Milos conference lookout in 2005

[milohimself]

I know ESPN is already being idiotic calling the top 25 of the 2005 regular season, but I figured a little speculation never hurt. Feel free to share your own ideas of how each conference will do.

ACC

My pick for next season is the Virginia Tech Hokies. As you read in Forde's article, the 2004 team consisted mostly of juniors who put out a great showing in the ACC. While Florida State and Miami have comparable defenses, Miami is losing what little offensive firepower it had in Brock Berlin and Florida State... Just sucks when they have the ball.

Analysis: Hokies finish ACC champs with only one conference loss to either 'Noles or 'Canes.

Big XII

The Big Overrated XII as it came to be known to me in 2004. Oklahoma is losing a damned lot of its seniors, most notable of who, Jason White. Their passing attack is basically gone and any wins they get will be all on Adrian Peterson and the fact that he's probably gonna end up rushing for 10,000 yards next season. Texas returns with most of their guys, and their running game is not missed that much because of Vince Young is just as dangerous as a run threat as Benson, as we saw against Michigan. Oh yeah... The northern division. I almost forgot. The programs at Iowa State and Colrado are starting to look up a little after an absolutely terrible year for their whole division.

Analysis: The Big XII will be losing quite a bit of starpower next season... Texas Tech and Oklahoma represent the biggest threats to Texas next year, but if Vince Young can improve his passing, Texas wins the Big XII, hands down with one loss to either Tech or the Sooners.

Big East

Analysis: Who cares? Pittsburgh might be okay...

Big Ten

The Big Ten is looking to be one of the two powerhosue conferences this next season, alongside the SEC. All of their teams came out suprisingly strong in the bowl games, doing far better than most expected of them. Ohio State is still raising a fine bunch of recruits, and I predict the Buckeyes to have a tremendous season. Their biggest threat will be Iowa, led by returning junior Drew Tate. He embodied the Iowa offense, throwing for 2,500 yards this season. Michigan is still growing, but their offensive game has been decapitated by the loss of superstar reciever Braylon Edwards. The biggest chance of upset this next season will come from Minnesota with the rushing attack of Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber.

Analysis: Ohio State vs. Iowa will determine the Big Ten winner.

Pac-10

USC. That's all you need to know. If Matt Leinart and Coach Chow stick around, they will just be an upgraded version of 2004. I think that Arizona State's second string QB stepped up nicely to help his team defeat Purdue, and the Sun Devils will probably take the number two spot in the Pac-10. Oregon State and Cal are both rebuilding after losing some key seniors. I'm not sure about the rest of the Pac. Another team to keep an eye on is Washington to see how Willingham does.

Analysis: USC, and that's all you need to know. The big question here is, will they three-peat? Given that is' been essentially the same squad over these years, I don't think I'm far off in calling this USC team potentially one of the best squads of all-time.

SEC

Things are definitley looking good for the SEC coming into 2005. The east will without a doubt be the more dominant division of the two, with Tennessee leading a pack. Florida is the biggest potential threat in the east, if Urban Meyer's implication of a Utes-style offense pays off in the SEC. The west, however, is not to be underlooked. LSU is getting a very good recruiting class even in spite of Saban's departure, and Alabama looks much more threatening if they can manage to keep their offensive backfield healthy this next season. If the Vols can make it through LSU and Florida early, the SEC is their's.

Analysis: Tennessee's schedule is an absolute killer next year, but if they can mange to get out with one or no losses, a trip to the MNC is a very good posibility. Unlike the troubles Auburn faced this year, there will not be any undefeated teams, except for SoCal who is going to be the only one with a good chance of that next year.

That's my outlook on the major conferences in NCAA football for the 2005 regular season.

 

[OWB]

In the ACC I think that VaTech will be the power too. Not only are most of them Juniors, they have some good WR's this year that were only freshman. If they have no prob at QB, they will do fine.

In the Big12, as much as it bothers me, I will have to go with Texas. Young is going to be hard to stop next year. OU loses too many and everyone will focus on Peterson.

Big East, is Louisville going to be in the Big East next season? If so, I choose them. If not I guess Pitt or West Virginia.

The Big 10 will be interesting, Iowa almost returns everyone and Michigan has some freshman talent that played a lot this season. It's a toss up between those two for me.

The Pac10, I kind of got a sick feeling last night when the announcers said that almost everybody is coming back for USC. If that includes Leinart then they will easy. If not, there could be an upset.

The SEC, I think that the Vols will have a great chance at running the table. LSU and UF could be good, but that coaching change could hold them back. Who knows...I pick the VOLS. How could I not?

 

[#10_Ainge_#10]

I agree with just about everything you said...but I don't know that Florida will be what everyone says they will be next year....I know they've got a lot of talent and I know they'll be good but I think Urban Meyer wiull find things in the SEC a little tougher than it is in the Mountain West...I'm mean sure he is a good coach but I don't know if he will find it as easy in the SEC as it was out west...Next year will be interesting

In the west I think it will be Bama....I don't know why but something tells me Bama will be the team to watch in the West

 

[OWB]

Originally posted by #10_Ainge_#10@Jan 5, 2005 10:56 PM
In the west I think it will be Bama....I don't know why but something tells me Bama will be the team to watch in the West

Nah, they will find a way to screw it up! :dlol:

 

[#10_Ainge_#10]

Originally posted by Orangewhiteblood+Jan 5, 2005 10:59 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Orangewhiteblood @ Jan 5, 2005 10:59 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-#10_Ainge_#10@Jan 5, 2005 10:56 PM
In the west I think it will be Bama....I don&#39;t know why but something tells me Bama will be the team to watch in the West

Nah, they will find a way to screw it up&#33; :dlol: [/quote]
You&#39;re probably right...I can hope so anyways :thumbsup:

 

[milohimself]

No, I hope that Bama wins the west.













It means that the Vols can beat them twice in a year. :good:

 

[milohimself]

Originally posted by #10_Ainge_#10@Jan 5, 2005 7:56 PM
I agree with just about everything you said...but I don&#39;t know that Florida will be what everyone says they will be next year....I know they&#39;ve got a lot of talent and I know they&#39;ll be good but I think Urban Meyer wiull find things in the SEC a little tougher than it is in the Mountain West...I&#39;m mean sure he is a good coach but I don&#39;t know if he will find it as easy in the SEC as it was out west...Next year will be interesting

Well, in the SEC, we KNOW that LSU will be a tough team. However, the mix of Urban Meyer and Florida presents something that could be extremely dangerous. We all saw that Utah did very well with what they had -- now imagine if something like that worked in a school with the recruiting power that Florida has. It&#39;s a very scary thought.

Meyer already has a great place to start in Chris Leak, and that Florida already has a lot of good players in key positions that fit into the kind of offensive scheme that Meyer runs. The Utes players, which are basically not much better than the other usual top-tier Mountain West teams, BYU, New Mexico, sometimes Colorado State, went out and won each game by no fewer than 14 points. Their average margin of victory was by over 25 points.

Now, I&#39;m not buying into the Meyer hype that he will be the next coming of Spurrier, but don&#39;t write him off yet. He could come out and bomb, which we&#39;d all like him to do, but he could just as well come out and go undefeated.

 

[Vol67]

ACC - VT or Miami (2 biggest things that held Miami back was excessive loss to NFL and Berlin who&#39;s gone)
Big 12 - Oklahoma, don&#39;t underestimate Mack Brown and the Texas choke.
Big 10 - Michigan Loaded and Iowa Loaded. OSU and Wisconsin will be the spoilers and who will decide which of the previous 2 win the crown
Pac 10 - USC, there is notheing else in the conference. There is a qualifier here seems the 49ers are hunting Pete for their vacant position and if he leaves and Norm Chow either goes with him or leaves USC look for alot of ship jumping and a major fall off. if either or both stay USC goes undefeated.
SEC - East will be a fight between UT and UGA with UF and USC a spoilers.
The West will be between LSU and Arky. Bama&#39;s offense will be hurt due to loss of O-Line and Minnesota showed Bama&#39;s weakness on D. Auburn has just too much to replace on Offense but will stay in the Hunt due to defense.

 

[dan4vols]

disagree auburn again wins the west

 

[milohimself]

I think that there&#39;s little doubt Iowa will win the Big Ten. Michigan may be loaded, but their backfield is still relatively inexprienced. Their QB only looked good because of Edwards, who can catch most any pass thrown within five feet of him. Not to mention their secondary will still suck, and Iowa will just take a big dump all over the Michigan pass defense. Ohio State seems to be pulling through their troubles just fine.

As far as the Pac-10 is concerned, I doubt Pete Carroll will leave. USC is on the verge of building some years of Trojan dominance, not to mention Carroll already has a bad taste in his mouth from the NFL. But, for arguement&#39;s sake, let&#39;s say he does take the Niners job. Norm Chow is gone, I can guarantee you that. The Pac-10 goes through the year underrated like usual, and one team will have an upset over USC. My best guess as to who will do that... My instinct says Arizona State. They proved that they are still tough even without stud Andrew Walter, who was basically responsible for ASU&#39;s top 25 ranking. Oregon is on a downslide, Cal will be done next year after losing Rodgers, and Oregon State has lost both Mitch Meeuwsen and Bill Swancutt, the two defenders who keep them in every game. Those two managed to slow down USC&#39;s pass attack more effectively than Oklahoma did.

Auburn is going to lack an offense entirely... Whoever said defense wins championships also knew that you have to score eventually, which Auburn will not have an easy time doing after basically losing nearly all of their offensive capabilities. Arkansas is just not at that level where they can continually threaten a program like LSU. LSU&#39;s biggest threat in the west is Alabama. We need to face the fact that Bama is a very different team when their backfield isn&#39;t full of a bunch of scrubs.

And in the east, I think that Florida is the most serious threat to Tennessee&#39;s dominance. If Georgia weren&#39;t Georgia, they would not have a preseason rank. Richt will not have a bad year, but losing Greene and Pollack is a pretty big blow. The Visor will need to start getting some of his own recruits in full swing at SoCar before they can start to pose a threat. They just get flat out-played. Florida is a big question mark though... They have just as much chance of coming out as the most dominant team in the country outside of USC as they do of coming out flat and finishing worse than this year. Do not try and assume what Meyer can and or will do at Florida.

 

[Vol67]

Bama&#39;s backfield has some studs but without an O-Line they won&#39;t be as good. They will be good but not as good as this year.
LSU depends on if the light comes on for Russell and the coaching staff jells since it seems LM has less control over his staff than you would think.
Arky has enough to threaten in the West but auburn finishes no better than 3rd.
Florida is a big unknown

 

[allvol]

Here is the new conference alignments for 2005 (link).

Here&#39;s another link that shows the new 2005 conference alignments with each team&#39;s 2004 record.

 

[OWB]

Originally posted by dan4vols@Jan 6, 2005 3:51 AM
disagree auburn again wins the west

For real? Who would they win it with? They lost their running ability and their passing. Campbell is going to be their biggest loss. He really stepped up his play this year. I honestly don&#39;t see Auburn even being a factor next year.

 

[Freak]

I don&#39;t think Auburn will win the West again.