College Football 2007 National Championship Prediction
Sharkhandicapping.com
College Football Futures
Every year we look at the top five teams in country and rate the teams in order they may finish the season in rankings. But more then that we take a look at possible futures plays with our top 5 choices. This year we look at West Virginia and their favorable schedule and 10 – 1 odds along with Wisconsin and their tough schedule and big 30 – 1 odds. We feel both teams will be in the Top Ten towards the end of the season and while we are not looking for them to finish 1 – 2 at seasons end, we are looking for a good run and a great ride with a small investment for a big payoff. When trying to select the National Championship at the beginning of the season the most important factor, unfortunately, is schedule. The other fact that most people do not put into factor are the pre-season rankings as it is much harder to climb the polls then stay on top. Here is a look at the top five as we se them playing out:
College Football Top 5
1.
Schedule has a lot to do with this selection as the Trojans from USC will remain on top of the polls for the majority of the season. What has us highlighting West Virginia here is they will start the season ranked in the top ten and it is much easier to stay on top then climb to the top. The second reason is West Virginia has tailor made schedule as they start the season off with teams they should handle with ease and then play two huge games back-to-back as they face Rutgers and Louisville. Louisville has a chance at being a highly ranked team when the two teams meet and we all know Rutgers schedule. The good news for West Virginia is they get Louisville (the second of the two games) at home. West Virginia must travel to Rutgers to play and while a difficult task, if they get by Rutgers they could get into the BCS National Championship game. The bad news might be playing Louisville the game after Rutgers, however, a let down is not likely as no one takes Louisville lightly and they get a full 11 days off before playing Louisville as they play on Rutgers on Saturday October 27th and then play on Thursday night November 8th. The West Virginia Mountaineers finished last season as the 3rd ranked scoring offense and they will not miss step this year returning Seniors Pat White and Steve Slaton. These guys broke more “long yardage” touchdowns in a game and or year then I have seen since the great Barry Sanders when he was at Oklahoma State. The weak link for West Virginia in their pass defense as they ranked 109th in this category and gave up an average of over 300 passing yards a game. The good news is they will not be worse this year and some improvement will be expected as they return all five starters in the secondary of their 3-3-5 defense. The Mountaineers did lead the league in rushing defense. There was a reason Rich Rodriquez turned down the Miami and Alabama jobs and both Slaton and White returned, a shot at the National Championship. Odds to win the National Championship 11 – 1.
2.
Everybody’s pick to hit the National Championship game and for good reason as the term “reloading” is over used by the standards set by the current USC run. The Trojan’s will bring a ton of talent back this year and the most notable name is quarterback John David Booty. The USC wide receiver position will be in fine hands with Ausberry, Patrick Turner and Vidal Hazelton. The defense will be better then last years defense. I am not interested in spending a lot of time here in this write-up of USC as everyone has already done that and I am also not interested in playing on USC to win the National Championship at just over 3 – 1 odds. Odds to win the National Championship 3 ½ – 1.
3. 
Who led the big ten in defense? Almost the entire country will answer Michigan but it was Wisconsin that led the Big Ten in scoring defense. Not only did they led the conference in scoring defense but also led in yards allowed per game and passing yards per game. There are two reasons why the Badgers are 30 – 1 and could stumble and not make it to the Championship game. The first reason is they play Penn State on the road and the second reason in they play Ohio State on the road. Not many people remember that the Badgers of Wisconsin finished the season with just one loss, the 4th game of the season they loss to Michigan at the Big House as 7 point underdogs. In just about every other game they dominated the scoreboard and the games blowing out lesser Big Ten teams. A 12 – 1 season and a bowl win over Arkansas sets them up with a ton of confidence. The Badgers running attack with one of the best as they return freshman P.J. Hill who rushed for 1,569 yards. Hill learned a lot of what it take to be a full time Big Ten back and hopefully learned to play through the nagging injuries while finishing the season. The biggest surprise from last year was the wide receiver play and the position only gets stronger with red shirt freshman Maurice Moore. Returning from injury this year will be senior Marcus Randle El. We mentioned the defense already and we see Wisconsin once again the top defense in the Big Ten and one of the best in the country. Odds to win the National Championship 30 – 1.
4. 
Once again we have to look at scheduling and early rankings in collage football and Texas has a schedule that will benefit them from the start to finish allowing them to maintain rankings in the top ten. Early on Texas has a date hosting TCU (September 8) but beyond that Texas will not be challenged until the middle of the season. No surprise here as Colt McCoy will have an outstanding sophomore year. As a red shirt freshman he completed over 68% of his passes and threw for 29 touchdowns. The real question for Texas will be on the offensive line as they loss 3 starters form last season. So far in camp this season that has not been a problem with big and I mean big second year players like the 6-foot 8 300 pound Adam Ulatoski and the 6-foot 6 305 pound tackle Tony Hills. Odds to win the National Championship 9 – 1.
5. 
Michigan is the favorite to win the Big 10 and if they win the Big Ten title they will more the likely have to do it undefeated in the Big 10 and will have to do it in the final 2 weeks of the season. Michigan plays their first four games at home and some interesting numbers play into Michigan’s early season as they play host to Oregon on September 8th. Michigan should not have any problems disposing of the Oregon Ducks as this is a huge revenge game for Michigan. I will wait to see the odds on the Notre Dame match-up but keep in mind that there is a long history that has the visiting road team playing with revenge from the previous season actually getting their revenge. If they get by Penn State that will leave Michigan in fine shape for the last two games of the season where they have to go into Wisconsin to play the Badgers and this is where we believe they will falter and Wisconsin will win the Big 10 (see Wisconsin above). If the Wolverines are able to escape Wisconsin with a win they get to play host to Ohio State in a revenge setting at home. No question Jake Long might be the best offensive lineman coming out of collage and has great receivers to go along with quarterback Chad Henne and running back Michael Hart. It is not the offense that will hurt Michigan this year but an unproven and relatively unknown defense. Odds to win the National Championship 10 – 1.
Playing the Futures
Mark has consistently pulled down great profit with his futures plays the last three years. Playing futures in football, basketball, the NCAA tournament and baseball, you only have to look to Mark's most recent futures play on the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks win total to understand how you can cash in. Watch closely this college football season and keep the teams above in mind as the weekly rankings are published. Not a bad way to put some cash up for a great return this college football season.