The Intriguing Match-Ups of 2008
by Matt Brown
With the college football season just eight days away, Matt Brown takes a look at the most intriguing match-ups to look forward to this season, from the most offensive fireworks to match-ups of top NFL Draft prospects.
Game most likely to feature an 80-point scorer: Chattanooga at Oklahoma
Last year, the Sooners came the closest to scoring 80 when they put up 79 points against a hapless, but Division 1-A (excuse me, FBS…), North Texas squad in the season opener. Now, Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray, Juaquin Iglesias, Jermaine Greshman and the high-powered Oklahoma offense, which ranked fifth in scoring last year, gets its first 1-AA opponent since beating Indiana State 49-0 in 1999. The alma mater of Terrell Owens, Chattanooga actually hung in with Arkansas in a 34-15 loss last year despite finishing the season with a 2-9 record and allowing 33.6 points per game. But don’t expect similar results in Norman.
Honorable Mention: Eastern Washington/Massachusetts at Texas Tech, Southeast Missouri at Missouri, The Citadel at Florida
Biggest shootout: SMU at Navy and Tulsa at SMU
The SMU offense didn’t light the world on fire last year, but it was respectable, and the addition of new coach June Jones will put a lot of points on the board. It’s pretty safe to say that the over-under numbers for the games with Navy and Tulsa will be high. Tulsa led the nation in total offense and scored 41.1 points per game, while Navy scored 39.3 points per game and scored 74 on North Texas. Navy-SMU is particularly intriguing because of the contrast in offense styles (option vs. run-and-shoot). The other common-denominator between these three teams besides the ability to put up points? The ability to give up loads of points. Each team finished 100th or worse in scoring defense in 2007.
Honorable Mention: Kansas State at Louisville, Ball State at Central Michigan, Oklahoma State at Texas Tech
Best defensive showdown: Ohio State at USC
There is little doubt that this is the biggest non-conference game of the year, and the amount of NFL talent on these two defenses is tremendous, especially at linebacker (Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman and USC’s Brian Cushing and Rey Maualuga). Both teams can score some points and have loads of offensive talent – although USC’s quarterback situation is still murky – but the Buckeyes and Trojans boasted the top two scoring defenses in the nation last year.
Honorable Mention: LSU at Auburn, Iowa at Pittsburgh
Best match-Up of Heisman contenders: Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)
The biggest game for a Heisman candidate may be Ohio State tailback Chris Wells at USC, but the Trojans are unlikely to have a serious contender, at least that early in the season. Florida (Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin) and Georgia (Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno) each have two legitimate contenders. The Bulldogs held Tebow to -15 yards rushing in last year’s meeting, while Moreno burst into the national scene with 188 yards and three touchdowns. The game formerly known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party will certainly be very important to both the Heisman and national title races.
Honorable Mention: Texas Tech (Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree) at Oklahoma (Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray), West Virginia (Pat White) at Pittsburgh (LeSean McCoy)
Best one-on-one match-up of senior NFL Draft prospects: Ole Miss at LSU
New Era Scouting’s No. 1 overall senior prospect for the 2009 NFL Draft, Ole Miss left tackle Michael Oher, meets with our No. 1 defensive end prospect, LSU’s Tyson Jackson. Jackson had a somewhat disappointing season statistically last year, but look for big things out of the 292-poundend this year. But none of his 12.5 career sacks have come against Ole Miss. Luckily Jackson gets a bye week between the showdown with Oher and a battle with Alabama’s Andre Smith two weeks beforehand.
Honorable Mention: Oregon (C Max Unger) at USC (ILB Rey Maualuga, DT Fili Moala), Ohio State (G Steve Rehring) at USC (ILB Rey Maualuga, DT Fili Moala), Georgia (DT Jeff Owens) at LSU (G Herman Johnson), Clemson (WR Aaron Kelly) at Wake Forest (CB Alphonso Smith)
Best one-on-one match-up of underclassmen NFL Draft prospects: Missouri vs. Illinois (in St. Louis)
Missouri’s redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jeremy Maclin will battle with Illinois junior cornerback Vontae Davis. Maclin had just 2 catches for 43 yards and one touchdown in the game last year, but it was also his first career game after tearing his ACL in the 2006 preseason. Davis made 10 tackles, one tackle for loss and blocked a kick. With Maclin as an established star now, the spotlight will be on the two in this important opening game. The two have similar size and are both terrific athletes, so it should be a interesting to watch.
Honorable Mention: Florida (Junior ILB Brandon Spikes) vs. Georgia (Redshirt Sophomore RB Knowshon Moreno), Ole Miss (Junior DE Greg Hardy) at Alabama (Junior LT Andre Smith), Clemson (Junior DE Ricky Sapp) vs. Alabama (Junior LT Andre Smith)
Most raucous atmosphere: Alabama at LSU
It is tough to pick between Alabama at LSU and Georgia at LSU, as Georgia could enter Baton Rouge with its national title hopes on the line, and it could also depend on if one of the games is played in primetime. But for now, the pick is Nick Saban rolling into Death Valley for the first time on the opposing sideline in what could also be a crucial game in the quest for the SEC West title.
Honorable Mention: Georgia at LSU, LSU at Florida, Ohio State at Wisconsin, Michigan at Ohio State, Michigan at Penn State, Florida at Tennessee
Most intriguing coaching match-up: Notre Dame at Washington
Nick Saban heading to LSU also qualifies as intriguing, but since that’s already been covered and Rich Rodriguez doesn’t face West Virginia, the obvious pick is Charlie Weis vs. Tyrone Willingham. Willingham, of course, was controversially fired after just three years at Notre Dame and now finds himself on the hot seat in his fourth season at Washington, while Weis enters his fourth year at Notre Dame after a disastrous 3-9 season. If the Irish lose to the Huskies, it is too late to place blame on Willingham’s recruiting efforts from four years ago. Weis won the other match-up between the two in 2005, but the pressure is much greater on each this time around.
Honorable Mention: Ole Miss (Houston Nutt) at Arkansas (Bobby Petrino), Alabama (Nick Saban) at LSU (Les Miles), Iowa (Kirk Ferentz) at Pittsburgh (Dave Wannstedt) in a potential Hot-Seat game, Washington (Tyrone Willingham) at Arizona (Mike Stoops) in another potential Hot-Seat game, Tulsa (Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn) at Arkansas
E-mail me at mattbrown@newerascouting.com.