With the college football season finally getting underway, it’s time for me to post my preaseason top 25 teams. This is just my initial gut feelings on each team based on how good I think they’ll be and just as importantly on what their schedule looks like. Some of them don’t match up at all with the other preseason polls, but this is where I think they’re going to finish the season.
- Southern Cal
- Texas
- Ohio State
- Louisville
- Virginia Tech
- Tennesee
- Florida
- Oklahoma
- Michigan
- Miami
- Iowa
- Georgia
- Boise State
- Arizona State
- Texas Tech
- Lousiana State
- Florida State
- Purdue
- Boston College
- Missouri
- Penn State
- Bowling Green
- Colorado
- Auburn
- Texas A&M
I think we have a pretty clear number one and two, USC and Texas are nearly a consensus at the top. With Ohio State in week two and playing in the Big XII South, Texas will definitely have to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl. I have a feeling that one of the teams that makes it there may have one loss, I don’t think we see three undefeated teams like last year.
It was a tough call between Michigan and Ohio State at number 3, whoever win their head to head matchup in November will finish the year near the top of the polls. Louisville at number 4 may actually go undefeated in a BCS conference, and I still think they’d finish behind a one-loss Ohio State. That should be a fun discussion for the end of the year. There’s just nobody on their schedule they should lose to.
My first SEC team doesn’t show up till Tennessee checks in at number six. I just think that the conference is so strong with them, Florida, Georgia, LSU, and on down that none of them come out unscathed. Tennessee is pretty darn good though if they can find a quarterback to lead them, and Florida‘s transition to Urban Meyer should be one of the more interesting stories to follow this season.
Oklahoma is going through a ton of changes and lost a lot, but they return Adrian Peterson and that alone will make them the favorites in pretty much all of their games. Paul Thompson will begin the season as the starter with Rhett Bomar waiting in the wings, the quarterback position is definitely unsettled. How quickly they find a solution there will determine how successful their season is. I see them losing to Texas and being upset by Tech in Lubbock, but winning the rest of their games with relative ease.
#13 may seem too high for a school like Boise State, but they were pretty darn good last year and they’ll be a good team again this year. They’ve got a tough opening game against SEC power Georgia that will determine whether they can be this year’s Utah or if they’ll just be considered a really good one loss team who plays a weak schedule.
Texas Tech is a good team with a joke of a schedule. They’ll lost to Texas and probably drop a game or two they shouldn’t, but I think it’s possible they can finish the season with only two losses. Both OU and Texas A&M have to head to Lubbock, and I think the Red Raiders win both of those games. Tech has played very well against the Aggies the last ten years and A&M hasn’t won a game in Lubbock since 1993.
I think LSU and Florida State both have pretty average years. I think LSU losing a great coach like Nick Saban and replacing him with the very average, and a little wacko, Les Miles is being overlooked. They’ve got a pretty decent team, but I just don’t have much respect for Miles. FSU meanwhile seems to be getting a lot of hype again this season, but I’m not sure what it’s based on. They should have an excellent defense as usual, but they’ll also be breaking in two very young (and very talented) QB’s. I think next year is the year we can start mentioning the Seminoles among the nation’s elite teams again.
Auburn lost everybody, everybody. They also lost college football’s top assistant coach in defensive coordinator Gene Chizik to the Longhorns, that definitely doesn’t bode well for their season. I think they use this season to rebuild a little and break in young quarterback Brandon Cox.
That brings us to the final team in my top 25 and the most overrated team in America, the Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies weren’t a very good team last year, when they lost to every good team on their schedule and also to the Baylor Bears. The Baylor Bears! They also had to go to overtime to beat Colorado and Texas Tech at home. What about any of that tells you that they’re going to be a contender for the Big XII title this year? Yes Reggie McNeal is very good and Courtney Lewis a pretty good back, but their offensive line is below average. Their wide receivers are a pretty good group, but they took a big hit when they lost L’Tydrick Riley recently to a leg injury. On the defensive side of the ball they’ve got a formidable front four and it goes downhill quickly from there. Their linebackers are decent but slow, and their secondary is one of the worst in the conference. I think they’ll drop their last three games at OU, at Tech, and home versus Texas. I also think they lose two games against Clemson, Colorado, Oklahoma State, or Iowa State. They’re just not as good as people have somehow decided they are.
What are your thoughts?
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