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We still have 27 teams that haven’t lost a game, so they’re still contenders to bust the BCS. I was getting pretty sure that Boise State was coming off the list until Virginia Tech gifted them more than enough time to take the win, and I’m glad they did. But instead of trying to profile all 27, we’re just going to check in on the guys from last week’s list and add a few to fill it back in to 10. We bid a fond farewell to Middle Tennessee State and Northern Illinois, and also to Navy who wasn’t on the list but should have been. They may still have great seasons, but they won’t be in the BCS picture.
Since we’re calling it a watch, we’ll name it for the week coming up. The top 25 (later) is named for the week gone by. It makes no sense, I know.
Like last week, we’re skipping Boise State, TCU, and Utah and sticking with 10 teams that could make a run, or at least win enough games to get noticed before the schedule tears them down. For now, these are presented in no particular order.
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Conference USA is now the only league in the country with a leader and a last place team (ECU and Tulsa, respectively), thanks to the Sunday showdown between the two. That game was a great showcase for the league in an otherwise dismal weekend- the conference has yet to beat a FBS team outside of their own.
UCF 38, South Dakota 7- UCF was the only team in Conference USA to hold a team- any division- under 10 points. Next Week: North Carolina State at UCF
Texas 34, Rice 17- Rice gave the Longhorns all they could handle through most of the first half, but Texas pulled away at the end of Q2 and never looked back. (Predicted Texas to win by more than 30.5. 0-1.) Next Week: Rice at North Texas
Mississippi State 49, Memphis 7- Memphis looked as bad as we feared as the Bulldogs ran all over them (Prediction: Mississippi State to cover the 21.5. 1-1). Next Week: Memphis at East Carolina
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We continue working our way across the country looking at games lined up for Saturday & Sunday. CUSA got off to a bad start Thursday night and will be looking to get things stabilized over the weekend. There are a bunch of FCS games lined up, but also a couple more games that could get ugly. All games are on Saturday except the last two, all times eastern, you get the picture by now.
3:30 PM, ESPN- #4 Texas at Rice (Reliant Stadium): Look out, this could get ugly. Rice should be better than last year’s 2-10 team, but this won’t be the time or place to figure out if they are or not. Line: Texas by 30.5. The question with lines like this one is not ‘can’ Texas win by that much, but ‘will they?’ Looking to last year, they won their first two games by 39 and 31, then won their other two C-USA games by 32 and 57. So yes, I’d say Texas will probably cover that line, let’s say 49-10. And that’s way more than I planned to write on this game.
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Today is the day. All the talk of recruiting, GPA, realignment, coaching changes, Senate hearings, lawsuits, transfers, arrests and everything else goes out the window. At least until Tuesday because there’s no games Tuesday. Football is finally ready to kick off.
Here on the Fringe, we attempt to preview any given weeknight game as best we can, and we will have our Weeknight Football preview a little later today. But for now, the first of our weekly features including the BCS Buster Watch and my non-BCS Top 25. So here we go.
BCS Buster Watch
Currently on the watch: Everybody. All 54 teams are presently undefeated. So instead, here are 10 teams besides Boise State, TCU, and Utah that could make a run at the dream season, or at least stay undefeated long enough to garner a little attention. These teams are picked because they could (not will) make it to about 4-0 and do it with a worthwhile resume. In no particular order, except for alphabetical by the order their conference pages are sitting on my desk:
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Conference USA has been featured in dozens of realignment rumors this summer, yet nothing has come to fruition. First was a rumor that Memphis and/or UCF and/or East Carolina were off to the Big East and it was a done deal. Nothing there. Then, with the MWC/WAC fallout was the rumor that Houston was gone to the Mountain West- nothing so far. There’s word that Louisiana Tech wants to join the league, but no indication that the league has any need for them. So, as of now, Conference USA looks exactly like it has since 2005.
Last year’s conference champs, East Carolina, have a new coach and lost a lot of their team over the offseason and look to be a dark horse at best in 2010. Meanwhile Houston, West division champs a year ago, is fully loaded and looks like they could make a splash nationally, and they assume the mantle of conference favorites. There will be no shortage of teams looking to take the Cougars down a notch, with UCF, Southern Miss, and SMU looking like the prime candidates to take their shot.
Football on the Fringe Season Previews were ranked, then delivered in random order.
First, a disclaimer: UCF is my Alma Mater, I live four miles from the campus, and attend as many games as I can each year. I am undoubtedly biased, although often in the too-negative direction on account of being too close. So there.
Now then, the University of Central Florida Knights followed a win-then-lose pattern for the first half of the season until they broke the pattern with a last second win over Marshall. Texas stomped them, but recovered by shocking then #12 Houston, who had lost only once to that point. The Knights finished second in Conference USA East, and went on to lose to Rutgers in the St. Petersburg Bowl.
2010 is a year of promise for UCF, but, as usual, a question mark hangs over the quarterback position. Junior QB Rob Calabrese is hoping it’s finally his time in the spotlight, but freshman Jeffrey Godfrey is considered perhaps UCF’s most promising recruit- ever- and the position is still up for grabs. Otherwise, 8 offensive starters join 7 returnees on the defensive side for a team that should be ready to compete in the division. Read Post
In addition to Navy already comitted to the Texas Bowl, reports are out today that UCF is accepting a bid to the St. Petersburg Bowl and that SMU is accepting a bid to the Hawaii bowl. UCF reportedly will face USF or Rutgers, while SMU will see Hawaii or another WAC school, pending Saturday’s Hawaii-Wisconsin game. [...]
Another eventful weekend in C-USA, as we now have the league championship game set, while at least one team saw their bowl hopes go up in smoke and another stumbled across the finish line, lucky that the league has a lot of bowl ties. Read Post
For most of America’s 1-A college football teams, the regular season has come to a close. The conferences with no championship game have a few games here and there over the next few weeks, and four non-BCS teams have appointments with championship games next week. Here are some of the highlights from yesterday’s action:
Troy and TCU [...]
Finally, we come to the conference games. Not every team starts conference play this week, but enough of them do that we’ll finally start to get a feel for how these guys compare to similar competition, instead of 1-AA teams or BCS contenders. Plus, without so many games per conference, I can now bring you a worthwhile weekend preview instead of having to deal with 12 different games at every corner of the country. So without further ado, here’s what to look for in C-USA this weekend: Read Post
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