I know that it is very early to start prognosticating about this, but the season is officially over and the time is good as any to start thinking about next season. If everyone comes back for Alabama, I would think they have to be the favorite to start the season at #1, but what about the other schools that are still in contention for the national championship?

 

Here's my preliminary top 10 for next season:

 

1. Alabama

2. Ohio State

3. Oregon

4. Virginia Tech

5. Boise State

6. Georgia Tech

7. LSU

8. Miami

9. Florida State

10. Florida

Not much research into the recruiting classes yet on my part, but here is a rough top 10.

 

1. Alabama (Almost all player on offense back, defense will be the big question)

2. Ohio St. (Based on what they bring back from this year I tihnk they have to be ranked high to start off the year. I don't think they can run the table in the big ten though).

3. Va. Tech (If Tyrod Taylor can improve as a passer this team could make a run at the national title)

4. Oregon (With Masoli [sp?] coming back, they could be dangerous. They have to improve on defense in order to make a run at it though.)

5. LSU (Look for Jordan Jefferson to be much improved as a decision maker. The defense will be strong again as well. )

6. Boise St. (Return 21 of 22 starters. Play Va Tech and Oregon St next year which should show us if they are for real. Playing more than one big game in the regular season will show us a lot as to how good this team really is compared to the rest of the country).

7. USC (Barkley will have some experience under his belt. Don't look for a PEte Caroll coached team to have two bad years in a row).

8. Texas (Getting experience in the national title game will pay huge dividends for the young QB that will be replacing McCoy. Look for Texas to be in th Big 12 Championship again).

9. Nebraska (The black shirt defense is back! Even though they lose the boy named Suh, this team will be improved on offense and will have a similar defense back next year that played so well in the second half of the season.)

10a. Florida St. (Time to see what Jimbo Fisher can do as a head coach. I think he will benefit from a great recruiting class that he supposedly has coming in. If Ponder can stay healthy this team will be in the mix for the ACC title.)

10b. Florida (hard to leave them out of the top 10 after being there for so long. Meyer has brought in some great talent in the last two years that has been waiting on this senior class to graduate. Look for the offense to be similar to that whicih Meyer had in place with Chris Leak and Alex Smith. No more superman will be a huge factor that will require Florida to use a more conventional running attack out of the spread. Look for the gators to be under center 20-25% of the time next year in order to replace the down hill running game that Tebow provided them with for four years. This team may still win the SEC East although a UGA team that had a lot of Freshmen and Sophomores starting this year will give them a run for their money.)

^FSU above Georgia Tech, Miami, and UNC in the ACC? Dudes went 7-6 and are weak defensively. Good recruiting classes also don't put anyone in the top 10 in year 1 by themselves. They have some guys who will play right away though. Far from preseason top 10 IMO. Probably top 20-25.

I know that it is very early to start prognosticating about this, but the season is officially over and the time is good as any to start thinking about next season. If everyone comes back for Alabama, I would think they have to be the favorite to start the season at #1, but what about the other schools that are still in contention for the national championship?

 

Here's my preliminary top 10 for next season:

 

1. Alabama

2. Ohio State

3. Oregon

4. Virginia Tech

5. Boise State

6. Georgia Tech

7. LSU

8. Miami

9. Florida State

10. Florida

 

4 ACC teams in the top 10....:lol:

^My thoughts exactly.

 

1. Alabama

2. Boise St

The ACC will be much better. VT is a legit title contender. If GT keeps their big guys they are probably a top 10-15 team. Miami needs work on the line, but they have the talent to be top 10 or better IMO. FSU I'm not sold on. I think Ponder is very good, but I still think they are a few years away. I'll rank mine after work.

^My thoughts exactly.

 

1. Alabama

2. Boise St

 

:thumb: I am looking forward to following Boise St. next season.

1. Bama--Best RB duo in the country, steady QB, best defensive coach in the game IMO.

2. Virginia Tech--Ahead of OSU because they have a better RB duo. Taylor, Williams and Evans are going to be sick.

3. OSU--Pryor is my early choice for the Heisman. Tress has learned how to use him.

4. Boise--Only lose 2 starters. Should be a legit title threat.

5. Oregon--Need to fix the defense, but that's a nasty offense.

 

Everything else is a crapshoot IMO.

-LSU has talent, but can they eliminate stupid mistakes? Even MNC year had two losses.

-Georgia Tech can be a very good team, depends on who leaves early though IMO.

-Texas they will reload, but I don't see them making another title run.

-Oklahoma should be much improved, but probably not title worthy.

-Nebraska if the offense improves they could win the Big 12.

-Florida may have some bumps in the road but they will still be a good team IMO.

-TCU will continue to be good, though they won't have a shot to win the MNC. Boise loss really set them back IMO.

-Miami has as much talent as just about anyone. Can the line block? Defense stay healthy and mature? Can Jacory drastically reduce his picks? If those 3 things improve the Canes will be a tough out.

-FSU just isn't ready IMO for the top 10. They will be much improved, I see about 9 wins or so.

-USC will be much better, but they will be very young. Look out two years from now.

-Stanford has maybe the best QB in the country. They will continue to win.

 

I think Auburn, Michigan, Arkansas, and UNC all surprise people next year.

^FSU above Georgia Tech, Miami, and UNC in the ACC? Dudes went 7-6 and are weak defensively. Good recruiting classes also don't put anyone in the top 10 in year 1 by themselves. They have some guys who will play right away though. Far from preseason top 10 IMO. Probably top 20-25.

 

Just my opinion but I can see your argument with GT. However, Miami was the biggest dissapointment of the year and Jacory Harris got worse each week of the season. From the outside looking in I don't think that he can handle success as a QB (i.e. his drop off throughout the season.) The kid seems to be more of a thug than a leader too (Calling out Tim Tebow on his personal life, really?!?). For Miami to come back around they need someone that is a level headed leader that they can depend on when the going gets tough.

 

UNC didn't impress me at all throughout this year. I know they were better, but still far from great. Many of the games they won did not impress me and I don't see any amazing young athletes that appear ready to make an impact.

 

Florida St started more sophomores than any other team in the ACC. They will have a years worth of starting experience under their belt that will pay off drastically in the season. Remember, the preseason rankings are based on potential and for most teams, not what your record was last year (So recruiting classes have a lot to do with it.)

Just my opinion but I can see your argument with GT. However, Miami was the biggest dissapointment of the year and Jacory Harris got worse each week of the season. From the outside looking in I don't think that he can handle success as a QB (i.e. his drop off throughout the season.) The kid seems to be more of a thug than a leader too (Calling out Tim Tebow on his personal life, really?!?). For Miami to come back around they need someone that is a level headed leader that they can depend on when the going gets tough.

 

UNC didn't impress me at all throughout this year. I know they were better, but still far from great. Many of the games they won did not impress me and I don't see any amazing young athletes that appear ready to make an impact.

 

Florida St started more sophomores than any other team in the ACC. They will have a years worth of starting experience under their belt that will pay off drastically in the season. Remember, the preseason rankings are based on potential and for most teams, not what your record was last year (So recruiting classes have a lot to do with it.)

 

Miami disappointed? How many had them in their preseason top 10 or even 25?

-True sophomore QB in his first year as a starter.

-Every WR was a Fr or So. other than JR. Leonard Hankerson.

-Bad offensive line this year.

-Average RB's, except for Berry who played sparingly in the bowl.

-Extremely young defense. 2 of the 3 main Safeties were freshmen. Best CB was a sophomore, 2nd best was a SR in his first year as a CB.

-LB/DL core was decimated by injuries. Spence was ACC R.O.Y last year, but was hurt most of the season. Forston was injured all year after the first game and redshirted. Ojomo, a starting DE was injured in the preseason and did not play at all.

-Futch looked like the teams best LB though he's young, but he tore his ACL. Buchanan was lost on defense while he was out there. Brown still hasn't panned out at LB.

-The best TE on the team was a first year player, a former Cane BBall player Jimmy Graham.

 

But, yeah they really disappointed. :idunno: FSU may have started more sophomores, but there was not a team in the country as young as Miami.

 

Upper classmen that contributed at all IMO: Hankerson, LT Fox, Epps and Graham at TE, Phillips at SS, Bailey and Moncur on the DL, James and Cooper @ RB, and McCarthy at LB. It's possible 4 of those guys come back. The other older guys who weren't mentioned played split some minutes and didn't really accomplish much of anything like Sharpton at MLB.

 

9-4 with a chance to win the ACC Coastal was a good season this season for Miami. They weren't a title contender and it showed.

Also, recruiting classes can have a huge effect but only if you have alot of experience with it. A great class can help a team win the title (like 06 with UF) or it leads to growing pains ('08 Miami or '09 LSU). FSU most likely falls to the latter IMO. How many of their recruits are stars on day 1? Joyner has looked bad in spots at All-Star practices, most accounts on Luc stated that he was physically imposing but struggling last week at the Under Armour workouts. Elam could probably play alot on day one but there's alot of chatter about him switching back to UF Saturday. They have some good players, but I don't know if they can make enough of an instant impact to get them into the top 10. BTW, are you an FSU fan?

 

UNC has a very good defense if players return to school. I wouldn't discount them.

Not much research into the recruiting classes yet on my part, but here is a rough top 10.

 

1. Alabama (Almost all player on offense back, defense will be the big question)

2. Ohio St. (Based on what they bring back from this year I tihnk they have to be ranked high to start off the year. I don't think they can run the table in the big ten though).

3. Va. Tech (If Tyrod Taylor can improve as a passer this team could make a run at the national title)

4. Oregon (With Masoli [sp?] coming back, they could be dangerous. They have to improve on defense in order to make a run at it though.)

5. LSU (Look for Jordan Jefferson to be much improved as a decision maker. The defense will be strong again as well. )

6. Boise St. (Return 21 of 22 starters. Play Va Tech and Oregon St next year which should show us if they are for real. Playing more than one big game in the regular season will show us a lot as to how good this team really is compared to the rest of the country).

7. USC (Barkley will have some experience under his belt. Don't look for a PEte Caroll coached team to have two bad years in a row).8. Texas (Getting experience in the national title game will pay huge dividends for the young QB that will be replacing McCoy. Look for Texas to be in th Big 12 Championship again).

9. Nebraska (The black shirt defense is back! Even though they lose the boy named Suh, this team will be improved on offense and will have a similar defense back next year that played so well in the second half of the season.)

10a. Florida St. (Time to see what Jimbo Fisher can do as a head coach. I think he will benefit from a great recruiting class that he supposedly has coming in. If Ponder can stay healthy this team will be in the mix for the ACC title.)

10b. Florida (hard to leave them out of the top 10 after being there for so long. Meyer has brought in some great talent in the last two years that has been waiting on this senior class to graduate. Look for the offense to be similar to that whicih Meyer had in place with Chris Leak and Alex Smith. No more superman will be a huge factor that will require Florida to use a more conventional running attack out of the spread. Look for the gators to be under center 20-25% of the time next year in order to replace the down hill running game that Tebow provided them with for four years. This team may still win the SEC East although a UGA team that had a lot of Freshmen and Sophomores starting this year will give them a run for their money.)

 

Don't look for Carrol to be coaching them next year....and probation coming. Exodus coming in So Cal with all of that and an uncapped year in the NFL.

4 ACC teams in the top 10....:lol:

 

It's always great to see you add your two cents into the discussion. Thanks for giving me your input. How about instead of laughing at something I say, you give us your own list, or better yet, let us know what is so funny.

1. Alabama

2. Oregon

3. Boise St.

4. Ohio St.

5. Nebraska

6. Wisconsin

7. Texas

8. Iowa

9. Miami

10. Iowa

I think Auburn, Michigan, Arkansas, and UNC all surprise people next year.

 

Anyone that doesn't have Arkansas in the top 15 isn't paying attention, IMO.