Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
Look I always keep it real doing a college football preview. TCU was nothing but lucky last season. That’s it. They were a 7-5 team that didn’t lose and the National Championship game and Big 12 Championship proved that.
Head Coach:
Sonny Dykes is a fraud. He didn’t even play football he was a baseball player. He had “success” at La Tech and SMU who cares they aren’t real programs.
Key Players:
They lose all the players from last year who were all overrated anyways. No way Max Duggan should have even sniffed the Heisman. Such bullshit, they see a team from Texas and the National media dick rides. Watch the tape, they were the luckiest team in College Football History. Has a whole horseshoe up all their asses.
2023 Prediction:
I am just being objectively fair in this college football preview. TCU was unbelievably overrated last year and luckier then a 2 time power ball winner. I am only hating on them because it is all true watch the tape it was a 7-5 team. But lets talk about this year. Looking at the non-conference they will beat Nicholls State but lose to both Colorado and SMU, that is 1-2. The conference road games are Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. They might give Houston a game and maybe one of these teams all gets crabs so at best 2-3. The home conference games are Texas, Baylor, BYU and West Virginia they might get WVU maybe and BYU is pretty shitty so at best 2-2. At best TCU will finish 5-7, I think it is more like 3-9 and wouldn’t shock me if they only beat Nicholls all year. It is a trash team with trash fans.
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
What to say in this college football preview about the 2022 Texas football season. Hmmm. Texas is BACK? No not yet. Another season were expectations and reality for the Longhorns fell short. They looked like they could have been back, but circumstances and injuries got in the way. Ewers and the Longhorns had Alabama right where they wanted them in the first of their game. The defense was playing lights out and Ewers was gutting the Bama defense. Then he got hurt and Texas lost what could have been the Texas is Back game. They finished the year with 3 more regular season losses and a bowl loss to Washington. All of Texas’ losses were by one score which is why I say almost back. Last year they teased and edged all of college football. The record of 8-4 is not who the Longhorns were, they were much better than that. They just need to finish!
Head Coach:
Coach Steve Sarkisian has been at Texas for 2 years, 2023 being his third. He has to win this year and win big. He is 13-12 overall in Austin and with their crazy fans and boosters that is no where near enough. Sark did prove that his offense was good enough to compete with anyone in the country. I also think he has the right guy in Defensive Coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski to have the Longhorns on top in college football. He held most of the high powered Big 12 offenses under 28 points which in that league is great. Sark has the recruiting knowledge to get his guys like he did with Arch Manning this past year. If the boosters let him go 2 or 3 more years there is a national championship coming from Sarkisian.
Key Players:
Texas has to replace stud running back and first round pick Bijan Robison this year. Last year Robinson had 1,894 yards from scrimmage and 20 total touchdowns. Not only that his backup Roschon Johnson is also in the NFL, he had 682 scrimmage yards and 6 touchdowns from the backfield. The starting job in. the backfield will go to Sophomore Johnathan Brooks who did average 6.6 ypc and had a touchdown in very little time last year. Quinn Ewers is back at QB1 for the Longhorns even with the big recruit in Manning coming in. Last year in 10 games Ewers had a 58.1% completion percentage and threw for 2,177 yards, 15 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Quinn is a playmaker and has an incredible arm, if he stays healthy and become slightly more accurate he will be in the running for a Heisman this year. Xavier Worthy will be a big part of Ewers being in Heisman contention. The Junior WR is back after having 60 catchers for 760 yards and 9 touchdowns. IF you haven’t seen Worthy take note, he will be balling on Sunday’s soon. He will have a fantastic running mate back in Senior Jordan Whittington . Jordan had 50 catches for 652 yards a touchdown. There are young playmakers all over the depth chart on offense that will help Ewers this year. On defense leading sack man, OLB/DE Barryn Sorrell is back after having 5.5 sacks and 9 TFL’s last season. Leading tackler Senior Jaylan Ford and his 119 tackles, 10 TFL’s, 2 sacks, 4 interceptions, 3 FF and 2 FR is back. This kid is everywhere on film, all he does is make the right play, every play. They have a lot coming back on defense and could be in the top 10 in the country this year.
2023 Prediction:
Looking at Longhorn’s schedule they have 2 easy non-conference wins vs. Rice and Wyoming. Then they have an incredibly tough game @ Tuscaloosa, they will be at worst 2-1 in non-conference this year. Their road conference games are Baylor, Houston, TCU, and Iowa State. The Baylor game will be a great game but they should role the other 3 teams. They just are not on the level of Texas, at worst 3-1 in road games and more than likely 4-0. The home conference games are Kansas State, Texas Tech, Kansas, BYU. Again the Kansas State game will be tough and don’t sleep on Kansas but the shouldn’t lose more than one game at home if any. Then they have the Red River Shootout vs. Oklahoma. That game is usually always a toss up. Texas did blow them out last year, and to be honest I think they win again this year. Taking everything into consideration I like Texas at 11-1 or 10-2 and I think we will finally say they are back. I also don’t think undefeated is off the table. Maybe a top 5 college football preview of 2023.
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
It was an underachieving year for the boys from Stillwater. There were a lot of expectations going into the 2022 year and the Cowboys fell short. They finished the year at 7-5 and a loss in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl to an average Wisconsin team. The most underachieving part of the Cowboys was the offense which finished the year at 49th in points per game. They had a lot of talent back including QB Spencer Sanders, it just never clicked all the way. The Cowboys started off hot, winning 6 of their first 7 games. They ended losing 5 out of the last 6 and to the lower tier teams in the Big 12, like West Virginia and Kansas. I don’t care how good of a year Kansas is having, Oklahoma State should never lose to them.
Head Coach:
Oklahoma State has one of the longest tenured and most respected coaches in college football. Mike Gundy has been in Stillwater for 22 years, and has been Head Coach for the last 18 years. He has only had one losing season, the first in his entire time at Oklahoma State. That is pretty damn impressive to do at any school, to not have a few years of now bowls. He is 11-6 in bowl games, winning 3 Big New Years Six games. While in Stillwater he has 1 conference championship, 2 conference coach of the year and 1 coach of the year for all schools. In one of the top 3 best conferences in football that is very impressive from a school like Oklahoma State. I don’t mean any offense by that, but they have to play powers Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas Tech every year. His .675 wining percentage is up at the top of active coaches in college right now. When you think Oklahoma State football, you think Mike Gundy, his mullet, and this famous speech. This is a reason why he gets players, he backs them up.
Key Players:
Usually this is the part of the college football preview I talk about the QB. I don’t think Oklahoma State knows who will be QB1 next year. Both Garret Rangel and Gunnar Gundy played sparingly last year and are at 2 and the 3 on the depth chart now. Both were no very impressive in their time under center. The listed QB 1 right now is Alan Bowman, a transfer from Michigan. Look I don’t think this kid is the answer either. He could not beat out Cade McNamara for the 2nd string in Michigan or JJ McCarthy for 1st. I think both of those players are unbelievably overrated. That being said, I really don’t think Bowman is the guy for the Cowboys and one of the 2 backups will be playing before long. Whoever is playing QB does have leading WR Brennan Presley back. Last year Presley had 67 catches for 813 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bryson Green and his 36 catches for 584 yards and 5 touchdowns is also back to help the carousel of QBs. The top 2 tacklers from last season have moved on but the leading tackler coming back is SLB Xavier Benson. Last year he had 76 tackles with 4 of them being tackles for a loss. Keep your eyes out for Redshirt Sophomore Safety Kendal Davis who had 3 interceptions, 71 tackles and 3.5 TFL’s last year. The defense is very young but talented and deep.
2023 Prediction:
Looking at the Cowboys non-conference schedule, I would call it tricky not hard. They should handle Central Arkansas easily. We don’t know how good Arizona State is going to be with new coaches and QB, plus it is on the road. While I think they will also beat South Alabama at home, they shouldn’t sleep on the Jaguars, they are a tough team that goes up tempo and can play defense. The best is 3-0, the very worst is 1-2. The road conference games are not the toughest in the Big 12. I think 4-0 is definitely on the table for the Cowboys at worst they might drop one of those games. The home games are a lot more difficult with the only 2 games Cincy, and BYU would I say are definite wins. I think 4-1 is possible more likely 3-2 in home conference games. I think the 7 or 8 wins is the best for the Cowboys next year. They will struggle at QB again this year, and the schedule is more difficult then you would think i think 7-5 is very likely and 8-4 would be a good year for them. I just see too many games that are potential losses and the offense not being up to par. I don’t think this was a negative college football preview, more of a right down the middle team.
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
Expectations is everything in college football. As we said in the Kansas college football preview 6-6 was great for them and their future. At Oklahoma 6-6 will never, ever be tolerated. This was a dreadful year in Norman Oklahoma. They are a playoff or bust type program every year. I mean look at their losses. The Texas game is what it is, it is a rival and that is not a bad loss. But the Sooners lost to the last place West Virginia team. They should never lose to Texas Tech or Baylor and they did. Losing to Kansas State and TCU isn’t as bad last year with those 2 being the top of the conference. At Oklahoma though, they are the top of the conference and quite frankly it was embarrassing watching them look so damn mediocre. The only win that was worth anything is beating in state rival Oklahoma State in the Bedlam game. Lets just call it how it was, Oklahoma last year was just fucking bad and it shouldn’t happen to this program ever.
Head Coach:
It was a less the stellar first year as the Sooners head coach for Brent Venables. His return to Norman after a decade at Clemson as a Defensive Coordinator could have been a lot better. Venables is a top 5 Defensive mind in college football. He help Coach Dabo Sweeney and Clemson win 2 National Championships vs. great offenses. Venables even has hardware as a Defensive Coordinator winning the Broyles award in 2016. The defense needs to get better, it is unacceptable that a Venables defense was 99th in the country in points allowed. Coach Venables needs to turn this around quick because of those high expectations. The Sooner fans love their team and are not a patient bunch. If there isn’t a dramatic turn around this year, Venables will be on the hot seat in only his second season.
Key Players:
The tone of this college football preview has been a bit negative. Time to hit some positive notes on the upcoming year for the Sooners. QB Dillion Gabriel is back for his last year in Norman. Last year one of the few positives on the team, Gabriel threw for 3,168 with a 62.7% completion percentage. He was very efficient and had 25 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. RB Eric Gray and his almost 1,400 yards on the ground are gone. Filling that void will be his backup from last year Jovantae Barnes who had 519 yards and 5 touchdowns. Replacing leading receiver Marvin Mims will be a challenge. Jalil Farooq will be the number one target this year coming off of his 37 catch, 466 yard, 5 touchdown sophomore year. Drake Stoops will be Farooq’s main running mate, as a junior last year Stoops had 39 catches for just under 400 yards and 3 touchdowns. The top 5 leading tacklers from last year will not be back. That might be a good thing as the defense was terrible anyways. Remember the name Ethan Downs, he had 38 tackles, 13.5 TFLs and 4.5 sacks as a sophomore last year at his DE spot. I expect huge things from him this year. Jordan Kelly and Billy Bowman will flash for the Sooners Defense as well.
2023 Prediction:
Oklahoma has a relatively easy non-conference schedule, playing Tulsa, SMU and Arkansas State. I fully expect them to go 3-0 in those games easily. They have the one neutral game vs. Texas which is a toss up. Their road conference games are Cincy, Kansas, Oklahoma State and BYU. I think that might be the easiest Big 12 road schedule for any team. I am expecting 4-0 in road games, I guess 3-1 just because it is college football and weird shit happens. The Sooners home conference games are Iowa State, West Virginia, UCF, and TCU. Wow I am looking at the home games they are all very winnable, I expect 4-0. Putting all this together. I think the ceiling is 12-0 if they can beat Texas and the floor is 10-2, they have such an easy schedule. Anything less then 10 wins in the regular season should be considered a bad year. They don’t play Baylor or Kansas State, I might take the Sooners to win the Big 12.
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
The Wildcats had a hell of season last year. They went 10-4 overall, 7-2 in conference, and were the Big 12 Champions. One of the only negatives of last year was the loss in the Sugar Bowl to Alabama. Everyone loses to Bama. Kansas State should be very happy with winning the most competitive conference in football last year. To beat TCU, who up until then was undefeated all year in the Big 12 Championship game took a lot of heart. They finished the year at 14 in the AP poll even with the Sugar Bowl loss. I think all in all it was a very successful season for Kansas State.
Head Coach:
Coach Klieman is doing one hell of a job down in the little apple. In his 4 seasons in Manhattan, he has 3 winning seasons, 1 conference championship, and a bowl victory. That is a damn good start especially taking the head job from the legend Bill Snyder. He already has half the conference championships as Snyder, but needs to win bowl games and keep the consistent winning seasons going. Klieman definitely has the coaching prowess to be the next great Big 12 coach. His job before taking over at Kansas State was at North Dakota State which was his first head coaching job. He was only there as head coach for 5 years, but he won 4 FCS championships with one third place finish. That is what we call a winning tradition. He then proved it last year, only his fourth year at Kansas State, that he could bring home hardware. I like when doing a college football preview that I can compliment a coach, not bash.
Key Players:
My favorite part of doing a college football preview is learning about the studs coming back to school. QB Will Howard is back for his Senior year after splitting time last year with Adrian Martinez. He only played in 7 games due to the splitting of time, but still put up great numbers. Howard had a 59.8% completion percentage for 1,633 yards. Howard had 15 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. They have a huge hole at running back to fill with Deuce Vaughn and his 1,936 scrimmage yards and 12 TDs leaving for the NFL. DJ Giddens and his 518 yards, 5.8 ypc and 6 touchdowns will be one of the guys trying to fill that. Where they may struggle on the offensive side of the ball is at WR. Only one WR on the depth chart, RJ Garcia, caught any passes last year. Garcia only had 7 catches for 70 yards and 1 touchdown. Austin Moore, the team’s leading tackler from last season, is back. He had 87 tackles, 10 TFLs, 2 FFs, 1.5 sacks and an interception. Let’s just say watch the tape. This will linebacker was everywhere last year. Their best player in the secondary coming back is Kobe Savage. Savage had 58 tackles, 3 TFLs, 3 Ints and a FF. He is a very good safety in coverage and in supporting the run game. DE Brendan Mott who had 6 sacks last season is the best rusher back, but needs to be better on every down.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – DECEMBER 31: Will Howard #18 of the Kansas State Wildcats drops back to pass during the first quarter of the Allstate Sugar Bowl against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Caesars Superdome on December 31, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
2023 Prediction:
The Wildcats have a very underwhelming non-conference schedule, which will definitely help their record. They have home games vs. South Eastern Missouri and Troy. Two easy wins. Then they do have a little more difficult road game at Missouri that they should win. I will say at worst 2-1 more then likely 3-0. The conference road games are Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Texas and Kansas with only one back-to-back week of road games. They should go 3-1 in these games; at worst 1-3. The home games this year in conference are UCF, TCU, Houston, Baylor and Iowa State. I think the first three home games are wins. UCF and Houston are new to the conference and it is a step up. TCU lost so much talent from last year’s team. I don’t like them at all this year. I think Baylor, Kansas State might be the game of the year no one is talking about. Iowa State is always pesky. I will say, at least 3-2 with 4-1 being a very good home stand for conference games. The ceiling is 10-2 and the floor being 7-5. I would take them to win 9 games; that would be my best call for Kansas State this year. A very good team in a very competitive conference. This college football preview was positive but is it the best for the Big 12?
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
Each college football preview is different because of history and expectations. Today we have a team that went 6-6 in the regular season san 6-7 after losing a bowl game. Now for most teams that would be considered a bad season. In Lawrence Kansas this was a season of hope. They finally saw a team that was competitive vs. the rest of the Big 12. A team that actually showed signs of life and heart. They have only been to 13 bowl games in 133 years of playing college football. For them to make it last year, albeit they did suffer a loss is a step in the right direction. After this .500 regular season record their is a glimmer of hope that Kansas might not be just a basketball school anymore.
Head Coach:
The reason for all this hope starts and ends with the great hiring of Coach Lance Leipold. If you do not know of Leipold that is because he was in Division 3 football from 2007-2014. He was the head coach of D3 power UW-Whitewater and all he did their in 8 years was win 6 national titles and was runner up the 2 other times. What does that mean? It means he knows how to build a winning program, and how to win. No matter what level to win that much means there is something about you, and you know how to lead players. To further prove that point, after 2014 he moved on to the University of Buffalo. To put things into prospective before Leipold Buffalo went to three bowl games ever in their 106 years a the Division 1 level. Leipold in his 6 years went to three himself winning 2 of the bowl games. He also added 2 MAC east championships while he was there, something that was never accomplished previously by any Buffalo coach. Again proving he is a winner and can turn around programs. This is why the hire of Leipold is huge for Kansas because he can get it done. I truly believe that Leipold and his great offensive mind will get Kansas out off the bottom of the Big 12. After a 2-10 first year, that 6-6 last year already started the turn around process.
Key Players:
Kansas has its most dynamic player coming back in QB Jalon Daniels. In 9 games due to injury Daniels had a 66.1% completion percentage. He threw for 2,014 yards, 18 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Oh and another 425 yards rushing and 7 more touchdowns. If he stays healthy Daniels is a top 3 coach in the Big 12 no doubt about that. To help Daniels with the running game leading rusher Junior Devin Neal is back. Last year he had 1,090 yards, averaging 6.1 yards per carrying and 9 touchdowns. Also he has his boys on the outside coming back to make big plays in the passing game. His four leading pass catchers last year were Lawrence Arnold, Luke Grimm, Quentin Skinner and tight end Mason Fairchild are all back. That is a combined 157 catches for 2,222 yards and 21 touchdowns. That is so much production coming back, their offense is going to be fucking good. Their leading tackler and guy who pops on tape Kenny Logan Jr is back. He had 106 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, 2 Ints, 5 Pds and 1 FF from his safety spot. At the linebacker position Craig Young will lead that group after having 60 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, an int and ff. They have to replace their leading sack man in Lonnie Phelps. I believe that will be filled by DE Jereme Robinson who had 8.5 TFLs and 3 sacks himself. Most of the starters are back on defense and are only going to get better this year.
2023 Prediction:
Looking at Kansas’ non-conference schedule it is very favorable. They should easily handle Nevada and Missouri State. The Illinois game is also very winnable because the Illini lost a lot of players last year. At worst 2-1 in the non-conference but most likely 3-0. The home conference games are definitely tough with Kansas State, Oklahoma, BYU, UCF, and Texas Tech. They could go 3-2 in that stretch and at worst 2-3. The road games are Texas, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Cincy. I think they beat Cincy who will be at the bottom this year. With all the talent back they should get another road win and be 2-2. I think the ceiling is 9-3 and the floor being another 6-6 year which again they are building. I am betting them over 8.5 wins for sure, I think 9 is very gettable for the Jayhawks this year. Who would have thought 5 years ago I have Kansas at 9 wins in a college football preview. Crazy.
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
The Cyclones started their 2022 season off very hot going 3-0. They even beat Iowa in Iowa City for the Cyhawk trophy. That might be on of the last good thing that happened for Iowa State in 2022. They lost 8 of their last 9 games to end the season. I will say their defense was actually very good and finished 18th in point per game only giving up just over 20 points a game. The issue all year was their offense was just dreadful and really hard to watch. They finished 114th in the country with again over 20 points a game. If you look they scored under 20 points 7 seven times. To sum it up, defense really good, offense historically bad.
Head Coach:
Matt Campbell in my opinion is one of the best younger coaches in college football. Yes last year was terrible we know that, but look at the rest of his time in Ames. Campbell has been there for seven season and 5 of those seasons the Cyclones had winning records and went bowling. Campbell is a 2 time coach of the year and has a New Year Six bowl win, the 2020 Fiesta Bowl. This is all at a place that was a horrible football school before he go there. They only had 19 winning seasons in the previous 100 before Campbell was the head man. I have no doubt he will get the ship turned around after last year. That is what good coaches do after a down year.
Key Players:
Red Shirt Junior QB Hunter Dekkers is back after a very rocky first season as the Cyclones starter. Dekkers had 3,044 yards on a 66.1% completion percentage with 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Dekkers needs to throw the ball down the field and stretch defenses more. He needs to do that while simultaneously cut the interceptions down. Dekkers has the ability to do this talent wise he just needs to make the right reads and know when to take his shots. As of now there is no X WR on the depth chart to help Dekkers and Xavier Hutchinson is gone. In fact only 2 WR with any catches are on the roster now. Senior Dimitri Stanley is going to have to contribute a lot more than his 32 catches for 383 yards and 1 touchdown. A lot will come on Stanley’s shoulders as he is the only WR to really do anything for the Cyclones last year. I am sure he will get help with people transferring into fall camp. The running game was not great either last year but do have leading rusher Jirehl Brock who had 445 yards rushing, 4.5 ypc, and 3 touchdowns. Again not a lot of production coming back. That might be a good thing as the offense was historically bad. Leading tackler Gerry Vaughn is back in his LB position after having 71 tackles, 4.5 TFL’s and 1 sack. The secondary has their leading guys in tackles with Beau Fryler and Myles Purchase. Iowa State will have a strong defense again with these players and others back. They do need some depth at DE and LB though.
2023 Prediction:
Looking at the Cyclones non-conference schedule I definitely think at worst they will go 2-1 and 3-0 is not far fetched. They should easily handle Northern Iowa and Ohio. They beat Iowa last year in Iowa and the Cyclones were bad. So yes they can beat them at home this year when I expect them to be better. The Big 12 conference schedule could be a gauntlet this year with new teams coming in. The road games at BYU, KSU, Oklahoma,Baylor and Cincy. If they can go 2-3 or 3-2 in road games they can really make a run at a good year. The home conference games are Ok State, TCU, Kansas and Texas. TCU is down after losing a lot of players last year, OK state, Kansas and Texas will be hard. I am saying 3-1 but could see 4-0 or 2-2. The schedule is very tricky for Iowas State. I will say their ceiling is 10-2 if everything goes absolutely perfect and guys really step up on offense. The floor is 6-6 this is just a typical year in the competitive Big 12, but I always will bet on Coach Campbell.
***FOOTBALL*** Iowa State's schedule for the 2023 has been posted, including the Big 12 slate. Cyclones will play at Cincinnati & BYU. Texas Tech & West Virginia have been dropped from the 2023 schedule. https://t.co/tK7eZUylid
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
What to say about the Baylor Bears in the 2022 season hmmmmm? Disappointing I think is the best word to describe the Bears last year. They only had 5 wins vs. FBS schools and 6 wins overall. But if you ask any Baylor fan last year was kind of a dumpster fire. The Bears stared off the first two thirds of the season with a respectable 6-3. Then they lost the last 4 games including a bowl loss to a service academy in Air Force. That is just not acceptable for the fans in Waco. Yes their last 3 regular season games were against 3 ranked in conference teams but you have to win won. They let TCU squeak out a last second win, good teams don’t allow that to happen. There is too much talent and the coaching is too good to go .500 on the year. Just what could have been, they were in contention to make the conference championship the last third of the year and just shit the bed.
Head Coach:
One thing I do like about Baylor is Head Coach Dave Aranda. I think he has the exact temperament needed in Waco after all the bullshit that has gone on there in years before. Aranda is a defensive wizard and he teams usually always compete. After a terrible covid laden 2020 first season at Baylor, where he went 2-12 he bounced back. His second year on the job he took the Bears to a 12-2 season. They won the Big 12 and the Sugar Bowl. That is what I believe the ceiling is in Waco and Aranda hit it year 2. Last year was a regression year going 6-7 with a bowl loss. Baylor is not a national power that is suppose to win double digit games every year. I do think however a bowl game each year and playing for the conference title and ten wins every 2 or 3 years should be the goal for Aranda. I just hope his early great success doesn’t cost him in the long run in Waco. the fans need to realize they have a great coach but they are Baylor, not Alabama.
Key Players:
Red Shirt Junior QB Blake Shapen is back in Waco after last year he had 2,790 yards on a 63.3 % completion percentage. Shapen had 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in Baylor’s Power Spread offense. Honestly I think he could do a lot better and they expect him to take a huge jump up this year. His number one target, Monaray Baldwin who had 33 catches 565 yards and 4 touchdowns is back for his Junior year. He has his second leading WR, Hal Presley back after having 32 catches for 382 yards and 4 touchdowns last year. I think these two along with new guys stepping up could make an electric passing game in Waco. The backfield has the biggest contributor on offense coming back in Richard Reese , who as a true freshman had 972 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. The youth from last year on offense is now experienced. That usually makes for big time play making! The loss of the top two tacklers from last year will need to be replaced. One guy ready for that job is LB Matt Jones who last year had 65 tackles, 4.5 TFL’s and 2 sacks. I am expecting him to be the captain of that defense. Along with Garmon Randolph who lead the team in sacks at DE. I love doing a college football preview about a team that is on the up and up.
2023 Prediction:
One of the most important parts of a college football preview is, well it is previewing the season opponents. I believe the Bears are guaranteed to go at worst 2-1 in the non-conference. They are playing home vs. Texas State and LIU, definite wins. If somehow they pull an upset of Utah, which isn’t too crazy because it is in Waco 3-0 is on the table. Their road games in conference are tough vs. new comers UCF and Cincinnati. They also play Kansas State and TCU on the road. If they can split that, which is very possible that is a 5-2 record. Hmm. I am actually going over the games while writing so excuse the moments of thoughts in this blog. They do have to play Texas. I am saying 8 wins plus all day for the Baylor Bears. I can see a great season at 10-2 and I think the floor, the very bottom is 7 wins. The way the schedule lines up, the talent back, the coaching, I like Baylor this year. It is fun doing these previews and realizing who might be a surprise and Baylor will be one of those teams this year.
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
The Knights had a good year in 2022 finishing the regular season at 9-3. They lost their last two games, the AAC Championship vs. Tulane and the Military Bowl vs. Duke. UCF was a very good team on both sides of the ball. On Offense they were ranked 31st in points per game and Defense they were 46th. The Knights were the second best team in the AAC and they showed that on the field.
Head Coach:
Coach Gus Malzahn is one of the most successful head coaches in college football. He has a National Championship under his belt as well as an SEC, and Sun Belt Championship. Malzahn also won the Bobby Bowden Coach of the Year Award in 2013. Malzahn is known to be one of the best Offensive minds in all of college football as well. In his 2 years so far at UCF he has led them to back to back 9 win seasons and at the top of the AAC. His hurry up no huddle offense has been adopted by most of major college football. What I am saying is Gus is a top ten active coach.
Key Players:
Everyone knows their can not be a college football preview without talking about the most important position. Quarterback John Rhys Plumlee is back for his senior season. Last year Plumlee threw for 2,586 yards on a 63% completion percentage with 14 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He also rushed for 856 yards and 11 more touchdowns. He split time in 4 games with QB Mikey Keene but this year it will all be up to him. Plumlee has his two leading WR from last year back. Javon Baker and Kobe Hudson combined for 1,437 yards on 95 catches with 12 touchdowns. R.J. Harvey is back in the backfield bringing his 6.7 yards per carry and 5 touchdowns from last year. Last year he split time but he will be the load carrier all yer for the Knights running game. The defense has a lot of senior leadership on it this year for UCF. Big time playmakers are back like LB Tre’mon Morris-Brash who had 52 tackles, 13 TFL and 6 sacks last season. Along with Brash 4 of the 5 leading tackles are back for the Knights. LB Jason Johnson, DE Josh Celiscar and LB Walter Yates combined last year for 234 tackles, 17.5 sacks and 17.5 TFL’s. Most of the defensive production is back for the Knights and that is a scary thought for their opponent’s.
2023 Prediction:
The Knights will be playing their first Big 12 schedule this year and that will be tough. I do think however they will go 3-0 in the non-conference with their games vs. Kent State and Villanova at home and Boise State away. I honestly think they can go 5-4 or 6-3 in conference this year and surprise some critics. UCF is 20-1 to win the division and I may take a flier on that. Most of their production on both sides of the ball are back and they have Coach Malzahn. UCF will be going to a pretty decent bowl and will be in the talk to winning the conference year one.
Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
The Cougars had a decent season in 2022, going 8-5 and winning the Independence Bowl. Most would look at the for a Group of 5 team and consider that a winning season. Houston had bigger aspirations last year but when it came to play Big 12 teams they were 0-2. The loss to Tulsa, who was not a good team was bad for them as well. Houston’s Air Raid offense was ranked 17th last year in points per game scoring 36.1. Even when scoring that much it is hard to win when your defense is allowing 32.3 points per game, 112th in the all of college football. They were in a lot of high scoring shootouts it is hard to meet high expectation when it is always down to the last possession.
Head Coach:
One of the best and most respected offensive coaches in the country is Dana Holgorsen. He revamped West Virginia’s offense after Rich Rodriguez destroyed the program. Holgorsen turned the Mountaineers into a high octane offense that no one wanted to play. Coach Holgorsen was at WVU from 2011-2019 when he took the head job at Houston. Guess what? He has done the same thing for the Cougars on the offensive side of the ball. Every 3 or 4 years since becoming a head coach Holgorsen leads his teams to 10 win seasons and playing for conference title. The years in between he has his team right in the middle of the pack. That is exactly what you want to do while at a mid tier college football program. Holgorsen’s team’s are always right there even when rebuilding. If he can go middle of the pack in year one of the Big 12 it will be a success.
Key Players:
I use Ourlads for depth charts for all of these college football preview. If you look at Houston’s right now on 5/5, it is empty. I am not an insider to any of these team, just giving a brief preview of what to expect. Houston has a lot of postions to fill in fall camp. They are also replacing their start QB Clayton Tune who had a 67.3% completion percentage for 4,074 yards. Tune had 5 rushing touchdowns, 40 passing touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. That is a lot of production to replace for former Friday Night Tykes star and Redshirt Sophomore Lucas Coley. Coley a 3 or 4 start dual threat QB out of high school, depending on what recruiting service you look at has the skills to ball out. He may struggle year one, not because of him but there is not a lot of help on the offensive side of the ball. Houston only has 4 WR on the depth chart and only 2, Sam Brown and Joseph Manjack, caught passes last year. For defense just click the link for their depth chart. There is no free safety’s, nickelbacks, or right corners on the roster. It is a mess right now.
2023 Prediction:
I am not sure what this team is going to be this is a hard college football preview. I love and believe in Coach Holgorsen but the holes in the depth chart on both sides of the ball is crazy. Houston will fill them with the transfer portal and in fall camp but, I just don’t know the talent. Second, they are joining the Big 12 conference this year, a step up in weekly competition. They will go 3-0 in non-conference play, the teams are not that great, although UTSA could give them a game. Then it is all Big 12 football, so maybe 4-5 and that might be generous. If the Cougars make a bowl this coming year it will be a hell of a good season for Coach Holgorsen and the Houston Cougars.
