I need a CFB fix! What makes sense to talk about here in March? The NFL Draft? Recruiting? The new conferences? The 2012 schedules? Surely there’s something we can get into for all us die-hard CFB fans…
Could also talk about spring scrimmages and depth charts.
Big surprise. Phil has Texas at only 22. I’d figure they’d be much higher after their fantastic recruiting year.
Mike Leach is the new coach at my Alma. Throw the shit out of it. We can’t make lineman but we sure can make quarterbacks.
I don’t see this as a surprise at all. Until Texas figures out the quarterback situation, they won’t be a good team. Also, very few of the incoming class will be difference makers in year one. I’d say that J. Gray is really the only player who will play a huge role this year, and even he won’t likely start.
The O-Line is one of the more interesting aspects of Leach’s offense. They are spread out considerably further than your typical line. Also, a Leach quarterback is usually someone who has been in his system a few years and is smart. The emphasis is on timing and accuracy.
I guess in a little surprised that Mizzou didn’t make his top 24. After a rough start the returning Qb (junior James Franklin) really turned it on. They also added the #1 recruit in the country WR Dorial Green-beckman. SEC here we come.
Wisconsin grabs another ACC quarterback graduate transfer, Danny O’Brien of Maryland. Whew, because the Wisconsin QB cupboard was damn near close to empty thanks to injuries. O’Brien’s actually got two years of eligibility left, so no need to rush the guy most UW fans are crossing their fingers for, Bart Houston of out De La Salle in the California Bay Area.
No. 
Even with DGB, Missouri only had the #31 recruiting class according to rivals.com. Ten of your new conference rivals were ranked higher. Welcome to the SEC.
There’s a breakdown of the new conferences for the 124 teams now in the Bowl Subdivision at 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season but I have yet to find any early rankings estimates of all 124. Anybody else know of such?
I don’t put a lot of stock into recruiting class rankings (Texas consistently has a top class according to the rankings, and it hasn’t worked out for them the last few seasons), as a 18 year old is still developing. It seems that kids will be 3-star until a top school gives an offer, and all of a sudden they’re 5-star players.
As for Missouri, they have produced NFL quality players with the top schools in the nation recently. And none of them were top recruits as seniors in high school.
I also want to say that the reason I even mentioned DGB, is that he really is heads-n-shoulders above most all incoming freshmen. Analyst around here have said that he could make a NFL roster right now (of course with the WR talent the two NFL teams in Missouri have at the moment this isn’t saying a whole lot).
I was thinking the exact same thing about Texas. Not just last few years but for as long as I can remember they have top ranked recruiting classes but rarely does their performance match their recruiting class ranking.
I think your points are valid and also a good coach can get a lot of mileage out of a middle of the road set of players, and how well a player performs depends on a variety of factors. There are clearly top talents, but it’s just one piece of the puzzle.
There may be some other OOC games worth mentioning, but here’s a crack at some that ought to be worth trying to see:
Mark your calendars now: Here are the season’s best nonconference games
Which games can we add to the list?
I’m probably the only one here who thought you were talking about Alma (MI) College.
I had no idea, they even have a football team “The Scots”
I have yet to find anything after January that attempts a ranking of all 124 FBS teams, so I decided to fake such a thing. Using
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_season I got:
Membership changes
Includes schools transitioning to FBS.
School Former Conference New Conference
Fresno State Bulldogs WAC Mountain West
Hawaii Warriors WAC Mountain West (Big West in other sports)
Massachusetts Minutemen CAA (football only) MAC (football only) <====
Missouri Tigers Big 12 SEC
Nevada Wolf Pack WAC Mountain West
South Alabama Jaguars FCS Independent (football only) Sun Belt (full member) <====
TCU Horned Frogs Mountain West Big 12
Temple Owls MAC (football only) Big East (football only in 2012; all sports in 2013)
Texas A&M Aggies Big 12 SEC
Texas State Bobcats Southland WAC <====
UTSA Roadrunners Southland WAC <====
West Virginia Mountaineers Big East Big 12 [2]
with the “<====” marking the four new teams.
Then using
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt11.htm
and changing the new teams from AA to A (marked with <====) and then stripping off the other AA teams we have:
FINAL College Football 2011 through games of 2012 January 9 Monday the BCS uses the ELO_CHESS from here
RATING W L SCHEDL(RANK) VS top 10 | VS top 30 | ELO_CHESS | PREDICTOR
HOME ADVANTAGE=[ 2.87] [ 2.31] [ 2.79]
1 Alabama A = 104.17 12 1 76.53( 15) 2 1 | 4 1 | 106.06 1 | 102.72 1
2 LSU A = 100.30 13 1 78.93( 7) 3 1 | 6 1 | 103.42 2 | 98.31 2
3 Oklahoma State A = 97.01 12 1 80.06( 3) 2 0 | 7 0 | 98.19 4 | 95.86 3
4 Oklahoma A = 92.48 10 3 79.08( 6) 0 1 | 5 2 | 91.21 6 | 93.02 4
5 Oregon A = 91.82 12 2 73.53( 35) 2 1 | 2 2 | 90.43 9 | 92.48 7
6 Arkansas A = 91.06 11 2 75.29( 20) 1 2 | 3 2 | 99.53 3 | 87.43 9
7 Stanford A = 90.48 11 2 73.08( 36) 0 2 | 2 2 | 87.33 10 | 93.01 5
8 Wisconsin A = 88.67 11 3 71.81( 44) 0 1 | 3 2 | 84.31 18 | 92.90 6
9 Boise State A = 88.53 12 1 68.29( 75) 0 0 | 1 1 | 85.43 13 | 90.95 8
10 South Carolina A = 88.23 11 2 73.98( 32) 0 1 | 3 1 | 91.01 7 | 86.24 13
11 Michigan A = 86.54 11 2 72.20( 40) 0 0 | 3 1 | 84.96 16 | 87.34 10
12 Southern California A = 86.48 10 2 73.94( 33) 1 1 | 2 1 | 85.27 14 | 86.97 11
13 Baylor A = 86.01 10 3 78.00( 10) 1 1 | 4 3 | 90.95 8 | 83.11 22
14 Texas A&M A = 85.87 7 6 79.31( 4) 0 3 | 1 6 | 84.24 19 | 86.71 12
15 Houston A = 85.26 13 1 65.46( 97) 0 0 | 1 1 | 84.13 20 | 85.68 14
16 Missouri A = 85.25 8 5 77.58( 13) 0 2 | 2 4 | 84.99 15 | 85.00 16
17 Texas A = 85.21 8 5 79.26( 5) 0 2 | 1 5 | 85.96 12 | 84.28 17
18 Michigan State A = 85.13 11 3 72.93( 38) 1 1 | 3 3 | 84.67 17 | 85.03 15
19 Kansas State A = 84.56 10 3 78.81( 8) 0 3 | 4 3 | 91.91 5 | 80.86 23
20 TCU A = 84.13 11 2 66.76( 86) 1 0 | 1 1 | 83.72 22 | 84.00 18
21 Georgia A = 84.01 10 4 75.01( 23) 0 3 | 1 4 | 83.92 21 | 83.64 20
22 West Virginia A = 81.78 10 3 70.12( 57) 0 1 | 1 1 | 82.51 23 | 80.86 24
23 Florida State A = 81.16 9 4 68.96( 68) 0 1 | 2 1 | 77.53 34 | 83.99 19
24 Southern Miss A = 81.07 12 2 65.69( 94) 0 0 | 1 0 | 81.30 24 | 80.48 26
25 Nebraska A = 81.06 9 4 74.32( 26) 0 2 | 2 3 | 81.25 25 | 80.49 25
26 Notre Dame A = 79.91 8 5 74.54( 25) 0 1 | 1 4 | 75.89 39 | 83.15 21
27 Virginia Tech A = 79.14 11 3 70.05( 59) 0 0 | 0 1 | 79.38 29 | 78.54 27
28 Penn State A = 78.82 9 4 73.99( 31) 0 2 | 0 4 | 79.68 27 | 77.81 31
29 Florida A = 78.78 7 6 75.01( 22) 0 3 | 0 5 | 78.78 30 | 78.33 29
30 Cincinnati A = 78.63 10 3 68.43( 73) 0 0 | 0 1 | 78.42 32 | 78.35 28
31 Mississippi State A = 78.43 7 6 74.07( 28) 0 4 | 0 5 | 79.64 28 | 77.19 35
32 Clemson A = 77.78 10 4 72.09( 43) 0 1 | 3 2 | 80.71 26 | 75.57 45
33 Auburn A = 77.40 8 5 77.14( 14) 1 3 | 2 4 | 86.31 11 | 72.82 52
34 BYU A = 77.18 10 3 65.96( 90) 0 0 | 0 2 | 77.98 33 | 76.20 40
35 Tulsa A = 77.02 8 5 71.75( 45) 0 3 | 0 4 | 75.77 40 | 77.52 33
36 Rutgers A = 76.98 9 4 68.67( 69) 0 0 | 1 1 | 76.38 38 | 76.99 37
38 California A = 76.20 7 6 74.06( 29) 0 2 | 0 4 | 74.31 45 | 77.24 34
39 Utah A = 75.92 8 5 71.21( 49) 0 0 | 0 1 | 75.17 42 | 76.04 42
40 Toledo A = 75.21 9 4 67.22( 81) 0 1 | 0 1 | 73.46 47 | 76.12 41
41 Arizona State A = 74.94 6 7 73.86( 34) 0 2 | 2 2 | 71.28 59 | 77.62 32
42 Vanderbilt A = 74.94 6 7 74.12( 27) 0 3 | 0 6 | 71.83 54 | 77.07 36
43 Iowa State A = 74.64 6 7 80.40( 2) 1 1 | 1 6 | 78.49 31 | 71.89 59
44 Washington A = 74.52 7 6 74.54( 24) 0 2 | 0 5 | 75.41 41 | 73.48 50
45 Iowa A = 74.51 7 6 72.32( 39) 0 1 | 1 4 | 74.28 46 | 74.24 46
46 Temple A = 74.50 9 4 61.52( 119) 0 0 | 0 1 | 69.86 64 | 78.19 30
47 Northern Illinois A = 74.46 11 3 64.52( 103) 0 1 | 0 1 | 76.41 37 | 72.75 54
48 Louisiana Tech A = 74.34 8 5 68.39( 74) 0 0 | 0 3 | 71.29 58 | 76.41 39
49 Ohio State A = 74.19 6 7 74.06( 30) 1 0 | 1 5 | 71.58 56 | 75.85 43
50 Tennessee A = 74.09 5 7 77.83( 12) 0 4 | 1 6 | 74.32 44 | 73.49 49
51 SMU A = 73.88 8 5 68.59( 70) 0 0 | 1 3 | 74.55 43 | 72.98 51
52 Miami-Florida A = 73.61 6 6 69.86( 61) 0 0 | 0 3 | 69.56 66 | 76.63 38
53 Texas Tech A = 73.17 5 7 77.99( 11) 1 1 | 1 6 | 76.77 36 | 70.52 65
54 North Carolina A = 72.86 7 6 70.96( 51) 0 0 | 0 2 | 72.33 50 | 72.80 53
55 Illinois A = 72.80 7 6 70.52( 53) 0 1 | 0 3 | 72.33 51 | 72.70 55
56 Georgia Tech A = 72.31 8 5 68.05( 76) 0 0 | 0 2 | 72.15 53 | 71.98 58
57 NC State A = 71.70 8 5 66.99( 83) 0 0 | 0 2 | 72.99 48 | 70.39 66
58 Northwestern A = 71.35 6 7 71.38( 46) 0 0 | 1 4 | 69.12 68 | 72.65 56
59 South Florida A = 71.02 5 7 69.86( 62) 0 0 | 1 2 | 66.83 79 | 74.09 47
60 Nevada A = 70.89 7 6 66.61( 88) 0 2 | 0 3 | 66.63 81 | 74.01 48
61 Louisville A = 70.75 7 6 69.87( 60) 0 0 | 1 1 | 70.42 62 | 70.56 64
64 Arizona A = 70.52 4 8 75.64( 18) 0 3 | 0 4 | 68.23 74 | 71.86 60
65 Purdue A = 70.28 7 6 69.27( 65) 0 1 | 0 4 | 71.32 57 | 69.13 72
66 UCLA A = 70.18 6 8 76.14( 16) 0 2 | 0 5 | 70.69 61 | 69.38 70
67 Arkansas State A = 69.89 10 3 60.09( 124) 0 0 | 0 1 | 70.95 60 | 68.72 75
68 Ohio A = 69.81 10 4 61.59( 118) 0 0 | 0 0 | 70.24 63 | 69.08 74
69 Pittsburgh A = 69.65 6 7 71.29( 48) 0 0 | 0 3 | 68.84 70 | 69.80 68
70 San Diego State A = 69.30 8 5 65.56( 95) 0 1 | 0 3 | 67.35 77 | 70.34 67
71 Virginia A = 69.17 8 5 68.48( 71) 0 0 | 1 2 | 72.80 49 | 66.40 80
72 Air Force A = 68.58 7 6 64.28( 104) 0 1 | 0 3 | 63.70 93 | 72.19 57
73 Wake Forest A = 68.42 6 7 70.41( 54) 0 0 | 1 2 | 68.34 73 | 68.03 77
74 Navy A = 68.37 5 7 69.04( 67) 0 1 | 0 3 | 64.35 90 | 71.17 63
76 Connecticut A = 68.09 5 7 69.33( 64) 0 0 | 0 2 | 66.18 82 | 69.10 73
77 Central Florida(UCF) A = 67.61 5 7 64.61( 102) 0 0 | 0 1 | 62.07 104 | 71.81 61
78 Western Michigan A = 67.51 7 6 64.91( 99) 0 0 | 0 1 | 65.84 85 | 68.32 76
79 Marshall A = 67.49 7 6 70.29( 56) 0 0 | 1 3 | 72.26 52 | 64.02 90
80 Utah State A = 67.43 7 6 64.90( 100) 0 0 | 0 0 | 64.34 91 | 69.41 69
82 Louisiana-Lafayette A = 66.60 9 4 60.47( 122) 0 1 | 0 1 | 69.67 65 | 64.11 89
83 Washington State A = 66.14 4 8 71.29( 47) 0 2 | 0 2 | 63.60 94 | 67.64 78
84 Wyoming A = 66.09 8 5 65.77( 92) 0 1 | 0 3 | 67.67 76 | 64.55 86
85 Kentucky A = 66.03 5 7 72.18( 41) 0 2 | 0 4 | 68.70 72 | 63.78 92
86 Syracuse A = 65.97 5 7 70.39( 55) 0 0 | 1 2 | 66.85 78 | 64.90 83
87 Oregon State A = 65.76 3 9 75.59( 19) 0 3 | 0 3 | 64.51 88 | 66.24 81
88 Minnesota A = 64.89 3 9 75.86( 17) 0 1 | 0 5 | 65.63 86 | 63.92 91
89 Rice A = 64.45 4 8 72.95( 37) 0 0 | 0 4 | 66.06 83 | 62.88 98
90 Boston College A = 64.40 4 8 70.71( 52) 0 0 | 0 3 | 63.14 95 | 64.88 84
91 Kansas A = 64.09 2 10 80.72( 1) 0 2 | 0 7 | 68.85 69 | 60.49 112
92 UTEP A = 63.71 5 7 66.69( 87) 0 0 | 0 2 | 62.39 102 | 64.25 88
93 East Carolina A = 63.52 5 7 68.48( 72) 0 1 | 0 4 | 64.49 89 | 62.39 100
94 Fla. International A = 63.26 8 5 59.28( 127) 0 0 | 0 0 | 63.00 96 | 63.02 97
96 San Jose State A = 62.99 5 7 67.49( 80) 0 1 | 0 1 | 61.94 106 | 63.32 95
97 Hawaii A = 62.79 6 7 62.30( 114) 0 0 | 0 0 | 59.92 112 | 64.51 87
98 Miami-Ohio A = 62.62 4 8 66.77( 85) 0 0 | 0 2 | 59.20 119 | 64.76 85
99 Bowling Green A = 62.57 5 7 65.70( 93) 0 0 | 0 1 | 62.36 103 | 62.28 101
100 Ball State A = 62.43 6 6 67.63( 78) 0 1 | 0 1 | 65.96 84 | 59.54 116
101 Western Kentucky A = 62.11 7 5 61.27( 120) 0 1 | 0 1 | 64.07 92 | 60.27 114
103 Mississippi A = 61.77 2 10 78.17( 9) 0 3 | 0 4 | 62.55 101 | 60.77 110
104 Maryland A = 61.76 2 10 72.18( 42) 0 0 | 0 3 | 60.53 110 | 62.22 102
105 Fresno State A = 61.68 4 9 67.89( 77) 0 1 | 0 2 | 59.21 118 | 63.08 96
107 Colorado A = 61.65 3 10 75.03( 21) 0 2 | 0 3 | 62.82 97 | 60.37 113
112 Army A = 60.51 3 9 67.60( 79) 0 0 | 0 0 | 55.71 134 | 63.69 93
113 Duke A = 60.07 3 9 69.52( 63) 0 1 | 0 3 | 58.88 120 | 60.51 111
116 Kent State A = 59.79 5 7 65.46( 96) 0 1 | 0 2 | 61.62 107 | 58.02 124
119 Eastern Michigan A = 59.57 6 6 61.67( 117) 0 0 | 0 2 | 62.60 100 | 56.95 131
121 North Texas A = 59.18 5 7 64.15( 105) 0 1 | 0 2 | 59.51 114 | 58.51 119
124 Louisiana-Monroe A = 58.88 4 8 62.39( 113) 0 0 | 0 2 | 55.24 135 | 61.12 109
133 New Mexico State A = 56.68 4 9 66.32( 89) 0 0 | 0 1 | 57.75 124 | 55.46 139
135 Buffalo A = 56.15 3 9 65.18( 98) 0 0 | 0 0 | 55.72 133 | 56.03 135
137 Central Michigan A = 56.00 3 9 65.94( 91) 0 0 | 0 1 | 57.12 126 | 54.73 144
139 Indiana A = 55.37 1 11 70.97( 50) 0 1 | 0 3 | 53.04 141 | 56.62 133
141 Idaho A = 54.74 2 10 67.04( 82) 0 0 | 0 1 | 53.52 138 | 55.18 142
142 Colorado State A = 54.65 3 9 63.94( 106) 0 1 | 0 2 | 52.95 142 | 55.44 140
147 Troy A = 52.68 3 9 63.60( 109) 0 1 | 0 1 | 52.32 146 | 52.50 151
150 Massachusetts A = 52.34 5 6 54.15( 154) 0 0 | 0 0 | 53.11 140 | 51.32 155 <====
152 UAB A = 52.04 3 9 66.82( 84) 0 0 | 1 2 | 54.34 136 | 49.83 162
155 UNLV A = 51.47 2 10 69.16( 66) 0 2 | 0 3 | 52.36 145 | 50.35 159
169 Middle Tennessee A = 48.29 2 10 61.77( 116) 0 0 | 0 0 | 49.44 157 | 46.98 174
171 Tulane A = 47.69 2 11 63.47( 110) 0 0 | 0 1 | 47.89 167 | 47.11 173
175 New Mexico A = 47.05 1 11 70.12( 58) 0 2 | 0 3 | 49.26 160 | 44.84 185
178 Texas State A = 46.65 6 6 50.77( 170) 0 0 | 0 0 | 48.13 165 | 45.04 184 <====
181 South Alabama A = 45.75 6 4 46.93( 189) 0 0 | 0 0 | 44.85 183 | 45.96 180 <====
182 Memphis A = 45.68 2 10 63.18( 112) 0 0 | 0 1 | 47.81 169 | 43.53 190
190 Florida Atlantic A = 43.84 1 11 64.64( 101) 0 0 | 0 2 | 46.18 176 | 41.46 200
198 Akron A = 42.49 1 11 63.76( 107) 0 0 | 0 1 | 44.11 187 | 40.75 202
200 Texas-San Antonio A = 42.27 4 6 53.38( 160) 0 0 | 0 0 | 39.58 203 | 43.65 189 <====
It ought to be fun to watch how Sagarin and Rivals and others change their opinions after things get organized and spring ball has been evaluated.
There are quite a few Top 25 or Top x-number lists already with http://www.lsufootball.net/articles/2012-preseason-polls.htm
likely to have as good a summary as is available.
Post links to any other such lists you’re aware of, please.
I’ve actually been to their stadium for high school track invitationals. Nice little place, great concessions, the only problem is for some stupid reason the main stands face west, directly into the afternoon sun.