2013 NCAA Football Preview

Fall weather has already swept through much of the nation, which has football fans everywhere itching for the start of the 2013 season. Well we are just a couple weeks away. I have let it be known over the last few years that I believe there is a winning combination to be a championship caliber college football team. That combination is an elite QB, solid running game, stout D, and a top-notch coaching staff. Today we will take a look at how each team in the country stacks up in their respective conferences in those categories. This will eventually lead us to our projected conference standings and bowl games for the upcoming 2013 college football season. Here is your conference by conference look at how these positions rank. (The projected starters at QB and RB are listed in parenthesis)

ACC
Quarterback
1. Clemson (Tajh Boyd)
2. North Carolina (Bryn Renner)
3. Virginia Tech (Logan Thomas)
4. Miami (Stephen Morris)
5. Wake Forest (Tanner Price)
6. Florida State (Jameis Winston)
7. Georgia Tech (Vad Lee)
8. Boston College (Chase Rettig)
9. Pittsburgh (Tom Savage)
10. Maryland (CJ Brown)
11. Virginia (David Watford)
12. Duke (Anthony Boone)
13. NC State (Pete Thomas)
14. Syracuse (Drew Allen)

Running Back
1. Miami (Duke Johnson)
2. Syracuse (Jerome Smith)
3. Florida State (James Wilder Jr.)
4. Virginia (Kevin Parks)
5. North Carolina (AJ Blue)
6. Georgia Tech (David Sims)
7. Clemson (Roderick McDowell)
8. NC State (Shadrach Thornton)
9. Wake Forest (Josh Harris)
10. Virginia Tech (JC Coleman)
11. Duke (Jela Duncan)
12. Maryland (Wes Brown)
13. Pittsburgh (Issac Bennett)
14. Boston College (Andre Williams)

Defense
1. Florida State
2. Virginia Tech
3. Clemson
4. Georgia Tech
5. Pittsburgh
6. Miami
7. Virginia
8. Wake Forest
9. North Carolina
10. NC State
11. Syracuse
12. Maryland
13. Boston College
14. Duke

Coach
1. Virginia Tech (Frank Beamer)
2. Florida State (Jimbo Fisher)
3. Clemson (Dabo Swinney)
4. Wake Forest (Jim Grobe)
5. Georgia Tech (Paul Johnson)
6. Maryland (Randy Edsall)
7. NC State (Dave Doeren)
8. Duke (David Cutcliffe)
9. Miami (Al Golden)
10. North Carolina (Larry Fedora)
11. Boston College (Steve Addazio)
12. Virginia (Mike London)
13. Pittsburgh (Paul Chryst)
14. Syracuse (Scott Shafer)


American
Quarterback
1. Louisville (Teddy Bridgewater)
2. UCF (Blake Bortles)
3. Rutgers (Gary Nova)
4. SMU (Garrett Gilbert)
5. Houston (David Piland)
6. Cincinnati (Brandon Kay)
7. UConn (Chandler Whitmer)
8. Memphis (Jacob Caram)
9. South Florida (Bobby Eveld)
10. Temple (Connor Reilly)

Running Back
1. UConn (Lyle McCombs)
2. UCF (Storm Johnson)
3. Rutgers (Savon Huggins)
4. Louisville (Dominique Brown)
5. Cincinnati (Ralph Abernathy IV)
6. Houston (Kenneth Farrow)
7. Memphis (Brandon Hayes)
8. SMU (Traylon Shead)
9. Temple (Kenny Harper)
10. South Florida (Marcus Shaw)

Defense
1. Louisville
2. Cincinnati
3. Rutgers
4. UConn
5. South Florida
6. Temple
7. SMU
8. UCF
9. Memphis
10. Houston

Coach
1. Cincinnati (Tommy Tuberville)
2. Louisville (Charlie Strong)
3. SMU (June Jones)
4. UCF (George O'Leary)
5. Rutgers (Kyle Flood)
6. UConn (Paul Pasqualoni)
7. South Florida (Willie Taggart)
8. Memphis (Justin Fuente)
9. Houston (Tony Levine)
10. Temple (Matt Rhule)

Big 12
Quarterback
1. Oklahoma State (Clint Chelf)
2. TCU (Casey Pachall)
3. Oklahoma (Blake Bell)
4. Texas (David Ash)
5. Kansas State (Daniel Sams)
6. Kansas (Jake Heaps)
7. Texas Tech (Michael Brewer)
8. Baylor (Bryce Petty)
9. West Virginia (Paul Millard)
10. Iowa State (Sam Richardson)

Running Back
1. Baylor (Lache Seastrunk)
2. Kansas (James Sims)
3. Texas (Johnathan Gray)
4. Oklahoma State (Jeremy Smith)
5. West Virginia (Charles Sims)
6. Oklahoma (Damien Williams)
7. Kansas State (John Hubert)
8. TCU (Waymon James)
9. Texas Tech (Kenny Williams)
10. Iowa State (James White)

Defense
1. Texas
2. TCU
3. Oklahoma State
4. Baylor
5. Oklahoma
6. Texas Tech
7. Kansas State
8. Iowa State
9. West Virginia
10. Kansas

Coach
1. Oklahoma (Bob Stoops)
2. Texas (Mack Brown)
3. Kansas State (Bill Snyder)
4. TCU (Gary Patterson)
5. Oklahoma State (Mike Gundy)
6. West Virginia (Dana Holgersen)
7. Kansas (Charlie Weis)
8. Baylor (Art Briles)
9. Iowa State (Paul Rhoads)
10. Texas Tech (Kliff Kingsbury)

Big 10
Quarterback
1. Ohio State (Braxton Miller)
2. Nebraska (Taylor Martinez)
3. Michigan (Devin Gardner)
4. Northwestern (Kain Colter)
5. Michigan State (Andrew Maxwell)
6. Penn State (Christian Hackenberg)
7. Illinois (Nathan Scheelhaase)
8. Indiana (Tre Roberson)
9. Wisconsin (Joel Stave)
10. Minnesota (Phillip Nelson)
11. Purdue (Rob Henry)
12. Iowa (Jake Rudock)

Running Back
1. Nebraska (Ameer Abdullah)
2. Northwestern (Venric Mark)
3. Wisconsin (James White)
4. Ohio State (Carlos Hyde)
5. Penn State (Zach Zwinak)
6. Michigan (Fitzgerald Toussaint)
7. Iowa (Mark Weisman)
8. Indiana (Stephen Houston)
9. Illinois (Donovan Young)
10. Minnesota (Donnell Kirkwood)
11. Michigan State (Riley Bullogh)
12. Purdue (Akeem Hunt)

Defense
1. Ohio State
2. Michigan State
3. Northwestern
4. Penn State
5. Wisconsin
6. Michigan
7. Nebraska
8. Iowa
9. Purdue
10. Minnesota
11. Illinois
12. Indiana

Coach
1. Ohio State (Urban Meyer)
2. Iowa (Kirk Ferentz)
3. Michigan (Brady Hoke)
4. Michigan State (Mark Dantonio)
5. Northwestern (Pat Fitzgerald)
6. Penn State (Bill O'Brien)
7. Nebraska (Bo Pelini)\
8. Minnesota (Jerry Kill)
9. Illinois (Tim Beckman)
10. Wisconsin (Gary Andersen)
11. Purdue (Darrell Hazell)
12. Indiana (Kevin Wilson)

Pac-12
Quarterback
1. Oregon (Marcus Mariota)
2. UCLA (Brett Hundley)
3. Arizona State (Taylor Kelly)
4. Washington (Keith Price)
5. Stanford (Kevin Hogan)
6. Oregon State (Cody Vaz)
7. USC (Max Wittek)
8. Arizona (BJ Denker)
9. Washington State (Connor Holliday)
10. Utah (Travis Wilson)
11. Cal (Jared Goff)
12. Colorado (Connor Wood)

Running Back
1. Arizona (Ka'Deem Carey)
2. Oregon (De'Anthony Thomas)
3. Washington (Bishop Sankey)
4. USC (Silas Redd)
5. Arizona State (Marion Grice)
6. Oregon State (Storm Woods)
7. Stanford (Anthony Wilkerson)
8. UCLA (Paul Perkins)
9. Cal (Brendan Bigelow)
10. Colorado (Christian Powell)
11. Utah (Kelvin York)
12. Washington State (Teondray Caldwell)

Defense
1. Stanford
2. Oregon
3. USC
4. Arizona State
5. UCLA
6. Oregon State
7. Washington
8. Arizona
9. Cal
10. Washington State
11. Utah
12. Colorado

Coach
1. Stanford (David Shaw)
2. Arizona (Rich Rodriguez)
3. Utah (Kyle Whittingham)
4. Oregon State (Mike Riley)
5. Washington State (Mike Leach)
6. UCLA (Jim Mora Jr.)
7. USC (Lane Kiffin)
8. Arizona State (Todd Graham)
9. Washington (Steve Sarkisian)
10. Cal (Sonny Dykes)
11. Colorado (Mike MacIntyre)
12. Oregon (Mark Helfrich)

SEC
Quarterback
1. Texas A&M (Johnny Manziel)
2. Alabama (AJ McCarron)
3. Georgia (Aaron Murray)
4. South Carolina (Connor Shaw)
5. Mississippi State (Tyler Russell)
6. Ole Miss (Bo Wallace)
7. LSU (Zach Mettenberger)
8. Florida (Jeff Driskel)
9. Missouri (James Franklin)
10. Auburn (Kiehl Frazier)
11. Vanderbilt (Austyn Carta-Samuels)
12. Tennessee (Justin Worley)
13. Arkansas (Brandon Allen)
14. Kentucky (Jalen Whitlow)

Running Back
1. Georgia (Todd Gurley)
2. Alabama (TJ Yeldon)
3. LSU (Jeremy Hill)
4. Texas A&M (Ben Malena)
5. Mississippi State (LaDarius Perkins)
6. Tennessee (Raijon Neal)
7. Auburn (Tre Mason)
8. Ole Miss (Jeff Scott)
9. Vanderbilt (Wesley Tate)
10. Missouri (Henry Josey)
11. South Carolina (Mike Davis)
12. Florida (Matt Jones)
13. Kentucky (Raymond Sanders)
14. Arkansas (Jonathan Williams)

Defense
1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. LSU
4. Vanderbilt
5. Ole Miss
6. South Carolina
7. Mississippi State
8. Georgia
9. Arkansas
10. Tennessee
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Kentucky
14. Missouri

Coach
1. Alabama (Nick Saban)
2. LSU (Les Miles)
3. South Carolina (Steve Spurrier)
4. Georgia (Mark Richt)
5. Arkansas (Brett Bielema)
6. Texas A&M (Kevin Sumlin)
7. Missouri (Gary Pinkel)
8. Mississippi State (Dan Mullen)
9. Florida (Will Muschamp)
10. Vanderbilt (James Franklin)
11. Ole Miss (Hugh Freeze)
12. Tennessee (Butch Jones)
13. Auburn (Gus Malzahn)
14. Kentucky (Mark Stoops)

Mountain West
Quarterback
1. Fresno State (Derek Carr)
2. San Jose State (David Fales)
3. Utah State (Chuckie Keeton)
4. Nevada (Cody Fajardo)
5. Wyoming (Brett Smith)
6. Boise State (Joe Southwick)
7. UNLV (Nick Sherry)
8. San Diego State (Adam Dingwell)
9. Hawaii (Taylor Graham)
10. Air Force (Kale Pearson)
11. Colorado State (Garrett Grayson)
12. New Mexico (Cole Gautsche)

Running Back
1. New Mexico (Kasey Carrier)
2. San Diego State (Adam Muema)
3. Boise State (Jay Ajayi)
4. UNLV (Tim Cornett)
5. Colorado State (Donnell Alexander)
6. Fresno State (Josh Quezada)
7. Air Force (Jon Lee)
8. Wyoming (DJ May)
9. San Jose State (Tyler Ervin)
10. Utah State (Joe Hill)
11. Hawaii (Joey Iosefa)
12. Nevada (Don Jackson)

Defense
1. Fresno State
2. San Diego State
3. Boise State
4. Utah State
5. San Jose State
6. Colorado State
7. Hawaii
8. Air Force
9. Nevada
10. UNLV
11. Wyoming
12. New Mexico

Coach
1. Boise State (Chris Petersen)
2. San Diego State (Rocky Long)
3. Air Force (Troy Calhoun)
4. New Mexico (Bob Davie)
5. Wyoming (Dave Christensen)
6. Fresno State (Tim DeRuyter)
7. Colorado State (Jim McElwain)
8. Hawaii (Norm Chow)
9. UNLV (Bobby Hauck)
10. Nevada (Brian Polian)
11. Utah State (Matt Wells)
12. San Jose State (Ron Caragher)

Conference USA
Quarterback
1. Marshall (Rakeem Cato)
2. East Carolina (Shane Carden)
3. Tulsa (Cody Green)
4. Rice (Taylor McHargue)
5. Middle Tennessee (Logan Kilgore)
6. UTEP (Jamiell Showers)
7. FIU (Jake Medlock)
8. UTSA (Eric Soza)
9. UAB (Austin Brown)
10. Tulane (Nick Montana)
11. North Texas (Derek Thompson)
12. Louisiana Tech (Scotty Young)
13. Southern Miss (Kyle Sloter)
14. Florida Atlantic (Melvin German III)

Running Back
1. Tulsa (Trey Watts)
2. Louisiana Tech (Kenneth Dixon)
3. UAB (Darrin Reaves)
4. East Carolina (Vintavious Cooper)
5. UTEP (Nathan Jeffery)
6. Rice (Charles Ross)
7. Marshall (Kevin Grooms)
8. Tulane (Orleans Darkwa)
9. North Texas (Brandin Byrd)
10. Middle Tennessee (Jordan Parker)
11. FIU (Kedrick Rhodes)
12. Florida Atlantic (Jonathan Wallace)
13. UTSA (David Glasco III)
14. Southern Miss (Tyre Bracken)

Defense
1. Rice
2. East Carolina
3. Southern Miss
4. Marshall
5. Tulsa
6. North Texas
7. Tulane
8. UTEP
9. Florida Atlantic
10. Middle Tennessee
11. UAB
12. Louisiana Tech
13. FIU
14. UTSA

Coach
1. UTSA (Larry Coker)
2. Louisiana Tech (Skip Holtz)
3. Tulsa (Bill Blankenship)
4. East Carolina (Ruffin McNeill)
5. Middle Tennessee (Rick Stockstill)
6. Marshall (Doc Holliday)
7. North Texas (Dan McCarney)
8. Rice (David Bailiff)
9. Florida Atlantic (Carl Pelini)
10. FIU (Ron Turner)
11. UAB (Garrick McGee)
12. Tulane (Curtis Johnson)
13. Southern Miss (Todd Monken)
14. UTEP (Sean Kugler)

MAC
Quarterback
1. Northern Illinois (Jordan Lynch)
2. Ball State (Keith Wenning)
3. Ohio (Tyler Tettleton)
4. Bowling Green (Matt Schilz)
5. Toledo (Terrance Owens)
6. Miami (OH) (Austin Boucher)
7. Western Michigan (Tyler Van Tubbergen)
8. Kent State (David Fisher)
9. Akron (Kyle Pohl)
10. Central Michigan (Cooper Rush)
11. Buffalo (Joe Licata)
12. Eastern Michigan (Tyler Benz)
13. UMass (Mike Wegzyn)

Running Back
1. Kent State (Dri Archer)
2. Toledo (David Fluellen)
3. Ohio (Beau Blankenship)
4. Central Michigan (Zurlon Tipton)
5. Ball State (Jahwan Edwards)
6. Buffalo (Branden Oliver)
7. Northern Illinois (Akeem Daniels)
8. Akron (Jawon Chisholm)
9. Eastern Michigan (Bronson Hill)
10. Western Michigan (Dareyon Chance)
11. Bowling Green (Andre Givens)
12. Miami (OH) (Jamire Westbrook)
13. UMass (Jordan Broadnax)

Defense
1. Bowling Green
2. Ohio
3. Northern Illinois
4. Buffalo
5. Kent State
6. Western Michigan
7. Ball State
8. Toledo
9. Central Michigan
10. Miami (OH)
11. Akron
12. Eastern Michigan
13. UMass

Coach
1. Ohio (Frank Solich)
2. Ball State (Pete Lembo)
3. Akron (Terry Bowden)
4. Toledo (Matt Campbell)
5. Bowling Green (Dave Clawson)
6. Central Michigan (Dan Enos)
7. Eastern Michigan (Ron English)
8. Miami (OH) (Don Treadwell)
9. Buffalo (Jeff Quinn)
10. UMass (Charley Molnar)
11. Northern Illinois (Rod Carey)
12. Kent State (Paul Haynes)
13. Western Michigan (PJ Fleck)

Sun Belt
Quarterback
1. UL-Monroe (Kolton Browning)
2. UL-Lafayette (Terrance Broadway)
3. Troy (Corey Robinson)
4. Arkansas State (Adam Kennedy)
5. Western Kentucky (Brandon Doughty)
6. South Alabama (Ross Metheny)
7. Texas State (Tyler Arndt)
8. Georgia State (Ben McLane)

Running Back
1. Western Kentucky (Antonio Andrews)
2. Arkansas State (David Oku)
3. UL-Lafayette (Alonzo Harris)
4. UL-Monroe (Jyruss Edwards)
5. South Alabama (Jay Jones)
6. Troy (Khary Franklin)
7. Texas State (Robert Lowe)
8. Georgia State (Gerald Howse)

Defense
1. UL-Monroe
2. Western Kentucky
3. Arkansas State
4. UL-Lafayette
5. Texas State
6. South Alabama
7. Troy
8. Georgia State

Coach
1. Western Kentucky (Bobby Petrino)
2. Troy (Larry Blakeney)
3. Texas State (Dennis Franchione)
4. UL-Lafayette (David Hudspeth)
5. UL-Monroe (Todd Berry)
6. South Alabama (Joey Jones)
7. Arkansas State (Bryan Harsin)
8. Georgia State (Trent Miles)

Independents
Quarterback
1. Notre Dame (Tommy Rees)
2. Navy (Keenan Reynolds)
3. New Mexico State (Andrew Manley)
4. BYU (Taysom Hill)
5. Army (AJ Schurr)
6. Idaho (Chad Chalich)

Running Back
1. Army (Raymond Maples)
2. BYU (Jamaal Williams)
3. Navy (Noah Copeland)
4. Notre Dame (George Atkinson III)
5. New Mexico State (Germi Morrisson)
6. Idaho (Jerrel Brown)

Defense
1. Notre Dame
2. BYU
3. Navy
4. Army
5. New Mexico State
6. Idaho

Coach
1. Notre Dame (Brian Kelly)
2. BYU (Bronco Mendenhall)
3. Navy (Ken Niumatololo)
4. Army (Rich Ellerson)
5. New Mexico State (Doug Martin)
6. Idaho (Paul Petrino)