ELA 130 Team Countdown

[847badgerfan]

Patterson still needs to be developed, which is something Harbaugh has not done a good job with, while at Michigan.

I'm guessing ELA will have UM in the 20ish range here.

[CatsbyAZ]

I don't edit the rankings once I finalize them, because it leads to too many inconsistencies, so no.

Just as well. In the Michigan offseason thread MDot had some good info that the new WR & OL coaches might be a more significant addition but Patterson is obviously more buzz worthy.

[Cincydawg]

Patterson still needs to be developed, which is something Harbaugh has not done a good job with, while at Michigan.

I'm guessing ELA will have UM in the 20ish range here.

Would be fun to guess where our teams are going to end up here.  I'm going with #4.
Maybe.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Who can correctly guess the remaining two teams that will be squeezed out of the Top 50? 

[ELA]

52. Florida Gators

#10 in SEC

To try and find a little bit of that magic that has been gone from Florida football since Urban Meyer left, they turned to probably the juiciest fruit from the Meyer tree.  Mullen first coached under Meyer as a Grad Assistant at Notre Dame in 1999 and 2000, while Meyer was an assistant.  When Meyer took the Bowling Green job in 2001, he hired Mullen as his quarterbacks coach, and Mullen followed him then to Utah and to Florida, before getting the Mississippi State job in 2009.  You have to not just win at Florida, they sort of expect a certain type of winning.  Blame Spurrier and Urban for that.  Mullen seems like, if nothing else, he'll deliver a more entertaining brand of football.  Step one is rebuilding the roster.  It's unclear how much of the issues last year were with coaching, how much were due to roster, and how much can be blamed on the suspensions.  Obviously if Options A and C were the primary factors, the turnaround can be quick.  As many issues as there are with the Florida roster, by Florida roster standards, Dan Mullen sees a lot more raw talent to work with than he was accustomed to at Mississippi State, where he did win.  The one glaring exception is quarterback, where Florida has been looking for a quarterback, pretty much since Mullen left, while Mullen was blessed with Dak Prescott and Nick Fitzgerald at Mississippi State.  Gators fans clamored for Feleipe Franks to get a shot last year, and when he did, he was quite underwhelming.  The best case scenario for Florida is that Emory Jones is ahead of schedule.  Jones is a perfect fit for what Mullen wants to do.  He is such a perfect fit, he was originally committed to play for Mullen's mentor in Columbus, but decided to stay closer to his Georgia home once Mullen was hired.  He's a true freshman, but that doesn't mean much anymore.  He enrolled early, and was on campus from spring practice.  I'd bet Jones wins the starting job at some point this season, but maybe not Week 1.  The competition seemed to light a fire under Franks, who looked pretty good himself in the spring game.  Mullen may not be done poaching Meyer quarterbacks either, with a rumor than Joe Burrow may seek a grad transfer to Gainesville, and still have two seasons of eligibility.  The return of Jordan Scarlett from his season long suspension will also help a skill position group that was an underwhelming as any Florida has fielded in 30 years, partially due to suspensions to Scarlett and WR Antonio Callaway.  The scheduling gods did Mullen a solid in Year 1.  They miss both Auburn and Alabama as crossovers, with LSU coming to Gainesville.  Then within the division, Florida doesn't have to play on the road against any of the three toughest teams, Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky.  But this was a 4-7 football team a year ago, with the only mildly impressive win being due to an implosion by a 7-6 Kentucky team.  The other wins were against UAB, and an SEC pair (Tennessee and Vandy) that went a combined 0-15 when not facing each other.  I think Mullen gets this thing turned around quickly, although the schedule flipping in 2019, means 2018 may produce a deceptively good record, while 2019 hides real progress.
Key Players

QB		Feleipe Franks, Sophomore
RB		Jordan Scarlett, Junior
T		Martez Ivey, Senior
	.
DE		Cece Jefferson, Senior
LB		David Reese, Junior
CB		C.J. Henderson, Sophomore

[847badgerfan]

Who can correctly guess the remaining two teams that will be squeezed out of the Top 50?

Florida and some other team.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Florida and some other team.

[Hawkinole]

Arizona State's # must be coming soon.

[CatsbyAZ]

Arizona State's # must be coming soon.

Surprised there haven't been more PAC 12 teams at this point.

I think ASU, Arizona, and Oregon could fall below top 50 status this season. Everything rides too much on their QBs.

Not expecting much of CFB west of the Mississippi, Big 12 included.

This Phoenix beat writer bemoans "the worst year in conference history."

https://amp.azcentral.com/amp/579631002?__twitter_impression=true

[Cincydawg]

Has he covered Arkansas and Ole Miss yet?  Neither look to be any better than Florida.  I'm a bit surprised UF is not more like 35 but I like it.  I think he has Michigan at 16.  They face a tough slate.

Michigan State should be interesting placementwise.  Dantonio has to be one of the best coaches in CFB I think.

[ELA]

Has he covered Arkansas and Ole Miss yet?  

Yes, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt were already hit among SEC teams.

[ELA]

51. California Golden Bears

#9 in Pac 12

Justin Wilcox would never admit it, but he didn't come in with a plan to win in 2017.  He went young, he benched proven commodities for attitude issues, and he overhauled the offensive and defensive systems.  The payoff could be quick.  Only Michigan State, Kansas and Baylor return more offensive production from 2017 (85%), than Cal does, among Power 5 teams.  This might not be the Sonny Dykes style offense of zipping the ball all over the field, but it could be really effective.  One of the more under the radar staff hires was Wilcox convincing Beau Baldwin to give up a really good FCS head coaching job, to come be his offensive coordinator in Berkeley.  Baldwin, after a year at his alma mater, Central Washington, took over at Eastern Washington, and in his third year won the school's first FCS National Championship.  He made the Elite 8 in 5 of the next 7 years, before leaving for a coordinator position.  By comparison, the previous Eastern Washington coach, who had had less success, jumped all the way to a Pac 12 head coaching job.  His biggest job in 2018 will be getting more out of a receiving group who got good production from a couple of under the radar guys, in Kanawai Noa and Vic Wharton, and needs to combine that with better production from the handful of blue chip WR recruits they have on the roster like Taariq Johnson, Demetris Robertson, Melquise Stoval and Jeremiah Hawkins.  Over the past four recruiting classes, Cal has brought in six WRs rated 4* or 5*, and they COMBINED for 15 catches, 140 yards and no touchdowns a season ago.  Ross Bowers, if he keeps the job, still isn't who you want to roll with, but he still looks like the best option.  An improved running game will help.  The Bears return their entire offensive line, including a right side manned by a pair of freshmen a year ago.  Former walkon Patrick Laird was a lifesaver at tailback after Tre Watson was lost for the season, and Vic Enwere proved totally ineffective.  Both have moved on, Enwere graduating, and Watson going to Texas as a grad transfer.  They need to find someone to compliment Laird if they hope to improve on their dismal 3.6 ypc average from 2017.  Wilcox trusts Baldwin with the offense, and Wilcox tries to weed every bit of the air raid mentality out of the defense.  He is already having an impact there.  Cal finished 7th in the conference in both scoring defense and total defense, even though they started only three seniors, after giving up the most points in the conference the year prior.  
Key Players

QB		Ross Bowers, Junior
RB		Patrick Laird, Senior
T		Patrick Mekari, Senior
	.
LB		Jordan Kunaczyk, Senior
LB		Alex Funches, Senior
CB		Camryn Bynum, Sophomore

[Cincydawg]

Yes, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt were already hit among SEC teams.

Interesting to list P5 teams by conference with this dubious distinction I muse.
No Mizzou yet?  Interesting.  Mizzou, Kentucky, and USCe ahead of UF and Tenn.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Interesting point. 

While helmet status likely propelled Michigan into his top 50, it didn't do the same for those traditional SEC powers.