2008 Previews: UCLA

UCLA is No. 21 on our list. Previews of all 65 BCS conference schools, plus Notre Dame and state schools, will be posted daily in no particular order. To view all previews, click here.

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to have Rick Neuheisel back in college football.

From getting fired for an office pool to his teams’ penchant for lawlessness to one of his players at Colorado allegedly threatening to kill him at practice (I wish I could find the 10-year-old ESPN mag story on this but can’t), there’s bound to be fun.

And that’s not even mentioning his love of playing acoustic guitar on his TV show.

He and Pete Carroll are bound to get along famously in LA.

He returns to his alma mater to find the deck stacked against him this season.

The Bruins return just seven starters and virtually everyone is coming off surgery from injuries suffered last season or in spring practice.

Long-time starter Ben Olson is back but is coming off foot surgery, so Kevin Craft could very well be the starter for at least a portion of the season.

They’ve only got two linemen coming back, and the only skill player returning is a tight end.

Defensively the Bruins weren’t bad last year, but only return four starters. Although defense doesn’t seem to be the question mark.

With a brutal non-conference slate, and the fact that the entire Pac-10 plays each other so they can’t get lucky and miss someone and replace them with a cupcake, it’s probably going to be a tough year one for the Rick Neuheisel Experience.

Here’s the schedule:

Sept. 1: Tennessee
The only thing that will keep this close is the Vols are going cross-country with a new quarterback.

Sept. 13: at BYU
The Cougars are going to be very good this year.

Sept. 20: Arizona
UCLA will have a chance in this one since it’s at home, but the Wildcats are on a collision course with their bowl destiny this season.

Sept. 27: Fresno State
The Bulldogs are also looking strong in 2008.

Oct. 4: Washington State
This is probably going to be the Bruins’ first win of the year.

Oct. 11: at Oregon
Eugene is no easy place to get a win.

Oct. 18: Stanford
But at least they’ll always have Stanford to kick around.

Oct. 25: at California
UCLA solidified the Golden Bears’ downward spiral with a win last year. Don’t look for a repeat in Berkeley.

Nov. 8: Oregon State
UCLA needs this one, and should be able to get it.

Nov. 15: at Washington
Neuheisel returns to Seattle!

Nov. 28: at Arizona State
The Friday Night Massacre.

Dec. 6: USC
An ugly finish to an ugly year.

The Bruins are probably looking at a 4-8 start to the Neuheisel era.

2008 Previews: South Carolina

South Carolina is 20th in our preview lineup. Previews of all 65 BCS conference schools, plus Notre Dame and state schools, will be posted daily in no particular order. To view all previews, click here.

The Gamecocks were one of the strangest stories of the 2007 season.

With wins over Georgia and Kentucky, SC was 6-1 and No. 6 in the polls in the middle of October.

Then everything went to pot.

They lost to Vanderbilt. They blew a huge rally against Tennessee. they got eaten alive by Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, and then by Tim Tebow and then lost on a last-second field goal to Clemson.

All of a sudden they were 6-6 and out of the bowl picture.

This year should be better, because there’s plenty of returning experience and a slightly easier schedule.

The Gamecocks must find a solid starter at quarterback, which should be a bit easier since they no longer have to deal with headcase Blake Mitchell. Chris Smelley performed well in several starts last year, but he’ll get a push from Tommy Beecher.

Virtually the entire receiving corps returns, but the Gamecocks will have a tough time replacing do-everything running back Cory Boyd. They return a pretty large stable of backs, but only one with a significant amount of carries.

The offensive line returns three starters.

Defensively, a unit that looked superb at times until the Arkansas and Florida games returns 10 starters and plenty of capable backups and should be a team strength, if they’ve gotten those terrible memories out of their heads.

If Florida and Georgia weren’t so good SC would probably have a decent shot at contending in the East. Otherwise, I’m sure the Gamecock faithful will be perfectly happy with another bowl trip.

Here’s the schedule:

Aug. 28: N.C. State
If you’re tuning into ESPN Thursday Night Football looking for offensive fireworks, you have come to the wrong place, my friend.

Sept. 4: at Vanderbilt
Revenge City in Nashville.

Sept. 13: Georgia
Steve Spurrier likes nothing better than beating Georgia (except maybe beating Tennessee) and they’ll give the Bulldogs all they want.

Sept. 20: Wofford
Next.

Sept. 27: UAB
A nice tune-up for a couple of big road games.

Oct. 4: at Ole Miss
This is one the Gamecocks should win, but it’s dangerous.

Oct. 11: at Kentucky
See above.

Oct. 18: LSU
SC could very well come into this one 6-1 again and could catch the Tigers looking ahead to their big date with Georgia the next week.

Nov. 1: Tennessee
There’s plenty of reason to think South Carolina could win this one, but I like Tennessee this year. Assuming they get some strong play under center.

Nov. 8: Arkansas
No McFadden, No Jones, no problem at home.

Nov. 15: at Florida
Still Tebow, still big problems.

Nov. 29: at Clemson
Clemson has, for the most part, always been able to beat the Gamecocks, even in those horrible underachieving years.

SC should post a 7-5 record, maybe even 8-4.

2008 Previews: Virginia Tech

Preview No. 19 is Virginia Tech. Previews of all 65 BCS conference schools, plus Notre Dame and state schools, will be posted daily in no particular order. To view all previews, click here.

Virginia Tech wins with defense and special teams.

Always have, and always will (at least as long as Frank Beamer is roaming the sidelines).

This year, however, the offense is going to have to resemble something a Division I football team would put on the field.

Most of the offensive problems last year stemmed from an awful offensive line. But four starters return, so you’d have to think they’d be better.

Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor will probably continue to split time at quarterback. Neither was great last year, although from my limited perspective it seemed the offense performed better under Taylor.

They kicked their leading returning rusher off the team, so very little rushing yardage (outside of Taylor) returns, and they lost their top four receivers.

Defensively, the Hokies return only one lineman, one linebacker and two defensive backs, and the seven they lost were all NFL-caliber prospects. So there’s bound to be a learning curve, but if we’ve learned one thing about Beamerball over the years it’s that he won’t have a unit out there that can’t compete.

Tech has a new placekicker and punter, but that again shouldn’t be a problem under Beamer. And they should be good in the return game.

With just about any other team I’d say there’s cause for alarm, but Tech has been too strong for too long to lay think they can’t get it done. And they’re not playing a single team they won’t be favored to beat.

Here’s the schedule:

Aug. 30: vs. East Carolina (Charlotte, N.C.)
East Carolina will play them tough, especially with all the new players roaming about. There’s a mild upset alert here, but VT should be able to pull it out.

Sept. 6: Furman
Someone stop the madness.

Sept. 13: Georgia Tech
No worries here.

Sept. 20: at North Carolina
Big worries in this one. Carolina on the road might be the toughest game on their schedule.

Sept. 27: at Nebraska
Of course, there’s always a trip to Lincoln. But these aren’t the Huskers of old.

Oct. 4: Western Kentucky
WKU won’t top this hill *RIMSHOT*

Oct. 18: at Boston College
There will probably be some bad feelings after the Hokies completely blew that game in Blacksburg last year. And this BC team is nowhere near as good.

Oct. 25: at Florida State
This one could be dangerous, but FSU’s just not good enough yet to win this one.

Nov. 6: Maryland
A close win here.

Nov. 13: at Miami
It’ll be a couple years before this rivalry resembles what it was in the early-to-mid part of this decade.

Nov. 22: Duke
David Cutcliffe’s presence won’t change anything about this one.

Nov. 29: Virginia
Virginia is not a good football team this year.

So there you have it. When you look at this schedule, there’s not really a game they should lose. But this team’s not good enough to go undefeated. I say they’ll go 10-2. Where those losses come from is anyone’s guess.

2008 Previews: Louisville

Preview No. 18 takes us to the Bluegrass State and the Louisville Cardinals. Previews of all 65 BCS conference schools, plus Notre Dame and state schools, will be posted daily in no particular order. To view all previews, click here.

I hadn’t had much of a chance to see what Louisville had this year prior to really poring over their information for this preview.

They are in trouble.

Coming off a miserable 6-6 season where they started in the Top 10, the Cardinals return only seven starters (3 on offense, 4 on defense) and bring in two new coordinators.

Jeff Brohm (older brother of ace departed quarterback Brian) steps in after coaching quarterbacks for several years, and they brought in Michigan’s Ron English (who didn’t exactly have a sterling group last season) to run the defense.

Replacing Brohm will be Hunter Cantwell, who only threw 14 passes last year but has shown himself to be more than capable, even starting a few games in 2006.

But the Cardinals must replace three spots on the offensive line and have no backs who have averaged more than 50 yards per game. Plus they lose four of their top five receivers.

As mentioned earlier, Louisville only returns four starters on defense, but that could be a good thing since they gave up an average of more than 31 points and 416 yards per game last season (I maintain that they should’ve always gone for it on fourth down and used an onsides kick after every kickoff).

But with nobody returning in the linebacking corps and the probability of relying on JUCO transfers (always an iffy proposition) across the board things don’t look good for Louisville this season.

At least they’re saved by having four straight games at home (and having all their tough games but two at home) and mixing in plenty of cupcakes with their two good non-conference games.

Here’s the schedule:

Aug. 31: Kentucky
This one’s more of a toss-up than I initially thought, but Kentucky is equally in flux this year.

Sept. 6: Tennessee Tech
This one will probably be good for Louisville’s annual football gods’ wrath-inducing, run-up-the-score blowout.

Sept. 17: Kansas State
The Wildcats are certainly capable of coming into Louisville and winning (it’s virtually the same team that beat Texas in Austin and nearly beat Auburn in Jordan-Hare last year), but I think the Cardinals can take it.

Sept. 27: Connecticut
The Cardinals need to win this one if they’re going to be bowl eligible.

Oct. 10: at Memphis
There’s a pretty funny story as to why this game is being played, and the game should be a laugher as well.

Oct. 18: Middle Tennessee
The Blue Raiders rung up 42 points on UL last year, and you can probably expect another shootout this time around.

Oct. 25: South Florida
The Cardinals will no doubt remember the drubbing they took in Tampa last year, but it probably won’t be much better at home this year.

Nov. 1: at Syracuse
And they’ll no doubt remember their inexplicable home loss to the Orange last year, as well.

Nov. 8: at Pittsburgh
I had initially called this one a toss-up in my Pitt preview, but I’m more inclined to call this a Panthers win now.

Nov. 14: Cincinnati
This is a toss-up, pure and simple.

Nov. 22: West Virginia
This will probably be closer than it should be, but the Mountaineers are too good.

Dec. 4: at Rutgers
Another toss-up, but probably a loss being on the road.

This team could be as bad as 4-8 or as good as 9-3. This won’t be a very good football team, but with the schedule there’s no reason they can’t be at least .500.

2008 Previews: Washington

Washington is Team No. 17 on our preview list. Previews of all 65 BCS conference schools, plus Notre Dame and state schools, will be posted daily in no particular order. To view all previews, click here.

As I pored over the available information on Washington I wound up feeling a bit depressed.

While the Huskies are still young virtually everywhere, they do return a superstar quarterback in Jake Locker, plenty of unproven talent at running back and wide receiver and enough playmakers here and there to be pretty good this year.

Unfortunately for them, their schedule is just too tough.

They’ve got three non-conference games they probably aren’t winning (although it wouldn’t surprise me if they somehow won two of them), and while they’re likely to be a much better team this year, the rest of the conference has passed them by so thoroughly there’s virtually no chance of them winning more than three conference games.

All that equals bad news for coach Ty Willingham, who narrowly escaped being fired last year. The Willingham Watch will probably be out in full force after Week 3.

Here’s the schedule:

Aug. 30: at Oregon
Going to Eugene with a young team is no way to start a season.

Sept. 6: BYU
The Huskies really shouldn’t win this game, but they did beat Boise State last year in Seattle so the possibility exists. They’ll make the Cougars work for it at the very least.

Sept. 13: Oklahoma
This will be a bad loss. A BAD loss.

Sept. 27: Stanford
Quite likely to be win No. 1 on the year.

Oct. 4: at Arizona
The Wildcats should be pretty good this year, but we’ll get a feel for how good Washington can be in this one, win or lose.

Oct. 18: Oregon State
UDub is going to have to have this one.

Oct. 25: Notre Dame
Athlon calls this one a toss-up. I think the Irish will be greatly improved.

Nov. 1: at USC
Another bad loss.

Nov. 8: Arizona State
See: Oklahoma and USC.

Nov. 15: UCLA
I could see the possibility of an upset here, especially with whatever leftover Rick Neuheisel feelings there are in Seattle, but Neuheisel should have the Bruins moving forward by this point of the year.

Nov. 22: at Washington State
Even with all these bad years over the last five seasons, the Huskies have still managed to keep things even with the Cougs. And they should be able to go on the road and take this one.

Dec. 6: at California
And one final bad loss to end the year.

I don’t really see any way with that schedule that UDub can do better than 3-9 or 4-8. They might get to five wins, but regardless it looks like another down year in Seattle. Will the promise of stronger years ahead be enough to save Willingham for another year?