The Sleeper Who Will Wake and Win It All In 2009

The endless debate over who has a right to be in the National Championship and the whole BCS system has made fans of teams in smaller conferences furious for years. Well I can honestly say that the college football Gods are angry and will wake up a sleeping giant to take home the National Title in 2009.

So just who is that sleeping giant? It is the West Virginia Mountaineers, and man are they cranky!

The Mountaineers have put up solid records consistently over the past few seasons, with no national championship appearances to show for it. This team has been on the rise since 2005 and will continue that trend in 2008-2009. Impressive bowl victories over Georgia, GA Tech, and Oklahoma shows that this team can compete outside of the Big East, which is greatly improving as we speak.

All West Virginia has to do in 2008-2009 is avoid the upset. If not for losing to lowly Pittsburgh 13-9, we would have seen a much different National Championship.

This team will do nothing but improve from what was already a solid team in 2007. They return 13 starters including Heisman hopeful Pat White at quarterback. Pat White will enjoy a strong offensive line which returns all of its starters.

The defense may not be among the top in the country, but it won't matter with the offensive production this team posseses. Their offense will be more than good enough to get them through almost any game. 

A one-loss season usually means you are out of National Title contention. So a key game for WV will be when Auburn comes to Morgantown on October 23rd. The result of this game will define whether West Virginia finally gets that shot at the National title. They will win this game behind their home crowd, but expect it to be close.

The only other game remaining on the schedule that may give West Virginia some fits is the season finale against South Florida. That game will also be played in Morgantown, which will put the final touches on a perfect regular season.

No matter how messed up the BCS may be, if West Virginia goes undefeated, they will be in the National title game. There is not a computer in the world that will be able to turn this team down. But just who will be West Virginia's fourth bowl victim in a row?

The SEC will once again be the deepest conference in college football. However, the SEC tends to beat up on each other and 2009 will be a no-show for the SEC in the title game.

Instead, it will be the Big 12 who will be represented by Oklahoma in the title game. The inexperience of Oklahoma's secondary and linebackers will be prey to West Virginia's offense. So write it down, store it in a safe place, and check back in January when the Mountaineers take home the National Championship on a perfect season.