Spring Preview 2009
The 20 Big Questions ...
No. 4
By
Pete
Fiutak
With
spring ball underway, here are the 20 Big Questions to start off the
offseason.
4. The pain-in-the-butt team in each league.
While these teams might
not be good enough to win a conference title, they come back
improved enough to ruin someone else's season. Here are the
teams that'll be the pains in the butt for the big boys.
ACC
NC State
– Tom O’Brien’s squad came from out of nowhere last November and
went on a four-game winning streak, screwing up Wake Forest,
North Carolina, and Miami along the way thanks to a defense that
forced 14 turnovers over the span. Most of the key pieces are
back, and if the secondary can reload and QB Russell Wilson
takes another step forward in his development, the Wolfpack
could be the sleeper in the ACC title race.
Big 12
Texas A&M
– The talent simply isn’t there to be any sort of threat in the
Big 12 South race, but that doesn’t mean Mike Sherman’s crew
can’t end a few national title dreams. The line play can’t be
any worse, and it won’t be, Jerrod Johnson (if he holds on to
the job) is good enough to explode for a big game or two, and
the young team won’t be taken too seriously and can sneak up on
everyone. Oklahoma gets the Aggies right after a trip to
Nebraska and just before it goes to Texas Tech. Oklahoma State
opens the year with A&M on the road, and Texas also has to go to
College Station. Getting Kansas State, Iowa State, and Colorado
from the North, and missing Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, is a
big break.
Big 10
Northwestern – Northwestern is still Northwestern. As
good as it has been at times over the last several years, it’s
hard for teams to look past NU when Ohio State, Michigan, or
Penn State is coming up. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald legitimately
believes the potential is there for consistent trips to the Rose
Bowl, and he might be right. There’s no Ohio State or Michigan
(it’s still Michigan) to deal with and Penn State and Wisconsin
have to come to Evanston. The Wildcats should go bowling again
and with talent, depth, and the potential to beat at least two
of the league’s better teams.
Big East
Syracuse
– The Orange gets the role of spoiler almost by default with the
other seven teams in the hunt for the Big East title. Fine, so
maybe Louisville might need some help to be in the race in late
November. SU was even worse than the 3-9 record might have shown
with only two wins over FBS teams while failing to come within
single-digits in any of the nine defeats. New head man Doug
Maronne should instantly add more pop to the nation’s 114th
ranked attack. There’s only one road trip in the first eight
games meaning the team should be comfortable for games against
South Florida, West Virginia and Cincinnati. Consider it a major
plus is SU wins one of those games, and it’ll be parade time if
it can win two.
Conference USA
UAB – Joe Webb, Joe Webb, Joe Webb. A
punching bag for so many years, the Blazers were more
competitive last year even though they weren’t consistent. Webb
might not win many first-team all-star honors in a conference
with Houston’s Case Keenum, he’s one of the league’s best
all-around talents. There will be issues, particularly in the
secondary, but the team got better as the season went on and it
should flirt with a winning conference record at the expense of
several teams looking to come up with big years.
MAC
Eastern
Michigan – The offense was devastating over the final few games
last year, but it was too little, too late. While QB Andy
Schmitt returns after finishing the season with 1,000 passing
yards and eight scores in the final two games, the focus will be
on the defense with new head coach Ron English likely to improve
things right away. In an already excellent MAC West, any wins
over teams like Western Michigan, Central Michigan, and/or
Northern Illinois could mess up the conference race.
Mountain West
UNLV
– Most of the key parts are back on an offense that should be
the most explosive yet in the Mike Sanford era. While the
defense isn’t going to be a brick wall, eight starters are back
and it should be a bit better in the back seven. Last year the
Rebels went 2-6 in Mountain West play, but there was a one-point
loss to Air Force and a seven point loss at BYU; a more
experienced, healthy team would’ve won those games. It shouldn’t
take that much to go from being a 5-7 team to having a winning
season and a bowl bid. With the top teams, Utah, BYU and TCU all
needing to rebuild, don’t be shocked if UNLV beats at least one
of them, if not two.
Pac 10
Stanford –
Head coach Jim Harbaugh has already bothered USC with a win two
years ago and a garbage time score in last year’s loss. Now he’s
hoping to annoy enough other teams to get to a bowl game. The
recruiting classes have been strong, the secondary should
improve considering it’s the focus of the staff, and RB Toby
Garhart is a star to work around. The back half of the season
should be interesting with four home games in the final five
(with the one road trip at USC). With winnable conference home
games against UCLA and Washington, and visits from Arizona
State, Oregon, along the crosstown trip from Cal, the Cardinal
should make plenty of Pac 10 noise.
SEC
Vanderbilt –
Oh sure, Vandy was the story of the early part of last season
and it made plenty of noise with a bowl appearance, but it’s
still Vanderbilt. It’s
not like most SEC teams will be focusing on this game when there
are so many bigger name games to deal with. However, this year’s
Commodore team should be better, far better, with an upgrade at
receiver helped by a few transfers, a strong defensive front
seven, and a good enough running game to get by. There are
problems in the secondary and the quarterback play has to be
better, but anything less than a second straight bowl win will
be a major disappointment. Ole Miss, Georgia, and Kentucky could
have major problems coming out of Nashville with a win.
Sun Belt
FIU –
After years of trying to make the program competitive, Mario
Cristobal should finally have a team good enough to be an
interesting player for the Sun Belt race … at least on offense.
QB Paul McCall and nine starters are back on offense that
improved as the year went on. The defense needs to replace
almost all the key players, but it’ll be athletic. There are way
too many holes to fill to think about a bowl game, but the team
that went 3-4 in Sun Belt play should be good enough to have a
winning conference record.
WAC
Utah State –
It might be hard to get too excited about a team that went 3-9
and is undergoing a coaching change, but the team was better
than past years and there’s plenty of experience returning. New
head man Gary Andersen welcomes back QB Diondre Borel, a
sparkplug who’ll carry the attack, while eight starters are back
on defense, Andersen’s specialty. The team won’t be good enough
to win the WAC, but it’ll be strong enough to potentially get to
six games and a bowl if there’s a little bit of luck.