>College Football Preview: C

Posted on July 12, 2010 by chiwoj85

>California – The Bears are coming off of an 8-5 season, which ended with a 37-27 loss to Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl. While the season may not have been as successful as those in the past, the Bears are ready to get back to being one of the most feared teams not only in the Pac 10, but the entire nation.

Offense – The offense brings back nine starters from last year’s squad. Despite starting all 13 games last season, senior Kevin Riley opens fall camp in an open competition with two other returnees. Riley threw for 2,850 yards and 18 touchdowns, while only throwing up eight picks. In fact Riley’s 2,850 passing yards in a season are the fourth-most in Cal history. His backups, Brock Mansion and Beau Sweeney, both return but did not see much action.

Anytime you have to replace an NFL first round draft pick, you know it won’t be easy. Trying to replace Jahvid Best, however, might not be as challenging as it seems. Shane Vereen returns after starting the last four games of the season because Best suffered a season-ending injury in Week 8. He ended up leading the team in rushing with 952 yards and tied Best in touchdowns with 12. Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson and Isi Sofele also return to backup Vereen.

Marvin Jones returns for his junior year after putting up some nice receiving stats last season. He caught 43 balls for 651 yards and six touchdowns, all career-highs and team bests. The second-most productive returnee, Jeremy Ross, might be one of the fastest players on the team. Ross caught 22 balls for 344 yards and a touchdown. However, only one other returner saw significant playing time, so it will be up to many unproven and younger players to help out whoever the quarterback will be.

Defense – The defense brings back seven starters from last year’s team. The linebackers brings back three starters who started six games or more. The unit is led by All-Pac 10 First Team member Mike Mohamed, who started every game last season. His 112 tackles not only led the team, but the entire conference as well. He also had eight tackles for loss, two sacks, three interceptions and a forced fumble. Michael Kendricks started six games last year but his 71 tackles are the second most tackles of all the defensive returnees. He added six tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and an interception, sack and forced fumble each. D.J. Holt returns after starting eight games at linebacker last year, when he tackles 37 opponents, including three and a half for loss.

Despite losing three starters, the Bears bring back a lot of experience in the secondary. All three players who started at one CB position return for another year. Darian Hagan, Josh Hill and Bryant Nnabuife combined for the 13 starts, with Hill starting five and the others four each. Hill led the three with 34 tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Sean Cattouse started the last six games at safety on his way to being named Honorable-Mention All-Pac 10. He accumulated 37 tackles and an interception last season. Three other players who saw game action last year return but will be tested by the younger players for playing time.

Cameron Jordan started all 13 games at defensive end in 2009. He recorded 48 tackles, nine and a half tackles for loss and six sacks. Derrick Hill (18 tackles, 4.5 Tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 8 starts), Aaron Tipoti (21 tackles, 0.5 Tackles for loss, 4 starts) and Kendrick Payne (13 tackles, 4.0 Tackles for loss, one sack, 1 fumble recovery, 2 starts) combined for the remainder of the 2009 starts on the defensive line.

Recruiting – The Bears bring in 20 recruits in this year’s class, highlighted by 10 All-Americans. They bring in five wide receivers, highlighted by Keenan Allen. Allen, who is brought in as a WR/S, comes in after earning five-star status from ESPN, Scout and Rivals. Rivals had him as the No. 5 overall player in the entire class. He had a monster senior year, including 145 tackles, eight interceptions, 53 offensive touchdowns and 976 receiving yards. Quarterback Austin Hinder comes from Colorado and was named his state’s Gatorade Player of the Year. He threw for 2,205 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 889 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The team loaded up on linebackers in this class, bringing in five, four of which were four-star players and the other a five-star. One of the four-stars, Cecil Whiteside, was ranked as the fourth best linebacker by both rivals.com and scout.com. He accumulated 108 tackles and nine sacks as a senior. The five-star recruit, Chris Martin, also comes from Colorado and was in rivals’ and scouts’ Top 20 overall lists. He recorded 97 tackles, 11 sacks, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 2009.

Schedule – The Bears play seven of their 12 games at home this year, including the first two against UC Davis and Colorado. That’s followed by two deceivingly tough road games at Nevada and Arizona. They come home for a matchup against UCLA before traveling to USC. A home game against Arizona State comes before back-to-back trips to Oregon State and Washington State. The team then gets three straight home games to close out the season. The games against Oregon, Stanford and Washington might determine how well the Bears end up in their 2010 campaign.

Central Michigan – Central Michigan is coming off of the most successful season in school history, one that saw them win a school-record 12 wins, go undefeated in conference play, make their fourth consecutive bowl appearance, as well as finish ranked in the Top 25. This year will be quite different for the Chippewas, as they lose their coach and starting quarterback.

Offense – Outside of the loss of coach Butch Jones (who left for Cincinnati), the biggest departure and hardest hole to fill, will be that of quarterback Dan LeFevour. LeFevour leaves as one of the most successful quarterbacks in NCAA football history. He is the only player in NCAA history with over 12,000 passing yards and 2,500 rushing yards and second all-time in total offensive yards. His 149 total touchdowns are an NCAA Division 1 record.

Replacing LeFevour will be a tough task, especially for players who haven’t seen much playing time in the past. Ryan Radcliff returns as the only experienced quarterback, but he only attempted 21 passes last season. Two other quarterbacks are on the roster, including Radcliff, redshirt freshman A.J. Westendorp and junior Derek Rifenbury.

Unfortunately for the Chippewas, they also lose three of their top four rushers from last year. Those three combined for 23 of the team’s 29 rushing touchdowns. Carl Volny is the team’s leading returning rusher with 390 yards and three touchdowns. Paris Cotton also returns after rushing for 220 yards and a touchdown. Five other running backs will fight to see playing time.

The air attack will take a bigger hit than just losing LeFevour. The team also loses its top two receivers from last year. What’s good for the new quarterback, whoever he may be, is that the third-leading receiver returns. Kito Poblah returns returns for his senior year after catching 53 balls for 691 yards and four touchdowns. Other key returnees include Cody Wilson and David Blackburn. The team will also look for younger players to step up into bigger roles.

Defense – Unlike their offensive counterparts, the defense brings back a good chunk of their core. Five of last year’s top six tacklers return, including the top two.

Linebacker will be the strength of the defense again, as the top two returning tacklers, Nick Bellore and Matt Berning, both returning for their senior year at two linebacker spots. Bellore led the team in tackles last year with 132. His 13 tackles for loss were also a team-high, while his two interceptions tied for the team lead. He also had three sacks and two forced fumbles. His teammate, Berning, was right behind Bellore with 108 tackles and three sacks as well. He also had eight and a half tackles for loss and seven passes broken up, which was good for second on the team. The only other returning linebacker who saw extensive action is Mike Petrucci, who played in 10 games. Petrucci pitched in with 20 tackles.

The defensive backfield will also be a strong part of the defense as both Bobby Seay and Dannie Bolden return. The two finished as last year’s fourth and fifth leading tacklers. Seay led the two with 60 tackles and also had two passes broken up. Bolden had 51 tackles and two interceptions. He also had two passes broken up and a fumble recovery. Vince Agnew returns for his senior year after posting 35 tackles, five passes broken up, a fumble recovery and two blocked kicks.

The defensive line looks to have taken the biggest hit. After Sean Murnane, who had 59 tackles last year, no returning lineman accounted for over 29 tackles. Murnane also finished second on the team in sacks with three and a half sacks and also broke up five passes. John Williams, another returning lineman, saw action in 14 games, where he put up a stat line of 29 tackles, five and a half tackles for loss and two and a half sacks.

Recruiting – Central Michigan brings in a class of 20 recruits. Exactly half are on offense and the other half defense. While the class may only have one true headliner in quarterback Kyle Smith, this class provides the team with plenty of depth as they move forward. Smith comes in after being racking up a nice list of awards and accolades. His 2,757 yards and 50 touchdowns as a senior earned him a spot on EA Sports’ Third-Team All-American list, as well being named Mr. Football in Pennsylvania and winning the Gatorade Player of the Year award for his state. He leaves the state after becoming Pennsylvania’s all-time leader in passing yards (8,544), career touchdown passes (118) and single-season touchdown passes (50). That’s an impressive career, especially since the state of Pennsylvania has produced quarterbacks such as Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, George Blanda and Jim Kelly, to name a few.

Schedule – The team will be on the road for most of the year, with seven of their 12 games away from Mount Pleasant. That includes a seven week stretch that sees the Chippewas travel to Temple, Eastern Michigan and Northwestern in consecutive weeks before hosting Ball State and traveling to Virginia Tech. The team finishes with games at home against Miami, Bowling Green and Western Michigan, while traveling to Northern Illinois, Navy and Toledo.

Cincinnati – The Bearcats are coming off of the beat season in school history, one which saw them reach No. 4 in the rankings twice and win their second consecutive Big East title. The team brings back 16 starters so the experience should help new coach Butch Jones easily transition from Central Michigan. The team lost Head Coach Brian Kelly to Notre Dame and got Jones, the second consecutive CMU to coach at Cincinnati, after Jones compiled a 27-13 record, including a 22-3 conference record, two conference titles and three consecutive bowl game appearances.

Offense – Despite bringing back eight starters, the team loses two major playmakers in quarterback Tony Pike and Mardy Ginyard. Ginyard leaves after accounting for 2,690 all-purpose yards, including 1,281 kick return yards.

Despite losing Pike, the Bearcats will not be led by an inexperienced quarterback. Zach Collaros played in all 13 games last season, including four starts when Pike went down with an injury. In that time, Collaros threw for 1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns, while only throwing two interceptions. He also rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns. Both his backups, Chazz Anderson and Brendon Kay, saw minimal action in 2009.

Jones is happy to know that three of last years’ top five rushers return, including leading rusher Isaiah Pead. Pead led the team with 806 rushing yards last season and nine touchdowns. Collaros, who is more mobile than Pike was, rushed for 344 yards and four touchdowns himself.

The receiver unit brings back 61 percent of its receiving yards and 62 percent of its receiving touchdowns. The unit will be led by wide receiver Armon Binns and tight end Ben Guidugli, both of whom were named all-league selections last year. Binns caught 61 balls for 888 yards and 11 touchdowns, which tied Ginyard for the team lead. Junior DJ Woods also returns after being a big part of last year’s offense. Woods had 51 catches for 640 yards and four touchdowns. Guidugli comes back after coming up with 27 catches, 364 yards and three touchdowns.

Defense – Unlike their offensive teammates, the defense only returns six of 11 starters from last year’s squad. However, the team does see 20 players who saw extensive playing time return from a team that gave up 23 points per game.

The linebackers seem to be a strength of this year’s squad. Last year’s second-leading tackler, JK Schaffer, returns for his junior year. His sophomore year was quite a success as he was in on 100 tackles, five and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks, second on the team with three interceptions and three passes broken up. Walter Syewart also returns at another linebacker spot after racking up 59 tackles, eight and a half tackles for loss, four and a half sacks, an interception and a forced fumble.

The defensive backfield will also be a strong point as they return starters Drew Frey and Dominique Battle. Frey had 64 tackles, including three and a half for loss. He also added four passes broken up to his two interceptions. Battle had almost identical stats as he put up 60 tackles, four for loss, two interceptions and four passes broken up as well. He also had a forced fumble.

The defensive line brings back two players who saw action in all 13 games. Despite being a reserve, Dan Giordano had 42 tackles, seven for loss and two sacks. Derek Wolfe, who started all 13 games, had 41 tackles, eight for loss, five sacks and a fumble recovery and forced fumble each.

Recruiting – Normally, when a school goes through a coaching change, the recruiting that season will suffer as some recruits back out because they wanted to play for a certain coach or certain system. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Bearcats, luckily because the team will be running a similar type of offense. The team signed 22 student-athletes for the upcoming season, 12 of which are on the defensive side of the ball. They loaded up on defensive backs with five, including three from the talent-laden state of Florida. None may be more impressive that wide receiver recruit Dyjuan Lewis, who the team stole out of Indiana. The three-year starter at Pike High School, he earned a four-star ranking by both rivals.com and scout.com. He finished with 1,111 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns.

Schedule – With a year like the one the team had last year, it would be expected that the schedule become a little tougher and that’s exactly what happens. The ‘Cats play only two of their five non-conference games at home, as they open by traveling to Fresno State, hosting Indiana State, traveling to NC State and playing an Oklahoma team in Cincinnati, but at Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Browns. The non-con season ends with a home date against Miami (Ohio). Luckily for Cincinnati, four of their seven Big East games are at home, although what will probably be the toughest matchup, against West Virginia is in Morgantown on November 13th. Other than that, potential tough games against USF, Rutgers and Pitt are all at home

>College Football Preview: B cont’d

Posted on July 9, 2010 by chiwoj85

>Buffalo – Buffalo will have a new look on the sidelines this year, as Jeff Quinn takes over for Turner Gill, who is the new coach at Kansas. Quinn comes to Buffalo from Cincinnati where he was an assistant under Brian Kelly who is the new coach at Notre Dame. Quinn oversaw a no-huddle spread offense that was responsible for 7.28 yards per play — second in the nation to Nevada. The Bulls will be looking to go to their second bowl in three years after finishing 5-7 last season.

Offense – The offense will be under new direction, because the 2009 starter doesn’t return this year, leaving only Jerry Davis as the only quarterback who has seen collegiate action. Davis, a sophomore, saw action in five games last season, completing eight of 15 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Alex Dennison redshirted last year and will look to come in and challenge Davis for the starting role.

Fortunately for the Bulls, they return an experienced trio of running backs from last year. Ike Nduka broke out onto the scene in a big way. Nduka, then a junior, had not had any carries in his entire career before taking over for an injured James Starks and rushing for 598 yards and six touchdowns on 96 carries. Another senior, Brandon Thermilus, is coming off of a successful junior campaign as well, after rushing for 560 yards and four touchdowns.

The hardest replacements will come in the wide receiver corps, where they have to replace both starters, both of whom were All-MAC receivers. Terrell Jackson returns after a sophomore campaign where he caught 25 balls for 250 yards, but no touchdowns. Thermilus is the second leading receiver returning after he caught a mere nine balls for 99 yards. Marcus Rivers, Ed Young and Saron Hood, among other redshirt freshman, will be fighting for playing time as well.

Defense – The defense brings back eight starters from a team that gave up 342 yards per game and 23.8 points per game. They also forced 18 turnovers.

Just looking at the stats, it would be easy to say that the defensive backfield is the position of strength in this year’s defense and, in this case, that would be true. Five of last year’s seven top tacklers were defensive backs, and four return, including three starters. Davont Shannon, a three-time All-MAC First Team member, returns for his senior season after leading the team in tackles in 2009. He not only led the team in tackles with 97, but also had a team-high 8.5 tackles for loss as well as being a co-leader with two interceptions. The Bulls return both their cornerbacks in Dominic Cook and Josh Thomas. Last season, Cook had 55 tackles and a team-high 10 pass breakups, while Thomas had 45 tackles, nine pass breakups and a forced fumble and fumble recovery each.

Another strong part of the defense will be their linebacker corps, where they return their entire corps. Looking to lead the squad will be Justin Winters who finished third on the squad with 79 tackles. Seven of those tackles were for loss. He also had four and a half sacks, which ranked second on the squad. Scott Pettigrew also returns after finishing fourth on the team in tackles. He enters his junior season after being in on 55 stops, one and a half sacks, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles last year. Raphael Akobundu started the last two games of his junior season and looks to steal the third starting spot for good this year. He finished with 37 tackles last year.

The defensive line brings back two starters, but brings back tons of experience. Anel Montanez returns at the tackle position after starting all 26 games the past two seasons. The senior had 35 tackles, including four for loss last season. End Steven Means returns after turning in a successful freshman campaign where he led the team with five sacks and six and a half of his 25 tackles were for loss.

Recruiting – Th 2010 recruiting class is made of 22 student-athletes, 12 of whom are slated to play on the offensive side of the ball. Aaron Walters comes up to Buffalo from South Carolina after posting some staggering numbers as a high school senior. The wide receiver caught 71 balls for 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns in his last year. Kendall Roberson comes up from the Peach State as a linebacker. His senior season saw him put up a stat line of 66 tackles, seven sacks, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and an interception.

Schedule – The Bulls start the season against Rhode Island before facing three consecutive tough non-conference opponents in Baylor, UCF and UCONN. The UCONN games marks a stretch in the middle of the season that sees Buffalo play three road games in a row, with a bye week sandwiched in between. After an October 16th games against NIU, however, the Bulls then have four of their next six at home, including a home date with Temple, who figures to be one of the favorites in the MAC. Three of the final four games will also be broadcast on ESPNU.

BYU – The Cougars are coming off of an 11-2 season that saw the team defeat three ranked team, including a 44-20 shellacking of Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. The team will need to have many younger players stand out if they want to return to last year’s form, as many of the important players from last year’s squad have departed.

Offense – The Cougars are going to have to replace Max Hall, who finished last season with some ridiculous stats. Hall, who is now in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals, completed 67 percent of his passes for over 3,500 yards and 33 touchdowns. Riley Nelson returns as the only quarterback who has seen any college football action, so the team will look to its younger freshmen to put up a fight for the wide-open starting position.

As if losing your stud quarterback wasn’t enough, BYU also loses it’s starting running back from last year. Last year’s starter, Harvey Unga, rushed for 1,087 of the Cougars’ 1,894 rushing yards and 11 of 26 touchdowns last season. However, the team does bring back the next four top rushers. JJ Di Luigi returns after rushing for 248 yards and three touchdowns, while Manase Tonga leads the returnees with four touchdowns.

No matter who the quarterback is, he will have the luxury of having six of the top eight receivers from last year return. McKay Jacobson leads the team in returning yards with 556 and is tied with three others with four touchdowns last season. Jacobson averaged over 24 yards per catch, while all other receivers except one averaged double digit yards per catch.

Defense – As impressive as the offense was, the defense was equally so. The defense gave up 21.5 points per game and only allowed 329 yards per game, nearly 100 yards less than what their offense averaged.

Like their offense, the defense loses many of the starters from last year. Only four of the top 10 tacklers return. Luckily for the defensive secondary, two of the four return after finishing first and fourth on the team respectfully. Andrew Rich returns for his senior season after leading the team with 85 tackles and tying for the team lead in interceptions with four. Brandon Bradley, the fourth highest tackler, also returns in the secondary. He added 64 tackles, four passes broken up and two forced fumbles. Brian Logan is coming off of an impressive season in which he started 12 games. He finished the season with 44 tackles and three interceptions as well as an astounding 14 passes broken up.

Two returning linebackers played in double digit games last season. Jordan Pendelton played in 13 games and started 10 during the 2009 season. He finished the year with 52 tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks. He also had three passes broken up. His tackles for loss and sack totals lead all returnees. Brandon Ogletree also returns after playing in 10 games in 2009. He will fight for a starting spot after being in on 19 tackles.

Recruiting – The Cougars bring in 26 players in the 2010 recruiting class that has been ranked in the top 25 of at least one ranking list. Jake Heaps comes in as the No. 1 quarterback in the nation and will look to fight for the starting nod. As a senior, Heaps threw for 3,191 yards and 45 touchdowns on his way to a state title win. But Heaps isn’t the only highly-rated recruit in this year’s class. Eight signees are ranked in the top 25 at their positions. Alani Fua comes in as the No. 25 weakside defensive end after coming up with 71 tackles, nine sacks, two fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. Zac Stout comes in as the No. 8 middle linebacker and put up incredible stats in his senior season. He totaled 112 tackles, including 81 solo stops.

Schedule – The schedule doesn’t look as daunting as it did last year, as Washington replaces Oklahoma, but that can be deceiving. The Huskies will be getting stud quarterback Jake Locker back after he suffered an injury last year. Luckily for BYU that game is at home. Unfortunately for the team, however, three of their next four games are on the road, including a game at Florida State. The Cougars’ two toughest MWC games against TCU and Utah are both on the road, including a season-ending game in Salt Lake City.

>College Football Preview: B cont’d

Posted on July 6, 2010 by chiwoj85

>Boston College – The Eagles are coming off an 8-5 season under first-year coach Frank Spaziani. The team lost an Emerald Bowl battle with USC 24-13.

Offense – The offense returns eight starters from a team that averaged nearly 25 points. The team scored on 89 percent of its red-zone attempts, including 27 touchdowns.

For the first time since Matt Ryan was quarterback, the Eagles have their starting quarterback returning for the next season. Dave Shinskie comes off a freshman season in which he threw for 2,049 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Luckily for the Eagles, two of the top three rushing leaders from last year , including top rusher Montel Harris. Harris led the team with 1,457 yards and 14 touchdowns. He averaged 112 yards per game and nearly five yards per carry.

Back to help Shinskie out are his second and third favorite receivers from last year. Second leading receiver Colin Larmond Jr. returns after catching 29 balls for 596 yards and five touchdowns. His 29 catches for 596 yards comes out to a 20.6 yards per catch average. The next highest receiver is Chris Pantale, who had 25 catches for 223 yards. The team is bringing in three wide receivers in their recruiting class, some of whom may be looked upon to help right away.

Defense – The Eagle defense returns six starters from last year’s squad which gave up only 19.8 points per game. It returns seven of the top 10 tacklers from last year’s squad.

The linebacker corps comes back as possibly the strongest unit on the team. Luke Kuechly comes back for his sophomore year after putting up monster stats in his first year of college football. He was named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year after posting a stat line of 158 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and one interception, sack and fumble recovery each. A second starter, Mike Morrissey also returns after being in on 37 tackles last season.

Three of last year’s top six tacklers are defensive backs and each returns for another season with the Eagles. Donnie Fletcher returns at one cornerback spot after being in on 51 tackles and one interception. DeLeon Glause will be looking to lock up the other corner position after he had 49 tackles last year. Free safety Wes Davis returns after leading the team in interceptions with three and tackling 46 opponents.

The defensive line returns two starters from last season. Alex Albright and Brad Newman both saw time starting at the left end spot and the thought is that Newman will either slide over to the tackle position or take over the right end spot. Newman led all defensive line players in tackles with 45. Tackle Damik Scafe added 35 tackles, six and a half tackles for loss and two sacks, wile Albright had 32 tackles and eight and a half tackles for loss.

Recruiting – The Eagles bring in two Gatorade Players of the Year, as well as the No.21 pro-style quarterback. CJ Jones was named Delaware’s Gatorade Player of the Year after starring as both a QB and CB. He was more known for his feet than his arm after rushing for more than 1,000 yards and averaging 13.7 yards per carry. Kevin Pierre-Louis comes to Boston College as Connecticut’s reigning Gatorade Player of the Year. He had 88 tackles and averaged 17.3 tackles on his way to being rated the tenth-best outside linebacker by rivals.com. Chase Rettig comes to the Eagles after being ranked the No.21 pro-style QB by rivals.com. He threw for 1,740 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior.

Schedule – The Eagles start with two winnable games, Weber State and Kent State, both at home. Their next two games, also at home, will be a little more challenging as they welcome Virginia Tech and Notre Dame to Chestnut Hill. The Irish will be re-tooling after firing Charlie Weis. After the four non-con games, they start their road conference schedule with two ACC away games against N.C. State and Florida State, both of which are winnable. FSU is bringing in a new coach, Jimbo Fisher, who although has been at the school for what seems forever, is in his first season as a head coach. After hosting their next two opponents, Maryland and Clemson, which could be a tough match up, the Eagles go on the road for three of their final four games of the year. They finish at Wake Forest, Duke and Syracuse on the road, with a home game with Virginia in between the Duke and Syracuse games.

Bowling Green -Bowling Green is coming off of what has to be one of the craziest endings to a bowl game seen in a long time. The Falcons scored a touchdown with 32 seconds remaining to take a 42-35 lead and thought they had won the game. The Idaho Vandals, however, had other thoughts as they went 66 yards in three plays before converting a two-point conversion to take the 43-42 Humanitarian Bowl victory.

Offense – This year’s offense will look very very different from last year’s as only four offensive starters return. Unfortunately, wide receiver Freddie Barnes, who set an NCAA record with 155 catches in a season, graduated and has gone on to the NFL. They’ll also have to replace the starting quarterback. Aaron Pankratz returns as the only quarterback who has seen any college football action and has only played in one game in his career, throwing for 52 yards on five completions.

One bright spot for the offense is that it returns starting running back Willie Geter who had 705 yards and none touchdowns last year, both career highs. He had 92 yards and two TD’s in the bowl loss. John Pettigrew, Erique Geiger and Mark Mays return to back Geter up. Of the three only Pettigrew has collegiate experience after he rushed for 24 yards in 11 games as a freshman last season.

Losing a record-setting player can be an extremely tough task to overcome, but when that player had 109 more catches and 17 more touchdowns than the leading returning receiver, it will be harder than most people expect. Adrian Hodges returns after catching 46 passes for 417 yards and two touchdowns. In fact, other than Barnes who had 19 touchdowns, no other receiver had more than two. Ray Hutson, Justus Jones and Tyrone Pronty all return after seeing significant time, while the Falcons will look to four redshirt freshman to provide depth.

Defense – The defense also has four starters returning, but that may be a blessing in disguise for the young squad, as last year it could rely on the offense to keep them in a shootout, but with a young offense with many new starters, much is unknown.

The strength of the defense will be the defensive line, where the Falcons return three starters. The line will rely heavily on two seniors, Angelo Magnone and Darius Smith, while two sophomores and juniors return as well. Magnone collected 43 tackles, four tackles for loss and two and a half sacks, while Smith added 36 tackles.

The linebacker corps will be all new, as all three starters graduated from last year’s squad. Eugene Fells is the top returning tackler amongst the linebackers, after totaling 44 tackles and three and a half sacks. Dwayne Woods also returns after coming up with 24 tackles.

The defensive backfield will also be replacing three starters and Adrien Spencer is the lone returning starter. Spencer made 42 stops and had one interception last season. Coming back to fight for a chance to start is Keith Morgan who led the DB returnees with 68 tackles and five passes broken up last year. He also had an interception.

Recruiting – The Falcons hit it big with replacements at defensive back and wide receiver in this year’s 25-man class. Devon McKoy comes to Bowling Green as a safety from in-state Reynoldsburg High and had quite an impressive senior season. His 2009 season consisted of 75 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass breakups. Ryland Ward, another safety recruit, had seven interceptions in 2009. Marcus Beaurem comes to the Falcons from Michigan. Beaurem comes in after catching 74 balls for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior.

Schedule – Bowling Green starts the season with five of their first seven games on the road, including the first two at Troy and Tulsa. Marshall comes to Perry Stadium before the Falcons go to Michigan to play their biggest non-conference game of the year, against the Wolverines. After a home game against Buffalo and road games at Ohio and Temple, the Falcons finish with three of their last five at home. Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan come to Bowling Green, while the team travels to Central Michigan and Toledo.

>Football Preview: B

Posted on July 2, 2010 by chiwoj85

>Ball State – A year after winning the MAC West Division, the Cardinals struggled mightily, stumbling to a 2-10 record in Stan Parrish’s first year at the helm. But luckily for the Cardinals, they bring back 17 starters, including 10 on offense.

Offense – As stated above, 10 starters return including 2nd-Team All-MAC running back MiQuale Lewis. Lewis led the team with 871 yards rushing and five touchdowns last year. Outside of Lewis, Ball State also returns their other top three rushers, Cory Sykes, Eric Williams and Kelly Page. Sykes finished second on the team with 559 yards and three touchdowns, while Williams had 362 and four.

Kelly Page started the first game of his college career in last season’s season opener and the now-redshirt sophomore didn’t let go of it until he injured his thumb in the seventh game of the year against Bowling Green. In seven games, all starts, he completed just over half of his passes, throwing for 1,019 yards and seven touchdowns. Unlike last season where Page’s quarterback was a senior, if something happens to Page, there are no experienced quarterbacks on the roster. His two backups are redshirt freshmen and the Cardinals also bring in a true freshman.

Luckily for Page, he will have all of his top receivers from last year at his disposal. The Cardinals bring back the team’s top seven receivers from last season. Briggs Orsbon comes back after catching 51 passes for 461 yards and one touchdown. Despite only starting four games last year, Torieal Gibson comes back as the second leading receiver, piling up 337 yards, while leading the team in receiving touchdowns with three.

Defense – The defense brings back seven players who started a minimum of six games last year. They will need the experience because they gave up almost 30 point per game last year.

The linebacker position is the strongest by far for this year’s Ball State squad. The top two tacklers, Davyd Jones and Travis Freeman, from last year are both linebackers and return for another season of wrecking havoc on opponents. Jones piled up 100 tackles, eight tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in the 12 games he started. Freeman finished second in tackles with 93 stops and had one interception as well.

Outside of linebacker, the defensive secondary is the best unit as they return three of four starters. Charlie Todd, last year’s fourth-leading tackler, returns for his senior season at the right cornerback position. He came up with 80 stops, one interception, three passes broken up and a forced fumble. Sean Baker returns at one of the safety spots, where he started 11 games last season. Baker came up with 61 tackles, three and a half tackles for loss and led the team with four interceptions. Despite Koreen Burch having 43 tackles and nine passes broken up, he comes into fall camp as a backup to Jason Pinkston for the right to line up opposite of Todd.

The defensive line brings back two starters, both of whom have are entering their final seasons. Defensive end Robert Eddins returns for his fifth year. The 6’3 242 lb-er from Detroit was sixth on the team with 55 tackles, His 13.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks were both team highs. Rene Perry also returns at nose guard after starting 11 games and coming up with 26 stops.

Recruiting – The Cardinals focused on defense in this year’s class, as 13 of the 21 are slotted for some sort of defensive position, including seven defensive backs. Brian Jones enters Ball State from Morgan Park, a Chicago Public School, where he managed 75 tackles, six sacks and five interceptions as a senior. Aaron Morris comes in from Ohio powerhouse Glenville, where he put up a stat line that read 91 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, four sacks and three interceptions and forced fumbles each as a senior.

Schedule – The Cardinals start the season with two very winnable games against SE Missouri State as well as Liberty. The two games should be a warmup for the next two, which are road games at Big Ten schools Purdue and Iowa. Right after, Ball State takes care of the Michigan schools, when they travel to Central Michigan before hosting Western and Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals end the season with three of their last five games on the road, including road games at Toledo, Kent State and Buffalo, while hosting Akron and Northern Illinois in the last game of the year.

Baylor – The Bears are coming off of two consecutive 4-8 seasons and will look to get to .500 or above in Coach Art Briles’s third season at the helm. Despite their record, the team was within 14 points in three of their losses, including two games where they lost by 10 points or fewer.

Offense – The offense is going to depend on the return of Robert Griffin III as he comes back from a torn ACL suffered in the third game of the year. The dual-threat star will look to get back to his Freshman All-American form he displayed in 2008 as a true freshman. Even in three games last year, he completed 65 percent of his passes for 481 yards and four touchdowns, while rushing for 77 yards and two more touchdowns. His backup, Nick Florence, comes back after seeing extensive experience in his true freshman season last year. After the top two quarterbacks got injured, Florence stepped in and ended up throwing for nearly 1,800 yards and six touchdowns in nine games.

Jay Finley returns for his senior year after struggling with an ankle surgery which limited him to nine 2009 games. Despite only playing in nine games, he still managed to lead the team in rushing yards with 370. Last year’s rushing touchdowns leader, Terrance Ganaway, also returns. Ganaway rushed for five touchdowns and finished third in rushing yards with 200.

The receivers will be bolstered by the return of last year’s leading receiver, Kendall Wright. Wright led all players in receiving yards (740) and receiving touchdowns (four). The rest of the receiver corps will be made up of younger players who will need to step up and replace last year’s second and third leading receivers. Lanear Sampson is coming off of a season where he was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman team. He ended the 2009 season with 29 catches for 297 yards and two touchdowns.

Defense – Only five starters return from last years’ defensive unit. Among the seven players not returning is All-American linebacker Joe Pawelek, who led the team in tackles with 109.

Upperclassmen “Cousin Phil” Taylor and Zac Scotton return to lead the defensive line. Despite suffering from turf toe, Taylor managed to chip in with 25 stops and two blocked kicks. Tracy Robinson returns at tackle after leading the team with three sacks while also having five tackles for loss.

Linebacker Antonio Johnson returns as the leading tackler after piling up 77 stops, two sacks, a 56-yard interception return and two fumble recoveries. Elliot Coffey returns as the leading candidate to take over at the other outside linebacker spot after finishing the season with 35 stops. Chris Francis and Chris McAllister will have to try to fill the big shoes left by Pawelek. Francis is coming into his senior year after tackling 45 opponents last year. McAllister is a big redshirt freshman, listed at 6-2, 240.

Tim Atchinson will be moving back to his natural safety spot after starting all 12 games last year at cornerback. Atchinson added 42 tackles and an interception last year. Chance Casey returns as a starter who started at cornerback last year. He led the team in interceptions with two last year and added 36 tackles. Senior Byron Landor returns after starting three games at one safety spot last year. Landor led the returning secondary players with 46 tackles last season.

Recruiting – To say the defensive backfield is the strength of this recruiting class would be an understatement. The six DB’s make up a position that was ranked the fifth best DB class by rivals.com. Ahmad Dixon and Tyler Stephenson are the studs of the DB class. Dixon was rated the tenth-best safety in the nation by both rivals.com and scout.com. He registered over 300 tackles in his high school career. Stephenson doesn’t come in with as much fanfare but was ranked the No.18 corner by rivals.com and No. 39 by scout.com. He registered 63 tackles and five interceptions as a senior.

Schedule – The Bears have a possibility to get off to a strong start, as three of their first four games are against Sam Houston State, Buffalo and Rice. In between the Buffalo and Rice games is a game against in-state TCU, who is projected to be a Top 10 team in the nation. Baylor’s first four games in conference are winnable as well. They start out at home against Kansas, who is bringing in a new coach and having to replace numerous offensive record-breakers. Next is a game against Texas Tech at the Cotton Bowl. The Red Raiders are also bringing in a new coach in Tommy Tuberville. Next is a road game at Colorado followed by Kansas State. The Bears will be tested in their last four games as they travel to Texas and Oklahoma State before hosting Texas A&M and Oklahoma to close the season.

Boise State – Boise State is one of the best teams in the nation and it is to no one’s surprise that many college previews have them in the top five, some even as high as number two in the country. What some people do not realize is the amount of starters the Broncos have coming bac. Both the defense and offense have 10 starters returning. Ten. Twenty total starters returning, 19 of which are upperclassmen.

Offense – As always, a football team goes as their quarterback goes. When you bring back an All-American quarterback, the likelihood is that your squad is in good hands. That is what is happening this year in Boise, as Kellen Moore returns for his junior season. Moore put up stats most players can only dream of after completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,536 yards and 39 touchdowns, while only throwing three interceptions through 14 games.

Despite the gaudy passing statistics, the Broncos rushed for over 2,600 yards as a team, led by Jeremy Avery. Avery comes back for his senior year after rushing for 1,151 yards and six touchdowns. His backup, Doug Martin also returns after an impressive sophomore campaign. Although he was a backup, he still managed to rush for 765 yards in all 14 games. His 15 rushing touchdowns led the team. The Broncos will look for big things from junior DJ Harper who rushed for 284 yards and three touchdowns in three games.

Moore will be lucky as he returns nine of last year’s top 10 receivers. Titus Young returns after catching 79 passes for 1,041 yards and 10 touchdowns. Just as in rushing, the second-leading player led the team in touchdowns. Austin Pettis caught 14 of his 63 balls for touchdowns, all on his way to an 855-receiving yards campaign. Boise State had seven players record over 100 yards receiving and each one returns for the 2010-2011 season.

Defense – If you thought the offense returns a lot, wait until you see what the defense brings back. 26 of the team’s top 27 tacklers are back for a team that finished 14th nationally in total defense. Their stingy defense helped them outscore their opponents by 25 points (42.2-17.1). The Broncos forced 35 total turnovers, including 18 fumbles, 11 of which were lost and 24 interceptions.

The secondary is pretty much all intact, as it only loses cornerback Kyle Wilson. Safety Jeron Johnson returns after leading the team in tackles last season, totaling 91 and a team-leading six passes broken up and four interceptions. Winston Venable finished third on the team in tackles with 63, including eight tackles for loss. He also pulled down two interceptions, one of which he brought back for a touchdown. Brandyn Thompson led the team in interceptions with six, one of which was a touchdown. Thompson added 45 tackles and three passes broken up.

The linebacker position comes back fully intact and has the luxury of having multiple options at the two starting positions in the Broncos 4-2-5 defense. JC Percy returns for his sophomore year, an impressive freshman year that saw him come up with 64 stops, including four and a half tackles for loss. Percy added half a sack and one forced fumble and fumble recovery each. Aaron Tevis also returns after finishing fourth on the team in tackles with 54.

The defensive line brings back some star power as all of the returnees bring back impressive stats. Defensive tackles Billy Winn returns for his junior season after having a season with 44 tackles and six sacks. His counterpart, senior end Ryan Winterswyk, added 41 tackles, including 17 tackles for loss and none sacks, both team highs.

Recruiting – Because of most of the players returning from last year’s squad, the recruiting class of 10 should come as no surprise. The team signed two defensive ends, two wide receievsr, two defensive backs, two tight ends, one quarterback and one linebacker. The team brings in two stars, QB Grant Hedrick and S Jeremy Ioane. Hedrick comes to Boise after being named the Oregon High School State Player of the Year as a senior. In his final season he threw for over 2,500 yards, 34 touchdowns, and only one interception. He also rushed for over 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns. Ioane comes after being named the ninth best prospect in Hawaii. He played safety, running back, quarterback, wide receiver and linebacker during his high school career. Rivals.com rated him as the 74th best safety in the nation.

Schedule – As in previous years, the Broncos load up on teams that will prepare them for conference and postseason play. They open the season against perennial power Virginia Tech at a neutral site in Landover, Maryland. The opening weekend game will be ESPN’s feature game on Labor Day. It will also be one of at least six games that will be broadcast on the ESPN network. After a week off, the team travels to Wyoming to face a Cowboy team coming off of a bowl season. Next comes a home game against Oregon State, a year after a controversial end to the game. After last season’s BSU win, Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount punched a Bronco player and said something that was not revealed. He was suspended for the season for that incident but was later reinstated. The team finishes the regular season with five more home games and four on the road. The Broncos will play four games during the week instead of Saturdays, including a three week stretch that will see them play three Fridays in a row.

>College Preview: A cont’d.

Posted on June 29, 2010 by chiwoj85

>Arizona State – The Sun Devils will be looking to get back to contending for bowl games after struggling to a 4-8 record last season. Despite the record, the team did come close in many of their games, losing five of their eight games by a combined 23 points, including a two-point loss to Cal and a three-point loss to Georgia. Needless to say, the talent is there for a quick turnaround.

Offense – If the offense is going to be successful, it is going to be under the guidance of a new quarterback. The Sun Devils will turn to either Brock Osweiler or Michigan transfer Steven Threet, who have combined for one start at Arizona State. After spring practice they go for a fall practice battle to earn the starting nod. Osweiler passed for 249 yards and two touchdowns in the six games he appeared in. Threet comes to ASU after starting eight games for Michigan in 2008 where he completed 102-of-200 passes for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns, as well as rushing for 201 yards and two touchdowns.

Second-leading rusher Cameron Marshall returns for his sophomore season after rushing for 280 yards and two touchdowns. Outside of Marshall, the stable of running backs will be inexperienced. The Sun Devils will have to look to one of five newcomers to help Marshall with the workload.

ASU will go to more of a spread-type of offense this year, which will need receivers to step up in the short, mid-range and long passing routes. Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, the wide receivers will be much like the rest of their offense: inexperienced. The team loses its top four receivers from last year. Senior Kerry Taylor brings the most experience of any receiver, having started 14 games in his career, grabbing 58 balls for 734 yards in that time. He returns after catching 23 passes for 276 yards. Gerrell Robinson is the leading returning pass catcher from last year, having caught 26 passes for 261 yards. The WR’s will also look to numerous newcomers to help them out.

Defense – ASU’s defense lead the Pac-10 in virtually every defensive category last year and was in the top 30 nationally for many categories. They were 13th in total defense (297.58 ypg), 19th in rushing defense (108.6 ypg) and 26th in scoring defense (21.1 ppg), amongst other categories. Twelve players that started at least one game last season return.

It would be fair to say that the strong part of the defense would have to be the defensive line, where the Sun Devils lose only one player from its three-deep roster and 14 of 16 linemen return. Lawrence Guy led the team with 4.5 sacks and added 37 tackles and one fumble recovery. James Brooks looks to be the strong-side defensive end, a year after coming up with 3.5 sacks, 17 tackles, seven tackles for loss and one interception.

Despite losing two All-Pac 10 linebackers, ASU welcomes back Pac-10 Defensive Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-American Vontaze Burfict. Burfict had quite the debut as he ranked second in tackles (leading returnee) with 69, had seven tackles for loss, and two sacks, fumble recoveries and forced fumbles each. Brandon Magee looks to take over an outside linebacker spot as he comes off of a campaign that saw him put up 34 tackles, seven tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception, all as a reserve. Shelly Lyons comes into the season atop the strong side linebacker depth chart after posting 17 tackles last year.

The cornerback position is full of experienced players. They may not have the gaudy stats some others have, but their steady play has been a good asset for the younger players. Omar Bolden and Deveron Carr come back after starting at least three games each last year. Carr had 10 tackles and three passes broken up before he got injured towards the end of the year. Clint Floyd and Keelan Johnson are poised to take over the safety spots. The depth behind the two is full of youngsters who will be looking to prove their worth.

Recruiting – The Sun Devils signed 26 players in this year’s signing class, including 15 offensive players, nine defensive players and two all-purpose athletes. One of those athletes, Ramon Abreu, comes in after putting up some crazy numbers as a senior. His stats included 141 tackles, six pass deflections, four interceptions, three sacks, 898 rushing yards, 16 touchdowns, 500 receiving yards and two touchdown catches. George Bell comes as a junior college transfer after picking up a four-star rating and 805 receiving yards and five touchdowns last year. Deantre Lewis comes to ASU as a four-star running back prospect who is coming off of a senior season where he rushed for 2,383 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Schedule – Arizona State starts off the season at home with two easy games against Portland State and Northern Arizona. They get their first test when they travel to Wisconsin on Sept. 18 for a game with the Badgers. After starting the conference season with a home game against Oregon, the Sun Devils travel to OSU, Washington and Cal in consecutive weeks. They next get four consecutive home games against WSU, USC, Stanford and USC before ending the season with rival Arizona.

Arkansas – The Razorbacks return 18 starters from an 8-5 team that defeated East Carolina 20-17 in the Liberty Bowl last season. They return nine starters from offense, including three wide receivers and quarterback Ryan Mallett. The defense returns seven players including two linebackers, two defensive linemen and three defensive backs.

Offense – Ryan Mallett returns after putting up numbers most players would love to have. He threw for 3,624 yards and 30 touchdowns, while throwing only seven interceptions. He suffered a knee injury in February but should be ready for fall practice. His backup is Tyler Wilson, who appeared in five games, throwing for 218 yards.

Four of last year’s top five rushers return this year. Broderick Green returns as the leading rusher after starting three games and rushing for 442 yards and 11 touchdowns. The team saw freshmen Ronnie Wingo Jr. and Knile Davis contribute right away. Wingo rushed for 319 yards and three touchdowns while Davis added 163 yards and four touchdowns.

Each of the top five receivers returns for Mallett’s disposal. Greg Childs had 894 yards receiving and seven touchdowns despite only catching 48 passes. Jarius Wright added 681 yards and five touchdowns while Joe Adams caught seven touchdowns and had 568 yards receiving.

Defense – The defense returns five of its top seven tacklers, including Jerry Franklin who ahs led the team in tackles the last two seasons, including 97 last season.

Jake Bequette and Zach Stadther return after starting on the defensive line last season. Bequette led the team in sacks with 5.5 sacks, adding 39 tackles and two fumble recoveries and forced fumbles each. Stadther returns after posting 42 tackles. Tenarius Wright returns at one defensive end spot after posting 34 tackles, seven tackles for loss, a sack and a half and three forced fumbles.

To say the linebacker returnees would be the strength of the defense would be an understatement. Along with Franklin, the team returns Jerico Nelson who is second-leading returning tackler after having 74 tackles, one interception, two and a half sacks and one forced fumble and fumble recovery each. In addition to his 97 tackles, Franklin also had three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

The team returns three starters in the defensive backfield. Cornerback Ramon Broadway returns after posting 55 tackles. Rudell Crim had 43 tackles, two tackles for loss and four pass break-ups. Elton Ford leads the secondary returnees with 65 tackles, one tackle for loss, two pass break-ups and one fumble recovery.

Recruiting – The Hogs bring in a class of 25 talented players. Eric Bennett comes in as an athlete after playing quarterback, running back, receiver and cornerback. In seven games as a senior he threw for 873 yards and nine touchdowns while rushing for 581 yards and five touchdowns. Safety Daunte Carr had 104 tackles, three interceptions and two forced fumbles as a senior. Braylon Mitchell comes in as a RB/LB after rushing for 1,691 yards and 26 touchdowns, as well as collecting 91 tackles, two sacks, three forced fumbles and one recovered fumble. Defensive end Chris Smith accounted for 98 tackles, 16.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.

Schedule – The Hogs start off with two winnable games against Tennessee Tech and Louisiana-Monroe before getting into a horrid five game stretch which could end up determining their season. In five consecutive games, Arkansas travels to Georgia, hosts Alabama, travels to Texas A&M and Auburn, before hosting Ole Miss.

Arkansas State – Despite a disappointing 4-8 season, the Red Wolves will be looking to build on a season-ending two-game winning streak as they come into the 2010-2011 season.

Offense – If Arkansas State is to improve on its 22.6 ppg last season, it will have to happen under some new leadership. Ryan Aplin returns at quarterback after completing 65 percent of his passes for 889 yards and three touchdowns. However, he will have to cut down on his interceptions as he threw a total of six.

Aplin also returns as the Red Wolves’ leading rusher after rushing for 253 yards and four touchdowns. Derek Lawson also returns, a year after running for 244 yards.

Unless some freshmen and newcomers step up right away, ASU will be hard-pressed to duplicate last year’s 2,323 yards. The team loses its top five receivers from last year’s squad, as redshirt sophomore Taylor Stockemer returns w/ a team leading 16 catches and 347 yards. The good thing is that altho they might not be as experienced as they would like, there is plenty of depth, youth and athleticism to provide for some excitement.

Defense – Although the team gave up over 23 points per game, the defense could turn their fortunes around, as they bring back half of their top ten tackles last year, including the top four. The secondary and linebackers will be this season’s strongest positions.

Demario Davis returns after putting up some impressive numbers during the 2009 season. Davis led the team with 80 tackles, eight tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and adding three sacks and an interception as well. But Davis isn’t alone. Javon McKinnon returns for his senior season at another LB spot. McKinnon added 53 tackles last season, finishing fourth on the team.

The secondary will be just as good and after giving up over 218 yards per game, they will have to be. M.D. Jennings returns as the second-leading tackler with 64. He also one interception and three fumble recoveries. Third-leading tackler Kelcie McCray returns after having 58 tackles and four and a half tackles for loss. He also led the team with four interceptions and three fumble recoveries.

Recruiting – The Red Wolves bring in 26 players to comprise this year’s recruiting class. Of the 26, 11 are of the offensive side of the ball and 13 on the defensive. The team brings in four wide receivers, a position of need, as well as two running backs and two quarterbacks. Five players are expected to play either cornerback or safety. Two of the top recruits are JC WR Dwayne Frampton and freshman running back Frankie Jackson. Frampton led his team with 77 catches, 1,230 yards and seven touchdowns in his last year of junior college ball. To say Jackson had a phenomenal senior season would be quite an understatement. He rushed for 2,545 yards and 34 touchdowns, on his way to three-star status by rivals.com.

Schedule – The Red Wolves start off w/ a road game at Auburn before jumping right into conference play. The home schedule is highlighted by visits from Louisville, Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana-Monroe and Middle Tennessee State. Road games, besides Auburn, are at Indiana, North Texas, Louisiana-Lafayette, Florida International, Navy and Troy.

Army – The Black Knights were one point away from finishing 6-6 and qualifying for a bowl in Rich Ellerson’s first year. Essentially a 17-16 loss to Tulane at the beginning of October was the difference between a 5-7 season and a 6-6 year. Luckily for Army, they return eight starters on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

Offense – Ellerson brought the triple option offense with him when he arrived last year and the Black Knights caught on and ran with it (pun intended). The team brings back their top six rushers from last year.

Quarterback Trent Steelman returns for the Black Knights after having quite the collegiate debut in 2009. Not only did he start all 12 games he led the team in passing AND rushing. Steelman rushed for 706 yards and five touchdowns. In the triple option he was not needed to pass much but he still threw for 637 yards and three touchdowns.

Army employs two slotbacks in their offense and luckily for them, they have both starters returning. Patrick Mealy finished second on the team in rushing with 673 yards and three touchdowns. Mealy led the team with 6.1 yards per carry. Jameson Carter returns for his senior year after rushing for 238 yards and two touchdowns.

The Black Knights lose their top receiver, Ali Villanueva, from last year whose 522 yards receiving were over three times as many as the second receiver (162). Villanueva also had all five of the receiving touchdowns.

Defense – The defense also returns eight starters including their top six tacklers and eight of the top 10. Army gave up 304.67 yards per game last year, which was good enough for 16th in the nation and gave up fewer than 22 points per game, which ranked 35th.

Two important pieces of the defensive line return, including record-setting end Josh McNary. McNary returns after finishing fifth on the team with 65 tackles. His 22.5 tackles for loss led the team and 12 sacks is an Army record. He also added one fumble recovery and two forced fumbles. The other important piece is Mike Gann. Gann returns after coming up with 34 tackles and seven tackles for loss.

The Black Knights return their entire linebacker corps. The most important piece is “whip” linebacker Andrew Rodriguez who led the team in tackles with 85 and added two interceptions, fumble recoveries and forced fumbles each. The second leading tackler, middle linebacker Stephen Anderson, also returns after coming up with 83 tackles, nine tackles for loss and two and a half sacks all in nine games. The third linebacker Steve Erzinger also returns after finishing tied for third in tackles with 71. Erzinger added seven and a half tackles for loss. Anderson’s season-ending surgery caused him to miss spring practice, therefore causing last year’s starting fullback and third-leading rusher Kingsley Ehie to move to middle linebacker.

Three starting defensive backs return from a squad that was third-best in the country in pass defense after allowing only 152.83 yards per game. Free safety Donovan Travis tied with Erzinger with 71 tackles and also led the team in interceptions with four, one of which was brought back for a touchdown. Starting strong safety Donnie Dixon also returns after tackling 29 opponents. Antuan Aaron returns at one cornerback spot after finishing with 52 tackles and an interception.

Schedule – Being an independent allows Army to have their pick of who they would like to play and this years’ schedule is mixed with big-time programs and some “mid-major” ones as well. The Black Knights welcome Hawaii, North Texas, Temple, VMI and Air Force to Michie Stadium while traveling to Eastern Michigan, Duke, Tulane, Rutgers and Kent State. They will also play in two neutral site games, against Navy in Philadelphia and Notre Dame in the first-ever college football game at the new Yankee Stadium. The team went 3-6 last season against teams on this year’s schedule.

>College Football Previews: A

Posted on June 27, 2010 by chiwoj85

>For the next month or so, I will be previewing every D 1-A college football team. They will be in alphabetical order. Crazy? Yes, I know, but I figure why not? And who is first???

Air Force – The Falcons are coming off of an 8-5 season, which saw them upset No. 25 Houston 47-20 in the Armed Forces Bowl. The bowl game was the third in a row for the Falcons, a first since 1990-1992 and the first time it had gone to the same bowl in three consecutive years. Third-year coach Troy Calhoun, who brings a 25-14 record into the 2010 season, became the first coach in school history to take the Falcons to bowl games in his first three years at the helm.

Offense – The Falcons’ skill positions are full of experienced, talented players. Air Force returns 100 percent of its rushing, passing, kickoff return, punt return and total offense yards from 2009, along with 90.4 percent of its receiving yards. The team also returns 100 percent of its scoring and 98.3 percent of its all-purpose yards from a year ago.

The Falcons bring back five starters from last year’s squad, led by senior fullback Jared Tew. Tew led the team with 970 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Both of his backfield teammates, quarterback Tim Jefferson and running back Asher Clark, return as well.

Jefferson will be overcoming off-season knee surgery after a season that saw him pass for 848 yards and five touchdowns and rushing for 254 yards and four touchdowns. He will be pushed by fellow junior Connor Dietz. Dietz brings some experience as well, as he played until he broke his hand with five games left in the season, therefore knocking him out for the season. His 369 rushing yards were fourth most on the team last year.

As has been the Falcons’ forte, the passing game comes a distant second in the offense. Despite that, Air Force brings back their top two receivers, Kevin Fogler and Jonathan Warzeka. Fogler returns after 25 balls for 567 yards and five touchdowns. The team’s second-leading wideout, Warzeka, returns after catching 18 passes for 246 yards and one touchdown.

One area of concern will be the offensive line, as they graduated all of their starters from the 2009 season. Only A.J. Wallerstein returns with starting experience, after starting the first game last season against Nicholls State.

Defense – The secondary will be the defense’s strength. Senior cornerback Reggie Rembert, along with junior corner Anthony Wright, Jr., and safety Jon Davis return to lead the group. Rembert was a first-team all-conference performer last season. He had 43 total tackles, three interceptions, forced two fumbles and had two fumble recoveries. He also became the school’s all-time leader in kickoff returns and kickoff return yards.

Wright recorded the third-most interceptions in a single season in school history with seven, including a school-record-tying three vs. Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl. Wright also scored
two touchdowns on interceptions returns and another on a punt return while earning second-team all-conference honors. Davis added 56 tackles, three interceptions, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. Davis also scored a touchdown on an interception return.

The linebacker and defensive line corps, however, will be a major question mark for the Falcons. The defensive line will be bolstered by the lone returning starter, senior Rick Ricketts, who finished fourth on the team in tackles with 57. He also was third in tackles for loss with 6.5 for 39 yards and second in sacks with 4 for 28 yards.

The linebacker corps returns Andre Morris, Jr., at outside linebacker. Morris was third on the
team in tackles with 65 and had 6.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks. He’ll be joined by sophomore Wale Lawal, Jr., who played 11 games as a rookie last year. Seniors Patrick Hennessey and Ken Lamendola had their junior years shortened by injury and missed all of spring practice. If they’re able to return, the Falcons will have an experienced group. Lamendola had a 100-plus tackle sophomore season and Hennessey was in a starting role before injuries.

Schedule – The Falcons start out with four of their first five opponents coming off of bowl appearances. The non-conference schedule is highlighted by a visit to Oklahoma to take on an Oklahoma squad going through some major personnel shuffling. The team closes with four of its last six on the road and has to face TCU and Utah back to back at the end of October.

Akron – Rob Ianello takes over for J.D. Brookhart, who was relieved of his duties after a 3-9 season. The Zips have not had a winning record since 2005. Ianello comes over from Notre Dame, where he was the wide receivers coach since 2005. In January of 2009, he was named the Assistant Head Coach for the Offense, as well as retaining his duties as the wide receivers coach. Under his guidance, six of the nine best individual receiving seasons in Notre Dame history have occurred. In the past five seasons, four Irish receivers have caught more than 60 passes in a season, while five players have eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards.

Offense – Patrick Nicely returns after starting the last seven games for the Zips, as does his backup Matt Rodgers, who started three games. Despite his 54.1% completion percentage, if the Zips are going to be successful, Nicely is going to have to improve on his touchdown:interception ratio, which was 1:1 after he threw six touchdowns and six interceptions.

Akron returns four of their five top rushers from last year. Those four combined for 826 of the team’s 1,726 rushing yards during the 2009 season. Rodgers is the returning leader as he rushed for 226 yards on 40 carries. Broderick Alexander and Alex Allen also return after rushing for 217 and 216 yards, respectively. Allen led the five with five rushing touchdowns.

To ease the pressure on the quarterbacks and running backs, the Zips return three starters on the offensive line from last year. Corey Woods, Mike Ward and Jake Anderson each return after starting all 12 games last year at LT, LG and RT, respectively.

Despite all of the experience coming back in the offensive backfield, only one major contributor returns in the wide receiving core. Luckily for the Zips, that contributor is last year’s top receiver, Jeremy LaFrance. The junior college transfer made quite an impression in his debut season at the D-1 level after grabbing 43 passes for 520 yards and two touchdowns. In fact La France is the only returning player who caught a touchdown last season.

Defense – If one was to say that Brain Wagner was the star on the defensive side of the ball, there would surely be no one to argue that fact. Wagner, a middle linebacker, had such a huge impact as a freshman last year that The Sporting News named him a First-Team Freshman All-American. What led him to earn such a great honor? 132 tackles, seven tackles for loss, two interceptions, one sack, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. His 132 tackles were almost double of the next Zip, Mike Thomas, who had 71 tackles.

Luckily for Akron, it seems as if Wagner and Thomas make up only half of what is probably the strongest position on the defensive side of the ball, the linebackers. Along with Wagner and Thomas, Sean Fobbs also returns at the RUSH LB spot, also starting all 12 games, as the aforementioned two did as well. Akron also returns two players, Will Fleming and DeAngelo Williams, who started a combined seven games at the strongside linebacker position.

The defensive line will be bolstered by the return of DT Almondo Sewell, DT Dan Marcoux, DT James Harvey and DE Hasan Hazime. Sewell started all 12 games at DT and led all linemen with 53 tackles. Hazime started the last eight games at defensive end and was tied for the team lead with three sacks, as well as figuring in on 49 tackles and forcing one fumble. Harvey started 10 games, the first four at defensive end and the next six at nose tackle. In 11 total games, he was involved in 23 tackles and four tackles for loss. Marcoux started six games and chipped in with 15 tackles.

The Akron secondary won’t be as tough as the rest of the defense, however, as they only return three players that started any games last season. Manny Waller started 11 games at one CB spot, finishing with three interceptions, six pass break-ups and 47 tackles. Kevin Davis and Marvese Byrd are the other two, but each started only one game last year. The secondary will rely on younger players, including four redshirt freshmen and five sophomores.

Recruiting – The Zips brought in 23 signees in the Class of 2010, including Parade All-American RB Erick Howard. Howard, Scout.com’s 24th best running back, ran for over 6,000 yards in his career and scored 79 touchdowns. For good measure, the Ohio two-time Offensive Player of the Year also tallied 208 tackles as a linebacker. He is one of at least four running backs brought in to push the already successful stable of young runners.

Schedule – The Zips host six games, highlighted by a season-opening visit from Syracuse. After the first two games of the year, both at home, Akron plays four of its next five on the road, including games at Indiana and Kentucky. The team does end the season with two home games against Miami (OH) and Buffalo.

Alabama – To say last year was a success would be quite the understatement. Going 14-0, winning a national championship and having the Heisman Trophy winner was quite an achievement for Nick Saban and his Crimson Tide. What’s scary is that they bring most of their offensive stars back for more.

Offense – Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram returns for his junior season after rushing for 1,658 yards and 17 touchdowns. With more experience, the scary part is he can only get better. His backup, Trent Richardson, also returns. Richardson would be an All-Conference player if he played on any team, but he is “stuck” playing behind the Heisman Trophy winner. Despite this, he still managed to rush for 751 yards and eight touchdowns.

Quarterback Greg McElroy returns for his senior year after completing 61 percent of his passes. He threw for 2,508 yards and 17 touchdowns, while only throwing four interceptions.

To McElroy’s disposal, he will have five of last year’s top six receivers back for more. Last year eight ‘Bama receivers caught 10 or more passes, with four catching more than 25. Last year’s top receiver, Julio Jones, returns to build on a legacy that has seen him become one of the better wideouts in recent Alabama memory. His 43 catches, 596 yards and four touchdowns were all team highs.

Defense – The ‘Bama defense will have quite a different look this year, as only one, Mark Barron, of their top seven tacklers returns. In his first year as a starter, Barron led the team with seven interceptions for 125 yards and a touchdown, while also being a part of 76 tackles.

DE Marcell Dareus led the team with 6.5 sacks despite starting in only four of the 14 games he played in. The team will also look to linebacker Dont’a Hightower to provide some pressure on the quarterback and he showed that in the spring as he registered 11 tackles and three sacks in two scrimmages.

Recruiting – The Tide brings in an impressive recruiting class of 29, which was ranked as the fourth-best by scout.com and fifth-best by rivals.com. The class included six defensive backs, four offensive linemen, defensive linemen and linebackers each, three wide receivers, two running backs and tights ends apiece, and one quarterback, athlete, kicker and punter.

One recruit happened to be the one of the top two quarterbacks, according to scout.com, Phillip Sims. You may recognize him by name, but he is not the son of Hall of Fame and former Giant quarterback Phil Simms. Sims threw for 10,725 yards and 119 touchdowns, both of which are Virginia career records.

Schedule – Alabama opens up with two home games, vs. San Jose State and Penn State, in early September. After starting with the two home games, the Tide plays five of their next seven games on the road, including potential tough road games against Tennessee and LSU back-to-back. The two home games in that stretch are against Florida, which will finally be without Tim Tebow and Mississippi. The team closes out the regular season against Mississippi State, Georgia State and Auburn, all at home.

Arizona – The Wildcats are coming off of their second consecutive bowl appearance under Mike Stoops, who is entering his seventh year as Head Coach at Arizona. The team ended the season at 8-5 after a Holiday Bowl loss to Nebraska. Their 6-3 Pac-10 record tied them for second in the conference.

Offense – The Wildcat offense looks to be dynamic yet again, after averaging just over 27 points per game last year. The 2010 squad returns all but two of their spread formation starters. The team returns four players that started at receiver, three who started at running back and four offensive line starters, amongst others. One big loss for the ‘Cats will be Delashaum Dean, who was the team’s fourth-leading receiver.

Nick Foles, the team’s starting quarterback returns for his junior season. Foles returns after a sophomore campaign which saw him complete 63 percent of his passes for nearly 2,500 yards and 19 touchdowns.

The team’s top two rushers, Keola Antonin and Nic Grisby, return for their junior and senior campaigns after sharing the load rushing-wise for the ‘Cats last season. Antolin rushed for a team-high 637 yards and added four touchdowns, while Grisby rushed for 567 yards and a team-leading five touchdowns. As a team, Arizona rushed for over 2,000 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Outside of Dean, the Wildcats return receivers in Juron Criner, David Douglas and David Roberts. Criner led the team with 582 yards and nine touchdowns last year. Roberts ended up with 410 yards and one touchdown, while Douglas added 320 yards and one TD grab as well.

Defense – The Wildcat defense has always been considered the team’s strength under Stoops’ direction. If they are to continue that success this year, they will need to do so using two new linemen, three linebackers and two players in the secondary. The team will have to look for many of their junior college transfers and incoming freshmen to help them out.

Senior defensive ends Brooks Reed and Reid Elmore return to lead the defensive line. Elmore was second in the league last year with 10.5, while Reed will be looking to stay healthy and build on a sophomore campaign where he put up similar numbers to Elmore’s last year.

Cornerback Trevin Wade returns as the team’s leading tackler after bringing down 71 opponents and adding a team-leading five interceptions, one of which he brought back for a touchdown.

Sophomores Jake Fischer and R.J. Young, senior C.J.Parish, and redshirt freshmen
Trevor Erno and Cordarius Golston come back to lead the linebackers. The only problem is that the three that have seen playing time combined for only 16 tackles last year.

Recruiting – Altho it may seem that defense would be more of a need in the recruiting class, the 24-man class is pretty even, as 13 are defensive players and 11 offensive. The class consists of six defensive linemen, five receivers, five offensive linemen, four defensive backs, three linebackers and a quarterback. The two who might play the biggest roles are safety Marquis Flowers and wide receiver Dexter Ransom, a junior college transfer. Flowers picked Arizona over UCLA, USC and ASU, amongst others, after recording 46 tackles, two INT’s, rushing for 1,247 yards and 16 TD. Ransom missed the last four games of the 2009 season after tearing an ACL, but figures to be at full strength upon arrival to UA. He caught 19 passes for 412 yards and seven touchdowns in limited duty.

Schedule – After starting the season with a road game at Toledo, the ‘Cats spend the next four games in the confines of Arizona Stadium, including a stretch of Iowa, Cal and Oregon State in three consecutive weeks. The Cats also get Washington, USC and ASU at home, while having to travel to Stanford, UCLA, Oregon and Washington State. How strong Arizona is should be determined for sure at the end of the season as their last six games are vs. Washington, at UCLA, at Stanford, vs. USC, at Oregon and vs. ASU.

>Reaction of the recent conference craziness

Posted on June 12, 2010 by chiwoj85

>In the past two days, the Big 12 has lost Nebraska and Colorado and was on the verge of losing Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. That left Missouri, Kansas, Iowa State, Kansas State and Baylor left on the outside. Now in my last blog, I spoke about how everything revolved around Texas. Well it kind of turns out that it may have all revolved around Nebraska. It has been reported that if it had only been Missouri and/or Colorado that left the conference and Nebraska stayed, Texas would stay as well. Well, Nebraska said good-bye to the Big 12 and their interesting way of handling the conference and is now headed over to the Big Ten in 2011.

So now the Pac 10 will have 16 teams, the Big Ten will have 12 and the Big 12 will have 10. But what happens to the rest of the country? One would have to think that the SEC would not be content with having the Pac 10 and Big 10 become stronger. Wouldn’t the SEC, arguably the strongest conference in America, want to become stronger as well? Throughout all of this, it had always been speculated that if the SEC wanted to expand, it would try to go after Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech and Clemson. Well according to ESPN sources, the SEC will not be extending any invitations to those schools, thereby keeping the ACC in tact. For the time being at least.

If this is all about $, and let’s be honest we know it is, then adding those schools will not really add any potentially extra TV revenue because all of those areas/states are already represented in the SEC. The state of Florida is taken care of by the University of Florida, Georgia by UGA, and South Carolina by the Gamecocks. So if they aren’t going to add any of those teams, who do they go to, if anybody?

The dust seems to have settled now and that’s a good thing. The craziness of a conference realignment didn’t happen how everybody thought it would. Somehow Dan Bebee convinced UT, OU and Texas A&M to stay. Probably was the insane amount of money. We’ll see. Who knows what is going to happen.

>Conference Realignment

Posted on June 11, 2010 by chiwoj85

>Besides the USC sanctions, all the talk about the NCAA has been about the conference realignment that is going to shake up the college landscape. The more I read about it, the more I get confused. Everything seems to always come down to one hing tho: WWTD (What will Texas do?).

Now as many of the readers of this blog know, I am a graduate of the University of Missouri, which is one of those realignment schools but has gone from ‘as good as gone’ to a level of uncertainty that scares us all. There is now talk that the Big Ten does not have any interest in adding Missouri, which has been very outspoken about its desire to leave the Big 12.

That outspokenness has been something that might have hurt the Tigers because it could be coming off as desperation or whining. As an alum, I may be a bit biased here, but if you lok at it, Missouri does actually have reasons to want to leave. There are millions of reasons and by that I’m sure we all know I mean millions and millions of dollars. Missouri made $8.4 million, which was $1.8 million less than the top Big 12 school Texas.

The Big 12 schools divvy up all money equally except that which is generated from television.

Half of the TV money is divided evenly. The other half goes into an appearance pool. The schools that earn the most money are the ones who appear for football TV games and basketball non-conference games. Credits also are issued for NCAA tournament appearances.

The Big Ten on the other hand divides its revenue equally amongst the 11 schools in the conference. The last fiscal year, each school made $22 million. That $22 is $10 million more than what Texas made as the leading school in the Big 12.

Back before there was a Big 12, there was a Big Eight and before that a Big Six. All of the Texas schools joined the conference to make it the Big 12 in 1994. Soon after that, it seems as if all of the sudden there was a time where the University of Texas just took over. They became very good at pretty much all sports and replaced Nebraska as the flagship school for the conference.

One of the reasons some of the schools, like Missouri and Nebraska, have been envious or perturbed with the amount of money that the University of Texas brings in is the fact that the Longhorns are on TV so much. Unlike conferences like the Big Ten, as I said before, half of the TV money is divided evenly. The other half goes into an appearance pool. The schools that earn the most money are the ones who appear for football TV games and basketball non-conference games. Since 1994, the first year of the Big 12, the Longhorns have been on National TV 102 times. Nebraska has 83 National TV appearances.

There are so many more reasons but you have read them all already from every news outlet and columnist out there. This was more of just a rant then I guess. But it is still leaving everyone’s head spinning. A reaction to Friday’s developments will be up later.

>Softball WCWS!

Posted on June 2, 2010 by chiwoj85

>It’s that time of the year again. The time for the College World Series. First up is the one for women’s softball. As I’ve been doing for the entire tournament so far, I’ll preview the WVWS. In the WCWS, eight teams play a double-elimination mini-tournament, which features winners and loser brackets, as well as a best two-of-three series to decide the championship. Washington is the defending champion and is also the highest remaining seed, at No.3.

Hawaii – The Rainbows face the No.9 Missouri Tigers in the first game of the tournament. The trip to Oklahoma City is the first in the history of the Hawaii program.

The Rainbows upset the top seed, Alabama in Tuscaloosa last weekend, using a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh by Jenna Rodriguez to win in the third and deciding game 5-4. Rodriguez accounted for all five runs on two home runs. The Rainbows win in the second game of the Super Regional broke the Crimson Tide’s 28-game winning streak and their eight runs also marked the most ever scored against the top seed since the Super Regionals Era began.

Stephanie Ricketts went 1-1 last weekend, raising her record to 29-8. The 29 wins are tied for the second most in Hawaii history. She now has an ERA of 2.54 ERA and 153 strikeouts. Her teammate Kaia Parnaby leads the team with 185 strikeouts.

Missouri – Missouri’s 7-2 victory against Oregon on Sunday sent the Tigers to the Women’s College World Series for the second consecutive season. The Tigers have now made five trips to the WCWS in school history (1983, 1991, 1994, 2009, 2010). The back-to-back trips to the World Series is a program first. Missouri has now set a school record for wins this season at 51. The previous mark of 50 wins was set in 2009.

Missouri’s potent offense exploded for the first time in the NCAA Tournament last weekend, when it defeated Oregon 7-2 to clinch the WCWS berth. The team had not scored more than four runs in an NCAA Tournament game. Nicole Hudson unloaded a solo home run, her 10th of the year. She is the first true freshman with double figure home runs in a season since Jen Bruck in 2005.

Kristin Nottlemann pitched another complete game en route to her fifth win of NCAA action. She is now 24-7 this season. Her 24 wins are eighth in school single-season history. The complete game was her 15th of the year and four of her five NCAA wins have been of the complete-game variety, including four consecutive complete-game triumphs. In NCAA play, Nottelmann has thrown 31.0 innings, allowed just 25 hits and three earned runs and is an unblemished 5-0. Her NCAA ERA is 0.87.

UCLA – The fifth-seeded Bruins breezed through their Super Regional, defeating Louisiana-Lafayette by scores of 10-1 and 10-2. The Bruins improve to 45-11 on the season, advancing to their 24th Women’s College World Series.

Megan Langenfield and Aleah Macon picked up wins last weekend in the two SR games. Gionna DiSalvatore, Samantha Camuso 2, Dani Yudin, Kaila Shull and B.B. Bates each had home runs for the Bruins last week. Camuso, who is leading the team with a .571 postseason BA, drove in seven of UCLA’s 20 runs last weekend. Her 14 NCAA Rbi more than double the total of Yudin, who is second on the team with six.

Florida – The fourth-seed University of Florida softball team defeated 13th-seed Arizona State, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon to move on to the program’s third straight Women’s College World Series appearance.

The Gators moved on after defeating the Sun Devils in two games, 5-2 and 8-0. Stephanie Brombacher picked up both wins last weekend, improving her total to five in the postseason. The righty (34-6) has registered a 0.90 ERA in the postseason while moving into second on UF’s career wins list with 76 victories and third on the career strikeout list with 541.

Kelsey Bruder led the team with six RBI and two home runs last weekend.

Washington – Well, what do we have here? The top-ranked Washington softball team earned a chance to defend its NCAA championship Friday as the Huskies won a pair of games vs. Oklahoma Friday at Husky Softball Stadium to earn a berth in the Women’s College World Series next week in Oklahoma City.

Washington, ranked No. 1 in the nation and seeded third in the tournament, won 3-0 in game two of the best-of-three NCAA Super Regionals and then wrapped up the Series berth with a 4-0 victory in the nightcap thanks in large part to a three-run homer from freshman Shawna Wright in the first inning.

On Thursday, the Huskies (50-7) suffered their first-EVER home loss in NCAA play, falling 6-1 to Oklahoma. In that game, back-to-back National Player of the Year Danielle Lawrie gave up five home runs, the most in her Husky career. Friday though, had Lawrie back to her old tricks. In the second game of the series, she threw a two-hit shutout, striking out 10, while she fanned 17 in the five-hit shutout that decided who went to the WCWS.

Lawrie picked up both wins Friday to notch the second 40-win season in UW history. Last season, she won 42. She also moved into a tie for sixth in NCAA history with 136 career victories.

Georgia – Georgia will be making its second trip to the WCWS having made the program’s initial appearance in 2009, when the Bulldogs advanced to be one of the final four teams remaining. Georgia opened last year’s series against Washington, falling 3-1. The Bulldogs then advanced through the loser’s bracket with a 5-2 win over Missouri and a 7-5 defeat of Michigan to set up a second contest with the Huskies. Georgia then defeated Washington, 9-8, in nine innings before the Huskies turned around and won a third-game between the schools, 9-3.

Georgia advanced after sweeping Cal 7-0, 10-1. In addition to earning a spot in the WCWS, Saturday’s victory also marked the 500th win at Georgia for head coach Lu Harris-Champer, who’s overall collegiate coaching career record now stands at 709-243-1 over 14 seasons including a 500-179 record in 10 seasons at UGA.

Sarah McCloud picked up both wins last weekend, giving up a combined seven hits in the two games. She improved her 2010 record to 13-1.

Megan Wiggins smacked six RBI in the Super Regional and along with Alisa Goler and Kristyn Sandberg, is one of three Bulldogs that smacked one homer last weekend.

Arizona –The Wildcats return to OKC for its 22nd WCWS appearance and sixth consecutive. Outside of 2004, Arizona has been to every WCWS since 1988.

Arizona swept through its Super Regional against BYU, winning 2-1 and 10-2. Sarah Akamine and Kenzie Fowler each had a win in last week’s Super Regional. Fowler struck out 10 in her start, as she improved to 34-6, while Akamine pitched five innings in her win, improving her record to 14-5.

The Wildcats have six hitters who have one home run each and Lini Koria leads the team with eight NCAA RBI.

Tennessee – The Volunteers are going to their fourth WCWS after upsetting the second seed Michigan in two games, 5-0, 4-3. The last time they made the World Series, 2007, they finished second to Arizona, their first round opponent. Prior to last weekend, the Wolverines had won 36 consecutive games at home.

The Vols used both their stud pitchers this weekend, as Ivy Renfroe improved to 29-4 and Cat Hosfield to 17-8. Renfroe’s win was a two-hitter against one of the best offenses in the nation.

Tennessee used three home runs to build its 4-0 lead – including two by senior Erinn Webb in the deciding game.

The WCWS features numerous All-Americans, named by the NFCA. First Team All-Americans include Kenzie Fowler (Arizona), Danielle Lawrie (Washington), Melissa Gonzalez (Hawaii), Brittany Lastrapes (Arizona), Megan Langenfield (UCLA), Niki Williams (Washington), Giona DiSalvatore (UCLA) and Jenn Salling (Washington). Second Team All-Americans include Stacie Chambers (Arizona), K’Lee Arrendondo (Arizona), Kelly Majam (Hawaii), Taylor Schlopy (Georgia), Charlotte Morgan (Alabama), Kayla Braud Alabama), Alisa Goler (Georgia) and Francesca Enea (Florida). Third Team All-Americans include Raven Chavanne (Tennessee), Rhea Taylor (Missouri), Stephanie Brombacher (Florida), Kelsi Dunne (Alabama) and Kat Dotson (Tennessee).

>Thanks

Posted on May 27, 2010 by chiwoj85

>Thanks for reading my blog everybody! I’m going to be out of town in Amish country for four or five days, so no blog posts until next week. Thanks again!

Michael Wojtychiw

You have a story. Let me tell it.

>College Football Preview: C

>College Football Preview: B cont’d

>College Football Preview: B cont’d

>Football Preview: B

>College Preview: A cont’d.

>College Football Previews: A

>Reaction of the recent conference craziness

>Conference Realignment

>Softball WCWS!

>Thanks