Spring
Preview
2008
The 20 Big Questions - No. 8
By
Pete Fiutak
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The 2008 Big Spring Questions
No. 20 - Top 40
Non-Conference Games
No. 16-19 - BCS Busters,
Rule Changes & More
No. 15 -
Ranking the
Conferences
No. 14 -
Who Could Be This
Year's Kansas?
(breaking through big after a bad year)
No. 13 - 5 Teams That Could
Tumble
No. 12 -
Who Could Be This Year's
Missouri?
(going from good to special)
No. 11 - Ten Coaches Who
Need Big Seasons
No. 10 - The New Superstar
Coaches
No. 9 -
Everyone Will Be
Complaining About ...
8. Everyone will be in love with ...
The SEC coaches and non-conference schedule
You can point to the good old days of the SEC when Bear Bryant led a
golden age of legendary coaches, but on sheer talent it doesn't get much
better than Nick Saban, Tommy Tuberville, Bobby Petrino, Urban Meyer,
Mark Richt, Phil Fulmer, Steve Spurrier, Les Miles, Sylvester Croom and
Houston Nutt. Give Bobby Johnson and Rich Brooks a bigger, badder
program to run and see what they'd be able to do. No other conference in
America can come remotely close to the SEC when it comes to top-flight
head men, and it's going to show in yet another fantastic season.
Schedule-wise, the SEC hasn't exactly gone out of its way to seek out
nasty non-conference games over the years. "The league schedule is hard
enough," SECers would say. Not this season. You wanted the best, you got
the best, the hottest conference in the world, the SEC is going out of
its way to prove it deserves its reputation. Oh sure, there are a whole
slew of Sun Belt battles to get sleepy over, but there's also a ton of
appointment television to be had.
Alabama is facing off against Clemson, probably the best team in the ACC
this season, in Atlanta. Arkansas is going to Texas. Auburn hosts
Southern Miss and goes to West Virginia. Florida goes against Hawaii
(fine, so that sounds better than it'll actually be), Miami, and
finishes up the regular season at Florida State. Georgia travels to
Arizona State and finishes up with Georgia Tech. Kentucky has its
rivalry date at Louisville. LSU faces Troy in the lightest of SEC
non-conference schedules. Ole Miss goes to Wake Forest. Mississippi
State goes to Georgia Tech. South Carolina plays NC State and finishes
up with its rivalry date at Clemson. Tennessee goes to UCLA. Vanderbilt
finishes up with the regular season at Wake Forest. That's 11 very good,
very interesting road tests that could cement once and for all that the
SEC is the best in the business. Or it could go to show that it's just
like everyone else. At least the games are being played.
Rick Neuheisel and his coaching staff
UCLA just became one of the most interesting programs in America. Say
what you will about Slick Rick Neuheisel and his past, but the guy is a solid
coach who appears to have learned from his mistakes. For a Bruin program desperate to emerge from the big Trojan shadow,
Neuheisel's about to put UCLA squarely in the national spotlight for
football for the first time in a long time.
He'll be the head of PR in the battle with Pete Carroll to woo the
media, but it's the hire of Norm Chow to run the offense, and the
shocker of being able to keep DeWayne Walker to run the D, that
gives UCLA the potential to become a
powerhouse. If USC is finally nailed by the Reggie Bush situation, then
all of a sudden the balance of Pac 10 power could take a drive a few
miles north.
Arizona State
Quick, name the current college football head coaches with more than
one D-I national title. If you're in Baton Rouge, you'd say Pete Carroll
has one, but let's give him a one-plus. There's Joe Paterno, Bobby
Bowden, and, uh ... Dennis Erickson?! Yup, the Arizona State head coach has
two from his days at Miami, and now he's finally in a situation again
where he can get the top talent to make a big program shine. He did a
masterful job with Oregon State, and was wonderful last year with an average
Sun Devil team, and now he's getting the
pieces in place to create a perennial Pac 10 power. It might take
another year, but this is a team no one's going to want to deal with in
the near future.
Alabama
The Tide is about two years away from getting to play in the SEC
national title musical chairs game, but this season's team should be
just good enough to be in the hunt for the West championship. If Bama
can own the home games, which should be a relative walk in the park
until the Iron Bowl against Auburn, this could be one of the
breakthrough teams of 2008. The problem will be the road dates against
Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and LSU, along with the neutral site game
in Atlanta against Clemson. Even so, Nick Saban's club should be just
experienced enough, and just good enough, to win two of those five games
and be in the mix for a ten-win season that would set the tone for a
potentially monstrous 2009.
The future of Miami and Florida State, and the potential of the ACC
The ACC is desperate for a little bit of star power. Let's face it;
Virginia Tech, Boston College and Wake Forest, as good as they've been,
don't exactly bring sexy back. It's not fair, but just like the Big Ten
needs Ohio State and Michigan to be good, and the national perception of
the Big 12 is better when Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska are strong, the
ACC needs Miami and Florida State to be Miami and Florida State.
The ACC's dream of being the next SEC could potentially come true in the
next few seasons if Jimbo Fisher is the answer to turning around the
Seminoles, and if Randy Shannon's fantastic 2008 recruiting class plays up to
its potential by 2010. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Wake
Forest, along with Clemson this year, will have to keep on being
underappreciated. If the Noles and the Canes can make a positive step
forward, and if Duke can improve under David Cutcliffe, and if Maryland
can do a bit more than tread water in the mediocre bowl pool, and if
Georgia Tech really can run the option under Paul Johnson, and if Tom
O'Brien can build on the momentum from the end of last year, and if
Butch Davis really does have something cooking in Chapel Hill, and if
things don't slip too much, if at all, at Virginia under Al Groh, yeah,
the ACC could really be the nation's second best league.
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