College Football Notes – 02.17.15

 

 

5 Reasons Why Big Ten Football Will Be Best Conference in 2015

Another Bleacher Report slideshow, but it has some good info. Wasn’t everyone talking about how bad the Big Ten was last year about this time?

Now they’re the best conference in college football? YEAH RIGHT!

I still only see one elite team and (maybe) two really good teams (Michigan State & Wisconsin). After that mediocrity sets in pretty quick. They (the B1G) needs Michigan to get back on track before they can even think about laying claim to the best conference in college football …. IMO!

SEC players poised to break out in 2015

Good, short article on a handful of SEC players to keep an eye on in 2015.

What is more important for the DEFENSE, total yardage or yards per play?

Phil Steele stating the obvious.

When is 390 yds better than 460 yds?

Some more good info from Phil Steele. Each FBS team’s offensive production is broken down based on the competition they faced. 

The 2015 top 10 based on recruiting rankings

Nothing new here. All the usual suspects are listed.

USC wants results to match recruiting

Related to the above recruiting article, USC has the best “recruited” players in the Pac-12. But they are still a year (or two) away from having a complete roster. The Trojans return 4 offensive lineman, and despite losing All-American DT Leonard Williams, they return a lot of talent along the DL.

We already know they are loaded at the skill positions on offense and in the back seven on defense. So if Sark can get a little injury “luck” the Trojans certainly have the talent to be a playoff team.

 

Why Tennessee can win SEC East

This is another ESPN Insider article, so if you have a subscription, you can click the link above. If not, I’ll summarize the article for you.

The article states “just about every factor on this team points toward the Volunteers being a front-runner for the SEC East title,” and then goes on to list these factors.

 

Joshua Dobbs can be one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC

[box] Last year’s turnaround can be pegged to when Dobbs was put into the starting lineup in Week 9. Over the course of the rest of the season, Dobbs ranked 21st in Total QBR among Power 5 quarterbacks (72.9). It should be noted this statistic takes into account the strength of opponent and thus is a strong indicator that Dobbs was performing at an upper-tier level.[/box]

 

Improved rushing attack

[box] Dobbs also serves as one of the cornerstones of a powerful Tennessee ground game. From Week 9 through the end of the season, Dobbs ranked 10th in the SEC in rushing yards (469), tied for second in rushing touchdowns (eight) and third in rushing plays that gained 10 or more yards (20).

The other cornerstone is power back Jalen Hurd, who hit his full stride after Dobbs took over the QB job, by ranking sixth in the conference in rushing yards per game (80.8) and tied for fifth in rushes of 10 or more yards (16) from Week 9 through the end of the season. The combined efforts of Dobbs and Hurd give the Volunteers a case for having the best QB/RB combination in the SEC.[/box]

I did not realize that Dobbs had so many yards rushing over the final half (?) of the season. If he maintains his late season passing numbers, he could definitely be one of the top dual-threats in the SEC.

 

Deep receiving corp

[box] Tennessee might have the deepest and most talented receiving corps in the SEC. The Volunteers return nine players who caught 10 or more passes last year, and seven of those players caught 20 or more passes.

South Carolina was the only other SEC club to lay claim to as many 20-plus reception pass-catchers as Tennessee last season, and the Gamecocks are losing four of those players to the NFL draft.[/box]

 

Improved offensive line

This is where I see Tennessee making a big jump. Last year they had to replace all 5 starters on the OL, and it showed early in the season “as Tennessee allowed 32 sacks through Week 8, a mark that placed last among Power 5 teams in that time frame.”

[box] Things turned around on this front over the last five games, as the Volunteers allowed only 11 sacks (tied for 31st among Power 5 teams) and had three games with only zero or one sack allowed.[/box]

The Vols return 4 starters along the OL in 2015, so look for this unit to show significant improvement over last season.

 

Defense

Tennessee returns 8 starters on defense including freshman All-Americandefensive lineman Derek Barnett.

[box] Stats LLC indicates they return 11 players who had 300 or more defensive snaps last season. All told, Tennessee’s returning defenders accounted for 31 of their 35 sacks from last season, 74 of 91 TFLs, 32 of 43 pass breakups, 27 of 36 quarterback hurries and 11 of 16 interceptions.[/box]

Now that expectations are back in Knoxville, we shall see if the Vols can come through on the field in 2015.

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