Paul Prattles On

Welcome back! I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy putting it together, and I hope it is part of your overall ritual for getting ready for the season.  As I said in part I, I tweaked my formula for my power rankings, and I think it will be much better this year.  So far, I have previewed #s 130-21 (see parts 1-11), so today I'll cover #s 20-16, and will finish up the team previews by Friday.  Let's get to it! 20 Mississippi State Coach: Joe Moorhead (1st yr, 1st overall) Best Case: 11-1 Worst Case: 8-4 Notes: OL returns 4 starters; QB Nick Fitzgerald also returns (ankle injury in the Egg Bowl); defense is shifting from a 3-4 to a 4-3 (4-2-5); MSU gained 5+ yds on 44.8% of its rushing attempts (6th FBS); offense was 41st (7th SEC) in scoring (32.0 ppg) and 46th (6th SEC) in total offense (418.6 ypg); rushing was 11th (2nd SEC) and passing was 113th (last SEC); TO margin w

Welcome back! I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy putting it together, and I hope it is part of your overall ritual for getting ready for the season.  As I said in part I, I tweaked my formula for my power rankings, and I think it will be much better this year.  So far, I have previewed #s 130-31 (see parts 1-10), so today I'll cover #s 30-21 and will finish up the team previews by Friday.  Let's get to it! 30 Iowa Coach: Kirk Ferentz (20th yr, 20th overall) Best Case: 11-1 Worst Case: 9-3 Notes: Iowa was the only team to beat a top 10 finalist by 30 points (Ohio St-31); failed to score at least 20 points in 6 of 9 conference games; Iowa defense was responsible for 46% of its opponents' incomplete passes (2nd FBS); offense was 66th in scoring (5th B10) and 117th in total offense (329.5 ypg- 10th B10); rushing was 97th (11th B10) and passing was 93rd (9th B

Welcome back! I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy putting it together, and I hope it is part of your overall ritual for getting ready for the season.  As I said in part I, I tweaked my formula for my power rankings, and I think it will be much better this year.  So far, I have previewed #s 130-41 (see parts 1-9), so today I'll cover #s 40-31.  Let's get to it! 40 Northwestern Coach: Pat Fitzgerald (13th yr, 13th overall) Best Case: 11-1 Worst Case: 8-4 Notes: NW's offense was 56th in ppg and 55th in ypg (both 4th B10); rushing was 52nd (5th B10) and passing was 64th (6th B10); defense was 20th in ppg (7th B10) and 34th in ypg (8th B10); rushing D was 9th (4th B10) and 101st (last B10) in passing; there is some concern that QB Clayton Thorson will not be ready for the beginning of the season after injuring his knee in the bowl game; OL returns 4 starters; TO margin was +7 (26th-2nd B10); K