USC Trojans

November 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment

USC Trojans  perfect season in 2008 was marred only by a 27-21 defeat at Oregon State in the third game of the season. 10 consecutive victories followed, including three shutouts at Arizona State, Washington State and at home to Washington. USC finished the season in the best possible way, beating Notre Dame 38-3 in the rivalry match, winning the Victory Bell from UCLA with a 28-7 scoreline before winning the Rose Bowl against 6th ranked Penn State with a 38-24 victory. The Trojans are fancied to have another strong season which they start on September 5th against San Jose State before travelling to Ohio State and Washington. The Trojans have a lot of expectation to live up to and despite NFL draft losses, the quality of the program should see them challenge for the honors again.

Oregon Ducks

November 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Posting a winning season for the last four years, the Oregon Ducks  had a good season in 2008. Finishing second in the conference just behind USC with a 10-3 record, the Ducks only lost to Boise State at home and USC and California on the road. A strong 4-0 winning streak till the end of the season also saw them claim the Holiday Bowl with a 42-31 victory against 13th-ranked Oklahoma State. In March, Mike Bellotti handed over the coaching reigns to Chip Kelly while Bellotti was promoted to athletic director. Kelly, with a strong offense background will look to ensure the Ducks continue to lead Pac-10 in scoring and maintain their fantastic post-season record.

Cal Bears

November 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

 

California Golden Bears  lost almost all of their offensive line due to graduation and the NFL draft prior to the 2008 season and expectations were not high. The team started with promising wins against Michigan State and at Washington State. But the 66-3 win in Pullman, WA was to be their last road success of the season as they went down to Maryland, Arizona, USC and Oregon. Despite winning every home match, including wins against UCLA and a 48-7 triumph against Washington, the Bears finished the regular season 8-4 before taking on the Miami Hurricanes in the Emerald Bowl and triumphing 24-17 making it the team’s fourth Bowl win in as many years and their fifth win in the last six years under Jeff Tedford. The Bears kick off the 2009 season with home matches against Maryland and Eastern Washington and are currently ranked 11th in the Athlon preseason poll. The Bears are predicted to challenge USC in the Pac-10 this season as running back Jahvid Best is considered one of the best in the country.

After winning the Conference title in 2007 posting a 10-3 winning season, more was expected from the Arizona State Sun Devils  last season. Home wins against Northern Arizona and Stanford seemed to point the Devils in the right direction, but what followed was not a mark of a conference winning side. Six consecutive losses, including a 0-28 shutout by USC, meant that Arizona State went without a win from September 6th to November 8th. They snapped the streak with a 39-19 victory at Washington before thumping Washington State 31-0, posting their first shutout for 12 years. A defeat to Arizona in the Territorial Cup meant that the Sun Devils didn’t make a Bowl game for the first time since 2003 after five consecutive appearances. The Devils will kick off the 2009 season with matches against Idaho State and Louisiana – Monroe.

Arizona Wildcats

November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The Arizona Wildcats  got off to a great start in 2008 with a 70-0 hammering of Idaho and a 41-16 win against Toledo. Bouncing back from a loss to New Mexico, the Cats posted victories at UCLA and against Washington at Tucson.  Defeats to Stanford and USC were disappointing but Arizona still managed to make the post-season and competed in their first Bowl contest in 10 years. They defeated Brigham Young University Cougars 31-21 to clinch the program’s sixth Bowl win. Junior Center Colin Baxter has been chosen to the 2009 Rimington Watch List and is expected to hold the offense together with seniors Mike Diaz and Adam Grant. The team has a mix of experience and youth and it will be interesting to see if the Wildcats will be able to go to a second successive postseason.

Colorado State

November 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Steve Fairchild, in his first year as the Colorado State Rams  coach was able to turn the fortunes of the program that started to struggle under legendary Sonny Lubick. Despite not stringing a proper winning streak until the end of the season, the Rams posted a 7-6 winning season and finishing fourth in Mountain West. After four defeats in five mid-season with losses to TCU, Utah, BYU and Air Force, it didn’t seem that the post season appearance is likely but wins against New Mexico and Wyoming led to an invitation to the New Mexico Bowl on December in which the Rams defeated Fresno State 40-35.

TCU

November 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Another good season for Gary Patterson and the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs  who finished the season with an impressive 11-2 record losing only to 2nd ranked Oklahoma and eventual unbeaten conference champions Utah. Restricting opponents to under 10 points seven times, defense was key in another winning season for the Frogs. The 10-35 defeat to Oklahoma came after a 4-0 start which included a 67-7 win against Stephen F. Austin and a rivalry win over SMU. After the defeat to the Sooners, TCU went on to win five straight including 8th ranked BYU. The defeat to Utah didn’t phase the team and they followed it up with a win against the Falcons before winning their fourth consecutive Bowl game against Boise State in the Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

Utah Utes

November 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Coach Kyle Whittingham is having tremendous success with the Utah Utes  ever since being promoted from defensive coordinator winning four consecutive Bowl games. 2008 was a fantastic year for the Utes, who captured their first Conference title since the Urban Meyer victories in 2003 and 2004. Utah went unbeaten for the whole season posting a 13-0 record and were invited to the Sugar Bowl in which Utah defeated Alabama 31-17. Utah was the only team in the nation to go undefeated and currently have a longest active winning streak of 14 and a longest active bowl win streak of 8 wins. Utah’s defense has to take credit for this, restricting opponents to under 20 points seven times. Starting the season ranked 23rd, Utah quickly gathered momentum comfortably beating most opponents including Utah State and Wyoming. A November 6th match against 11th ranked TCU  was vital and a 13-10 victory moved Utah to 10-0. A 63-14 victory against San Diego State and a superb victory at home to BYU finished the season on a high note before an excellent Sugar Bowl win.

BYU Cougars

November 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment

After winning back-to-back conference titles and ending the previous two seasons with an 11-2 record without losing a conference game, BYU Cougars  were going for a hat-trick of titles and Bowls. Starting the season ranked 17th and 16th in the polls, the Cougars quickly raced to a 6-0 record, beating Northern Iowa, Washington and thumping UCLA 59-0, handing out their worst defeat since 1929. Home wins against Wyoming, Utah State and New Mexico followed but the Cougars suffered their first defeat since 2007 at the hands of TCU. An Impressive 32-7 victory ensured the Horned Frogs finished above BYU at the end of the season. BYU bounced back and won the next four against UNLV, Colorado State, SDSU and the Falcons. They lost the Holy War game against 7th ranked Utah who ran out Conference champions as a result. The Cougars made the Las Vegas Bowl which they lost 21-31 to Arizona, thus unable to capture a third straight Bowl victory.

Air Force Falcons

November 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Air Force Falcons  had another good season under coach Troy Calhoun. After guiding the Falcons to a 9-3 record and earning him a coach of the year award in Moutain West, Calhoun had a lot to live up to. Air Force raced to a 3-0 record at the start of 2008 as they beat Southern Utah at the Falcon Stadium before going on a two-game road trip and triumphing against Wyoming and Houston. Two close games followed and the Falcons went down 23-30 to Utah and 27-33 to the Navy losing the Commander in Chief’s Trophy game. They snapped the losing streak with a road trip to San Diego State 35-10 and followed the win up with successes at UNLV, against New Mexico, at Army and against Colorado State. Despite losing the following two matches against BYU and Texas Christian, they earned themselves a spot in the Armed Forces Bowl which they lost to Houston 28-34. The win was a first Bowl game victory for Houston since 1980.

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