[suicidekings]

With about 2 weeks to go, I have a few teams on my mind coming into this season where I expect to find opportunities. I'll write something about each of them as I have time. In no particular order:

1) Michigan State

The Spartans, led by Maxwell, were horrible last year on offense. Their passing game was almost non-existent, often leaving Le'Veon Bell as their sole offensive threat on the field. To make matters worse, there was very little depth at tailback, so MSU truly was a one-dimensional team most of the time. Watching Spartans games in 2012 was boring, and sometimes a bit depressing.

Fast forward to this year, and we see Maxwell returning as the likely starting QB, and Le'Veon Bell gone to the NFL. However, MSU returns 4 of their top 5 receivers, and has a host of new RBs competing for carries. Dantonio has selected (converted LB/QB) Riley Bullough as the starting tailback, hoping that he'll be able to establish himself in the MSU run game. I actually like this move, despite it getting a lot of criticism. Bullough is a big presence (6'2", 232 lb) that doesn't shy away from contact and brings a similar skill-set as the departed Bell. After watching a bit of Bullough's film, I was fairly impressed with his mobility and toughness (albeit playing at different positions). I actually think he's going to work out quite well as the #1 tailback. Following behind him, I expect Nick Tompkins to ultimately be the most dangerous RB in the Spartans backfield this season. A smaller, quicker player (5'9", 185 lb), this kid really impressed me in watching his film. He's equally comfortable running up the gut or bouncing the ball outside, he has the speed to be a true breakaway runner (he posted a 4.38 40yd time), and most importantly, his film is loaded with runs where he's fighting for extra yards after contact. He'll work his way up.

In 2012, when you break down the MSU offense, the team was actually a pass-heavy offense, with Maxwell being asked to throw the ball more than he should have. The presence of Le'Veon Bell as the one-man show in the backfield made the Spartans appear to be a more run-heavy team, but that wasn't really the case. Now, with more depth in the backfield, MSU is going to be able to operate a more balanced offense, working behind a fairly experienced Offensive Line. This means less pressure on the quarterback in 2013, whether it ends up being Maxwell, Connor Cook, or Tyler O'Connor. Dantonio plans on operating with 2 QBs to start the year at least, forcing one player to step up to ultimately take the starting QB spot. I think it will be Connor Cook, and that we're going to see a much more capable offense from the Spartans this year.

On defense, there's not as much to talk about. The 2012 Spartans were a top 5 defensive team, lacking a bit in generating pass rush, but featuring an incredible secondary and a very stout front 7. The Spartans' run defense was exceptionally good as well, frequently penetrating opponents' OLs to take down runners in the backfield. MSU's starting linebacker trio of Max Bullough, Taiwan Jones, and Denicos Allen is one of the best in college football. Strong depth in their defensive personnel should allow them to overcome the 2 losses in their front 4 with very little disruption and MSU will be a top 5 defense again this year.

On special teams, Mike Sadler led the Big 10 in punting last year and Michael Geiger is coming into this season as the #1 ranked placekicker in the 2013 recruitment class. In returns, MSU has several players that can handle the ball.

Overall, the Spartans were a bit of a tough luck team in 2012, playing 9 games that ended by a margin of 4 points or less. However, they have one of the best coaches in CFB, a solid 15 returning starters, and have lots of options available at QB/RB. They're being picked to finish 3rd at best in the Legends Division by almost everyone, but I really like a lot of what this team is bringing to the table. Their schedule is very heavily backloaded, with their first nine weeks being: Western Michigan, South Florida, Youngstown State, @Notre Dame, BYE, @Iowa, Indiana, Purdue, @Illinois. After that they finish off the season with: Michigan, @Nebraska, @Northwestern, Minnesota, leaving three of their four toughest games for November, when they will have worked out the uncertainties staring them in the face to start the season. This is not a particularly tough schedule (avoiding Wisconsin and Ohio State), and with an elite defense, the Spartans really only need to improve their offensive production by a bit to make them a legitimate contender for the Legends division.

Final point: The 7-6 Spartans finished the 2012 season ranked 15th in F/+, ahead of Boise State (11-2, 21st in F/+), Clemson (11-2, 22nd in F/+), and Louisville (11-2, 28th in F/+). If you look back to 2011, two other teams stand out in the same way. Texas A&M was 7-6 and 15th in F/+ that year, and Notre Dame was 8-5 and 13th in F/+. The Irish, in particular, make for an interesting comparison, as a team that featured elite defensive talent and just needed a little more from the team to push them to a 12-0 season in 2012. With a manageable schedule, I think the Spartans win 10 or more games in 2013, while largely being undervalued in the betting market.

[chunk]

Good write up and I tend to agree here. I have them rated 26th right now in relation to all teams. Where would you see them at this point?

[BigdaddyQH]

I think that MSU has an excellent chance to win the Big 10 Legends this season, but all that will get them is a nice bowl game.

[SamDiamond]

Solid work SK.

[M.W.]

Underrated teams include Memphis, UNLV, Akron, Missouri, Oklahoma State

[Urbanwildlife]

Not sure why you would consider OSU underrated when they are the favorite to win there conference. UNLV? Not sure where you come up with that one, as they are going to be as horrible as they were last year.

[SamDiamond]

Underrated teams include Memphis, UNLV, Akron, Missouri, Oklahoma State

Not ripping you, I just disagree.

I think this is the last year for Bobby Hauck at UNLV. 6-32 isn't getting it done.

Missouri's first four games are a joke, so they should head to Vandy 4-0. But that is where it should end, and if it doesn't-- the next 3 weeks against Georgia Florida and South Carolina will cause them some problems.

Memphis is an odd team.

Memphis won 3 straight to end the year last year, and that was the first time they did that since 2008. But the three teams they beat were horrific-- Tulane, UAB and Southern Miss.

That's some bad football among those teams. Can you get value from that? I don't know.

Good luck either way.

[EzekielMowatt]

There are things to like with Memphis, team headed in right direction with 2nd year coach they're excited about. Supposed good offensive coach the players play for. Lot of returning starters on both sides, a good RB , a good DLine.

[suicidekings]

Underrated teams include Memphis, UNLV, Akron, Missouri, Oklahoma State

To be honest, I'm still compiling my thoughts on the underrated teams, but OSU has no place there. They're a strong candidate for winning the Big 12, and it's not a secret. Their first week line jumped from -6.5 to -13.5 on opinion money alone. Van Gundy knows what he's doing, and this team will be strong, but if anything they are overrated coming into this season.

Akron, Memphis, UNLV and Missouri straight up do not belong on this list at all. I'm not interested in bad teams that could turn out to be slightly less bad than expected. I'm talking about teams that at times will look elite and will be a tough opponent for everyone they face over the course of the season. Teams that will be relevant this season.

[Urbanwildlife]

I would add Minnesota to your list my friend. They are not going to probably win a lot of games, but I feel they are going to be very competitive, and a team that could be good value.

[Big Bear]

I think that MSU has an excellent chance to win the Big 10 Legends this season, but all that will get them is a nice bowl game.

and beat Ohio State?

[EzekielMowatt]

To be honest, I'm still compiling my thoughts on the underrated teams, but OSU has no place there. They're a strong candidate for winning the Big 12, and it's not a secret. Their first week line jumped from -6.5 to -13.5 on opinion money alone. Van Gundy knows what he's doing, and this team will be strong, but if anything they are overrated coming into this season.

Akron, Memphis, UNLV and Missouri straight up do not belong on this list at all. I'm not interested in bad teams that could turn out to be slightly less bad than expected. I'm talking about teams that at times will look elite and will be a tough opponent for everyone they face over the course of the season. Teams that will be relevant this season.

Understood what you are saying but who cares if they are relevant or not, if they are an improved team covering spreads thats all i care about. Who cares if they are top 25.

[nickeydyme]

When referencing Okie State coach are you referring to Stan or Jeff Van Gundy? lol just messing with ya

[BigdaddyQH]

and beat Ohio State?

No. That would get them to Pasadena one way or the other. They still may get to Pasadena, but as the Big 10 runner up because Ohio State is coming to Pasadena a week later.

[BigdaddyQH]

To be honest, I'm still compiling my thoughts on the underrated teams, but OSU has no place there. They're a strong candidate for winning the Big 12, and it's not a secret. Their first week line jumped from -6.5 to -13.5 on opinion money alone. Van Gundy knows what he's doing, and this team will be strong, but if anything they are overrated coming into this season.

Akron, Memphis, UNLV and Missouri straight up do not belong on this list at all. I'm not interested in bad teams that could turn out to be slightly less bad than expected. I'm talking about teams that at times will look elite and will be a tough opponent for everyone they face over the course of the season. Teams that will be relevant this season.

You talk about "relevent" teams. The ONLY "relevent" teams you should worry about are the teams that are putting money in your wallet. Their S/U record matters not.

[suicidekings]

Understood what you are saying but who cares if they are relevant or not, if they are an improved team covering spreads thats all i care about. Who cares if they are top 25.

You talk about "relevent" teams. The ONLY "relevent" teams you should worry about are the teams that are putting money in your wallet. Their S/U record matters not.

I phrased that badly. I don't expect those four teams to even be ATS winners. I feel like they got named as teams that could hardly be much worse than last season, but I'm not really a fan of taking +24, hoping that they only lose by 21. It forces you to rely on their opponents deciding to run out the clock instead of pile on the points, and in the early season especially, that seems counter-intuitive to me. Every team tends to try to make a statement early in the year when they have the chance.

[suicidekings]

I'm sure this one won't be as well received, but:

2) Baylor Bears

This team has been all mixed signals for the last two seasons, with Griffin and Florence getting huge acclaim and their porous defense being the key factor holding them back. I think this is the year that Baylor puts it all together, and we're going to see a much more balanced, complete team that can rival Oklahoma, OSU, and Texas for the Big 12 Title.

First, their 2013 offense is going to be among the best in the FBS. A lot of people assumed the Bears would regress when RG3 left for the NFL, but Nick Florence proved last year that Baylor's offense was built on more than one superstar. Specifically, it's been the leadership of Art Briles that has driven the team to their recent success. Before RG3/Florence, Briles had a hand in the success of Case Keenum and Kevin Kolb. Stylistically, Briles got his start operating a Wishbone offense before adapting to the spread, and there are few coaches that understand the nuances as well as he does. Enter Bryce Petty, 2013. Much like Nick Florence, Petty was in the system for a long time before getting his chance as the #1 QB. His base metrics are excellent, standing 6'3" & 230lb. Strong arm, decent speed, and dangerous enough as a ball carrier on short yardage plays that he can't be ignored. Despite having the talent to play elsewhere sooner, he's been patient and is ready to embrace this season as his time to shine.

Downfield, Petty is going to have a lot of solid options to throw to in 2013. Baylor typically employs 4-wide offensive sets, with the receivers pushed much further outside than a typical spread. This makes disguising defensive plans difficult as any corner blitzing leaves easy yardage for the QB to exploit. If the defense cheats outside too much to protect against the passing game, Baylor has one of the best 1-2 punches in RBs in CFB in Lache Seastrunk and Glasco Martin, ready to exploit the inside rushing game. It's a simple tweak to the basic spread game that offers a big advantage to Baylor, running 83 offensive plays a game. Additionally, Baylor frequently employs multiple packaged concepts from base formations such as the combination of an inside zone run to one side of the field with a bubble screen on the other, forcing defenders into tough situations, all in a hurry-up offense. Petty's HS football experience heavily employed the use of quick slant passing and quick decision-making that is well suited to use in Briles' offensive scheme. Among recievers, the Bears lose Terrence Williams, but are still loaded with downfield threats. Overall, I expect the Bears offense to be very similar in production to how it was in 2012 with Nick Florence under center.

Defensively, the Bears are entering 2013 with a lot more uncertainty than they have with their offense. A lot of people have written them off as being more of the same and unlikely to improve that much this season, however I think that this is where Baylor will really show the most improvement this year. The 2012 Baylor season can be pretty cleanly divided into two halves. Their first 7 games were atrocious, allowing opponents to take whatever they wanted. However in their final 6 games, the Baylor defense started to play up to their potential. It was far from a finished product, and the team still has a long way to go in 2013, however slowly but surely Phil Bennett's influence has been transforming the Baylor defense into a more aggressive unit.

Baylor employs a 4-2-5 formation, and their strength on defense in terms of personnel lies in their linebackers and hybrid safeties. Bryce Hager and Eddie Lackey are both excellent LBs, tough in pursuit and hard tackling. Sam Holl is making the move for 2013 from safety into the hybrid LB role while Ahmad Dixon moves back to safety. From this base group, Baylor can depend on very solid interior defense, especially against the running game. In the secondary, Baylor is fielding some talented players, some of whom missed serious playing time last year due to injury. Demitri Goodson (CB) played in only the first 4 games last year before breaking his arm vs WVU. KJ Morton left the sixth game with a season-ending groin injury. With the return of Joe Williams, Tyler Stephenson, and Darius Jones, Baylor is going to be featuring 5 Senior CBs in 2013, making for the most experienced and deep secondary Briles has had available in his 6 years in Waco. With Ahmad Dixon anchoring the safety position, the Baylor backfield is actually looking very formidable in 2013.

On the front line, Baylor is more average. Chris McAllister coming off the end is a substantial threat to opposing QBs, and Terrance Lloyd will do damage at times, but overall, the lack of depth on the line will limit how much pressure can be applied to opposing QBs over the course of a game. It's going to be necessary for more defensive linemen to step up in the pass rush game for the Baylor defense to be as productive as they need to be later in the season in conference play. Additionally, Baylor needs to continue to force takeaways this year, building on the aggressive mentality they have started to develop over the last 2 seasons.

In terms of schedule, the Bears have a heavily backloaded schedule this season, which is exactly what they need to give them time to work out the questions regarding their defense. Their first seven games in 2013 are: Wofford, Buffalo, ULM, WVU, KState, Iowa State, and Kansas. KSU is obviously the most difficult team in this early stretch, however Baylor is fortunate to be facing the Wildcats after they play at Texas and at Oklahoma State in the two previous weeks. KSU beat both of these teams last season and both OSU and Texas look to be improved this year. I would expect KSU to be fairly beaten up after those two games, offering a better chance for Baylor to take advantage of them. I think they go no worse than 6-1 in this stretch, and suspect that 7-0 is going to happen.

In the second half of the season, Baylor faces: Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, TCU, and Texas, which is definitely a tough stretch. Texas Tech should be a shadow of their 2012 selves, having lost Doege and Tuberville. I see Oklahoma having a poor year in 2013 having to adjust to the loss of Landry Jones and the Blake Bell experiment. I think these games are both extremely winnable for Baylor, and expect to see the Bears sitting at 8-1 or better with 3 games to go. They get another scheduling break against OSU with the Cowboys facing the Bears sandwiched in between games against Texas and Oklahoma before closing out their year against TCU and Texas.

This final stretch of three games is where I expect the Bears to really prove themselves in 2013, finishing the season 10-2 with a chance at a share of the Big 12 Title. Their schedule is ideally suited for them to improve as the season progresses, with most of their toughest opponents in the final month. Their offense is undoubtedly (in my mind) going to be electric again, and with good health, the Bears can field a fairly tough defensive squad that has the potential to be one of the most improved defenses in the Big 12 (if not in all of CFB).

Overall, much like MSU above, Baylor is a team that does one thing really well, and could benefit greatly by improving the other factors in their game just a bit. I'm not calling for Baylor to be become a defensive elite team, but they've already proven in the second half of last season that they have the potential to play at a much higher level than they sometimes show. In terms of line value, they definitely opened some eyes in the bowl game against UCLA, but I'm not overly concerned about lines being slanted against them. Outwardly, they still have so much to prove that I like them to be a good value in games once they get deeper into their conference schedule.

10-2, with a chance at contending for the Big 12 Title.

[M.W.]

I agree with Baylor. Still seem to be underrated.

[mrsolodolo21]

Great write-up, but I'm not completely sure about MSU's value in the betting market. I think they have "situational value", but they aren't necessarily a team I will be looking to back throughout the entire season.

The very mold of their team is (like you said) great defense, establish the run, and hopefully it sets up play action. This "grind-it-out" style isn't the recipe for ATS success in the role of a favorite, and the Spartans will likely be favored in five or six conference games this season. By design, they are built to keep games close, for better or worse. This means that the true value of MSU is as the role of underdogs, so I would see value in games @ Notre Dame, home vs Michigan, maybe at Nebraska, and at Northwestern if those spreads are MSU +3, +6, or higher, and all the other situationals line up.

[mrsolodolo21]

I would add Minnesota to your list my friend. They are not going to probably win a lot of games, but I feel they are going to be very competitive, and a team that could be good value.

I think Minnesota has a chance to take a step forward this season. They have a very solid O-Line, a young QB that seems poised to improve, and they are in the 3rd year of Coach Kill's system, which should yield some payoff in terms of continuity and experience.

However, I'm taking a "wait and see" approach with them at the beginning of the year. San Jose State will be a litmus test for them following a pretty weak first three games. Minnesota has been awful ATS against the big boys, going 0-4 ATS against bowl teams despite high point spreads.

The way their conference schedule sets up, they have Iowa at home early in the year, and they are at Indiana on 11/2. Other than that, they will be playing tough, bowl caliber teams, that they might have problems with (even ATS). Home games vs PSU and Iowa may be the best bets, given Minnesota has an awful track record on the road.

Otherwise, it's tough to see the Gophers navigate the rest of their schedule despite potentially taking a step forward in terms of talent, experience, and health. I'm still not sold on their run defense, given they are undersized outside of two beasts at DT. In the past, teams have steamrolled Minnesota by running off tackle, and taking advantage of their undersized DE's and LB's.

[capt kierkegaard]

Excellent work dude, great read. Would add rice. Gonna put up lots of points will go bowling.

[oakas]

Wow...Great write-ups

[tiger_bait]

this wont be as in depth as some of the wonderful write ups on michigan st and baylor.....maybe i will do a better write up later .... mainly just want to get the team name out there that i feel is a sleeper

North Carolina
love bryn renner -- think he is going to make a name for himself in the south carolina game and i believe he is the best qb noone knows about

their running game will be fine even with the loss of bernard ... blue and morris are both talented rb's and will probably give them one of the better one two punches in the acc

davis is a fine receiver and there is plenty of competition behind him

they have a quality secondary and a solid pass rush...names like tre boston, kareem martin, tim scott

might run on them early but if they can sure that up they are my sleeper BCS pick this year

my prediction......they lose to south carolina then run the table and play clemson in the acc championship....if they somehow beat south carolina then you have a potential sleeper national title game contender

[suicidekings]

Good write up and I tend to agree here. I have them rated 26th right now in relation to all teams. Where would you see them at this point?

Right now, I think they still have a lot to work out on offense, and I find it tough to put a number to them now. 26th sounds about right to me, with the potential to move up to 18-20ish if their offense comes together. If I see them generating an effective running game early, I'll feel a lot better about them being successful this year.

[suicidekings]

I would add Minnesota to your list my friend. They are not going to probably win a lot of games, but I feel they are going to be very competitive, and a team that could be good value.

I'm not really a believer in the Gophers this year. I don't understand why people get excited about Philip Nelson, with his 49% completion rate and 8-8 TD-INT ratio. He has no proven receivers to target (the two best options are freshmen), even with the protection of an above average OL. Jerry Kill has been talking about emphasizing the run game this season for a reason. On defense, they couldn't stop opponents' running game, which won't be helped by their changeover at LB. I think they're going to start off 5-0 before crashing back to earth in November/December when they lose all their games against Michigan, Northwestern, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Michigan State.

Minnesota isn't really a team that does anything exceptionally well, so it's tough for me to rate them as underrated when they're tagged with a "needs improvement" in virtually every aspect of their team.

[Urbanwildlife]

Much appreciate your take/insight as I always do, so now we will see what happens. See you at the pay window in two weeks my friend!

[EzekielMowatt]

Good write ups, thanks

[Sick_in_the_Head]

Underrated teams include Memphis, UNLV, Akron, Missouri, Oklahoma State

Mizzou? HA!

[BigdaddyQH]

I totally agree with Baylor, and have three plays on them in GOY's. I took them at home +8 against Texas, +5 at Kansas State, and -7 at home against hapless West Virginia. How can you give so many points to a team that can score at will? Sure their defense leaves a lot to be desired, but their offense more than makes up for it. I think Baylor is a serious player in a Conference that has 4-6 teams that can win the title.

[suicidekings]

At this point, I'm less enthusiastic about the remaining teams than I am about Baylor/MSU, but I like a few more to impress this year.

3) Navy Midshipmen

I actually love what this team is bringing to the field this season. It all starts with Ken Niumatalolo. Over the past 6 seasons as head coach (and 16 years in the program), he's been a very positive influence on the team culture. With recruitment always being an additional hurdle, he's managed to assemble winning teams in 4 of the last 5 seasons, and for 2013 will be fielding another solid group.

It all starts with Keenan Reynolds at QB. He's bringing an unusually good arm to a triple-option team, and showed a very solid ability to operate in the pocket in 2012 and present a downfield threat that defenses will have to account for. In the fall practices, Niumatalolo has been experimenting with mixing some spread formations into their normal offense, and while not possessing elite talent at WR, Navy does have several experienced senior targets for Reynolds to work with. Reynolds' arm is a big bonus for Navy, but it's his intelligence and command of the triple-option offense that really sets the table for him to have a great sophomore season.

In the backfield, Navy has Noah Copeland returning, who I really like. He's a tough, smart runner with a great ability to find space and runs downhill consistently. With the loss of Gee Gee Greene, Copeland is the heir apparent to step into the #1 FB position. However, behind Copeland is a player that I think will ultimately prove to be the more dangerous runner. Chris Swain is a 5'11", 230lb running back that was a 100m sprinter in high school. The combination of size and speed he's bringing to the field makes for a very tough challenge for opposing defenses. In the fall practices, Swain has already been impressive, and is putting a lot of pressure on Copeland to take over the #1 role from the start of the season.

For the talent in the backfield and at QB to really play to their potential, Navy is going to need a solid effort from their offensive line this season. They're returning enough experience to play well as a unit, but remain undersized (as is typical for them). The way Navy overcomes this lack of size is by being one of the most dangerous cut blocking teams in college football. So while their conventional stats/size don't look overly impressive, I think this unit will perform well for Navy this year.

On defense, I didn't like what Navy did in 2012, sacrificing a strong defensive front in favour of protecting against big plays. They gave up too much total yardage, largely in the running game. However, in the red zone, Navy was actually quite effective, holding opponents under 50% in TD rate, and to 74% in total red-zone scoring (16th in FBS). Navy needs to improve their run defense this season by changing how they set their defense from day 1. In a 3-4 system, they're returning two very solid tacklers at ILB in Cody Peterson and James Britton that I think will make a big difference in their run defense if they move them down more frequently and trust in their secondary in coverage. The secondary has a decent amount of experience and talent returning, and I'm fairly certain Niumatalolo will correct for the schematic errors that cost them so much yardage in 2012, producing a tighter defensive unit.

On special teams, Navy is solid in kicking, and actually have a couple of players in the return game that could make a big impact.

A big bonus for Navy comes in scheduling. Being a team with a strong rushing attack and weak in run defense, their schedule is favourable:

Team (S&P Offensive Rushing Rank 2012) (S&P Defensive Rushing Rank 2012)
Indiana: (86th) (103rd)
Delaware: FCS
@WKU: (73rd) (49th)
Air Force: (70th) (73rd)
Duke: (62nd) (115th)
Toledo: (55th) (79th)
Pittsburgh: (66th) (75th)
Notre Dame: (9th) (17th)
Hawaii: (120th) (98th)
South Alabama: (121st) (91st)
SJSU: (88th) (48th)
Army: (15th) (122nd)

Take out Notre Dame as an obvious outlier in the group, and otherwise Navy faces primarily teams where the impact of their weakness against the rush will be minimized and their own strong running game will be a big advantage. I think they could win 10 games on this schedule and look to be a much improved teams overall compared to 2012.

[Night-Tripper]

@suicidekings: Excellent write-up on Baylor, but there is one bit of bad information in there. Art Briles never was involved with any Wishbone offense. In fact, as the Head Coach @ Stephenville High School, he was running a wacked-out/super-gimmicky version of what is now known as *the spread* before anyone knew what the hell it was. He shuttled offensive players (in multiples) constantly because no-one but the quarterback knew all of the plays/formations.

Unless something has recently changed, he still doesn't have a hard-copy playbook... everything is in his head and on a white-board.

[suicidekings]

Technically, he was running a split-back veer at Hamlin in 1984 as his first year as a head coach before starting to introduce spread concepts into his subsequent offenses. I should have said Veer, not Wishbone, although there's a LOT of common ground between the two.

Briles still uses the Veer (and other option concepts) as a change of pace/look for defenses geared up for the spread. Briles also played in the Veer under Yeoman at Houston, so even though he's known for the spread, he definitely has his roots in option football, and you can see it in players he's coached, such as RG3.

SH: When you were at Stephenville High School, you were one of the first coaches to make a switch from the traditional run-first approach to a pass-first, spread offense. You were running… was it the wishbone or wing-T?

AB: Split-back veer.

SH: A pretty conventional high school offense. Why did you do that? Did people think you were crazy at the time?

AB: Actually, it started with my first college football job coaching in Hamlin in '84-'85. My first year there, we had a great football team, ran the split-back veer, went 13-0-1. In the second year, I saw that if you got deep in the playoffs, you're gonna face people with talent just as good or better than yours. So what I looked for was an edge, something different; so in '85 we went to the one-back, four wides and went 14-1.

When we got to Stephenville, we were always kind of based out of a split-back veer look. I played at Houston, played in the Houston veer, sat in meetings with Coach Yeoman. A lot of the terminology we use today is Houston veer-related, if you hear the verbiage.

At Stephenville, we definitely had to do something that gave ourselves a chance to get the opportunity to win football games. We weren't just gonna line up and beat people. We had to be a little unconventional, which we were. In 1990 we had a guy throw for over 3,000 yards, and then had a 3,000-yard passer every year over the next 10 years. In '98 we actually set a national record for total offense.

Source

[C-Gold]

Good write ups dude. You know your stuff.

[gojetsgomoxies]

Not ripping you, I just disagree.

I think this is the last year for Bobby Hauck at UNLV. 6-32 isn't getting it done.

Missouri's first four games are a joke, so they should head to Vandy 4-0. But that is where it should end, and if it doesn't-- the next 3 weeks against Georgia Florida and South Carolina will cause them some problems.

Memphis is an odd team.

Memphis won 3 straight to end the year last year, and that was the first time they did that since 2008. But the three teams they beat were horrific-- Tulane, UAB and Southern Miss.

That's some bad football among those teams. Can you get value from that? I don't know.

Good luck either way.

i personally think horrible NCAAF teams improving is the easiest way to make money, perhaps in all of sports better...

or maybe it's betting non-BCS conferences...........

[gojetsgomoxies]

somewhat grunching but a few names i've seen around for big improvement are UAB, ECU, North Texas.

i personally like akron for improvement. good coach, gonna have better players with a bigger name coach. better players may not show up this year but i think it improves the culture a ton.