| With 119 NCAA Division 1-A teams playing football,
it will not be possible to provide a full writeup for every team...
instead, I chose to focus on some key early games and a few teams
that I think will surprise this year... some positively, some not.
Bear in mind that these writeups are EARLY LOOKS and are not yet
official plays.
Early Game Previews and Observations
9/3/05 Boise State @ Georgia -6
Dan Hawkins is on par with the most innovative coaches in college
football, but doesn't get nearly the recognition that Urban Meyer
and Pete Carroll do. He is able to recruit the talent that many
schools reject and mold them into great teams. Offensively, Boise
State is on par with Louisville and other high scoring programs.
They will face a great opportunity to garner national attention
when they open the season with a trip "between the hedges" in
Athens to face a traditional SEC powerhouse in the Georgia Bulldogs.
Boise will return QB Jared Zabransky and 15 additional starters
on both sides of the ball, eight on each side. They have a solid
receiving corps and a terrific TE in Derek Schouman, who led the
team with an average of 19 yards per catch, so he can stretch
the defense. The Broncos will have some plays that will move the
ball on Georgia and if they can jump out to an early lead, they
may be able to steal a W in a very tough road stadium. Their biggest
problem matching up with the Dawgs will be against the massive
Georgia offensive line, anchored by Max Jean-Gilles at 6'4" and
340 pounds. Max could have decalred early for the NFL Draft and
been a very high pick but decided to return for his senior season.
The Dawgs' O-Line averages well over 300 pounds and all are experienced.
This will create a problem for Boise State's smallish defensive
front, especially with Georgia breaking in new QB D.J. Shockley.
The Dawgs lost a lot of talent to the NFL this year, but it is
generally recognized that the SEC has the best athletes top to
bottom of any football conference in the NCAA.
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I expect the Bulldogs
to impose their size advantage early and often, controlloing the
clock and keeping Boise State's powerful offense off the field
as much as possible. If the Broncos fall behind early and Geogia
can run the ball with consistency, it will be difficult for Zabransky
and Coach Hawkins to play from behind in a hostile environment.
Boise will need to get out early by a couple of TD's and take
control the game by forcing Georgia to throw, where they have
little experience with the new wideouts under game conditions.
It will take a supreme effort to conquer the Georgia 21-1 non-conference
record under Mark Richt... especially in Athens. One thing that
might be in their favor is the 5-2 record ats as an underdog and
16-9 ats record on an away or neutral field since 2001 under Coach
Hawkins.
9/1/05 Temple @ Arizona State -28
Temple was actually told to take their football
and go home by the Big East, which has made this downtrodden program
a "Major" Independent for 2005. There has actually been some sentiment
for disbanding the program or dropping down to NCAA D1-AA. The
Owls lost the only two decent players they had to the NFL by early
entry and they get booted from the Big east having lost 14 of
the final 15 games they played. They could only manage 3 wins
in the last two years combined and now play the 5th toughest schedule
in the country, with road games at ASU, Wisconsin, Bowling Green,
Clemson, Virginia and home vs. Miami, FL and Maryland plus Toledo.
Not looking good for Bobby Wallace's squad, especially with only
5 offensive and 6 defensive starters returning, none of whom strike
fear in opponent's hearts. They will have to go on the road in
the season opener and play a rejuvenated Sun Devil team in Tempe
in September, where the gametime temperature is likely to be in
the 90's even at 7pm PDT kickoff.
Coming off a 9-3 season and a win over Purdue
in the Sun Bowl, Sam Keller will be the starting QB after the
very impressive game he played in El Paso. He had little experience
playing behind Andrew Walter but had his breakout game throwing
for 370 yards and 3 TD's against the Boilers. The Sun Devil offense
was 5th in the country in passing last season and scored 35 of
their 41 TD's by air... and all four top wideouts return. The
offensive line is deep, solid and will protect Keller extremely
well. Dirk Koetter is another offensive guru in the class of Meyer
and Hawkins. The running game was the weak spot last year but
obviously isn't the strength of a team that is a "throw first"
philosophy base. With 15 returning starters, footballs will fill
the air in Arizona and temple will be hard pressed to keep up.
Unless the Owls can find a way to score at least 17 with the lack
of skill players that they have, this one could get ugly early
and often. It will be hard to find a single game that Temple can
look at as a potential "W" this year. I may lay the four touchdowns
in what should be a romp in the desert for a Sun Devil squad that
is loaded and has had eight months to prep for a very weak team.
I don't like laying DD's in early NCAA play, but this game seems
to warrant it.
Upcoming looks will include:
9/2/05 Arizona +7 @ Utah
9/3/05 Notre Dame +4 @ Pitt
Washington -2 vs. Air Force
UAB +24 @ Tennessee
Texas A&M PK @ Clemson
Florida -22 vs. Wyoming
Kansas -19 vs. FAU
N. Texas + 32 vs. LSU
UTEP -11 @ New Mexico State
Until next week, have a great
weekend and let's win some NFLX to build that bankroll for the
first week of NCAA...
Best Regards,
Mychal
Advantage Sports
(877)NFL-NCAA (toll free)
www.AdvantageSports1.com
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