College Football Preview and the Fighting Irish

When fans and the media believed the NFL players and owners couldn't settle their differences, the fact was that the focus would have to turn to College Football. Now with the NFL back and ready, College football seems to have lost some attention. Today the coaches poll came out with their rankings for the 2011 College football season. The #1 spot was given to the Oklahoma Sooners who know what it's like to be the #1 team in the nation. The Sooners are presented with the challenge of playing Florida State in their second game of the season, a team that was given the #5 ranking in the coaches poll. Other notable tough games for Oklahoma are Oklahoma State and Texas A&M who are also in the AP top 10. Rounding out the top five is Alabama, who won the Championship two years ago, the Oregon ducks who lost in the national title game last season, along with LSU and Florida at #5. Teams like TCU, Auburn, and Wisconsin are also ranked in the top 20 along with the return of Notre Dame, who last season wasn't ranked in the preseason AP Poll. Again just like I mentioned in my NFL post, there lies a lot of questions surrounding the 2011 College season. Will the Big Ten finally earn respect by adding powerhouse Nebraska to their conference? Can Stanford continue their hot streak even with coach Jim Harbough leaving for the NFL? Can the SEC produce yet another BCS Championship winner and Heisman Trophy winner? And finally can coach Brian Kelly return Notre Dame to glory and college football powerhouse? For me this is a big question. For those of you who know me, I am a die hard Irish fan and have been my entire life. The Kelly era to me brings great hope that the Irish are well on their way to being a BCS contender. Led by senior wide receiver Michael Floyd, the Irish are poised to make a run at a big time bowl game. The city of South Bend believes again and Kelly has his players believing its time to win now. When a new head coach is hired, most of the time it is a sign of rebuilding. For Notre Dame and second year coach Kelly, its the exact opposite. Once Kelly arrived in South Bend, he said he wasn't going to install a five year plan, but rather a five minute plan. The time is now and look for the Irish to make huge strides during the 2011 college season.