Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Nice compilations are you using University or Ouija Boards to find all these tidbits?

I nominate Cincydawg to be the official fact checker of the ELA preseason rankings.

#101 Rutgers Scarlet Knights

#14 in Big Ten

With Chris Ash out, and Greg Schiano back, there is some optimism in Piscataway.  I’m here to pump the brakes just a bit on that.  Schiano’s run of 6 bowls in seven years began the year after the Big East to ACC exodus was complete.  Even in what was basically a Group of 5 conference by that point, he still never actually won a title, and only lost fewer than 4 games once.  So what does that translate to, in the toughest division in the FBS, a decade later?  Granted it couldn’t be much worse.  Their first Big Ten campaign resulted in an 8-5 season, wins over Michigan and a bowl bound Maryland, and a bowl appearance.  Granted, and in fairness to him, that was the last season with Schiano recruits.  The five seasons since then?  They’ve gone 3-38 in their last 41 Big Ten games, which includes winless conference campaigns in 3 of the past 4 seasons.  Their last win against a Power 5 opponent was over Maryland on November 4, 2017.  Their only wins, at all, in the 27 games since, were against UMass, Liberty and Texas State.  Problems abound on this roster, but it’s been the offense that has really, really been problematic.  That’s why Schiano’s hire of Sean Gleeson is what excites me the most.  Gleeson spent six years at Princeton, the last two as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, including the 10-0 2018 team, which led the FCS in scoring offense, and set an Ivy League scoring record.  He spent one year in the same capacity at Oklahoma State last year, before returning to his northeast roots at Rutgers.  Perhaps Schiano, perhaps the chance to be taught by Gleeson, but that was enough to convince Art Sitkowski, who had entered the transfer portal, to return to Rutgers, and they added Baylor transfer Peyton Powell, a former 4-star recruit, who redshirted last year, and is eligible in 2020, with all four years of eligibility.  Powell was recruited by several schools as a receiver, and this team is so desperate for playmakers, they might just find a way to get him on the field.  Because as kind as the transfer portal was to the Scarlet Knights’ quarterback room, the rest of the offense was not so lucky, losing two running backs, five receivers, and four linemen.  They did bring in Aron Cruickshank from Wisconsin, who was a great returner, but sort of underwhelmed as a receiver.  At one point it felt like the defense was doing its best to overcome the constant holes the offense was putting them in.  By last year it was clear that was no longer the case.  Even the crazy turnover prone offense, at least finished tied for 12th in the Big Ten in takeaways last year, which is sadly a large improvement.  But the defense forced a Big Ten worst 10.  So while the Scarlet Knights were, again, a dismal #126 in turnover margin, it was the takeaways that were the bigger problem.  If they can flip that, there is enough returning production on this side of the ball, to at least get back to their 2018 level.  The offense, even if quarterback is maybe in ok shape, is still a total wreck everywhere else.

	KEY PLAYERS
RB	Isaih Pacheco, Junior
WR	Bo Melton, Senior
T	Mike Lonsdorf, Senior
	.
LB	Tyshon Fogg, Senior
LB	Rashawn Battle, Senior
P	Adam Korsak, Senior

#100 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

#7 in Conference USA

Louisiana Tech had everything lined up for their breakout season under Skip Holtz, looking for their first Conference USA championship, and only their third ever FBS conference championship, after winning the WAC in 2001 and 2011.  A November road loss at UAB allowed the Blazers to win the division tiebreaker, and Louisiana Tech had to settle for a 14-0 Independence Bowl win over a Miami team that looked every bit as disinterested as you would assume.  The Bulldogs have a lot of rebuilding to do for a defense that excelled under first year defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, who was trying to rebuild his own reputation after a rough run as head coach at UConn, and then most recently, linebackers coach at Oklahoma.  I’d say he did that, leading Louisiana Tech’s defense to the second best ypp allowed mark in the conference, and holding six opponents to 20 points or less, including that shutout of Miami in the bowl game.  As good as those numbers are, even when teams did move the ball on them, it didn’t often pay off.  They allowed teams to score in the red zone only 64.7% of the time, and touchdowns just 47.1% of the time.  Both numbers were best in the conference, and the former is 3rd best in the nation.  The later number isn’t tracked anywhere I can find.  He did such a good job, that he was hired back to the Power Five by Purdue, and departing alongside him were 8 senior starters, and junior cornerback Amik Robertson, who Pro Football Focus thinks should be a third round pick, and would be higher if he wasn’t 5’9”.  The two returning starters, Milton Williams and Willie Baker, are pretty good, both were honorable mention All-Conference USA, but only two programs in the FBS have less returning defensive production than the Bulldogs.  The offense looks to be pretty good...assuming they can figure out the quarterback position.  Justin Henderson finished fourth in Conference USA with 1,062 rushing yards, and led it with 15 rushing touchdowns; and Adrian Hardy was an all-conference receiver.  Replacing J’Mar Smith under center is a massive undertaking though.  Smith was a three year starter who really put it together his senior season, raising his completion percentage by 7% of his junior campaign, his yards per attempt by 1.2, and his TD:INT ratio went from 15:10 to 18:5.  Aaron Allen was the QB2 last year, but it appears to be a wide open contest going into the fall.  They also bring back senior Westin Elliott, a former JUCO transfer; but they also added a grad transfer from Abilene Christian in Luke Anthony.  Anthony was a solid, but unspectacular, FCS player, so that should show just exactly how Holtz feels about his returning quarterback options.

	KEY PLAYERS
RB	Justin Henderson, Senior
WR	Adrian Hardy, Senior
T	Willie Allen, Senior
	.
DE	Milton Williams, Junior
LB	Willie Baker, Senior
LB	Ezekiel Barnett, Senior

CUSA has lost 5/7 West teams, 3/7 East teams.
The Mac has lost 4/6 West teams, 2/6 East.
D1 Independents have lost 5/7.
MWC has lost 2/6 Mountain, 3/6 West.
Sunbelt has lost 3/5 West, 1/5 East
Big Ten, SEC and AAC have each contributed 1 outside of the top 99.
ACC, PAC 12, and the Big 12 are all unscathed. Which will hold out the longest?

Maybe I just make them up.  Would you bother checking?

If I was to publish a pre season Insider,yes.Just curious where you get all the preseason info,not chop busting.

#99 Charlotte 49ers

#6 in Conference USA

With the backing of former Carolina Panthers owner, Jerry Richardson, Charlotte launched their football program in 2011, hiring former Wake Forest defensive coordinator Brad Lambert, as the school’s first head coach.  Six years of disappointing results later, the school made a widely applauded hire of Austin Peay coach Will Healy, who was only 33 years old when he was hired.  The results seemingly paid off immediately, with the school’s first bowl bid in 2019, and brought in a 2020 recruiting class which is easily the highest rated in school history, led by Louisville transfer safety, by way of JUCO, Lyn Strange.  Credit to Charlotte athletic director Mike Hill, who was hired from being the associate athletic director at Florida earlier in the year, to recognize what Healy was, even though he was coming off a 5-6 year three at Austin Peay.  The program was absolutely miserable when he took it over, they hadn’t even won so much as a conference championship in four decades, when they were coached by a guy named Boots, and soda pop cost a nickel.  He set them up, that the year after he left, they broke that streak, and not only reached their first ever 1AA/FCS playoffs, but advanced to the Elite 8.  A Chattanooga native, Vanderbilt might be wise to kick the tires on Healy after what is sure to be a disastrous year, particularly considering Charlotte is not ideally set up to build on their 2019 success.  Much like Charlotte jumped on Healy after a 2018 blip, a savvy Power Five school will after what could be a 2020 blip.  The one glaring hole on offense is Benny LeMay, who has been an absolute workhorse back over the past three seasons, with over 3,000 career rushing yards, tallying 562 carries over the past three years.  The plan is to simply replace him with another workhorse in grad transfer Tre Harbison from Northern Illinois, who has 436 carries in just the last two years.  That’s a big pickup for what the 49ers want to do, being the only Conference USA school last year to run the ball over 60% of the time.  That’s plenty of carries to share with Aaron McAllister, who ran for 380 yards a year ago.  Quarterback Chris Reynolds who had 791 rushing yards, 928 if you disregard sacks, so he’s a threat from that spot too.  With potentially the best group of receivers in the conference, but with an offensive line that graduated three starters, and could be looking at a JUCO transfer center, perhaps the 49ers will lean more heavily on the passing game.  Particularly is Rico Arnold, who missed all of 2019 with a foot injury, regains his freshman form he showed in 2018, when he caught 22 passes for 302 yards.  He joins a group that touts All-Conference USA player Victor Tucker, who had over 900 yards and 7 touchdowns, along with Cameron Dollar and Tyler Ringwood, who combined for 66 receptions, 994 yards and 7 touchdowns as secondary options.  The defense has to replace a ton of talent, including an All-American, but while the returning production looks ugly, a closer look reveals a not so bleak picture.  Already mentioned was JUCO transfer Lyn Strange.  They also added a pair of Power Five transfers in the front seven, getting defensive tackle Josiah So’o from Vanderbilt, and linebacker Derek Boykins from South Carolina.  They also get defensive end Tyriq Harris back, who was all-conference in 2018, but missed 2019 with a back injury.  Granted, back injuries on defensive linemen are generally not quick fixes with a return to form.

	KEY PLAYERS
QB	Chris Reynolds, Junior
WR	Victor Turner, Junior
WR	Cameron Dollar, Junior
	.
DE	Markees Watts, Junior
DE	Tyriq Harris, Senior
CB	N