The First Saturday!

Here's a few fearless (more like fearful) picks for today's action:

Clemson over Alabama
Florida over Hawai'i
Duke over James Madison
Cal over Michigan St.
Utah over Michigan
Oklahoma St. over Washington St.

Upset Specials:

Rutgers over Fresno St.
Bowling Green over Pitt

See ya soon!

The season starts in just a few minutes...yay!

Ack! I haven't posted anything in a while! So...back from (clap, clap, clap, clap) deep in the heart of Texas and fresh over a case of somebody's revenge, here's more fodder for discussion.

Here's all the 1-A teams, top to bottom with strength of schedule.

RANK	TEAM	Sch Rank	CONF
1	Ohio State	22	Big 10
2	Georgia	8	SEC
3	Texas	14	Big 12
4	Boise State	94	WAC
5	USC	20	Pac 10
6	Oklahoma	29	Big 12
7	West Virginia	37	Big E
8	Auburn	21	SEC
9	LSU	40	SEC
10	Wisconsin	55	Big 10
11	Florida	16	SEC
12	Virginia Tech	45	ACC
13	Utah	82	Mtn W
14	Tennessee	33	SEC
15	Texas Tech	75	Big 12
16	BYU	112	Mtn W
17	Arizona State	66	Pac 10
18	Missouri	96	Big 12
19	Penn State	51	Big 10
20	Clemson	71	ACC
21	TCU	97	Mtn W
22	Michigan	2	Big 10
23	Boston College	49	ACC
24	Fresno State	67	WAC
25	Kansas	41	Big 12
26	South Florida	52	Big E
27	Oregon	32	Pac 10
28	Florida State	31	ACC
29	Hawaii	77	WAC
30	Bowling Green	100	MAC
31	Wake Forest	68	ACC
32	Connecticut	70	Big E
33	Western Kentucky	111	Indp
34	Navy	115	Indp
35	Cincinnati	18	Big E
36	Oregon State	9	Pac 10
37	Tulsa	119	CUSA
38	Louisville	54	Big E
39	California	53	Pac 10
40	Purdue	23	Big 10
41	Arkansas	11	SEC
42	Rutgers	35	Big E
43	Toledo	73	MAC
44	Iowa	92	Big 10
45	Troy	83	Sun B
46	Alabama	6	SEC
47	Florida Atlantic	107	Sun B
48	Virginia	26	ACC
49	Texas A&M	63	Big 12
50	Central Michigan	109	MAC
51	South Carolina	34	SEC
52	Miami (Ohio)	103	MAC
53	New Mexico	72	Mtn W
54	Southern Miss	91	CUSA
55	Notre Dame	60	Indp
56	Maryland	36	ACC
57	UCF	78	CUSA
58	Houston	118	CUSA
59	Miami (Florida)	44	ACC
60	Oklahoma State	28	Big 12
61	East Carolina	62	CUSA
62	Pittsburgh	5	Big E
63	UCLA	3	Pac 10
64	Nebraska	42	Big 12
65	Georgia Tech	46	ACC
66	Air Force	79	Mtn W
67	Nevada	81	WAC
68	Michigan State	4	Big 10
69	Memphis	116	CUSA
70	Northern Illinois	74	MAC
71	Northwestern	87	Big 10
72	Kansas State	48	Big 12
73	Mississippi State	64	SEC
74	Ball State	90	MAC
75	Washington State	69	Pac 10
76	Colorado	17	Big 12
77	Western Michigan	120	MAC
78	Kentucky	24	SEC
79	Illinois	25	Big 10
80	Louisiana-Monroe	95	Sun B
81	Wyoming	56	Mtn W
82	Ohio	101	MAC
83	UTEP	98	CUSA
84	Middle Tennessee	93	Sun B
85	Akron	108	MAC
86	North Carolina State	30	ACC
87	North Carolina	47	ACC
88	Marshall	43	CUSA
89	Indiana	39	Big 10
90	Louisiana Tech	99	WAC
91	Arizona	27	Pac 10
92	Arkansas State	105	Sun B
93	San Jose State	110	WAC
94	Minnesota	13	Big 10
95	Tulane	86	CUSA
96	Colorado State	65	Mtn W
97	Iowa State	85	Big 12
98	Mississippi	19	SEC
99	Washington	1	Pac 10
100	Louisiana-Lafayette	114	Sun B
101	Rice	104	CUSA
102	UAB	61	CUSA
103	Stanford	12	Pac 10
104	Kent State	113	MAC
105	Vanderbilt	15	SEC
106	Syracuse	10	Big E
107	San Diego State	80	Mtn W
108	SMU	58	CUSA
109	New Mexico State	84	WAC
110	Buffalo	89	MAC
111	Eastern Michigan	102	MAC
112	Baylor	7	Big 12
113	North Texas	76	Sun B
114	Temple	88	MAC
115	Army	117	Indp
116	Idaho	106	WAC
117	Utah State	38	WAC
118	UNLV	59	Mtn W
119	Florida International	50	Sun B
120	Duke	57	ACC

Here's a few fearless predictions for tonight & Tomorrow.

NC State (86) @ South Carolina (51): Heart says NC St. - Brain says SC. SC wins 23-15.

Temple (114) @ Army (115): The Mediocre Bowl - Temple 17 - Army 20. The slightest of upsets?

More pics tomorrow...

My Preseason Top 25

Finally, the 2008 season appeared in the rear-view mirror and is closing fast. With the advent of fall camp, I have decided not only to program my own computer rankings, but also post them here.

Why keep them to myself?

Since I'm getting ready to drive to Texas this afternoon, I can't be very verbose about the origins of both myself and my system. Briefly: I'll start with a ranking that is based on a team's performances over the last 4 years, with a geometric progression decreasing the influence of older data. This I'll couple with returning starter data, with a nod toward a team returning their quarterback. At this time, there are no 'scores,' just a rank.

So, without further ado, my inaugural Top 25!

RANK	TEAM	CONF
25	Kansas	Big 12
24	Fresno State	WAC
23	Boston College	ACC
22	Michigan	Big 10
21	TCU	Mtn W
20	Clemson	ACC
19	Penn State	Big 10
18	Missouri	Big 12
17	Arizona State	PAC 10
16	BYU	Mtn W
15	Texas Tech	Big 12
14	Tennessee	SEC
13	Utah	Mtn W
12	Virginia Tech	ACC
11	Florida	SEC
10	Wisconsin	Big 10
9	LSU	SEC
8	Auburn	SEC
7	West Virginia	Big E
6	Oklahoma	Big 12
5	USC	PAC 10
4	Boise State	WAC
3	Texas	Big 12
2	Georgia	SEC
1	Ohio State	Big 10

I'll be back in a week, then I'll post the whole list and strength of schedule.

Meanwhile, please comment - I'm sure there's plenty of craziness in the above list (TCU, Utah, Boise St.).

Berfle