Preseason Coaches Poll Ranks Florida State #1

The preseason Amway Coaches Poll, which was released earlier today, has ranked Florida State as the #1 team in college football.  The Coaches Poll awarded the defending national champion Seminoles with 56 out of 62 overall first-place votes, an impressive total for the only team from the ACC ranked in the preseason top ten.  The Alabama Crimson Tide clinched the #2 spot, the Oklahoma Sooners ended up at #3, while the Oregon Ducks and the Auburn Tigers found themselves at the #4 and #5 positions respectively.  The rest of the top ten features two Big Ten teams:  Ohio State (#6) and Michigan State (#8), one from PAC-12 (#7 UCLA), one more from the SEC (#9 South Carolina), and a BIG XII team (#10 Baylor).  So, it appears that each of the "Five Power Conferences" has at least one team in the top ten.  As for the entire rankings, teams from two conferences, the SEC and the PAC-12, occupy thirteen out of the twenty-five places on this list.  The Big Ten and BIG XII each have four teams, and the ACC has three.  Notre Dame is on this list as a football independent, but true scheduling independence for the Fighting Irish ended last season.  Starting with the 2014 season, Notre Dame will play five ACC teams in football every year for the foreseeable future.  Finally, no teams from the "Group of Five" Conferences (e.g., American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference) appear on this list, but that may change after the season begins.  Enjoy the upcoming weekend, everybody!!


2014 PRESEASON AMWAY COACHES POLL RANKINGS

RANK	TEAM	CONFERENCE	POINTS
1	Florida State Seminoles	ACC	1543
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	SEC	1455
3	Oklahoma Sooners	BIG XII	1382
4	Oregon Ducks	PAC-12	1314
5	Auburn Tigers	SEC	1271
6	Ohio State Buckeyes	Big Ten	1267
7	UCLA Bruins	PAC-12	1085
8	Michigan State Spartans	Big Ten	1050
9	South Carolina Gamecocks	SEC	1009
10	Baylor Bears	BIG XII	965
11	Stanford Cardinal	PAC-12	955
12	Georgia Bulldogs	SEC	905
13	LSU Tigers	SEC	833
14	Wisconsin Badgers	Big Ten	654
15	USC Trojans	PAC-12	627
16	Clemson Tigers	ACC	535
17	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Independent*	509
18	Arizona State Sun Devils	PAC-12	358
19	Mississippi Rebels	SEC	346
20	Texas A&M Aggies	SEC	266
21	Kansas State Wildcats	BIG XII	257
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	Big Ten	228
23	North Carolina Tar Heels	ACC	175
24	Texas Longhorns	BIG XII	143
25	Washington Huskies	PAC-12	142

2014-2015 Bowl Schedule Revealed

According to fbschedules.com this year's postseason bowl schedule has been completed (with the exception of one game).  There are now thirty-nine postseason games and this year marks the beginning of the long-awaited College Football Playoff.  In this year's playoff system, the Rose Bowl (January 1, 2015, 5:00 PM Eastern, ESPN) and the Sugar Bowl (January 1, 2015, 8:00 PM Eastern, ESPN) will serve as semifinal games for the top four teams.  The winners of those two games will play in the inaugural College Football Championship Game, which is scheduled for Monday, January 12, 2015, at 8:30 PM Eastern on ESPN.  The scheduled dates and times for the remaining games are available below.

And like last season, the Howell Report will feature weekly bowl projections from Jerry Palm via cbssports.com, starting with the first week of the College Football Playoff rankings.   


2014-2015 POSTSEASON BOWL SCHEDULE

All Times Eastern (Time for the Peach Bowl will be added as soon as it is available)

Bowl	Location	Date/Time	TV
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl MWC vs. Sun Belt	New Orleans, LA Mercedes-Benz Superdome	Sat., Dec. 20 11:00 AM	ESPN
Gildan New Mexico Bowl C-USA vs. MWC	Albuquerque, NM University Stadium	Sat., Dec. 20 2:20 PM	ESPN
Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl MWC #1 vs. Pac-12 #6	Las Vegas, NV Sam Boyd Stadium	Sat., Dec. 20 3:30 PM	ABC
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl MAC vs. MWC	Boise, ID Bronco Stadium	Sat., Dec. 20 5:45 PM	ESPN
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl MAC #4 vs. Sun Belt #3	Montgomery, AL Cramton Bowl	Sat., Dec. 20 9:15 PM	ESPN
Miami Beach Bowl BYU vs. The American	Miami, FL Marlins Park	Mon., Dec. 22 2:00 PM	ESPN
Boca Raton Bowl C-USA vs. MAC	Boca Raton, FL FAU Stadium	Tue., Dec. 23 6:00 PM	ESPN
San Diego County CU Poinsettia Bowl MWC vs. Navy	San Diego, CA Qualcomm Stadium	Tue., Dec. 23 9:30 PM	ESPN
Bahamas Bowl C-USA vs. MAC	Nassau, Bahamas Thomas Robinson Stadium	Wed., Dec. 24 12:00 PM	ESPN
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl C-USA vs. MWC	Honolulu, HI Aloha Stadium	Wed., Dec. 24 8:00 PM	ESPN
Heart of Dallas Bowl Big Ten vs. C-USA	Dallas, TX Cotton Bowl Stadium	Fri., Dec. 26 1:00 PM	ESPN
Detroit Lions Bowl Big Ten vs. ACC	Detroit, MI Ford Field	Fri., Dec. 26 4:30 PM	ESPN
Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl ACC vs. The American	St. Petersburg, FL Tropicana Field	Fri., Dec. 26 8:00 PM	ESPN
Military Bowl ACC vs. The American	Annapolis, MD Navy-Marine Corps. Stadium	Sat., Dec. 27 1:00 PM	ESPN
Hyundai Sun Bowl ACC vs. Pac-12	El Paso, TX Sun Bowl Stadium	Sat., Dec. 27 2:00 PM	CBS
Duck Commander Independence Bowl ACC vs. SEC	Shreveport, LA Independence Stadium	Sat., Dec. 27 4:00 PM	ESPN2
New Era Pinstripe Bowl ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten	Bronx, NY Yankee Stadium	Sat., Dec. 27 4:30 PM	ESPN
National University Holiday Bowl Big Ten vs. Pac-12	San Diego, CA Qualcomm Stadium	Sat., Dec. 27 8:00 PM	ESPN
AutoZone Liberty Bowl Big 12 vs. SEC	Memphis, TN Liberty Bowl	Mon., Dec. 29 2:00 PM	ESPN
Russell Athletic Bowl ACC vs. Big 12	Orlando, FL Florida Citrus Bowl	Mon., Dec. 29 5:30 PM	ESPN
AdvoCare Texas Bowl Big 12 vs. SEC	Houston, TX NRG Stadium	Mon., Dec. 29 9:00 PM	ESPN
Franklin Amer. Mort. Music City Bowl ACC/Big Ten vs. SEC	Nashville, TN LP Field	Tue., Dec. 30 3:00 PM	ESPN
Belk Bowl ACC vs. SEC	Charlotte, NC Bank of America Stadium	Tue., Dec. 30 6:45 PM	ESPN
San Francisco Bowl Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Santa Clara, CA Levi's Stadium	Tue., Dec. 30 10:00 PM	ESPN
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl At-Large vs. At-Large	Atlanta, GA Georgia Dome	Wed., Dec. 31	ESPN
Fiesta Bowl At-Large vs. At-Large	Glendale, AZ U. of Phoenix Stadium	Wed., Dec. 31 5:00 PM	ESPN
Discover Orange Bowl ACC Champ/A-L vs. B1G/SEC/ND	Miami Gardens, FL Sun Life Stadium	Wed., Dec. 31 8:30 PM	ESPN
Capital One Bowl ACC/Big Ten vs. SEC	Orlando, FL Florida Citrus Bowl	Thu., Jan. 1 12:30 PM	ABC
Outback Bowl Big Ten vs. SEC	Tampa, FL Raymond James Stadium	Thu., Jan. 1 1:00 PM	ESPN2
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic At-Large vs. At-Large	Arlington, TX AT&T Stadium	Thu., Jan. 1 1:00 PM	ESPN
Rose Bowl Game Playoff Semifinal Game	Pasadena, CA Rose Bowl	Thu., Jan. 1 5:00 PM	ESPN
Allstate Sugar Bowl Playoff Semifinal Game	New Orleans, LA Mercedes-Benz Superdome	Thu., Jan. 1 8:30 PM	ESPN
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Army vs. The American	Fort Worth, TX Amon G. Carter Stadium	Fri., Jan. 2 Noon	ESPN
TaxSlayer Bowl ACC/Big Ten vs. SEC	Jacksonville, FL EverBank Field	Fri., Jan. 2 3:20 PM	ESPN
Valero Alamo Bowl Big 12 vs. Pac-12	San Antonio, TX Alamodome	Fri., Jan. 2 6:45 PM	ESPN
Cactus Bowl Big 12 #5 vs. Pac-12 #6	Tempe, AZ Sun Devil Stadium	Fri., Jan. 2 10:15 PM	ESPN
Birmingham Bowl SEC vs. The American	Birmingham, AL Legion Field	Sat., Jan. 3 1:00 PM	ESPN/2
GoDaddy Bowl MAC vs. Sun Belt	Mobile, AL Ladd-Peebles Stadium	Sun., Jan. 4 9:00 PM	ESPN
College Football Championship Game Semifinal Winner vs. Semifinal Winner	Arlington, TX AT&T Stadium	Mon., Jan. 12 8:30 PM	ESPN

Big Ten Releases Non-Conference Television Schedule

Earlier today the Big Ten Conference released its television schedule for the first three weeks of the 2014 season.  Today's preliminary schedule features thirty-seven games.  All games (except for Penn State vs. Rutgers) are non-conference matches and thirty-four of them will be televised on Saturdays.  The remaining three matches will be televised on Thursday and Friday during the first week of the season.  Today's list only features games that have been scheduled as of July 16th.  The scheduled times for any other Big Ten controlled games during the 2014 season will be released to the public at least six-to-twelve days in advance.  Some notable non-conference games on today's list are as follows:  Rutgers vs. Washington State, Penn State vs. Central Florida, California vs. Northwestern, Wisconsin vs. Louisiana State, Michigan State vs. Oregon, Michigan vs. Notre Dame, Virginia Tech vs. Ohio State, West Virginia vs. Maryland, Iowa State vs. Iowa, Minnesota vs. Texas Christian, Illinois vs. Washington, and Nebraska vs. Fresno State.   The preliminary Big Ten television schedule is available below.

Also, you can follow my twitter feed via https://twitter.com/HowellReport


2014 BIG TEN PRELIMINARY NON-CONFERENCE TELEVISION SCHEDULE

All Times Eastern

Thursday, August 28th

Eastern Illinois at Minnesota -  7:00 PM, Big Ten Network
Rutgers at Washington State - 10:00 PM, FOX SPORTS 1

Friday, August 29th

Jacksonville State at Michigan State - 7:30 PM, Big Ten Network

Saturday, August 30th

Penn State vs. Central Florida - 8:30 AM, ESPN2 (neutral site - Dublin, Ireland)
Youngstown State at Illinois - 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network
Indiana State at Indiana - 12:00 PM, ESPNNEWS
Northern Iowa at Iowa - 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network
Appalachian State at Michigan - 12:00 PM, ESPN2
Ohio State vs. Navy - 12:00 PM, CBS Sports Network (neutral site - Baltimore, MD)
Western Michigan at Purdue - 12:00 PM, ESPNU
James Madison at Maryland - 3:30 PM, Big Ten Network
Florida Atlantic at Nebraska - 3:30 PM, Big Ten Network
California at Northwestern - 3:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2 (To be determined)
Wisconsin vs. Louisiana State - 9:00 PM, ESPN (neutral site - Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX)

Saturday, September 6th

Western Kentucky at Illinois - 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network
McNeese State at Nebraska  - 12:00 PM, ESPNU
Akron at Penn State - 12:00 PM, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 (To be determined)
Central Michigan at Purdue - 12:00 PM, ESPNNEWS
Howard at Rutgers - 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network
Western Illinois at Wisconsin - 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network
Ball State at Iowa - 3:30 PM, ESPN2
Maryland at South Florida - 3:30 PM, CBS Sports Network
Middle Tennessee at Minnesota - 3:30 PM, Big Ten Network
Northern Illinois at Northwestern - 3:30 PM, Big Ten Network
Michigan State at Oregon - 6:30 PM, FOX
Michigan at Notre Dame - 7:00 PM, NBC
Virginia Tech at Ohio State – 8:00 PM, ESPN

Saturday, September 13th

Indiana at Bowling Green - 12:00 PM, ESPNU/ESPNews (To be determined)
West Virginia at Maryland - 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network
Kent State at Ohio State - 12:00 PM ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 (To be determined)
Iowa State at Iowa - 3:30 PM, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 (To be determined)
Miami (Ohio) at Michigan - 3:30 PM, Big Ten Network
Illinois at Washington - 4:00 PM, FOX
Minnesota at Texas Christian - 4:00 PM, FOX SPORTS 1
Purdue at Notre Dame - 7:30 PM, NBC (neutral site - Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN)
Penn State at Rutgers - 8:00 PM, Big Ten Network
Nebraska at Fresno State - 10:30 PM, CBS Sports Network

The Howell Report is now on Twitter!

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The New Season Starts with The End of a Realignment

 All Maps From Wikipedia Unless Otherwise Noted.

The 2014-15 college athletic season has officially begun and it has started with another round of conference realignment.  Earlier today twelve teams either changed leagues or moved up from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to an FBS-level conference.  Here is how today's changes occurred:


The American Athletic Conference added three teams (East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa) and lost two (Louisville and Rutgers).  The changes give the American eleven teams for the 2014-15 season, but its football membership will increase to twelve when Navy joins in July 2015.  Once Navy's move occurs, the American will split into two six-team divisions and will sponsor a championship game. 




The Atlantic Coast Conference welcomed Louisville as its newest member.  The Cardinals replace the outgoing Maryland Terrapins, a charter member of the ACC when it first began intercollegiate play in 1953.  






The Big Ten Conference added Maryland and Rutgers as its thirteenth and fourteenth members respectively.   In admitting these two teams, the Big Ten encompasses a geographic footprint stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Coast.  It now has access to media markets in the Baltimore-D.C. area as well as metropolitan New York City. 






ESPN's Adam Rittenberg has more information about the Big Ten's eastern expansion in the following video:






The BIG XII, the PAC-12, the Mountain West, and the SEC were not affected by this year's realignment.  The Mid-American Conference will lose UMass in 2015, a departure which will reduce the MAC's roster to twelve teams.  However, the BIG XII did unveil a new logo, which can be found on the conference's website.


As for Conference-USA, the league experienced five changes to its membership roster.  While East Carolina, Tulsa and Tulane all left for the American Athletic Conference, C-USA admitted Old Dominion, which upgraded its football from FCS to FBS, and Western Kentucky from the Sun Belt Conference.  For now, C-USA's football membership stands at thirteen until UNC-Charlotte is admitted in 2015 as a full member.   More information can be found at Conference-USA's website.


Speaking of the Sun Belt Conference, the league has added four teams:  Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Idaho, and New Mexico State.  Both Idaho and New Mexico State played as FBS-level independents last year after the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) stopped sponsoring football after the 2012-13 season.  Both Appalachian State and Georgia Southern upgraded their football programs from FCS to FBS-level as part of their move to the Sun Belt.  It is also worth mentioning that these two former FCS teams have upset teams from major conferences at games played outside their home stadiums.  Appalachian State defeated Michigan at Ann Arbor, 34-32, on September 1st, 2007, while Georgia Southern embarrassed Florida, 26-22, in Gainesville on November 23, 2013.


Excluding a couple more team movements (e.g., Navy's move to the American Athletic Conference) that will occur at the start of the 2015-16 season, the grand conference realignment which started in 2010 has largely concluded.  I am not sure if anyone could have anticipated the nationwide effects of the Big Ten Conference's decision to add a twelfth member.  But, four years after the Big Ten presidents voted to admit Nebraska, the geographic landscape of American college sports at the FBS-level has been significantly reshaped.   The PAC-12, SEC, Big Ten, and the ACC have all expanded outside their historical geographic footprints; the BIG XII has shrunk to ten teams; the Mountain West is now a major regional conference; and two conferences, the Big East and the WAC, no longer exist as football leagues.  Finally, the stability of a new association, the American Athletic Conference, is questionable after losing two of its charter members to larger, wealthier conferences. 


Unfortunately, the end of the grand realignment only raises more questions about the current state of college football.  One of which is whether or not smaller conferences like the American, Conference-USA, and the Sun Belt can endure in a game at risk of being controlled by the five "Power Conferences." Or if the new College Football Playoff system will lead to calls for more equal representation of all FBS-level conferences during the postseason.  It may be a long time before we as fans find the answers to those questions.  For now, let us wait and see what happens after the 2014-15 season begins in August.