You made my wife happy with that ND prediction- as long as they lose to Michigan State all will be happy in the McLeod household!

I think Florida will be the team to beat this season, with Oklahoma nipping at their heels again in the polls all season. I do agree with you on your 2 loss prediction though- the days of undefeated teams are over.I do envision another BCS mess at the end of the year due to how competitive the NCAA landscape looks this year.

Final prediction- Central Michigan will crack the top 25 this season, with Dan Lefevour getting some national publicity if he stays healthy.

One more- NCAA 10 will actually be a good game. With all the negative hype surrounding the game so far I am very anxious to get my hands on the final product. I just have a feeling I will enjoy the game.

I look forward to your analysis of the game and definitely to the always unpredictable College Football Season!!!! GO CANES'!!!!

i like that UF, UT, OU prediction only if they all play each other twice, they are night and day better than any other teams in the country, that includes USC, Ohio St, Cal, OleMiss you name it.

I don't have a prediction for Ohio State until I see what their running game is going to be like other than Pryor. I see him doing big things though and Ohio State should be in the hunt for another Big Ten title. I definitely think Florida is still the team to beat.

Conference predictions and winners:

SEC: Championship game, Ole Miss vs. Florida. This year's SEC will have some interesting twists and turns. Georgia loses a ton of talent. South Carolina is on the ropes and if Spurrier doesn't get it turned around soon, he never will in Columbia. Is Stephen Garcia the answer? He better be. Lane Kiffin ruffling feathers in Tennessee. The puzzling hire of Gene Chizik at Auburn who then put together a world-class coaching staff and the departure of Florida OC Dan Mullen to try and resurrect Mississippi State. The SEC had arguably the most interesting off-season in college football this season and will be one of the conferences to watch come september.

Ole Miss will be a huge contender feeding off of Ed Orgeron's recruiting and Houston Nutt's outstanding game day coaching. They have one big advantage over LSU. An established QB. That, for me, is the difference. is LSU more talented? You bet. But Ole Miss has a QB. However, Tim Tebow doesn't have a short memory and Ole Miss will be in for a long conference title game come the first saturday in december.

Big 12: Texas vs. Nebraska in the Championship game. This is so disrespect to you Mr. Sanner, but I think texas is the better team this year. No matter what anyone says about last season's controversy, Oklahoma was a better team than Texas even though the horns beat them on a neutral site. Well, Oklahoma returns zero, that's right zero, of their starting offensive linemen from last season that gave Sam Bradford enough to time to drink a six-pack in the pocket. Can Oklahoma block? If they can, watch out again. I just think it will be difficult and they won't be scoring 60+ in 5 straight games like last year.

Nebraska is on the brink. They FINALLY have a good coach to bring them back in Bo Pelini who can recruit and emphasize defense like in the mid-90s with the awesome "black shirts." Nebraska though still has come catching up to do in order to get on the same level as their big-12 south brethren. Texas rolls in this one.

Team on the rise: Baylor
Team on the fall: Tie between Kansas State and Texas A&M

Big 10: Penn State. The advantage here is coaching, believe it or not over Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes. Tressel, for all the great recruiting he does, has stayed stubborn with a vanilla, pro-style offense that is not difficult to scheme against. Ohio State will out-talent you on most saturdays, but when they play a team with equal or better talent, their schemes get exposed. This year will depend on how much of a spread offense Tressel decides to use with Terrelle Pryor. If they go almost exclusively spread with Pryor getting a ton of Freedom, then my pick is the Buckeyes. But, despite all the talent USC lost, it will still be a tough victory for OSU on september 19th in the horseshoe. Right now, Penn State has the coaching advantage. If Tressel changes up his style this year, watch out, it could be OSU in the National Title game AGAIN in 2009 vs. either Texas or Florida.

Team on the rise: Michigan State
Team on the fall: Indiana

Pac-10: USC. I know, this is the boring, vanilla pick here. But let's be honest, when is the last time you picked USC to win this conference and were wrong? It's been awhile. They just continue to reload year in and year out with ridiculous recruiting by Pete Carroll. What SC needs to avoid this year is the annual slip-up they seem to have vs. what seems to be inferior competition. See: Oregon State last year. USC has some problems at QB, which could hurt them and open up the door for either Cal or Oregon, but I just don't see their defense dropping off as much as some say. But, this year more than ever, USC are very beatable. But, until they lose, it is so hard to pick against them. Sorry.

Team on the rise: Tie between UCLA and Oregon State.
Team on the fall: Washington State.

Virginia Tech will shock the nation after beating bama and making a National Championship Run

The ACC Championship Game: Virginia Tech vs. Florida State. Frank Beamer showed how good of a coach he was last year, taking a 3-3 VT team halfway through the season with just 10 returning starters and leading them to the ACC title and a BCS bowl victory. Wow. VT returns 16 starters this year and gets to avoid FSU and Clemson. So their schedule is favorable. They are just too talented. Ga. Tech is a year away.

In the other conference, Florida State is the team to beat. Despite the annual suspensions and academic slip-ups, FSU continues to win. Last year their went 9-4 despite a tumultuous season and more untimely mistakes from Ponder, and Richardson. Look for Florida State's offense to be humming this year with a good RB core of Carlton Jones and Jermaine Thomas. Ponder is a year older and will be better. The only issues for FSU, surprisingly are depth. If someone gets hurt in the secondary or in the front seven on defense, they could be in trouble. But the offense should make up for it and FSU is tied with Ga. Tech for the best offensive line in the conference. Watch for a showdown between two of the ACC's most heralded coaches.

Team on the rise: Georgia Tech and NC State
Team on the fall: Boston College and Virginia

Big East: Rutgers. Yes, this is an interesting, and some may say, stupid pick because of all Rutgers lost on offense (QB Teel, two 1,000 yard receivers), but these are not your father's scarlet knights. They have the depth to replace those three eventually. What sets Rutgers apart from the rest of the conference is their schedule. They host the other "big 3" of the conference, Pitt, WVU and USF and get Pitt on a short week. Big advantage there. The rest of the conference, with the exception of the outstanding Cincy bearcats is a joke and if Rutgers can get through those four teams with just one or two losses, they will cruise.

Team on the rise: South Florida
Team on the fall: Connecticut.

Ugh ohio state better not make the title game. OU either. I'm sure my Gators will have another fantastic year. Hopefully Oklahoma State can make some moves in the big 12 this year. If Penn State actually makes the title game and plays Florida I'd be happy with either one winning (preferably the Gators). Out here on the West Coast where I live, I'm expecting another conference championship for USC. I think Cal will suprise some people around the nation though. Oregon and Oregon State will do pretty good as usual. I'm expecting about 3-4 wins from Washington an WSU will get about 2. Stanford and UCLA will be on the rise. I'm thinking that the Arizona schools will fall a little.

But the onlny thing that will matter is when Florida raises upthe naitonal title once again!

ok guys, sorry for all those posts. I am just a college football fanatic and hopefully you enjoyed them. They were taken directly from my blog where you can find the rest of the minor conference predictions as well as your "best bets" for the 2009 season if you are so inclined. Otherwise, hope you liked them, and GO BLUE!! They won't go 3-9 this year, but they also won't be OSU. . oh well. Have a good season whoever you root for!

No need to apologize Todd, its good to see some in depth opinions on here. I will say that even though it's highly unlikely at the moment, I hope you guys beat Ohio State this year. Best of luck to Michigan. Well except for on the 24th of October .

It's no problem Todd, great insight. One correction for you though, All Big XII and potential All-American candidate Trent Williams will be anchoring the line for OU. So OU does return one starter (two if you count the tight ends). Regardless, good analysis brotha