College Football Predictions Revisited: What Surprised You?
Way back in August, we took a stab at predicting the future of college football. We did a decent job on the Pac-10 pecking order and the Heisman, but we whiffed on one major thing.
Before this college football season kicked off we offered our predictions in a number of arenas. We didn’t do half bad. Here’s the rundown:
Pac-10 Standings
| Prediction 1. Southern Cal 2. Arizona State 3. Oregon 4. UCLA 5. Stanford 6. California 7. Oregon State 8. Washington 9. Arizona 10. Washington State |
Actual 1. Southern Cal 2. Oregon 3. Oregon State 4. California 5. Arizona 6. Arizona State 7. Stanford 8. UCLA 9. Washington State 10. Washington |
We were feeling ASU at the time. Quoth us: “The ASU season will likely turn on whether the Sun Devils can get by Oregon at home. We think they can.” Oops. Other than USC, not exactly a stellar showing here. Turns out that ASU-Oregon game wasn’t as meaningful as we hoped.
BCS Championship
Prediction: “It’s all about the Sooners. We like Oklahoma and USC in the BCS national championship game, but the Trojans won’t be able to get by Oklahoma for the title in Dolphins Stadium.”
Actual: Florida will take on Oklahoma in the title game, and many could argue that USC deserves a shot in the game over Florida. In August we thought the Sooners would win it all, and nothing has changed. They’re the best team in college football.
Heisman Trophy
Prediction: “Keeping with Oklahoma, Sam Bradford is our pick for the Heisman. He’ll be the quarterback on the only undefeated team in the nation, and he’ll likely improve on last year’s staggering numbers (3,121 yards, 36 touchdowns, 8 interceptions).”
Actual: Jackpot! Bradford and Oklahoma didn’t run the table, but they were damn close. And Bradford won the Heisman by easily surpassing his impressive numbers from last year, posting 4,464 yards, 48 touchdowns and six interceptions this season. That’s a big year!
What’s Your Take, Sun Devils?
What surprised you most about this college football season? What prediction did you nail back in August? Let us know in the comments below.
Enjoy this article? Buy us a beer for just $4. (Credit Card / Paypal)More Sun Devil News, Less HassleDon’t fool around with bookmarks or the refresh button. We’ve made it easier to subscribe, so you can have Sun Devil news delivered FREE straight to your inbox.
My surprises in no particular order …
- How well the non-BCS conferences (especially the MWC and WAC) performed. Knock them all you want but these guys play some good football.
- Michigan’s fall from grace; yes, I get the fact that they have a new coach but this was a pathetic showing by a proud school
- Arizona beating ASU; going into the start of this season I never would have picked this to happen
- ASU playing as poorly as it did; I thought they were overrated but I never would have forseen the team to be as bad as it was
- The Big-12 becoming a conference of great QBs
- Washington stinking worse than ever
Well, first is the obvious – surprise that ASU did not make a bowl game this year. I didn’t expect another 10 win season, but I did expect more than we got from a well seasoned coaching staff and returning talent at the skill positions.
After all of the pre-season hype, I was surprised to see Georgia lose to Alabama at home and drop out of the NC picture.
And I was surprised to see Utah go undefeated this year, to play in a BCS bowl. I’m very interested to see how they do against Bama in the Sugar Bowl – that should be a good game!
I can’t think of too many more creepy pictures than the one used above….interesting