{"id":11575,"date":"2009-07-06T17:57:36","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T22:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=11575"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:40:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:40:27","slug":"independent-schools-2009-ncaa-football-preview-60709","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/cappers\/independent-schools-2009-ncaa-football-preview-60709\/","title":{"rendered":"Marc Lawrence\u2019s 2009 Independents Football Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDEPENDENTS 2009 FOOTBALL PREVIEW<\/h2>\n
\"Marc<\/a>
Marc Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marc Lawrence \u2022 PLAYBOOK.com<\/p>\n

Like last year, just three teams make up the INDEPENDENTS, yet all three will have a strong say on the participants in the 2009 National Championship BCS game when they take on no less than 20 combined opponents that landed bowl bids last season.<\/p>\n

Rest assured, without a conference affiliation, this self-governing group holds plenty of veto power when it comes to dashing the dreams of many BCS Championship Game aspirants.<\/p>\n

Here is my take on the INDEPENDENTS for 2009.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MARC LAWRENCE\u2019S PICKS PAGE @ <\/strong>CAPPERSPICKS.COM \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Coming up next: the MID AMERICAN CONFERENCE. Enjoy\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Returning starters are listed alongside each team\u2019s name (returning QB\u2019s designated with an *).<\/strong><\/p>\n

INDEPENDENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

ARMY \u2013 *3 \/ 7<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team Theme \u2013 COME PLAY WITH OUR PRIVATES<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Black Knights knew what they were getting when they named Rich Ellerson their new head coach. Not only does he have family ties to Army (his father and brothers played here and are career officers), he grew up a military historian with great love for West Point. \u201cI will never receive, nor have I ever received, a finer compliment professionally or personally than to be entrusted with the Army football program at this point in its history,\u201d said Ellerson.\"\"<\/a> \u201cI grew up with Army football.\u201d Ellerson, a true triple-option expert, was the head coach at Cal Poly the last 8 years where his teams finished in the season ending Top 25 polls each of the last 4 seasons. Although he will need to replace leading rusher Collin Mooney (1339 yards), don\u2019t count him out. PASS<\/p>\n

NAVY \u2013 4 \/ 7<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team Theme \u2013 TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA, NADA<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a time when playing 13 regular season games provided an extra opportunity for teams to gain bowl-eligibility. That\u2019s not the case these days. All it means is a 7th win, rather than 6, is required to become bowl-eligible. The problem doesn\u2019t stop there for the Middies this season. That\u2019s because Navy could play 14 games this campaign, if they qualify for the Texas Bowl at season\u2019s end. That would mean the Swabbies would need to win at least 8 games in order to extend a seven-year winning skein. They will also be angling to capture a seventh-straight Commander-In-Chief trophy and an unprecedented fifth-straight rushing title. For a team tied with Utah for the most BCS wins (13) by a non-BCS team since 2003, we won\u2019t discount their chances. Especially behind a scoring defense that was the most improved in the nation last year. PLAY ON: as a dog vs. Pittsburgh (9\/19)<\/p>\n

NOTRE DAME \u2013 *9 \/ 6<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team Theme \u2013 RISE AND STRIKE<\/strong><\/p>\n

After coming thisclose to getting pink-slipped at the conclusion of the 2007 season, Chunky Charlie saved face with a bowl rout over Hawaii last year. Suddenly, the pieces look as if they are about to come together. \u201cYou see elements in place to be a really good team,\u201d exclaimed Weis. It starts with a favorable schedule (no back-to-back road games) and a roster laden with experience (29 SR\u2019s, 29 JR\u2019s and 30 SO\u2019s). Third-year QB Jimmy Claussen appears ready for a breakout year. An amped-up running game, behind a veteran OL that features 5 seniors who have combined for 97 starts, rushed for 254 yards in the spring game. Claussen put it best when he said, \u201cCoach Weis will not get fired because of me. We have to stop messing around and play to our potential.\u201d PLAY ON: vs. Boston College (10\/24)<\/p>\n

Note: <\/strong>Marc Lawrence<\/strong> is a 30-year veteran handicapper. He finished No.1 in the nation (88-63 +25.7 Net Units) in MLB during the 2007 season as documented by Sports Watch in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Comments are Welcome!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Marc Lawrence Has Been Handicapping Sports Professionally Since 1975 – Check Out His Weekly Picks & His DAILY MLB PlAYS Today Here at Capperspicks.com >>><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marc Lawrence from Playbook.com brings us his 2009 Independent schools football preview and betting predictions. Army, Navy and Notre Dame will all have a say on the 2009 National Championship BCS game…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[41,15063,312,319,15055,15056,15057,15059,15058,15060,15061,15062,15054,9912,14022,13474,9913,13479,15064,763,15065],"class_list":["post-11575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cappers","tag-41","tag-army-preview","tag-college-football","tag-college-football-gambling","tag-independent-college-football-teams","tag-independent-ncaa-football","tag-independent-school-football-picks","tag-independent-schools","tag-independent-schools-football-predictions","tag-independent-schools-picks","tag-independent-schools-predictions","tag-independent-schools-preview","tag-independents","tag-marc-lawrence","tag-marc-lawrence-cfb-betting-picks","tag-marc-lawrence-handicapping","tag-marc-lawrence-picks","tag-marc-lawrence-predictions","tag-navy-preview","tag-ncaa-football-betting","tag-notre-dame-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11575"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108478,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11575\/revisions\/108478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}