With most teams still yet to kick off the 2015 college football season, just about everyone is still undefeated (sorry, Michigan). And, that doesn’t just go for coaches, players and teams, it also goes for journalist, experts and prognosticators, too. And, because the preseason is all about hyperbole, I’ll even go as far as putting myself in that final triumvirate. (Apologies to the real journalist, experts and prognosticators.)
Of course, not everyone can stay undefeated forever. With the season kicking off in full tomorrow, we’re mere hours away from the dream of a perfect season ending for half of college football. And, as a full-fledged college football junky, I certainly don’t want to miss any of that action!
So, with that in mind, let’s kick of the season with a round of predictions that are part bold, part stupid and part genius, but, more than anything will no doubt put a quick end to any dreams I might have of my own personal perfect season. A lot of these predictions will be Oregon Duck-centric, but, I’ll throw in some predictions regarding other teams and conferences, too. You know, because I’m nice like that.
On to the wrongness!
- Royce Freeman will build on his impressive freshman season to solidify himself as one of the premier backs in the nation, but, will come up just short of LaMichael James school record of 1,805 rushing yards. He will, however, break LMJ’s school record of 21 rushing touchdowns. While the Ducks have many options to score points, none will provide Mark Helfrich and staff with the comfort of a good ol’ fashioned power back inside the 10 yard line.
- More than any other league in college football, the Pac-12 is a conference dominated by quarterbacks. With the departure of Marcus Mariota, the best QB in the land may just California junior Jared Goff, who many are projecting to be a 1st Round draft pick when he inevitably makes the leap to the NFL. And, it is on his golden arm that Cal will beat Stanford for the first time since 2009, and finish 2nd in the Pac-12 North.
- A Washington State quarterback will break an NCAA record this year. It might be good (800 yards in a game?), it might be bad (10 interceptions?), it might be absolutely bizarre (100 attempts? In a half?). No one knows exactly what to expect from Wazzu in 2015, and I’m no exception. The only certainty in Pullman is that Mike Leach’s signal-caller is going to be prolific and at they’ll “Coug’ it” at least once this year.
- Announcers will talk more about Marcus Mariota than Jeff Lockie over the course of the season. Part of that will be because of the indelible mark Mariota left on not just the Ducks program, but, the world of college football.
- The other part will be that by the time the calendar flips to October, everyone will have forgot that there was ever a QB controversy. That’s because Vernon Adams will be well on his way to All Pac-12 honors.
- Someone will still mispronounce Marcus Mariota’s name at some point, causing Duck fans around the globe to throw their hands up in disgust and curse at the TV. Don’t worry though, it still won’t be as bad as Roger Goodell. “Marcus Mariato!”
- Once again, the #1 seed in the College Football Playoffs lose to the #4 seed. The format is just too perfect for matching a slightly overconfident undefeated team against an equally talented team that has had to fight back through some adversity (i.e. a loss) that helps refocus their season.
- Ohio State will be that #1 seed. They’ll roll through their schedule without much of a challenge, and look nearly unbeatable along the way. They’ll probably even get some “greatest team ever” talk by the time it’s all said and done. But, by the time the playoffs roll around, they’ll have fully bought into their invincibility and will get caught up against a hungrier and more focused team. (See: USC v Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl)
- True freshman Ugo Amadi will be starting at CB for the Ducks in the post-season. He has been praised by defensive backs coach John Neal as the best true freshman he’s ever seen at this point in his young career. That’s no small compliment. Either by performance (hopefully) or by injury (hopefully not), he’ll be starting by the end of the season.
- Whoever finishing #5 in the final College Football Playoff rankings will lose their bowl game. It’s hard enough to win a big bowl game against a top 10 opponent under normal circumstances. It’s even tougher when you have to prepare for that game with the disappointment of a dream season that almost was hanging over your head.
- After spending their first 4 years in the Pac-12, Colorado has won a grand total of 4 conference games and finished in the conference basement each season, including a particularly brutal 0-9 record in 2015. Despite that ugly donut in the win column, last year was probably the best Buffalo team of the lot. It just also happened to be the most loaded the conference has ever been. This year will be mostly more of the same from both, but, despite another 6th place finish in the stacked South division, Colorado will get their first marque upset as a member of the Pac, taking down one of the conferences bowl teams.
- Despite losing arguably the greatest offensive player in the history of the college game (seriously, re-read those stats), the Oregon Ducks will actually average more points per game this season. While the loss of Mariota isn’t something to scoff at, the Ducks return a glut of talent at the playmaking positions, including the return of star Wide Receiver Bralon Addison, who missed all of last season with a knee injury. The Ducks led the nation in touchdowns scored by freshmen last year, and all those guys are back, along with a new crop of stud recruits. As long as Adams can acclimate himself to the system and avoid big mistakes, the offense should be even more potent than last year’s unit, which put up 45.4 ppg. Seriously.
- Bucking the recent trend, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner will not be a quarterback. There are a plethora of ground-churning running backs, playmaking wide receivers and game changing defensive studs. Ohio State RB Ezekiel Elliot, Georgia RB Nick Chubb, Oklahoma RB Samaje Perine, USC WR Juju Smith, and Arizona LB Scooby Wright (just to name a few) all have the skills to make a run at the greatest trophy in all of sport. It’ll take a magical season from someone to beat out the signal callers, but, this will be the year that happens.
- Washington at Oregon State will be a pivotal game in the Pac-12 North. No, not for bowl positioning or conference championship game berths. Rather, the November 20th showdown will be the de facto “last place game”, with the loser ending up in the division basement.
- Amid protests that deciding things on the field “isn’t fair” and that “the pollsters know best”, the SEC once-again fails to make it to the National Championship game. After dominating the final decade of the BCS era, the SEC continues its plummet back down to Earth as their champion gets knocked out in the opening round of the College Football Playoffs for the second time in as many years. While the conference may have the most NFL talent on their rosters, and may be the deepest league in the land, college football is all about the offense these days, and the SEC is falling behind when it comes to the wide open spread offenses that have dominated the sport of late.
- DeForest Buckner will be named a consensus All-American, making him the first Oregon defensive lineman to be so honored since Haloti Ngata in 2005. With all the offensive talent that’s gone through Eugene over the years, arguably their greatest NFL player ever has been the space-eating Ngata. Buckner is maybe the most physically dominant defensive player to put on the green, yellow, white, black, steel and pink in the past decade, and by the end of the season he’ll be a household name around the nation.
- Both Arizona schools will finish above both SoCal schools. That’s because college football, has been, and always will be, about the coaches. And, Arizona and Arizona State, led by Rich Rodriguez and Todd Graham respectively, hold a decided advantage over their fellow warm-weather schools in that department, and it will be the difference in the standings.
- Utah will upset a top 10 team this year. And, it will be more about how overrated that top 10 team is than how good Utah is. Even with a big question mark at quarterback, the Utes are a tricky matchup that are well coached and sport a good defense and excellent running game. Not the type of team you want to overlook. Someone inevitably will, though, and it will cost them dearly.
- For a program who has been synonymous with ridiculous, over-the-top uniforms so bright and garish that it has been accused of burning out televisions, the Ducks have worn downright conservative jerseys in the two biggest games in school history, both of which ended in disappointing losses. It’s always best to stick with what got you there, and, frankly, white jerseys just aren’t Oregon football. One might even argue that this “loss of identity” by the Ducks may have actually played into the disappointing game results. Obviously, that may be giving a little too much credit to fashion and not enough to some very quality opponents. Still, expect them to learn from their past mistakes and for the Ducks to wear green and yellow in the National Championship Game this year.
- And, finally, my boldest prediction yet: I will get at least one of these predictions right this year. Yeah, I know. That one is beyond crazy.
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