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The Air Force Falcons walked away 2-10 in 2013, and while you shouldn’t expect them to be a contender for a Mountain West championship—let alone a Mountain Division title—you shouldn’t be surprised when they show improvements during the upcoming college football season.
Just a few months ago, it looked as if head coach Bobby Hauck would have quite the task ahead of him during the 2014 college football season. Despite seeing improvements in 2013, this group could have dealt with motivation issues this upcoming year.
Last year the Red Raiders wilted big time, losing their final 5 regular season games against the better teams in the league before a surprising win against Arizona State.
It is time for a reset down in Austin. There were definitely some good times for Mack Brown but is seems like things got a little stale so in come Charlie Strong to rattle some cages.
The Mountain West as a complete conference isn’t going to be as competitive as it was last season, as the clear favorites are the Boise State Broncos and Fresno State Bulldogs in their respective divisions.
The Wildcats fell a notch or two last season but still finished at 8-5, pretty impressive given they lost the best player in program history in Collin Klein at QB.
Marshall was stuck in the 5-7 win range for quite a while before last year’s breakout season. The Thundering Herd went 10-4 in 2013. Marshall picked up a nice 31-20 win in a bowl game over Maryland (who is now a part of the Big Ten Conference).
Louisiana-Lafayette didn’t lose a game in the Sun Belt last year until its final two contests of the year. Lafayette star quarterback Terrance Broadway didn’t play any of the second half due to an injury in their game against rival Louisiana-Monroe.
Oklahoma is thinking big this season and they should be. Last year finished on a high note, Trevor Knight is looking like the answer at QB and a top 25 defense should finish in the top 10 this season. Most important of all they have a great schedule to go a perfect 12-0 and grab a spot in the playoffs this season.
The fans in and Waco have to be wondering just how long the Bears can keep up this level of success. Fueled by an awesome offense they have been on a real good run the last few seasons and it should continue for at least one more. QB Bryce Petty is back and he has more than enough weapons to put up more Nintendo numbers.
Baylor Bears
Head Coach: Art Briles
2013 Record: 11-2
Gambling Odds to win National Championship: 28/1
Gambling Odds to win (B12): 5/2
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The defense won’t keep them from winning 10 or more games so they will be in the hunt.
There are only 6 returning starters but there is little reason to think the Bears will not be as explosive as they have been the past few seasons. Bryce Petty is back and so are three receivers, led by Antwan Goodley who burst on the scene as a junior with more than 1300 yards and 13 TDs.
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This year it will be Shock Linwood’s turn to tote the rock. Like Lache Seastrunk before him Linwood is strong and fast and as a freshman he averaged almost 7 yards per carry.
The Bears are committed to running the ball and he could easily double his 800+ yards from a year ago. He is on the preseason All B12 team.
The Bears may not use him as much as other teams but senior punter Spencer Roth is considered the best in the conference. Their defense may not be as strong as it was the season before so they are going to need him to pin down opponents in those rare occurrences when the offense stalls.
The Bears gave up just 24ppg last season outscoring opponents by nearly 30 points per game. This season only three starters return on defense, testing the depth of the program big time. Linebacker Bryce Hager is going to have to inspire a very young defense to back the offense up to win.
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This is going to be an awfully young team this season. 9 sophomores are expected to start including 4 in the back seven of the defense. As good as coach Art Briles is if he can keep the Bears on their lofty perch he may have done his best coaching job yet with this group.
The key will be using the early part of the season to build confidence.
Their schedule is not very kind this season and could be their undoing. They have to travel to both Norman and Austin this year and their lone regular season loss a year ago was on the road.
They have good leadership but beating both of those teams to capture a title is probably too much to expect from this group.
Gambling Prediction: 10-2
The Bears are not going to fade away just yet.
They should be 4-0 when they venture into Austin but as the third road game in a row I think they will fall just short – which might be a spot to play the Longhorns if they are not the favourite. Look for a massive rebound performance in their shiny new digs against TCU who they play well against.
Against Oklahoma they will likely lose again but it will be close thanks to their offense and some conservative play calling by Big Game Bob.
The Sun Belt Conference has experienced a lot of turnover in the last couple seasons. A lot of the old teams have moved on to slightly bigger conferences, while there are several new faces here looking to get a little national exposure.
The MAC was won by the Bowling Green Falcons in pretty decisive fashion last season, and they’re now looking to repeat. Oddsmakers have them installed as the favorites to pull off the feat again, though with head coach Dave Clawson moving on to coach Wake Forest, things could be a little tougher.
Auburn came out of nowhere a year ago to take down the top college football conference in the nation in its first year under Gus Malzahn. They won’t be catching anyone off guard this season, and that’s likely to mean a new conference champion this upcoming season.
Ball State last made the MAC Championship Game in 2008 where they lost to Buffalo (42-24). Could this be the year they win the MAC? Last year they went 10-3 (7-1 MAC) and finished 2nd in the West.
Virginia coach Mike London is in big trouble. Despite early promise the program is going backwards and with the league getting more difficult yet again this season there is little hope for an immediate turnaround.
The natives are getting a little restless in Atlanta. Georgia Tech has used its schematic advantage to have some success since Paul Johnson took over but it seems like they are not competing very well with the upper echelon teams in the league now that the offense is more familiar.
