2018 SEASON PREVIEW MEGALOCKS NCAA FOOTBALL / 2018 SEASON PREVIEW Copyright © 2018 Megalocks.co All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator” submit inquiries to support [email protected] 2 MEGALOCKS Welcome to the 2018 MEGALOCKS College Football Preview! We have all 130 FBS teams covered. If you are a holder of the 2018 Season Pass, this e-book comes as part of your annual membership. As a member, you also get suggestions for additional reading and content in more detailed team previews on the website. Not a member yet? The site megalocks .co has all the content you need for the 2018 college football season from start to fnish! • Season previews for all 130 FBS teams • Detailed game previews and predictions • Offcial selections on games we believe offer “value” • Suggestions for team season win totals and futures • Access to live handicapping chat! • Participation in the members-only discussion forum • Boxscore review of every game played • Free contests • Industry-leading customer service What can you expect from the team previews? If you aren’t familiar with the MEGALOCKS style, we believe in presenting quality and in-depth information in an entertaining format! The odds are that any word or phrase appearing in ALL CAPS is sarcasm. Any reference to a “lock” or similar term implying that there is certainty when predicting the outcomes of college football games is satire. The term previews are listed in alphabetical order within the division of each conference. The “power rating” is a representation of how we feel how the teams stack up on paper to begin the season. The ratings change on a weekly basis as games are 3 2018 SEASON PREVIEW played. It doesn’t necessarily represent who we feel will win their respective division as there are other factors at play, such as scheduling. The “ATS value rating” is our best guess of how successful a team will be vs the point spread. It’s a combination of likelihood and severity. How likely do we believe it to be that ‘Team X’ will have a winning record vs the point spread? What is the potential upside or downside? It’s meant to be a directional indicator and alert us to teams to put on an initial watch list. If you want to fnd out more about the website, please visit megalocks .co and check out the Video Tour or Learn More pages. There is also a FAQ list, About page and testimonial video that will give you a great idea of what to expect as a member. These previews were created over the summer and there may have been injuries, transfers or team-related news that is not refected in the document. One fnal thought. I am extremely appreciative of the support provided by family and friends! They have allowed me to pursue my dreams and make college football my full-time “job”. I would also like the thank all the great college football fans that I have interacted with over the last number of years. Many of you have become members of the website and I am truly grateful for your support! Here’s to an exciting and enjoyable 2018 season! 4 MEGALOCKS MEGALOCKS Predictions for the 2018 Season Here’s how we think things will shake out during the 2018 college football season. The ‘most likely winner’ differs from the ‘power rating’ in the season preview pages. Power rating refers to how teams stack up on paper to start the season. The ‘most likely winner’ is our prediction of who will rise to the top after schedules are considered. The ‘value play’ refers to a team that could take down the division as something other than the Vegas favorite. Alabama, Clemson and Georgia are our three highest-rated teams by a good margin. We had to include all of them in our predicted fnal four as we forecast no more than four combined losses. Alabama and Georgia both made it in 2017 and there’s a decent chance we see those teams again in 2018. Washington was our next choice to make the fnal four, but we can see everyone in the PAC 12 losing at least two games. The Big 12 is extremely competitive and it’s likely that the conference champion gets left of the mix. American Athletic Conference (AAC) East division Most likely winner – UCF Value play - Temple West division Most likely winner – Memphis Value play - Navy Conference Champion – Memphis Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Atlantic division Most likely winner – Clemson Value play – Florida St Coastal division 5 2018 SEASON PREVIEW Most likely winner – Miami Value play – Georgia Tech Conference Champion – Clemson Big 10 East division Most likely winner – Ohio St Value play – Michigan St West division Most likely winner – Wisconsin Value play - Northwestern Conference Champion - Wisconsin Big 12 Most likely winner – Oklahoma Value play - TCU Conference Champion - Oklahoma Conference USA East division Most likely winner – Marshall Value play - MTSU West division Most likely winner – UAB Value play – Louisiana Tech Conference Champion - UAB 6 MEGALOCKS Mid-American Conference East division Most likely winner – Ohio Value play - Buffalo West division Most likely winner – Northern Illinois Value play – Ball St Conference Champion - Ohio PAC 12 North division Most likely winner – Washington Value play - Stanford South division Most likely winner – USC Value play - Utah Conference Champion - Washington Southeastern Conference East division Most likely winner – Georgia Value play - Florida West division Most likely winner – Alabama Value play – Mississippi St 7 2018 SEASON PREVIEW Conference Champion - Alabama Sun Belt East division Most likely winner – Appalachian St Value play – Georgia Southern West division Most likely winner – Arkansas St Value play – ULM Conference Champion – Arkansas St THE FINAL FOUR Alabama Clemson Georgia Wisconsin 2018 National Champions CLEMSON TIGERS 8 MEGALOCKS Table of Contents AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (AAC)................................17 EAST DIVISION..............................................................................17 CINCINNATI..............................................................................18 CONNECTICUT.........................................................................22 EAST CAROLINA......................................................................26 SOUTH FLORIDA......................................................................30 TEMPLE......................................................................................34 UCF..............................................................................................38 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (AAC)................................42 WEST DIVISION.............................................................................42 HOUSTON..................................................................................43 MEMPHIS...................................................................................47 NAVY..........................................................................................51 SMU.............................................................................................55 TULANE.....................................................................................59 TULSA.........................................................................................63 ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE (ACC).......................................67 ATLANTIC DIVISION....................................................................67 BOSTON COLLEGE...................................................................68 CLEMSON..................................................................................72 FLORIDA ST...............................................................................76 LOUISVILLE..............................................................................80 9 2018 SEASON PREVIEW NC STATE...................................................................................84 SYRACUSE.................................................................................88 WAKE FOREST..........................................................................92 ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE (ACC).......................................96 COASTAL DIVISION......................................................................96 DUKE..........................................................................................97 GEORGIA TECH......................................................................101 MIAMI FLA..............................................................................105 NORTH CAROLINA................................................................109 PITTSBURGH...........................................................................113 VIRGINIA.................................................................................117 VIRGINIA TECH......................................................................121 BIG 10..................................................................................................125 EAST DIVISION............................................................................125 INDIANA..................................................................................126 MARYLAND.............................................................................130