Okay here ya go: Note: I didn't proofread this so no snarky comments on spelling and grammar please.
#11 Notre Dame
Kelly has loads of talent excellent coaches and TWO very good QBs. Yes I said two, young Phil Jurkovec will eventually make a name for himself playing the game of football. The OL will be a good one. Maybe not a great one but certainly good enough for Chip Long’s offense. The D will have talent but it will be IMO vulnerable early.
#10 Florida
Mullen is one of the better Head coaches out there IMO. He’s got enough talent and experience in the right places to make a run at the SEC East. It won’t be easy because frankly he doesn’t have nearly the talent on paper that Kirby Smart and Georgia does. But one thing I’ve noticed about Mullen is that his kids love him and play their hearts out for him.
#9 Oregon
Hedging my bets here(You’ll see why) as the Ducks are my pick to take the highly competitive PAC 12 North division. Washington, Wash St, Stanford and the Ducks could ultimately win it. But I’ll fly with the Ducks and hope I don’t become all wet if they’re splashed down. Good exceptional Head coach, rock solid QB, and a better than some people might think defense.
#8 Michigan
The schedule looks fairly good first and foremost. They get a week off before Wisconsin and PSU away will be tough too, don’t take Army lightly. The offensive line IMO is one of the best in the nation. QB will be good as Patterson should be solid. The Don Brown defense was a typical Brown defense. Except for the last two games. But they lost a shit-ton of tacklers. So the re-load is going to be critical. I’m not worried too much about the DL, I think that will be solid after a couple of tune up games. Brown has more than enough talent to make this defense a Top 5 squad again this year. He needs to work on the red zone though. That part of the Wolverine game was not a pretty look last year
#7 UTAH
Okay time to take a flyer. Most of the ‘smart’ money is on Oregon in the PAC 12. But if you look at the schedule it is the Utes that just might sneak into the Football Four at the end of the year. Would they even sniff the playoffs if they played in the SEC? NOPE. They’ve got a ton of returning starters and a pretty darned good defense. Playing in the weaker of the two PAC 12 divisions helps too. They get USC at home and they don’t have to play Stanford or Oregon at all, at least until they probably meet one of those two in the PAC conference championship game. So, all things considered they would be my sleeper team with a chance to slide into the Football Four. They’d have to go undefeated of course as that is probably the only way a PAC 12 team is getting in there. But it could happen.
#6 LSU
There’s always the odd chance that the Tigers beat Bama. If that happens who knows how far they’ll get. The Bayou Bengals return most of their offense and look to build on last year’s good season. The OL looks especially nasty. On defense make no mistake about it the Bengals will eff up your shit.
#5 Oklahoma:
Somebody who’s been in the playoffs a lot lately and has lots of offense. Will Hurts fit this offense? Time will tell. They’ll most likely lose one to somebody 52-51. But if it isn’t Texas they have a good shot to return. Can’t play defense worth a lick so they aren’t worth talkin about too much.
#4 Georgia:
One of the teams I figure is a bit better than the Buckeyes. And with some luck might end up being the number one team in the nation when all the dust settles. The Dogs take a huge hit in skill players on the offense. Why will they still be so good? That nasty OL and a good game manager QB. Andrew Thomas might be the best OT in the nation. The rest of them are big and bad. Enter D’Andre Swift, the next great Georgia RB. Barring injury Heisman talk about him will start almost as fast as he is. The WR’S will be raw but they’ll get some early season games to tighten that up. On defense there are some guys worth mentioning. One is DE Jermaine Johnson who could turn out to be a star sliding in from the JUCO ranks. Everything will flow around DT Jordan Davis though. Nolan Smith might get some playing time but he is a star of the future. But that future could come as early as the second half of the season. The LB corps is a bit undetermined. One guy I like is Nakobe Dean. The secondary will have to replace Baker, a tough act to follow. Tyson Campbell needs to get his shit together and play a whole lot better than he did last year. If he does the secondary is solid.
#3 Ohio State:
Now do I think there are a couple of other, even three teams, better than the Buckeyes? Well, yes I do. Nevertheless, in the game of playing conferences you have to put the Buckeyes here being the perennial favorite to win the Big Ten. Because really it is the Power Three and those other two conferences isn’t it. The consensus school of thought is the Buckeyed are going to be as pass happy as last year. Well I’m not so sure of that. Fields is IMO the real deal and if Mike Yurcich plays his cards right he could have a Baker Mayfield type player in the fold. Georgia’s offense wasn’t really set up to utilize Fields talent but Yurcich’s offense could thrive with him. Lots of good WR’s and Dobbins will shine often. The OL will be a project but the talent is there. Looking to see if Mumford will progress to stardom like I think he will. Myers is a sharp kid from what I can garner and that would go a long way towards the Buckeye offensive line being a success. On defense, well, They have a chance IMO to not just be good but scary good on the DL. I won’t name a bundle of names. Well maybe one Davon Hamilton. He’s not the flashy end types everyone else will beam in on. But he’s my kinda player if you know what I mean. The LB corps weren’t particularly flashy last year. But they at least return experience and sometimes that really pays dividends. Arnette and Okuda are as solid as it gets and Fuller is a tackling machine. So overall the Buckeyes are IMO on paper the best team in the Big Ten. But it’s a tough conference and the Buckeyes will probably get upset at least once. Twice probably knocks them out of the Football Four.
#2: Clemson
The missing resident Clemson fan won't be happy with this pick. But since he hasn't been here since his Tigers kicked Alabama's ass and is apparently on an eight month bender...
They now reload at Clemson just as the Tide has done for the last 15 years. They’ve got arguably the best QB in the nation behind center, at least I think he is. They’ve got an RB that had stats last year that should be getting lots of ink but isn’t for some reason.(Maybe it's that QB hogging all the ink) They also have a good OL and a bevy of very good WRs. On defense they re-load too. But, and this is why I have them at #2, they virtually lose their entire DL and a great back-up to boot. Christian Wilkins, Clelin Ferrell, Dexter Lawrence, Austin Bryant, and big-time backup/fill-in tackle Albert Huggins? Man that is a shitload of experience and talent, even for a deep team like the Tigers. If the Clemson DL is going to be had I figure it might be early. I say this because there won’t be the usual Clemson LB Corps to bail them out. Kendall Joseph and Tre Lamar are g o n e GONE. And that will also contribute to early season woes IMO. The new guys will be good but it might take a while for the front 7 to get their act together. This could put loads of pressure on what should be an excellent secondary. CB Trayvon Mullen is no longer there but I expect AJ Terrell to be a star. The safeties are agile and big-time bangers.
#1: Alabama
Some might put this as 1A and 1B but where is the guts in that? So it comes down to who I think wins it all. The Tide will be hard put to make it to the Football Four once again as Georgia waits for them before they can get to the end of the rainbow and that pot of gold. But if I have to make a pick…
The Crimson meanies have plenty of losses from last year but also plenty of players to reload with as usual. They will vie with a couple of other teams for the best receiving corps in the game. Personally I think they have the best. They will have a better QB than last year as experience always helps. Their OL, again IMO, will be a Top 10 OL. Their OTs will be bookend and Emil Ekiyor while raw and mostly untested should be a powerful inside presence. Womack is another big Tide body. The Tide should sport one of the larger overall offensive lines in the country. On defense, they lose a lot as usual. They have loads of replacements. I could go into detail and everyone here knows that I’d like nothing more. But ten paragraphs on Alabama’s defense isn’t necessary or probably wanted by anyone in here.
Honorable Mentions,
Texas: My only issue with the Longhorns is that they took a massive hit to the defense. They could be in the Football four, heck they could lose four games. I just don’t know.
PSU: Lots of talent but also lots of question marks, especially at QB. Good RBs will help and the Lions have those. But the OL has some question marks too. The defense IMO has the potential to surprise a lot of people and open some eyes.
Michigan St, Wisconsin, Washington, Washington St the aforementioned Stanford and several others.
Super Sleeper:
Florida St.:
Yep I said it. But the Seminoles still have a ton of residual Jumbo Fisher talent and could be a sleeping dragon or inevitably a paper tiger. Time will tell if I am right. But it might not take long to be proven wrong as they open up against Giant Killer Boise State in less than two weeks.
Poll
