 TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
CONFERENCE PROJECTED WINNER MAC Toledo Big Ten Ohio State C-USA UTEP SEC Florida ACC Florida State Big East West Virginia Big 12 Texas Pac Ten California WAC Boise State Mountain West TCU Sun Belt UL-Lafayette Mid-American Conference Akron won their first MAC Title last year and played in their first ever bowl game, the Motor City Bowl. Despite Northern Illinois defeating Toledo and getting into the MAC Championship game while Toledo sat at home, the Rockets got the MAC's other bowl bid and beat UTEP 45-13 in the GMAC Bowl while Northern Illinois sat at home during the bowl season. Toledo deserved to go to a bowl game last year and finished with a 9-3 record, but even at 7-5 Northern Illinois also deserved a bowl bid. This year there will be a 3rd bowl tie-in for the MAC, and even a slight possibility for a 4th bowl bid. The International Bowl will be played in Toronto, ON in Canada. The game will feature a MAC school against a Big East school on January 6th, the last bowl game of the season before the national championship game. The Birmingham Bowl will feature a C-USA team against a Big East team. However, if either C-USA or the Big East does not have a bowl eligible team, the MAC will fill one of the slots in the bowl game. So now what will happen in the MAC? Well, let's first look at the East Division. Akron won the MAC East and MAC Championship last year and they return QB Luke Getsy and seven other offensive starters and 8 defensive starters from that team. The problem for them will be replacing some skill players on offense. Despite Getsy returning, they lose the top three players that led them in receptions last season, which accounted for 188 receptions. They also lose their top rusher, a guy that rushed for 1230 yards last year. In fact, the guys that return at running back only combined for 125 yards total last season. Playing three strong West Division schools in Toledo, Central Michigan, and Western Michigan won't help the cause either. Miami University might have lost QB Josh Betts to graduation, but they get our pick for champion of the MAC East Division. We think they will have enough to get by Akron. Bowling Green had too many key losses on offense, mainly QB Omar Jacobs, WR Charles Sharon, WR Steve Sanders, RB PJ Pope, and RB BJ Lane. Ohio University is getting stronger, but still not good enough to compete for the title. Buffalo and Kent State are both way too far off to contend for the title. So why the Redhawks? Well first off we don't think there will be a drop-off at QB. Both junior Mike Kokal and sophomore Jared Elliott are capable of leading the Miami offense. Senior wide receiver RJ Corbin, senior wide receiver Ryne Robinson, and senior wide receiver Josh Williams will make it easier for a new QB to transition into the starting spot. Junior running back Brandon Murphy had a very nice year last season and he is expected to have a huge season this year. In the West Division, Toledo and Northern Illinois look to be the favorites, but Western Michigan and Central Michigan are narrowing the gap. Ball State really came on as the season went on and they could factor in the race as well. Northern Illinois returns RB Garrett Wolfe for his senior season. Wolfe rushed for 1580 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, despite missing three games with an injury. Wolfe is one of the best backs in the country, if not the best. And if you try to key on him too much, the Huskies will throw the ball. Last year NIU quarterbacks averaged 237.4 yards passing per game. They do lose a couple of key receivers, but there is a lot of young talent waiting in the wings. Senior offensive tackle Doug Free is one of the best in the MAC and in the country. Wolfe and Free were recently named to NationalChamps.Net's Preseason All-America team. The Toledo Rockets return 7 starters on defense and 8 starters on offense. However, they will have to replace record-setting quarterback Bruce Gradkowski who is now pursuing his dreams of playing in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Transitioning to a new quarterback will be easier because of three things........all but one starter returns on the offensive line, all starting receivers and tight ends return, and the Rockets are loaded at running back. Defensively Toledo needs to replace four key starters from last year, but overall they should be pretty good and they led the MAC in most defensive categories last year. So who wins the West Division? That's a tough question and it could go either way, but our pick is Toledo. Toledo has just too much depth at receiver, running back, tight end, and offensive line for their offensive production to drop. Their defense looks strong again and could be even better than last year. Stopping Garrett Wolfe and Northern Illinois will be tough, especially since the game is going to be in Dekalb. However, the Rockets will find a way to win. So that brings us to Toledo and Miami University for the MAC Championship. They met in 2004 for the MAC Title in the first championship game played at Ford Field. The Rockets won that game 35-27 behind the legs of RB Scooter McDougle and the arm of QB Bruce Grakowski. This time it will be a combination of the Rocket defense and a blast of two or three good running backs mixed in with a decent passing game to get the Rockets past a very good Miami team. Big Ten Conference Penn State had a great run last year and won the Big Ten title. They return a lot of talent, but they lose star QB Michael Robinson. Junior Anthony Morelli is expected to take over at quarterback for the Nittany Lions. Ohio State lost at Penn State last year and the Buckeyes lose a lot on defense. However, they return an awful lot on offense. That includes QB Troy Smith, RB Antonio Pittman, WR Anthony Gonzalez, and WR Tedd Ginn, Jr. In all, Ohio State returns 8 starters from a pretty potent offense. Michigan returns junior QB Chad Henne, junior RB Mike Hart, senior WR Steve Breaston, and senior WR Carl Tabb. Unfortunately for Michigan they have a pretty tough schedule. They play at Notre Dame in non-conference action, and play at Penn State and at Ohio State in conference play. Ohio State hosts both Penn State and Michigan, which gives them an edge since the Buckeyes are so good at home. Between the home field advantage and the potent offense, the Buckeyes should be the favorites and get our pick as Big Ten champion. Conference USA Last year newcomers UCF and Tulsa won the East and West Division titles and met in the first ever Conference USA Championship Game. Tulsa came out victorious, winning the C-USA title in their first year in the conference. UCF surprised everyone in the East Division with a 7-1 conference regular season record after going 0-11 in the MAC in 2004. Despite losses in the conference championship game and the Hawaii Bowl, UCF had a very good season with an overall record of 8-5. Sophomore running back Kevin Smith returns after having a great first year. He rushed for 1,178 yards and 9 touchdowns last season, including 202 yards rushing in the Hawaii Bowl. That takes us to the first C-USA Championship Game between Memphis and UTEP. This could be one of those really high scoring games, but UTEP's team speed and unity will make the difference in a close game. Our pick for C-USA Champion is UTEP. Southeastern Conference Year in and year out the SEC plays some of the best college football in the country. The stadiums are packed and many of the teams have several NFL potential players. The East Division should be competitive, but we like QB Chris Leak and the Florida Gators to win the division. 2006 will be the 100th season for football at Florida and it should be a dandy. Florida returns their leading passer, leading rusher, 76% of their scoring offense, kicker, punter, kick return man, leader in fumble recoveries, and 5 of the top 7 tacklers from last year's team. There should be a lot of fire power and enough on defense to win the East. The West Division has two front-runners in Auburn and LSU. This will be a tough battle. Auburn returns 5 starters on offense and 6 starters on defense and they host LSU, Florida, and Georgia. However, the only skilled position returning starters from last year are QB Brandon Cox and RB Kenny Irons. Still there is a lot of talent at receiver, they are just a little inexperienced. LSU loses 11 starters combined on offense and defense, but QB JaMarcus Russell and RB Alley Broussard should lead this offense to be pretty potent. Winning at Auburn is going to be tough, but we think they get it done. That leads us to the SEC Championship game between Florida and LSU. Urban Meyer will have the Gators looking good in his 2nd season as the head coach and that is why they are our pick to win the SEC. Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Division consists of Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Maryland, N.C. State, and Wake Forest. Florida State might appear to be the superior team in this division, and they are our pick to win it. They only have six seniors on scholarship this year, but don't let that fool you. They only return four starters on offense, but quarterback Drew Weatherford is one of them. He was named to the AP Freshman All-American team last season, throwing for 3,208 yards and 21 touchdowns. His problem was that he also threw 18 interceptions. But with that extra year of experience, expect his interceptions to go down in 2006. Senior starting running back Lorenzo Booker also returns this fall for Florida State. They lose a lot on defense, but the Seminoles were loaded and they still should be pretty strong defensively. The Coastal Division consists of Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. Miami seems to be the favorite in the division. They return 5 starters on offense and 6 starters on defense. This includes junior quarterback Kyle Wright, tight end Greg Olsen, and running back Tyrone Moss. Moss is recovering from a knee injury, but Miami expects him to be fully recovered this summer. They open the season at home against Florida State, and that will set the tone for the Coastal Division race for the Hurricanes. They host Virginia Tech and Boston College, which look to be the other two teams on the conference schedule that they need to watch out for. In the ACC Championship Game we gotta go with the Florida State Seminoles. They have a strong defense and their offense will be good enough to outlast Miami in the title game. Big East Conference West Virginia and Louisville seem to be in a class of their own in the Big East. Other schools like Pittsburgh, UCONN, and South Florida are going to improve and make some waves, but they just are not at that same level that West Virginia and Louisville are. West Virginia is our pick to win the Big East. They beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl last season and they return a lot of talent. Sophomore Patrick White returns as quarterback for the Mountaineers. He is a true dual threat QB as he can pass and run the ball very well. Junior QB Adam Bednarik provides a lot of experience in case something would happen to White. Steve Slaton returns at running back after being named to the Freshman All-American team last season. West Virginia opens the season at home against Marshall, Buffalo, and Maryland in very winnable games. This will allow them to gel together before playing any real tough competition. Of course the only real tough game appears to be a game at Louisville on November 2nd. If things play out right, West Virginia could be playing in the national championship game. Big 12 Conference The North is wide open and just about anyone could win the division. Iowa State, Kansas, and Nebraska are probably the top three and we pick Iowa State. The Cyclones return 10 starters on offense, including QB Bret Meyer, WR Todd Blythe, and RB Stevie Hicks. This offense averaged 28.2 points per game last year and they should be even better in 2006. Only five starters return on defense, with the secondary and linebackers taking the biggest hit to graduation. Defense will definitely be the question mark on this team, but that offense is going to be awfully tough to stop. Texas loses QB Vince Young, who entered the NFL draft a year early, but theya re still loaded and should win the South Division. The defending national champions return 7 starters on offense and 7 starters on defense this fall. Running back Jamaal Charles returns for his sophomore season after being named the Freshman offensive player of the year in the Big 12 last year. All three starting wide receivers return, as well as 3 starting offensive lineman. On defense, much of the defensive line and linebackers return and this should be a very good defense. Texas will be too much for Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship Game. There are just too many offensive weapons and the defense will be strong enough to stop the Iowa State offense enough times to win the game. PAC 10 Conference Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, and Lendale White are now in the NFL. USC will still be good, but we are going with California to take over the Pac 10 and win the title this year. They return 7 starters on offense and 8 starters on defense. Hosting Arizona State and Oregon makes the schedule a little easier, but they do have to play at USC and the Trojans will still be dangerous. Expect some fireworks in the PAC 10 this fall, and California will have the best of those fireworks. Western Athletic Conference Last year Fresno State looked like they were going to run away with the WAC Championship after throttling Boise State. Then they played at USC and lost a thriller and their season collapsed. This fall Fresno State, Nevada, and Boise State should all be very good, but we like the Cowboys from Boise State. They may have a new head coach, but QB Jared Zabransky returns for his senior season and he has 8 other starters returning on offense. Boise State returns 9 starters on defense, and their starting kicker and punter as well. This team is loaded, and they host Fresno State. The WAC Title could come down to November 25th, when the Cowboys travel to Reno to play the Nevada Wolfpack. However, this Boise State team is just way too loaded. In fact if they can beat Oregon State early in the season, they could be headed to a BCS bowl game. And that game is in Boise so they have a very good chance of winning. Watch out for this team in the polls this fall. Mountain West Conference TCU won the Mountain West Title in their first year in the conference last season. This year probably won't be much different. TCU returns 54 lettermen from last year's team that finished the season ranked 10th in the nation. They return their top eight rushers and four of their top five receivers from last season. They also return seven starters on a defense that was very good last year. Not only will TCU be the favorite in the WAC, but if they beat Texas Tech when they host tem on September 16th, they might just run the table and end up in a BCS bowl game. Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt conference is wide open this fall. UL-Lafayette is our pick to win the conference, and here is why. They return 7 starters on offense and 8 starters on defense from a team that won a Co-Sun Belt Championship last year. QB Jerry Babb and RB Tyrell Fenroy return to lead the offense. WR Kevin Robbins will most likely be their top receiving threat and he could have a very good year. As we already said, they return 8 starters on defense. They are very deep on defense as they actually return 20 players that received letters last season for getting significant playing time. They start the season at LSU and at Texas A&M. This will allow them to gain some valuable experience against tough competition. Conference play doesn't open up until the middle of October, so they should be in a flow by the time they play their first Sun Belt game of the year. HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER Brady Quinn (Quarterback - Notre Dame) NATIONAL CHAMPION Notre Dame MAC Player of the Year Garrett Wolfe (Running Back - Northern Illinois) MAC Freshman of the Year Nate Davis (Quarterback - Ball State) MAC TEAMS GOING BOWLING Motor City Bowl - Toledo GMAC Bowl - Northern Illinois International Bowl - Miami University Toledo Rockets Prediction Toledo has grown accustomed to winning and going to bowl games. They have won two of the last five MAC Championships, and played in a third MAC Championship game that they lost by 4 points in 2002. They have gone to two straight bowl games, and four bowl games in the last five years. It is clear to see that at Toledo you are expected to play in the MACC Game and play in a bowl game. QB Bruce Gradkowski was the heart and soul of the Rocket offense the last three years, but he is now in Tampa, FL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. His replacement will likely be sophomore Clint Cochran. Cochran has a great arm, but is slower on his feet. Other possibilities at quarterback include redshirt freshman Brandon Summers and incoming true freshman Aaron Opelt. Toledo is absolutely loaded at running back, and with no seniors at the position the Rockets will be just as solid in 2007. Junior Scooter McDougle returns from a knee injury that kept him out in 2005. Junior Jalen Parmele has recovered from some ankle injuries last season that kept his production down. Sophomore Richard Davis is the speed back that brings a change of pace. Redshirt freshman DaJuane Collins seems to have the best athletic ability and looks to be a future star. Freshman Ray Williams is a former Mr Football in the state of Ohio and a former US Army High School All-American. This spring he looked very good in limited action and he is expected to play for Toledo this fall. Senior Steve Odom, junior David Washington, and sophomore Nick Moore provide a nice trio of receivers for Toledo. There is a lot of depth at the position with guys like Andrew Hawkins, DJ Nichols, Andre Redd, Trumaine Smith, Stephen Williams, and Robin Bailey. Tight end is loaded. Seniors Chris Hopkins and Josh Powell provide a lot of experience. Sophomore Jon Allen was a pleasant surprise last year and he earned a scholarship for this season. Redshirt freshman Tom Burzine should also be in the mix. The offensive line has a lot coming back. Only one player is gone from the entire roster last year. Junior left tackle John Greco is a preseason All-MAC and Lombardi award candidate. One defense there are a few holes from last year, but not many. The entire defensive line is back, plus defensive end Al Martin who missed last year after having knee surgery. Inside linebackers Anthony Jordan and David Thomas are gone, but Steven Morrison has moved into one of those slots. Michael Chamberlain and Mike Alston will hold down the outside linebacker slots. Alston is an All-MAC preseason selection according to Sports Illustrated and he should be the anchor of the defense. Junior Nigel Morris returns at cornerback, and senior Bo Martin will replace Antonio Malone at the other cornerback slot. Martin played well last year as the main backup at the position. Junior Tyrrell Herbert returns at free safety. He had 94 tackles and forced five fumbles last season. He is definitely an All-MAC candidate and he should make some noise on the Rocket defense this fall. Replacing Keon Jackson at strong safety might be the toughest thing for the Rockets on defense. Redshirt freshman Lester Richmond has played well this spring and looks to have the edge. Incoming true freshman Barry Church may get a look at strong safety this fall as well. Brett Kern returns as Toledo's punter, and junior Michael Krispinsky and incoming freshman Alex Steigerwald will battle for the starting kicker spot. Now onto some predictions. First we expect wide receiver Steve Odom to be the MVP of the team. He is a 3 year starter and he has caught a pass in every single game of his Rocket career, 37 straight games. He has the ability to break it open at any time. Running back DaJuane Collins should have a big year in Toledo's rotating running back system. We think he is going to the the Freshman of the Year at Toledo this fall. He has moves that remind me of Wasean Tait in his prime in 1995. Toledo has a difficult non-conference schedule, but all games are winnable. In non-conference they play at Iowa State (Big 12), at Pittsburgh (Big East), vs Kansas (Big 12), and vs McNeese State (I-AA). Toledo could win all four of those games, and two wins are very likely. In conference Toledo hosts defending MAC Champion Akron, as well as Central Michigan, Ball State, and Bowling Green. They play at Western Michigan, at Kent State, at Eastern Michigan, and at Northern Illinois. A 7-1 conference record is probably the most likely, but anywhere from 5-3 to 8-0 is possible. Our prediction is that Toledo will win two of four non-conference games and go 7-1 in conference play. They will meet Miami University in the MACC Game at Ford Field, and win the MAC Title. They will then play in the Motor City Bowl with a 10-3 overall record going into that game. This might seem like a very generous prediction with a new quarterback, but those are the expectations on a program like the one Toledo has. |