College Football Notes – 03.24.15

I have been caught up in March Madness the past few weeks, so I haven’t done as much reading about college football as I usually do.

But I did go 5-1 in the opening rounds of the tournament, and the boys absolutely killed it last week, going 14-7 overall. You can check out all their picks and projections in the college basketball section of the site.

So I have a lot of college football notes to post today. Let’s get to it.

As spring practice begins, five questions for Pitt football

I’ve posted several articles about Pitt this year, and ere is another good one. I think the Panthers could have a solid season, and I am especially looking to back the under in the right situation. Narduzzi should have this defense playing at an improved level.

Predicting College Football’s Cinderellas for 2015 Season

Speaking of Pitt, they are listed along with Cal, NC State, Tennessee and Texas Tech in this article.

College football Cinderellas: Which mid-majors could crash the playoff?

NONE!  If you want the longer answer you can read the article. It does a good job of breaking down a handful of the better mid-major programs that could all have solid 2015 seasons.

Penn State Nittany Lions 2015 Spring Football Preview

Athlon Spring preview of Penn State. The Nittany Lions are set at QB and on defense. Question marks remain everywhere else, especially along the OL, which was atrocious last season but should be somewhat improved this year.

2015 CFN Pre-Preseason Rankings

GoSooners comments:

“The Baylor defense will be phenomenal.” Really? Baylor always looks great against bad to mediocre competition, but never have had a dominant defense against good teams-yet. As for TCU, they should be as good as last year on offense. But they lose 6 out of their top 7 tacklers on defense. Which means they’ll be in some tussles this year. Especially when they go to KSU, OU and OSU. I also think Bama is ranked a little high. The SEC West division will be a tossup this year.

College football: Virginia Tech aiming for an upswing

It kind of looks like Beamer’s best days (and teams) are in the rear view mirror. The Hokies have been sliding for several years.

Stanford offense continues to sparkle in football practices

I’ve already written about how the Stanford offense could be significantly better this season. I believe with an experienced OL, the Cardinal will be a lot better in the red zone this season, which should significantly improve their scoring output in 2015.

Utah Football 2015 Offensive Line Preview

Good summary of the Ute OL, where it looks like they will be starting 5 Samoan Mormons. LOL! Looks like those Mormon missionaries are having a lot of success “recruiting” OL from that region.

Cyler Miles doesn’t plan on playing for UW Huskies in 2015

I had read several articles where he was taking a “leave of absence” to deal with personal issues and would miss spring practice. Now it looks as though he won’t be returning this season. Miles started 12 of 13 games last year (was suspended for the opener) and was definitely the best QB on the roster …. but that wasn’t really saying much as he wasn’t really that good.

He was only 9th in the Pac-12 in passing efficiency and 11th in passing yards per game (199.8 ypg). He did have some mobility (307 yards rushing). I guess his best asset was that he didn’t turn the ball over much (4 ints). From a production perspective, I can’t imagine UW will have much problem replacing him.

USC spring practice: 5 things we’ve learned

This is actually the 5th part of a 5-part series. The links to the other 4 are included in the article. This one covers the OL, where the Trojans are loaded with talent, and have more depth then they have had in several years. 

ASU’s Norvell: Spring will be about establishing identity

And of course I always save the best for last. Devils need to replace both OT starters and Strong at WR …. and now Cameron Smith at WR (ACL in spring practice). Replacing those guys at receiver is going to be tough. 

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