By Rich Eldridge
HERE ARE SOME PREDICTIONS:
-Alabama will play Michigan in the playoff final. We could see defending National Champions Georgia playing in a semi-final bowl as an at-large team after the Bulldogs lose to ‘Bama in the SEC Championship Game. I could see the ACC Champions (either Clemson OR Florida State) or the Pac-12 Champions (either USC, Washington, or Oregon) play in a semi-final bowl game. The Crimson TIde will have a #1 seed and play in the Sugar Bowl. The UM Wolverines will have a #2 seed and play in the Rose Bowl and finally win a semi-final bowl game.
-Expect teams like Boise State, Boston College,Kent State, Miami, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Stanford, Texas, Washington State, and Wisconsin to be better than their record from last season.
-Head Coaches on the hot seat include Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano, Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers, California Head Coach Justin Wilcox, Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen, Boston College Head Coach Jeff Halfley, West Virginia Head Coach Neal Brown, Arizona Head Coach Jedd Fisch, and San Jose State Head Coach Brent Brennan are favored to be relieved of their current job after this 2023 season is over.
-Teams that could surprise are Arkansas, Auburn, BYU, California,Florida, Liberty, Louisville, Mississippi, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Texas A&M, UAB, and Wyoming.
-Don’t expect teams such as TCU (13-2), Kansas State (10-4), Coastal Carolina (9-4), Minnesota (9-4), and Purdue (8-6) to be better than last season.
-A player from Alabama, Clemson, Michigan,Ohio State, TCU, and USC will have a player win a national individual position award. USC QB Caleb Williams is the defending Heisman Trophy winner (best player in the nation) but he has two other QBs (from the Pac-12) wanting to win that award from him. The Trojans have a great trio of WRs (Dorian Stringer, Mario Edwards, and Tahj Washington) who could be a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award (best WR in the nation). Don’t be surprised if an Alabama LB (i.e: Dallas Turner) wins the Butkus Award. Alabama CB Kool-Aid McKinstry is a lead contender for the Jim Thorpe Award (best best DB in the nation). Alabama PK Will Reichard is a lead contender for the Lou Groza Award (best PK in the nation). Don’t be surprised if Clemson wins the ACC Championship and makes it back into the collegefootball playoffs, a player wins a national individual honor. The best contenders (from Clemson) for an award would be Clemson RB Will Shipley pursuing the Doak Walker Award (best RB in the nation) and LB Jermiah Trotter Jr pursuing the Butkus Award (best LB in the nation). Ohio State LB Tommy Eichenberg has what it takes to become a finalist for National Defensive Player of the Year honors and the Butkus Award. Ohio State WRs Marvin Harrison Jr and Emeka Eguka have what it takes to become a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. TCU CB Josh Newton could be a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. Michigan C Drake Nugent and OG Zak Zinter will be major candidates for the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman in the nation). The Wolverines have good LBs and DBs have players who would win the Butkus Award or the Jim Thorpe Award.
-This season will be the first season in which the ACC got rid of divisions. Clemson will play Florida State in a rematch in the ACC Championship Game. Each team will win one of these games. North Carolina will finish third place in the ACC.
-This season will be the last season of the SEC having divisions before new teams join up next season. Alabama (West) will defeat Georgia (East) in the SEC Championship Game for a second time in three seasons. The Crimson Tide will regain their place on top of the SEC but the Bulldogs will not three-peat as national champions. LSU will finish in second place in the last year of the SEC West Division and have a berth in a New Year’s Six major bowl game.
-This season will be the last season of the Big Ten having divisions before new teams join up next season. Michigan (East) will defeat Wisconsin (West) in the Big Ten Championship Game. Don’t sleep on Ohio State, who will remain to be a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. The UM Wolverines will defeat the OSU Buckeyes for a third straight season for the first time since 1995-97.
-The winner of the Oklahoma vs Texas game (in Dallas, TX) will face TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game. I don’t want to count Kansas State and Baylor out of this discussion. The K-State Wildcats will need to find good enough players to replace RB Deuce Vaughn and DE Felix Anudike-Uzomah to have an encore from last season.
-The winner of the USC at Utah will face the winner of the Washington at Oregon game in the Pac-12 Championship Game. One game to definitely watch is Washington at USC on Nov.4 but then the Trojans have a road game against Oregon next week (Nov.11). We will know the pairings of the Pac-12 Championship Game by the end of Nov.25.
-Among all teams changing conferences, who do I think will be the most successful? I think UCF will be the most successful among the newbies playing in the Big 12. UTSA, who won back-to-back conference titles (2021-22) in their final years of playing in C-USA, will be a force to be reckoned with in the AAC. Liberty, who spent the last five seasons (2018-22) as an independent, will have a successful first season of playing in C-USA. The Flames are predicted to play Western Kentucky in the C-USA Championship Game.
-I predict the winner of the Miami (OH) at Ohio game (East on Oct.28) will play Toledo (West) in the MAC Championship Game.
-Boise State will regain ownership of the MW The Broncos will play the winner of the San Diego State at Fresno State game (Oct.29) in the MW Championship Game. Air Force, Utah State, and Wyoming will fight amongst each other for second place in the MW Mountain Division.Defending MW Champions Fresno State lose a lot of players but how reloadable are the FSU Bulldogs?
-C-USA has no divisions anymore because there are nine teams in that conference. I predict Western Kentucky will take on MTSU in a rematch (from their Sept.28 match in which the WKU Hilltoppers will have a home game against the Blue Raiders) in the C-USA Championship Game. The winner of the FIU at La Tech game (Aug.26) would surprise people this season.
-The SBC is a bigger conference than you can imagine. I predict that Coastal Carolina (East) will play the winner of South Alabama at Troy (West on Thurs, Nov.2) in the SBC Championship Game. Coastal Carolina QB Grayson McCall decided to stay in school to become the first-ever SBC Player of the Year award after winning that same honor for three straight seasons (2020-22).
-TCU will have a great team but I don’t see the Horn Frogs making the college football playoffs for a second straight season. This football team could still have 11 wins and play in the Big 12 Championship Game but the big ? is how good is how good their new backs are going to be in the backfield for their offense.
-Notre Dame could be better than a 9-4 mark from last season. This Fighting Irish defense has a great trio of CBs in the DB corp. This offense has a great pair of OTs to protect QB Sam Hartman, who decided to transfer from Wake Forest and play his final year of eligibility for the Irish, and become one of the most improved offenses in the nation. If this football team has a home win over Ohio State on Sept. 23, expect a lot of good things to happen for the Fighting Irish, such as a 10-3 mark or better.
-Michigan State will finish with a 6-6- the highest. If the MSU Spartans get onto something worse than a 2-3 start, the future won’t be bright for Head Coach Mel Tucker, who is on the hotseat. Tucker is the most overpaid head coach in the Big Ten beginning with his second season (2021) of his current job. Michigan State stumbled from an 11-2 mark (in 2021) to a 5-7 mark last season.
-Don’t count Tennessee out of anything. For a second straight season, the UT Volunteers will have a second straight season with 10 wins IF NOT 11 wins and a berth in a New Year’s Six major bowl game. The only teams who are capable of defeating the Vols are (at) Alabama (Oct.21) and Georgia (Nov.18). Keep in mind about road games against Florida (Sept.16) and Kentucky. (Oct.28). If this football team finally beats the Bulldogs, we could see a rematch between Tennessee vs Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
-As far as national individual awards go, I don’t know who else will win one this season. Here is something I will tell you. Georgia TE Brock Bowers is the defending Mackey Award winner (best TE in the nation). Stanford PK Joshua Karty was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award last season. I do predict a PK from the ACC, Big 12, MW, Pac-12 or SEC will be a finalist for the Lou Groza Award. A RB from the Big Ten and the SEC will be a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. A LB from the ACC, Big Ten,and the SEC will be a finalist for the Butkus Award. A WR from the Pac-12 will be a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. A DB from the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, or the SEC will be a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and USC have the best OL corp in the nation and one of their players will be a finalist for the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman in the nation) or the Rimington Award (best center in the nation).
-If you are wondering about how Colorado will do under new Head Coach Deion “Prime Time” Sanders (aka Coach Prime), well I got good news and bad news. The good news is that the Buffaloes will do better than a 1-11 mark from last season. The bad news is that the Buffs won’t play in a bowl game this season, which will be their last season in the dying Pac-12 before moving back to the Big 12. Deion’s sons Shedeur (favored to win starting QB job) and Shilo (playing safety), who are both listed as juniors, transferred from Jackson State to ‘Rado to join up with their dad along with countless transfers from Jackson State and other schools. My best prediction will be Colorado finishing with a 2-10 mark, including a 2-7 mark in Pac-12 conference play.
Questions, Comments, Concerns, and Objections ARE MORE THAN WELCOME!!!!
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PS: In case any one of you are wondering, the SBC stands for the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt has become a better conference than you would expect because they added four more teams. The AAC stands for the American Athletic Conference, which will kickoff its 11th season since that conference was established. A lot of people refer to them as The American. I wish the MW could be called the MWC (as in Mountain West Conference) but their official acronym is referred to as the MW. I hope all that helps any of you all out there.
