ELA 130 Team Countdown

[ELA]

The bane of the B1G, it seems like for every excellent team, there is a basement dweller dragging that ranking down. Did any division have 4 teams ranked higher than the B1G East? And did any division have 3 teams so low? Smash that together you get an above average ranking

Yeah, there are different ways to measure "toughest."  If you are talking about toughest division to win, then you might just want to look at the top 3-4 from each division.  It doesn't really matter if the bottom is just bad or complete trash, those are games you should win, so the variance is irrelevant.  But if you are talking about toughest to make a bowl from, then for a middling team, maybe you'd rather just have a couple games you know you are going to get creamed, but also get a couple easy wins with a weak bottom.  I think that's what the ACC has is depth.  Their bad teams IMO are easily the best "bad" teams of any conference.  Pac 12 does pretty well there too, but they have the weakest top to top middle.  That's why they sucked in bowl season, their bowl teams are worse than other conference's bowl teams.  But aside from Oregon State, I'd put UCLA, Cal, Colorado and Utah last year up against bottom 4-5 teams from any other conference save maybe the ACC.

[FearlessF]

I'll blame Riley for a lot.. but in this case, he never wanted to go to UNL.   For whatever reason, he had limited interest.  So did his dad..

I guess we'll never know the reason, but could have been Riley/Langsdorf
Hell, could have been Pelini
Could have been all the crazy Husker fans in his neighborhood

[Entropy]

ELA... that makes a lot of sense.  

[Cincydawg]

Other than Georgia, what other SEC East Team doesn't have substantial flaws? Maybe South Carolina is well rounded? Nothing horrible, but nothing great. To remember when the SEC East was undoubtedly the toughest division with Florida and Tennessee living in the Top 5 every year...

I agree, while noting Florida might be OK.  Missouri is perhaps half OK.  It is a very weak division for sure as compared to its history.  It is a bit odd really.
UGA travels to USCe and LSU and hosts Auburn.  Their other games should be easy wins.

[ELA]

18. South Carolina Gamecocks

#5 in SEC

What had been a decent little season in Will Muschamp's second year at South Carolina, turned into what may be a stepping stone year into a bigger 2018 with a rainy afternoon comeback victory over Michigan in the Outback Bowl.  For South Carolina to make it to Atlanta is not much of a stretch at all.  The schedule is very manageable, with Georgia, the only other real contender to win the division, coming to Columbia.  The crossover games don't involve Alabama, Auburn or Mississippi State.  That Georgia game is in the second weekend of the season, so we should know right away where the Gamecocks stand, and the winner of that game has to be a huge favorite to make it to the SEC Championship, with a de facto two game lead over the only other real contender.  The Gamecocks feasted on turnovers last season, creating over 2 per game, tops in the SEC.  They were among the best in the nation at creating fumbles, but that side of the ball was hit hard with departures, from a unit that used turnovers to help cover for a lot of other things.  What South Carolina always excel at is getting to the quarterback, with D.J. Wonnum on one side, finding someone to play opposite him is going to be the challenge.  They got a commitment from an elite pass rusher in Zacch Pickens, who unfortunately will only be entering his senior year next year...of high school.  So just how much of a challenge South Carolina poses to Georgia depends on the progress on offense.  Tight end Hayden Hurst was less of a weapon over the second half of the season, but his early departure to the NFL certainly hurts.  But the wideouts are going to be really, really good.  Deebo Samuels had nearly 300 yards of total offense, and 4 touchdowns before going down to a season ending injury in the third game of the year.  Bryan Edwards picked up the slack, and really seemed to come on late, with 248 receiving yards over the final three games, scoring a touchdown in each.  With them on the field together, Jake Bentley may not want his tight end security blanket, he has a chance to really rip it down the field.  It would be made easier if they could find a running back.  They used four different guys last year, none of them very successfully.  Last year they won with ball control, field position and a ball hawking defense.  With the weapons on the outside, an experienced quarterback and a shakier defense, this team will be fun to watch either way, and they are a running back away from potentially being a really, really good one too.  It's on new offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon, who was promoted to the full time offensive coordinator this offseason.  Offense is the eternal struggle for Muschamp coached teams, but this might be the most talent he's had on that side of the ball, certainly in the passing game, including his Florida tenure.
Key Players

QB		Jake Bentley, Junior
RB		A.J. Turner, Junior
WR		Deebo Samuel, Senior
	.
DE		D.J. Wonnum, Junior
LB		T.J. Brunson, Junior
S		Steven Montac, Senior

[fezzador]

Miami, NC State, and Virginia Tech are all solid teams and the author of this thread thinks BC is good. The ACC is more than Clemson. FSU, and Louisville.

Louisville sans Lamar Jackson will probably be nothing special.  They'll probably be obliterated by Bama in the opener.  Had Jackson stuck around another year, it'd probably still be a loss for the Cards, but at least it would be an entertaining game.

[847badgerfan]

When I think of tough ACC teams, Louisville never comes to mind. Probably never will.

[FearlessF]

I agree

basketball school

[847badgerfan]

Maybe not even that, depending on the shoe thing.

[ELA]

17. Virginia Tech Hokies

#3 in ACC

Time to test just how deep this program is.  The Hokies return a decent number of starters, but of the 10 guys named to the all-ACC team last year, all but one have moved on.  They rolled the dice on a freshman quarterback a year ago in Josh Jackson.  He wasn't some blue chipper either.  He was a lightly recruited 3* kid from Michigan, who didn't even get offers from either in state Power Five school.  But the move paid off, and he's only going to get better from here.  He needs to develop a rapport with his receivers though, as Cam Phillips was his Option A, B and C a year ago, and he's off to the NFL.  Sean Savoy started every game, but averaged only 37 ypg, and no other player averaged over 25.  True freshman Tre Turner, the top rated player in the Hokies' class, has a chance to make an immediate impact.  While it was all Cam Phillips among the receivers, nobody stood out among the running backs.  The Hokies had eight players rush for 115+ yards on the season, but none had more than 530, being Deshawn McClease, who is probably the best of a very large bunch.  That was not an effective strategy, as only rival Virginia was a less effective running team among ACC teams.  When you're a team that wants to run the ball, as Virginia Tech is (only Boston College and triple option Georgia Tech ran more) that is not a recipe for success.  What will help is the return of senior left tackle Yosuah Nijman, whose season ending injury snapped a streak of consecutive starts dating back to his freshman season in 2015.  Virginia Tech was 7-1 and averaged 35.4 ppg with him, and 2-3, averaging 16.6 ppg without him.  He might be more important than Jackson.  Defensively a ton of star power is gone, as is co-defensive coordinator Galen Scott, who resigned following a sex scandal.  Fortunately the other co-defensive coordinator returns, and he's been around a minute, Bud Foster.  The schedule is also very forgiving if they get by an opening weekend road trip to Tallahassee.  Week 1 is a good time to catch the Noles.  Their other trip up games, Notre Dame, Boston College, Miami, are all at home.  Their road games after Week 1?  Old Dominion, Duke, UNC and Pitt.  So long as they take care of business in Lane Stadium, Virginia Tech should be back in the ACC Championship Game for the second time in three seasons under Fuente.
Key Players

QB		Josh Jackson, Sophomore
RB		Deshawn McClease, Junior
T		Yosuah Nijman, Senior
	.
DE		Trevon Hill, Junior
DT		Ricky Walker, Senior
S		Reggie Floyd, Junior

[ELA]

16. USC Trojans

#2 in Pac 12

If you think USC is a program that basically runs itself, know that last year USC won it's first Pac 12 Championship without Pete Carroll as head since 1995.  Carroll won 6 Pac 12 titles in 9 years, six other coaches (including Ed Orgeron as interim coach) combined to win zero over the other 12 years.  This year looks like a little bit of a rebuild, but as USC it's never a full rebuild, the talent is there.  The Trojans had their starting quarterback, leading rusher and leading receiver all leave early for the draft, although overall, the running back and receiver positions might be even better.  Stephen Carr leads a deep backfield that returns three backs who averaged over 5.0 ypc (on 49+ carries a piece).  The pas targets are more of the same.  Deontay Burnett is gone, but freshman Tyler Vaughns may have been the Trojans best receiver down the stretch, and the #3 and #4 receivers also return, with Michael Pittman being perhaps the best returner in the conference with Dante Pettis gone.  Just for good measure, USC added two of the top 6 nationally rated WRs in the 2018 class, and both tight ends are returning.  So USC has weapons everywhere, as they always do, but who can get them the ball?  Matt Fink is the only quarterback on the roster who has played, but it's not like his 9 career attempts set him apart.  His feet might though.  His 51 yard touchdown run against Oregon State showed his wheels, and he had runs of 18 and 13 yards in very limited action.  His only competition in the spring was from Jack Sears, a redshirt freshman.  The challenge arrives in the fall, in the form of J.T. Daniels.  You know you live the blessed recruiting life when Sears, who was the #105 overall recruit, and #4 pro-style QB in 2017, is a nice recruit, who can maybe back up your 2018 kid.  That is Daniels, the 5* kid from Mater Dei, the most hyped USC quarterback recruit since...Max Browne.  So these things don't always work out.  My money is on Fink, but the leash will be short.  It's LA, and even if Fink is better, Daniels is shinier.  Defensively, USC was ferocious at getting after the passer, but the run defense left a lot to be desired, particularly late in the year.  Their stuff rate on run attempts was among the worst in the nation, while their adjusted sack rate was among the best.  Linebacker might be the most experienced position on that side of the ball, so I'd expect it to be better.  The schedule sets up well, if the quarterback position comes together quickly.  After the cupcake opener, USC has Stanford and Texas on the road on back to back Saturdays.  Then, it's a whole lot of nothing until they finish at home against Notre Dame.  A road trip to Utah is probably the toughest game in that stretch.
Key Players

RB		Stephen Carr, Sophomore
WR		Tyler Vaughns, Sophomore
T		Toa Lobendahn, Senior
	.
DE		Christian Rector, Junior
LB		Cameron Smith, Senior
S		Marvell Tell, Senior

[Brutus Buckeye]

So in ELA's top 15 he has:

5 Big Ten, 4 Sec, 2 Acc, 1 Pac, 1 Big XII, 1 Indy, 1 Aac. 

[CatsbyAZ]

IMO SC is overrated. The talent is always there with SC, but the question is always how organized and how well facilitated it is. Given the last two years of success it has to be wondered whether their winning was predicated on Darnold or Clay Helton. Well, without Darnold, Helton doesn't have a job at this point and this upcoming season will make glaring how much Darnold uplifted the program.

[FearlessF]

Maybe not even that, depending on the shoe thing.

was a huge story, now not so much
didn't want to upset the apple cart