2011 NCAA Football Preview - Defense

You have heard the saying before - "defense wins championships". This saying is indeed true. You don't have to be a dominating defense that shuts the opponent down every week. You do need to have some playmakers and come up big when it matters most.

Here is a conference by conference look at where the team defenses rank:

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

Big East
1. West Virginia
2. UConn
3. South Florida
4. Pittsburgh
5. Rutgers
6. Cincinnati
7. Syracuse
8. Louisville

Big 12
1. Oklahoma
2. Texas
3. Texas A&M
4. Missouri
5. Oklahoma St.
6. Iowa St.
7. Kansas St.
8. Texas Tech
9. Kansas
10. Baylor

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

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

SEC
1. Alabama
2. Arkansas
3. LSU
4. Florida
5. South Carolina
6. Georgia
7. Tennessee
8. Mississippi St.
9. Kentucky
10. Auburn
11. Vanderbilt
12. Ole Miss

C-USA
1. SMU
2. Southern Miss
3. Central Florida
4. Tulsa
5. Marshall
6. Houston
7. UAB
8. Tulane
9. UTEP
10. Memphis
11. East Carolina
12. Rice

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

MWC
1. Boise St.
2. TCU
3. San Diego St.
4. Air Force
5. Wyoming
6. Colorado St.
7. New Mexico
8. UNLV

Sun Belt
1. Arkansas St.
2. Florida International
3. UL-Monroe
4. Middle Tennessee
5. Troy
6. North Texas
7. Western Kentucky
8. UL-Lafayette
9. Florida Atlantic

WAC
1. Hawaii
2. Nevada
3. Fresno St.
4. Utah St.
5. Louisiana Tech
6. San Jose St.
7. Idaho
8. New Mexico St.

Independents
1. Notre Dame
2. Navy
3. BYU
4. Army

2011 NCAA Football Preview - Running Backs

Yesterday we ranked the QBs from top to bottom in every FBS conference in the nation. Today we will look at the RB position. RBs are an equally important part of winning a title. There are plenty of terrific athletes at this position that are ready to make an impact on conference and national championship races.

Here is a conference by conference look at how the RBs rank (The projected starter in parenthesis):

ACC
1. Boston College (Montel Harris)
2. Clemson (Andre Ellington)
3. Virginia Tech (David Wilson)
4. Miami (Lamar Miller)
5. NC State (Mustafa Greene)
6. Florida St. (Chris Thompson)
7. Georgia Tech (Roddy Jones)
8. Maryland (Davin Meggett)
9. Virginia (Perry Jones)
10. North Carolina (Ryan Houston)
11. Wake Forest (Josh Harris)
12. Duke (Desmond Scott)

Big East
1. Louisville (Victor Anderson)
2. Pittsburgh (Ray Graham)
3. Cincinnati (Isaiah Pead)
4. South Florida (Demetrius Murray)
5. Syracuse (Antwon Bailey)
6. West Virginia (Shawne Alston)
7. Rutgers (Jeremy Deering)
8. UConn (DJ Shoemate)

Big 10
1. Wisconsin (Montee Ball)
2. Michigan St. (Edwin Baker)
3. Ohio St. (Jaamal Berry)
4. Nebraska (Rex Burkhead)
5. Illinois (Jason Ford)
6. Penn St. (Silas Redd)
7. Iowa (Marcus Coker)
8. Purdue (Ralph Bolden)
9. Michigan (Vincent Smith)
10. Indiana (Darius Willis)
11. Northwestern (Mike Trumpy)
12. Minnesota (Duane Bennett)

Big 12
1. Texas A&M (Cyrus Gray)
2. Texas (Fozzy Whitaker)
3. Oklahoma St. (Joseph Randle)
4. Oklahoma (Brennan Clay)
5. Kansas St. (Bryce Brown)
6. Kansas (James Sims)
7. Missouri (Kendial Lawrence)
8. Texas Tech (Ronnie Daniels)
9. Baylor (Jarred Salubi)
10. Iowa St. (Shontrelle Johnson)

Pac-12
1. Oregon (LaMichael James)
2. Washington (Chris Polk)
3. Stanford (Stepfan Taylor)
4. UCLA (Johnathan Franklin)
5. USC (Marc Tyler)
6. Cal (Isi Sofele)
7. Arizona (Keola Antolin)
8. Colorado (Rodney Stewart)
9. Arizona St. (Cameron Marshall)
10. Oregon St. (Ryan McCants)
11. Utah (Harvey Langi)
12. Washington St. (Logwone Mitz)

SEC
1. Alabama (Trent Richardson)
2. South Carolina (Marcus Lattimore)
3. Arkansas (Knile Davis)
4. Auburn (Michael Dyer)
5. Mississippi St. (Vic Ballard)
6. Tennessee (Taurean Poole)
7. Florida (Chris Rainey)
8. Georgia (Isaiah Crowell)
9. LSU (Spencer Ware)
10. Vanderbilt (Warren Norman)
11. Ole Miss (Brandon Bolden)
12. Kentucky (Raymond Sanders)

C-USA
1. Houston (Bryce Beall)
2. Southern Miss (Kendrick Hardy)
3. SMU (Zach Line)
4. Tulane (Orleans Darkwa)
5. Rice (Sam McGuffie)
6. Central Florida (Latavius Murray)
7. UAB (Pat Shed)
8. UTEP (Joe Banyard)
9. Marshall (Tron Martinez)
10. Tulsa (Trey Watts)
11. Memphis (Jerrell Rhodes)
12. East Carolina (Michael Dobson)

MAC
1. Temple (Bernard Pierce)
2. Toledo (Adonis Thomas)
3. Ball St. (Eric Williams)
4. Northern Illinois (Jasmin Hopkins)
5. Central Michigan (Paris Cotton)
6. Ohio (Donte Harden)
7. Western Michigan (Tevin Drake)
8. Kent St. (Jacquise Terry)
9. Eastern Michigan (Javonti Greene)
10. Bowling Green
11. Miami (OH) (Tracy Woods)
12. Buffalo (Branden Oliver)
13. Akron (Alex Allen)

MWC
1. San Diego St. (Ronnie Hillman)
2. Boise St. (Doug Martin)
3. TCU (Ed Wesley)
4. Air Force (Asher Clark)
5. UNLV (Tim Cornett)
6. Colorado St. (Raymond Carter)
7. Wyoming (Alvester Alexander)
8. New Mexico (Kasey Carrier)

Sun Belt
1. North Texas (Lance Dunbar)
2. Western Kentucky (Bobby Rainey)
3. Florida International (Darriet Perry)
4. Florida Atlantic (Alfred Morris)
5. Troy (Shawn Southward)
6. Middle Tennessee (DD Kyles)
7. Arkansas St. (Derek Lawson)
8. UL-Monroe (Jyruss Edwards)
9. UL-Lafayette (Aaron Spikes)

WAC
1. Louisiana Tech (Lennon Creer)
2. Utah St. (Robert Turbin)
3. Fresno St. (Robbie Rouse)
4. Nevada (Lampford Mark)
5. Idaho (Ryan Bass)
6. New Mexico St. (Kenny Turner)
7. San Jose St. (Brandon Rutley)
8. Hawaii (Sterling Jackson)

Independents
1. BYU (JJ DiLuigi)
2. Navy (Alexander Teich)
3. Notre Dame (Cierre Wood)
4. Army (Jared Hassin)

2011 NCAA Football Preview - Quarterbacks

Today we will begin a 4-part series leading us in to our predictions for the 2011 NCAA Football season. There is no doubt that every position on the football field is important. All pieces of the puzzle must come together to form a championship ball club. But at the collegiate level it appears that having playmakers at certain positions is more essential.

The offensive backfield is of utmost importance. There is a reason that the last 12 Heisman winners and 17 of the last 18 have been a QB or RB. If you have talent at these positions you have a chance to win every week.

Teams with championship aspirations must also have a stout defense. Auburn gave up its share of points last year, but came up big at the biggest moments (like holding on to beat Alabama by 1 in the Iron Bowl and holding the potent Oregon offense to 19 points in the BCS National Championship).

Last but not least is the glue that holds it all together. You must have an elite Head Coach. There are plenty of coaches who can recruit, but if you can't coach them up you can't win it all. Football is a game of inches and so many times in college football a great coach can make a difference.

We will break down these positions/units by conference over the next 4 days, beginning with the QBs.

Here is a conference by conference look at how the QBs rank (The projected starter in parenthesis):

ACC
1. Florida St. (EJ Manuel)
2. Maryland (Danny O'Brien)
3. NC State (Mike Glennon)
4. Miami (Jacory Harris)
5. Virginia Tech (Logan Thomas)
6. Duke (Sean Renfree)
7. North Carolina (Bryn Renner)
8. Clemson (Tajh Boyd)
9. Georgia Tech (Tevin Washington)
10. Boston College (Chase Rettig)
11. Wake Forest (Tanner Price)
12. Virginia (Ross Metheny)

Big East
1. West Virginia (Geno Smith)
2. Cincinnati (Zach Callaros)
3. South Florida (BJ Daniels)
4. Syracuse (Ryan Nassib)
5. Pittsburgh (Tino Sunseri)
6. Rutgers (Chas Dodd)
7. Louisville (Will Stein)
8. UConn (Mike Box)

Big 10
1. Michigan (Denard Robinson)
2. Wisconsin (Russell Wilson)
3. Northwestern (Dan Persa)
4. Michigan St. (Kirk Cosuins)
5. Nebraska (Taylor Martinez)
6. Illinois (Nathan Scheelhaase)
7. Penn St. (Matt McGloin)
8. Minnesota (MarQueis Gray)
9. Purdue (Rob Henry)
10. Ohio St. (Joe Bauserman)
11. Iowa (James Vandenberg)
12. Indiana (Dusty Kiel)

Big 12
1. Oklahoma (Landry Jones)
2. Baylor (Robert Griffin)
3. Oklahoma St. (Brandon Weeden)
4. Texas A&M (Ryan Tannehill)
5. Texas (Garrett Gilbert)
6. Texas Tech (Seth Doege)
7. Missouri (James Franklin)
8. Kansas St. (Collin Klein)
9. Iowa St. (Jerome Tiller)
10. Kansas (Jordan Webb)

Pac-12
1. Stanford (Andrew Luck)
2. Oregon (Darron Thomas)
3. USC (Matt Barkley)
4. Arizona (Nick Foles)
5. Utah (Jordan Wynn)
6. Arizona St. (Brock Osweiler)
7. Washington St. (Jeff Tuel)
8. Oregon St. (Ryan Katz)
9. Colorado (Tyler Hansen)
10. Washington (Keith Price)
11. UCLA (Richard Brehaut)
12. Cal (Brock Mansion)

SEC
1. Georgia (Aaron Murray)
2. South Carolina (Stephen Garcia)
3. Mississippi St. (Chris Relf)
4. Florida (John Brantley)
5. Arkansas (Tyler Wilson)
6. Tennessee (Tyler Bray)
7. LSU (Jordan Jefferson)
8. Alabama (AJ McCarron)
9. Kentucky (Morgan Newton)
10. Auburn (Barrett Trotter)
11. Ole Miss (Randall Mackley)
12. Vanderbilt (Larry Smith)

C-USA
1. Houston (Case Keenum)
2. Tulsa (GJ Kinne)
3. Southen Miss (Austin Davis)
4. Central Florida (Jeff Godfrey)
5. SMU (Kyle Padron)
6. Eat Carolina (Dominique Davis)
7. UAB (Bryan Ellis)
8. Rice (Taylor McHargue)
9. Marshall (AJ Graham)
10. Tulane (Taylor Griffin)
11. UTEP (Tate Smith)
12. Memphis (Andy Summerlin)

MAC
1. Northern Illinois (Chandler Harnish)
2. Western Michigan (Alex Carder)
3. Miami (OH) (Zac Dysert)
4. Toledo (Austin Dantin)
5. Central Michigan (Ryan Radcliff)
6. Bowling Green (Matt Schilz)
7. Kent St. (Spencer Keith)
8. Ball St. (Keith Wenning)
9. Eastern Michigan (Alex Gillett)
10. Ohio (Phil Bates)
11. Akron (Patrick Nicely)
12. Temple (Clinton Granger)
13. Buffalo (Alex Zordich)

MWC
1. Boise St. (Kellen Moore)
2. San Diego St. (Ryan Lindley)
3. Air Force (Tim Jefferson)
4. TCU (Casey Pachall)
5. Colorado St. (Pete Thomas)
6. New Mexico (Stump Godfrey)
7. Wyoming (Emory Miller)
8. UNLV (Caleb Herring)

Sun Belt
1. Arkansas St. (Ryan Aplin)
2. Troy (Corey Robinson)
3. UL-Monroe (Kenton Browning)
4. Florida International (Wesley Carroll)
5. UL-Lafayette (Chris Masson)
6. Middle Tennessee (Logan Kilgore)
7. Western Kentucky (Kewaun Jakes)
8. North Texas (Derek Thompson)
9. Florida Atlantic (David Kooi)

WAC
1. Hawaii (Bryant Moniz)
2. Fresno St. (Derek Carr)
3. Nevada (Tyler Lantrip)
4. Idaho (Brian Reader)
5. Louisiana Tech (Colby Cameron)
6. Utah St. (Diondre Borel)
7. New Mexico St. (Matt Christian)
8. San Jose St. (Joe Gray)

Independents
1. Notre Dame (Dayne Crist)
2. BYU (Jake Heaps)
3. Army (Trent Steelman)
4. Navy (Kriss Proctor)

MLB - At The Trading Deadline

The trading deadline has now passed in MLB. This puts us about 2/3 of the way through the season. The summer is heating up and so are the pennant races. The trading deadline saw some of the rich get richer - as the Philadlephia Phillies landed All-Star Hunter Pence from Houston - and some teams made a last ditch effort to keep their head above water - as the Cleveland Indians traded for OF Kosuke Fukudome and former All-Star RHP Ubaldo Jimenez. These moves are sure to impact the Hunt for October. Here is a look at how the season is projected to play out.

AL East
Boston 100-62
NY Yankees 97-65
Tampa Bay 85-77
Toronto 83-79
Baltimore 66-96

AL Central
Detroit 85-77
Chicago Sox 83-79
Minnesota 80-82
Cleveland 79-83
Kansas City 67-95

AL West
Texas 90-72
LA Angels 85-77
Oakland 76-86
Seattle 68-94

NL East
Philadelphia 100-62
Atlanta 92-70
NY Mets 81-81
Florida 80-82
Washington 73-89

NL Central
Milwaukee 87-75
St. Louis 86-76
Cincinnati 79-83
Pittsburgh 77-85
Chicago Cubs 69-93
Houston 60-102

NL West
San Francisco 94-68
Arizona 81-81
Colorado 80-82
Los Angeles 77-85
San Diego 72-90

ALDS
Boston over Detroit 3-0
NY Yankees over Texas 3-2

NLDS
Philadelphia over Milwaukee 3-2
Atlanta over San Francisco 3-2

ALCS
Boston over NY Yankees 4-1

NLCS
Philadelphia over Atlanta 4-0

World Series

Philadelphia over Boston 4-3

All signs point toward a Phillies-Sox World Series