Bob Loblaw's
COLLEGE FOOTBALL YEAR-IN-REVIEW BONANZA
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Best Player:  Matt Ryan, Boston College; led 4th quarter comebacks in Blacksburg and Death Valley to lead
his team to the ACC Title game with a first year coach.

MVP:  Matt Ryan, Boston College

Best NFL Prospect:  Chris Long, Virginia; Howie’s son dominated the front line in about every game he
played in this year.  

Coach of the Year:  Al Groh, Virginia.  He led UVA to the brink of the ACC title game after losing to Wyoming
to open the season.  Honorable Mention goes to Frank Beamer for winning the league title at Virginia Tech
after the on campus tragedy last spring.

Coach on the Hot Seat:   Ted Roof of Duke and Chan Gailey at Georgia Tech; both have already been fired.

Biggest Surprise:  Virginia

Biggest bust:  Florida State.  The greatness has all but worn off this once proud program, same for Miami,
though they are rebuilding under Randy Shannon.  Anyone remember when these 2 teams had a good
quarterback?  Where are you Ken Dorsey and Chris Weinke?

Early pick for 08:  Virginia Tech and Clemson in the ACC title game.
Best Player:  Pat White; can score a touchdown from anywhere on the field running or throwing.

MVP:  Pat White;  The only games WVU lost were when he was hurt.

Best NFL Prospect:  Brian Brohm, a prototypical NFL Quarterback; not his fault they had no defense at
Louisville this year.

Coach of the Year:  Randy Edsel.  He had Connecticut, a program that was not even Division 1 ten years
ago, 1 game from the BCS and tied for the conference championship.

Coach on the Hot Seat:  Dave Wannstadt; Pitt has not been to a bowl game since he arrived, though the
win over WVU affirmed his contract extension.

Biggest Surprise:  Connecticut

Biggest Bust:  Louisville, a preseason top 10 team, finished 6-6.

Early pick for 08:  West Virginia assuming White and Slaton return for their senior year.
Best Player:  James Lauranitis, LB, Ohio State.  

MVP:  Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Illinois; the key to the offense for the resurgent Illini.

Best NFL Prospect:  Jake Long, LT, Michigan.

Coach of the Year:  Ron Zook has turned Illinois around in 2 years and they are in the Rose Bowl for the first
time since 1983.  Kudos also go to Bill Lynch, taking over in a difficult situation and leading Indiana to their
first bowl game since 1993.

Coach on the Hot Seat:  Whoever takes over at Michigan will have to succeed early to quiet the doubters.

Biggest Surprise:  Illinois going to the Rose Bowl.

Biggest Bust:  Minnesota; they fired Glen Mason because they were tired of going 7-5 every year, so they
hired a new coach and went 1-11.  

Early Pick for 08:  OSU; with almost everyone back and Michigan coming to Columbus.
Best Player:  Allen Patrick, RB, Oklahoma.

MVP:  Chase Daniel, QB Missouri; had the Tigers one half away from playing for the national title.

Best NFL Prospect:  Jamaal Charles, RB, Texas; had 200+ yards in a quarter this year among his big
games.

Coach of the Year:  Mark Mangino led Kansas to their best season ever and the Orange Bowl, despite the
loss to Missouri.

Coach on the Hot Seat:  Both Dennis Franchione and Bill Callahan are already gone.

Biggest Surprise:  Kansas

Biggest Bust:  Nebraska went from everyone’s pick to win the Big 12 North to one of the worst defensive
teams in the nation.

Early pick for 08:  Oklahoma, led by Sam Bradford, should contend for a national title.  Missouri will be the
favorite in the North assuming Chase Daniel is back.
Best Player:  Dennis Dixon, QB, Oregon.

MVP:  Dennis Dixon;  we saw how much Oregon lost when he went out and they could not score, losing 3 in
a row without him.

Best NFL Prospect:  Deshawn Jackson, WR Cal.  

Coach of the Year:  Dennis Erickson, in his first year, took Arizona State to 10 wins.

Coach on the Hot Seat:  Karl Dorrell, UCLA.  He had 20 starters back and regressed, including a loss to
Notre Dame. (editor's note: Dorrell was fired just hours after this story went to print)

Biggest Surprise:  Arizona State, unranked to start the season, going 10-2 in Erickson’s first year.

Biggest Bust:  Cal; one touchdown from #1 in October against OSU, the Bears finished 6-6 including losing
the Axe to Stanford.

Early Pick for 08:  USC; they don’t rebuild, they reload.
Best Player:  Tim Tebow, QB, Florida; first player to ever run for and throw for 20+ touchdowns in Division 1.  
He should be the first sophomore to ever win the Heisman Trophy.

MVP:  Darren McFadden, Arkansas; kept the Hogs in games and was the key to their upset over LSU.

Best NFL Prospect:  Darren McFadden will be the first running back taken in the draft assuming he leaves.

Coach of the Year:  Mark Richt has Georgia in the top 5 with 6 straight wins to end the season, one of the
hottest teams in the nation.

Coach on the Hot Seat:  Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss; already fired after going winless in the league.

Biggest Surprise:  Mississippi State going 7-5 beating Auburn and Alabama and going to a bowl game.

Biggest Bust:  Alabama paying Nick Saban $4 million dollars to go 6-6, the same record that got Mike Shula
fired.

Early Pick for 08:  Florida and Georgia both will have star quarterbacks returning.
Best Player:  Colt Brennan, QB, Hawaii.

MVP:  Colt Brennan; led Hawaii to their first outright WAC title ever and an undefeated season.

Best NFL Prospect:  Colt Brennan

Coach of the Year:  June Jones led Hawaii to their first outright WAC title ever.

Coach on the Hot Seat:  Charlie Weis, more so from the media and the fans then the school, as his huge
contract will keep Notre Dame from letting him go for a while.

Biggest Surprise:  Appalachian State beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in one of the biggest upsets ever.

Biggest Bust:  Notre Dame going 3-9, one of their worst seasons ever.
NON-BCS
Conferences and
Independents
5 Best Games (in no particular order):

Kentucky 43, LSU 37--A triple overtime thriller that knocked LSU from #1.

LSU 41, Alabama 34--Game lived up to all the hype with another LSU comeback.

Stanford 24, USC 23--The last second touchdown pass on 4th down for the 41 point
underdog will be replayed for years.

Arkansas 50, LSU 48--Another overtime thriller that cost LSU a shot at the national title.

Navy 46, Notre Dame 44--44 years of losing ended in overtime thriller.
Heisman Top 5:
Tim Tebow, Darren McFadden, Chase Daniel, Pat White, Colt Brennen

National Title Prediction:

Ohio State 23, LSU 17

Jim Tressel owns Michigan and Les Miles played there.  LSU will be the favorite playing in
New Orleans and Ohio State will pull the upset like they did against Miami in 2002.  This is
their chance for redemption after that blowout loss to Florida last year.
5 Biggest Upsets:

Appalachian State beating Michigan in Ann Arbor; the beginning of the end for Lloyd Carr.

Illinois beating then #1 Ohio State in Columbus.

Stanford, a 41 point underdog with its backup QB playing, knocking off USC.

Arkansas and their beleaguered coach beating #1 LSU in Baton Rouge.

Pittsburgh at 4-7 going into Morgantown and knocking West Virginia out of the National Title
game on the last night of the season.
For those confused by the ratings:

Best Player: pretty self explanatory; the best player in the league regardless of how his team finished.
MVP: The player most valuable to his team; not necessarily the “best” player, but the one who would create the most loss for
his team if he were not there.  Since the pro leagues don’t distinguish this when picking an MVP, I am going to do it myself.
Best NFL Prospect: the player who has the most NFL upside.  Even though no one is really sure why the word upside
became a football term, we will use it here to stay parallel with Mr. Kiper.
Coach of the Year: obviously, the coach who did the best job.
Coach on the Hot Seat: the coach who is most likely to face the most pressure starting next year or will not even be around
by then.
Biggest surprise: the team that achieved far more than expected.
Biggest bust: opposite of above
Early pick for 2008: This is very subjective is not something that should be relied on until we know what coaches are back
and what players have left for the NFL.  But since our 1.7 million readers clamor for knowing what is next, we are in the
business of giving you what you want, so we predict.  We are generous like that.
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