1. The Mountain West Conference will have a good, but not great, year. Ultimately, entry into a BCS game is tge measuring stick for “great”. While there are a number of outstanding teams in the conference especially BYU, Utah and TCU. The problem is two of the three suffered a loss over the weekend (BYU at home to Florida State and Utah to Oregon). Based on the current polls, it appears impossible that TCU could vault past an undefeated Boise State squad. But hey, this is College Football, anything can happen.
2. The Pac-10 is about to become wide open again. USC has dominated the past seven seasons, all ending with a conference championship and, at least, a BCS berth. After watching what is happening at UCLA, Cal and especially Washington, I believe their conference dominance is coming to an end.
3. Brian Kelly will not be at Cincinnati in 2010. Out of all the great games and surprises, nothing impressed me more than the way the Bearcats went to Corvalis and defeated the Beavers of Oregon State. If he wasn’t a hot name in the coaching circles before, this year will do it.
4. Auburn and Tennessee might not have better head coaches, but they have better coaching staffs. Last season, the Tigers coaching staff was filled with back biting and a lack of continuity. It ultimately cost Tommy Tuberville his job. As for the Vols, Phil Fulmer and his squad had struggled since David Cutcliffe departed for Mississippi. The current coaches, Auburn’s Gene Chizik and Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin have surrounded themselves with winners who are high on energy and long on experience. Look for both programs to come back sooner than originally expected.
5. I’ll be stunned if Charlie Weis is back with the Irish next season. The head coach at Notre Dame is a brilliant offensive mind, but they just don’t seem to be making improvements. This is still one of the top five jobs in football, but they’re just not on the level of Florida, Texas and others right now. His team isn’t winning so much as they are surviving.
6. The ACC seems to have figured out Paul Johnson. Georgia Tech’s head coach was handled by Miami 33-17 after nearly losing to Clemson the week before. With a big game looming against North Carolina on Saturday, the Jackets need to adjust in a hurry.
7. Miami is on the rebound. Definitely one of the most impressive performances from the first three weeks is the Hurricanes. QB Jacory Harris has been fantastic and delivered in the clutch. With games against Virginia Tech and Oklahoma the next two weeks, they could quickly insert themselves in the BCS National Championship discussion. Based on how FSU rebounded last week, could the ACC Championship game rematch these two squads?
8. The Cal Bears are their run to the Rose Bowl (or more) starts this week. Jahvid Best has been on a tear, scoring 5 touchdowns on the road at Minnesota. If they can win in Eugene this weekend against the Oregon Ducks, the October 3rd home game against USC becomes arguably the biggest in school history.
