Monday August 31, 2009

Shoeless college football preview

http://shoelessworks.com/blog/2009/08/shoeless-college-football-preview.html

Well folks, it's that time of year again! My favorite time of year personally. Football season is upon us once again.

As many of you know, I'm a Clemson fan and graduate. This doesn't mean that I don't know what the heck is going on elsewhere though; however, for the sake of eyes and patience I'll stick to brief summaries about Clemson, SC and college football in general.

Let's start with Clemson. For the first time in about 10 years I feel as though Clemson will actually have a little bit less pressure on them this season. Dabo Swinney is starting his first FULL year at Clemson this year after a decent finish last season after the canning of coach Tommy "start slow, finish not as slow" Bowden. I was impressed with Dabo last season but we didn't get to see much from him. This year we should shoot out the gate into a new brand of clemson football. Hopefully, it'll look more like the old brand of Clemson football. I'm hoping to see tougher players and more physical style of play. I feel as though the talent is there, but the heart has been lacking over the past few years as a whole.

To me, the offensive line is, again, the biggest question mark coming into the season. I've seen a handful of articles and arguments on the various message boards about the QB and other positions but to me it'll all come down to the OL. If we can run the ball and block effectively we'll probably win a lot of ballgames... if not, well... we know that story.

This makes my preseason prediction an easy one for the Tigers. 7-5 or 8-4 regular season. I'd like to go higher but at this time, I can't.

SC is a different story though. I personally see the Gamecocks being no better or worse than last season. I think they'll start strong (again) maybe even get an upset or 2 there in the beginning but then I think the wheels will come off and they'll falter... AGAIN! Their QB issues are still there, they've lost a lot of talent on both sides of the ball and even though they've had great recruiting classes over the years, the results haven't been any different.

I see another 7-4 season for the folks in Columbia again and look for the locals to finally start to question Spurrier a little harder than ever before.

Overall in the great state of SC, I don't think it looks to bright. However, this is still the greatest time of year and we should get out and enjoy every minute of it b/c it'll be gone too quickly and we'll be dreading the months of the off-season too soon.

For the college football season as a whole I don't see a clear favorite right now. A lot of people are screaming about Florida again but I think this season they won't be as strong as the past 3. Percy Harvin leaving will be a bigger impact than anyone figured and I just don't see Tim Tebow completely putting that team on his shoulders this year. I am not saying they'll lose 8 games or anything like that, I just don't think they'll get that 3rd title in 4 years with him.

The same questions mark pop up all over the country as well. Oklahoma and Texas have great QBs but do you think either can go undefeated in the Big 12? So Cal has got QB issues already but could make a run if they get that behind them. Another fun pick would be Penn State in the Big Ten (11)... but do you really see the BCS putting another Big Smelly team in the Nat'l Title game again if they are matched up with an SEC school? Then there's the ACC and the other conferences.... ehh... well, there's not much to talk about.

So basically, everything is up in the air at this point and I would be surprised to see a handful of different things happen. One thing I do know though, it'll be fun to watch.

See you on Saturdays!