And now for the Rundown…

Rundown of Day 1 College Football 2013

August 30th, 2013

The 2013 College Football season is in motion and we celebrated by having over 12 hours of fantastic football.  Incase you missed some of the action or highlights here are our favorite plays, moments or factoids from the Kick-Off of the 2013 Season!

Puke and Rally!

This might be the best and worst moment of the year all wrapped into one.  Jordan Matthews, one of the premier receivers in all of college football and an All-SEC player made a catch coming over the middle late in the Vandy-Ole Miss game, in doing so he got absolutely crushed with a hit on his side by Ole Miss backer Cody Prewitt.  As Matthews tried to get to his feet he was visibly hurt and motioned to the sidelide to come out of the game.  With Vandy in hurry-up mode and not using a timeout, he was able to stand, get to the line of scrimmage for the next play.  After that play, it appeared he was going to make it to the sideline, stopped and went to one knee and that when the vomit came.  After Matthews was done losing his lunch, the training staff took him to the sidelines where he got some water, waited and on the next play, in classic college style Matthews puked ‘n rallied to make a huge catch on 4th and 18 and the game on the line.  Now, the problem we have, is with all of the concern about player safety at all levels of football, the Vandy staff shoul’ve never let Matthews return so quickly.  There is no way they could tell what condition the player was in.  They needed to let him stay on the sideline for a couple more minutes, while they professional assessed his situation but they didn’t and so we got one of the top plays of the season on day one.  Here is a link from SBNation showin the Rundown of this one!     http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/8/30/4674808/jordan-matthews-catch

 

Was that the Hoosiers or the Ducks?

In a game that only fans in Indiana watched or crazies like us watch, Indiana put an Oregon style offensive beat down to Indiana State with a final score of 73-35.  After the game, the Hoosier players were upset, why? Because Indiana was within 3 points of tying or beating the all-time record for points scored in school history of 76.  Now, normally we don’t agree with running the score up but when you are that close to a historical marker, kick the field goal, tie the record and give your boys something they will have for some years to come in the record book.  Now, Indiana is our pick for the surprise team in the country, picking them at 9 wins, now we know this was a gimmie game but the Indiana offense looked like an experienced one firing on all cylinders, now they just have to stay healthy.

 

USC Might be the Boys of Troy…

This one is hard for us to swallow, we picked USC to win the PAC 12 South division but if they can’t figure out how to run an offense they might be finishing behind ASU, UCLA, and Utah.  Before we get carried away reading too much into an opening day road game to Hawaii, let’s look at the positives.  USC’s defense will keep them in games, at the start of the game USC looked like a classic team that thought they were going to be able to show up and win the game, it took until almost halftime for them to figure out that they were going to have to take it and no one was giving them anything.  The side of the ball that changed the game was defense, they started to make plays on the ball getting 4 int. and holding the Hawaii QB to 16-41.  We liked USC because they have one of the easiest schedules in the PAC 12 but if they expect to compete we are guessing they are going to have to bring a lot more then what they had in Hawaii.

 

GAME OF THE NIGHT!!!

No it’s not Ole Miss-Vandy for all you East Coaster Bias out there, it was Fresno State-Rutgers without a shadow of a doubt.  If you missed that game because your mom wouldn’t let you stay up past your bedtime, we urge you, if you are a real college football fan, to find that game and watch it start to finish.  It had more lead changes than a NASCAR race and more scores than Robin Thicke.  It was from start to finish one of the best games and even had a classic OT finish of the away team going for the two-points to win!!!  Freakin Classic, a QB making his outside Heisman Campaign going 52-73 456 yards and 5 touchdowns, in Derek Carr and a Rutgers team saying we might have some holes but we can score too, Nova for Rutgers also threw for 5 TD’s.  This game should be on ESPN Classic sometime soon, look it up and enjoy.  We’re just thankful that Fresno made it out with the win, that game is going to do wonders for their confidence and we have them winning the Mountain West over Boise State… 

Big Update of Preseason Predictions!

The website www.stassen.com recently updated their database of preseason predictions from different websites and magazines!  As we here at rivalsrundown.com our releasing our previews we will compare and eventually add ours to the table!  Enjoy the update and get ready for kickoff!!!

APTOPIX_BCS_Championship_Football_0d41f

National Top 25

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
1 Alabama 269 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
2 Oregon 247 4 3 8 5 5 2 2 2 1
3 Ohio State 243 2 2 5 2 2 6 10 4 3
4 Georgia 219 6 4 12 9 4 9 9 3 4
5 Stanford 209 3 7 2 11 3 3 5 5
6 South Carolina 197 9 5 3 14 11 13 14 6 7
7 Texas A&M 196 5 9 7 13 7 4 15 12 11
8 Clemson 183 7 6 9 15 8 15 20 8 8
9 Oklahoma State 177 11 16 6 8 19 3 6 15 18
10 Texas 171 18 18 14 4 13 11 8 10 12
11 Florida State 165 13 15 18 3 17 5 19 14 10
12 Louisiana State 160 8 12 16 17 18 4 7 6
13 Florida 157 12 13 4 18 10 5 13 16
14 Notre Dame 146 14 8 10 10 14 20 13 24 20
15 Louisville 144 10 10 11 7 12 9 14
16 Nebraska 120 21 21 21 16 9 8 21 11
17 Michigan 117 16 14 13 24 15 12 22 15
18 Boise State 116 17 11 15 6 12 9
19 Oklahoma 107 15 17 19 19 21 24 7 19
20 Texas Christian 98 22 20 21 16 18 11 20 22
21 Wisconsin 83 19 24 20 7 16 17
22 Southern Cal 66 25 6 10 17
23 Michigan State 46 20 23 17 18
24 Fresno State 42 22 22 22 16
25 Miami-Florida 38 24 22 25 21 25

Others receiving votes:

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
26 Northwestern 36 24 20 13
27t Arizona State 33 23 16 21
27t Baylor 33 19 17 24
29 Oregon State 29 25 23 25 22
30t UCLA 27 23 20 23
30t Virginia Tech 27 12 23
32 Georgia Tech 18 19 25
33 North Caroolina 17 14
34t Kansas State 16 24 22
34t Mississippi 16 25 21
36t Cincinnati 8 23
36t Northern Illinois 8 23
38 Penn State 7 24
39 Tulsa 6 25
40 unranked 0

Notes:

  • Arena Fanatic did not list a team for #17-#19, #23, or #25, at time of this writing.

Conference predictions

AAC (former Big East)

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
1 Louisville 11½ 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1
2 Cincinnati 23½ 3 2 3 3 1 1 2 4
3 Central Florida 31 4 4 5 2 3 5 3
4 Rutgers 32 2 3 2 8 4 3 2
5t Connecticut 55½ 6 6 4 7 9 5 4 6
5t Houston 55½ 5 7 10 4 6 6 8 5
7 Southern Methodist 59½ 7 8 6 7 4 9 6 7
8 South Florida 64 8 5 7 8 6 7 8 7 8
9 Temple 78½ 10 10 8 10 5 7 10 10
10 Memphis 84 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 9 9

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Rutgers and Southern Methodist for 5th-6th place in the AAC.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Central Florida and Rutgers for 2nd-3rd place in the AAC.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Cincinnati and Houston for 4th-5th place in the AAC.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Connecticut and Temple for 8th-9th place in the AAC.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Central Florida and Louisville for 2nd-3rd place in the AAC.

Atlantic Coast

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
Atlantic
1 Clemson 12 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1
2 Florida State 15 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2
3 N.C. State 33 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 3
4 Maryland 40 3 3 4 4 5 6 7 3 5
5t Syracuse 48 6 6 5 7 5 3 3 7 6
5t Wake Forest 48 7 5 6 4 5 7 5 5 4
7 Boston College 56 5 7 7 6 7 5 6 6 7
Coastal
1 Miami-Florida 16½ 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 3
2 Virginia Tech 21½ 3 2 4 1 4 1 3 2
3 Georgia Tech 23½ 2 3 3 4 2 4 1 1
4 North Carolina 28½ 4 4 2 3 1 3 4 4
5 Pittsburgh 49½ 5 5 5 6 7 5 5 6
6 Virginia 54½ 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7
7 Duke 58 7 7 7 6 7 5 7 7 5

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a three-way tie between Maryland, N.C. State, and Wake Forest, for 3rd-5th place in the ACC Atlantic division.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Georgia Tech and North Carolina for 3rd-4th place in the ACC Coastal division.
  • Phil Steele predicted a three-way tie between Duke, Pittsburgh, and Virginia, for 5th-7th place in the ACC Coastal division.
  • USA Today predicted a three-way tie between Maryland, Syracuse, and Wake Forest, for 4th-6th place in the ACC Atlantic division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Miami-Florida and Virginia Tech for 1st-2nd place in the ACC Coastal division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Pittsburgh and Virginia for 5th-6th place in the ACC Coastal division.

Big Ten

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
Leaders
1 Ohio State 10 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
2 Wisconsin 17 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2
3 Penn State 28 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3
4 Indiana 36 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 3 4
5 Purdue 44½ 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5
6 Illinois 53½ 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Legends
1 Nebraska 14½ 3 2 2 1 1 2 1 1
2 Michigan 19 1 1 1 2 3 2 3
3 Michigan State 24 2 4 4 4 1 3 2
4 Northwestern 32½ 4 3 3 3 4 4 4 4
5 Iowa 47 5 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5
6 Minnesota 52 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6

Notes:

  • Lindy’s swapped Purdue/Illinois and Iowa/Minnesota in their division predictions — they had Iowa/Monnesota in Leaders and Purdue/Illinois in Legends. Since they predicted each pair of teams 5th/6th (in the wrong division), I counted that as a prediciton of 5th/6th in the proper one.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Michigan State and Nebraska for 1st-2nd place in the Big Ten Legends division.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Michigan and Northwestern for 3rd-4th place in the Big Ten Legends division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Illinois and Purdue for 5th-6th place in the Big Ten Leaders division.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Michigan and Michigan State for 2nd-3rd place in the Big Ten Legends division.

Big XII

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
1 Oklahoma State 14 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 2
2 Texas 17 3 3 2 1 1 2 3 1 1
3 Oklahoma 24½ 2 2 3 3 3 2 3 3
4 Texas Christian 37½ 5 4 6 4 3 4 4 4
5 Baylor 47½ 4 6 4 5 6 5 6 5
6 Kansas State 49 6 5 5 6 5 5 6 5 6
7 Texas Tech 69 8 7 7 7 8 8 8 7 9
8 West Virginia 73½ 9 8 9 8 10 7 9 7
9 Iowa State 75 7 9 8 7 9 8 8
10 Kansas 88 10 10 10 9 10 10 10

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Iowa State and Kansas for 9th-10th place in the Big XII.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Baylor and West Virginia for 6th-7th place in the Big XII.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Iowa State and Kansas for 9th-10th place in the Big XII.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Oklahoma and Texas Christian for 3rd-4th place in the Big XII.

Conference USA

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
East
1 East Carolina 11½ 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1
2 Marshall 20 3 1 3 1 2 2 4
3 Middle Tennessee 29 2 3 2 5 4 4 4 3 2
4 Southern Miss 40 5 5 4 3 3 6 5
5 UAB 41 4 4 5 7 5 4 3
6 Florida Atlantic 53½ 6 6 6 7 5 6
7 Florida Int’l 57 7 7 7 7 6 7 7
West
1 Tulsa 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Rice 20 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2
3 Louisiana Tech 32½ 4 3 3 2 5 4
4 Texas-El Paso 40 3 4 4 6 6 5 5 2 5
5 North Texas 41½ 5 6 5 4 4 6
6 Tulane 48 6 5 6 3 5 7 7 6 3
7 UTSA 61 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 7 7

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Southern Mississippi and UAB for 3rd-4th place in CUSA East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Florida Atlantic and Florida International for 6th-7th place in CUSA East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Louisiana Tech and North Texas for 4th-5th place in CUSA West.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between East Carolina and Marshall for 1st-2nd place in CUSA East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Florida Atlantic and UAB for 5th-6th place in CUSA East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Louisiana Tech and North Texas for 3rd-4th place in CUSA West.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Florida International and Marshall for 2nd-3rd place in CUSA East.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Florida Atlantic and Southern Mississippi for 5th-6th place in CUSA East.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Louisiana Tech and North Texas for 3rd-4th place in CUSA West.

Mid-American

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
East
1 Bowling Green 13 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2
2 Ohio 16 1 2 3 2 1 2 2 2 1
3 Buffalo 29 2 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 4
4 Kent State 33 4 3 2 4 5 4 4 4 3
5 Miami-Ohio 45 6 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5
6 Akron 56 7 6 7 6 6 6 6 6 6
7 Massachusetts 60 5 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7
West
1 Northern Illinois 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2t Ball State 22½ 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2
2t Toledo 22½ 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 3
4 Western Michigan 37 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4
5 Central Michigan 44 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5
6 Eastern Michigan 54 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Notes:

  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Ball State and Toledo for 2nd-3rd place in the MAC West.

Mountain West

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
West
1 Fresno State 10 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
2 San Diego State 22 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 2
3 San Jose State 23½ 2 2 3 3 1 2 3 3
4 Nevada 36 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 5 4
5 Nevada-Las Vegas 48 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 4 5
6 Hawaii 49½ 6 6 6 5 5 5 6 6
Mountain
1 Boise State 10 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1
2 Utah State 17 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2
3 Air Force 28½ 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3
4 Wyoming 39½ 4 4 4 5 5 4 3 5
5 Colorado State 44 5 5 5 4 5 5 6
6 New Mexico 50 6 6 6 6 4 6 6 6 4

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Air Force and Colorado State for 3rd-4th place in the MWC Mountain division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Hawai’i and San Jose State for 4th-5th place in the MWC West division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Colorado State and Wyoming for 5th-6th place in the MWC Mountain division.

Pacific 12

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
North
1 Oregon 11½ 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
2 Stanford 16½ 1 2 1 2 3 2 2 2
3 Oregon State 28½ 4 3 3 3 2 3 4 3
4 Washington 33½ 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 4
5 California 48 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 6
6 Washington State 51 6 6 6 5 5 6 6 6 5
South
1 Southern Cal 17½ 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 3
2 Arizona State 19½ 3 1 2 2 2 3 3 1
3 UCLA 21 1 3 1 3 1 3 5 2 2
4 Arizona 33½ 4 4 3 4 4 2 4 4
5 Utah 43½ 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5
6 Colorado 54 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Notes:

  • USA Today predicted a tie between Oregon and Stanford for 1st-2nd place in the PAC 12 North.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Oregon State and Washington for 3rd-4th place in the PAC 12 North.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arizona State and Southern Cal for 2nd-3rd place in the PAC 12 South.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arizona and Utah for 4th-5th place in the PAC 12 South.

Southeastern

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
East
1 Georgia 12 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 2
2 South Carolina 18 2 2 1 2 3 2 1
3 Florida 24 3 3 2 3 2 3 3
4 Vanderbilt 39½ 4 4 4 4 4 6 4 4
5 Tennessee 47½ 5 5 5 4 6 5 6 6
6 Missouri 48 6 6 6 5 4 5 5
7 Kentucky 63 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
West
1 Alabama 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Texas A&M 20½ 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2
3 Louisiana State 24½ 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 3
4 Mississippi 36½ 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
5 Mississippi State 50 5 5 7 5 6 6 5
6 Arkansas 55½ 6 7 5 5 7 5 7 7
7 Auburn 56 7 6 6 6 7 5 6

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Florida and South Carolina for 2nd-3rd place in the SEC East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Missouri and Vanderbilt for 5th-6th place in the SEC East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Louisiana State and Texas A&M for 2nd-3rd place in the SEC West.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Auburn and Mississippi State for 6th-7th place in the SEC West.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Florida and South Carolina for 2nd-3rd place in the SEC East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Missouri and Tenneessee for 5th-6th place in the SEC East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Mississippi and Mississippi State for 4th-5th place in the SEC West.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arkansas and Auburn for 6th-7th place in the SEC West.

Sun Belt

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
(mag.)
McIllece
Sports
F’Ball
Out-
siders
Arena
Fanatic
Gold
Sheet
1 Louisiana-Lafay. 17½ 3 1 2 1 1 3 2 3
2 Louisiana-Monroe 21½ 1 2 3 3 3 2 1 2
3 Arkansas State 25 2 4 4 3 1 4 1
4 Western Kentucky 28½ 4 3 1 3 4 4 3 4
5 Troy 42½ 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
6 Texas State 54½ 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
7 South Alabama 63½ 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 7
8 Georgia State 71 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 8

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a three-way tie between Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, and Western Kentucky, for 2nd-4th place in the Sun Belt.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Troy and Western Kentucky for 2nd-3rd place in the Sun Belt.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe for 4th-5th place in the Sun Belt.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette for 1st-2nd place in the Sun Belt.
  • McIllece Sports predicted a tie between South Alabama and Texas State for 6th-7th place in the Sun Belt.

American Athletic Conference Preseason Top 5 Prediction


American Athletic Conference

This by far and away is the easiest conference in the country to pick the preseason favorite to win!  Alabama in the SEC is a solid pick but it’s not a pure runaway pick like this newly created conference.  Now that the Big East is no longer a college football conference we find ourselves with a mash-up cast of characters that spreads from New Jersey to Florida to Texas to Ohio.  The conference which will see another makeover next year will have some good football but no great Rivalry’s.  With that being said, here is my predicted order of finish of the Top 5 for the new American Athletic Conference!

1. Louisville Cardinals 12-0

Louisville is faced with a very interesting conundrum, is the season a failure if they don’t go undefeated?  The answer to this question is YES!  Look, after coming off of an 11 win season last year, one that ended in a smackdown of a national power in Florida at the Sugar Bowl, Coach Charlie Strong is ready to show us his best Urban Meyer at Utah impersonation, go undefeated, play in another major bowl (not the national title, even if they go undefeated) and see if he can pass up a major football power like USC knocking on your door.  Led by an experience QB, Teddy Bridgewater, the Cardinals have 7 home games and then only travel to Kentucky, Temple, South Florida, Connecticut, and finishing with their toughest road game, Cincinnati.  Like we’ve seen before, the last game could be the trap game that keeps them out of back to back BCS Bowl appearances.  With that being said, the Cardinals will finish undefeated, and end up an another BCS game.

 2. Cincinnati Bearcats 11-1

Normally, I hate picking first year coaches or first year QB led teams to go one game away from a perfect season but Cincinnati might be the perfect storm this year.  With Tommy Tuberville coming from a successful stint at Texas Tech to Nippert Stadium, this team could easily run the table setting up a clash of “surprise” to the national media unbeatens, when the meet up with Louisville on Dec. 5th.  Cincinnati has a couple of B1G hurddles early on with Purdue and Illinois (both programs are down) then they will have a tough road match up with USF and Rutgers, if they pass those tests look for QB Brendon Kay and the Bearcats to be ready to play in a better bowl then last year.  The Oddsmakers have them at over 9.5 wins for a +120, I’ll take it.

 3. University of Central Florida Knights 9-3

The Knights are ready to make the move after a successful end to their stay at Conference USA with the possibility of being the dark horse in the new AAC.  The have the coach, George O’Leary going into his 11th year at UCF, they return solid starters on offense led by QB Blake Bortles who threw for over 3,000 yards last season, and they return enough experience on defense to be dangerous.  The only problem, schedule.  The Knights have early games against Penn State and South Carolina, they then have to travel to Louisville before the schedule opens up with 4 of 6 home games.  I’m looking at a team that will sit 3-3 to go 6-0 at the end of the season with a chance for back to back double digit wins in a bowl ending appearance.

 4. Rutgers Scarlet Knights 8-4

For a brief moment in time last year, Rutgers where the talk of the town.  They had one loss, a new coach, and looked like maybe just maybe they could make a BCS game, then a loss to Pitt and Louisville ended it all.  This year it’s a tough call for the Scarlet Knights, my heart wants to say that they will compete for a title but with Central Florida coming in and with tough road games to Fresno State and Louisville I’m calling for a close but no cigar this year for Rutgers

 5. University of Houston Cougars  7-5

This might be the toughest pick of this top 5, oh wait, yes it is the toughest pick, the reason…no one knows which Houston team is going to show up this year.  Is it the explosive double digit win team or is it the pathetic team that showed up last year, I’m going with something in the middle.  Houston has enough talent returning on offense to score with most of their schedule, the question is how many points will it’s defense give up?  They will try to answer that question in bringing in a new D.C in Dave Gibbs, Gibbs is coming in from the NFL and will install a 3-4 defense.  The schedule plays into Houston’s favor setting up some early victories but then takes a nasty turn with BYU, Rutgers, South Florida, UCF, Louisville, and Cincinnati.  Let’s see which Houston shows up!

2013 Preseason Consensus from Stassen.com

Image

So now that the majority of preseason magazines for the upcoming 2013 season of College Football have been released, it’s time to start looking at the numbers and then taking a look at each team.  We’ll be using websites like these, preseason.stassen.com, to give us a broad look at all of the rankings from the major magazines.  We’ll also look at the websites out there and their rankings for conference  and overall wins.  My next post will be the odds from Vegas for the over/under win totals for all of the FBS Teams.

National Top 25

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
1 Alabama 150 1 1 1 1 1
2 Ohio State 142 2 2 5 2 2
3 Oregon 130 4 3 8 5 5
4 Stanford 129 3 7 2 11 3
5 Georgia 120 6 4 12 9 4
6 Texas A&M 114 5 9 7 13 7
7 South Carolina 113 9 5 3 14 11
8 Clemson 110 7 6 9 15 8
9 Louisville 105 10 10 11 7 12
10 Notre Dame 99 14 8 10 10 14
11 Florida 98 12 13 4 18 10
12 Oklahoma State 95 11 16 6 8 19
13 Florida State 89 13 15 18 3 17
14 Texas 88 18 18 14 4 13
15 Louisiana State 84 8 12 16 17 18
16 Boise State 75 17 11 15 6
17 Michigan 73 16 14 13 24 15
18 Nebraska 67 21 21 21 16 9
19 Oklahoma 64 15 17 19 19 21
20 Texas Christian 45 22 20 21 16
21 Southern Cal 31 25 6
22 Wisconsin 30 19 24 20
23 Fresno State 27 22 22 22
24 Baylor 26 19 17
25 Miami-Florida 22 24 22 25

Others receiving votes:

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
26t Michigan State 19 20 23
26t UCLA 19 23 20
26t Virginia Tech 19 12
29 Northwestern 18 24 20
30 Oregon State 14 25 23
31t Arizona State 8 23
31t Northern Illinois 8 23
33 Kansas State 7 24
34t Mississippi 6 25
34t Tulsa 6 25
36 unranked 0

Conference predictions

AAC (former Big East)

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
1 Louisville 5 1 1 1 1 1
2 Rutgers 15 2 3 2
3 Cincinnati 15½ 3 2 3 3
4 Central Florida 17½ 4 4 5 2
5 Houston 30½ 5 7 10 4
6 Connecticut 31½ 6 6 4 7
7 Southern Methodist 33½ 7 8 6 7
8 South Florida 34 8 5 7 8 6
9 Memphis 46 9 9 9 9 10
10 Temple 46½ 10 10 8 10

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Rutgers and Southern Methodist for 5th-6th place in the AAC.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Central Florida and Rutgers for 2nd-3rd place in the AAC.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Cincinnati and Houston for 4th-5th place in the AAC.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Connecticut and Temple for 8th-9th place in the AAC.

Atlantic Coast

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
Atlantic
1 Clemson 6 1 1 1 2 1
2 Florida State 9 2 2 2 1 2
3 N.C. State 18 4 4 3 4 3
4 Maryland 19 3 3 4 4 5
5 Wake Forest 27 7 5 6 4 5
6 Syracuse 29 6 6 5 7 5
7 Boston College 32 5 7 7 6 7
Coastal
1 Miami-Florida 1 1 1 2
2 Virginia Tech 11½ 3 2 4 1
3 Georgia Tech 15½ 2 3 3 4
4 North Carolina 16½ 4 4 2 3
5 Pittsburgh 26½ 5 5 5 6
6 Virginia 29½ 6 6 6 6
7 Duke 34 7 7 7 6 7

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a three-way tie between Maryland, N.C. State, and Wake Forest, for 3rd-5th place in the ACC Atlantic division.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Georgia Tech and North Carolina for 3rd-4th place in the ACC Coastal division.
  • Phil Steele predicted a three-way tie between Duke, Pittsburgh, and Virginia, for 5th-7th place in the ACC Coastal division.
  • USA Today predicted a three-way tie between Maryland, Syracuse, and Wake Forest, for 4th-6th place in the ACC Atlantic division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Miami-Florida and Virginia Tech for 1st-2nd place in the ACC Coastal division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Pittsburgh and Virginia for 5th-6th place in the ACC Coastal division.

Big Ten

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
Leaders
1 Ohio State 5 1 1 1 1 1
2 Wisconsin 10 2 2 2 2 2
3 Penn State 15 3 3 3 3 3
4 Indiana 21 4 4 5 4 4
5 Purdue 24½ 5 5 4 5
6 Illinois 29½ 6 6 6 6
Legends
1 Michigan 1 1 1 2
2 Nebraska 3 2 2 1
3 Michigan State 15½ 2 4 4 4
4 Northwestern 16½ 4 3 3 3
5 Iowa 27 5 6 6 5 5
6 Minnesota 28 6 5 5 6 6

Notes:

  • Lindy’s swapped Purdue/Illinois and Iowa/Minnesota in their division predictions — they had Iowa/Monnesota in Leaders and Purdue/Illinois in Legends. Since they predicted each pair of teams 5th/6th (in the wrong division), I counted that as a prediciton of 5th/6th in the proper one.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Michigan State and Nebraska for 1st-2nd place in the Big Ten Legends division.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Michigan and Northwestern for 3rd-4th place in the Big Ten Legends division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Illinois and Purdue for 5th-6th place in the Big Ten Leaders division.

Big XII

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
1 Oklahoma State 8 1 1 1 2 3
2 Texas 10 3 3 2 1 1
3 Oklahoma 13 2 2 3 3 3
4 Texas Christian 22 5 4 6 4 3
5 Baylor 25½ 4 6 4 5
6 Kansas State 27 6 5 5 6 5
7 Texas Tech 37 8 7 7 7 8
8 West Virginia 40½ 9 8 9 8
9 Iowa State 43 7 9 8
10 Kansas 49 10 10 10

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Iowa State and Kansas for 9th-10th place in the Big XII.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Baylor and West Virginia for 6th-7th place in the Big XII.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Iowa State and Kansas for 9th-10th place in the Big XII.

Conference USA

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
East
1 East Carolina 1 2 1 2
2 Marshall 3 1 3 1
3 Middle Tennessee 16 2 3 2 5 4
4 Southern Miss 20½ 5 5 4 3
5 UAB 22 4 4 5
6 Florida Atlantic 30 6 6 6
7 Florida Int’l 34½ 7 7 7 7
West
1 Tulsa 5 1 1 1 1 1
2 Rice 10 2 2 2 2 2
3 Louisiana Tech 18 4 3 3
4 Texas-El Paso 23 3 4 4 6 6
5 North Texas 24 5 6 5
6 Tulane 25 6 5 6 3 5
7 UTSA 35 7 7 7 7 7

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Southern Mississippi and UAB for 3rd-4th place in CUSA East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Florida Atlantic and Florida International for 6th-7th place in CUSA East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Louisiana Tech and North Texas for 4th-5th place in CUSA West.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between East Carolina and Marshall for 1st-2nd place in CUSA East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Florida Atlantic and UAB for 5th-6th place in CUSA East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Louisiana Tech and North Texas for 3rd-4th place in CUSA West.

Mid-American

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
East
1 Bowling Green 8 3 1 1 1 2
2 Ohio 9 1 2 3 2 1
3 Buffalo 16 2 4 4 3 3
4 Kent State 18 4 3 2 4 5
5 Miami-Ohio 25 6 5 5 5 4
6t Akron 32 7 6 7 6 6
6t Massachusetts 32 5 7 6 7 7
West
1 Northern Illinois 5 1 1 1 1 1
2 Toledo 12 3 3 2 2 2
3 Ball State 13 2 2 3 3 3
4 Western Michigan 21 4 4 5 4 4
5 Central Michigan 24 5 5 4 5 5
6 Eastern Michigan 30 6 6 6 6 6

Mountain West

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
West
1 Fresno State 5 1 1 1 1 1
2 San Diego State 12 3 3 2 2 2
3 San Jose State 14½ 2 2 3 3
4 Nevada 19 4 4 4 4 3
5 Nevada-Las Vegas 27 5 5 5 6 6
6 Hawaii 27½ 6 6 6 5
Mountain
1 Boise State 5 1 1 1 1 1
2 Utah State 10 2 2 2 2 2
3 Air Force 15½ 3 3 3 3
4 Wyoming 22½ 4 4 4 5
5 Colorado State 24 5 5 5
6 New Mexico 28 6 6 6 6 4

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Air Force and Colorado State for 3rd-4th place in the MWC Mountain division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Hawai’i and San Jose State for 4th-5th place in the MWC West division.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Colorado State and Wyoming for 5th-6th place in the MWC Mountain division.

Pacific 12

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
North
1t Oregon 2 1 2 1
1t Stanford 1 2 1 2
3 Oregon State 16½ 4 3 3 3
4 Washington 18½ 3 4 4 4
5 California 27 5 5 5 6 6
6 Washington State 28 6 6 6 5 5
South
1 UCLA 9 1 3 1 3 1
2 Arizona State 10½ 3 1 2 2
3 Southern Cal 11½ 2 2 4 1
4 Arizona 19½ 4 4 3 4
5 Utah 24½ 5 5 5 5
6 Colorado 30 6 6 6 6 6

Notes:

  • USA Today predicted a tie between Oregon and Stanford for 1st-2nd place in the PAC 12 North.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Oregon State and Washington for 3rd-4th place in the PAC 12 North.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arizona State and Southern Cal for 2nd-3rd place in the PAC 12 South.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arizona and Utah for 4th-5th place in the PAC 12 South.

Southeastern

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
East
1 Georgia 7 1 1 3 1 1
2 South Carolina 10 2 2 1
3 Florida 13 3 3 2
4 Vanderbilt 21½ 4 4 4 4
5 Tennessee 24½ 5 5 5 4
6 Missouri 29 6 6 6
7 Kentucky 35 7 7 7 7 7
West
1 Alabama 5 1 1 1 1 1
2 Texas A&M 10½ 2 2 2 2
3 Louisiana State 14½ 3 3 3 3
4 Mississippi 20½ 4 4 4 4
5 Mississippi State 28 5 5 7
6 Arkansas 29½ 6 7 5 5
7 Auburn 32 7 6 6

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Florida and South Carolina for 2nd-3rd place in the SEC East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Missouri and Vanderbilt for 5th-6th place in the SEC East.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Louisiana State and Texas A&M for 2nd-3rd place in the SEC West.
  • Phil Steele predicted a tie between Auburn and Mississippi State for 6th-7th place in the SEC West.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Florida and South Carolina for 2nd-3rd place in the SEC East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Missouri and Tenneessee for 5th-6th place in the SEC East.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Mississippi and Mississippi State for 4th-5th place in the SEC West.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arkansas and Auburn for 6th-7th place in the SEC West.

Sun Belt

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy Athlon TSN Phil
Steele
USA
Today
1 Louisiana-Lafay. 8 3 1 2 1 1
2t Louisiana-Monroe 13½ 1 2 3 3
2t Western Kentucky 13½ 4 3 1 3
4 Arkansas State 17½ 2 4 4 3
5 Troy 22½ 5 5 5 5
6 Texas State 30 6 6 6 6 6
7 South Alabama 35 7 7 7 7 7
8 Georgia State 40 8 8 8 8 8

Notes:

  • Phil Steele predicted a three-way tie between Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, and Western Kentucky, for 2nd-4th place in the Sun Belt.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Troy and Western Kentucky for 2nd-3rd place in the Sun Belt.
  • USA Today predicted a tie between Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe for 4th-5th place in the Sun Belt.