10 Issues Heading in to the 2010 College Football Season

FROM:  http://machorhino.com/?p=16615

Macho Rhino's Crossing The (Goal) Line: College Edition

Welcome to Crossing the (Goal) Line! This column will feature commentary on the football season for both pro and college weekly check in each week for my latest thoughts. Since all I can comment on in the preseason is speculation, I’ve decided to offer up some of my thoughts on what I’m looking forward to this upcoming college football season. Don’t worry, my thoughts on the NFL are coming next week.

1. Can Alabama go undefeated through the SEC again? Their division, the West, is brutal. A lot of talent there and it’s never easy to win on the road in the SEC. They’ll take everyone’s best shot each week so their inexperienced defense will have to step up.
2. Conference Realignment was the biggest story of the offseason and we thought it died down until we saw Fresno State and Nevada bolt the WAC for the Mountain West. Will this continue once the season starts? The movement needs to stop during the season. I’m intrigued to see which conference pulls the trigger and creates a “mega” conference of 16 teams or more.
3. Is it the SEC and everyone else again this year? The SEC has put together a nice run of BCS Championships lately as LSU, Florida and Alabama have been collecting hardware the past few seasons. Alabama is the favorite heading in to the season but there are several contenders outside of the conference this year. If the SEC expanded and add Texas, Oklahoma, Miami and Florida State, the rest of the country would play for second place every year.
4. Boise State and TCU ran the table last year and had to play each other in the BCS but not for the championship. If either or both go undefeated again this year will the BCS leave them out of the title game again? I hope not. I thought Boise State would have beaten Texas last year. If the Broncos don’t get a blemish on an improved schedule this year that includes Virginia Tech and Oregon State, the BCS will have trouble leaving them out. The Broncos have to hope there’s only one undefeated from the automatic qualifier conferences for the BCS or you know they’re being left out again.
5. Rich Rodriguez’s future at Michigan. He starts the year with a couple toss-up games against Connecticut and then at Notre Dame. If he doesn’t at least split those, he’s in trouble the rest of the season. A 0-2 start will lead to rampant speculation, his tenure will end sooner rather than later and could distract the team to the point it’s a catastrophic season in Ann Arbor.
6. The three hour ESPN “College Gameday”. I watch “Gameday” every week but am not sure about three hours. Hopefully it focuses more on talking about the games than the puff pieces about players of coaches. I like the “All-Access” stuff ESPN has been doing so hopefully it’s more of that than simply interviews or stories.
7. Will a sophomore win the Heisman Trophy for the fourth straight season? Not long ago it was a senior oriented award but lately it’s gone to sophomores. Dion Lewis jumps out in my mind as the sophomore with the best chance to win it. He plays on a good team that should win their conference and is in a big East Coast market that should get him the publicity. I’m not saying he’ll win but if it’s a sophomore, my money is on him.
8. I can’t wait for the USC at Stanford game. Jim Harbaugh seems to have the Trojans’ number and liked tweaking Pete Carroll. Lain Kiffin has remained low-key compared to his Tennessee days so it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any back and forth the week leading to this game. I like trash talk and am hoping there’s some ugliness this week. It’s all in good fun right?
9. Does Jeremiah Masoli make an impact in the SEC this season? Masoli was booted out of Oregon this summer after another run in with the law and Houston Nutt recruited him to Ole Miss. If Masoli was at Oregon they’d be not just the clear favorite in the Pac-10 but would be in contention for the BCS Championship. Now he’s in the toughest conference in the country and will have to try to carry the Rebels to a bowl game.
10. Not seeing Bobby Bowden on the sideline for Florida State will be new. Bowden turned around that program and led it to a national championship and several outstanding seasons before being forced out or choosing to retire after last season. Will the ‘Noles be different under Jimbo Fisher? It’s worth watching this season.

Check out more of the Macho Rhino 2010 Football Preview!

So what do you think? Something you’ve got an opinion about for the upcoming college football season? Leave a comment below!

Look for my first NFL edition of the column on Monday, September 6 and my next college football edition on Tuesday, September 7 recapping the first weekend of football!