SEC vs. the world
The NCAA champion has come out of the SEC for something like 100 years in a row, give or take a few. Is this the year a team from another conference takes over? The SEC already has a few teams in the top of the national rankings in LSU, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas. Alabama and South Carolina might have the best two running backs in the country in Trent Richardson and Marcus Lattimore, and LSU looked surprisingly good against Oregon without their starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson.
Some of the top contenders to break up the SEC-Natty streak are the current #1 team in the country Oklahoma, Florida State, Stanford, and this could always be the year the let the undefeated Boise State play in the National Championship, if they were to pull of that feat again, which looks likely based on their remainding schedule.
Kyle Orton vs. Tim Tebow
Kyle Orton is the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos... for now. It seems like all of the actual Broncos players and coaching staff are 100% behind Orton. The problem is that it seems all of the Broncos fans are 100% behind Tim Tebow. The biggest argument every analyst has used is that Kyle Orton is the better quarterback, and gives the Broncos the best chance to win. I guess people are saying this because Kyle Orton looks more like an NFL quarterback, because in reality he hasn't won much, and the few games I saw Tim Tebow start last year he looked pretty good. I think the Broncos might be worried that starting Tim Tebow might change their entire offensive scheme, but I think it worked pretty good for the Dolphins last year when they were the first team to use the Wildcat offense in the NFL. Lastly, while I'm not ready to compare Tebow to Michael Vick, I can see the potential for Tebow to break off those 15 yard scrambles after an early-down penalty or sack to convert an improbable first down, just like Vick does.
Robert Griffin III
Truthfully, I didn't know too much about this guy before this season started, and I heard from somewhere that he could have an outside shot at the Heisman trophy this season. I made a point to watch Baylor play against TCU in the season opener so I could check this guy out. I loved what I saw from Griffin that day, and I think he might already be a top quarterback, and a good potential pro. I also like that we get to see Griffin play against other top Big 12 teams like Texas and Oklahoma this year, to see if his talent is good enough for Baylor to hang with the big boys in the conference.
Houston Texans
I think the Texans are going to be a real fun team to watch this season, and that this is the year they crack the playoffs. Sure, they are going to benefit from their division rivals the Indianapolis Colts losing Peyton Manning for an undetermined amount of time, which resulted in the Colts looking absolutely lost against Houston in week 1 of the NFL season. Even without that, the Texans are bringing back one of the top RBs in the country in Arian Foster, who was out in week 1, but the Texans have some very capable backups until he returns. Matt Schaub is also an under-rated quarterback, and happens to be throwing to the best wide receiver in the NFL, Andre Johnson. Also, while I like Reggie Bush this year, that Mario Williams #1 pick a few years ago keeps looking better and better.
Russell Wilson
This is by far my favorite college football story of the year. In case you hadn't heard this one, Russell Wilson has been the very good starting quarterback for North Carolina State for the past three years. Russell Wilson also just happens to be a top baseball prospect. Wilson had been taking a while to decide whether he was going to play football this year or start his minor league baseball career full time. NC State decided they weren't going to wait around for his decision, and declared that they would name Mike Glennon their starting quarterback for the upcoming season, whether Wilson was returning or not. Well it turns out Russell Wilson did want to play college football season, but since NC State moved on without him, and since he already graduated, that he would attend grad school at a different college, and play his last college football season at Wisconsin. News flash for NC State: Russell Wilson is the type of player you wait around for. Wilson is now shining as the quarterback for a top 10 team, and NC State has looked below average in their first two weeks.
Terps Uniforms
I might be a Terps fan, but there is no doubt this was national news. This was a top story for most sports talk shows the day after they debuted these uniforms against Miami on Labor Day evening. Nevermind that this was an excellent game without the new uniforms. Most people argue that these uniforms were awfuly, but I have to disagree, and I'll try to make this argument using my knowledge as a Terps fan, and also try to offer an unbiased view.
There is no debate that these uniforms are far from traditional, but these uniforms are obviously not for traditionalists. These uniforms are for high school kids deciding where to go to school, and like it or not, uniforms are a factor in where these kids go to school. A few years ago I was watching Erin Henderson do a pre-draft interview on ESPNEWS, and they asked him these rapid fire questions, and one of the questions was what could the Maryland coaching staff do to improve the football program, and he immediately responded, to keep the talent in Maryland. These uniforms were part of a larger scheme to start promoting Maryland within the state a lot more, and keep these high end football propsects from leaving town to play at Penn State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Florida. Some top level Maryland prospects have already commented on how they are excited about the changes Maryland has made so far.
Like them or not, these uniforms did the job, and got Maryland on the national stage. Furthermore, Maryland fans have been wanting the Maryland flag to be a bigger part of the logo and uniforms for a long time. Maryland is really taking this Oregon of the east thing to a new level with Maryland being the flagship school of the Under Armour brand, and I would love to see what kind of crazy uniforms these teams would put together if they ever got to play a football game against each other.
