The Official 2014-2015 Football Season Thread

[|iR|Focalor]

if Carolina gets their shit together this season(preseason ranks them as the 2nd strongest team after FSU), they could go 9-2 I bet. Maybe I'll see a number on the left side of "N. Carolina" for a change, haha.

Maybe. Clemson... I dunno. I ain't paid much attention to them. But Georgia starts off the regular season against them. If Georgia loses to Clemson (and I anticipate they will), it'll probably be a safe bet to assume that North Carolina will too.

Georgia Tech might be another L for North Carolina as well. Ain't paid any attention to them either, but I wanna say that they really haven't lost anyone from last year. Despite the fact that they're a knuckleheaded all-run team, they still run pretty fucking tough. And from what I saw last year, they're finally incorporating more and more passing into the playbook. Probably because they HAVE to in order to free up any running room to maintain their god damn knuckleheaded all-run bullshit that they refuse to be moved from.

Other than that, I'd say VT, Miami, and NC State would be the only other obstacles for what should be easy wins. I'm tempted to say Virginia might be one of them, but probably nah. On the other hand, Virginia has been fucking weird lately. Sometimes they get fiendishly lucky and have a pretty good day despite the fact that on paper they truly suck.

[haunted]

GA tech has a habit of beating UNC. Over the past 4 years, GA Tech has unc 3-1 in games, although one loss was a total fluke. (3 years ago, 24-21 win over UNC with literally the worst calls I've ever seen in a college football game in my life. I was so pissed on that season's thread you may even recall my bitching haha). UNC snagged a close win on them, then GA Tech had that ridiculous high scoring 70-56-ish win over NC. Typically GA Tech beats UNC, then UNC ends up beating several teams that they lost to. This is the "best" UNC team in awhile though APPARENTLY, so I can't help but be hopeful that they might FINALLY be good enough to not get exposed in weird style clashes and gain a little consistency.

I am leaning on NC State(have tickets a few rows up from ground near mid to that game), Miami, clemson, and GA Tech being the toughest games. VA Tech has been slipping the past few years and they didn't do much for recruiting where they seemingly need it. I think VA Tech will be on the notre dame/ECU level or so..

And man, Georgia is favored to beat clemson barely in that one i'd say. Clemson lost a lot more than boyd and watkins. But, I guess expecting the worst is a good way to go about it.

[|iR|Focalor]

Oooooooooh, that's right. I knew Watkins went to the Buffalo Bills (one of the main reasons I think Buffalo's gonna turn it around this year), but I completely forgot that Taj Boyd went to the NFL too. So yeah, maybe Georgia might have a chance.

On the other hand, Georgia no longer has Aaron Murray. I hated seeing Murray going to the Chiefs as a 3rd or 4th backup when he honestly deserves a chance to either start or be the #2 (somewhere other than KC obviously), but it's not so bad. It could be MUCH worse. He's in good company in Kansas City with a decent team, and he can definitely learn a lot from someone like Alex Smith who in my opinion is the most underrated QB in the entire NFL. No one really wants to toot the horn for him, but he's a truly smart QB and the stats (especially last season) prove that all day long.

But like I said, Murray's left us in Athens behind for bigger and bettering things in the NFL hopefully. Now we have this Hutson Mason dude as the starter - who I was slightly impressed with in his very brief appearances two years ago after Murray stepped out of blowout games to let his backup get some experience, but I was definitely NOT impressed with his more lengthy appearances last year when Murray was sidelined with injury. Behind him, there's Faton Bauta, a decent QB but still an even worse proposition than Mason. And not to shit-talk these guys, they're talented, but in the SEC the bar is set VERY high, and I just don't see them reaching it like Murray did. And the #3, Brice Ramsey, is the guy who I'd actually pick to be the starter because he has the best arm out of the 3. However, he's the youngest and he's green as the hedges in the stadium, so it's highly doubtful they'd be ballsy enough to gamble by trusting him running the offense. But in my opinion, if they'd just throw him into it and allow him to make a few mistakes the first several games, he'd improve and easily become on par with someone like Murray before too long.

So I'm kinda already resigned to this year being a big loss and basically a rebuilding period. I'm just hoping that next year, Brice Ramsey will be ready to man up, secure the #1 spot, and lead the team to an SEC title like Murray was never able to pull off.

[Sgt. Dick]

I am interested to see how well FLA will do with their new OC Kurt Roper from Duke.
FLA had a lot of injuries last year, but they were also a pretty bad team on the offensive side of the ball anyway.
Driskel has never impressed me, so I do not have high hopes for him even thou he has another year under his belt.

Even if FLA is a lot better, their record may still be bad because of their schedule this year.
FLA does have home games against 2 cupcakes and one so-so team, but the rest is pretty tough.
They have road games in ALA, Tenn, Vandy, FLA St.   Home games with Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, and South Carolina.
The border war against UGA in Jacksonville.

I predict a 6-6 or 7-5 record.   

[adz1La]

That moment when you realize the team you root for has a fairly decent chance to lose to kentucky...

[|iR|Focalor]

Losing to Kentucky isn't quite as bad as losing to Duke. Personally, I can't see why an SEC team would hire an offensive coordinator from Duke. If they're basing that choice on results displayed by offensive success, then they must've been watching some mislabeled tapes, cuz Duke always stinks. They are to their own conference what Vanderbilt is to the SEC.

[Sgt. Dick]

FLA hired Roper from Duke hoping the success he had there will be even better with SEC quality players.
Duke went 10-4 last year and played in the ACC championship game against FLA St.
FLA St. blew them out, but the did play Texas A&M tight in the Chick-Fil-A bowl, losing 52-48 to Manziel.

Time will tell what he can do with SEC level players.

I hope FLA made a good decision, but I don't know how it will work at this point.

[|iR|Focalor]

Duke went 10-4 last year and played in the ACC championship game against FLA St.
FLA St. blew them out, but the did play Texas A&M tight in the Chick-Fil-A bowl, losing 52-48 to Manziel.

Yeah but... The ACC by divisions last year was very lopsided, with the Atlantic division having FSU and Clemson who were light years better than everyone else in the entire conference, while the 2 best teams the Coastal division had at the end of the season was Duke and Miami, and Duke had already lost to both Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. They did beat Miami I think, but losing to GT and Pitt kinda minimalizes that accomplishment in my book. And with a 10 and 4 record, that was actually their #1 best season in the schools entire history (pretty sure on that one). And while saying you had your best season ever is a good thing to say for yourself, considering they've been playing football since the 1880's, that's actually pretty sad.

Duke's had a habit of losing any talented staff that they get. Steve Spurrier actually got his start coaching Duke. And while he was there, they actually did pretty well. I think he was only there for 3 or 4 years before he went to the SEC. Florida, actually. So I guess in a way you could say that Duke doesn't have as much of a habit of losing good staff... as Florida has a habit of buying all the good staff out from under Duke.

[Sgt. Dick]

If Roper can bring a portion of the success that Spurrier did, FLA made a good call 

[haunted]

<MoIOM|haunted> college football is in a week or so
<MoIOM|haunted> Yewwwwwwwwww
<MoIOM|haunted> Where's focalor
<MoIOM|haunted> there's no one to Yew with me
<MoIOM|haunted> Yewwwwwwwwwwwwww

[|iR|Focalor]

Yeeeeewwwwwwwwwww...gling beer is what to drink when watching football.

[haunted]

The final preseason rankings are up going into week 1:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings

Hah, I know y'all have heard me mention how UNC was the 2nd ranking ACC team after florida state, nooooooot anymore. They must've liked when Clemson has done in between the spring game and now. Georgia and LSU at 12th and 13th, respectively, unc at 23rd, and sarge's gators are probably at about ~27th.

didn't realize notre dame was ranked sooo technically that's another ranked team we play. I even forget their situation... I guess their IN the ACC, just for football(or was it basketball?) but they're not a part of either division? i forget.

[haunted]

So I'm looking at various schedules(mainly ACC teams that UNC plays, just thinking about UNC's likelihood of taking the division), and I come across Notre Dame's schedule. They have a tougher schedule than normal... 5 ranked opponents, plus michigan, louisville, and northwestern.

Looks like Duke has the easiest schedule by far. VA Tech's is a little easier than UNC's probably, GA Tech's is a little tougher. NC State's and Miami's schedules being the toughest.

[|iR|Focalor]

Notre Dame isn't ACC. I think they're one of the few "independents" along with Army and Navy and a couple others in their own little single division conference.

[haunted]

Yeah I know, I'm referring to their new partnership/affiliation with the ACC, it's either in basketball or football yet they're not included in the divisions. It's kind of weird.