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PrintWe’re less than a month away from college football season, which means it’s a good time to unveil our five ‘bold’ predictions for 2012. (Also known as our annual attempt at making complete fools of ourselves by predicting things that probably won’t happen.)
Click here to see last year’s predictions.
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1. Bowl-banned Ohio State goes unbeaten
Urban Meyer has orchestrated impressive first-year turnarounds at all three of his previous stops and will make it a fourth in his debut season at Ohio State.
Don’t be fooled by the Buckeyes’ 6-7 record in 2011. They had 10-win potential but were poorly coached. Meyer inherits a roster that remains largely intact, led by promising QB Braxton Miller and a defense that returns nine starters.
Skeptical of Meyer’s ability to make a six-win improvement in his first season? Take a look at his track record at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida:
Bowling Green
- Before: 2-9
- After: 8-3
Utah
- Before: 5-6
- After: 10-2
Florida
- Before: 7-5
- After: 9-3
In all, teams that Meyer has taken over have improved from 14-20 to 27-8 in just one season.
Most promising for Meyer is Ohio State’s schedule. The Buckeyes open with four straight home games and will play eight at home overall, including the season finale against Michigan. Ohio State is a projected favorite in 10 of 12 games.
Bold meter: 10/10
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2. Collin Klein wins Heisman Trophy
Twenty-four players are listed ahead of Klein, who is currently an 80/1 Heisman Trophy longshot. The Kansas State senior quarterback, though, clearly deserves to be in the discussion as a legitimate contender—and will be by the end of September after the Wildcats upset Oklahoma as 16.5-point underdogs.
Klein’s numbers last year were better than a previous Heisman winner, Nebraska’s Eric Crouch, who took home the award in 2001.
Crouch
- Passing: 105-189 (55.6%); 1,510 yards; 7 TD; 10 INT
- Rushing: 203 carries; 1,115 yards; 18 TD
Klein
- Passing: 161-281 (57.3%); 1,918 yards; 13 TD; 6 INT
- Rushing: 317 carries; 1,141 yards; 27 TD
The only concern for Klein is his ability to finish strong, which he clearly didn’t do last year while battling injuries. Klein had 90 yards on 50 carries in his last two regular season games before being held to 42 yards (on 24 attempts) against Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl.
Klein should be a much more polished passer in 2012, making him—and in turn, Kansas State’s offense—even more frustrating to stop.
Bold meter: 10/10
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3. Duke makes a bowl game
Ah, screw it. We’re going back to the well once more.
Duke football will finish 6-6 and make its first postseason appearance since 1994. (And then, the Blue Devils will win their bowl game!)
Sean Renfree is a good quarterback with the potential to be great, and he could find himself playing on Sundays in the future. Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who incorrectly predicts his team will go bowling every year, is challenging his senior signal caller to be more decisive in the passing game.
“Make a decision and do it like hell,” Cutcliffe tells him.
If Renfree’s mental game catches up with his physical skills, Duke’s offense could be one of the ACC’s best. Renfree is the ACC’s active career leader in pass yardage (6,352) and completions (601) and last year he had a completion percentage of 63.4.
Duke will be favored in three of its first four games, and four of its first six games are at home. If the Blue Devils can go 3-1 in the non-con and win their ACC opener at Wake Forest (current 12-game losing streak), this prediction has a chance.
Bold meter: 9/10
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4. NC State upsets FSU, wins ACC title
At even money at 5Dimes, Florida State is the runaway ACC favorite and Phil Steele’s national champion, and that’s completely understandable. The Seminoles are loaded (17 returning starters) and will have one of the country’s best defenses in 2012.
But we’re not ready to buy in just yet.
Florida State has finished with just one 10-win season since the ACC expanded in 2004 and has lost at least two games to an unranked opponent in each of the last seven years. The Seminoles’ first loss to an unranked team this year might come against NC State, our pick at +925 to win the Atlantic crown (and eventually the ACC title at 23-to-1.)
While some pundits aren’t high on the Wolfpack (no preseason magazine has them picked to finish better than third in the division), we like just about everything we see. NC State is a well-coached, veteran team with an experienced quarterback, elite secondary and favorable schedule.
The only glaring concern is NC State’s god-awful running game, which ranked close to last in several categories in 2011.
Mustafa Greene’s return from injury, though, should provide NC State with a bit more explosiveness, and if the Wolfpack can make even marginal gains in that area they’ll have 10-win potential.
Bold meter: 8.5/10
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5. Georgia wins BCS national championship
What, did you think we’d run away from this?
Bold meter: 9/10
