As sports writers, we get to make dozens of outlandish predictions at the beginning of a season, and no one remembers the crazy things we write by the time the results are in. Never let it be said, however, that I don’t own up to my mistakes.
Way back in August, when Georgia was ranked No. 1, the economy was still chugging along, and no one had heard of Sarah Palin, I went out on a limb with 10 bold college football predictions. Now, it’s judgment time.
PREDICTION: The BCS bowls belong to the big boys.
VERDICT: Wrong. Not only did Utah earn a BCS bowl berth, but Boise State finished undefeated, too. That’s what happens, I guess, when only the Big 12 and SEC can field more than one elite team each.
PREDICTION: Ohio State will beat USC but won’t win the Big Ten.
VERDICT: Half right. USC blew the doors off the Buckeyes in September, but I did accurately predict Ohio State’s run of Big Ten titles would come to an end, thus severely reducing the chances of a 30-point blowout by the SEC in the national championship game this year.
PREDICTION: A team outside the preseason top 25 will earn a BCS bowl berth.
VERDICT: Correct. Sure, Alabama was right at the top of the illustrious “others receiving votes” category to start the season, but the Crimson Tide managed to climb all the way to No. 1 before an SEC title game loss to Florida.
PREDICTION: A preseason top-10 team will not make a bowl.
VERDICT: Correct. Consider this adding a little salt to the wounds, Auburn. Good luck with that whole Gene Chizik thing.
PREDICTION: The Big East will have more bowl teams than the ACC.
VERDICT: I’m an idiot. Chalk this up to a bit of Syracuse bias on my part. The Big East was brutal this year, and while the ACC wasn’t filled with gems, 10 of the 12 teams in the conference were bowl eligible.
PREDICTION: Alabama will win the SEC West.
VERDICT: Correct. In retrospect, we all should have seen this coming. Take the only experienced quarterback in the West, add a great head coach in his second year on campus and a manageable schedule, and you’ve got a recipe for a big season.
PREDICTION: This will be the last year for Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno.
VERDICT: Probably wrong. Hey, anything can happen between now and next August, but if Jamie Moyer is getting a two-year contract extension from the Philadelphia Phillies, I don’t see either of these two coaches hanging it up soon.
PREDICTION: No coaching changes will happen in the SEC.
VERDICT: Way wrong. Even Tommy Tuberville’s mom could have told me this was a stupid prediction.
PREDICTION: Tim Tebow will not win Heisman No. 2.
VERDICT: Correct. The greatest player of our era made things interesting down the stretch but was upstaged by two Big 12 quarterbacks. But how many Ukrainian prisons has Sam Bradford visited?
PREDICTION: No one will argue with the BCS title game selections.
VERDICT: Wrong. There wasn’t as much late-season drama as 2007 gave us, but Florida, Oklahoma, Penn State, USC, Texas, Utah and Alabama made this the deepest pool of national-title contenders in years. Still, I think it’s pretty tough not to get excited for what should be a great championship game to end the season.
Contact David Hale at dhale@macon.com
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