120 College Football Teams, 120 Thoughts

One hundred-twenty teams are in Division 1A college football and I have a brief thought about each one going into next season. The teams are listed alphabetically.

Air Force: 17-9 over two seasons = contract extension for Calhoun. Good call.

Akron: The Zips turned in one of the top recruiting classes in the MAC. Good news, eventually.

Alabama: We could see another good season and, this time, a more humble team that will not take any team too lightly.

Arizona: The loss of Tuitama and Thomas is big, but the return of a good core on defense could be bigger.

Arizona State: Bad season, but the good news is that Erickson is still your coach and he is pretty good at turning things around.

Arkansas: Year Two of Petrino in Arkansas. He is still looking for success.

Arkansas State: Close to the Sun Belt title in 2008. Looking to turn "close" into "trophy." in 2009.

Army: The three wins in 2008 were an improvement from the three wins in 2007 due to no FCS teams in '08. I hope they wear the camouflage uniforms more.

Auburn: Chizik? Are you serious?

Ball State: 12-2, but no more Hoke.

Baylor: Briles still fighting out of the basement of the Big 12, but there was progress in year one.

Boise State: Once again, the usual suspect to be a BCS buster. First test: Oregon at home. Actually, that might be the only test.

Boston College: Turnover is the word. Pretty much an all-new coaching staff.

Bowling Green: Clawson off to a slow start as the new head coach. BG recruiting class was rated near the bottom of the MAC.

Buffalo: Another season like the last one and we’ll see where Gill ends up.

BYU: Up in the air here. Hall and Unga are back, Collie is out. I think Pitta is coming back. O-line needs to be replaced.

Cal: Best really is one of the best running backs in the country. Can he and Riley lead the Bears to success?

Central Michigan: They may not have won the MAC again like expected, but they did make yet another Motor City Bowl, and LeFevour’s senior year could yet again see the Chippewas return to the championship.

Cincinnati: Is there any reason to believe the Bearcats won’t contend for the Big East title in '09?

Clemson: Interim out the door. Dabo is the coach. I don’t really understand hiring a guy that was part of a losing staff, but whatever.

Colorado: Some good news for the Buffs on the O line as a couple guys were granted another year after being injured.

Colorado State: Since when is Colorado State national? Six Texas recruits and five from Florida. They also got some out of Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, California, Utah, and at home in Colorado.

Connecticut: Brown is gone, so that sucks. Not really sure what the depth looks like at running back because Brown pretty much did it all.

Duke: Year one for Cutcliffe showed some improvement. Here’s hoping for more in year two.

East Carolina: There was a time in there where it seemed like Skip Holtz was going to be moving on to bigger and better things. He is still at East Carolina, for now. A big group of returning starters should have the Pirates as the frontrunner for the Conference USA championship.

Eastern Michigan: New head coach: Ron English. Seems like when black coaches get a chance, it is a slim one.

Florida: Tim Tebow is back for the national champions. Say hello to the preseason No. 1.

Florida Atlantic: A bit of offensive staff restructuring. Jeff Brohm is now an assistant coach and Darryl Jackson is the new offensive coordinator. We’ll see if it makes a difference.

Florida International: Surprisingly, for a team that finishes near the bottom of the conference every year, FIU pulled in the second-rated class of the Sun Belt.

Florida State: Bobby Bowden is playing it one year at a time. Good season = another year?

Fresno State: Brandstater is done here. Seems like he has been here a while. Hill usually does OK with reloading the QB spot.

Georgia: No Stafford, no Moreno. Cox and King will try to fill in. Having WR Green will help.

Georgia Tech: Despite the blowout loss in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, Paul Johnson’s offense worked in the ACC. Just gotta make sure it works again.

Hawaii: A nice large class of 32, and only 12 are actually from Hawaii. Hitting that recruiting trail nicely...as if it's difficult to get people to want to go to Hawaii.

Houston: Sumlin’s debut season was an 8-5 record capped by a bowl win. Time for an encore. Case Keenum returning will keep the offense moving.

Idaho: Hey, it’s the same coach for a third year in a row. When is the last time that happened at Idaho?

Illinois: From Rose Bowl to no bowl. Let’s see if they can rebound. Juice Williams back is a good place to start.

Indiana: The Hoosiers need to find that “Play 13” motivation again. They went from playing in a bowl to only winning three games.

Iowa: Greene is gone. Leaning on the defense in '09? Ferentz gets an extension. 

Iowa State: Auburn hires the Cyclones coach, so Iowa State hires a Tigers coordinator to be the head coach.

Kansas: Heavy on offensive skill players returning is a good thing for the Jayhawks. Solid defensive starters return too.

Kansas State: How do you get a program back up to winning the Big 12? Apparently, you rehire the retired coach that got you there last time to give it a try.

Kent State: The MAC’s No. 1 recruiting class for 2009.

Kentucky: How many more years is Brooks gonna be around? I still want to see him coach one more game at Autzen Stadium on the field that is named for him.

Louisville: Kragthorpe is retaking the offense. I suppose it couldn’t get worse than what it was.

Louisiana Lafayette: Lafayette has been bowl-eligible three of the last four seasons without a bowl to show for it. Maybe one more win and they could get a bid.

Louisiana Monroe: Losing a senior QB can be tough, especially when that team only went 4-8 last season.

LSU: QB Jefferson’s play in their bowl should make Tiger fans hopeful. Defense looked good too, but the middle is changing.

Louisiana Tech: Strong finish for the WAC East team, winning six of the last eight, including a bowl win. Could they challenge for the WAC title?

Marshall: I would think that with the lack of success, Snyder is on a bit of a hot seat.

Maryland: Friedgen isn’t coaching forever. OC James Franklin named head coach in waiting. Nice schedule next season, missing NC, Miami, and GT.

Memphis: Starting QB, leading rusher, and leading receivers all returning; good news for the Tigers.

Miami: Hurricane Whipple bringing the offense. Buses bringing the team...to a few games, anyway.

Miami (OH): So Ben Roethlisberger wins the Super Bowl again. Got anything else, or just the one guy?

Michigan: Season two for Rich Rodriguez in a harsh climate that expects winning. With more time, he may have filled what he needs for his offense.

Michigan State: No more Javon Ringer at RB. Now, we get to see how Dantonio will reload his program.

Middle Tennessee State: The return of Tony Franklin to the Sun Belt, but here at Middle Tennessee, not Troy like he was before.

Minnesota: Hope Gophers like cold weather. A new outdoor stadium will now be their house.

Mississippi: From the bottom of the SEC West to contender in three seasons. Good hire on Nutt.

Mississippi State: Dan Mullen is the new head coach. Makes sense to get a guy that helped win championships at Florida.

Missouri: Managed to hang on to Pinkle after talks of him taking another job circulated. They did lose offensive coordinator and offensive weapons Daniel and Maclin, among others.

Navy: Is it just me, or does Navy always just seem content to make it to a bowl?

Nebraska: Pelini looks like the right guy for the job of returning Nebraska to prominence. Year one was a step up.

Nevada: Offense is gonna roll with Kaepernick running it. Taua running with him will be big too. Thousand-yard season from both of them in 2008.

New Mexico: Mike Locksley taking over here; I guess New Mexico isn’t that bad a place to start a coaching career, given that it's a mid-tier Mountain West school in a place with nice weather.

New Mexico State: I would think with DeWayne Walker taking over as coach, New Mexico State should have a pretty decent defense.

North Carolina: The good: looks like North Carolina is on the up and should compete for the ACC. The bad: two FCS schools on the schedule. No respect from me for that.

North Carolina State: Winning four in a row to finish the regular season and edge into a bowl was huge. Losing the bowl by six pretty much sucked, though.

North Texas: Dodge is still building here. He has only won a couple games so far, but going into year three things should start looking up. If they don’t, the seat gets hot.

Northern Illinois: Kill takes them to a bowl in his first year. Barely. And they lost. Still, good hope for next season.

Northwestern: My opinion of their bowl? Northwestern lost it just as much as Missouri won it.

Notre Dame: If Clausen can live up to his recruitment hype and continue what he started in the Hawaii Bowl, then Notre Dame could be pretty good.

Ohio: Solich had Ohio up and in the MAC championship just a couple years ago. Now they miss bowl season. Let’s see what they do next season.

Ohio State: Terrelle Pryor all season instead of just part of it is a good thing. Loss of some key defensive players is rough, but OSU reloads pretty well.

Oklahoma: Bradford back to lead the offense. Could return to the title game.

Oklahoma State: Zac Robinson, Kendal Hunter, and Dez Bryant means lots of points for the Cowboys.

Oregon: Bellotti or Kelly? Either way, look out for the offense.

Oregon State: Both Rogers brothers are back. Good news for the Beavers.

Penn State: Joe Paterno is still going. Reloading or rebuilding is the question with quite a few starters gone.

Pittsburgh: Losing 3-0 to Oregon State in the Sun Bowl is not an ideal finish to a season. Losing McCoy to the NFL makes it a bit worse.

Purdue: All the clichés of A New Hope are played out, but that is pretty much what they are gonna need.

Rice: Was it the offensive players or the system? With Dillard, Casey, and Clement leaving, we will see.

Rutgers: Still chopping wood at Rutgers. May not get back where they were a few years ago, but a solid program has been established.

San Diego State: Good luck, Hoke. You are really gonna need it.

San Jose State: Spartans and Trojans sounds fun and all, but whose bright idea was it to schedule USC?

SMU: I would think that even after a bad season, it is only a matter of time before Jones gets the team clicking his way. Releasing a bunch of people is one way of doing it, I suppose.

South Carolina: Spurrier, I don’t think you should worry about Kiffin. You should instead worry about getting past eight wins, which you haven’t done here yet.

Southern California: Lost both offensive and defensive coordinators. Lost the starting QB. Lost seven defensive starters. Yet they will still be ranked high.

Southern Mississippi: Conference USA’s No. 1 recruiting class.

Stanford: Harbaugh has Stanford looking like they could be competing for bowl this season.

Syracuse: Doug Marrone pretty much comes into Syracuse the same way Robinson did, out of the NFL and with no head coaching experience. Are they trying out for the Big Ten? Three Big Ten opponents on the schedule.

TCU: Over half of the starters on the No. 1-rated defense has to be replaced. The offense should be fine. They lost half here too, but QB Dalton is coming back.

Temple: Golden has had three years at Temple. '06, 1-11; '07, 4-8; '08; 5-7.

Tennessee: All new coaches. You would think these guys had already won a championship for all the money they are being paid.

Texas: McCoy is back, so they should have a good shot at the BCS title game. Hope it doesn’t come down to a tie-breaker.

Texas A&M: I’m giving some props to former D-lineman Kellen Heard, who is passing on his senior season to focus on school and getting a degree. Sometimes we forget these are college kids, and to some, that’s more important than football.

Texas Tech: Even an offense that seems to just be all about the system and plug in guy after guy is going to miss players like Harrell and Crabtree.

Toledo: Beating Michigan wasn’t enough to keep Amstutz safe. Welcome, new coach Tim Beckman.

Troy: Always a favorite to win the Sun Belt. A class of 40 recruits (biggest in the nation) doesn’t hurt.

Tulane: They don’t got much here other than a new defensive coordinator and year three for Bob Toledo.

Tulsa: I know it is silly to think that a team can carry momentum from a bowl to next season, but after taking down 12-1 Ball State in GMAC Bowl, I would think Tulsa would have good feelings about this year.

UAB: Too bad Swaze Waters isn’t coming back. That’s a pretty cool name. Looks like the entire offense returns though, and that’s probably a good thing.

UCF: A little ambitious with the non-conference schedule. Miami, Texas, and defending MAC champion Buffalo.

UCLA: Year two for Neuheisel regime. Nice recruiting class.

UNLV: 2008 went from 3-1 and looking good after beating Arizona State to losing five in a row. That doesn’t change my opinion that they are moving in the right direction to building a solid program.

USF: Is it just me, or does it seem like Grothe and Selvie have been there forever?

Utah: 13-0 to rebuilding the offense. QB out. Starting WR out. Half the O-line out. Defense will still look pretty good.

Utah State: New coach Gary Andersen is gonna need a little good luck...OK, maybe a lot of luck.

UTEP: Good news for Miners fans. Apparently, the team is offering cheaper season tickets. The offense kept them in games, but the defense is probably what kept them from that sixth win and bowl eligibility.

Vanderbilt: I guess we get to see if Vanderbilt really has turned a corner or if they are a one-hit wonder.

Virginia: I keep hearing Groh is on the hot seat, but even with a bad season, he is back again.

Virginia Tech: We all saw Beamer has a strong jaw, and he can still coach, too.

Wake Forest: I see Wake misses VT and NC next season. That’s probably a good thing.

Washington: Just as I was gonna say it can’t get any worse, up come those recruiting violations.

Washington State: Wulff has decided to stick with the HS players and few JC players in rebuilding. Wonder what impact the violations by Wulff at his old school will have.

West Virginia: Life after White begins.

Western Kentucky: Probation over. Welcome to the Sun Belt.

Western Michigan: How to get into college coaching, by Ryan Cubit: Ask your coach father for a job.

Wisconsin: PJ Hill has decided to leave. With him probably go Wisconsin’s chances of finishing in the top half of the conference.

Wyoming: Welcome to Wyoming, Coach Christensen.