Who are the nation’s greenest units?

The ESPN bloggers are getting into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit by breaking down the least experienced units in college football. Some highlights below, with links to the full reviews….

Graham Watson:

BYU offensive line: The Cougars will have to fill four of the five starting spots on the offensive line, but do have some depth there since several players received playing time due to injuries and some shuffling last year.

Boise State wide receivers: Boise State lost its three starting receivers, including Jeremy Childs, who left early for the NFL. Childs led the team in receiving yards and receptions last year and now quarterback Kellen Moore is going to have to break in some new playmakers.

Brian Bennett:

Louisville: The biggest bunch of newbies are at quarterback, where there are four candidates for the job but not one who’s seen any significant playing time at this level.

South Florida: Look no farther than the offensive line, where four of five starters need to be replaced.

Tim Griffin:

Oklahoma offensive line: The departure of starting center Jon Cooper, tackle Phil Loadholt and guards Duke Robinson and Brandon Walker means that Sam Bradford will have an inexperienced group protecting him next season. Trent Williams moves to left tackle and Bob Stoops likes his incoming talent, if not its early work habits.

Texas defensive line: The major question dogging the Longhorns’ national title hopes will be rebuilding a defensive front that loses All-American defensive end Brian Orakpo, defensive tackle Roy Miller, defensive tackleAaron Lewis and defensive end Henry Melton from last season.

Texas Tech offensive line: New quarterback Taylor Potts will be relying on a retooled offensive line protecting his blind side after left tackle Rylan Reed, left guard Louis Vasquez and center Stephen Hamby all departed from last year.

Chris Low:

Alabama: The Crimson Tide are replacing three-year starter John Parker Wilson at quarterback, but losing the threesome of Andre Smith, Marlon Davis and Antoine Caldwell on the offensive line leaves the biggest void. They were at the crux of just about everything Alabama did on offense last season.

Georgia: Much of the focus this spring will be on Joe Cox and the quarterback position, but the Bulldogs’ most glaring weakness is the lack of a dominant pass-rusher from the defensive end position. They’ve got to find somebody who can consistently get to the quarterback.

LSU: Jordan Jefferson started the final two games at quarterback last season as a true freshman and enters 2009 as the favorite to win the job. His main competition will come from another true freshman, Russell Shepard, who graduated early and is going through spring practice.

Heather Dinich:

GEORGIA TECH — Having lost three of four starters on the defensive line, it’s easily one of the greenest groups in the whole conference.

MIAMI – The Canes are still young everywhere, but remember quarterback Jacory Harris has only started two games and his backups have no collegiate experience.

NORTH CAROLINA — The Tar Heels lost their top three receivers and will be counting heavily on inexperienced players to replace Hakeem Nicks, Brandon Tate and Brooks Foster.

Ted Miller

Arizona State — QB: Combined starts of the five candidates to replace Rudy Carpenter at quarterback? Zero.

Oregon – DT: Both starting defensive tackles are gone and this unofficial depth chart shows 14 combine tackles for seven potential replacements.

Oregon State — DE: Sackmasters Victor Butler and Slade Norris and their 41.5 combined sacks over the past two seasons are gone. Sophomore Kevin Frahm and senior Ben Terry, who split two sacks between themselves in 2008, are in.

Adam Rittenberg

Ohio State’s offensive line — Don’t be shocked if Ohio State enters 2009 with three sophomores (Mike Brewster, Mike Adams, J.B. Shugarts) and a transfer (Justin Boren) on its starting line.

Penn State’s defensive ends — Jerome Hayes should be back from another knee injury, but Penn State will be on the lookout for a proven pass rusher after losing Aaron Maybin, Maurice Evans and Josh Gaines.

Purdue’s wide receivers — New coach Danny Hope made wide receiver a peak priority in his first recruiting class after losing Greg Orton and Desmond Tardy, who combined for 136 receptions and 1,596 yards last year.

Wisconsin’s defensive line — The Badgers lose three multiyear starters (Matt Shaughnessy, Mike Newkirk and Jason Chapman) and don’t return many proven players aside from ends O’Brien Schofield and Dan Moore.

And — of course — everyone’s favorite green unit:

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Final Grades: A look back at the preseason AP poll

It’s time to pay the piper. Here’s a look back at the 2008 pre-season AP poll contrasted against the final 2008-2009 AP poll.

2008 AP College Football Poll Comparison – Preseason vs Final Poll

TEAM	FINAL RANKING	PRESEASON
Florida	1	5
Utah	2	NR
USC	3	3
Texas	4	11
Oklahoma	6	4
Alabama	6	NR
TCU	NR	NR
Penn State	8	22
Ohio State	9	2
Oregon	10	21
Boise State	11	NR
Texas Tech	12	12
Georgia	13	1
Ole Miss	14	NR
Virginia Tech	15	17
Oklahoma State	16	NR
Cincinnati	17	NR
Oregon State	18	22
Missouri	19	6
Iowa	20	NR
Florida State	21	NR
Georgia Tech	22	NR
West Virginia	23	8
Michigan State	24	NR
BYU	25	16

The big standout poll flops are Georgia (P-1 F-13), Ohio State (P-2 F-10), Missouri (P-6 F-19) and West Virgina (P-8 F-23). And — of course — the teams that never even made it to the final poll, including LSU, Clemson, Auburn and Wisconsin.

The Cinderella stories of Utah, TCU, Boise State, and Alabama surprised pollsters and fans alike. (Outside of Alabama, of course, who always expects the Tide to be #1… and they’re not afraid to tell you about it, as well. Still, I suspect there were more than a couple of surprised Bama fans out there this season when the Crimson Tide rose to the top of the polls.)

The biggest surprise for me was how many of the teams were actually ranked consistently from pre-season to final poll. That shocked me, actually. I have long advocated not doing any polls at all until the fourth week of the season, but there’s enough balance between the good & bad of the pre-season poll to suggest that *some* of the pollsters might actually put some thought into this whole thing.

What stands out to you and where do you stand on pre-season polls — sacrosanct or sacrelidge?

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Early schedule snapshot: Iowa

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

The Big Ten schedule is nearly complete after Indiana added its final nonconference game today. The Iowa Hawkeyes are up next on the rundown. 

NONCONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Sept. 5 Northern Iowa

Sept. 12 at Iowa State

Sept. 19 Arizona

Oct. 3 Arkansas State

My take: This is a solid nonconference slate that should prepare Iowa for a Big Ten opener — Sept. 26 at Penn State — that could go a long way in deciding the league championship. Northern Iowa reached the FCS playoff semifinals last year before losing to eventual national champion Richmond in the final minute. Iowa State is a transitioning program with a new head coach (Paul Rhoads), but the Cyclones always play Iowa tough in the Cy-Hawk series. Arizona also might be rebuilding in 2009 but comes off a solid 2008 season capped by a Las Vegas Bowl victory over BYU. Iowa will be favored in all four games but should be tested at times. 

BIG TEN SCHEDULE

Sept. 26 at Penn State

Oct. 10 Michigan

Oct. 17 at Wisconsin

Oct. 24 at Michigan State

Oct. 31 Indiana

Nov. 7 Northwestern

Nov. 14 at Ohio State

Nov. 21 Minnesota 

Byes: Purdue, Illinois

My take: Iowa's trip to Penn State will be one of the Big Ten's marquee games this fall, but the Hawkeyes must avoid a hangover or a letdown, depending on the result at Beaver Stadium. The stretch following Penn State is crucial, as Iowa hosts a transitioning Michigan team before visiting Wisconsin, a team it embarrassed last year, and making a second consecutive trip to Michigan State. If the Hawkeyes survive the first four games, they'll be in good shape for another road showdown against Ohio State on Nov. 14. The home schedule is manageable, but Iowa gets no breaks away from Kinnick Stadium. 

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What are the most prestigious college football programs?

ESPN has taken the lead in trying to rank the most prestigious college football programs since the inception of the AP poll in a psuedo-scientific fashion. It’s really more of a “which current FBS programs have lived in the spotlight” list, because it doesn’t take into account teams that aren’t currently in FBS and doesn’t attempt to match them one versus the other, per se.

First, the method to their madness:

ESPN’s Prestige Rankings are a numerical method of ranking the best FBS college football programs since the 1936 season. Point values were assigned for certain successes (win a national title, earn 25 points) and failures (get your program banned from the postseason, lose two points). The research department ran all the numbers through the computer to come up with the No. 1 program (and Nos. 2 to 119) of the past 73 seasons.

The full breakdown of how points were accumulated (and deducted) is online as well, with the “biggies” being National Championships, major bowl berths, major bowl wins, Heisman winners, and points for various finishes in the AP top twenty five poll.

The results are… pretty interesting. In fact, it’s really hard for me to quibble over all but a few positions – and even that might be subjective.

ESPN COLLEGE FOOTBALL PRESTIGE RANKINGS

1. Oklahoma
2. USC
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame
5. Nebraska
6. Alabama
7. Texas
8. Michigan
9. Florida State
10. Miami
11. Penn State
12. Tennessee
13. LSU
14, Georgia
15. Florida
16. UCLA
17. Washington
18. Georgia Tech
19. Arkansas
20. Texas A&M
21. Auburn
22t. Clemson
22t. Colorado
24. Ole Miss
25. BYU

Click here for positions 26 – 119

Again, this is more of a prestige spotlight list than a comparison of team A versus team B. That’s obvious when you look at the criteria, and then also compare the rankings above with head-to-head records, for example. Case(s) in point… Oklahoma has a losing record all-time against Texas, but is ranked ahead in prestige. Florida State has a losing record all-time against both Miami and Florida, but gets the presige nod. The Noles have a winning record over both top five Notre Dame and Ohio State, but I digress.

Even still, it’s hard for me to look back at the history of college football and not put the Sooners at or near the top of the list. Certainly Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame, and Nebraska all deserve to be near the top as well. You can debate where everyone falls (ie should “x” be #6,#7, or #8) but it’s hard to see someone in the top 25 that doesn’t belong.

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Jumping Ship: Who’s leaving early for the NFL?

The good folks at ESPN’s data center have the updates on which college football underclassmen are leaving school in search of huge bags of money a career in the NFL. Here’s the updated list, with a few notable talents highlighted.

Asher Allen CB 5-1 198 Georgia
Chris Baker DT 6-2 298 Hampton
Kenny Britt WR 6-4 215 Rutgers
Eben Britton OT 6-5½ 310 Arizona
Donald Brown RB 5-10 210 Connecticut
Everette Brown DE 6-4 252 Florida State
James Casey TE 6-4 245 Rice
Jeremy Childs WR 6-0 196 Boise State
Glen Coffee RB 6-1 198 Alabama
Austin Collie WR 6-2 206 BYU
Emanuel Cook S 5-10 203 South Carolina
Jared Cook TE 6-5 243 South Carolina
Michael Crabtree WR 6-3 214 Texas Tech
Andrew Davie TE 6-5 266 Arkansas
Nate Davis QB 6-1¾ 217 Ball State
Vontae Davis CB 5-11⅞ 203 Illinois
Josh Freeman QB 6-5½ 238 Kansas State
Shonn Green RB 5-10¾ 233 Iowa
Percy Harvin WR 5-10¾ 187 Florida
Darrius Heyward-Bey WR 6-1⅞ 203 Maryland
P.J. Hill RB 5-11 236 Wisconsin
Greg Isdaner OG 6-4 322 West Virginia
Ricky Jean-Francois DL 6-3 289 LSU
Paul Kruger DE 6-5 265 Utah
Jeremy Maclin WR 6-0 198 Missouri
Sen’Derrick Marks DT 6-0⅞ 289 Auburn
Aaron Maybin DE 6-3½ 250 Penn State
LeSean McCoy RB 5-11 205 Pittsburgh
Gerald McRath LB 6-3 220 Southern Miss
D.J. Moore CB 5-10 184 Vanderbilt
Knowshon Moreno RB 5-10¾ 207 Georgia
Captain Munnerlyn CB 5-9 185 South Carolina
Hakeem Nicks WR 6-1 215 North Carolina
Kevin Ogletree WR 6-2 189 Virginia
Jerraud Powers CB 5-9 191 Auburn
Mark Sanchez QB 6-2½ 225 USC
Andre Smith DT 6-4⅞ 341 Alabama
Sean Smith CB 6-2½ 212 Utah
Matthew Stafford QB 6-2½ 235 Georgia
Brandon Williams DE 6-5 246 Texas Tech
Chris “Beanie” Wells RB 6-1 235 Ohio State

Of course, it’s worth mentioning a few standout players who are not going pro this year:

Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
Jermaine Gresham, TE, Oklahoma
Brandon Spikes, LB, Florida
C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson
Greg Hardy, DE, Mississippi

Equally notable, FSU S Myron Rolle will leave the Noles, but isn’t going to the NFL… yet. Rolle accepted a Rhodes Scholarship and will study medical anthropology at Oxford. Rolle was expected to be a top 50 or better pick, but will instead look to enter the 2010 NFL draft.

The NFL Draft is scheduled for April 26th and 27th in New York City.

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Who will be the 2009-2010 BCS National Champion?

While memories of Tebow hoisting the trophy may still be dancing through your head, the pundits can’t help but look ahead to the 2009-2010 BCS National Championship.

With more returning starters than USC or Oklahoma, the early favorites of the talking heads are the Florida Gators and Texas Longhorns.

Here’s a breakdown of the pundit pre-pre-preseason projections, with click-through links to their full lists.

Rivals.com
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. LSU
Highest Projected non-BCS: #9 – Boise State

Mark Schlabach (ESPN)
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. Alabama
Highest Projected non-BCS: #8 – Boise State

Dennis Dodd (CBS Sportsline)
1. Florida
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. Virginia Tech
Highest Projected non-BCS: #15 – Utah

Mr. College Football Tony Barnhart (Atlanta Constitution-Journal)
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Alabama
5. Oklahoma
Highest Projected non-BCS: #17 – TCU

Bruce Feldman (ESPN)
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Oregon
5. Virginia Tech
Highest Projected non-BCS: None in Top 10

Matt Hayes (Sporting News)
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Alabama
5. Ole Miss
Highest Projected non-BCS: #18 – BYU

So… if you believe the pundits… go ahead and book your reservations now, Gator & Longhorn fans. But… then again, that didn’t work out too well for Georgia fans last year, so… maybe just watch the games, first.

PS – On a side note, let me just say that I am glad to be back in the saddle. It’s nice to see the community has grown to the point where our contributors have taken over with amazing, self-generated content. Keep these great posts coming because… there is no off-season, boys.

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Michigan’s struggles hurt Utah’s bid for No. 1

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

The Utah Utes finished the season with the strongest résumé for a non-BCS program in recent times.

• Utah (13-0) was the only undefeated FBS team.
• The Utes swept through the Mountain West Conference, which reached a new level for a non-BCS league.
• They beat TCU and BYU.
• They beat an Oregon State team that knocked off No. 1 USC the week before.
• And they topped it off with quite possibly the most impressive win of the bowl season, a 31-17 triumph against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Sure, USC looked impressive against Penn State, but the Rose Bowl is a virtual home game for the Trojans. Utah essentially beat Alabama in the Crimson Tide's backyard.

And the amazing thing is, Utah's profile could have been a lot better.

Remember who the Utes beat in the season opener Aug. 30? Michigan. Utah outlasted the Wolverines 25-23 to kick off a very special season. 

Now imagine Michigan was Michigan, not the rudderless 3-9 product we saw this fall.

What if this was a standard Michigan team, one that finished the season ranked in the top 20? How much better would Utah look with a win in the Big House against a solid Wolverines squad from a solid Big Ten?

I'm not saying it would have put Utah ahead of Florida in the final polls. But as someone who voted the Utes at No. 2 in the ESPN.com final Power Rankings, I would have given a lot of thought to putting Utah on the top line. 

As it turned out, Michigan was one of Utah's least impressive victories. Only San Diego State (2-10) had a worse record. The Wolverines are barely mentioned when Utah's résumé is discussed. 

Many teams saw this as a good season to play Michigan. But for Utah, the game in Ann Arbor didn't really help.

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13-0 Utah + Barack Obama = playoffs???

Earlier this year, President-elect Barack Obama stepped into the college football controversy known as the BCS, when he publicly called for the college football championship system to include playoffs.  A mere 11 days after being elected as the most powerful man in the world, Obama made the call that millions of football fans are begging for.

“If you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system.”

I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.

I think it’s about time we had playoffs in college football. I’m fed up with these computer rankings and this that and the other. Get eight teams — the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a national champion.”

Once sworn into office, Obama could sway the BCS to abandon the current system in favor of a more accurate determination of a champion.  If any one man can do it, it would have to be the President of the United States.

But add to that the fact that Utah has just completed its’ second unbeaten season in four years, and you have more reason to change the system.  Utah’s biggest detraction was a softer schedule and the fact that very few people outside of the Mormon state got to see them play football.  Personally, the only time I saw them play was when they nearly lost to Michigan in the final seconds…..and after the season UM had, I would never have wanted a national championship shot given to a team that barely beat the Wolverines.

But looking back, you can see a better strength of schedule for the Utes, including wins against Oregon State, #12 TCU, and a blowout of then-#14 BYU.  Now counter in the destruction of #4 Alabama, and you’ve got a worthy team.

Also, don’t forget that Utah beat Alabama by MORE than Florida did, and the Gators ARE playing for the national championship.

Did unbeaten Boise State deserve a shot?  Hell, no.  But we didn’t find that out until the bowls.  So give 8-12 teams a chance and let’s find out who deserves it and who doesn’t.

So let’s see some action on this Mr. President.  It’ll be for the good of the sport, and for the good of the country.

Plus, when you get that playoff system in place, think of the landslide re-election you’ll have when the solidly-Republican state of Utah gives you their vote for President in 2012.

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Oh, yeah….i have this blog thing to write in

With the perfect storm of the holiday season, extended hours at work, and the cleanup after my father’s funeral, I haven’t been able to write much in The BBC lately.  I’d apologize, but you understand, I’m sure.

Here’s what I’ve missed yelling at you about;

Cleveland Cavaliers

Mid-last week, the news came in that Daniel “Boobie” Gibson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas would both miss games because of injury.  Fear struck immediately, but it was soon announced that Z might only miss a couple of games and Gibson a couple weeks.  Not much damage done if they heal properly.

One trip to Atlanta later, and the Cavs had their first loss in weeks, falling by five points to a good Hawks team.

Immediately after that loss with two stars benched, ESPN decided to forget about the Cavs, publishing an article on the 1998 Bulls and how their 72 win-season could be topped by the Celtics or the Lakers.  Hellloooooo?  At the time of that article, the Cavs had 20 wins and only 4 losses.  Extrapolate that out and you get 69 wins….why weren’t the Cavs included in that scenario?  ALL of our four losses were to teams seeded fifth or higher in the playoff system this year, and all of them were on the road.  Surely ESPN doesn’t think that we’re finished as one of the elite teams this year?

Meanwhile, two of the Lakers’ four losses are to Indiana and Sacramento, who won’t get into the playoffs without buying a ticket like eveyone else.

By the way, Boston also lost to the piss-poor Indiana Pacers…and they fell to Denver by 9 at home.

Speaking of Denver, the Nuggets are the hottest team in the West right nowsince they traded away Allen Cancerson to Detroit and picked up Chauncey Billups.  They’ve won 16 out of 21 and are playing incredible basketball at home.

Oh, wait….scratch that.

Last night, the Cavs manhandled the Nuggets on their own floor in a 105-88 blowout.  Cleveland opened up a quick first-quarter lead and never looked back.  They led by 16 after one quarter, and midway through the second period, the Denver boo-birds were in full-force.  Ilgauskas showed little ill-effect from his ankle, pouring in 23 points.  Denver got it down to 9 points for a couple seconds, but the Cavs turned up the heat again and pushed the lead to 22 points a couple of times before cruising across the finish line.

Cleveland now stands at 22-4 and has the second-best record in the NBA.  Beating Denver gives them a big boost heading down the final stretch of 2008.  Here’s what they have for the rest of the calendar year;

• at Oklahoma City (3-24)
• Houston (17-9)
• Washington (4-20)
• Miami (13-12)
• at Miami (13-12)

Houston is the only true standout in this upcoming stretch, and that game is at The Q, where we are 13-0.  Tomorrow night’s game against OKC and Christmas Day against the Wizards should be easy wins, and Miami should be a fun pair, but the Cavs are clearly better than Wade/Marion/company.  I’d be happy going 4-1 and entering 2009 at 26-5.  But 27-4 is not at all a stretch considering what we did to a top West team last night.

More Cavaliers

It goes without saying that the Cavs are a vastly superior team to the wine and gold of last year.  But what is often overlooked is HOW they have the aura of invincibility.

They’re beating the living tar out of the lesser teams.

Last season, our biggest downfall was the inablility to put down the teams that were CLEARLY the worst teams in the NBA.  That’s no longer the case.  Here’s a pretty chart to prove it;

Team	Cavs wins	Opp wins
2007-08
Indiana	4	0
New Jersey	1	3
Chicago	1	3
Charlotte	3	1
Milwaukee	1	3
New York	2	1
Miami	3	0
TOTAL	15	11
2008-09
Chicago	2	0
Milwaukee	2	0
New York	2	0
Toronto	1	0
Indiana	2	0
Charlotte	2	0
Washington	0	0
TOTAL	11	0

Going from 15-11 to 11-0 is an excellent summary of how much better the Cavs are this year.  If they keep that up, it will mean the difference between a four-seed and a first-seed in the NBA playoffs.

College football Bowl season

Yes, it begins now.

There’s four games today.  Lemme make this quick.

• I’ll take Wake Forest over Navy
• I’ll take Fresno State over Colorado State
• I’ll take South Florida over Memphis
• I’ll take BYU over Arizona

Tonight and tomorrow, I’ll begin my preview of each remaining bowl game and we’ll see how horrible my prognosticating skills are!

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Peterman wins national sportsmanship award

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

Northwestern wide receiver Eric Peterman has been named the recipient of the Awards and Recognition Association’s Sportsmanship Award, given to the FBS senior who best displays sportsmanship on and off the field.

Former BYU coach LaVell Edwards presented Peterman with the award today in Evanston, Ill.

Peterman, an engineering major who carries a 3.23 GPA, is the fourth recipient of the award, joining Washington State quarterback Alex Brink (2007), Rutgers fullback Brian Leonard (2006) and Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams (2005). Edwards said Peterman’s résumé of accomplishments in football, academics and community service was the best the award selection panel had ever seen.

Every FBS school was eligible to nominate players for the award. The field was narrowed to 10 finalists before the panel chose Peterman, who led Northwestern in receiving yards in each of the last two seasons.

“There’s more to college football than just the football aspect of it,” Peterman said. “I’m so thrilled to be able to represent this award because of the things that our program values.

“It’s something that means a lot to me. There is more than football, and off-the-field activities are just as important.”

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