College Football Predictions: Picking 2015 Major Conference Champions
It's never too early for season-ending predictions, and this time around we'll focus on picking the teams likely to win college football's power conferences.
There are some familiar powers on this list, but 2015 already has the feel of a changing of the guard, a trend that will be reflected below.
ACC: Clemson
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
We'll learn a lot about Deshaun Watson and the Tigers when they face Notre Dame this week. While it won't have ACC implications, it will show us just how much of a contender the team is both nationally and in the conference traditionally dominated by Florida State.
But Clemson, to this point, looks like the class of the ACC. They have another dominant defense—although again, Notre Dame will put that to the test—and a star in Watson leading a talented supporting cast on offense.
Clemson's goals should be sky-high for this season—this is a team that has the talent to qualify for this year's College Football Playoff.
Big 12: Baylor
Good luck figuring out this conference. It seems unlikely any team will come out of conference play unscathed.
TCU came into the year as the favorite, but injuries have decimated the Horned Frogs. It seems unlikely they'll be able to survive a tough Big 12 schedule given the players they've lost.
Baylor has one of the nation's best offenses, but the defense is a question mark and they haven't played anybody yet.
Oklahoma State and West Virginia have great defenses, but do they have the offensive weapons to survive the shootouts against the league's better offenses?
Oklahoma has become one of college football's enigmas in recent years, always flashing elite talent on paper and always seeming to underachieve on the field.
Grab a dartboard, post the names of the above teams on it, put on a blindfold and toss your dart. There, you have your winner.
In all seriousness, I'll take Baylor, for now, to win the Big 12. We know they will score a ton of points in every game, they haven't been ravaged by injuries and last year's playoff "snub"—though let's be honest, Ohio State was obviously the right choice—should keep them motivated throughout the year. Were it not for injuries, however, TCU would be the pick.
Big Ten: Ohio State
No, Ohio State hasn't seemed like the team that marched to a national championship a year ago. Yes, this is still the most talented team in the country...
On paper, at least.
The Buckeyes weren't great to start last season, of course, even losing to Virginia Tech, so for now the slow start can be excused. Urban Meyer is a great coach, and he'll find a way to pull the right strings at the right times to get this team going.
Figuring out which quarterback best suits the team may be another matter entirely, of course. Meyer was critical of starting quarterback Cardale Jones after the team's win over 38-12 win over Western Michigan this weekend, despite Jones throwing for 288 yards and two scores, per Vinnie Duber of CSN Chicago:
"Fundamentally he wasn't sound. The way he transferred back to front, dragging his back leg, and that's (quarterbacks coach) Tim Beck, and they'll work at it. And then J.T. underthrew one, too. J.T., if you remember early last year, struggled with that, and then he started throwing beautiful deep balls.
So that's just something you've got to work on. But you can see certainly in that arm strength, it's just the fundamental flaw of not being able to weight transfer and driving the ball.
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Michigan State is going to test this team and its quarterbacks, yes. The Spartans might even win. But for now, it's hard to bet against Ohio State figuring things out, which means it's hard to bet against the talent they've accumulated against pretty much any other team.
Pac-12: UCLA
Injuries didn't slow down UCLA against a good Arizona team this past week, so the balanced Bruins should be able to overcome them as the Pac-12 schedule only gets more difficult. It's begun to look pretty clear that this is a down year for Oregon and another down year for USC, giving UCLA an excellent chance to win the Pac-12 this season.
The Bruins are likely to go as freshman quarterback Josh Rosen goes. To this point, the highly regarded recruit has passed every test, throwing for 964 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions in four games. There will be speed bumps along the way for the frosh, but he has the talent to lead UCLA to a conference championship this season.
SEC: Ole Miss
Beating Alabama put them on the national radar, but this is a very talented, very balanced team led by defensive star Robert Nkemdiche—who might just be the best player in the country this season, outside of perhaps that Leonard Fournette fellow—and excellent receiver Laquon Treadwell.
A lot in the SEC will be cleared up this weekend when Alabama faces Georgia, but for now, the win over the Crimson Tide and a stacked roster makes Ole Miss the favorites in the conference.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
