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Old School Meets New School
The North Carolina Tar Heels are one of those dark horse teams which could crop up and finish out the season with a Top 20 ranking and at least a shot to get into a New Year's Six bowl game. Larry Fedora is in a bit of a make-or-break season for his job, and if he can't get to eight wins this season, he doesn't deserve to keep said job....
Dana Holgorsen has consistently been one of the most overrated coaches in the country, and after a 7-6 season last year, he'll be on a very hot seat in Morgantown. That said, it's tough to see the West Virginia Mountaineers ever turning into much more than an average team under Holgorsen's direction, and that just isn't good enough for the boosters or this program....
When Mike Leach left Lubbock in 2009, the Texas Tech Red Raiders really needed a spark. Tommy Tuberville wasn't able to fit the bill, but when Kliff Kingsbury was hired, it gave a real sense that a new era of football had arrived.Whether Kingsbury can deliver on his promise to bring his alma mater up to national contender status certainly remains to be seen, but this doesn't figure to be the year that occurs....
Bill Snyder is an ageless wonder in the "Little Apple" of Manhattan. His time is clearly going to be ending soon with the Kansas State Wildcats, but he is going to hope to get this team to another bowl game this year with him in the twilight of his career....
The window of opportunity to be a truly elite team in the landscape of college football is probably up for the Boise State Broncos. However, with 18 total returning starters, a spot in a New Year's Six bowl game isn't out of the question this year....
Transitioning from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 was tough for the Utah Utes. Kyle Whittingham brought them through the transition as best he could, but he still went into last season on the hot seat. A 9-4 season with a legitimate chance to win the Pac-12 South title for most of the year was more than good enough for Whittingham to keep his job, but he still has work to do in 2015....
Chris Petersen probably thought that he was going to be able to build up the Washington Huskies into a legitimate National Championship contender in just a couple of seasons. Instead, his first season in Seattle was a somewhat drab 8-6 result, while his second season looks like it probably won't even end with a trip to a bowl game....
Pop quiz, hot shot. There was one team in America last year to beat Ohio State - Can you name it?That team was the Virginia Tech Hokies, and that win was the reason that they made it to a bowl game....
Paul Johnson is one of the most underrated head coaches in America. He did a phenomenal job for all those years at Navy, and now, he has brought the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to a few ACC Championship Games and even a New Year's Six bowl win over Mississippi State last year. But can the Ramblin' Wreck ever legitimately become a National Championship contender?...
The Ol' Ball Coach is up to his old tricks again. Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks are probably never going to become legitimate National Championship contenders, but in a weak SEC East, the prospects of reaching Atlanta is most certainly a possibility....
The Penn State Nittany Lions were crippled by NCAA sanctions over the course the last couple seasons thanks to the Jerry Sandusky incidents. However, the NCAA reversed its bowl ban on PSU last season just in time for James Franklin to return this team to respectability in his first season on the job. Growth is very possible in 2015....
The Missouri Tigers were supposed to struggle out of the blocks when they moved from the Big XII over to the SEC a few years ago. Instead, they have won consecutive SEC East titles, and could be poised for a third in a row in 2015....
Charlie Strong up and left the Louisville Cardinals in a lurch last year, but the prodigal son of UL football, Bobby Petrino is back as the supposed savior. He didn't have the greatest first year in the world in the Commonwealth, but he beat teams like Notre Dame, Miami, and most importantly, Kentucky, giving him and the Cards something to build upon in 2015....
It could be a make or break year for Al Golden and the Miami Hurricanes.After a few seasons of struggles, the Canes legitimately have a chance to win their very first ACC title in 2015, a year which appears to be wide open in the conference....
The Oklahoma State Cowboys are on probation in 2015 for violations of the NCAA's drug testing policy.That said, they still have the potential to play the role of spoiler for a lot of the Big XII's top teams....
Rich Rodriguez has turned the Arizona Wildcats from a unit which never had a chance to win the Pac-12 to one which is going to be a contender year in and year out. The Cats went to the Pac-12 Championship Game a season ago, and though it will be tough to win the South once again, no one is going to want to see this team on its schedule....
Each and every year, you can tab the Wisconsin Badgers as Big Ten contenders. You know they're going to run the heck out of the football and play good defense, and even though we are in a day and age of the run and gun and scoring 40 points to win games, the Badgers are anything but. They should keep that up again in 2015....
The boosters believed that Charlie Strong was going to make the Texas Longhorns immediate national powers once again in his first year at the helm in Austin.Instead, he ruffled a bunch of feathers by kicking player after player off of the team. The Longhorns are tougher now for it, and they should show improvement from last season's 6-7 campaign....
After years and years of mediocrity, the Nebraska Cornhuskers decided to part ways with Bo Pelini. Whether they made the right decision in firing their coach remains to be seen, as we feel as though Nebraska is nothing more than what it has essentially been over the course of the last few seasons....
Last year was the year for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They had their chance to get into the first ever CFP, and they were legitimate National Championship contenders under Dan Mullen.They didn't get the job done though, and they were beaten in three of their last four games. Now, they return a total of just nine starters from last year's crew and will have a lot of rebuilding to do in a hurry....
It's the dawn of a new era of Florida Gators football. The Will Muschamp era, one which will absolutely be remembered as a disaster, is said and done with.Jim McElwain will try to put some life into a stagnant offense, though it would be unfair to expect him to do so right away in Year 1....
There was only one school in America which had fewer seniors graduate than Arizona State. That's one of the many reasons why there are lots of pundits out there who believe the Sun Devils might ultimately win the Pac-12 and have an outside shot of getting into the CFP....
It's tough to believe that it has been 14 years since the Tennessee Volunteers were anywhere near relevant.That was the last time they won 11 games in a season, and it has been 17 years since the team has won the National Championship. If the Vols are going to get back to relevance though, this is the year for it to happen....
Big Blue Nation finally might have a reason to smile again. After searching long and hard for the right coach, the Michigan Wolverines might finally have their "Michigan Man" in Jim Harbaugh.Whether he can work miracles and put the Wolverines back on the map immediately in 2015 remains to be seen, though....
Bret Bielema said last season time and time again that the Arkansas Razorbacks will win some of these close games in the SEC when they truly deserve to do so.They finally got it together at the end of the year and shut out both LSU and Ole Miss at home to get into a bowl game, where they beat Texas to finish above .500....
