>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