2009 Independents Preview

Army: Army fired head coach Stan Brock at the end of last season and brought in Rich Ellerson, the head coach at Cal Poly. Ellerson ran the triple option offense at Cal Poly and could turn out to be a great hire. Cal Poly beat San Diego State last season and lost to Wisconsin by a single point. By the way, they missed three extra points in that game. The improvement in wins at Army may not come immediately, but I feel certain they are coming.

Navy: I was wrong last year when I thought the coaching change at Navy would do just enough to keep them out of the postseason. They ended up going 8-4 with four wins over bowl teams along the way. This season they play 13 games because of a late trip to Hawaii, so they will have to win at least seven to get to their seventh straight bowl. I'm not picking against them this time.

Notre Dame: Notre Dame has been one of the most talked about teams in the preseason. They have the schedule, talent and experience to win a ton of games. Getting to a BCS bowl is not out of the question. I still have so many doubts about this team though, and most of them stem from the fact that they lost to Syracuse at home last year. There's a lot speculation as to how many games Charlie Weis will have to win to save his job. It's possible that he won't be kept with an 8-4 record.

Conference Player of the Year: Golden Tate (WR Notre Dame) on offense, Kyle McCarthy (SS Notre Dame) on defense.

Projected Standings:

Notre Dame | 9-3







Navy | 7-6







Army | 3-9