Conference Champs
ACC: Virginia
Big East: Va. Tech
Big 10: Wisconsin
Big XII: Texas
C-USA: South Florida
MAC: Central Florida
Mtn. West: Colorado St.
Pac-10: Oregon St.
SEC: LSU
WAC: Hawaii

Heisman: Draw a name out of the hat. One week Kevin Jones will be leading, then Philip Rivers might take over, Ell Roberson might explode during some huge game. Brad Smith might throw his name into the hat, but I'm gonna go with Jones, who might get the last shot to impress voters in a HUGE game.

Game of the year: Virginia Tech at Virginia. Sure it lacks the national luster of OSU-Michigan or OU-Texas, but the matchup of future ACC rivals may have a major say in the BCS as both teams may have assembled their best teams yet in the same year ... watch Marcus Vick factor in this game SOMEHOW.

Shocker of the year: Missouri over Oklahoma in Norman. This one has all the makings of a flat out blitzkrieg. OU will be coming off the Texas game, Mizzou could be undefeated, and I've been stating all along as great as everyone thinks the OU D is, they're prone to lapsing.

Don't forget about: Washington St....unlike previous Palouse 1-year wonders, this team has done it two years in a row, so Price didn't exactly leave the cupboard bare for new coach Bill Doba. QB Matt Kegel will have memories of last years Apple Cup as motivation for this year.

Best conference: Big 10. Top to bottom there are no horrible teams, even the bottom teams could scare the living bejeezus out of the top teams. Don't be shocked if Ohio St. gets all it can handle from Indiana right after the Wisconsin game. Michigan's only test in November may not be Ohio St., buth Mich St and N'western could hang tough for a while.

BCS picks:
Rose: Michigan-Oregon St.
Orange: Virginia-Miami
Fiesta: Texas-LSU
Sugar: Wisconsin-Va. Tech

National Champion: Wisconsin. I'm pretty sure Barry Alvarez was taking notes of what Kirk Ferentz was doing in Iowa City last year. It seems like Jim Sorgi has been with the Badgers so long that he was Darrell Bevell's back-up. If the underacheiving D comes together and Lee Evans returns to 2001 for, there's no reason not to think that title talk in Madison is out of the question. After all it's been a few years since they were atop the big 10.

Ohhhh....my sides hurt. Quit it, please.

The Longhorns will take the BIG XII!

RR

Our guys make their picks.

Miami all the way!!!!
i think the Sooners are overrated also, should be a very interesting year. I like John Navarre a lot but dont see Michigan making it to the National Championship game. My pick for the National Championship game is Miami vs texas

Sorry, but Wisconsin as the National Championship??? LOL I agree with AU Tiger, I have not stopped laughing!!! While you are right in that a team from the Big Ten will play for the National Championship, you are way off in who you have picked. It will be Michigan who will go on to play for all the marbles in New Orleans this year, NOT Wisconsin. Don't get me wrong, the Badgers are definitely improved, but not that much!!!! To read what I have to say on the rest of the conferences, just go to the College Football homepage here on Outsports, and check out the articles. I am not the only one featured there, as Jim has put together a really good cross section of opinions on this year's college football outlooks.

Breesboy; I promise I am not trying to be mean, but that Wisconsin pick smells more of loyalty than of hard facts. Trust me, as a former player, I respect loyalty. Your Badgers will do well this year, just not that well. If for some reason they do happen to win the Big Ten, they will do it with at least 2 losses, and will not be considered for the National Championship game.


David

I guess nobody believes in Ohio State. Sounds like last year

Wisconsin missed two field goals in the first half yesterday against lowly West Virginia and barely won 24 - 17. They're not going to win the Big Ten playing like that. Ohio State routed 19th ranked Washington yesterday, 28 - 3. Michigan routed a nobody yesterday - Central Mich. Penn State barely beat Temple. Looks to me like Ohio State is on track for a repeat.

OOPS, I'm sory, the final score yesterday was OSU 28, Washington 9. My mistake. But it was 28 - 3 for most of the last qtr.

DC Buckeye -- calm down buddy!!! If you read the discussion topic - David's Thoughts on Week #1 - you will see that I pretty much already pointed that out. But, I still think that Michigan is the best in the Big Ten, but Ohio State could very easily knock them off. I have alot of respect for the Buckeyes, as you will see if you read the article. Buckeye fans are so defensive this year, they need to chill out and just let their team play the games, that will either silence the critics, or prove them right. But let them play the games!!!

David

We don't care about critics. If they don't believe even after winning the whole thing, when will they believe ? As for Michigan and Ohio State, I believe one of those is ranked nbr 2 right now wink

Thanks, David. I've noticed that you've long been one of the few voices of reason in here. You're right about the Buckeye fans being defensive this year. They have no reason to be, especially after last night's game against the Washington Huskies, sans Clarett, I might add. Who needs Clarett now? (Well, we might be able to use him at Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan ;-)

I'm not defensive - It's just so simple: Ohio State has just about the whole team back, they are the defending champs, and until someone BEATS THEM, they are the number one team !! What part of this is confusing ? (definition of confusing = picking Michigan)

Oh. yes they will. First off, WVU is not "lowly" -- tough team, tough place to win. Sure the Badgers got off a little slow for the season, but the second half they turned it on. Bring on OSU!

AU Tiger and exfootballplayer - cut breesboy some slack. His prediction isn't that far fetched -- Wisconsin has been named a sleeper team for the Sugar Bowl by a couple national publications.

I'm laughing harder at The Sporting News who had Auburn number 1 -- or even exfootballplayer who thinks AU can still vie for the national championship. Sure it's only one loss -- but not, say a 3 point loss in OT -- it was (no offense to the many Tiger fans on the board):

-- at home
-- a shut out
-- a shut out by a ton of points
-- a shut out to a Left Coast team
-- the AU offense failed to get beyond the 33 yard line

Nope -- no chance for the Sugar Bowl.

[ September 01, 2003, 03:53 AM: Message edited by: DCBucky ]

I am seemingly always wrong on the conference champ picks, but after seeing USC totally dominate Aubie this Saturday, other teams will be hard pressed to stop them, I think....It was a clinic, IMO. Most impressive and by far the best performance of a top team considering the environment. SC will jump way up I bet in the polls.

Glad to see the Badgers won. Must have been the good luck Brats I ate to show support for DC Bucky! LOL

Ohio State looked good, too. I was also impressed with the South Florida team. Gave Bama a damned good scare although the score in the late going did not show well.

Nebraska? Pffffffttttttt. Hard times ahead in Lincoln for the Red Horde who support their boys.

I haven't seen Wisconsin's schedule, other than the fact that they have OSU at home and they don't play Michigan, but they'll stumble on the road to someone like Osh Kosh Tech.

I guess I just needed to clarify why I was laughing. Breesboy went all out, picking several "out on a limb" conf champs;

Big East: Va. Tech [Hokies are simply in the wrong conf; they're good, but Miami is far more solid, tons more depth]
Big 10: Wisconsin [giggle fit ensues]
Pac-10: Oregon St. [giggle fit part deux]
SEC: LSU [Huh? LSU may slip into the conf game, but won't beat UT or UGA on a neutral field]

Som of his other picks are questionable, although I can grant some slack. Texas hasn't beaten OU in forever, so it's a gutsy pick. The ACC is totally up for grabs, so UVA isn't that far removed from the possible.

Here are my picks ...

Big Ten ... Ohio State (they have 7 home games)
ACC ... Florida State or NC State
Big East ... Miami
Big 12 .... Oklahoma (great defense again)
Pac 10 ... USC
SEC .... Georgia or LSU
WAC .... Boise State (they have some hot players)
Mountain West ... Colorado State (Sonny Lubeck get the most of his least resources)
MAC ... UCF (a lot of leftover talent in Florida high school system and UCF & USF are mining it)
Conference USA .... TCU

I have to laugh at the Sporting News for picking the War Chickens as their choice of the number #1 ranked team.

J T - wow I hadn't heard that UCF was in the MAC. Now that I know, boot them out, they're too good !

Go Akron Zips !

We'll gladly fill the needed spot in the ACC, although the AD is also pursuing the Big East (NOOOOOOOOOO!) Everyone in the MAC knows that we're only here to keep them at an even number while we look for a more regionally appropriate conference.

Jim
(who was at the game the week the MAC announced UCF was joining, and Akron tried some taunting, then went to halftime behind 50-0. Watch out, we're coming to your house Oct 18 for more. )

JT:

Oklahoma's Defense is not that great really, they are still VERY vulnerable in the Secondary, and look for teams to really take advantage of that. If Texas can get their shit together - don't be surprised if Texas wins the South. Of Course, Kansas State is really the strongest team in the Big 12, and don't expect the Cornhuskers to really challenge them, although everyone was just looking for an excuse to put them in the Top 25 - their #17 Ranking this week is just a tad bit premature.

David

[ September 02, 2003, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: exfballplayer ]

I don't really expect to see Nebraska challenge KSU for the Big XII North this season either, but hopefully the defense has improved enough to keep them in some games that got out of hand last season. But I'm curious -- I saw Nebraska at #23 and #24 -- where did you see a #17 ranking?