| 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 teamsthat I think will surprise this year... some positively, some not.Bear in mind that these writeups are EARLY LOOKS and are not yetofficial plays.
Early Game Previews and Observations
9/3/05 Boise State @ Georgia -6
Dan Hawkins is on par with the most innovative coaches in collegefootball, but doesn't get nearly the recognition that Urban Meyerand Pete Carroll do. He is able to recruit the talent that manyschools reject and mold them into great teams. Offensively, BoiseState is on par with Louisville and other high scoring programs.They will face a great opportunity to garner national attentionwhen they open the season with a trip "between the hedges" inAthens to face a traditional SEC powerhouse in the Georgia Bulldogs.
Boise will return QB Jared Zabransky and 15 additional starterson both sides of the ball, eight on each side. They have a solidreceiving corps and a terrific TE in Derek Schouman, who led theteam with an average of 19 yards per catch, so he can stretchthe defense. The Broncos will have some plays that will move theball on Georgia and if they can jump out to an early lead, theymay be able to steal a W in a very tough road stadium. Their biggestproblem matching up with the Dawgs will be against the massiveGeorgia offensive line, anchored by Max Jean-Gilles at 6'4" and340 pounds. Max could have decalred early for the NFL Draft andbeen 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 defensivefront, especially with Georgia breaking in new QB D.J. Shockley.The Dawgs lost a lot of talent to the NFL this year, but it isgenerally recognized that the SEC has the best athletes top tobottom of any football conference in the NCAA.
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I expect the Bulldogsto impose their size advantage early and often, controlloing theclock and keeping Boise State's powerful offense off the fieldas much as possible. If the Broncos fall behind early and Geogiacan run the ball with consistency, it will be difficult for Zabranskyand Coach Hawkins to play from behind in a hostile environment.Boise will need to get out early by a couple of TD's and takecontrol the game by forcing Georgia to throw, where they havelittle experience with the new wideouts under game conditions.It will take a supreme effort to conquer the Georgia 21-1 non-conferencerecord under Mark Richt... especially in Athens. One thing thatmight be in their favor is the 5-2 record ats as an underdog and16-9 ats record on an away or neutral field since 2001 under CoachHawkins.
9/1/05 Temple @ Arizona State -28
Temple was actually told to take their footballand go home by the Big East, which has made this downtrodden programa "Major" Independent for 2005. There has actually been some sentimentfor disbanding the program or dropping down to NCAA D1-AA. TheOwls lost the only two decent players they had to the NFL by earlyentry and they get booted from the Big east having lost 14 ofthe final 15 games they played. They could only manage 3 winsin the last two years combined and now play the 5th toughest schedulein 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 only5 offensive and 6 defensive starters returning, none of whom strikefear in opponent's hearts. They will have to go on the road inthe season opener and play a rejuvenated Sun Devil team in Tempein September, where the gametime temperature is likely to be inthe 90's even at 7pm PDT kickoff.
Coming off a 9-3 season and a win over Purduein the Sun Bowl, Sam Keller will be the starting QB after thevery impressive game he played in El Paso. He had little experienceplaying behind Andrew Walter but had his breakout game throwingfor 370 yards and 3 TD's against the Boilers. The Sun Devil offensewas 5th in the country in passing last season and scored 35 oftheir 41 TD's by air... and all four top wideouts return. Theoffensive line is deep, solid and will protect Keller extremelywell. Dirk Koetter is another offensive guru in the class of Meyerand Hawkins. The running game was the weak spot last year butobviously isn't the strength of a team that is a "throw first"philosophy base. With 15 returning starters, footballs will fillthe 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 lackof skill players that they have, this one could get ugly earlyand often. It will be hard to find a single game that Temple canlook at as a potential "W" this year. I may lay the four touchdownsin what should be a romp in the desert for a Sun Devil squad thatis 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 seemsto 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 greatweekend and let's win some NFLX to build that bankroll for thefirst week of NCAA...
Best Regards,
Mychal
Advantage Sports
(877)NFL-NCAA (toll free)
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