CollegeBowlProjections.com

Does top recruiting add up to victories? CollegeBowlProjections.com has put together a list of the top 25 recruiting classes and the top 25 best teams from 2002 to 2008. We’ve added up all the results with Rivals top recruiting list and the final AP polls for the last seven years.

The USC Trojans were the champions of both lists.  Their recruiting has definitely turned into wins on the football field.  The 2008 top ranked Florida Gators might not be as high in the football poll as expected. You must remember besides the two national championships in the last couple of years the Gators haven’t ranked high in the polls.

Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer and his coaching staff  ranks as the top team not on the top 25 recruiting class.  The Hokies ranked 10th on our football poll.  Blacksburg, Virginia might not be the favorite spot for top recruits in high school but Beamer and his staff appear to coach their players to their very best once they reach college.

You be the judge if these rankings have any relation to success on the football field.

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Junior safety Taylor Mays has decided to stay at USC for his senior season.  Mays, a projected top 10 pick in April’s draft, is widely regarded as the best safety in college football.  He is 6-3, 230 lbs. and runs a sub 4.4 40 yard dash.  Taylor claims he has unfinished business at USC including a national championship and finishing up his degree.

This is great news for the Trojans considering they lose most of their players off the top defense in the country in 2008.  DT Moala and LB’s Maualuga and Cushing are all potential 1^st round picks in April.  The offense should be one of the best in the country even if junior QB Mark Sanchez bolts for the NFL.

Many experts expected the Trojan defense to struggle but with May’s announcement to stay their expectations may change.  Taylor is a legitimate leader and will clean up alot of mistakes made by the young players in front of him.  Mays decision once again  makes USC a top contender for the BCS championship game.

View CollegeBowlProjections.com bowl prediction for the USC Trojans in 2009.

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USC defensive coordinator, Nick Holt, is set to join new Washington head coach, Steve Sarkisian.  Holt will serve as the teams’ defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.  It  is believed that Holt is leaving to get out from the large shadow cast by USC Head Coach, Pete Carroll.  USC has boasted some of the best defensive units in the game over the past couple of years and Carroll is always named as the architect of the said defenses.  Holt wants the opportunity to show what he can do on his own.

Holt takes over a defense that allowed almost 39 points per game.  He will have his work cut out for him, however, he has a young group of players to work with.  Sark and Holt will bring the USC attitude to UW and push these kids harder than they have ever been pushed.  A little coaching and a huge attitude change may just be what this program needs to get back to their winning traditions.

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It’s the second year in a row after watching the Rose Bowl we ask:  How is USC not in the national championship game?  How can this dominant program be excluded from the final game of the season? Are they receiving the respect they deserve?

What else do they need to do to prove they’re the best program in the country?  The Trojans lowest ranking at the end of the season since 2002 has been #4.  Are we dealing with another east coast bias?  Are voters sick of the USC monster?

Let’s create some rules in order for the best teams to be invited to the national championship game:

Rule 1: Get rid of the BCS and give us a 16 team playoff.

Rule 2: No Big Ten team can be included in another national championship game until the conference wins another Rose Bowl.

Rule 3: USC should never play another Thursday night game on the road.

Rule 4: If you lose a game at home you’re eliminated from the national championship game (Goodbye Florida.  Sorry but you’re living off the SEC reputation this year.  You have no business getting in this game when you lost to Ole Miss at home.)

Rule 5: If you have played a team on a neutral field then the losing team can’t be invited to the national championship game. (Goodbye Oklahoma.  Texas was completely robbed this year.)

Rule 6: BCS teams must play two BCS teams in their non-conference schedule each year.  Who isn’t so sick and tired of watching BCS teams beat up on a small school?  We only get 12 games each year!  Play a good team for crying out loud and let us really evaluate how good each conference is during the season.

Texas can blame their schedule for playing Florida Atlantic, UTEP and Rice this year.  If they had played a better non-conference schedule they probably would have been in the national championship.

Question: But what if they lost one of those non-conference BCS games?
Answer: They didn’t deserve to be in the national championship game.

We’ll create more rules until they fix this BCS mess.

Click here for our bowl game match-ups.

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All year we have heard that the Pac-10 was down. They were considered the 4^th or 5^th best conference in America.

Now that they are 3-0 in bowl games and USC is a huge favorite to beat Penn State in the Rose Bowl we must pose the question, Are they really down?

*Arizona entered the Vegas Bowl as an underdog to the 16^th ranked BYU Cougars. Senior QB Willie Tuitama lead the Wildcats to a 31-21 win.

*California played Miami in the Emerald Bowl. They did what they needed to do and took care of business. Miami is a team that could have rallied around a young QB and beaten the favored Bears but Cal was able to send senior QB, Nate Longshore, out with a victory.

*The Oregon Ducks also had a tough task in front of them. They were facing the 13^th ranked Cowboys from Oklahoma State. OSU had only lost 3 games (Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma) all of which were in the top 5 at one point or another during the season. The Ducks got down early but were able to run the ball up and down the field in the second half. In the end Oregon won the game going away.

For the moment we are going withhold our judgments on the Pac-10. However we are beginning to believe they are much better than we originally gave them credit for. Oregon State has a chance to cement that thought with a win over 20^th ranked Pitt in the Sun Bowl.

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