We are less than 60 days away from the first game of the 2012 college football season. Any cursory reading of my blog will prove that college football is probably my favorite sport. And now, with the number of 24-hour news channels and the internet sites, college football is a year-round venture. Whether it's students being kicked off teams for weapons charges (Isaiah Crowell) or coaches filing for bankruptcy (John L. Smith)...and that's just in the SEC.
So now it's time to put together the Right Wing Mid-Summer College Football Preview. Of course, I'll revise these picks a week or so before the season actually starts.
Preseason Conference Rankings (The Top 4):
4. Big XII
There is a total of ten teams in the Big XII, and even though the conference just lost Texas A&M and Missouri, they added TCU and West Virginia. The Big XII is a rather geographically contained conference...except WVU, which is over 800 miles from its nearest conference rival.
Key Games: Michigan vs Ohio State, Wisconsin vs Nebraska
3. Big Ten
The Legend and Leaders (still horrible division names) contain some rather good teams. Penn State may get the death penalty, but Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska are all good. Ohio State, under the leadership of Urban Meyer, looks to bounce back strong as well.
Key Games: Oklahoma vs Texas, TCU vs West Virginia
2. PAC-12
USC is no longer postseason banned, meaning the PAC-12 has regained one of its power teams when it comes to making noise at the end of the season. Stanford will likely be down, but Oregon is still a strong team.
Key Games: Oregon vs Stanford, USC vs Oregon
1. SEC
Of course. Six straight National Championships, the last of which saw two SEC teams square off, and the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri, keeps this conference at the top of the ranking.
Key Games: Alabama vs LSU, Georgia vs South Carolina
PreSeason Top 10
For the Record, I hate Preseason top tens. So I'll be offering up something new this season, along with the Football Future-see posts, I'll provide my own weekly top ten, but not until week six. I figure it will take six weeks to get a clear picture of what each team is bringing to the table. So sometime after October 7, look for the Right Wing College Football Top Ten.
10. Arkansas
9. South Carolina
8. Michigan
7. West Virginia
6. Georgia
5. Oregon
4. Oklahoma
3. Alabama
2. USC
1. LSU
Conference Championship Games...or Champions
Some conferences have enough teams (12 or more) to justify a conference championship game under NCAA regulations. The conferences that don't tend to play a larger conference schedule (9 games instead of 8), to determine an overall winner. The Championship Games are predicted below, with the winner noted in italics.
ACC Championship Game: Florida State vs Virginia Tech
Big Ten Championship Game: Wisconsin vs. Michigan
Big XII Champion: Oklahoma
Big East Champion: Louisville
PAC-12 Championship Game: Oregon vs USC
SEC Championship Game: Georgia vs LSU
Way Way Way Way Too Early Bowl Projections:
National Championship Game: LSU vs. USC
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Texas
Rose Bowl: Michigan vs. Oregon
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Florida State
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Louisville
Cotton Bowl: Arkansas vs. West Virginia
Chick-fil-A Bowl: South Carolina vs. Georgia Tech
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Nebraska
Outback Bowl: Florida vs. Wisconsin
Gator Bowl: Vanderbilt vs. Michigan State
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