Picking the Fab Five

August 30th, 2005

By Justin Waganer
Senior Sports Writer

Here lies the Big East, once proud, now finished. Sure, they have Louisville and possibly Pittsburgh to brag about, but neither are schools that live on their own. The “fab five” have these schools, the schools that win no matter what. There is no USC, Tennessee, or Ohio State in the new Big East, only schools capable of moderate success. Louisville will win, and big, in 2005 but what will happen after the season when Bobby Petrino takes over at Alabama or Missouri? Back to 6-6 and Charlotte on New Year’s Eve.

The ACC is the latest to join the mega-conference rage and will play their first conference title game this fall. This first championship will be a quasi-replay of the National Championship Sugar Bowl of 1999 between Florida State and Virginia Tech. Florida State will have the athletes on defense, but the Hokies will once again have a Vick roaming the field. This time Marcus Vick will be the difference as Tech takes the first title game back home.

Next up, the good ‘ole SEC, where as much as things change they tend to stay the same. Florida and LSU both sport new coaches in 2005 and will find themselves in the title game where Urban Meyer will add to his young legend. Les Miles and crew will have tremendous success in year one, but Chris Leak will be the difference in Atlanta as he becomes one of the leading candidates for the 2006 Heisman Trophy.

The Big 10 Conference is teaming with the Pac 10 to try to retain tradition in the era of the mega-conference with no championship game. The only problem with this is they seem to be one of the few that would actually benefit from it this year. Ohio St., Michigan, Iowa, and Purdue could all win this league at first glance. The wild card is Troy Smith, if he stays out of trouble and continues his play from 2004 the Buckeyes will win the Big 10 and possibly play for the National Title. Troy will be sensational and the Bucks will roll to conference supremacy.

The Pac 10 brings USC and some other guys to the table, but one of those other guys will bring down the monster this season. I say Oregon will do the trick on September 24th, but if not, expect the Sun Devils to do it on the first day of October. The Trojans will still take the Pac 10 title, but will not play for the ultimate title in the Rose Bowl. Talk all you want about having every player back from the 2004 Champs, but what about Norm? Chow is more integral to those titles than you think.

Last, certainly not least, the Big 12. Is this the year the Longhorns exercise their demons? With Jason White and numerous others having departed to greener pastures can the Horns finally remove that monkey from their back? Nope. Talking heads forget that Derrick Johnson was better than 99.9% of linebackers from the last 25 years and if Cedric Benson couldn’t run on OU Selvin Young sure can’t. The Sooners biggest obstacle is A&M, but they are in Norman where OU has lost only once since Stoops arrival. Oklahoma repeats as Big 12 Champs, but doesn’t get a third straight National Title shot.

So the “fab five” champs are Virginia Tech, Florida, Ohio State, USC, and Oklahoma. This is where the fun begins. This is where we begin the debates about who deserves a shot at the title. Does a one loss team from the five deserve it more than the undefeated Louisville Cardinals? I know the answer, but you’ll have to wait a few days.

Entry Filed under: Oklahoma Sports