NCAA Football 2007 Season (1 Viewer)

[Joseph Bolus]

One of the Auburn linebackers was senior Kevin Sears. He was held out of last year's Georgia and Wisconsin games due to the same transgression. The Auburn defense struggled mightily in both of those games.

The other linebacker was redshirt freshman Tray Blackmon. Blackmon, a Parade All-American recruit, had won the starting weak side LB job in the Spring.

In addition, Steve Gandy, who was recently moved from Safety to linebacker-presumably to help add depth to the position-hurt his right leg in two-a-days and is also out for the LSU game.

I'm not saying categorically that Auburn will lose to LSU (it's a home game for Auburn); but it will make it much more difficult without those big linebackers. The rest of the linebackers on their roster are lightening-quick, but lack the weight of a traditional linebacker.

(On the other hand, they are so good and so deep at DE this year that it may not matter ....!)

 

[John Alvarez]

I'm not liking what I'm reading........... ;(

1. Florida: In a word: brutal. The Gators have a nasty midseason stretch that features four of the big boys in a row starting with a Sept. 30 game against Alabama. In truth though, that visit from the Tide is a warm-up compared to what follows since LSU visits the Swamp the following week. Then the Gators visit Auburn before finishing off October against Georgia. Bookending all that are a pair of road trips against Florida's two archrivals, Tennessee and Florida State, both of which are in revenge mode after getting beaten by the Gators in '05. UF also has two other bowl teams on its slate in UCF and South Carolina, whose head coach knows a thing or two about winning in the Swamp.

 

[BradleyS.]

Well I'm still pulling for Texas. I think they still have a load of talent and should be fine if one of the young quarterbacks just plays smart. Their second game of the season against Ohio State will determine their BCS chances. If they squeak by in that game they shouldn't have any other problems except possibly Oklahoma. I see Texas, Ohio State, and Notre Dame as having a good shot at the title.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Yeah ... That's what I mean by the SEC teams all beating up on each other. Not even a mid-level NFL team could make it through that stretch unscathed! The "topper" is that even if by some miracle The Gators were able to make it through undefeated, *then* they'll have to play in a SEC Championship Game against (most likely) Auburn or LSU. So they'll be faced with the prospect of beating one of those teams twice during the season!! And then they could be "rewarded" for that herculean effort like Auburn was in 2004: Watching Notre Dame and Texas battle it out for the BCS Championship!

I tell ya': This sport needs some kind of real playoff!

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Texas will be good for sure, but we're going to lose to Ohio State, just because we have a freshman quarterback and it's what, the 2nd game of the season? Not downing our QB's at all, but our NC team with Vince just squeaked by them last year. It would make me damn proud to be a UT alum if we beat them though.

 

[BrettGallman]

A playoff system would be pretty easy to do, too. Just take the conference champions of the 6 (I think it's 6, anyway) BCS conferences, and then take the two highest ranked non-BCS teams in the country, and use the bowls to determine the winner. You would have to tweak a few things, like make ND and the other independents join a conference, but it makes sense to me.

What other sport do we have people say, "well, these two teams LOOK like the best two in the country, even though we have 1 or 2 other teams who have the SAME record," so we'll let them battle it out to determine the champion"?

 

[Michael Warner]

I'm hoping that my Michigan Wolverines can bounce back from last year's woeful season. We should know by the end of the day on 9/16.

On a sad note, this will be the first time since 1988 that I won't be attending a single UofM football game. Now that I'm on the West Coast I can't afford to fly back this year. I'm still keeping my season tickets (I've already sold the lot for this year) on the off chance that I wind up moving back east at some point.

 

[KevinGress]

I'd prefer the system to be based on the top X number of teams (X = 8, 16, whatever) in a BCS type ranking (both human and computer polls), where SOS and margin of victory is included. Now, if every conference HAD a championship game, then more than likely the top teams would be the conference champions, but often times the best teams are in the same league.

 

[BrettGallman]

Yeah, adding a championship game to each conference is another thing I'd add to make a playoff system work. One of the biggest arguments against a playoff system that I hear is that every game won't carry the weight they currently do, but this isn't true. Leagues (or divisions) are often determined by narrow margins, so every game would still be just as important. If anything, the entire season is like a huge playoff, with the conference championships being the next round. Though, like you said, some teams may actually be considered better in polls or whatnot, at least we could determine things on the field, rather than arbitrarily putting two teams in a championship game (which, I admit, doesn't happen every year, but the possibility is ALWAYS there). Really no system would be perfect, but a playoff system is not nearly as flawed as the BCS has the potential to be every year.

 

[John Alvarez]

When is the first Div. 1 game?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I'm hoping with you, Michael. IMO, the single biggest improvement the Wolverines made was getting rid of Jim Hermann as defensive coordinator. Hopefully, a new, simpler, more aggressive defensive scheme will help avoid all those 4th quarter blown leads over the past several years. Michigan hasn't fielded a quality defense in at least the past six seasons (and arguably not since the '97 national championship team).

 

[BrettGallman]

August 31st, South Carolina at Mississippi St. (Go Mississippi State! )

 

[John Alvarez]

What a great game to kick off the season. I'm really curious how fans will react when Spurrier comes back to the Swamp.

 

[Neal_C]

So little faith in Colt McCoy? I went to the public scrimmage the other day and he looked really good. Texas is so good at every other position, having a freshman quarterback shouldn't be a problem at all. Jevan Snead looked like a true freshman. It was definitely obvious the redshirt year for Colt made him much better.

I wouldn't worry about how the game shaped up last year. It has no bearing on this year. Sure, we don't have Vince, but they don't have alot of their talented defense either. Our defense is rock solid or so they have looked so far.

 

[Dan Joy]

I will be off to a great start this year. I am traveling to Georgia Tech to see ND start they're season with my dad and brother and then my son and I will be up at South Bend to see ND welcome Penn State. I can't wait.
GO IRISH!

 

[Dave Morton]

I think Purdue has an easy schedule this year. We're not playing OSU or Michigan. Hopefully with Painter as the QB at the start will prove good. The defense can't get any worse than last year, so I keep my fingers crossed. We really only have 2 tough opponents this year, Penn State and (cough cough) that team from south bend.

 

[Adam_S]

USC's first two games are Arkansas and Nebraska, nothing could make this Missouri boy happier than trouncing those two.

 

[James L White]

7 days 3 hours and 1 minute until USC gets theirs
it won't be 70-17 this time
I'm predicting 24-14 Our D is like night and day from last year's disaster in LA.
I'm hoping for a 115 degree kickoff with 100 humidity on the field about 75 and no humidity in the stands but with the kickoff being at 7:45 it'll be about 80

 

[Jonathan_]

I just picked up 2 tickets to the Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech game. I cannot wait until Saturday!!

Dan I would love to be in your shoes. I have never been to a Notre Dame home game. The game on Saturday will be the first time I have seen the Irish play in person. Maybe one of these days I will be able to get home tickets without having to give up my first born son.

 

[BrettGallman]

ND better bring their A game to Atlanta. GT is supposed to be tough this year, and you never really know what's going to happen on opening day.