College Football's "It Could Happen, Part 2": 15 Possibilities for Final Month
Back in June, I wrote an article previewing some of the things I thought could happen during the 2010 college football season.
I’ve never really been a firm “predictions guy," so I thought I should frame it more from the standpoint of what could happen rather than what will happen.
Some things on the list, such as this season turning out to be Joe Paterno’s last year, could come true, while other possibilities, like Notre Dame finishing with 10 wins, really aren’t looking all that great right now.
Well, there’s always room for revisions in life, so now with one month remaining in a season that’s already been filled with a lot of hectic craziness, let’s look at the clouds and try to do some forecasting.
Here’s a look at 15 things I feel could happen in the final month of the regular season.
15. Oklahoma State and Missouri Come Back to Earth
1 of 15
You know what’s fun?
Starting your season undefeated.
You know what’s not so fun?
Having the difficult part of your schedule smack you in the face like Ike Turner.
Missouri and Oklahoma State both found that out after getting walloped by Nebraska.
Sure, it was cool for the Cowboys to beat up on the Washington States and Louisiana-Lafayettes of the world, and Missouri looked like it had a real swell time basking in a win over an overrated Oklahoma team.
Guess what—fun’s over.
14. Notre Dame Doesn’t Make It to a Bowl
2 of 15
The Notre Dame football program is in dark times right now.
The Irish are 4-5 and riddled with injuries, recruits are decommitting left and right, and the recent Declan Sullivan tragedy is now putting the whole athletic authority into question.
Suffice to say, Brian Kelly’s first season on the job isn't going all that great.
He’s lost to every team on his schedule he wasn’t supposed to lose to—Michigan, Navy and Tulsa.
With two tough battles remaining against Utah and USC, Kelly better hope he can pull off a win at Yankee Stadium against Army.
4-8 won’t go over well with the head honchos in South Bend.
13. Derek Dooley Doesn’t Survive
3 of 15
Speaking of bad first impressions...
Does Tennessee even play football anymore?
If it weren’t for their gross mishandling of the end of the game situation against LSU or coach Derek Dooley’s ill-advised Nazi press conference musings, I’m not sure we’d know Tennessee even fielded a team this year.
The Volunteers are 2-6 with those two wins coming against Tennessee-Martin and a close call against the powerful 3-5 UAB Blazers in overtime, at home no less.
Yeah, it’s true we thought Tennessee wouldn’t be all that great this season following the whole Lane Kiffin fiasco, but this? What is this?
This is a team that was in the SEC Championship Game three years ago! Now this?
The Volunteers have games remaining against Memphis, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Kentucky to end the year. At this point Tennessee fans might just be hoping they drop all four so they can get this Dooley dude out of there before he causes more damage and sends the program into further irrelevancy.
Yes, I'll admit it will be great if Tennessee rallies the troops, wins four straight, becomes bowl eligible and makes me look like an idiot, but I wouldn’t bet all my chips on that happening.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
12. Florida Rebounds
4 of 15
There’s nothing like beating a hated rival to get your focus back for the season.
After last weekend’s win over Georgia, the Gators are now 3-3 in the conference and in prime position to make a charge and win the SEC East Division.
All that stands in their way is a home date with South Carolina and that old familiar ball coach.
Were we a little too quick to write off Urban Meyer and his new-look Gators?
We'll find out.
11. Baylor Wins the Big 12 South
5 of 15
If ever there was a year when Oklahoma and Texas relinquished their stronghold on the division to a newcomer, this would be it.
The Baylor Bears are 7-2 and fresh off one of the biggest wins in their recent history, a monumental victory over Texas in Austin.
The question is, can they keep it up?
Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma are all that stand in their way.
No, this isn’t the same Baylor team that hasn’t made it to a bowl since 1994; this is a new-look bunch with a different type of energy, led by dynamic playmaking quarterback Robert Griffin.
Admit it, you’re bored with Texas and Oklahoma too. This would be a nice change of pace.
Yes, this could happen.
10. Robert Griffin Wins the Heisman Trophy
6 of 15
All right, well, if I’m going to go that far, why not just say it—Robert Griffin III deserves the Heisman Trophy this year.
Will he win it?
No, probably not. But carrying the Bears to the Big 12 Championship Game would at least get him an invite to New York.
The truth is this was a Bears team that was floundering before Griffin came to town, and now look where they are.
Yes, you also have to give some credit to the building efforts of third-year head coach Art Briles. But Griffin’s performances speak for themselves.
2,500 passing yards.
400 yards on the ground.
27 total touchdowns.
Not too shabby.
9. Terrelle Pryor Goes Ballistic
7 of 15
People scoffed at me when I rated Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor as the top NFL prospect in all of college football in my 2011 NFL Draft Scouting Guide.
Admittedly, maybe I was little too early to the party on that one. In the loss to Wisconsin it was evident that Pryor needed some seasoning and some time to develop.
The young man is getting there though. No, the passes aren't all that pretty, and yes, there are some definite kinks that need to be worked out. But I have to stress that Pryor is a different type of athlete than we’re accustomed to seeing at the quarterback position, and he’s the type of player that, if he develops right, has the chance to be special.
I see a lot of naysayers criticizing him, saying he’ll never make it at the next level. All I can say is you might want to slow down on that for a while.
If Pryor ends the season on a high note like I expect, the sky could be the limit.
I said back in August that he was my choice to be selected by the Buffalo Bills with the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. I’m not going to be so quick to back off that claim.
Give it time; give it patience.
8. Ron Zook Wins Coach of the Year
8 of 15
Coming into the season, this looked like it could be the swan song for Ron Zook at Illinois.
After making a Rose Bowl appearance at the end of the 2007 season, Zook failed to build on the glory, and his team struggled through two bowl-less seasons, culminating in last year’s disappointing 3-9 campaign.
Zook was at the top of every Hot Seat list going into the season, but just when everyone was ready to count him out, the coach found himself a quality quarterback in freshman Nathan Scheelhaase, a difference maker at running back in junior Mikel LeShoure and a defense that’s allowed only 16 points per game through eight contests.
Illinois now sits at 5-3, just one win away from bowl eligibility.
The schedule sets up nicely for a strong finish to the season, and you can’t help but marvel at the job-saving effort Zook has put in this year.
Another valuable candidate for the award could be Syracuse coach Doug Marrone if the Orange are able to finish the season the way they started.
7. Virginia Tech Reigns Supreme in a Weak ACC
9 of 15
Virginia Tech’s stock couldn’t get much lower after they fell to FCS James Madison at home, dropping them to 0-2 to start the season.
But since then the Hokies have rebounded to reel off seven straight wins and are now sitting in the driver’s seat for the ACC Championship.
It should come as no shock, seeing as Frank Beamer’s team has been one of the most consistent in all of college football over the last decade.
Virginia Tech's defense has improved substantially, and senior Tyrod Taylor is showing the necessary leadership ability that you want to see from a quarterback.
The Hokies have two tough road tests at North Carolina and Miami still to come. But they’re now playing with the spark they need to keep piling up wins.
6. An Eight-Win Big East Team Gets a BCS Bid
10 of 15
Let’s be honest—there’s not a college football fan in the country who believes any Big East team deserves a chance to play in a BCS game this season. But the sad fact is, it’s going to happen whether we like it or not.
Whoever survives this “race,” if you could even call it that, isn’t going to have much of a résumé to stand on, and it’s probably going to bring a lot of criticism to a conference that already lacks credibility around many college football circles.
The Big East has to hope for a nice showing during the bowl season in order to save face this year.
5. TCU, Boise State and Utah All Fall
11 of 15
Three-fifths of the current BCS Top Five rankings are made up of non-automatic qualifiers, a fact in itself that is pretty remarkable to think about.
We’re already waiting for BCS chaos if Boise State and the winner of this weekend’s TCU-Utah matchup both finish the season undefeated, but at this point maybe we should cool our collective jets before we get ahead of ourselves.
There’s still a lot of football to be played and some tricky tests to be passed for all three teams.
Nevada and BYU are already licking their chops.
The team that would have the easiest road remaining is TCU if it is able to get by Utah on Saturday. The Horned Frogs would have only San Diego State and New Mexico standing between them and a perfect season. However, let’s see if they can get past Utah first. Winning at Rice-Eccles Stadium is easier said than done.
4. The Cameron Newton Mess Gets Messier
12 of 15
I, like the rest of the college football world, know no substantial facts regarding this case.
This was an allegation that seemed to fly in from left field yesterday afternoon.
The details I’ve read say that supposedly Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton was shopping himself to the highest bidder during his recruitment from Blinn College.
Now I don’t know how serious these allegations really are, and it definitely could be nothing. But there are some fishy details.
Remember, a lot of people did find it odd last January when Newton made the decision to choose Auburn over Mississippi State, where he could have reunited with his former offensive coordinator at Florida, Dan Mullen, and become a shining star in his spread offense.
Apparently Cam’s father was a heavy influence in the decision, and the fact that his father had a struggling church that all of a sudden became not-so-struggling after his son signed on the dotted line with Auburn maybe should raise a few eyebrows.
Again, I don’t know anything; it’s all speculation. But it would be a darn shame if we were only treated to one season of the miraculous show that is Cam Newton.
We’ll see.
3. Winner of Arizona-Stanford Game Wins the Pac-10
13 of 15
Apparently the entire country has already handed Oregon the Pac-10 championship.
Why not, right?
Their offense has been rolling like that train you see in the new Denzel Washington movie commercial that they show every 15 minutes on ESPN.
Fifty-four points a game—can’t argue with that, right?
Well, that is until you realize that Oregon still has three very losable games on its schedule.
Cal, Arizona and in-state rival Oregon State could give the Ducks a run for their money.
Don’t count out the Cats just yet.
All Arizona has to do is win out and they’re the Pac-10 champs.
If they lose to Stanford and the Cardinal win out, Jim Harbaugh’s team would have a good shot at the championship also.
2. No SEC Team in the Big Game
14 of 15
Think about it: We’ve never had an SEC-free BCS National Championship Game. In all four years, a team out of the SEC has won the title—Florida in ‘07 and ‘09, LSU in ‘08 and Alabama last year.
Think of what the game would be like without one of the boys from down South beating up on an overmatched foe.
What has to happen to make it a reality?
There are a lot of different scenarios that could play out. But the most logical one is either LSU or Mississippi State knocks off Alabama, who in turn knocks off Auburn at the end of the season in the Iron Bowl.
Either that or the East Division winner just beats whichever West team makes it to the SEC Championship Game.
1. Nebraska Wins the National Championship
15 of 15
I said this in the first edition back in the summer, so I might as well stick with it—Nebraska wins the national championship.
I don't like to hinge my bets on freshman quarterbacks, but Taylor Martinez isn't your average freshman quarterback.
The Cornhuskers have been playing angry football after their loss to Texas, and I've learned you never go against a team playing angry football.
Sure, they really have no passing offense, and that will come to back to bite them in at least one or two of their remaining games. But with the way Martinez and Roy Helu can run and the way this defense is capable of shutting people down, I'll take Nebraska over anybody.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
