Nevada moves from the WAC to the Mountain West this year, and the team hopes it will give them a chance for bigger things. Chris Ault’s Pistol system has recruits coming to the school to play in the exciting offensive system. The team went 12-1 two years with Colin Kaepernick at quarterback, but they slid to 7-6 last season.
Hawaii slipped to 6-7 in 2011, and the team decided to part ways with Greg McMackin. Fortunately for the Warriors, they landed a huge name in offensive guru Norm Chow. Chow has been behind the success of quarterbacks such as Ty Detmer, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, and many others. Hawaii fans have high hopes that Chow can move this program forward in the coming years.
Mike Price has led the UTEP Miners to six straight losing seasons, and yet he still has a job. He is in the final year of his contract though, so unless this team has a better season this might be his last year in El Paso. UTEP has made a habit of starting fast and then falling apart late in the season.
Conference USA 2012-2013 College Football Previews: UTEP Miners
Head Coach: Mike Price
2011 Record: 5-7
UTEP Gambling Odds from JustBet to win BCS Championship: (Part of Field) +1,800
UTEP Gambling Odds from 5Dimes to win Conference USA: +1,500
UTEP Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2012 Schedule –>
Can the team put together a winning season this year?
UTEP has an extremely difficult non-conference schedule this year, so they’ll have to try to navigate through that and get to a bowl game. The Miners lost quite a few starters from last year’s team, but there are a lot of guys returning who have had some experience on the field in the past. Let’s take a look at the strength and weaknesses of this team.
Mike Edwards is the leader of a strong group of wide receivers. Edwards is only 5’11, but he runs terrific routes and has a way of finding open space. He’ll likely be one of the most productive receivers in the conference this year. On the other side, Jordan Leslie had a solid freshman year and the team expects big things from him in his sophomore campaign.
Germard Reed and Horace Miller give the Miners two starts on the defensive line. Reed is a big defensive tackle who can really plug up the middle of the line. Miller is an impressive pass rusher because of his quickness around the outside. Both of these guys have great motors, and they will be leaders on the field this season.
UTEP must replace all three starting linebackers from last year. Jamie Irving, who missed all of last year due to injury, will be plugged into one of the spots. The rest of the linebacker unit is a major question mark. UTEP has several undersized and inexperienced guys that will likely be on the field here in 2012.
The running back position is a question mark this year as well. UTEP badly needs a consistent running game in the year ahead. Sophomore Nathan Jeffery will be the featured back, but he doesn’t have much help around him. Can the youngster handle a heavy load every week? [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Miners secondary isn’t very good, which is a big problem in a conference where teams air it out at every opportunity. DeShawn Grayson is a solid safety at the back, but the Miners cornerbacks have had trouble staying in front of people the last couple years. UTEP must do a better job limiting big plays.
I don’t expect this to go well for UTEP in 2012. The Miners play a much more difficult schedule than last season, and I don’t think the team is better. The defense still has tons of holes, and the offense is relying on too many unknowns right now. Mike Price may well be on the way out of El Paso at the end of this season. Look for a very disappointing season for UTEP.
9/1/12 10:30 PM ET OKLA
9/8/12 7:00 PM ET @MISS
9/15/12 8:00 PM ET NMXST
9/22/12 TBD @WISC
9/29/12 TBD @ECAR
10/6/12 TBD SMU
10/13/12 TBD @TULSA
10/20/12 TBD TULNE
10/27/12 TBD @HOU
11/10/12 TBD CENFL
11/17/12 TBD @SOMIS
11/24/12 TBD RICE
Doc Holliday and the Marshall Thundering Herd took a nice step forward in 2011. The Thundering Herd loaded up the schedule and managed to go 6-6 in the regular season and then win in the St. Petersburg Bowl against FIU. Marshal finished 7-6 even though they had to play the 16th toughest schedule in the nation.
Western Kentucky started the season 0-4 and it looked like it was going to be another miserable season for the Hilltoppers. The team came together and went 7-1 in the Sun Belt Conference to finish 7-5 on the year. This is a team that just a few years ago lost 26 games in a row. Clearly, Willie Taggart is doing something right at Western Kentucky.
The Sun Belt is one of the fastest rising conferences in college football. Gus Malzahn is the new coach at Arkansas State and Florida International has had a miraculous turnaround with Mario Cristobal.
Western Michigan has been a ton of fun to watch in the past couple years, but the team is looking to put together a few extra wins this year. The team lost a 66-63 shootout to Toledo on national television last year. They then lost a heart breaking 37-32 decision to Purdue in the Motor City Bowl. There’s plenty of returning talent for this team to make a serious run at the MAC title in 2012.
Virginia Tech has simply been one of the most consistent programs of the past decade and a half of college football. The Hokies are all about coaching continuity; head coach Frank Beamer has been at the helm for over 25 years (the 2012 campaign marks his 26th season holding the clipboard in Blacksburg); offensive co-ordinator Bryan Stinespring is in his 20th year on the staff and “D”
co-ordinator Bud Foster has held that position since 1995.
2012-13 Football Previews – Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) – North Carolina (NC) State Wolfpack
It has been a long road of incremental steps for the Wolfpack during head coach Tom O’Brien’s tenure. Injuries, flirtations from the baseball diamond and transfers have seen a lot of NC State’s best talent squandered; it also must compete every year with a cross-state rival Tar Heels squad that reels in a lot of the best recruits in the state.
You might be surprised to learn that Northern Illinois has the longest current winning streak in all of FBS football right now. Northern Illinois has won nine straight games heading into this season. The Huskies won the MAC Championship and their bowl game in Dave Doeren’s first season as their coach.
Darrell Hazzell took the Kent State job before last season, and the team proceeded to start 0-6 against FBS competitors. In those six games, the Golden Flashes averaged a pathetic 7 points per game on the offensive end. By the end of the year, the Golden Flashes had a 5-7 record and some momentum heading into the 2012 season.
Ruffin McNeill’s goal was to take Skip Holtz’s success and move it to the next level at East Carolina. In his first two years that hasn’t worked out. The defense has been awful and the offense has been one-dimensional. The Pirates have gone 5-7 in consecutive seasons, and the fan base expects more.
The Ohio Bobcats won the first bowl game in the team’s history last year. It’s hard to imagine that this team hadn’t won a bowl game before, but Frank Solich really has things looking up at Ohio. The Bobcats were the class of the Mid-American Conference last year, and the oddsmakers have them listed as the favorite again this season.
Toledo has had a very nice little run of late in the MAC. The Rockets saw their head coach leave for Illinois at the end of last season. The 32-year-old Matt Campbell takes over the Rockets program this season. Campbell has lots of talent at the skill positions on this roster, but there are plenty of holes to fill as well.
Bowling Green went 2-10 two years, but the team improved to 5-7 in 2011. Bowling Green returns 20 starters, so the expectations for this team are much higher in 2012. Coach Dave Clawson has circled this year as one in which his team can compete for the MAC Championship.
The Miami (Ohio) Redhawks football program has had a rough few years. After tons of success in the early 2000’s, Miami is 17-33 in their last 50 games. Ten of those 17 wins came in 2010 when the team had an amazing Cinderella season. There has been tons of transition in the program with four different coaches in four years.
