WHAT
TO LOOK FOR NEXT SEASON
February
5, 2014 - UPDATE
The
deadline for college players to declare
for the NFL Draft has come and gone. Does
it affect these Early Bird Preview rankings?
Of course. Some of the biggest losers (of
players) were Louisiana State (7
players), Southern California
(5 players) and Alabama
(5 players). Luckily for these three schools
they know how to recruit. While they all
took a slight drop in ranking it wasn't
by much. Then there were some teams that
took huge hits at only one or two position.
But when it's at a spot like quarterback,
these losses can be devastating. Louisville,
Texas A&M and UCF
all lost big time quarterbacks, which directly
caused them to drop in this preseason poll.
Based
on the Average Rankings Poll included in
this update (takes into account other early
preseason polls by averaging them out)
Florida State is a unanimous team
to start 2014 at the No. 1 spot right where
they left off. Auburn and
Alabama are easily 2nd
and 3rd. If any one team made a huge jump
it was Oklahoma after their
impressive Sugar Bowl victory over heavy
favorite Alabama. Not only did they win,
Trevor Knight looked like the next big thing
in Norman locking down a musical quarterback
situation. UCLA is sure
to be a Top 10 team since no one declared
early for the NFL Draft. That includes top
rated quarterback Brent Hundley. Their crushing
win over Virginia Tech in the Sun Bowl was
another shot in the proverbial preseason
arm.
Voters
continue to dismiss UCF
as a one-year American Conference product.
Now that Blake Bortles will no longer be
behind center their 2014 prognostication
took a nose drop. But not here. Maybe a
little but not by much since Coach O'Leary
brings back 10 defensive starters. They
will be the favorite to win the conference.
Texas A&M will get
better defensively. They will have to since
Johnny Football and his top pass catcher
Mike Evans moved on. Duke
has slid into this version of the NationalChamps.net
Top 25 update after a great losing effort
versus Texas A&M in the Chick-fil-A
Bowl. Coach Cutcliffe isn't going anywhere
and his Blue Devils are worthy of this ranking
just as they were deserving of a Top 25
ranking to end last season.
December 19, 2013
For
those out there hoping some new teams step
up in the 2014 National Championship race
to unseat the top dogs, don't hold your
breath. Florida State,
Alabama and Auburn
are clearly heads above everybody heading
into next season. Granted it's expected
that several non-senior players from these
three schools will likely be leaving early
to play on Sundays next fall. Regardless,
perusing the depth charts and understanding
what recruiting has done at these football
factories clearly separates these monsters
of the gridiron from the rest of the pack.
The
Florida State schedule
gets a major upgrade with Oklahoma State,
Notre Dame and Florida being offered as
non-conference opponents. In ACC competition
Louisville, Clemson and Miami dot the list.
For Alabama and Auburn...it's
really tough to separate these two in a
ranking debate. NationalChamps.net gave
a slight edge to Bama only because the Iron
Bowl will be in Tuscaloosa next year. What
the state of Alabama is accomplishing on
the collegiate football field right now
is nothing short of amazing. All three of
these schools possess "The Most Wanted"
head coaches by other programs and recruiting
is on a roll. No question Florida State,
Alabama and Auburn are the teams to beat
next year.
The
Stanford and Oregon
debate isn't ending anytime soon either.
Stanford will continue to make a living
off of the theory that offensive linemen
win football games while the Ducks are flirting
with one of the most prolific offenses in
school history...and that's saying something.
Oregon's wealth at the offensive skill positions
is alarming.
One
of the biggest jumps this year is LSU
into this Top 10 discussion even with the
departure of their finally found passing
quarterback Zach Mettenberger. The Bayou
Bengals are rich with southern talent from
top to bottom. They would have been in this
spot last preseason if the NFL hadn't taken
11 of their underclassmen.
Move
over Miami, Florida, South Florida. Here
comes UCF, the latest Sunshine
State school to start pulling in some of
that hefty state of Florida high school
talent. Just last year about this time everyone
had inked Louisville as the Top 10 surprise
from the newly realigned/renamed American
Athletic Conference. Not so fast...UCF rose
up to win the conference. With NFL-worthy
senior quarterback Blake Bortles UCF has
all the makings of an undefeated BCS run
next season, which would only mean they
have to do better than the 11-1 record head
coach George O'Leary posted in 2013.
Texas
A&M will have a better defense.
Will they still have Johnny Manziel behind
center? If they do, watch out for the Aggies.
UCLA is another team right on the cusp of
doing something really special with Brett
Hundley at quarterback.
A
few teams like Missouri
and Oklahoma State, regulars
in this past season's Top 10 rankings, sure
did lose a great deal of players. Head coaches
Gary Pinkel and Mike Gundy, at each school
respectively, know what it takes to win,
they just have difficult work cut out for
them replacing bodies. Pac 12 South Champion
Arizona State falls into
the same boat with only three defensive
starters coming back. Promising quarterback
Taylor Kelly will be asked to hold the rope.
When
looking for a surprise this year keep an
eye on Minnesota. After
an 8-4 regular season where running the
ball was clearly the prime directive, this
group has a sturdy offensive line coming
back along with a ton of rushing weapons.
The passing game seems to have improved
a little in the later stages of 2013. If
that part of the formula continues to develop
Minnesota can make some noise. While not
usually a big surprise, the Florida
Gators are far better than a 4-7 record,
being unranked and out of a bowl game. Injuries
decimated this team. Don't count them out
for next year if they stay healthy. This
talent cupboard is far from empty. Finally,
Ole Miss is back in the
NationalChamps.net Dark Horse No. 25 seat
again (like last year). Maybe our prediction
was a little premature as 2014 looks like
the year Ole Miss might finally start to
see coach Hugh Freeze's recruiting dividends
start to pay off in the win department.
Ready
for the playoffs? Here it comes finally
after 145 years of college football where
voters purely decided a two-team title championship
game. Don't expect the messy debates to
end anytime soon. In fact, the debate will
only intensify until the powers-that-be
determine that four teams isn't enough. |
