College Football action begins! A Preview of our Teams !
UC Davis’ tight end Cameron Sentance catching a pass (& a rush !). Cameron is a cricket player too, but does not get to play these days. Photo by David Sentance
by Venkatesh Ravishankar
It’s the start of a new year, well for college football at least. Its finally time to move on from all the off season drama, be it autograph scandals, drug problems or major QB duels, to the sport that sets off adrenaline in even the smallest of college towns across this country and sparks off the age old American tradition of 24 hour tailgating.
This weekly column will bring you all the action from the college football games covering everything from the scores to all the controversies on the field. Here is a brief preview to the 2013 season.
HEISMAN WATCH: Let us start off with the biggest prize there is for a football player. We had a pulsating finish last year resulting in the first ever freshman in college football history taking it home. There has been much deliberation among the various analysts about the preseason Heisman rankings. Here is my ranking of the candidates taking into account multiple ranking sources.
1. Jadeveon Clowney (S.Carolina)
2. Johny Manziel (Texas A&M)
3. Braxton Miller (Ohio St.)
4. A.J.McCarron (Alabama)
5. Marcus Mariota (Oregon)
6. Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville)
7. Tajh Boyd (Clemson)
8. T.J.Yeldon (Alabama)
9. Marqise Lee (USC)
10. Aaron Murray(Georgia)
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: A statistic which could go a long way in explaining how the preseason AP polls and rankings are done. This is a breakdown of the top 20 toughest schedules this season which explains why Florida which was ranked #3 last year in the AP rankings has slipped out of the top #10 in the preseason polls.
|
Rank |
Team |
OPP WINS |
OPP LOSSES |
WIN% |
|
1 |
Kentucky |
103 |
50 |
67.32% |
|
2 |
Arkansas(ACC Team) |
99 |
54 |
64.71% |
|
3 |
Purdue |
96 |
56 |
63.16% |
|
3 |
Missouri |
96 |
56 |
63.16% |
|
5 |
Kansas |
96 |
57 |
62.75% |
|
6 |
Akron |
97 |
58 |
62.58% |
|
7 |
Florida(ACC Team) |
96 |
58 |
62.34% |
|
8 |
Oklahoma |
96 |
60 |
61.54% |
|
9 |
California |
93 |
60 |
60.78% |
|
9 |
South Carolina |
93 |
60 |
60.78% |
|
11 |
Illinois |
92 |
60 |
60.53% |
|
12 |
LSU |
93 |
61 |
60.39% |
|
13 |
Pittsburgh |
91 |
63 |
59.09% |
|
14 |
Colorado |
90 |
63 |
58.82% |
|
14 |
TCU |
90 |
63 |
58.82% |
|
16 |
NC State (ACC Team) |
88 |
62 |
58.67% |
|
17 |
Oklahoma St |
89 |
63 |
58.55% |
|
18 |
Utah |
90 |
64 |
58.44% |
|
19 |
Memphis (ACC team) |
87 |
62 |
58.39% |
|
20 |
Eastern Michigan |
88 |
63 |
58.28% |
MARQUEE GAMES TO WATCH FOR:
-
North Carolina Tar Heels at South Carolina Gamecocks – A traditional rivalry to start off college football in Columbia, South Carolina might be the perfect beginning to what promises to be a promising season for the gamecocks.
-
Penn State Nittany Lions at Syracuse Orange – This will be the perfect opportunity for the Nittany Lions to step out of the shadows of Jerry Sandusky’s tainted image and start off a period of renewed football prominence against a strong Orange side.
-
Alabama Crimson Tide at Virginia Tech Hokies – Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide are hopeful of a 3 peat this season and return to football at the impressive Georgia Dome returning starter studs like A.J MCcaron and T.J Yeldon among a star filled class against a rather depleted Virginia Tech team.
-
Rice Owls at Texas A&M Aggies – Amidst all the Johny Football controversy, the Aggies have one of the best recruiting classes in the nation and it will be a pleasure to see how the Aggies fare against what is a weak opponent in Rice. Manziel is restricted to the second half and he would have been breathing a sigh of relief to return to the field and show everyone that he still has the skills to go with his off field antics.
-
Georgia Bulldogs at Clemson Tigers – A mouthwatering matchup between one of the best defensive units and one of the best QB’s in the country is in the offing at Clemson. Boasting of at least 2 Heisman hopefuls in Tajh Boyd and Aaron Murray, this promises to be one of the best games of the week.
-
LSU Tigers at TCU Horned Frogs – The horned frogs have not been on the radar since Andy Dalton’s exploits in the 2006-2010. This presents returning senior QB Casey Pachall with a great opportunity to start off the Horned Frog’s campaign with a bang. Taking last year’s disappointing season into account for LSU, this marks a big season for Les Miles and the Tigers who are going to be playing under former NFL coach Cam Cameron as the Offensive Coordinator this season.
TEAMS FROM AMERICAN COLLEGE CRICKET SCHEDULE:
|
Date |
Fixture |
Time(ET) |
|
Thurs., Aug. 29 |
Akron at UCF |
7 p.m. |
|
Thurs., Aug. 29 |
UNLV at Minnesota |
& p.m. |
|
Thurs., Aug. 29 |
Rutgers at Fresno State |
10:30 p.m. |
|
Fri., Aug. 30 |
Texas Tech at SMU |
8 p.m. |
|
Fri., Aug. 30 |
FAU at Miami |
8 p.m. |
|
Fri., Aug. 30 |
Southern U at Houston |
8:30 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
Toledo at Florida |
12:21 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
FIU at Maryland |
12:30 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
Rice at Texas A&M |
1 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
BYU at Virginia |
3:30 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
Syracuse vs. Penn State |
3:30 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 32 |
Virginia Tech vs. Alabama |
|
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
Washington State at Auburn |
7 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
McNeese State at USF |
7 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
Buffalo at Ohio State |
12:00 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
William & Mary Tribe at West Virginia |
12:00 p.m. |
|
Sat., Aug. 31 |
Arkansas-Pine at Arkansas State |
4:00 p.m. |
This is Venkatesh signing off. Hope you enjoy the first dose of college football action in 2013. I will be back reporting on all the results and breakout stars of week 1.
Venkatesh Ravishankar captained the Texas A & M Aggies in American College Cricket, & played in a South West Regional, & 2 National Championships. Now graduated, he lives & works in Dallas, Texas
The views expressed in this column are not neccessarily those of American College Cricket.
