by Brock Murphy, Lindy’s contributor
1 Nine of last year’s top-10 most efficient passers return for 2013 (Geno Smith, West Virginia (No. 6) is the only top-10 player who graduated). The efficient returnees? No. 1 AJ McCarron, Alabama; No. 2 Aaron Murray, Georgia; No.3 David Fales, San Jose St.; No. 4 J.W. Walsh, Oklahoma St.; No. 5 Tajh Boyd, Clemson; No. 7 Marcus Mariota, Oregon; No.8 Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville; No. 9 Taylor Kelly, Arizona St. and No. 10 Connor Shaw, South Carolina. Interestingly, Walsh is not the projected starter as his Cowboys begin their fall camp.
2. Surely with his 1,266 rushing yards, Michigan’s Denard Robinson was the nation’s leading quarterback rusher in 2012, right? Wrong. Keep an eye on Northern Illinois’ Jordan Lynch. As a junior last season, Lynch averaged nearly 6.2 yards per carry en route to a total of 1,815 rushing yards (19 rushing TD’s). Oh, and he was also the nation’s 30th-most efficient passer, adding 3,135 passing yards and 25 passing TD’s (only 6 interceptions).
3. Defenses do not possess more than one player with more than 100 tackles in a season, right? Wrong. The Houston Cougars produced not one, not two, but three defenders with more than 100 tackles last year (Phillip Steward, LB (128); Trevon Stewart, S (126); and Derrick Mathews, LB (126). Mathews and Stewart are back this year and will form the backbone of a unit guided by new defensive coordinator, David Gibbs (most recently, the DB coach for the Houston Texans and former coordinator for Auburn (’05) and Minnesota (’97-‘00).
4. Louisville is widely regarded as the favorite to win the Big East, I mean, American Athletic Conference, this season. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is one of the main reasons, of course. But one of the reasons for optimism in the defense is the intact return of the entire two-deep roster from 2012 for the defensive line. Every one of the projected starters is an upperclassman. Needless to say, the Cardinals defense should be awesome in 2013.
5. Arizona struggled mightily on defense in Rich Rodriguez’s first season in Tucson (surrendering an average of 200 yards rushing and 290 yards passing per game). Fortunately, the Wildcat offense, led by the now-graduated Matt Scott at quarterback, was good enough for the Wildcats to string together eight wins. Why mention Arizona here? I know of no other team that returns an entire unit intact from 2012 yet the Wildcats return not only their entire starting lineup but every one of their top 15 tacklers from last year. Arizona fans are hoping year two under Jeff Casteel’s system will produce better results for this very experienced group of defenders.
6. Steve Addazio left Temple to take over Boston College and he brought his offensive coordinator, Ryan Day, with him. The Golden Eagles now take flight under their fifth offensive coordinator in just over two years. Forgive them if they get schizophrenic in the first few weeks of 2013.
7. Maryland struggled in Randy Edsall’s first season at the helm. The main reason? Devastating injuries at quarterback. At one point in the season, all four quarterbacks on the roster were injured, which forced the Terps to turn to true freshman Shawn Petty for help. The problem? Petty was a linebacker who had taken all of his snaps up to that point with the defense but ran an option attack in high school. Everyone is recovered and available this year as are two talented newcomers (NM transfer, Ricardo Young and freshman Shane Cockerille). Expect more offensive production out of Maryland this year.
8. A lot of people are drinking the Texas Kool-Aid this year notwithstanding their 9-4 season last year. The Longhorns are talented at every position and have been forced to play a lot of underclassmen the past two years. This year, of course, those puppies have grown up – and have game experience. If there is any reason to jump on the Longhorn bandwagon early, it may be that the offensive line returns intact this year (124 career starts) and will block for two tailbacks who were considered the nation’s best in their respective recruiting years: Johnathan Gray, a sophomore, and Malcolm Brown, a junior.