PAC-10 - Things are changing out on the left coast; Southland will no longer be the seat of power, as control is shifting north towards San Fran and Oregon. Stanford is about to pull in a top-20 class and the Ducks are ready to defend their '09 title. Throw in a rebuilding U-Dub and a scrappy Beavs squad in Corvallis, and the LA teams seem so last decade.
SEC - Business as usual.
In the west, 'Bama will hold court as long as Saban is around. With a national title, b-2-b undefeated regular seasons, and b-2-b top-5 recruiting hauls (with another on the way), there's no one in the division to take down the Tide. However, it is the SEC and stumbling blocks abound. Look for Arkansas and Auburn to hang around more than they should in a lot of games and one of them to actually beat Alabama.
In the East, Florida will hang on to its top spot. Meyer's sabatical lasted a day and a half and he's already said he's caoching spring ball. Mix that in with the nation's top class 2 years running and Brantley stepping in for Tebow and I don't see who's beating the Gators out of a trip to ATL. The Kiffin debacle has set UT back and the OBC has not lived up to expectations, leaving Georgia as the best team to topple the UF strangle hold...and we've all seen the record in that series from the last 20 years.
Coaches - Now that the carousel has settled down, let's look around and see who did well - and who got capital-F Fucked - in all the moving. First, the obvious, Tennessee. I think Dooley will eventually be competitive in the league and it could start on signing day if he saves that top-15 class. After that, he knows how to coach and he gets the traditions in Knoxville, as well as the league, and could be a solid coach at a program like Tennessee.* I think the Vols will be better off without Kiffin. He just didn't get it here and fits MUCH better back in SoCal. But, he'll have a heck of a time sorting through the fog of NCAA violations hanging over that program.
It's about time Tubs got back in the game, and if he drops the good ol' boy antics that doomed Auburn, Texas Tech should be OK, even if he did shit-can McNiel. But, Ruffin landed on his feet at ECU, which is a good fit, too. Skip Holtz is a good young coach coming up and should do SoFla proud, as Kelly's flight from Cincy has left the Big Least wide open. Speaking of, Kelly will do better at Notre Dame than Weis did, but he's also the litmus test to see if the program is past its prime.**
I'd also bet we'll see coaches playing a little closer to the rules this season after Mangino, Leach, and Leavitt all lost jobs to inappropriate treatment of players. And I'm glad, too. Saban's an asshole, a hard coach, and he never lets up on his players, but he doesn't hit them or lock them in sheds to prove points like a child. That's the difference between being an 8-win coach and a 12-win coach: management.
I know there's a ton of other coaching changes to address, but that's all I've got right now.
Keep an eye out for the Way-Too-Early Top-25 for 2010 later this week.
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* Plus, it's nice for UGA to know that if Dooley does really well, we can always lure him home in the wake of a Richt departure. Speaking of, how likely is CMR to stay here for 10 more years?
** Honestly, I hope not. I know I've railed against ND here before, but that was more because of the Weis hype/Willingham situation than the program itself. I actually hope the Domers come back, they're good for cfb. But. so is the Big Ten and things are looking bleak there, too.
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