Blog de la Awesome

Welcome! This is the first official blog of the Side of Elvis era so thank you for reading. 

With the college rankings coming out today for the upcoming football season, we thought it would be fun to look at the rankings and make a few bold (and lame) predictions.

First we have to start with number one team in the land…the Oklahoma Sooners. 

Led by possible Heisman candidates Landry Jones and Ryan Broyles, the Sooners are looking to build on a good 2010 campaign and have their eyes on a National Championship.   I think this is a good choice as the top team with no clear cut favorite.  Typically you would see the national champion from the previous year in the top spot but Auburn lost their stud, Scam Newton, and will likely not crack the top 15 this season.  The most interesting thing to watch in Auburn will be whether the historic trees can make it through the season.  Back to the sooners, their toughest test will be September 17 against FSU.  This game will be an indicator to see if they are pretenders or contenders.

We have a few critiques with the rankings (no worries though, nobody’s perfect).

 

                Notre Dame: are you kidding me? What have they done that warrants a number 18 ranking? They played pretty good down the stretch last year but against iffy competition.  They have a soft schedule this season that could enable them to move up far in the standings but I’m sure they have a few bad surprises that will leave Notre Dame purists cringing.

                Mississippi State:  They’re a team on the rise; they play in the tough SEC west but have a decent shot to do some damage if they can find a consistent passing attack.  Last year they won nine games with a great defense and a stellar running game.  Look out for the Bulldogs to wreak some havoc .

Florida State:  Another team that is ranked too high to begin the season.  This team has enough potential to be ranked this high eventually but they haven’t proved enough to be given such elite status.  The favorites to win the ACC (which isn’t saying much) have to go through the Sooners to prove they belong with the big boys.  The defense should be very good, but the question marks are on the offensive side.  Can the Noles fill the gap left by first round pick (Go VIKES) Christian Ponder and All-ACC lineman Rodney Hudson and Ryan McMahon.

Florida: After a rough 2010 season, they look to rebound with new coaches Will Muschamp and offensive guru Charlie Weis.  So far the post-Tebow era hasn’t shown much promise but they certainly have the athletes to compete at a high level. We think that a ranking of 23^rd is about right.  Should be interesting to see how they fare with a defensive minded coach.

We watch a lot of ESPN and  based solely on that we think we have enough credibility to predict EXACTLY how the season will turn out.  If Peter King and Kirk Herbstreit can do it, why can’t we?

Heisman Watch List:

1. Landry Jones, QB Oklahoma

2.  Kellen Moore, QB Boise St.

3. LaMichael James, RB Oregon

4.  Marcus Lattimore, RB South Carolina

5.  Justin Blackmon, WR Oklahoma St.

Freshman Impact Players:

1.       Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina

2.       Sammy Watkins, WR Clemson

3.       Aaron Lynch, DE Notre Dame

Here at A Side of Elvis we have certain abilities that allow us to look into the future and tell you who will win.  After reading this you should go to your local bookie and bet no less than $10,000 on each of these picks because there is no chance we will be wrong. None. Nada.

(P.S. if you don’t understand sarcasm, this may not be the best place for you)

Conference Winners:

ACC: Florida State (a weak ACC puts FSU in the driver’s seat)

Big 10: Wisconsin (Russell Wilson is the missing piece of the Badger puzzle)

Big 12: Oklahoma (Top team in the country, may be most complete team)

Big East: West Virginia (but it’s honestly a crapshoot)

Pac-12: Oregon (Stanford is a little overrated with Harbaugh headed to San Fran)

SEC: LSU (could be Bama, South Carolina, or even Miss St but LSU seems to always be in the mix)

National Championship:

Oregon vs. Boise St(total shot in the dark)

Our reasoning is that no team in a BCS conference will go undefeated but a one loss Oregon team could creep their way into the championship.  If Oregon can remain unscathed against LSU and Stanford, they’re strength of schedule could bump them up.   Boise State is loaded with talent and the senior Kellen Moore is going to do everything in his power to lead his team to the Promised Land.