Pittsburgh Panthers
Last year: 5-7 (3-4)
Key games in 2008: at South Florida (10/2), Rutgers (10/25), at Notre Dame (11/1), West Virginia (11/28)
2008 will be the season Pitt finally turns its program around—or Dave Wannstedt may be searching for a job in 2009.
Building off of momentum from an improbable victory in the Backyard Brawl against West Virginia, the Panthers are more talented than their record indicated last year.
Pitt senior linebacker Scott McKillop is a gifted tackler who will lead a defense that allowed only nine points against the Mountaineers—who had arguably the best offense in the country.
Despite all of the hype surrounding fellow freshmen Joe McKnight and Noel Devine, the rising sophomore running back LeSean McCoy had more rushing yards (1,328) and touchdowns (14) than them both. Aside from McCoy, the Panthers will need to find a quarterback if they want to prove that last year’s victory against WVU wasn’t an anomaly.
Purdue Boilermakers
Last year: 8-5 (3-5 in the Big Ten)
Key Games in 2008: Oregon (9/13), at Notre Dame (9/27), Penn State (10/4), at Ohio State (10/11)
In what appears to be Joe Tiller’s final season as head coach for the Boilermakers, Purdue will look to send Tiller out as a winner. Although the first half of the season will be tough with games against Oregon, Penn State, and Ohio State, the Boilermakers have a relatively easy road if they can get by Michigan later in the season.
Despite a high-powered offense led by senior quarterback Curtis Painter, Purdue will have to improve its defense if it wants to send Coach Tiller out on a high note.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Last year: (6-6, 2-6 in the SEC East)
Key games in 2008: Georgia (9/13), LSU (10/18), Tennessee (11/1), at Florida (11/15), at Clemson (11/29)
Aside from an early-season game at home against Georgia, South Carolina’s schedule his heavily back-loaded. It will be imperative for Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks to win at least five of their seven first games before their schedule gets tough.
The big question for Coach Spurrier throughout the spring and the summer:
Who is going to be his quarterback?
Gifted redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia is suspended until the middle of August, so the Ol’ Ball Coach will have to rely on the combination of Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher for the time being.
On defense, the Gamecocks benefit immensely from the return of senior linebacker and Lombardi and Butkus award watch list member Jasper Brinkley—the only known human being to ever drive Tim Tebow onto his back
25 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete