brian Kelly’s third. Will he get 8 or more wins with what ESPN says is the toughest schedule in the country? you nailed this by choosing 8 but i will say 9 wins for ND this season.....for me the big problem is they cant settle on a QB, if they do & stick with it they may do alot better than most think they will.
• It’s our second to last season using the BCS formula. Who will be the non AQ programs to get to a BCS Bowl bid…Boise State, TCU, or ...? I say NONE get a bid...too many very good "big boy" teams
• Who’s your Heisman pick? Matt Barkley
• The new HCs taking over successful or moderately successful programs are Paul Chryst (Pitt), Mike Leach (WSU), John L. Smith (Arkansas) and Rich Rodrigues (Arizona). Of these, which one is most likely to trip and falter? Defintely going with Smith at Ark.
• Which “hot-seat” coach is most likely to get fired: Joker Phillips (Kentucky), Frank Spaziani (Boston College), Derek Dooley (Tennessee), Mike Riley (Oregon State), Randy Edsall (Maryland)? this is more of a guess but i am going with Dooley since UT fans expect to be in the title contender talk & its not happening this year
• And the usual last but not least question...who wins the title this year?

USC.......the Trojans are so loaded & Barkley should be in the NFL starting now....schedule isnt that tough but they will man handle all foes even in the title game as no LSU or Bama defenses will stop this offensive powerhouse.

Thanks for the questions Borromini as they were as fun to answer as ever!!!!

[lsilvest]

Originally Posted by drbrosco

USC.......the Trojans are so loaded & Barkley should be in the NFL starting now....schedule isnt that tough but they will man handle all foes even in the title game as no LSU or Bama defenses will stop this offensive powerhouse.

Thanks for the questions Borromini as they were as fun to answer as ever!!!!

All signed up on Yahoo.

I agree on USC, as much as I dislike Kiffin. There's no defensive backfield in the country that is equipped to stop Lee and Woods. They only need an average running game to help keep defenses honest.

I think what'll be interesting is how the newcomers to the SEC and Big 12 fare.

I don't think there will be any AQ qualifiers this year. TCU is in the Big 12 and Boise is really an unknown commodity but we'll find out quick about them with their first game at Michigan State. If they win that one it'll really set off some quakes in the rankings.

Hope you're wrong on Dooley - he's the kind of guy that college football needs, especially after the bad apples we've seen the last couple of years.

You're probably right on Smith at Arkansas, but I'm rootin' for that blowhard RichRod to tank.

[drbrosco]

Originally Posted by lsilvest

All signed up on Yahoo.

I agree on USC, as much as I dislike Kiffin. There's no defensive backfield in the country that is equipped to stop Lee and Woods. They only need an average running game to help keep defenses honest.

I think what'll be interesting is how the newcomers to the SEC and Big 12 fare.

I don't think there will be any AQ qualifiers this year. TCU is in the Big 12 and Boise is really an unknown commodity but we'll find out quick about them with their first game at Michigan State. If they win that one it'll really set off some quakes in the rankings.

Hope you're wrong on Dooley - he's the kind of guy that college football needs, especially after the bad apples we've seen the last couple of years.

You're probably right on Smith at Arkansas, but I'm rootin' for that blowhard RichRod to tank.

Yea I would like to see Dooley around for awhile too as i said it was mostly a guess on that question.....he does have some very good offensive players on that team with QB Bray, WR Rodgers & another WR who is better than Rodgers but i cant think of his name.....i followed them a bit more once Oblioman started posting about Bray & those WR's last year plus i went & grabbed them on my fantasy team & they were a big help til Bray got hurt.....
So maybe that wasnt a very good guess lol

speaking of Oblioman I hope he shows up here soon to chime in on the season....anybody talked to him lately???

[lsilvest]

Need a favor from any of you who have DirecTV. They haven't picked up the new Pac-12 network yet, still in "negotiations". I called yesterday to put in my 2cents with the programming department and they were very receptive and did reinforce that calls do help. Even gave me the sports package for a month free (I was already thinking about adding it for the season anyway).

If you have a minute would appreciate your giving them a call and asking to have it picked up. I did state, truthfully, that when it comes to renewal time, having this channel would make my renewal decision easier.

Was wondering about Oblio also, but I haven't seen him post anywhere else on the forums either and he used to be on a couple of them regularly.

[drbrosco]

Originally Posted by lsilvest

Need a favor from any of you who have DirecTV. They haven't picked up the new Pac-12 network yet, still in "negotiations". I called yesterday to put in my 2cents with the programming department and they were very receptive and did reinforce that calls do help. Even gave me the sports package for a month free (I was already thinking about adding it for the season anyway).

If you have a minute would appreciate your giving them a call and asking to have it picked up. I did state, truthfully, that when it comes to renewal time, having this channel would make my renewal decision easier.

Was wondering about Oblio also, but I haven't seen him post anywhere else on the forums either and he used to be on a couple of them regularly.

I asked D* about the PAC12 network & was told the same thing they tell everyone i'm sure......"right now D* is in discussions with the Pac 12 network but no decisions have been made.....they are hoping to have something done by the start of the season"

I know this isn't what you want but I have always found it odd that here in SW Ohio on Fox Sports Cincinnati that we get 1-2 games from the Pac 12 every week of the season & I love that. A big thing for me about that is I am a late nite person & love those games that start LIVE at 10 or 11PM our time.

I don't order the sports pack because my favorite 2 teams, Ohio State & Notre Dame are on every single week no matter what.
OSU is always covered by the BIG 10 network if they are not on nationally & ND of course is on nationally every week.
Plus between the options given by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, CBS College Sports Network, Fox Sports Cincy, Star 64(we get the SEC channel locally because of Kentucky on Star64), TBS, Versus & the major networks I have so many options to choose from starting at 12 noon til late at night every single week I am in College FB heaven!....so I cant justify paying for the sports pack for myself, & I also dont understand why people buy ESPN's college game plan as I look at the schedule every week & it is pretty lame imo.

But even though we get a ton of football already I would love to see you get your wish & get the PAC 12 network as I love to watch those teams as well. Hopefully they will work it out in the next 2 weeks as D* is pretty good about that stuff for the most part as they know a huge part of their subscribers would love to see this happen..........And I may not be a fan of USC but they should be exciting to watch this season plus I am really hoping I get Matt Barkley with my #1 pick(6th overall) tonite in my college football fantasy league draft & would be awesome to see them every game this season.

[lsilvest]

I agree with you on the ESPN Game Plan - never have seen the value in that. I hope they get the Pac-12 network in as my CU Buffs are on it the 2nd game of the season. Only reason I was looking at the sports pack is last year FSN had about 3 of the CU games on that weren't on my regional FSN (but they were only in SD). Other than that, I think the Sports Pack is way overpriced and I thought they had NFL Red Zone in it but apparently they are only including that in the Sunday Ticket - that's the only thing that would make the price even close to feasible.

Until my team returns to some semblance of respectability, I'll be resigned to the lower tiers and ESPN3.

In previous years I was still watching games well into Sunday afternoon or evening when I only had 2 tuners on my cable/sat DVR (I have 5 tuners on my OTA antenna recording on my pc so I get all of the national games). This year with the HR34's 5 tuners I'll probably be watching games until Tuesday. I have to hibernate and stay off forums, though since I don't want to see the scores.

By the way, on your list of channels, you left of FX which is now showing games - in fact my Buffs are on there the first week.

My biggest disappointment is that I won't be able to get to any Air Force games this year. I always go to at least either the Navy or Army game, but just not healthy enough to do it this time around. These games are just awesome with the pageantry and the comraderie shown despite the rivalry. I've always felt this is what college football should really be about - the game and the sport. I've never left one of those games without somehow feeling uplifted.

[drbrosco]

Oh yeah I totally forgot about FX! I guess thats a good thing is there was so many to name I forgot one. lol

And I had for some reason forgot about you being a Colorado fan til you mentioned it just now....I always keep thinking your main team is Air Force.

[lsilvest]

Those were some of the best days in CU history when Kordell was there. He was a joy to watch. Don't know if you remember, but they stomped a mediocre ND team in the fiesta bowl, but ND shouldn't even have been in that game. CU deserved a better opponent - they were 10-1 with 5 games against top 25 teams (3 top 10). I was at that game, but by then was sick of seeing ND after 90 and 91.

Our current coaches are all from the McCartney era and we're hoping they can bring back that mojo.