Who to keep an eye on this college football season

PHOENIX (AP) — Col­lege foot­ball is in for some big and, some say, much-needed changes with the switch to a four-team playoff.

Before we get to that, there’s still a cou­ple more sea­sons under the cur­rent sys­tem; the play­offs don’t begin until 2014.

And this one will be worth watching.

There’s plenty of inter­est­ing story lines, from Penn State try­ing to rebuild in the wake of the Jerry San­dusky child sex-abuse scan­dal to Urban Meyer’s return to coach­ing with Ohio State.

There’s no short­age of great play­ers, either.

South­ern Cal­i­for­nia quar­ter­back Matt Barkley skipped the NFL for the chance at a national title, Michigan’s Denard Robin-son is a blur even with­out his shoelaces tied and Wisconsin’s Mon­tee Ball is like try­ing to tackle a wreck­ing ball.

Great teams? Could be a few of those, too. USC, LSU, Alabama, Okla­homa, Ore­gon — the BCS could be under a lot of strain this sea­son with those teams all bid­ding for No. 1.

So to get you ready, we’ve got a run­down of some of the things to watch out for this season.

Enjoy.

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TOP TEAMS

USC. Barkley is back. So is his top tar­get, Robert Woods. For­mer Penn State run­ning back Silas Redd was a nice addi­tion. Post­sea­son eli­gi­ble again, the Tro­jans aren’t aim­ing for just any bowl; they want a trip to Miami and national championship.

Alabama. The Crim­son Tide have won two of the past three national cham­pi­onships. They fig­ure to be con­tenders for another.

LSU. The Honey Bad­ger is gone. All those other NFL prospects — such as defen­sive end Sam Mont­gomery and safety Eric Reid — should keep the Tigers from miss­ing him.

Okla­homa. The Soon­ers have a record-setting QB in Landry Jones, a brick wall of an offen­sive line and with the return of Mike Stoops, Bob’s feisty lit­tle brother, they should be good on defense, too.

Ore­gon. LaMichael James and Dar­ron Thomas are gone? Big deal. The Ducks have plenty of other play­ers who can fly in those new winged unis.

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KEEP AN EYE ON

Arkansas. QB Tyler Wil­son and RB Knile Davis are back, coach John L. Smith has calmed the storm after Bobby Petrino’s motor­cy­cle crash and sub­se­quent firing.

All Arkansas has to do now is get by Alabama and LSU — its only two losses a year ago — which isn’t as far­fetched as you might think. Both visit the Nat­ural state, one early (Alabama on Sept. 15) the other late (LSU the day after Thanksgiving)

Florida State. The Semi­noles’ return to promi­nence has been rumored for years. Under coach Jimbo Fisher, it may actu­ally hap­pen this season.

Wis­con­sin. The Bad­gers are hun­gry after con­sec­u­tive Rose Bowl losses and they have Ball, one of the nation’s best run­ning backs.

Michi­gan State. Behind RB Le’Veon Bell, the Spar­tans could be on the verge of break­ing a Rose Bowl drought that goes back to 1988.

Texas. Mack Brown’s crew appears to be headed back to the big stage behind a helmet-rattling defense.

West Vir­ginia. The Moun-taineers could make their first sea­son in the Big 12 cham­pi­onship worthy.

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TOP PLAYERS

Barkley, USC. Pro­jected as a high NFL draft pick, Barkley became an instant Heis­man Tro­phy front-runner when he announced he was com­ing back for his senior season.

Ball, Wis­con­sin. The Bad­gers’ star run­ning back changed the pro­nun­ci­a­tion of his name from Mon-tee to Mon-tay. What­ever you call him, dude’s good.

Robin­son, Michi­gan. The Wolver­ines’ elec­tric quar­ter­back has churned out more than 8,000 yards in his career, most of those the past two sea­sons. Imag­ine what he could do if he tied his shoes.

Geno Smith, West Vir­ginia. The Moun­taineers’ QB set mul­ti­ple school records as a junior and more could be on the way in his final sea­son in Morgantown.

Barke­vi­ous Mingo, LSU. Been known to train wreck offen­sive linemen.

Jones, Okla­homa. He’s been around since Barry Switzer was coach. OK, maybe not that long, but the four-year starter will leave as the most pro­lific passer in OU history.

De’Anthony Thomas, Ore­gon. Spec­tac­u­lar as a fresh­man last sea­son and will likely get more touches this sea­son now that James is in the NFL.

Mar­cus Lat­ti­more, South Car­olina. Back from a torn ACL last sea­son, he should be one of the nation’s top run­ning backs this year.

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BIG GAMES

Sept. 1, Michi­gan vs. Alabama at Cow­boys Sta­dium, Arling­ton, Texas. The annual opener at Jerry Jones’ fun­house has had some great matchups in the past. This one could be the best of the bunch.

Sept. 15, Alabama at Arkansas. Win­ner could get the inside track on a national-title run.

Sept. 22, Michi­gan at Notre Dame. Last season’s epic fin­ish makes this a must-watch.

Oct. 13, Okla­homa vs. Texas in Dal­las. The Red River rivalry con­tin­ues after all the con­fer­ence shuf­fling and could become epic again with these two teams on the rise.

Oct. 27, Notre Dame at Okla­homa. A rare meet­ing between power programs.

Nov. 3, Alabama at LSU. We may not get sucked into call­ing it the Game of the Cen­tury again, but it still fig­ures to have national-title implications.

Nov. 3, Ore­gon at USC. Triple dig­its in com­bined points is a pos­si­bil­ity with all those play­mak­ers on the field.

Nov. 24, Michi­gan at Ohio State. Meyer is run­ning the Buck­eyes and Michi­gan appears to be back. This rivalry could be heat­ing back up.

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THE NEW GUYS

There was quite a bit of turnover in the coach­ing ranks over the off­sea­son, with some pretty big names land­ing in new places. Here’s a few:

Bob Davie, New Mex­ico. Away from coach­ing for a decade, Davie tries to turn around a pro­gram plagued by embar­rass­ments on and off the field under Mike Locksley.

Todd Gra­ham, Ari­zona State. The fast-talking Texan has done every­thing right in Tempe so far, sooth­ing con­cerns about bounc­ing around while build­ing excite­ment for the pro­gram. All that’s left is to win some games.

Mike Leach, Wash­ing­ton State. His offenses are always enter­tain­ing. So’s his mouth.

Meyer, Ohio State. Burned out no more, the two-time national cham­pion coach returns to the side­line with one of the country’s pre­mier pro­grams — and too many ref­er­ences to an Urban renewal.

Bill O’Brien, Penn State. The for­mer o-coordinator of the New Eng­land Patri­ots might have the tough­est job in the country.

Rich Rodriguez, Ari­zona. RichRod’s three-year run at Michi­gan didn’t go so well, but he has Tuc­son buzzing about foot­ball again with his suped-up offense.

Smith, Arkansas. The Razor­backs needed some­one to smooth over the ugli­ness of Bobby Petrino’s fir­ing. The even-keel Smith should be a good fit.

Char­lie Weis, Kansas. Weis’ first stint as a head coach petered out at Notre Dame. The Jay­hawks are hop­ing he can turn around a pro­gram that lan­guished under Turner Gill.

Posted by Jon Kleinknecht on Aug 31 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.