It's another one of those pictures of a guy you may not know, that I'm saying I know you will know. Confused yet? Here's a hint: it's the guy in the purple.
Remember when you were a little kid, and you made those Christmas lists that only had about 100 items on them? And, unless you were Sam Walton’s kid, you knew you could really only hope for a smaller amount. That’s what this is, in a way.
Of course, I would have left Kathy Ireland off of my letters to Santa if I were making Christmas morning predictions. Probably would have just gone with a Dino Riders toy. So, this isn’t exactly the same, but there are similarities.
Do I think all 100 of these projections will come true? Yes, actually I do. But I’m smart enough to know that getting lucky on about half of them would be pretty amazing. But where’s the fun in hedging your bets? It’s way too early to be thinking about specifics when it comes to college football, but hey, I made my Christmas wish-lists in June too. So here they are, numbers 51-100, in no particular order, of the 100 events that will transpire during the course of the 2009 NCAA football season.
100 College Football Bold Predictions: Part 1 (1-50)
51.) VT quarterback Tyrod Taylor will have an ACC MVP type season and will help garner some love for the VT offense for once.
52.) He’ll get some help from the ACC’s leading rusher this season, Darren Evans.
53.) Texas wide receiver Jordan Shipley’s numbers will rival those of Dez Bryant and Dezmon Briscoe, and he’ll join the recent ranks of great Big 12 receivers.
54.) BYU quarterback Max Hall will struggle without Austin Collie, and it will show in BYU’s offensive numbers.
55.) UGA freshman running back Washaun Ealy will split carries with Caleb King before the season is over, giving Georgia a two-headed ground attack again.
56.) Illinois wide receiver Arrelious Benn will finally have a breakout season as far as touchdowns go.
57.) Eric Berry will win the Thorpe Award.
58.) Jahvid Best will win the Doak Walker Award.
59.) Northwestern’s Corey Wootton and Ohio State’s Cameron Heyward will be big time defensive end prospects by the end of the season.
60.) Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount will lead the nation in rushing touchdowns.
61.) Vanderbilt will not make a return trip to a bowl game. They’ll be close, but it won’t happen.
62.) North Carolina State, a trendy pick to surprise in the ACC, will win 7 games, tops.
63.) Nebraska will take a step back in year two under Bo Pelini, before taking a big step forward in 2010.
64.) Clemson running back CJ Spiller will find out just how hard it is to carry the load without James Davis. His numbers won’t be awful, but they won’t be what Clemson fans are hoping for.
65.) Connecticut will again be better than people expect, especially on defense, but Randy Edsall won’t leave… yet.
66.) Dez Bryant will lose the Biletnikoff Award to conference competitor Dezmon Briscoe.
67.) Oklahoma will not score 60 points in a single game all season.
68.) Neither will Texas Tech.
69.) In fact, all of the schools who didn’t hire Mike Leach this past year will feel a little better about that after his team struggles to make a bowl.
70.) Jimmy Clausen will leave school a year early after a surprisingly good season.
71.) Tennessee will start three different players at quarterback throughout the year.
72.) Minnesota will again start out very hot, but fade towards the end of the season. Though Eric Decker will still be one of the most underrated receivers in the country, he’ll have a huge year.
73.) Mike Stoops will return to the hot seat after missing out on a bowl game this year. He’ll be kept around for another season, however.
74.) Florida State will win more games than Miami. And they’ll also beat Miami.
75.) The Alabama – Virginia Tech game will be one of the closest, and hardest fought games all year, but Alabama will win.
76.) Tommy Tuberville will become South Carolina’s next head coach after Steve Spurrier retires.
77.) Though Russell Wilson will have more touchdown passes. He’ll just have many more interceptions too.
78.) Duke will beat a ranked team for the first time in about a million years. They won’t come close to a bowl game, but that win will still be huge.
79.) Ole Miss will match top last year’s win total, but they’ll lose a revenge game to Florida in the SEC Championship.
80.) Jevan Snead will be the general consensus number one quarterback prospect, not Sam Bradford.
81.) Navy will beat army.
82.) Brent Musburger will gush over USC all season long. Again. This is probably the safest prediction of all.
83.) Daryll Clark and Penn State will finally get the Big Ten another BCS Bowl win.
84.) The SEC, Big 12, and Pac 10 will get two teams into the BCS.
85.) Sergio Kindle will top Brian Orakpo’s sack total of 12.
86.) Stanford will finally get back to a bowl game. And Jim Harbaugh won’t have to coo about how good USC is to get them there.
87.) June Jones will have another monumental turnaround season. And SMU will challenge for a bowl spot after winning seven games.
88.) Florida’s Carlos Dunlap and Brandon Spikes will clean up on postseason defensive awards.
89.) Georgia will at no point even consider wearing black jerseys this season.
90.) Missouri will miss out on a bowl game. Sorry guys, I’m a big fan of Gary Pinkel, but losing Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, Evander Hood, William Moore and offensive linemen Colin Brown and Ryan Madison.
91.) Oklahoma offensive tackle Trent Williams will struggle facing better pash rushers on the left side early on, but will be one of the best tackles in the country by the end of the season.
92.) Texas will not lose a game because of a dropped interception. But they will intercept plenty of passes. Their secondary has the potential to be one of the best in the nation.
93.) TCU will be this year’s BCS buster. And defensive end Jerry Hughes will be the biggest reason why.
94.) Quarterback Ryan Mallett will give Arkansas fans a lot to cheer about in a big time upset, but he’ll also make them cringe in a game with four interceptions.
95.) The Washington Huskies will have a 1000 yard receiver, 1000 yard rusher, and 2500 yard passer. I don’t know who the receiver will be, but Jake Locker could fill out the last two categories by himself, though the 2500 yard passer part is a lock.
96.) Russell Okung will be the most dominant offensive tackle in the nation. He’ll be a big part of Oklahoma State’s offensive success.
97.) In fact, Zac Robinson, Kendall Hunter, and Dez Bryant will form the most formidable stats trio in the country. Too bad their defense will lose a couple of games for them.
98.) South Carolina won’t have a quarterback start more than four games in a row.
99.) For the first time in a while, not one FCS team will beat an FBS team.
100.) All of my predictions will come true and the NCAA will award me a 1 billion dollar grant for me “seer” abilities, which I’ll use to hide from the inevitable witch trials in Salem that will follow such brilliant prognostication success. Wish me luck.
96.)
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