Our final CIDSports College Football Top 25, after 14 weeks of the College Football as regular season concludes for all, but Army-Navy game on Dec. 11

It has been an interesting season, with all the non-AQ talk falling short as we hit late November. Boise State (11-1, 7-1 WAC) nearly got it done, but a Week 13 date @ Nevada Wolf Pack (12-1, 7-1 WAC) cost the Broncos dearly for the BCS in 2010.

The Oregon Ducks (12-0, 9-0 Pac 10) have played outstanding all year, as has the top non-BCS program in 2010: the TCU Horned Frogs (12-0, 8-0 MWC). The BCS title game should be outstanding this season. The rest of the BCS bowl line up will likely do better with some adjusting, but that is for another post.

Others jumped from the preseason unrated programs to the Top 25 in 2010: Michigan State (11-1, 7-1 Big Ten), Nevada Wolf Pack (12-1, 7-1 WAC), Missouri Tigers (10-2, 6-2 Big 12 North), Oklahoma State Cowboys (10-2, 6-2 Big 12 South), Texas A&M Aggies (9-3, 6-2 Big 12 South), South Carolina Gamecocks (9-4, 5-3 SEC East), Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-4, 4-4 SEC West), West Virginia Mountaineers (9-3, 5-2 Big East), Hawaii Rainbows (10-3, 7-1 WAC) and

Several teams surprised in 2010, especially Auburn Tigers (13-0, 8-0 SEC West), Stanford Cardinal (11-1, 8-1 Pac 10) and Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2, 6-2 SEC West), who were all outside our preseason Top 25, but will finish 2010 in a BCS bowl. Congratulations to all three programs, especially Auburn for an undefeated season and a date with Oregon in the BCS title game.

Other programs didn't hit form in 2010, especially our preseason #7 Texas Longhorns (5-7, 2-6 Big 12 South), preseason #23 Cincinnati Bearcats (4-8, 2-5 Big East), preseason #25 Houston (5-7, 4-4 C-USA West). All three programs will be home for the Holidays in 2010.

We can't forget other programs, who will still bowl in 2010, but are not in the final regular season Top 25. Our preseason #4 Iowa Hawkeyes (7-5, 4-4 Big Ten). preseason #5 Florida Gators (7-5, 4-4 SEC East), preseason #11 Miami-FL (7-5, 5-3 ACC Coastal), preseason #14 Georgia Bulldogs (6-6, 3-5 SEC East), preseason #16 Brigham Young Cougars (6-6, 5-3 MWC), preseason #17 Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-5, 3-5 Big 12 South), preseason #19 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-6, 4-4 ACC Coastal), preseason #20 Penn State Nittany Lions (7-5, 4-4 Big Ten) and preseason #22 Pittsburgh Panthers (7-5, 5-2 Big East).

The season will likely be remembered most for conference realignment talk.

• Nebraska is leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten in 2011. Colorado is joining Utah from the MWC and moving to the Pac 10


• The Big Ten and Pac 10 conferences will have 12 programs and new championship games


• The Big 12 will lose two teams, so they will go to a nine game conference schedule, as the Pac 10 has enjoyed for several years and lose their conference championship game


• BYU is becoming an Independent, joining Army, Navy and Notre Dame as the only Independents in FBS


• Boise State is moving to the MWC from the WAC


• But the MWC will be losing programs: BYU, Utah and TCU


• TCU is the latest to join the list and will move to the Big East in 2012


• Fresno State and Nevada will follow Boise State as WAC schools moving to the MWC


• Will Hawaii stay or go? Talk in November is Hawaii wants to move for football only ...


• If the WAC doesn’t add an eighth football school by 2012, the conference won’t lose its FBS status? Texas-San Antonio and Texas State are joining the WAC and moving to FBS


• Congratulations to North Texas for hiring former ISU head coach Dan McCarney and electing to remain in the Sun Belt Conference, rather than move to the WAC

Final Regular Season CIDSports Top 25

1. Oregon Ducks (12-0, 9-0 Pac Ten) - #9 preseason


2. Auburn Tigers (13-0, 8-0 SEC West) - unranked


3. TCU Horned Frogs (12-0, 8-0 MWC) - #8 preseason


4. Stanford Cardinal (11-1, 8-1 Pac 10) - unranked


5. Wisconsin Badgers (11-1, 7-1 Big Ten) - #10 preseason


6. Ohio State Buckeyes (11-1, 7-1 Big Ten) - #2 preseason


7. Michigan State Spartans (11-1, 7-1 Big Ten) - unranked


8. Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2, 6-2 SEC West) - unranked


9. Oklahoma Sooners (11-2, 6-2 Big 12 South) - #18 preseason


10. Boise State Broncos (11-1, 7-1 WAC) - #3 preseason


11. LSU Tigers (10-2, 6-2 SEC West) - #12 preseason


12. Virginia Tech Hokies (11-2, 8-0 ACC Coastal) - #6 preseason


13. Nevada Wolf Pack (12-1, 7-1 WAC) - unranked


14. Oklahoma State Cowboys (10-2, 6-2 Big 12 South) - unranked


15. Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-3, 6-2 Big 12 North) - #15 preseason


16. Missouri Tigers (10-2, 6-2 Big 12 North) - unranked


17. Alabama Crimson Tide (9-3, 5-3 SEC West) - #1 preseason


18. Texas A&M Aggies (9-3, 6-2 Big 12 South) - unranked


19. Utah Utes (10-2, 7-1 MWC) - #13 preseason


20. South Carolina Gamecocks (9-4, 5-3 SEC West) - unranked


21. Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-4, 4-4 SEC West) - unranked


22. Florida State Seminoles (9-4, 6-2 ACC Atlantic) - #21 preseason


23. West Virginia Mountaineers (9-3, 5-2 Big East) - unranked


24. Hawaii Rainbows (10-3, 7-1 WAC) - unranked


25. Navy Midshipmen (8-3) - #24 preseason

The Final Regular Season FBS Game of the 2010 season:

Army (6-5) vs. #25 Navy (8-3)

December 11, 2010

@ Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA

Kick-off: 2:40pm Central Time on CBS

peace

Iowa State to play Service Academies in the future...

Iowa State will host Nebraska this weekend in a Big 12 football game, but in the future, the OOC schedule will include Army, Air Force and Navy.

peace

Friday Night College Football Today

The first weekend of college football continues tonight with two games on tap...

Friday, August 29th
Temple at Army
6:00 p.m.

ESPN Classic / ESPN 360
SMU at Rice
7:00 p.m.
(ESPN) (HD)

A chance to see some East Coast and Texas college football. Coach Al Gordon is an up and comer for Temple. SMU welcomes the debut of of coach June Jones, who departed Hawaii for SMU this past off season.

peace

College Football '07 - The Division I-A Independents

3 remain today as Independents in all of College Football in Division I-A. Notre Dame is the #1 independent, along with Navy and Army.

I thought it would be interesting to see what the skyline was like 25 years ago. Pulling information from my 1982 issue of Street and Smith Official Yearbook for College.

Opening to page 114, coverage of the Atlantic Coast. There were seven ACC teams in 1982. Georgia Tech was not eligible for the championship in 1982 and would make 8 ACC teams.

The Independents in the Atlantic Coast region were 9 teams, not all Division I-A teams today:

1. Virginia Tech
2. South Carolina
3. East Carolina
4. William & Mary
5. Richmond
6. James Madison
7. Wofford
8. Guilford
9. Towson State

In the West (page 26), I will not mention any of the 7 teams, since they are all Division I-AA type teams. By the way, there were 10 teams in the Pac Ten in 1982.

Turning next to the Midwest on page 67. There are three independents in the Midwest:

1. Notre Dame
2. Cincinnati
3. Dayton

By the way, the talk in the Big Ten was the ending of the "Ohio State-Michigan monopoly" in the Big Ten. During the 1981 season, Iowa finished first with Ohio State and won the trip to Pasadena and the 1982 Rose Bowl. Illinois was projected as the next team to watch.

Now, on to the Deep South on page 92. The SEC had 10 teams back in 1982. The Independents in the Deep South in 1982 were:

1. Miami-FL
2. Florida State
3. Tulane
4. Southern Mississippi
5. Louisville
6. Memphis State
7. Tennessee State

Turning to the Big Eight on page 133, there were no mention of any Independents in this region, but the Missouri Valley Conference still existed with 8 teams: Wichita State, Tulsa, Indiana State, Drake, Southern Illinois, West Texas State, New Mexico State and Illinois State. fwiw

Moving to the East Section on page 148. A haven for Independents in 1982:

1. Pittsburgh
2. Penn State
3. West Virginia
4. Syracuse
5. Boston College
6. Navy
7. Rutgers
8. Temple
9. Army
10. Colgate
11. Holy Cross

Finally, the Rockies and again, no Independents. The Western Athletic Conference and Big Sky Conference were highlighted. BYU and Boise State, respectively, were picked as the top teams in each conference. Not much different than last year's MWC and WAC, respectively, for BYU and Boise State.

If you are keeping score:

1982 : 30 schools mentioned

Today: 3 schools, who were also Independents back in 1982

This season's top Independent schools:

1. Notre Dame
2. Navy
3. Army

peace