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Remember the pitifulness that was the Big 12 North just a couple of years ago? In a three-year stretch from 2004-2006, the North representative lost in the conference title game by a combined 133-13. The emergence of Missouri and Kansas have more or less saved the division’s reputation.
What does this have to do with the ACC Coastal Division? If it wasn’t for Virginia Tech, this division would be the new Big 12 North. You could also call it a mini-Big East, because it’s a surprise if the Hokies don’t win the division. The competition? inconsistent Virginia and Georgia Tech, fallen power Miami, and basketball schools North Carolina and Duke.
I don’t really know what to say about this…
Look, I’m not going to ruffle many feathers when I say the ACC may be the worst of the major six BCS leagues. It was supposed to be the next super-conference when Miami, VT, and BC joined, but the Canes and perennial power Florida State have struggled, and the league has struggled in non-conference games.
Virginia Tech has won two ACC titles since joining the league in 2004
Yes, the ACC won the most non-conference games of any other league with 10. The wins: South Carolina, Colorado, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Notre Dame (twice), Texas A&M, UConn, and Pitt. However, the league was just 2-6 in bowls last year (this division was 0-3) and is a woeful 1-9 all-time in bowl games.
This probably says just as much…
Yes, the SEC Champions beat the ACC Champion by 41 points. Virginia Tech recovered from that and the late collapse against Matt Ryan to bounce back, win the Coastal in its rival’s stadium, and avenge the loss for the ACC Championship, the Hokies’ second in its four years in the ACC. They then of course lost to Kansas, who had no business even being in the Orange Bowl (uh, Missouri?).
Once again, the Coastal is Tech’s to lose, despite the dismissal of HB Branden Ore, graduation of the top four WRs, and having to find 7 new defensive starters. The two-headed QB attack of Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor return, and the Hokies’ OL, which gave up 54 sacks last year, should be much improved. VT has some tough road games – North Carolina, Nebraska, BC, FSU, and Miami – but c’mon, they have the most talent in this division and Frank Beamer.
CB Victor “Macho” Harris is one of just four returning defensive starters for Virginia Tech, but the Hokies always have good defenses under Bud Foster
The Hokies most likely challenger will actually be North Carolina (don’t laugh). Though UNC hasn’t won a game outside the state since 2002, it’s Butch Davis’ second year and he has the Tar Heel program heading in the right direction. The entire offense returns, including So. QB T.J. Yates, who broke the school records in yards, completions, and attempts last year. The entire secondary returns and the defense should be fine despite losing its top two tacklers.
Could Butch Davis lead UNC into the ACC Title Game in just his second year??
UNC will be tested early, with trips to Rutgers and Miami sandwiching the home game against Virginia Tech, all in the first four games. The Heels also host Notre Dame. They were just 3-6 last year in games decided by less than 7 points, so it’s not like they have that far to go.
Miami was supposed to be Virginia Tech’s main competition, but the Canes have had a rough go in the ACC. The Canes were just 2-6 in the league last year and those wins were UNC and Duke. I would attribute most of the issues to poor QB play and lackluster effort. The current QBs on the roster have attempted as many passes in college as I have – zero. That said, many are high on rFr. Robert Marve and Fr. early-enrollee Jacory Harris. Playmakers like HBs Craig Cooper and Javarris James and WR Sam Shields should help. Oh, they lost five of their top six tacklers from last year too.
Miami said adios to the Orange Bowl by laying an egg against Virginia…maybe the move to Dolphin Stadium will get Miami and all that talent back on track
Seriously, it’s not like Miami is depleted on talent, they had a top 10 class last year. They’re going to be a pretty young team this year, and they play Florida and Texas A&M on the road in the first three games. Still, there’s no reason Miami shouldn’t at least make a bowl game this year.
Quietly, Virginia, led by their defense, had a chance to win the Coastal last year, but lost at home to Virginia Tech in the finale. It’s a rebuilding year for Al Groh, as the Cavs lose much of that defense (six starters including #2 pick DE Chris Long), lose experience along the OL, and must break in a new QB. The Cavs got smacked by Wyoming and were 6-2 in games decided by 7 points or less last year, so they were fortunate to go 9-4.
A strength a year ago, Virginia returns just five starters, but all three LBs – including Clint Sintim – are back
Playmaking HBs Cedric Peerman and Mikell Simpson are back, and QB Peter Lalich did play in 8 games last year.
It’s a whole new start for Georgia Tech, as new coach Bobby Johnson is bringing the triple option offense to Atlanta. Last year’s starting QB Taylor Bennett transferred to Louisiana Tech since he was certainly not an option QB. So. Josh Nesbitt, though, is an option-style QB. Proof:
Stud HB Tashard Choice is gone but Jonathan Dwyer scored 9 TDs last year, yet there are some questions on the OL. Seven starters and Jon Tenuta, one of the best defensive coordinators in the game, are all gone. 1st Team All-ACC Vance Walker anchors a defensive line that should be solid.
And finally, there’s Duke. The Blue Devils have just plain sucked for a really, really long time (see 1-31 ACC record since expansion in 2004). But they hired David Cutcliffe away from Tennessee and look to be showing some vested interest in making a concentrated effort on improving the football program. Cutcliffe won at Ole Miss, but can he win at Duke, a place where only Steve Spurrier has won?
(Sincerely) Good luck at Duke, Coach Cut, you’re gonna need it…
Simply because of what Cutcliffe has done for Tennessee, I hope so. Cutcliffe has always been an excellent QB coach (see the Mannings and moreso Erik Ainge 2005 vs. Erik Ainge 2006-2007) – maybe less so as an offensive coordinator (not touching that dead horse). He’ll now be working with Thaddeus Lewis, who’s entering his third year as Duke’s starter.
The rushing and receiving leaders from last year both return, but the Devils averaged just 64 yards rushing/game last year. They do have 10 starters back on defense, though, including 100 tackle LBs Vincent Rey and Michael Taualiili.
Duke’s won 4 games the past four years, and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch for them to win that many this year.
I gotta be honest: I just don’t think very highly of the Big East. It just seems to me all the beef – Miami, Virginia Tech, and BC – has now moved “up” to the ACC.
Virginia Tech probably has benefitted the most from the shift, but more on that in the ACC preview. The next beneficiary has clearly been West Virginia, the league’s most notable and consistent team since the “Big Three” left. Obviously since then the Big East has more or less been the Mountaineers’ to lose.
Many, myself included, thought the league had fallen into the mid-major/not-deserving-of-its-automatic-bid-to-a-BCS-bowl situation. Pitt being rocked by Alex Smith and Urban Meyer’s undefeated Utah team in the Fiesta Bowl following the ‘04 season didn’t help, but something happened the next bowl season…
West Virginia, with Pat White and Steve Slaton, stunned the powerful SEC champion Georgia basically in their own backyard. That was a great win and has more or less given the league some credibility, but how long can that be used? Of course, now WVU’s rout of an Oklahoma team many thought deserved a shot at the national title in the most recent Fiesta Bowl will likely take its place.
The league actually had 7 wins over BCS teams in the non-conference schedule (tied with the MWC and SEC for the second most), but a closer look at those wins takes the luster off that stat. The wins were over: Maryland, Mississippi State, Auburn, North Carolina, NC State, Oregon State, and Duke. I should point out that more chances for respect come this year though: West Virginia plays at Colorado and hosts Auburn, USF hosts Kansas, Pitt plays at Notre Dame, Louisville plays Kentucky and Kansas State, and Cincinnati plays at Oklahoma.
Other than USF’s OT win at Auburn, Cincinnati’s 34-3 rout of Oregon State might have been the best out-of-conference regular season win for the Big East in 2007
In reality they should call it the “Thursday Night” league because of the almost dominance of ESPN Thursday night games the past three seasons or so. I guess it’s good for the exposure and that’s great and all, but to me college football is meant for Saturdays and Saturdays alone – maybe I’m just old-school. I just think if you have to play your games on nights when you’re the only option for a football-hungry nation to be seen and noticed, then you must not be that important in the whole scheme of things. NOTE: Big East teams play 25 non-Saturday games this year, including games Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday.
In addition to WVU, Louisville has also carried the Big East’s respect with QB Brian Brohm and a lesser BCS Orange Bowl win over ACC Champion Wake Forest. But the Cards fell to 6-6 last year and were absolutely atrocious on defense (#113 in the country against the pass). The worst? the 38-35 loss to 40+ point underdog Syracuse, winner of two Big East games the past two years. In an effort to improve the defense, UL coach Steve Kragthorpe brought in former Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English.
Back to WVU, the image that sticks out to me that makes me think of the Big East in such a negative light, is Pat White nursing his thumb injury while his WVU offense sputtered against a Pitt team whose coach Dave Wannstedt was likely on his way out. I can’t imagine the injury was that bad, but of course what do I know.
I’ll put it this way: Tim Tebow played the last half of the year with a bum shoulder and won the Heisman with his performance against Florida State with a broken hand. Even Erik Ainge, who most Vol fans consider the most contact-shy, fragile Tennessee QB ever played ALL of last year with a pinky-on-his-throwing-hand injury and a bum throwing shoulder.
Yes, WVU could have gone to New Orleans last year, and honestly I would not have watched them play Ohio State because I believed LSU fully healthy was better than both. That said, I would have liked the Mountaineers chances because of Ohio State’s problems with the spread (see their loss to Illinois). But Pitt ruined that…
West Virginia still controls the Big East, with Pat White returning and speedy HB Noel Devine to take the place of the departed Steve Slaton. The offense will have new WRs that will need to emerge, but the offensive line will be one of the best in the country. The ‘Eers will have a whole new secondary to develop and have questions on the defensive line. Also, how will new coach Bill Stewart fare in his first full year? The bowl win was stirring, sure, but will that carry over?
Because of the upset of WVU, Pitt is viewed as a challenger in the Big East this year. Wannstedt is still the coach, and the Panthers seem to be a popular darkhorse Big East champion pick behind WVU and USF. Pitt lost just 13 letterman and have 15 starters back, most notably stud HB LeSean McCoy and last year’s top three tacklers (LBs Scott McKillop, Shane Murray, and Adam Gunn). Pitt shut down WVU in that upset, and they allowed just over 3 yards/carry on defense last year. At the least, Pitt should make their first bowl since that Fiesta Bowl blowout in 2004, or Wannstedt will be looking for a new job.
A recent episode of College Football Live on ESPN had the USF Bulls as a “breakthrough” team of 2007. However I think it’s much more accurate they had a couple of breakout wins. One was this…
…the other was beating West Virginia on ESPN on (surprise surprise) a Friday night. The Bulls climbed to #2 in the polls before a Thursday night loss at Rutgers, followed by a loss at UConn, and a home loss to Cincinnati. Their season then ended with this thud…
USF pretty much may be the reason Jonathan Stewart was the first RB taken not named McFadden (I jest, Stewart should be a solid NFL HB). If the Bulls broke through last year, then expectations should be higher this season, with 17 starters back (10 on offense), including QB Matt Grothe. The offense has the potential to put up lots of points (the Florida speed should help), and the defense, while having to replace leading tackler LB Ben Moffitt and two NFL CBs in Mike Jenkins and Trae Williams, should be solid again this year. USF actually could run the table, and the league might be decided December 6 when they visit Morgantown.
Cincinnati, under first year head coach Brian Kelly quietly finished 10-3 and in the top 20 last year, but the Bearcats suffered a blow when QB Ben Mauk was denied a 6th year of eligibility. You could see Notre Dame transfer Demetrius Jones win the job, but the strength of Cincy should be the defense, which gave up 19 points/game last year. The only question there is the DL, but offensively Cincy will need to find a QB to throw to one of the better WR groups in the league.
Cincinnati CB Mike Mickens will be one of the defensive leaders for the Bearcats this year
Little do people know that Connecticut split for the Big East title last year with WVU. Simply put, the Huskies caught some breaks – there was the Temple game, and then there was this play…
…that ultimately turned the game and allowed UConn to win. UConn lost 17-16 at UVa, but the best three teams they played (Cincy, West Virginia, and Wake Forest in the bowl), beat the Huskies by a combined 117-34. Ouch. While the entire offense pretty much returns and the only question defensively is the secondary, I think UConn will be hard-pressed to reach 9 wins again. They can make a bowl certainly, but really how good were the Huskies last year?
Can UConn and HB Andre Dixon build off last year’s Big East “co” championship?
Then there’s Rutgers, who had a little fall back to the reality of being Rutgers last year going 8-5. Sure there was the good Rutgers…
…but losses to Maryland (24-34), Cincy (23-28), and WVU (3-31) at home and at UConn (19-38) and Louisville (38-41) dampered the feelings from 2006. The Scarlet Knights return 15 starters, but one of them is not 2,000-yd 24 TD HB Ray Rice. That and special teams are the questions for coach Greg Schiano this year, as pretty much everyone else – QB Mike Teel, WRs Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood, FS Courtney Greene, and LBs Kevin Malast and Damaso Munoz – returns. However Rutgers has trips to WVU, USF, and Pitt, so a fourth-straight bowl game should be a respectable goal for this team.
Last but not least, there’s Syracuse. The Orange have won 7 total games the past 3 years, and only 2 league games (UConn in 2006, UL last year). While Syracuse has 14 starters back, they were just awful last year – outscored by 20 points/game in Big East games – and there’s quite the gap between them and the rest of the league.
Syracuse’s Greg Robinson is just 7-28 in his first three years as head coach
Again in 2008, the Big East is West Virginia’s to lose.
2008 “Replacements”: West Virginia’s explosive HB Noel Devine replaces the departed Steve Slaton and Louisville QB Hunter Cantwell, who led the Cards’ 31-7 win over Miami in 2006, replaces Brian Brohm
Tennessee starts its fall camp Saturday, which means it’s really really close to being football season. The already high anticipation level just continues to rise, as it’s officially less than a month until we have college football again – that is, if you count the opening Thursday night games.
I’m doing my part, embarking on a long, long journey through all the conferences and all the teams in I-A and how they look heading into the season. Yes that’s right, I’m tackling this task with reckless abandon – 21 days straight of conference preview posts.
Some notes about these previews: first, I get most of my information on who’s back for which teams from Phil Steele’s magazine. Yes, he picked Tennessee behind South Carolina in the East (absurd if you ask me) but there’s too much straight information in that book for me to not use. So thank you Phil.
Secondly, I realized as I began writing these that these posts will be quite long. Honestly, I don’t expect anybody to read every word on these posts – if you’re just looking for a quick overview, read my introducing words, and look at the pictures and captions (there’s one for each team).
However, if you’re the betting type and need to know about a particular team you might not know much about, this could help. Also, if for example you’re a Gator fan wanting to know what Hawaii will look like without June Jones and Colt Brennan, or a UGA fan looking to see what kind of challenge to expect from Central Michigan, then just check out those particular teams in the previews. The plan is to do more in-depth previews of Tennessee’s opponents the week leading up to those games.
That said, I must admit the posts will get better as I go along, since obviously I’m going to know more, and likewise have more opinions about, the BCS conference teams than the non-BCS leagues. The BCS conference posts will be less structured and less boring facts, and will have more pictures, YouTube documentations, and biased-but-supposedly-objective musings from my own head.
Here’s the actual schedule. The fun of this journey begins Friday and concludes the Thursday the week before the season gets going…
Aug 1: Army/Navy Aug 2: MAC West Aug 3: MAC East Aug 4: Sun Belt
Aug 5: WAC Aug 6: C-USA West Aug 7: C-USA East Aug 8: MWC
Aug 9: Big East Aug 10: ACC Coastal Aug 11: ACC Atlantic Aug 12: Big Ten
Aug 13: Big 12 North Aug 14: Big 12 South Aug 15: Pac-10
The SEC gets its own week more or less, with an East team being paired with its yearly West opponent for six straight days, culminating with my take on my beloved Volunteers. I would imagine those posts would be the best out of all of the previews. Those will go as follows:
Aug 16: Vandy/Ole Miss
Aug 17: South Carolina/Arkansas
Aug 18: Kentucky/Mississippi State
Aug 19: Georgia/Auburn
Aug 20: Florida/LSU
Aug 21: Tennessee/Alabama
