2013 FBS Independents Preview

2013 FBS Independents Preview

 

The number of independents in Division 1 FBS has expanded to six teams this year, the most this century.  With the Western Athletic Conference closing for football business, not all former members found homes in conference subdivisions.

 

Of course, it wasn’t so bad for this group last year.  Brigham Young and Navy enjoyed eight-win seasons, while Notre Dame made it to the National Championship Game with a 12-0 regular season mark before experiencing the drowning in the sea of Crimson Tide.

 

Into Spring, it looked like Notre Dame had a decent chance to repeat their regular season success of last year, but that chance disappeared when starting quarterback Everett Golson became academically ineligible.  The Fighting Irish schedule has some easy victories wrapped around several tough games, and this team cannot win all the tough games in 2013.

 

BYU must incorporate a new quarterback into an offense that otherwise returns a lot of talent, but the Cougars’ defense will be a work in progress, as just three starters return to one of the top stop units in the country last year.  Still, they should return to a bowl this year.

 

Navy returns enough talent to continue to cause headaches for opposing defensive coordinators.  With experience at quarterback and fullback, and with more than usual experience returning in the blocking corps, the Middies should continue to move the ball on the ground and possibly top 300 rushing yards per game this year.  Once again, the defense will be the unknown factor.  Last year, Navy surrendered more than 400 yards per game on average with the ration about equal between rushing and passing yards allowed.  Add to this that the top four tacklers from last year are now Lieutenants in the Navy, and it could be a problem.

 

Army has been forced to retreat the last two years, winning just three and two games with a couple of very tough losses to their arch-rival.  Who can forget the look on former QB Trent Steelman’s face when he fumbled the ball at the end of last year’s Army-Navy game.

 

The Cadets led the nation with 370 rushing yards per game last year, but they finished last in passing with just 66 yards per game.  Expect the rushing yards to take a considerable hit this year, but we expect Army’s passing numbers to improve, maybe even approaching the triple digit mark for the first time since they went back to the triple option philosophy.

 

 

New Mexico St. starts over yet again with its fourth head coach in the last 10 years.  Doug Martin was the offensive coordinator here two years ago, and the Aggies had their most successful output since Hal Mumme’s Air Raid offense of 2006.  It won’t take much to improve upon last season’s disastrous 1-11 record (lone win over Sacramento St.), but the schedule is a bit tougher this year.

 

Idaho fans are excited with Paul Petrino coming to the Kibbie Dome.  Vandal fans should be treated to several exciting ball games in year one, but their team is going to be on the losing end of almost every contest.  Still, it should be fun to play in one of the most interesting stadiums in America.

 

New Independents: Idaho and New Mexico St.

Departed Teams: None

 

2014 Additions: None

 

2014 Departures: Idaho and New Mexico St. will join the Sunbelt.  Navy is scheduled to join the American Athletic Conference in 2015.  Notre Dame’s working agreement with the Atlantic Coast Conference begins in 2014, but the Fighting Irish will remain football independents.

 

Pre-season PiRate Ratings

Independents Team   Overall PiRate Mean Bias Notre Dame   0-0 121.6 115.0 120.5 B Y U   0-0 108.2 107.8 108.9 Navy   0-0 91.7 94.5 91.4 Army   0-0 85.7 91.8 86.4 New Mexico St.   0-0 75.4 86.4 75.3 Idaho   0-0 71.3 80.6 69.9             Independent Avg’s.     92.3 96.0 92.1
There are no official media polls or preseason all-Independent teams.  Instead, here is a consensus ranking of the five independents according to the current conglomerate of Mathematics Professor Ken Massey’s College Football Ranking Composite (of which the PiRate Ratings are a contributor).  You can find his site at: http://masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm   Massey College Football Ranking Composite (as of Sunday, August 18, 2013)   Pos Team Ranking 1 Notre Dame 6 2 B Y U 33 3 Navy 76 4 Army 111 5 Idaho 122 6 New Mexico St. 123   Here is a list of key players for each of the six independents values in parentheses represent 2012 statistics:   Army Raymond Maples—RB (1,215 rush yds/5.4 avg) Larry Dixon—RB (839 rush yds/6.0 avg/6TD) Ryan Powis, Stephen Shumaker, and Michael Kime—OL Robert Kough—DL (9.5 TFL) Alex Meier—LB (71 tackles) Geoffrey Bacon—DB (136 tackles)   B Y U Taysom Hill—QB (59.2%/6.0 ypa/4TD-2Int) [was 3rd string QB in 2012] Jamaal Williams—RB (775 rush/4.7 avg/12 TD & 27 receptions/11.1 avg) Cody Hoffman—WR (100-1,248/11 TD) Kaneakua Friel—TE (30-308/5 TD & good blocker) Manaaki Vaitai, Solomone Kafu, and Ryker Mathews—OL Bronson Kaufusi—DL (4.5 sacks) Kyle Van Noy—LB (13 sacks/22 TFL/8 QB hurries/7 Passes Defended)[1st rd. potential] Daniel Sorensen—DB (3 Int./8 Passes Defended)   Idaho Najee Lovett—WR (50-543/6 TD) Jahrie Level—WR (46-538) Mike Marboe—OL Maxx Forde—DL (4 sacks/4 QB hurries/4 Passes Defended) Solomon Dixon—DB (3 Int./6 Passes Defended)   Navy Keenan Reynolds—QB (749 rush/5.1 avg [sacks removed]/56.5% comp/8.3 ypa) Noah Copeland—FB (738 rush/4.6 avg/5 TD) Shawn Lynch—WR (14-281 20.1 ypc) Tanner Fleming, Jake Zuzek, Graham Vickers—OL Barry Dabney & Evan Palelei—DL Cody Peterson—LB (67 tackles) Parrish Gaines—DB (69 tackles/4 Passed Defended) Pablo Beltran—P (43.6 avg/37.8 net/41% inside 20 yard line)   New Mexico St. Germi Morrison—RB (767 rush/4.8 avg) Austin Franklin—WR (74-1,245/9 TD) Andy Cunningham & Davonte Wallace—OL Matt Ramondo—DL (transfer from Michigan St.) Trashaun Nixon—LB (96 tackles/3 sacks/9.5 TFL/5 QB hurries/5 Passed Defended) Davis Cazares—DB (116 tackles) George Callender—DB (86 tackles) Cayle Chapman-Brown—P (44.3 avg/37.3 net)   Notre Dame George Atkinson—RB (7.1 yards per rush as backup) T. J. Jones—WR (50-649/4 TD) DaVaris Daniels—WR (31-490) Chris Watt, Christian Lombard, & Zack Martin—OL (All NFL prospects) Louis Nix—DL (50 tackles/7.5 TFL/5 Passes Defended) Stephon Tuitt—DL (47 tackles/12 sacks/9 QB hurries) Prince Shembo—LB (7.5 sacks/10.5 TFL/12 QB hurries) Dan Fox—LB (63 tackles) Danny Spond—LB (39 tackles) Bennett Jackson—DB (65 tackles/4 Int./8 Passed Defended) KeiVarae Russell—DB (58 tackles) Matthias Farley—DB (49 tackles)

PiRate Ratings Summary

 

About Grades

93-100    A+

86-92      A

79-85      A-

72-78      B+

65-71      B

58-64      B-

51-57      C+

44-50      C

37-43      C-

30-36      D

0-29        F

 

About Predictions

Predictions are based on the PiRate Ratings with home field advantage factored in.  The PiRate Ratings use different home field advantages for every game, since the opponent factors into the equation.

 

Team	Army Black Knights
Head Coach	Rich Ellerson
Colors	Black and Gold
City	West Point, NY
2012 Record
Conference
Overall	2-10
Grades
Run Offense	90
Pass Offense	22
Run Defense	40
Pass Defense	58
Ratings
PiRate	85.7
Mean	91.8
Bias	86.4
Rankings
PiRate	105
Mean	97
Bias	102
Prediction
Conference
Overall	3-9

 

 

Team	B Y U Cougars
Head Coach	Bronco Mendenhall
Colors	Dark Blue and White
City	Provo, UT
2012 Record
Conference
Overall	8-5
Grades
Run Offense	61
Pass Offense	79
Run Defense	74
Pass Defense	76
Ratings
PiRate	108.2
Mean	107.8
Bias	108.9
Rankings
PiRate	39
Mean	36
Bias	39
Prediction
Conference
Overall	9-3

 

 

Team	Idaho Vandals
Head Coach	Paul Petrino
Colors	Black, Silver, and Gold
City	Moscow, ID
2012 Record
Conference	1-5 (in WAC)
Overall	1-11
Grades
Run Offense	30
Pass Offense	54
Run Defense	42
Pass Defense	19
Ratings
PiRate	71.3
Mean	80.6
Bias	69.9
Rankings
PiRate	123
Mean	123
Bias	124
Prediction
Conference
Overall	0-12

 

 

Team	Navy Midshipmen
Head Coach	Ken Niumatalolo
Colors	Navy, Gold, and White
City	Annapolis, MD
2012 Record
Conference
Overall	8-5
Grades
Run Offense	77
Pass Offense	45
Run Defense	49
Pass Defense	59
Ratings
PiRate	91.7
Mean	94.5
Bias	91.4
Rankings
PiRate	89
Mean	84
Bias	89
Prediction
Conference
Overall	5-7

 

 

Team	New Mexico St. Aggies
Head Coach	Doug Martin
Colors	Crimson and White
City	Las Cruces, NM
2012 Record
Conference	0-6 (in WAC)
Overall	1-11
Grades
Run Offense	22
Pass Offense	60
Run Defense	32
Pass Defense	41
Ratings
PiRate	75.4
Mean	86.4
Bias	75.3
Rankings
PiRate	121
Mean	111
Bias	121
Prediction
Conference
Overall	2-10

 

 

Team	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Head Coach	Brian Kelly
Colors	Navy and Gold
City	South Bend, IN
2012 Record
Conference
Overall	12-1
Grades
Run Offense
Pass Offense
Run Defense
Pass Defense
Ratings
PiRate	121.6
Mean	115.0
Bias	120.5
Rankings
PiRate	8
Mean	11
Bias	10
Prediction
Conference
Overall	11-1

 

 

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Teams Transitioning From FCS to FBS

 

Four teams are in the process of becoming FBS schools.  Old Dominion is in its transition season before becoming a member of Conference USA.  Appalachian St. and Georgia Southern are in transition to the Sunbelt Conference.  Charlotte will entertain its first season of football this year, and the 49ers will play two seasons as a FCS Independent before joining Conference USA in 2015.

 

We do not have detailed information on these four schools, but we have rated them.  We used as much of our PiRate formulas as we can for these schools.  However, for Charlotte, since the 49ers have never played a game, we are interpolating data from other first-year programs to arrive at a very basic opening rating.

 

We will follow these four teams all season, so as to better judge them when they move to FBS.

 

Transitioning Teams
Team		Overall	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Georgia Southern		0-0	85.0	86.1	92.1
Old Dominion		0-0	81.5	82.6	88.6
Appalachian St.		0-0	81.4	82.5	88.5
Charlotte		0-0	55.0	56.1	62.1
Not figured in regular averages to 100

 

This submission concludes the previews of the non-automatic qualifying conferences.  Beginning tomorrow, we preview the six big conferences, starting with the new American Athletic Conference (former Big East).  Many argue that this league does not deserve an automatic bid to the FBS bowls, and it figures that the league champion will be the last team selected, but at least this lasts for just one more season.

 

Here is the schedule for the remaining previews:

 

Date	Conference
Tuesday, August 20	American Athletic Conference
Wednesday, August 21	Atlantic Coast Conference
Thursday, August 22	Big Ten Conference
Friday, August 23	Big 12 Conference
Saturday, August 24	Pac-12 Conference
Sunday, August 25	Southeastern Conference
Monday, August 26	AFC West
Tuesday, August 27	AFC South
Tuesday, August 27	Week 1 College Football Report
Wednesday, August 28	AFC North
Thursday, August 29	AFC East
Friday, August 30	NFC East
Saturday, August 31	NFC North
Sunday, September 1	NFC South
Monday, September 2	NFC West
Tuesday, September 3	NFL Week 1 Report
Wednesday, September 4	Week 2 College Football Report

 

And, remember:  The PiRate Ratings are part of Ken Massey’s College Football Ranking Composite at: http://masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm

 

&

 

Todd Beck’s College and Pro Football Prediction Tracker at:

http://www.thepredictiontracker.com/