Wake Forest has had the same coach now for 11 years. The Demon Deacons are always fighting an uphill battle as the smallest school in the Bowl Subdivision. Team depth has been an issue for many years. Jim Grobe thinks the team’s overall depth is a little better this season.
Troy Calhoun has done a great job at Air Force in his first five years. The Falcons are 41-24 during that time. Last year, the team failed to reach eight wins for the first time in his career at the school. A 42-41 heartbreaking loss to Toledo in the Military Bowl dropped them to 7-6. Still, it should be pointed out that no other coach has had this kind of consistent success at a service academy school.
In 2010, San Jose State went 1-10 and didn’t win a single game in the WAC. Last year, the team went 5-7 and 3-4 in the WAC. Mike Macintyre did such a nice job getting the team going in the right direction that he picked up a contract extension through 2017. Can the Spartans keep progressing in their final year of play in the WAC?
Many will remember Utah State for their loss in game one of the 2011 season. The Aggies absolutely had the defending champion Auburn Tigers beat, but they let them off the hook in the last two minutes. Still, this team deserves lots of credit for putting it back together and finishing with a solid 7-6 record in 2011.
Brady Hoke turned this team around and Rocky Long did a good job of keeping it going last year. The job will get a little tougher now with a more difficult Mountain West Conference. It also gets more difficult now that the team won’t have Ryan Lindley or Ronnie Hillman in the backfield.
The most improved team in the nation was the Wyoming Cowboys in 2011. Wyoming followed up a brutal 3-9 season in 2010 with an impressive 8-5 turnaround in 2011. The team has done this in the past only to slip back the next season. Now, it is up to the Cowboys to keep moving forward even though the Mountain West Conference has gotten a little tougher for the time being.
Too early to bet football…not at all.
It may only be spring practice time in the NFL but training camp and preseason will creep up on unsuspecting bettors, in fact, at the local bookstore, we even noticed some football season preview guides for sale already.
