The Bowling Green Falcons won eight games in Dino Babers’ first season with the team. The Falcons had problems with inconsistency last year. They couldn’t seem to seal the deal in key situations. They lost their last three regular season games before closing the season with a bowl win over South Alabama.
I think it is safe to say the Temple Owls are trying to figure out exactly what they are on the football field. It seems they have found a conference home in the American and now they need to figure out how to be one of those programs that nobody wants to play, sort of like the basketball squad.
They had things pointed in the right direction for a while but losing program builder Al Golden and then his replacement Steve Addazio has limited their consistency. Now under coach Matt Rhule they seem to have things pointed in the right direction again.
The UNLV Rebels have made a huge coaching gamble. The team has hired Tony Sanchez from Bishop Gorman.
That’s right. Bishop Gorman — the high school.
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors‘ head coach Norm Chow has basically been seated on the hot seat ever since his arrival at the program. It hasn’t always been pretty, but the 2015 NCAA Football Season seems to feature his most talented roster to date since arriving on the island.
A whole lot went right for the Auburn Tigers during the team’s 2013 run to the national title game. The team enjoyed two of the greatest and most memorable plays in the history of college football along the way – Ricardo Louis’s catch against Georgia, and Chris Davis’s return against Alabama.
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SEC Lines
Southeastern Conference 2015 College Football Preview – Auburn Tigers
Head Coach: Gus Malzahn
2014 Record: 8-5
Auburn Odds to win the SEC: 3-1
The 2014 edition of the Tigers didn’t catch those same breaks. Auburn was 7-1 through its first eight games of 2014, but lost four of five down the stretch – with that lone win coming in a cupcake matchup against Samford – culminating in an overtime loss in their bowl game.
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The team’s offense wasn’t what it was a year prior, but the group was still pretty impressive in the grand scheme of things. The Auburn rushing attack finished 13th in the nation, and the offense ranked eighth in passing efficiency. Now the offensive line is expected to be even better, and the quarterback situation shifts from Nick Marshall to Jeremy Johnson, and that, too, may be an improvement.
The Tigers landed the two biggest fish in the pond when it comes to defensive additions this past offseason. First, the team reeled in former Florida head coach Will Muschamp, who instantly joins the ranks of the top defensive coordinator.
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Then the team added the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2015 class in defensive end Byron Cowart. Any production the team gets out of him in year one will be huge. But marrying Muschamp and Cowart seems like a match made in heaven for both individuals, even if it takes the Tigers some time to get a return on their investment.
Nick Marshall is gone, but junior quarterback Jeremy Johnson could be the next breakout star in college football. He’s been with the program long enough to know the system inside and out, and while the Cam Newton comparisons may be a bit premature, he appears to have all the physical tools to get the job done. He’s going to be the guy that determines whether this is a double-digit win team or won that wins eight games for the second year in a row.
Penalties were a major issue at Auburn in 2014. The Tigers were flagged just 70 times in 14 games in 2013, with 19 of those penalties coming in two games. The 2014 edition was hit with 92 penalties in just 13 games. The team needs much better discipline in that regard.
The team’s passing issue was also a major work in progress last season. They’ll need top cornerback Jonathan Jones to really shut down the opposition’s top receiver. He’s entering his senior season, but is coming off a foot injury.
The Auburn game at the end of the regular season is always the game to watch, but Auburn gets a very tricky start to its SEC schedule, having to go into Death Valley to face LSU on Sept. 19. There are three cupcake matchups and three trickier ones in the Tigers’ first six games, but that trip to Baton Rouge will be by far the toughest of the bunch.
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Louisville’s a good non-conference matchup, but the others – Jacksonville State, San Jose State, and Idaho – are all just money-makers. Interestingly enough, two of those cake walks come before the toughest games on the schedule. The other comes before the only mid-week contest on tap.
9/5 Louisville*
9/12 Jacksonville State
9/19 at LSU
9/26 Mississippi State
10/3 San Jose State
10/15 at Kentucky
10/24 at Arkansas
10/31 Ole Miss
11/7 at Texas A&M
11/14 Georgia
11/21 Idaho
11/28 Alabama
Check out our Updated College Football Odds.
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The 2015 College futures betting season is here in full force! If you like to bet on NCAA football, you are in the best possible place for online betting. CappersPicks.com has NCAAF odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find College football lines up for early games as well.
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After another disappointing season for the Miami Hurricanes, the hot seat under Al Golden is getting even hotter. Fans of the program are losing their patience as the team continues to be mired in mediocrity. And the issue certainly has been the talent, as evidenced by the litany of representation in February’s NFL Combine.
The SEC East was ripe for the taking last season, but the Georgia Bulldogs just had too many missteps to take advantage. The team will field another solid roster that will flirt with a top 10 ranking in the AP poll this upcoming season, but many will question the job security of head coach Mark Richt if the squad again fails to break through.
Virginia needed to go bowling a year ago in order to save head coach Mike London’s job – or so we all thought. The Cavaliers went 5-7, picking up just a single victory after Oct. 4. Last season, but London returns for a sixth season. London is a good recruiter, and the talent in Charlottesvile is improving, even if the results aren’t.
The Tennessee Volunteers are starting to come out the other end of what’s been a very long rebuild for a proud program. The Volunteers were once a breeding ground for NFL talent, and appears headed in the right direction in its efforts to get back to that elite level.
The Florida Gators gave Will Muschamp his last chance a year ago, and he didn’t do enough to save his job. Now Jim McElwain takes over in Gainesville with an eye on turning the Gators around in a hurry, but all signs point to a rebuilding year.
The Virginia Tech Hokies have won at least 10 games in eight consecutive seasons from 2004 through 2011, but has gone just 19-13 against FBS opponents over the last three seasons, and 7-6 in 2014. The Hokie defense remains among the best in the country, but finding some consistency on offense will be the key to a successful season.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs burst into the national spotlight as the darling team of 2014, picking up a rare double-digit win season. However, with that breakout now comes increased expectations for a program that hasn’t shown it can regularly put together that kind of success.
Describing the 2014 season Ole Miss just put together is tricky. The season was a success in some ways and a disappointment in others. Considering how difficult the SEC West wound up being, getting to nine wins is a heck of an accomplishment, but the Rebels certainly placed their sights higher after pulling down those goal posts after upsetting Alabama in Oxford.
Missouri has quietly won the SEC East in back-to-back seasons, though the program continues to be an afterthought in the division. The team has handled the move from the Big 12 to the SEC very well, but until they can break through and win something of significance, they’ll continue to be overlooked.
The Houston Cougars are typical of most mid-major programs. Just when they think they are getting things really rolling they lose a senior quarterback, or a hot coach, and they are right back to square one.
In 2011 they went 13-1 thanks to the combo of QB Case Keenum and HC Kevin Sumlin (both now gone). They might have even gone to a BCS game were it not for a loss in the Conference USA title game to Southern Miss. Since then they have been competitive but 8-5 is not 13-1. It wasn’t even good enough for Tony Levine to keep his job. This is Houston right?
The San Diego State Aztecs enter the 2015 NCAA Football Season following a 2014 campaign that saw them go 7-6. Although that’s not a terrible standing for a team that’s shown improvement over the past few seasons, it’s that exact improvement that makes a 7-win year a bit of a disappointment.
