Spring is here and so is college football

While the NFL is still battling on labor issues with its players, college programs started spring practice.  These practices symbolize that football is in full spring on college campuses.  Most programs culminate the spring training session of 15 practices with a big intra-squad scrimmage.  They are usually dubbed by the schools colors.  For example, Florida has the “Orange and Blue” game every spring.  At The University of Michigan, it is simply, “Michigan Spring Game.”

At some universities the scrimmage is just an open practice that allows students, alumni and fans to see the team run plays.  At the larger programs, it has become just as big as the first home game with all of the fanfare, tailgating and display of school pride that you see in the fall.  Last year, the Florida Gators attracted close to 51,000 fans to their scrimmage.  Ohio State packed over 65,000 fans in the Horseshoe to see them last spring.

These scrimmages provide a good snapshot at the team’s development as they transition from last season.  How is the new coach directing the team?  Are players buying into the new coach’s message?  How does the offense or defense look after losing several players to graduation and/or the NFL draft?  Who will be the starting quarterback?  These are some of the questions that fans look to get answers for watching the spring game.

A lot has happened since the BCS Championship game.  Here are a couple of spring games that I think are noteworthy.

1.     Auburn – The Tigers lost the foundation and strength of their offense to the NFL Draft.  How they will replace the speed, rushing yards and size of Cam Newton will be interesting.

2.     Nebraska – This will be the Cornhuskers first scrimmage as a member of the Big Ten.  They were the Big 12 North Champions last year, but everyone is curious to see how they will fare in the oldest football conference.

3.     Ohio State – With Terrelle Pryor and Head Coach Jim Tressel out for the first five games of the season, fans will want to see how the backups fill in.

4.     Michigan – After three years of being embarrassed on the gridiron, the wolverines have a “Michigan Man” back at the helm of the program.  Head Coach, Brady Hoke, has one mission - restore greatness back to college’s most winningest program.  He has been clear about his expectations to win Big Ten titles and beat Ohio State.  All eyes will be on Michigan Stadium on April 16 to see the strides that he is making.

Get information on every school’s spring practice schedule.

Ciao!

 Heels & Helmets®

College football is here!

It’s August and college football is here!  Over the weekend, college football programs opened camped and the USA TODAY Coaches’ Poll released its 2010 Preseason Top 25.  Here are the teams that the 59 head coaches on the USA TODAY Board of Coaches voted to be on the 2010 preseason poll. 

Aug. 6 2010 preseason poll
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	2009 record	Points	Final 2009 rank
1.	Alabama (55)	14-0	1,469	1
2.	Ohio State (4)	11-2	1,392	5
3.	Florida	13-1	1,245	3
4.	Texas	13-1	1,240	2
5.	Boise State	14-0	1,215	4
6.	Virginia Tech	10-3	1,052	10
7.	TCU	12-1	1,051	6
8.	Oklahoma	8-5	1,035	NR
9.	Nebraska	10-4	1,001	14
10.	Iowa	11-2	952	7
11.	Oregon	10-3	940	11
12.	Wisconsin	10-3	778	16
13.	Miami (Fla.)	9-4	728	19
14.	Penn State	11-2	508	8
15.	Pittsburgh	10-3	492	15
16.	LSU	9-4	476	17
17.	Georgia Tech	11-3	455	13
18.	North Carolina	8-5	445	NR
19.	Arkansas	8-5	438	NR
20.	Florida State	7-6	374	NR
21.	Georgia	8-5	312	NR
22.	Oregon State	8-5	263	NR
23.	Auburn	8-5	260	NR
24t.	Utah	10-3	169	18
24t.	West Virginia	9-4	169	22

With the preseason poll out, I want to give some thoughts on the top three teams and their quest to play in the BCS title game on January 10, 2011.

1. Rollin’ with the Tide – The University of Alabama Crimson Tide (#1), 2009 National Football Champions, have one goal: University of Phoenix Stadium to defend their title.  From the preseason poll, it looks like the majority of the coaches think that they have the talent to accomplish this goal.  They have a solid foundation on offense.  Starting quarterback, Greg McElroy is 14-0 as a starter at Alabama.  Plus, they return a powerful and fast running back duo in Mark Ingram (2009 Heisman winner) and Trent Richardson.  However, as Head Coach Nick Saban admits the preseason poll is all about what a team did last year.  This year is a new year.  Saban’s challenge getting Alabama back to the BCS title game is an inexperienced defense.  The Crimson Tide lost 14 defensive players to the 2010 NFL Draft.  The defense was key to keeping Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators to just 13 points in the 2009 SEC Championship Game.  This offense will put up some points, but remember defense wins championships.  

2. No Consistency in Columbus – The Ohio State University Buckeyes (#2) is the highest ranked school representing the Big 10 in the poll.  Quarterback, Terrelle Pryor has a decent arm and leads the team in rushing, but he has not shown any consistency to demonstrate that he will do anything great.  The Buckeyes passing game was ranked 103rd last year.  That is not the performance of a Heisman quarterback and national championship offense.  As a result, Iowa (#10), Wisconsin (#12) and Penn State (#14) could easily challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten Conference Championship and a spot in the BCS title game.  Iowa will play all three schools.  While Wisconsin and Penn State will both play Ohio State, they will not play each other.  This could make things tricky if they have similar records with victories over Ohio State.  (A Big 10 Conference Championship game can’t start fast enough.)  On the other hand, if Pryor avoids 9 interceptions in 13 games and is the guy that we saw against Oregon in the 2010 Rose Bowl all season, this will not be a conversation.  The scary part for Buckeye fans is that they could see the guy who was a disaster when Purdue upset them last year.

3. Life After Tebow – The University of Florida (#3) feel that the 2009 season was a disappointment.  The Florida Gators started the season as the defending National Champions ranked #1.   They held on to this spot until they suffered their first and only loss of the season to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.   This cost them the opportunity to play for a back-to-back championship.  The Gators want to avenge last season, but it is going to be difficult.  They are starting over after the “Tim Tebow Years” and beginning a season without any returning All-American players since 2007.  The young man who is now leading the Gators at the quarterback position, John Brantley, has never started a game; but he did spend three years behind one the best quarterbacks to play at Florida.  Now we’ll see if Brantley learned enough job-shadowing Tebow to get the Gators back to a BCS title game.

Looking at the top three teams, I think that Nick Saban will get his defense together during camp and play in the BCS title game for the second consecutive year.  Let's see how they handle their SEC match-up against Florida on October 2.  You also have to be leery of Boise State (#5) because they always have some tricks up their sleeves.

Ciao!

Heels & Helmets