Opinion: 5 College Football Programs In Need Of A Big 2014

Rejoice, football fans, because the 2014 NCAA College Football season just around the corner, it’s time to start looking at the long road to the new College Football Championship Game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

I’ll write plenty about the teams at the top of the tree, so I thought it would be interesting to start by shining the spotlight on five schools who, for one reason or another, need a positive, win-filled 2014 season.

5. Texas A&M University

Hey, remember when the Aggies announced that they were making the jump to the SEC? Remember how many  - many, I might add, with Texas Longhorn affiliations – swore blind that A&M had little to no chance of making an impact in a conference featuring national heavyweights Alabama, Louisiana State and Georgia?

Well, fast forward to the beginning of their third season of SEC battle, and you would be eating a serious amount of humble pie if you were one of those who believed that the Aggies would barely rise above perennial SEC easy-beats like Vanderbilt and Kentucky. In fact, if there’s been a more exciting team in the nation’s premiere conference, I’d like to know who.

Of course, a lot of what the Aggies did was thanks to their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel, as freakish (and controversial) an athlete as has ever graced the college gridiron. Johnny Football was the only reason Texas A&M managed a 9-4 record last year, and he’s gone now, off to – potentially – be the saviour of the Cleveland Browns in the NFL, and Kevin Sumlin’s A&M squad is in an interesting position.

This might be a down year for the Aggies. In fact, I’m almost certain it will be, for the simple reason that they don’t have Manziel 2.0 in their backfield, but the reason I’ve got them as one of my teams who need a solid season is because there are going to be so many doubters and knockers guaranteeing anyone who’ll listen that the Aggies got lucky, and wouldn’t have achieved the success they did were it not for Manziel and the fleet of very talented skilled position players, led by the lightning-fast receiver, Mike Evans.

In part, that may be true, but Kevin Sumlin has a history of nurturing good quarterbacks, like he did with Case Keenum at Houston, and there are still a few good weapons left in the Aggies cupboard. Ricky Seals-Jones should at least help to fill the Texas-sized void that Evans will leave on the fringes of the field, but the real question mark for the Aggies is who comes in to replace Manziel.

Replacing Manziel? Yeah, I know, it’s not going to happen. You don’t replace an athlete with Johnny Football’s ability, not really, but someone is going to take his place under centre for the Aggies this fall, and reports out of camp suggest that sophomore Kenny Hill and true freshman Kyle Allen are neck-and-neck in competition for the starting gig.

Neither has been stood up or stood out yet. Sumlin and his coaches will doubtless be hoping that something changes – and quickly – on that front. Whomever wins the job will have to live without offensive tackle Jake Matthews, who followed Manziel and Evans to the NFL.

A sure way to compete in the SEC is, of course, by playing defense, and the Aggies did very little of that last year. And that might’ve been okay then, because Manziel was likely to score as many points as the porous A&M defense gave up. They were worst in the SEC, allowing 32.2 pints last year, and the dismissal from camp of two major defensive stars, sophomores Isaiah Golden and Darian Claiborne, is going to hurt the Aggies on that side of the football. Defense is definitely a work in progress.

Despite 13 returning starters, there’s so much uncertainty at quarterback and on defense, and I’m not sure that the Aggies will be able to match 2013’s 9-4 year. A rebuilding season in College Station, I think.

No. 4: University of Texas Longhorns


It has been said everywhere over and over that legendary Longhorns head coach Mack Brown wasn’t pushed out of a job at the end of last season. We heard every one from the cleaners of the Texas locker room to the president of the university, and they all said that Brown elected to call time on his illustrious career.

To tell the truth, I’m not sold. The fact that the Longhorns haven’t won a Big XII title since 2009 is a major reason why there’s been so much change in Austin over the summer. I mean, this is a league that the Longhorns used to dominate! More and more in recent years, they’ve been dominated.

Regardless of the reasons why, the move has been made and highly-touted ex-Louisville coach Charlie Strong comes into Austin to take over a Longhorns squad that hasn’t exactly been at the top of their game lately. Strong upset a lot of the Texas faithful at the recent Big XII media days, admitting that the Longhorns weren’t going to figure in the National Championship hunt this year.

That’s the truth, of course, and it’s nice to see that Strong – who was involved in Florida under Urban Meyer, winning two National Championships in Gainesville – isn’t going to shy away from telling the truth. After all, this is a football program that’s fallen short of 10 wins in the last four seasons.

Low expectations are probably best in Austin. Indeed, a lot of what Texas hopes to do will be dependent on the form and health of starting QB David Ash. Crazy to think that the ‘Horns haven’t had a really good, solid signal caller since Colt McCoy departed. Even if Ash is healthy, he’s nowhere near the elite quarterback Texas needs in a quarterback-happy league like the Big XII has become.

One saving grace offensively is the three-pronged running attack of Malcolm Brown, Johnathan Gray and Joe Bergeron, who were all impressive last year, and  figure to get lots of carries right from Texas’ opening game against in-state rivals (read: cupcakes) North Texas, particularly if Ash is having trouble finding form.

The Big XII schedule is tough enough, and Texas are also faced with Brigham Young and UCLA, two teams you would assume are going to have solid seasons. Obviously Texas don’t have to go out and win everything, but Strong would need to at least match Mack Brown’s 8-5 mark last year to settle the natives.

Of course, knowing how rabid the Longhorn fan base can be, Strong would want to hope his team can pull out more than ten wins this year.

No. 3: University of Washington Huskies


With Steve Sarkisian, the guy most responsible for bringing back respectability to Huskies football, off to his dream job at USC, the job of continuing the upward tick falls to Chris Petersen, formerly head coach at Boise State and one of the most likeable and honest people in college football.

After years of taking his own name out of the race for some very high-profile coaching vacancies, it’s actually quite a surprise that Petersen has decided to move on from the Idaho capital, where he oversaw one of the nation’s most productive teams. He was always vocal about not leaving the Pacific Northwest region – it’s not far from Washington to Idaho – so, in that regard, the Huskies are a nice fit.

You get the feeling that Petersen’s always yearned for a program in a tougher conference, and he’s certainly walked into that environment in Seattle, where expectations are higher than I daresay they’ve been in a decade or more. Washington has been right on the cusp of greatness, with beautiful new facilities to boot, are expecting big things from Petersen.

It remains to be seen whether Petersen can have the same recruiting impact he had at Boise State, where he unearthed, amongst others, a quarterback who was well undersize and, thus, overlooked by every other meaningful Division One school.  That guy, Washington native Kellen Moore, went on to become college football’s most successful quarterback. If Petersen can hit on a goldmine like that again, there’s no reason to see why Washington can’t jump into the upper echelon of the Pac-12.

Petersen’s team should open the season 4-0 – they have Hawaii, Eastern Washington, Illinois and Georgia State – before a tough test against conference yardsticks Stanford. Cal the week after is eminently winnable, but Oregon and Arizona the week after, plus UCLA and Oregon State in November, are going to be tough.

They close with the Apple Cup against Washington State. Easily, I figure six wins, but eight or nine isn't out of the question, either, not with Petersen and his innovative offense. 9-4 or 8-5 wouldn’t be too bad, given the coaching change during the off-season.

To really step up, they’re going to need to somehow find a win against one of the big three: Stanford, UCLA or Oregon. That won’t be easy, but if the Huskies play those teams close, it’ll be a pass-mark season for Petersen, and a good platform from which to build.

No. 2: University of Southern California (USC) Trojans

Out of the ashes of the Lane Kiffin debacle halfway through last season came a USC team with renewed energy, confidence and inspiration. All of that thanks to rough-as-nails interim head coach Ed Orgeron, who galvanised a locker room full of unhappiness under Kiffin, and helped the Trojans turn their season around. An impressive win against Stanford seemed as though it would allow Orgeron to keep what he called his dream job.

Alas, USC’s Athletic Director Pat Haden had different ideas, bringing back former offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who had been at the University of Washington, and did wonders there, bringing a basket case of a program back into the national spotlight. It’s ironic that Sark replaces Kiffin, for they were co-offensive coordinators under Pete Carroll last decade. You know, when USC had the likes of Leinart and Sanchez under centre, directing an offense that racked up points like most of us rack up data charges on our mobile phone plan.

The Trojans, back then, were the benchmark for football programs, but despite Sarkisian’s encouraging steps in bringing Washington back to some semblance of competitiveness, it remains to be seen whether he can take that next step at USC, which, of course, means big wins against big opponents.

If nothing else, Kiffin’s apparent inability to produce wins on a consistent basis hasn’t hampered his recruiting. The guy could sell ice to an Inuit, and his gift of the gab, backed by the sheer fact that USC send as many players to the NFL as any other college program in the country, ensure that Sarkisian will start the year with a roster stacked with a near-ridiculous amount of blue-chip talent.

The Trojans showed under Orgeron (and then interim head coach Clay Helton during a decisive Las Vegas Bowl victory over Fresno State) that they’re capable of free-wheeling offense and solid defense. Helton remains with the Trojans as offensive coordinator, and Justin Wilcox, who was on Sarkisian’s staff in Washington, replaces Clancy Pendergast as defensive coordinator.

There’s enough starters coming back on both sides of the football, including QB Cody Kessler (who says his relationship with Sarkisian is so good that he almost committed to Washington instead of SC), emerging wide-out Nelson Agholor and similarly emerging tight end, Randall Telfer offensively and J.R. Tavai, Josh Shaw and Hayes Pullard on defense. Don’t sleep on WR George Farmer, who is apparently 100% fit and ready after being decimated by injuries of late.

Crucially, USC miss out on playing Oregon (and Washington) this year, but draw Stanford away, and meet UCLA on the road. Notre Dame comes into the Coliseum on the last weekend of the season.

It isn't out of the realms of possibility that the Trojans win ten games. I’d back them in – yeah, okay, I’m a Trojan fans and biased – in all of their games outside perhaps Stanford and UCLA, but that’s not to say that they can’t win those contests, either. Certainly, they have the talent.

Ten or eleven regular season wins and a Bowl victory would be a solid start for USC under Sarkisian, and would allow the immense Trojan fan base to take a deep, calming breath. 

No. 1: University of Florida Gators

Topping the list is one of the most disappointing teams in 2013 – both in terms of the talent they have access to in their backyard and their sustained run of success towards the back end of last decade – the ailing, reeling University of Florida Gators.

It’s not a stretch to say that once-heralded head coach Will Muschamp is on one of the hottest seats in college football entering 2014, and nor is it a stretch to remark on how far the University of Florida has fallen in such a short space of time. I mean, it’s not all that long ago that Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow (along with a very talented supporting cast on both sides of the football) were ruling the college football roost.

Since Tebow and Meyer departed, the Gators haven’t looked the same team. Last year, they were nothing short of woeful. Expected by their rabid fan base to be perennial contenders in the cutthroat South Eastern Conference, last year’s season was definitely an in-recent-memory low-point for the Gators.

They finished 4-8, including a thirty-point loss to in-state rivals (and eventual BCS National Champions) Florida State and a narrow defeat at the hands of Miami-FL. As if losing to their two major in-state rivals wasn’t bad enough, 2013 was also the first time the Gators missed out on a Bowl game since 1990.

In some ways, it’s a wonder that Muschamp, formerly the head coach in waiting at the University of Texas, is still in charge in Gainesville. What, with the school’s expectations and all. He should feel very lucky that he’s been given a chance to right the Gator ship. Many other schools would’ve shipped their coaches out the door quickly, and brought in a new guy to fix the damage.

Perhaps it’s because QB Jeff Driskel went down in the fourth game of the season, suffering a broken right fibula. It’s not easy to win in the SEC at the best of times, and almost impossible when you’re without your offensive lightning rod. Driskel is back this year, but it remains to be seen if he’s the elite quarterback Florida need to compete with the big guns of the conference. You know, the LSU’s and Alabama’s of this world.

One thing’s for certain, the Gators don’t have an easy schedule. Sure, they open up with three straight at home – Idaho, Eastern Michigan and Kentucky – and they all look like victories, but it’s road trips after that to Alabama and Tennessee before a home tilt against Louisiana State where things are likely to fall apart.  They get Missouri and South Carolina at home, Georgia at the usual neutral-site in Jacksonville, and finish the season on the road at Florida State.

Where do the wins come from? Well, I can see them maybe clawing their way to perhaps six victories: the first three games, then perhaps Vanderbilt, Eastern Kentucky and, if they’re lucky, Tennessee in Knoxville, too. You can pretty much pencil in Alabama, LSU and Florida State as definite losses. Maybe they get a seventh against Missouri or South Carolina, because, sometimes, the SEC gets tipped upside down, but there aren’t any guarantees.

Ultimately, though, Florida finishing 6-6 isn’t going to help Muschamp his job. Not even close.