Moment of truth for Weis, Clausen - Wetzel

Notre Dame's aim: Win USC game to regain name - Dodd

Notre Dame and QB Jimmy Clausen must rise to occasion against sixth-ranked USC- Weiss

As you can see everyone in the press is tired of ND getting smacked around year in and year out...They want to see a competitive game.

As noted in our post below this could be the make or break game for Weis. Win and the pressure could be off. Lose and who knows...Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick says a loss to USC doesn't mean the sky is falling. He might want to talk to the boosters and fans who pump a lot of money into ND's kitty.

Heck, even the LA press thinks the USC-Notre Dame rivalry should be back to old form. I don't know about that, old form wold be the teams trading victories that are close games. We haven't seen that in a few years now.

Now finally, after seven years of lopsided USC drubbings, Saturday's game between the two teams in South Bend has a chance to be good. Meaningful. And, um, competitive.

How can you tell?

The team's 4-1 records and national rankings are a good start. But there's more to it. A tension, a testiness. Competitive juices flowing that only really get moving when there's a real competition on the field.

Last year at the Coliseum, the teams fought on the field before the game.

Afterward, defensive tackle Fili Moala said, "They thought they were hyped and they weren't as hyped as us.

"It started in the tunnel. They started talking and we were talking. We bit before they did and their bite wasn't hard."

Shelburne is reaching here with the whole tone of her piece. Yeah ND is 4-1...those wins came against teams with losing records and Notre Dame's one win was against a Michigan team that is 4-2. UM has their issues as well but they are still 4-2.

The fact remains that Clausen will face the toughest defense he will see this season. USC hopes to shut down Clausen like they have in the past. That means containing WR Golden Tate and TE Kyle Rudolf. That also means that USC has to get pressure on Clausen and the ND refuses to get ‘Manhandled' no more...We'll see.

Maybe they will maybe they won't but they will be in for the fight of their lives...

Regardless, Pete Carroll continues to keep focused on the task at hand...

"You have to have a really over-arching plan," Carroll said. "You need to have a plan to handle the challenge of the transition. You can't deviate from that plan.

"You have to approach the job with a vision so that you're not going to a mystery place. You have to know where you're going, accept the challenges and take it all in stride."

The Trojans do better than just take things in stride. They take things on a dead run.

They replace a Heisman Trophy winner (quarterback Carson Palmer, 2002) with a Heisman Trophy winner (Matt Leinart, 2004), and then the next year had a third Heisman Trophy winner (Reggie Bush) at running back.

With Carroll in charge, the Trojans have had 53 NFL draft picks, 14 in the first round. In that same period, Notre Dame has had 35 players selected, and two — center Jeff Faine and quarterback Brady Quinn — in the first round.

During Holtz's 11-year regime, the Irish had 75 players chosen in the NFL draft, 12 in the first round. Receiver/kick returner Tim Brown was the only Heisman winner.

Carroll said a diligence to the execution of the grand plan keeps the program on track.

Another part of that Plan is reloading the talent pool. Much has been made of Pete Carroll not being able to get back to MNC game with all the talent he has amassed. But look at ND Weis continues to draw big time recruits but he does verry little with them...I will address this more in another post.

It all comes down to the quarterbacks. Jimmy Clausen is finally living up to expectations (hype?) and even though he is just a true freshman Barkley acts like an old rookie.

Nobody on the Southern Cal campus takes Barkley for granted.

He's led the Trojans to four victories. Their only loss, to Washington, came with Barkley sidelined with a shoulder injury.

He got that injury in the win at Ohio State. Though struggling with a bone bruise, Barkley completed three passes for 35 yards on a 14-play, 86-yard drive that ended with a game-winning TD run by Johnson and a conversion pass to Joe McKnight that made the final difference, 18-15.

That performance in a high-profile game served notice that this is no ordinary freshman at the controls.

"He really has something you're looking for," USC coach Pete Carroll said of Barkley. "The stuff that has really jumped out lately is that he anticipates so well, in throwing the football. He waits until guys get open. He understands the principles of guys getting open in the zone and man (defensive schemes). He throws the ball early.

"That's a tremendous asset, being able to get the ball to guys. It's an instinct he has."

"The one thing (Barkley) does very well is he knows who his playmakers are and he gets the ball in their hands," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said. "That is a good tact for a young quarterback to understand."

ESPN's Tood McSHay breaks down the QB's

CJ Gable injured his knee in practice yesterday but he will be available for the ND game.

ESPN debates USC vs. Notre Dame From ted Millers Blog...

The Big East has received its share of criticism over the years for not being a Bowl Championship Series-caliber conference, but supporters of the league have been laughing all the way to the bank since 2000.

Big East teams covered the pointspread an average of 56.3% from 2000-2008, according to a study by Ed Gunther of The National Championship Issue.

Because of the 10% vigorish Las Vegas sportsbooks charge for wagering on college games, a bettor has to pick winners at a rate of 52.4% to break even. The only other conference to exceed that threshold was the Pacific 10, whose teams covered at a rate of 55.1%.
No team has covered the spread like Boise State, which grades out at a healthy 63%. Utah, which has covered the number 20 of 24 times as an underdog, is second at 59%.
Division I-A newcomer Western Kentucky leads the bottom 10, but in fairness to the Hilltoppers, they simply haven't had the opportunities of other teams in this list. Indiana is a dismal 34.7% and Washington is only 36.4%.

Just missing the bottom 10 were Alabama (42.3%), Texas A&M (42.9%), Michigan State (43.5%) and Clemson (44.2%).

Data for all 120 Division I-A teams is available at The National Championship Issue.

Click any of the charts for an enlarged view.

Browse more photos »

I hope everyone really enjoyed their bye week, but now it's time to focus.  Let's get a few particulars out of the way.

Current Weather Forecast for Saturday in beautiful South Bend, Indiana: 48 degrees and partly cloudy (expect this to change about a dozen times before kickoff)

Line: Southern Cal by somewhere between 8 and 11, depending on where you're looking.  I'm going to guess that ticks its way up to around thirteen or so by the end of the week.

Anticipation Level: 16 out of 10

As I wrote last week, this is the game that frames the last five games and the rest of the season.  Is Notre Dame a great team that was just finding its footing and got screw jobbed at Michigan, or is it an average, mediocre team that can't stand up against the elites of college football?  A close loss to Southern Cal isn't the end of the world, but a blowout loss would leave the taste in most Irish fans' mouth that this season is just like every other one after 2005.  A win?  A win and everything is roses and candy and puppies and sunshine for a week (until the inevitable letdown "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!" loss to BC the next Saturday).  I want that win and that feeling like everything is right in the world.  I want to see everything about the team humbled - from the sunglasses-wearing band to Traveler to Carroll to Barkley. 

Can the Irish pull it off?  We'll get into this in more detail as the week goes on, but over the bye week I watched some of Southern Cal's games on the incredibly useful ESPN360.  A few quick observations from going through a couple of halves without too meticulous of scrutiny:

* Matt Barkley, as he comes across in interviews, is a cool customer.  He's not asked to do a whole lot in that offense yet, but the arm and confidence are there to be a great quarterback for a long time.  In the Ohio State game he was in an incredibly hostile environment but had the benefit of being in a very low scoring game, meaning the Trojans could always rely on their running game, even late in the fourth quarter.  If the Irish can get a lead and the crowd gets cooking..... maybe.  We'll see.  He looks a little like Dick Casablancas from Veronica Mars, so take from that what you will.

* Damian Williams is a beast, in the Mike Williams/Dwayne Jarrett mode of just eating defensive backs alive.  Packing the box and attempting to cover him on an island could result in a very, very long day.  He also is a huge threat on punt returns.

* Taylor Mays is some sort of human-velociraptor hybrid.  Against Cal he picked off a (horrible) Kevin Riley pass in the endzone on the first possession of the game and cut down Jahvid Best on a third and short pitch late in the second quarter.  He's everywhere you do not want him to be.

* Joe McKnight is very fast.  If the Irish don't improve at tackling very quickly - that's what bye weeks are for! - he's going to have a Reggie-in-2005 type day because he has the breakaway speed and shiftiness to go yard every time.  He's not the best back for a consistent pounding attack at this point in his career, which was where Stafon Johnson came in as a great complement to the rushing attack.  Johnson will miss this game as he continues to recover from that very scary weight lifting accident, so expect to mostly see McKnight and Allen Bradford.

* The Irish are going to have a difficult time just lining up and running at the Trojan front.  Look at this listing of tackles for loss, it is absurd.  I was avoiding watching the Washington game because I wasn't sure how much it was worth taking notes on a game where Barkley and Mays didn't play, but I think I'm going to have to to see how the Trojan defense handled the best quarterback on their schedule up until this point.  Kevin Riley played like he had a serious head injury for four quarters and there were tomes written about the poor offensive gameplan of Ohio State, but Locker put a nice little game together.  The Huskies only scored 16 points, but Locker was solid (21-of-35, 237 yards, no TD's, no picks).

* This is not a particularly disciplined Trojan team on offense.  They average eight penalties for seventy yards a game, they are 113th in the country in third down percentage, minus on turnover margin for the year and only average in the red zone.  If Notre Dame were to go into a sort of shell defense and make Southern Cal dink and dunk their way down the field and not score on big plays, I feel like there will be potential for some drive-halting mistakes by the freshman QB.  Possibly not, but there's potential.

* The Southern Cal offensive line is very good, and was blowing Ohio State off the ball by the fourth quarter.  It'll be imperative for the Irish offense to give their defense some time to rest and for the Irish defense to tackle, because if they don't, Barkley can just hang back and hand the ball off for an easy win.

* Despite the lop-sided nature of the final scores the last couple of seasons, the Irish defense has played pretty well.  In 2008 the Trojans really struggled to score until the Notre Dame defense was just too gassed due to offensive failure after offensive failure.  Even in 2007, the season of infinite sorrow, it was only a 7-0 game partway into the second quarter.  The defense has been fine, it's the offense that needs to avenge itself if Notre Dame wants to pull off the home upset.

Sign up with BetUS... they've got our game.

Straight Bet $25 to win $22.73
Alabama (-6) over Ole Miss

Straight Bet $25 to win $22.73
Texas (-32.5) over Colorado

Straight Bet $25 to win $22.73
Michigan (+8) over Iowa

Straight Bet $25 to win $22.73
LSU (+9) over Florida

Three Team Parlay $25 to win $150
Texas (-32.5) over Colorado
Michigan (+8) over Iowa
LSU (+9) over Florida

Gameday heads all think the Alabama-Mississippi game will be really close. It's enough to scare us out of putting this early game in the parlay.

Colorado sucks. Toledo hung 54 on them this year.

We avoided the Wolverine trap that everyone fell into last week picking them over Michigan State. This week we think Michigan keeps it close enough against an undefeated Iowa team that hasn't played anyone (unless you count Penn State).

LSU plus 9 points. This is Florida's toughest and only opponent they play all season. They probably pull out a gutty win in corndog country.

Tim Brown's thoughts on the possibility of Tebow not playing in BetUS's BetFlix after the jump.

Here are some random thoughts on the win:

- It was a win, but a frustrating one.  The 1st quarter started smoothly with a quick 3-and-out from Wazzu followed by a quick TD from SC, but then 3 holding penalties, 1 offsides, 1 personal foul, and 1 roughing the kicker happened.  Let's not even talk about the 3rd quarter...

- Nice to see Brice Butler get his 1st career TD.  There was a overhead shot during the broadcast and you could see Brice start from the slot, move inside on the safety and then get nice separation off the break on the corner route; the defender really had no chance on the play.  You can watch Brice talk about the play here.

- Matt Barkley's throw to Damian Williams on the 3rd TD was a thing of beauty and the play of the day.  The anticipation and quick-decision showed why he is so highly-regarded.  If you look at the play, Matt drops back looking left, checks off, makes a split-second decision to throw to Damian, and then delivers a perfect touch pass (while getting hit) over the Wazzu linebackers' heads and between the safeties.

Credit also goes to Coach Bates/Morton for calling a great play.  In post-game interviews, the coaches/players talked about seeing large gaps in the middle of the field while studying game tapes last week.  If you watch the play closely, the formation is trips right and 1 receiver to the left; off the snap every receiver runs a streak up field, but the key to the play is the SC tackles let the ends run by them and Joe McKnight, rather than block, jumps forward to mimic a screen play which causes Wazzu's linebackers to bite and take a step forward allowing Damian to run right by them and split the safeties. Great play all-around.

- Want to talk about a player doing work?  Nick Perry has 6 sacks already playing limited minutes.  He is currently the Pac-10 leader in the category.  Nick just has that sixth sense for getting to the quarterback; he set a Michigan state record with 36 sacks in 2007 as a HS senior.

- Some prospects that showed up for Saturday's game:  Sharrif Floyd (official visit), Ronald Powell, Robert Woods, George Farmer, Marquis Lee, George Uko, Dietrich Riley, Dion Bailey, Joshua Shaw, Antwaun Woods, Demetrius Wright, and more.  The list of visitors could literally make up one side of a HS All-American game.

- Some big injuries from the game: Hebron Fangupo (broken fibula) and Marshall Jones (cracked vertebra) are out for the season.  Jordan Campbell also sprained his ankle and Garrett Green suffered a concussion.

- Have to give props to my man Allen Bradford for running pissed off all game. His stiff-arm on the run in the 2nd quarter was vicious.  Allen NEEDS MORE CARRIES.

Onto Cal, which should be an interesting game.  My head says this game should match up well for SC since we usually win against teams that rely heavily on the run, but considering how undisciplined and inconsistent our offense has looked, it's hard for me to feel confident.  Despite Cal's beatdown last week, this game still deserves a lot of hype, since it essentially makes or breaks both teams' seasons.  It should be a tough one.

T-Wire's BetUS PICKS is back!

We would have scratched last week, but in the words of Bobby Bowden, Gah dammit, we just couldn't lay off and lost $50 on Florida State.

Here are our picks after 5 minutes of thought before we head to the airport for Columbus.

Three Team Parlay $25 to win $150
Notre Dame (-4) over Michigan
USC (-7.5) over Ohio State
Nebraska (-22) over Arkansas St

If you care to join us, or show how much better you are at this than us, sign up with BetUS... they've got our game.

(Read full post)

Chris Brown: Central Michigan (+13.5) over Arizona.
I like Arizona, I really do. I like what Mike Stoops has done, and within a few years, offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes (son of former Texas Tech legend Spike Dykes and protege of fellow Texas Tech legend, Captain Leach), will be a head coach for a D-1 program somewhere. But, while this game is at Arizona, I cannot justify the nearly two-touchdown spread; in fact, I think the Chippewas will win it outright. CMU has won eight games in each of coach Butch Jones's first two seasons, but more importantly they return 17 starters, none more important than Tim Tebow-lite, quarterback Dan Levour. Levour is a tough, gritty kid, and this is just the type of win over a BCS program to jumpstart his senior year.  More importantly, Arizona should take a step back after losing a lot of talent from last year's squad, and I think that regression will begin in week one.

Matt Hinton: Cincinnati (+5) over Rutgers (Monday).
The line on this one goes as high as 6.5 on some sites, a pretty strong diss to the defending Big East champs. Yes, the Bearcats lose 10 starters from a solid defense that anchored the best team in school history, but Rutgers' losses on offense -- goodbye, leading passer and receiver in school history -- are about as substantial. The Knights also flopped at home last Labor Day, in a loss to Fresno State that looked worse and worse as the year wore on. Put it this way: Cincy returns a substantial percentage of its offense, including the best quarterback in the conference, and Brian Kelly has yet to fall short of expectations in any season as a head coach. Rutgers' offense isn't in very good position out of the gate to exploit the turnover on the other side.

Doug Gillett: Georgia (+4.5) over Oklahoma State.
I realize I'm jinxing my team eight ways from Sunday by even allowing this to cross my mind. But even if the Zac Robinson rumors have no legs, OSU has been experiencing an inordinate amount of personnel turmoil over the last few weeks, and even a Cowboy defense at full strength would be tasked with bouncing back from last year's 94th-in-the-nation performance. As good a coordinator as Bill Young may be, I'm not sure he can yank the handbrake and pull a 180 with that unit in the span of a single game. Georgia's defense didn't play so well themselves during the second half of last season, but the talent and experience are there, and given Mark Richt's sterling record in opponents' home stadiums, I put my faith behind Georgia to make the necessary adjustments and pull out a close win in Stillwater.

Holly Anderson: Miami, Ohio (+15) over Kentucky
Can these be flatly irrational? I'll take the Redhawks over Kentucky, because apparently Dick's Sporting Goods in Lexington doesn't carry Tennessee gear, and to quote a dear Vawl partisan buddy, "After 24 [losses to Tennessee] in a row, you have lost the right to be a [jerk] about it."

Louisiana Tech (+13.5) over Auburn.
Because the Bulldogs are one of those pesky, sneaky upset types to begin with (they knocked off Mississippi State in last year's opener en route to their first bowl win in 30 years) and Auburn is such a completely unknown quantity at this point.

Nevada (+14.5) over Notre Dame.
Because I really like getting emails telling me I'm a religious bigot (despite my Catholic background) for not liking their football team. Keep 'em coming, beautiful people.

1. Kelly green or blue: Chip Kelly makes his debut as Oregon's head coach at Boise State in a matchup of ranked teams on ESPN. If the Ducks look well-prepared and poised and -- most important -- win, the majority of questions about whether Kelly was ready to take over for Mike Bellotti will go away. If they are sloppy and lose, well, Kelly will experience his first heat since making a huge splash as the offensive coordinator in 2007.
2. Can Sarkisian's Huskies compete? Some folks have been, curiously, touting Washington's capability to upset visiting LSU. Hmm. While there's a strong sense that the Huskies, particularly with the return of a healthy Jake Locker at quarterback, are significantly better than their 0-12 record from 2008 would indicate, being significantly better than winless means only a couple of wins, not an upset of an SEC superpower. The big picture matters here, even more than how Locker looks as a pro-style quarterback: Will the Huskies fight and claw for four quarters and keep this one respectable?
3. Best for first: Perhaps California running back Jahvid Best's worst memory from 2008 was his performance at Maryland. Not only did he have only 25 yards on 10 carries, he also got smashed on a pass play and threw up while the TV cameras were on him. Well, the Terrapins are coming to Memorial Stadium with a rebuilding defense, and Best is supposed to be the West Coast's leading Heisman Trophy candidate. Good time for him to break out a few highlight-reel runs so his post-game film and YouTube clips are better this time.
4. Can Wulff's Cougars compete? Much like its hated cross-state rivals, Washington State is trying to return to the realm of respectability after a dismal 2-11 finish last season, which included a 58-0 pasting at Stanford. While the Cougars will tell you they are going for the upset, the real mission here is to keep the score respectable and fight for four quarters. If the Cardinal again run over the Cougars -- this time in front of a Martin Stadium crowd -- the heat might turn up on Wulff, whether that is fair or not.
5. Says Barkley, "Hello world!" While the game might not be terribly thrilling, USC's matchup with San Jose State will be the debut of super-frosh quarterback Matt Barkley, who takes over the premier position in college football as an 18-year-old. If Barkley is lights-out, then Heisman talk will begin and the hype before the Trojans visit Ohio State will be epic. If Barkley struggles, then the hand-wringing and second-guessing will begin and the hype before the Trojans visit Ohio State will be epic.
6. Who the heck is Arizona's quarterback? Perhaps Arizona coach Mike Stoops will send out a quarterback against Central Michigan with a mask on and a "?" for his number. While most signs point to Matt Scott getting the start and Nick Foles seeing some action, Stoops has refused to reveal who will take the first snap. His most definitive statement is both will play. Maybe. The Chippewas are not a team to take lightly, so the hope is whoever is at quarterback will capably lead the offense. The guess here is Stoops and offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes would like to have a true starter before the trip to Iowa on Sept. 19.
7. Prince or pauper on offense? UCLA's redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince makes his debut against San Diego State -- L.A. fires permitting -- and Bruins fans are hoping last year's horrible offensive showing will be rendered a distant memory as Prince and a youthful offensive line dominate the action. The reality figures to fall short of that as Prince likely will only be as good as his line, which may struggle with three first-time starters going against a peculiar 3-3-5 scheme. If the Bruins can't block the Aztecs, then it won't have much hope against Pac-10 defenses.
8. Secondary test: Portland State won't beat Oregon State, but its high-flying passing attack might test the Beavers' rebuilt secondary. At least a little. In any event, an FCS foe means the Beavers will start 1-0, which is 100 percent better than 2008.
9. Suspended sentence: Arizona State will be missing six or seven suspended players -- coach Dennis Erickson wouldn't be specific -- against Idaho State. And there are injury issues. A good way to get fans' minds off the recent bad news is for the Sun Devils rebuilding offense to push Idaho State around and for new quarterback Danny Sullivan to put up big numbers before yielding to true freshman backup Brock Osweiler in the third quarter.
10. Quarterbacks and offensive lines: Every Pac-10 team has preseason questions either at quarterback or on the offensive line. A few have questions with both. While one weekend won't provide complete answers, it should reveal which teams are going to be OK fairly soon and which teams need work. And who might be in big trouble. If the Pac-10 is going to thrive when the meat of the nonconference schedule hits during the next couple of weeks, it's going to need quarterbacks and O-lines to grow up quickly.

But some, including former player and current Titans running back coach Earnest Byner, wonder if White's withering waistband will take some of the "smash" out of his step. Byner made the comments to Gregg Rosenthal of NBC's Pro Football Talk.

"I lost too much weight and people were able to topple me and knock me over a little too easy. I think those are things [White] needs to be aware of and make sure his strength is still good."

Either way, the plump never seemed to slow down White's productivity. Last year Lendale ranked 3rd in the NFL in touchdowns with 15, and second in the league for longest rushing touchdown with an 80 yarder against the Chiefs.

Five scary nonconference games Pac-10 teams shouldn't overlook:

Central Michigan at Arizona (Sept. 5): Arizona was excited about winning eight games last year. The Chippewas have won at least that many three years in a row. They've got 16 starters back -- including 10 on defense. And, in contrast to the Wildcats who will be breaking in a new quarterback, Central Michigan can lean on Dan LeFevour, who's 14th on the NCAA career list for total offense.

Purdue at Oregon (Sept. 12): Purdue shouldn't be fast enough to keep up with the Oregon, but it made things quite difficult for the Ducks last year. Moreover, this game is sandwiched between the marquee season opener at Boise State and a visit from Utah. Even though Purdue has been sliding of late and changed coaches, the Boilermakers are still a Big Ten team worthy of respect.

Oregon State at UNLV (Sept. 12): Oregon State is a notoriously slow-starting team -- see three consecutive 2-3 starts. UNLV welcomes back 15 starters from a team that won at Arizona State a year ago. The Beavers are (again) rebuilding their defense, particularly their secondary. UNLV is talented and experienced at wide receiver. The Rebels are thinking bowl game. And even though this is an 8 p.m. kickoff, the guess here is it will be fairly toasty in Vegas, at least significantly more so than in Corvallis.

California at Minnesota (Sept. 19): Some folks have been touting California as a team that is talented enough to unseat USC (who, me?) But this game should get the Bears' full attention, and not just because they fell flat on a trip east to Maryland in 2008. Minnesota is clearly trending up in the Big Ten under coach Tim Brewster, who is a first-rate recruiter. The Gophers also are one of the Big Ten's most-experienced teams with 17 starters back. Moreover, Cal will be the Gophers' first BCS conference foe in their fancy new stadium, so the atmosphere should be frenzied against the visitors from Berkeley.

USC at Notre Dame (Oct. 17): It's almost impossible to imagine Notre Dame besting the Trojans if you watched last year's game, a 38-3 throttling that wasn't even as close as the 35-point spread suggests. However, recall that the year before losing to 41-point underdog Stanford in 2007, USC rolled the Cardinal 42-zip. At some point, Notre Dame is going to beat the Trojans in this national rivalry. The Irish will be playing at home, where they last challenged the Trojans in 2005, and they also have 17 starters back to help save Charlie Weis' job.

Illinois–Juice Williams throwing to Arrelious Benn, Jeff Cumberland and Jarred Fayson means that Illinois should have the most explosive offense in the Big Ten this year and one of the best passing attacks in college football.  If Juice cuts his interceptions in half, I think this team wins at least 9.

Clemson–Always an attractive team on paper.  They are strong along both lines and have two of the fastest players in college football in C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford.  If Willie Korn can get his act together at quarterback, this could be a very good team and should win the ACC.

Alabama–I know it seems odd to have a team that won 12 games last year in this spot.  But I don’t think Bama is getting the respect it deserves due to it having only 4 starters coming back on offense.  But I think the Tide will upgrade at quarterback with Greg McElroy and maintain a strong running game with Mark Ingram and the addition of frosh Trent Richardson (who should be a great goal-line back).   And don’t forget a saltier Julio Jones at wide receiver.  This team is a national title contender in my book, especially with such a great defense.

Arkansas–Bobby Petrino is an offensive genius and it is only a matter of time before it shows in Fayetteville.  He has strong-armed Ryan Mallet to work with and some playmakers in Michael Smith, D.J. Williams and Joe Adams as well.  They could be this year’s Ole Miss. 

Auburn–Wherever Gus Malzahn has gone, he’s done wonders his first year.  Auburn should be as stout as ever defensively, so a significant improvement on offense should make the Tigers a bowl team once more.  I think they’ll score an upset or two and get to 8 or 9 wins. 

Michigan–Rich Rodriguez didn’t suddenly forget how to coach.  I think this team has a decent chance to start out 6-1 or even 7-0.  By the time it gets to the teeth of its schedule, it should have a lot of confidence and be able to hold its own against the better Big Ten teams.  By the end of the year, this will be a good team and will be set up for a very good season in 2010. 

Baylor–With Robert Griffin at QB, Joe Pawelek at LB and an improved roster–plus the nation’s most underrated coach in Art Briles–this program looks to be on the upswing.  I foresee a bowl bid for the Bears in 2009.

Stanford–I think this will be the Pac-10’s surprise team in 2009.  I think Andrew Luck is going to end up as one of the best quarterbacks in the conference.  The Cardinal have an excellent power running game going with Toby Gerhart and a hard-nosed defense.   Jim Harbaugh will have Stanford back in a bowl.

Others to watch:  UNLV, San Jose State, Miami (Fl.), Colorado