My original intent of this part was to touch on a few things about the Big 12 and talk a little bit about the landscape of college football, because I follow the sport outside of the Big 12 and Iowa State. This was going to include predictions like "A-Rob will rush for over 1700 yards" and stuff like that.
But then I realized that this is kind of stupid. For the most part, all of my "predictions" are implicit. I mean, you know which guys I think are going to be pretty good, as I listed them on my All-Big 12 team. You know which teams I think are going to have good records, as I went through their schedule.
At the end of the day, if ISU only wins 4 games, who cares if A-Rob rushes for over 1700 yards? Or if A&M wins 10 games, or CU wins 8 games, how both of those coaches will be in the running for coach of the year. That stuff is obvious, and I don't think I really need to explicitly state these things, when you can come to your own conclusions based on what I wrote.
I will say, that if Mangino and Leach were still coaches in this league, I'd be more inclined to do something like this. A post like this could be pretty fun.
What I've decided to do instead of this, is mislead all the readers with this post!
You THINK this is Big 12 Predictions, but instead these are going to be College Football Predictions from a National Perspective.
I'm going to my prediction of conference champ in each of the BCS conferences, my preseason Top 25, my Heisman Trophy watchlist, and the now trendy "what games I'd attend if I could roadtrip the entire season" list.
So, if you want to see my craziness continue with some of these predictions, we'll continue it on the next page. If you just threw up a little in your mouth from reading my preview to this article, you have been forewarned.
The "Official" Clone Chronicles Preseason Conference Champion Picks:
ACC: Florida State - have a ton of talent, and will finally stop underachieving
Big 10: Ohio State - the Hawks might have the more favorable schedule, but they usually disappoint their fans when there are big expectations. Ohio State is an easy default sort of pick here, but they've been winning a lot.
Big 12: Oklahoma - covered this quite a bit in the previous parts of this miniseries
Big East: UConn - played a lot of close games last year and are at home against contenders WVU, Pitt, and Cincy.
Pac 10: Oregon - Lost Masoli, but that's still a heck of a talented team.
SEC: 'Bama - they aren't going to be as good as last year, and they'll probably lose a conference game or two, but with Ingram, Julio Jones, and Greg McElory back in the mix, I think this team is going to score a ton of points. They have to replace 9 starters on defense, and that will be tough, but I think every team in the SEC has some big questions going into the season. They're still the best conference, but there are some rebuilding reloading projects underway down south.
The "Official" Clone Chronicles Preseason Top 25:
I did one of these a month or two ago, but that was wasn't "official". What I'm going to do is rank the teams based on where I think they will finish at the end of the regular season. This is a contrast from the blogpoll that we've been participating in, as they want resume balloting. Because of this, I will abstain from participating in the blogpoll for the first four weeks, until we can get an appropriate sample size to properly do a ballot based on resume.
- Oklahoma
- Boise State
- TCU
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Florida
- Oregon
- Florida State
- Iowa
- Texas A&M
- Oregon State
- Wisconsin
- Texas
- Miami
- UNC
- UConn
- Nebraska
- Auburn
- Missouri
- Arizona
- Virginia Tech
- Arkansas
- Washington
- Michigan State
- Houston
Also considered: LSU, West Virginia, Utah, Cal, Boston College, South Carolina, USC, South Florida, Penn State, Pittsburgh
The "Official" Clone Chronicles Preseason Heisman Watch List:
- Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
- Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Oregon State
- Noel Devine, RB, WVU
- Case Keenum, QB, Houston
- Jerrod Johnson, QB, Texas A&M
- Julio Jones, WR, Alabama
- Jake Locker, QB, Washington
- Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
- Christian Ponder, QB, Florida State
- John Clay, RB, Wisconsin
- Dion Lewis, RB, Pittsburgh
- Michael Floyd, WR, Notre Dame (repping the Twin Cities too!)
- Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas
- Jacory Harris, QB, Miami
- Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma
- Matt Barkley, QB, USC
- LaMichael James, RB, Oregon
- AJ Green, WR, Georgia
- Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri
- DeMarco Murray, RB, Oklahoma
The "Official" Clone Chronicles 2010 Ultimate College Road Trip:
If I had to pick a game to attend each week, where money wasn't a factor, these are games that I would attend each week (ISU games excluded). Now, these aren't necessarily the best games of the week, and a lot of this is personal preference. I haven't had the chance to travel to other stadiums because going to college football games is so frickin' expensive, and it's much easier to watch on TV (I do go to Cyclones home games though). I've always wanted to check out other stadiums and get the gameday experience at other places. To be honest, if I had the resources, I'd love to blog about travelling to different stadiums and experiencing different gameday traditions. Unfortuantly, I think there are many, more talented, and more rich people that could probably do this. Maybe in my lifetime I'll be able to hit all the places I'd like to go.
With this list, my criteria for this is good gameday experience along with a decent game on the field:
Week 1: Purdue @ Notre Dame - Lots of either so-so games, or games played at neutral locations. LSU @ UNC is very intriguing, but it's at the Georgia Dome. Anyhow, even though I'm not a Notre Dame fan, I respect their history and think it would be a fantastic place to go to a game. It's a game against a BCS conference opponent, something that most of the other BCS conference teams are not doing that week
Week 2: Florida State @ Oklahoma - This game has a lot of hype, no doubt. Both teams ought to be very excellent, and I hear going to games at OU is a great time
Week 3: Nebraska @ Washington - Washington is the best place to go to a game that you aren't think of from all accounts. The backdrop is beautiful right on a lake, and people tailgate on a boat! I just want to go there, party on a boat, and tell people who aren't on a boat that I'm on a boat motherfucker! (Sorry. I couldn't help it!)
Week 4: WVU @ LSU - I don't think I need to elaborate too much more. LSU fans know how to do it up on gameday from what I hear!
Week 5: Florida @ Alabama - Arguably the two best teams in the SEC facing off at one of the best places to watch a game.
Week 6: Tennessee @ Georgia - I've always wanted to check out a game in Athens.
Week 7: Missouri @ Texas A&M - With all of the tradition that they do down in College Station, it has been on my sports bucket list for as long as I can remember. On top of that, this game is going to feature the two best QBs in the Big 12
Week 8: Alabama @ Tennessee - I've seen Neyland voted as the best stadium by someone. I don't doubt it's in the Top 5.
Week 9: Michigan @ Penn State - I'm always impressed with the "white-out" abilites of Penn State, and I'd like to see them play live while Joe Pa is still at the helm. Should be an OK game between two middle of the road Big 10 teams.
Week 10: Washington @ Oregon - Maybe it's because I'm from the midwest, but I never really hear people talk about going to a game at Oregon, but everyone who's been there raves about how loud it gets. Eugene looks beautiful from what I've seen in pictures, and would be a great place to visit
Week 11: Indiana @ Wisconson - It's not going to be a pretty game, but Madison is a must-go if you're a college football fan. I've been hearing about the damn 5th quarter almost my whole life, but have never got the chance to go!
Week 12: Wisconsin @ Michigan - Even though these aren't the greatest of times, going to the Big House would seem to be a must-do
Week 13: Michigan @ Ohio State - Ditto for Columbus. The only downside is watching Michigan two weeks in a row!
There it is. The list isn't perfect. I'd love to go to Ole Miss and Auburn (but only when they're hosting the Iron Bowl, so I can watch Chizik's squad get whooped), but that would have to be another year. If any of you get loaded and want to sponsor me on a trip, let me know ;)
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