Notre Dame, Northwestern headed to BCS; Alabama and Stanford will struggle
1. Georgia will start 0-2, yet Mark Richt will be back in 2012
After a close loss to Boise State in the season opener, Georgia will get its doors blown off by South Carolina. In the aftermath, rumors will begin to surface that Mark Richt's firing is imminent.
However, Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity and UGA President Michael Adams will give Richt one more chance.
The faith will pay off. Once the Bulldogs get past the first two weeks, it'll be a cakewalk the rest of the way. UGA will run the table and reel off 10 straight wins to reach the Capital One Bowl and get a shot at its first Top 10 finish since 2007.
2. The echoes will be awoken at Notre Dame
If not for the universal distrust and dislike of Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish would be a consensus national championship favorite.
The Irish have momentum. The team finished 2010 with four straight wins including a thrashing of a Top 15 Utah team, the first win over Southern Cal since 2001 and an emphatic Sun Bowl romp against Miami. They also have experience and a tailor-made schedule. The team returns 16 starters, including quarterback Dayne Crist, receiver Michael Floyd and linebacker Manti Te'o, and will be favored in 11 of 12 games.
Plus, Brian Kelly-coached teams traditionally make major leaps in his second year on the job. And Notre Dame was better last fall than its 8-5 record. Three of the five losses came by four points or fewer.
It's been predicted so many times only to be wrong, but this time it's going to happen. All signs point to thunder shaking down from the sky once more in South Bend. The return to glory is back on.
3. Stanford will disappoint
Andrew Luck is the best quarterback in America. But he's got a new, unproven coach and an almost completely new offensive line in one of the nation's most competitive conferences.
Luck won't have the Heisman-winning, BCS-qualifying storybook ending to his career that so many predict. Chances are Stanford will have at least one loss — if not two or three — when it hosts a more talented Oregon squad on Nov. 12 in the Pac-12 game of the year.
There will be a high point though. The Cardinal will upset undefeated Notre Dame in the regular season finale on Nov. 26 to keep the Fighting Irish out of the BCS National Championship Game.
4. Ohio State will beat Wisconsin and Penn State and still lose its division
How? It's pretty simple. The Buckeyes will take care of business in home games against the Badgers and Nittany Lions. However, due to earlier losses to Nebraska and Purdue (the Boilermakers always seem to get OSU), they'll be unable to clinch the division heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Instead, they'll need either a win over Michigan or a Wisconsin victory over Penn State to win the Leaders Division.
It all falls apart from there. First, the Wolverines and Brady Hoke pull off a rousing upset in Ann Arbor. Then, Russell Wilson blows another division title on the last day of the regular season when Penn State upends Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium to end a disappointing year for the Badgers.
With both developments, the Lions are king of the Leaders with a 6-2 league mark to Ohio State's 5-3 and head to Indianapolis.
5. The new kids on the block will thrive
Nebraska will win the Big Ten in its first year of membership after avenging its lone regular season loss to Penn State in the conference championship game.
Boise State will win the Mountain West on the strength of a controversial last-second win against TCU that sends the Horned Frogs to the Big East angry.
And Utah will answer the critics who claim it lacks the depth to compete on a weekly basis in the Pac-12 by taking advantage of a favorable schedule and Southern Cal's postseason ban to win the Pac-12 South.
6. James Franklin will begin to turn dreams into realities at Vanderbilt
You heard it here first: Vandy is going to a bowl game this season. A perfect 4-0 record in nonconference play is well within reach, and the Commodores have the talent to beat Ole Miss and Kentucky — both which come to Nashville — and get to six wins under first-year coach James Franklin.
The running hypothetical question in SEC circles has been whether or not Alabama coach Nick Saban could win the SEC at Vanderbilt. With the energy Franklin has brought the program and the recruiting commitments he's lined up, maybe it's time to wonder if James Franklin could win the SEC at Vandy.
7. Virginia Tech will stumble
The Hokies have become a trendy national championship pick because of their extremely favorable schedule, which provides itself quite nicely to a potential 12-0 record heading into the ACC Championship Game.
But it's Virginia Tech. The Hokies always lose a game they shouldn't. 2011 won't be any different. Tech is going to falter at some point, and it'll likely do so when least expected (see, James Madison last fall and East Carolina in 2008).
Our best guess is the Hokies' annual slip-up occurs when they travel to Marshall on Sept. 24.
The Thundering Herd finished strong in 2010, winning four of its last five games. It returns nine starters from what was one of Conference-USA's top defensive units last season. It played 28 freshmen last fall, the second-most in the nation. And it has proven it isn't scared of the big boys when playing in Huntington. Marshall took West Virginia to overtime last season before losing.
That being said, all the Hokies will do after that is run the table and finish 11-1. However, the lone loss will loom large after Tech falls to Florida State in the conference title game. A one-loss ACC runner-up Virginia Tech is BCS worthy. A two-loss Hokie squad is headed back to the Chick-fil-A Bowl for the third time in six seasons.
8. Alabama will be held back by its offense
The Crimson Tide will be lights out on defense and likely lead the SEC in total defense for an unprecedented fourth straight season.
But the offense will keep the team from reaching greatness. A.J. McCarron is unproven at quarterback and he won't have much help with such a young receiving corps. As a result, defenses will key on Trent Richardson and load the box at will, meaning points will be at a premium for the Tide.
Defense will ensure Alabama has another 10-win season. But a disastrous two-week stretch in November will end any national title hopes. The Tide will lose to LSU in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Nov. 5, then travel 90 miles west on Nov. 12 and fall at Mississippi State, giving Dan Mullen his defining win in Starkville.
9. Northwestern will make the BCS
The "PersaStrong" campaign Northwestern has created to promote quarterback Dan Persa's Heisman Trophy candidacy is a bit gimmicky. However, there's nothing gimmicky about Persa's legitimate shot to end his year in New York.
Persa was brilliant last fall, leading the Wildcats to a 7-3 start after a thrilling last-minute win over Iowa. However, Persa suffered an Achilles injury throwing the game-winning pass against the Hawkeyes and was lost for the season as the 'Cats proceeded to lose their final three games in ugly fashion.
With a healthy Persa, a new long-term contract extension for coach Pat Fitzgerald and a manageable schedule (Penn State and Michigan State at home, and no Wisconsin or Ohio State face-offs), Northwestern is set for a historic year.
The Wildcats will win a school record 11 games (the only loss at Nebraska on Nov. 5) and head to the Orange Bowl as an at-large team.
10. Oklahoma will live up to expectations
Bob Stoops has a team capable of getting him back to the kind of big games he built a moniker out of, and it will do so.
The Sooners have the nation's best offense. They'll have the 2011 Heisman winner in quarterback Landry Jones. And, they'll have a perfect 12-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in the nation at the end of the regular season. Florida State will be a tough out in Tallahassee, and Texas A&M and Oklahoma State will make valiant runs in classic Big 12 shoot-outs, but OU is too talented to not make it to New Orleans.
11. LSU will win the national championship
Forget the bar brawl scandal. The Tigers are the nation's most complete team, no matter who plays quarterback.
As long as LSU's young but athletic defensive secondary holds up, the Bayou Bengals will be able to neutralize each explosive offensive attack it encounters, starting with Oregon in the season opener. And as long as receiver Russell Shepard misses no more than the game against the Ducks, Jarrett Lee, Zach Mettenberger or even Jordan Jefferson will be set with tailback Spencer Ware behind them and a strong offensive line in front.
Plus, LSU has what no other team has with Leslie Edwin Miles as its coach. Many believe Miles an idiot. His players don't. They trust him and his unconventional calls, because all they ever do is pan out and lead to win after win.
Tigers 31, Sooners 28. The best team in the land hails from the Southeastern Conference. Again.