Your Preseason Top 25

[greyhammer90]

Exactly what it says.

RULES:
1) Try to be honest. Don't be a homer for ND. Don't put U$C, UM, OSU, or UCLA at the bottom just because you don't like them.
2) Actually predict which teams you think are better. NOT what you think the poll will look like at the end of the year. (This means that schedules shouldn't come into your poll at all. So OSU shouldn't be the automatic number 2 on everyone's list.) Instead pretend that all these teams are playing each other 10 times. Who would win the majority of those games between them? If you think Oregon would beat Florida 6 out of 10 times, they should be placed higher.
3) Optional: Explain your picks so we have more to read while we wait.

Here's mine:

1) Alabama- Two time champions. Solid as a rock.
2) Oregon- Only reason I hesitated putting them here was their loss of Chip. Could really hurt them immediately. Still their QB is a baller.
3) Stanford- Mirror image of ND, but I think this team will have more success on offense.
4) LSU- Alabama Lite. Not as well structured, and they don't have Saban.
5) Texas A&M- Johnny hasn't been suspended yet. He's capable of destroying teams like OU single-handedly
6) Florida- Nasty defense, stagnant offense. Would be behind ND if not for Golson's departure.
7) Notre Dame- One of the best defensive units in the country. Too many questions on special teams and offense to say that they could beat any of the teams above consistently.
8) Florida State- Underrated defense. Incredibly talented. Jimbo is not the guy.
9) UCLA- Mora is doing good things. They have some real talent and are getting better depth every year. (Those f*ckers)
10) Ohio St.- I just don't believe in the B1G. This is the best team they have, but too little talent. I think they get beaten by every top 5 team handily and lose the majority against 6-9.
11) South Carolina- Clowney is a beast. They are talented but struggle to be consistently great. Offense is especially wishy-washy.
12) Georgia- Athletic but Richt just doesn't have "it".
13) Oklahoma- Good team, but their program is stagnant. Stoops probably doesn't have another championship run left in him, but they'll keep him as long as he beats Texas.
14) Clemson- Like South Carolina they are really athletic but really inconsistent. I think their coach would be out of his league going against any of the coaches above.
15) Wisconsin- Polar opposite. Not athletic, but play consistently good football. They'll put out another good OL and beat most teams by leaning forward and moving their feet.
16) TCU- Well coached team that always seem to play to their strengths.
17) Michigan- Getting more talented every year, but they're interior OL is weak and they don't really have "that guy" to be a playmaker on the Defensive side of the ball.
18) Virgina Tech- Can't beat bad teams consistently. Hard to think they'd beat good teams consistently.
19) Oregon State- Talented enough that they could be number 14, but they'd need the other teams to screw up along the way.
20) Lousville- Teddy is great, but the rest of the team's talent just isn't up to snuff. Over a long tournament, I just don't see it.
21) Nebraska- Wisconsin Lite. Martinez is underrated IMO.
22) Michigan State- So many questions. Who will throw the ball? Surely not that sack of flour ND saw last year.
23) Baylor- Inconsistent, but when that offense clicks... hold on.
24) Texas- is Notre Dame 4 years ago. A talented, bad football team that plays down to opponents and expects to lose.
25) USC- So talented. Soooo dysfunctional.

Also getting consideration, but missed the cut: Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Miami, Northwestern, Tennessee, Ole Miss

 

[Irish Houstonian]

My top 10

1. Alabama
Reloaded and the best coached.

2. Ohio St.
Meyer + Braxton = well-oiled machine. Stout on D enough to hang with anyone.

3. Oregon
Returning a Mamba, losing a Kelly. I think their game stays mostly intact.

4. Florida
Talent, continuity in coaching and QB depth.

5. LSU
Mettenburger will have a good year, which is all they need at this point.

6. ND
Defense exceptional, offense questionable.

7. Georgia
LSU-lite. Except Murray has a better deep-ball.

8. Stanford
Same elite team as last year, but too vanilla and too few playmakers to top the mountain.

9. South Carolina
Great D, explosive O, but is in the SEC East, one of the toughest divisions in recent memory.

10. Southern Cal
Just more talented than any alternative. And last year was a bit of an abberation.

Just missed the cut: Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

Just missed missing the first cut: Oklahoma, Florida State, Clemson

Coach needs to see you, bring your playbook: UCLA, Michigan, Lousiville

 

[greyhammer90]

My top 10

1. Alabama
2. Ohio St.
3. Oregon
4. Florida
5. LSU
6. ND
7. Georgia
8. Stanford
9. South Carolina
10. Southern Cal

You think that Ohio State could consistently beat Oregon, Florida, LSU, Stanford, and ND?

Did you not read the rules?

 

[Irish Houstonian]

You think that Ohio State could consistently beat Oregon, Florida, LSU, Stanford, and ND?

Did you not read the rules?

Yes, unfortunately...I mean, maybe 6/10 times, if that's "consistent". Meyer just has exactly what he needs in Braxton Miller. And they're pretty solid all-around.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

You Yankees need know Oklahoma State is the best team in the Big12 this year.

Oklahoma loses Landry Jones and 7 starters on defense. And Texas is like USC, but without as many 5 stars.

 

[L-cart ND-ana]

1. Alabama - for obvious reasons
2. Oregon - The chip affect will wear off but not until next year
3. Georgia - Gurley for Heisman
4. Florida State - Great team, bad coach
5. Florida - Offense is blah but Defense is very very good
6. LSU - Its the SEC.... it is what it is.... lose a lot so we will see.
7. ND - No introduction needed
8. Stanford - They are who they are, tough D, pound the rock and should be able throw more effectively.
9. Clemson - Great team, weaknesses in the coaching staff
10. UM - I think they will be better than people think. Big 10 has fell off. Gardner might surprise people, D is decent enough

Honorable Mention
Texas A&M - Johnny Distraction is in for a sophomore slump, especially if he doesn't play.
OSU - Braxton Miller is good, just not sold on anyone else, I think the D is over rated.
USC - Bad coaching trumps talent
UCLA - %*#$*(&$*&#*%^&*(#$

 

[yankeeND]

Mine looks like:

1. Bama
2. Stanford
3. LSU
4. Georgia
5. aTm
6. Oregon
7. Clemson
8. ND
9. Ohio St.
10. Louisville
11. FSU
12. UCLA
13. Florida
14. Texas
15. Oklahoma St.
16. Boise St.
17. TCU
18. Michigan
19. USC
20. Oklahoma
21. Northwestern
22. Washington
23. Miami
24. Michigan St.
25. Tennessee

Probably way off but I think all of these teams will get inside the top 25 at some point this season.

 

[greyhammer90]

Mine looks like:

1. Bama
2. Stanford
3. LSU
4. Georgia
5. aTm
6. Oregon
7. Clemson
8. ND
9. Ohio St.
10. Louisville
11. FSU
12. UCLA
13. Florida
14. Texas
15. Oklahoma St.
16. Boise St.
17. TCU
18. Michigan
19. USC
20. Oklahoma
21. Northwestern
22. Washington
23. Miami
24. Michigan St.
25. Tennessee

Probably way off but I think all of these teams will get inside the top 25 at some point this season.

That looks plausible to me except for the omission of South Carolina. They've owned Clemson the past few years.

 

[yankeeND]

That looks plausible to me except for the omission of South Carolina. They've owned Clemson the past few years.

Slide em in just in front of Clemson and drop everyone else down one. Thought I had them in there. Good catch!

 

[chubler]

1. Bama- no possible argument to be made during the preseason for anyone else here.

2. Stanford- 4 returning Olinemen, 10 returning defensive starters, Hogan looked good at QB for the 2nd half of last year, lots of talent at the key spots they lost guys.

3. Oregon- ((insert mandatory chip kelly uncertainty reference here)) Mariota is a better QB within his system than Manziel is within his. He’s the first real passing threat ever for the Ducks (gulp). Also, DeAnthony Thomas.

4. Georgia- everyone sans 1 receiver is back on Offense, which will carry a very, very young defense until they get themselves figured out.

5. Florida State- D should be excellent, Oline returns 4 of 5 and RB’s look good. No matter if Jameis Winston lives up to the hype, this team can play with anyone if they can avoid derping against weak competition as usual.

6.Notre Dame- I think the D is even better than last year as far as turnovers/effecting the game, if not points allowed. I predict significant Oline improvement (right half of the line hamstrung our ability to run the ball IMO) and therefore the offense gets better, especially Tommy, who has the kind of season 2011 would have been without all the turnovers.

7. LSU- Defense simply has to get worse after that draft, but offense gets a little better, and that’s enough for a team with as much raw talent as LSU.

8.Texas A&M- Johnny Manziel elevates what would otherwise be a no. 20-25 team with a good Oline and questions just about everywhere else, but an especially questionable defense puts aTm far, far away from national title contention.

9. Clemson- Top 5 potential here, especially if the D plays like they did against LSU. But no benefit of the doubt for Clemson.

10. South Carolina- Lots of questions outside of the QB’s and Clowney, especially without Lattimore. But if there’s two places to have the answers, it’s QB and DL.

11.Michigan- Not exceptional but definitely above average just about everywhere. interior OL could be an issue, especially because im not yet sold on Gardner.

12. Oklahoma- I believe OU is suffering perception-wise from the beatdown they took from the best team aTm’s will ever field. They’re in decline, but it’s a slow decline, and they started so, so high.

13.Florida- Horrendous offense and a Defense that lost several high draft picks. If you can stop the run you can stop the Gators, but the talent level is just so high on this team.
14. Louisville- How far can Teddy Bridgewater carry UL without great talent around him? I honestly believe that Florida would’ve crushed UL had the Gators cared, at all, between December and the 3rd quarter of the Sugar Bowl.

15. Wisconsin- Last year’s Badgers inexplicably ignored their potential until the B1G championship game, so with a new coach 8-6 isn’t happening again. They’ll do their usual Wisconsin thing, meaning somewhere between no. 10 and no. 20, unless Gary Anderson’s spread works some black magic.

16. Ohio State- Definition of a 1-man show, and drastically overrated by, well, everyone. Good Oline, dynamic running QB, questions everywhere else. Replacing the entire Dline and 2 LB’s, Miller can’t have even a slight off day against good rushing teams or OSU is toast (and the jury is still out on if he can throw the football). With that said, the offense and raw talent makes them as good a B1G title threat as anyone. This is like a super athletic Michigan team under RichRod.

17. Texas- 19 returning starters. Texas should always be #1 when they return 19 starters. But with Mack Brown at the helm ive gotta see it to believe it.

Everyone else is basically interchangeable, IMO, but not as good as these teams.

 

[IrishLax]

I am so sick of this Stanford love. Here is their resume from last year:
-2 losses, one to a pretty bad 6 loss Washington team.
-8 of 12 wins by one score. Many of those were miraculous or against really bad teams like San Jose State, Washington State (9 losses), Arizona (5 losses), USC (6 losses), and Wisconsin (6 losses).
-Hogan. Everyone thinks he was a baller. Go check his game logs... I've posted a breakdown on here before, outside of woeful Colorado he played average to bad in every single game.
-Big wins? Miracle over Oregon.... and a 6 loss Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl? Will give them credit for pulling out some very close ones against middling Oregon State and UCLA.

But that's all in the past. Let's look at this year... and compare them to our very own Fighting Irish.

Coaching: ND.

QB: Stanford.
RB: Probably a wash.
WR: ND.
TE: Probably a wash.
OL: Probably a wash.

DL: ND by a mile.
ILB: Stanford.
OLB: ND.
CB: ND.
S: Stanford.

So both teams are pretty even offensively... and Stanford has significantly worse personnel on D, and (subjectively) worse coaching. Why are they the sexy #2 pick while most people have ND in the low teens?

I'll be surprised if Stanford gets more than 9 regular season wins this year... which would put them in the teens... but I sure hope they're undefeated rolling into that last game of the season. They play tough football which works in the PAC12 because everyone is a bunch of pussies. If you put Stanford in the SEC, they'd get destroyed. I think this is the year that teams might have figured out how to "get tough" for a week... they did it last year, but just not quite effectively enough and came out with a bunch of close losses.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

I am so sick of this Stanford love. Here is their resume from last year:
-2 losses, one to a pretty bad 6 loss Washington team.
-8 of 12 wins by one score. Many of those were miraculous or against really bad teams like San Jose State, Washington State (9 losses), Arizona (5 losses), USC (6 losses), and Wisconsin (6 losses).
-Hogan. Everyone thinks he was a baller. Go check his game logs... I've posted a breakdown on here before, outside of woeful Colorado he played average to bad in every single game.
-Big wins? Miracle over Oregon.... and a 6 loss Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl? Will give them credit for pulling out some very close ones against middling Oregon State and UCLA.

But that's all in the past. Let's look at this year... and compare them to our very own Fighting Irish.

Coaching: ND.

QB: Stanford.
RB: Probably a wash.
WR: ND.
TE: Probably a wash.
OL: Probably a wash.

DL: ND by a mile.
ILB: Stanford.
OLB: ND.
CB: ND.
S: ND.

So both teams are pretty even offensively... and Stanford has significantly worse personnel on D, and (subjectively) worse coaching. Why are they the sexy #2 pick while most people have ND in the low teens?

I'll be surprised if Stanford gets more than 9 regular season wins this year... which would put them in the teens... but I sure hope they're undefeated rolling into that last game of the season. They play tough football which works in the PAC12 because everyone is a bunch of pussies. If you put Stanford in the SEC, they'd get destroyed. I think this is the year that teams might have figured out how to "get tough" for a week... they did it last year, but just not quite effectively enough and came out with a bunch of close losses.

How can you say Notre Dame has the better safeties? Ed Reynolds is going to be a first round pick. The other safety is a day two nfl pick. Not to mention Wayne Lyons hanging in the wings.

 

[kmoose]

My top 10
2. Ohio St.
Meyer + Braxton = well-oiled machine. Stout on D enough to hang with anyone.

I don't know about "stout" on D. They weren't bad, last year, but neither were they good.

Ranked in the 30s in total defense and scoring defense. I really don't see them improving all that much, defensively, this year. Maybe into the high 20s, but I don't think they will be close to a Top 15 defense. However, I think it will be good enough, coupled with their offense, to put them at about 2 or 3.

 

[IrishLax]

How can you say Notre Dame has the better safeties? Ed Reynolds is going to be a first round pick. The other safety is a day two nfl pick. Not to mention Wayne Lyons hanging in the wings.

Funny because Ed Reynolds went to Woodberry Forest and everyone thought CJ Prosise > him... by a lot, too. He was barely even recruited and had no offers from the VA schools.

As far as his college play, yeah... he's good. But I think he's really overrated and won't get drafted as high as you're suggesting (I know that is where he projected now though... but at this time last year, Logan Thomas was supposed to be a top 5 pick... not to mention Matt Barkley). Jordan Richards is just a poor man's Elijah Shumate in the long run.

But you're right... they're both good and more proven than ND's guys. So I'll change that one.

Pretty darn sure Lyons is playing CB these days.

 

[NDWorld247]

-Hogan. Everyone thinks he was a baller. Go check his game logs... I've posted a breakdown on here before, outside of woeful Colorado he played average to bad in every single game.

Lax, after our Tommy Rees vs. BYU debate and this comment about Hogan, I've come to the conclusion that your threshold for "good" QB play is probably the highest I've ever seen.

I'd like to avoid another debate about whether these stats are good, average, bad, etc, and just say that if Everett Golson took over the starting job from Rees the first week of November last year and put up these stats, we would all be REALLY excited about his potential for growth. I personally think Hogan is a stud and has just started scratching the surface.

I do agree anyone ranking Stanford at #2 is ranking them too high and there should not be as big of a divide as there is between ND and Stanford, but they are going to be a damn good team this year.

Below is his game log. My apologies for the poor formatting.

11/03/12 @ Colorado Grass W 48-0 23 18 78.3 184 8.0 2 0 174.16
11/10/12 20 Oregon St. Grass W 27-23 29 22 75.9 254 8.8 3 2 169.79
11/17/12 @ 2 Oregon Turf W 17-14 36 25 69.4 211 5.9 1 1 122.28
11/24/12 @ UCLA Grass W 35-17 22 15 68.2 160 7.3 1 0 144.27
11/30/12 UCLA Grass W 27-24 22 16 72.7 155 7.0 1 0 146.91
01/01/13 + Wisconsin Grass W 20-14 19 12 63.2 123 6.5 0 0 117.54

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Funny because Ed Reynolds went to Woodberry Forest and everyone thought CJ Prosise > him... by a lot, too. He was barely even recruited and had no offers from the VA schools.

As far as his college play, yeah... he's good. But I think he's really overrated and won't get drafted as high as you're suggesting (I know that is where he projected now though... but at this time last year, Logan Thomas was supposed to be a top 5 pick... not to mention Matt Barkley). Jordan Richards is just a poor man's Elijah Shumate in the long run.

But you're right... they're both good and more proven than ND's guys. So I'll change that one.

Pretty darn sure Lyons is playing CB these days.

Word. I do think Reynolds is overrated, but the experience and skill out weight what ND has. So I agree with what guy wrote. Btw didn't know that about Lyons.

 

[IrishLax]

Lax, after our Tommy Rees vs. BYU debate and this comment about Hogan, I've come to the conclusion that your threshold for "good" QB play is probably the highest I've ever seen.

I'd like to avoid another debate about whether these stats are good, average, bad, etc, and just say that if Everett Golson took over the starting job from Rees the first week of November last year and put up these stats, we would all be REALLY excited about his potential for growth. I personally think Hogan is a stud and has just started scratching the surface.

I do agree anyone ranking Stanford at #2 is ranking them too high and there should not be as big of a divide as there is between ND and Stanford, but they are going to be a damn good team this year.

Below is his game log. My apologies for the poor formatting.

11/03/12 @ Colorado Grass W 48-0 23 18 78.3 184 8.0 2 0 174.16
11/10/12 20 Oregon St. Grass W 27-23 29 22 75.9 254 8.8 3 2 169.79
11/17/12 @ 2 Oregon Turf W 17-14 36 25 69.4 211 5.9 1 1 122.28
11/24/12 @ UCLA Grass W 35-17 22 15 68.2 160 7.3 1 0 144.27
11/30/12 UCLA Grass W 27-24 22 16 72.7 155 7.0 1 0 146.91
01/01/13 + Wisconsin Grass W 20-14 19 12 63.2 123 6.5 0 0 117.54

You're right, "good" is subjective.

For everyone to make their own determination, because the formatting is hard:
Including Colorado, as a starter averaged: 181 YPG, 1.33 TD, 0.5 INT, 71.5% completion percentage. That completion percentage is great and mightily efficient. What I'm not a fan of is his raw output... not a lot of yards, TDs, or YPA (which shows he wasn't making a lot of deep/difficult throws).

For comparison, a "good" QB to me is someone like a Tajh Boyd... 9.1 YPA, 2.77 TD, 1.0 INT, 299.7 YPG, 67.2%... much more prolific. Hogan was your quintessential game manager and coupled with a great D + his running ability it worked out really well for them. But they realllllly struggled to put up points against even decent teams with Hogan at the helm... so I think he has to shoulder some blame for that.

I do think he's a solid player and better than Rees, which is why I gave Stanford the edge in that category. I just don't think he's so Andrew Luck-esque baller... which is what a lot of people in the media do think.

 

[STLDomer]

Alex Carter looked good last year for them

 

[koonja]

Alex Carter looked good last year for them

This. I thought he was very good.

IDK the other teams well enough to make a top 25, but I expect ND to finish between 5-10. Defense is better, offense is worse, and we won't get the lucky breaks we did last year.

 

[BobD]

#1. Alabama - They're the National Champions, so they're #1 until someone knocks them off the hill.

#2 - 10. Need to fight it out.

#11-25. Need luck and many will experience some bad luck.

I believe our Irish are better than last year, yes even with Tommy.

I don't think Stanford will be ranked higher than 20 when we play them.

Even if we're unbeaten, we won't get higher than 6-8 unless we prove we can dominate some teams this year.

 

[irishfan]

Just going purely by who I think would win in a neutral site game:

1) Bama

2) Oregon
3) Notre Dame
4) Georgia
5) Stanford
6) Texas A&M
7) Florida
8) LSU
9) Ohio State
10) South Carolina
11) Florida State
12) Oklahoma
13) Clemson
14) OK State
15) Michigan State
16) Texas
17) Michigan
18) Boise State
19) Baylor
20) USC
21) Nebraska
22) Virginia Tech
23) Northwestern
24) Louisville
25) Miami

 

[irishfan]

And to add to the Stanford chat: I've been calling for them to fall off for a while. I thought they'd be an 8-4 team last year. I'm done doubting them; they're for real. They would have been playing Bama if they had beaten us last year. They play D on a different level than anyone else in the PAC-12, and their offense is physical and now is pretty 49ers-esque with Hogan. I'd be shocked if they're worse than 9-3, and I think that would be considered a very, very disappointing year for them.

 

[returnofthemack]

Just going purely by who I think would win in a neutral site game:

1) Bama

2) Oregon
3) Notre Dame
4) Georgia
5) Stanford
6) Texas A&M
7) Florida
8) LSU
9) Ohio State
10) South Carolina
11) Florida State
12) Oklahoma
13) Clemson
14) OK State
15) Michigan State
16) Texas
17) Michigan
18) Boise State
19) Baylor
20) USC
21) Nebraska
22) Virginia Tech
23) Northwestern
24) Louisville
25) Miami

Kool-Aid Thread? Maybe if we had Golson, this wouldn't be so ridiculously optimistic. Georgia would beat us handily. Texas A&M would beat us. LSU would beat us. I can understand putting ND in the top 10, but #3? Come on.

 

[Black Irish]

I've been thinking that Stanford is coming in way too high in the polls. I don't have the CFB breadth of knowledge that others here do, so I'll defer to the arguments posted already in this thread that fill out that line of thought.

My take is that because Stanford surprised a lot of people last year, beat Oregon, and won their bowl game the pollsters are overcorrecting their outlook for the Tree this season. I'm not saying they won't be good, and Notre Dame's match up with them is on my top 3 bleeding ulcer games, but I don't see Stanford being top 5, or top 3, good.

 

[irishfan]

Kool-Aid Thread? Maybe if we had Golson, this wouldn't be so ridiculously optimistic. Georgia would beat us handily. Texas A&M would beat us. LSU would beat us. I can understand putting ND in the top 10, but #3? Come on.

Had them lower at first, but I think Stanford would beat LSU and A&M and is close with Georgia, and I think ND is better than Stanford.

I don't think A&M or LSU will be better than 10-2 this year, and Georgia didn't have a great D last year and they lost a lot of starters from it. GA gave up 44 to Tennessee, 35 to South Carolina, 32 to Bama, 31 to Nebraska. They gave up just under 20 a game which is pretty good, but they played a very easy schedule last year. I think ND could take them.

 

[RDU Irish]

I have Iowa State at #19. Have you seen their weight room? I mean, c'mon!

 

[greyhammer90]

Georgia didn't have a great D last year and they lost a lot of starters from it. GA gave up 44 to Tennessee, 35 to South Carolina, 32 to Bama, 31 to Nebraska. They gave up just under 20 a game which is pretty good, but they played a very easy schedule last year. I think ND could take them.

I agree with all of this. I think GA is way overrated because they won a really weak SEC East and competed in the SEC Championship. I'd even go so far as to say that the majority of their good-press this year is because they came close to beating Alabama last year.

 

[irishfan]

I agree with all of this. I think GA is way overrated because they won a really weak SEC East and competed in the SEC Championship. I'd even go so far as to say that the majority of their good-press this year is because they came close to beating Alabama last year.

Yep. I felt dumb rating them so high, but I don't know who I would trust below them to actually beat them. There seems to be more parity than usual this year minus Bama. You could make an argument for any team 2-12 to beat each other I think. Really, Georgia's only impressive win the whole year was against Florida.

 

[irishog77]

Yep. I felt dumb rating them so high, but I don't know who I would trust below them to actually beat them. There seems to be more parity than usual this year minus Bama. You could make an argument for any team 2-12 to beat each other I think. Really, Georgia's only impressive win the whole year was against Florida.

True. And, at the same time, it wasn't even "impressive." That was one of the grossest games I've seen. Georgia getting the W was more about the rules of the game and 1 team having to be victorious. Neither team deserved a dubya.

 

[ulukinatme]

Here's mine:

1) Alabama- It's been said
2) Stanford- Good defense, offense will be better, haven't missed Harbaugh yet
3) Florida- Great defense, offense could be better. I think Coach Boom will do good things with them in the coming years
4) LSU- I think they'll be better offensively, but they weren't great here to begin with
5) Texas A&M- Drop them 10-20 spots if Johnny doesn't play, but I imagine he will somehow
6) Georgia- Richt isn't a great coach, but they still came within a few seconds of beating 'Bama
7) Notre Dame- Defense, defense, defense. Offense will be better. Our offense has struggled against better defenses, otherwise I'd go higher.
8) Oregon- Their offense is always smokin', but that defense has yet to develop. Who knows what will happen without Chip Kelly there. They may end up lower this year.
9) Ohio St.- Urban is bringing in some good classes, and the offense is pretty good at this stage. That defense isn't as good as advertised imo, giving up way too many points to teams like Indiana. They lost some key pieces in their front seven as well, although that secondary should be pretty good.
10) Florida State- Talent should be there, just unsure if Jimbo can develop it to potential
11) Oklahoma State- This is supposed to be their year, right? They beat Purdue by 44 points in their bowl to end the season. They can certainly score in bunches.
12) South Carolina- They need more than Clowney this year I think. Last year they struggled when Lattimore was injured. They should probaby be higher, but South Carolina is what it is.
13) Oklahoma- Stoops is only good for one or two losses in the regular season most years, I don't see anything different here. He could end up with 2-3 if Bell doesn't pan out.
14) Michigan- Gardner will be better than Shoelace by the end of the year, and I think their defense will keep them in games like ours did last year.
15) UCLA- Mora won't be able to beat Stanford, and probably not Oregon, but he should do well against the rest of the PAC
16) Texas- I don't think Mack is a great coach, and they're calling for his head, but a lot of people say Texas is supposed to be improved this year. 2-3 losses here.
17) Clemson- I don't know about Clemson Offensively they should be good.
18) Wisconsin- Big question mark with the changing of a era and the departure of Bielema. They should be physical as always.
19) Lousville- I'd put them higher, but I expect shootouts with other teams until the defense improves.
20) TCU- Nothing really to say here.
21) Michigan State- I expect this offense to be better. Maxwell may not be the guy, but he at least has some experience now. #21 may be too high if they don't get a passing game.
22) USC- Kiffin will either improve under the pressure or crack. I expect the later, but it would be nice to see him get by with just 3 losses and somehow retain his job. They still have talent, despite some lost depth.
23) Miami- Al Golden will field a better team this year I think. They were pretty young last year.
24) Oregon State- In conference play I think they'll be #4 behind Stanford, Oregon, and UCLA. They're supposed to be on the rise I guess.
25) Northwestern- I have a hard time putting Northwestern higher given their history, last year could have been a fluke. Plus they're in the B1G, so it's hard to gauge their production given it was a down year for the conference. Still, they had only 3 losses with 1 being by a point to Neb, and overtime against Michigan last year.

The rest:
Baylor- I don't think they have what it takes to be Top 25 since RGIII left
Tennessee- They should improve over time under Butch, but right now they're a doormat in a tough spot
Kansas State- Big question mark imo. They probably could beat a number of teams in the 15-25 range if Klein was still there, no idea how they'll do this year.
Ole Miss- Probably the same as Kansas State, they could beat some of the teams in the 15-25 ranking, but I've got some questions.
Boise State- I don't think they belong in the Top 25, but they consistently beat teams ranked there. Still, I don't think they can beat anyone in my 25 despite them being ranked preseason.
Nebraska- Until they can field a defense, I'm not putting them in the Top 25 even with T-Magic. Wisconsin made them look silly, that left a lasting impression
Arizona State- Graham will do good things here I think in the coming years, but they're not there yet. They could get us this year given his track record.
Virginia Tech- I could have put them in the Top 25, but last year was not a good year for Beamer. He may turn it around, but until I see something he's out of the 25.