The Big Ten Conference will have a completely different look next year, but it is the Legends and Leaders once again this season. Wisconsin and Nebraska met in the Big Ten Championship game last season. Ohio State finished the 2012 season undefeated, but they were ineligible for postseason play. Penn State is the only team ineligible for postseason action this year.
Like many conferences, the Sun Belt has a totally different look in 2013. Florida International, Florida Atlantic, MTSU, and North Texas left the conference after last season. Texas State and Georgia State were added to the Sun Belt, so the team now has eight teams.
Conference USA is getting bigger. The conference picked up some new teams and has now gone to an East and West division format. There are 14 teams in the conference as a whole, and each division will have seven teams.
The Mid-American Conference is one of the best “mid-major” football conferences in the nation. Northern Illinois from the MAC went to a BCS bowl last year, and this conference has a history of pulling off upsets against the major conference schools.
There is no conference that has had as much movement of teams as the American Athletic Conference, formerly the Big East. This year the league still has its hooks in last year’s winner, Louisville, while welcoming a host of newcomers from Conference USA.
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
It has been a bit of a revolving door in the Mountain West in light of all the recent realignment of teams in the conference.
This season, Nevada, Fresno State, and Hawaii will begin play in the MWC after leaving the Western Athletic Conference, but last season’s defending champion, TCU has moved onto the Big 12.
The face of Conference-USA will change dramatically heading into the 2013 football season, with a number of teams rotating in-and-out of the lineup, but for this year things remain the same for the 12-team mid-major.
The Southeastern Conference has won the last six BCS national titles and this year should be no exception with three teams in Bovada’s top-seven favorites to win this season’s championship. The following is a look at the top contenders in the conference along with their current odds to take home this year’s SEC title.
The PAC-10 grew into the PAC-12 last season with the addition of Utah and Colorado. The 12-team conference realigned itself into two divisions, South and North, which added a title game at the end of the season. Oregon took the crown last year by defeating UCLA 49-31 in the first ever PAC-12 Championship.
The Big 12 enters the 2012 football season with the same number of teams it ended last year with, but the entire face of the conference has changed. The perennial Big 12 powers remain intact, but both Missouri and Texas A&M have jumped-ship for the SEC.
The Big Ten expanded to 12 teams in 2011 with the addition of Nebraska. This finally allowed the conference to form two separate divisions; the Legends and Leaders.
As the landscape in college football continues to move from six majors to just four power conferences, the Big East is clearly one of the two that finds itself on the outside looking in.
The ACC has not sent a team to the national championship game since Miami made it all the way there in 2002 as still a member of the Big East, but there is at least one school that has a legitimate chance to go that far this season.
OSU ranks first in the FBS with 1,260 yards from scrimmage and they have scored a grand total of 98 points in their first 2 wins and they face a Tulsa team that gave up 47 points in their season opener against Oklahoma.
Texas A&M is coming off a bye week, but they have been in the news with their possible move to the SEC next season.
