Almost Varsity Sports’ Preseason Top 25

The United States of College Football 25 San Jose St 24 Oregon St 23 Northwestern 22 Oklahoma 21 Northern Illinois 20 Wisconsin 19 Oklahoma St 18 Nebraska  17 Texas 16 Michigan 15 TCU      The Horned Frogs are one of my favorite teams of the 2013-2014 season.  Casey Paschall is one of my favorite collegiate players.  He is extremely underrated and was raved about in Almost Varsity’s college football preview last year.  After some off-field issues, Paschall was dismissed from the team and could not finish out the season.  He is back this year and will turn some heads across the country.  TCU is a sleeper national title team to be on the lookout for. 14 Florida St      Jameis Winston is a player to watch, not just in the ACC, but in the nation.  The Noles will have another good defense, but the offense will only run as far as Winston takes them.  Playing in a weak conference should allow the Seminoles to make an ACC, and maybe a national, title run this fall. 13 Boise St      Boise State has become a top 25 team annually.  The team plays in a weak conference and still manages to get respect from the big BCS boys.  Each year they have to travel to play a non-conference game because the big named teams are too scared to play on the smurf turf.  The offense is not anything special, but the defense will once again, be a top 15-20 defense. 12 Louisville      Heisman hopeful, Teddy Bridgewater leads a very good, but not great, Louisville team.  If the Cardinals played in a better conference I don’t think this team would have the chance to compete for a national title.  With the incredibly weak schedule, if Louisville does not go undefeated, this will be a very disappointing season. 11 LSU      Every year the Bayou Bengals are loaded with talent and have the ability to compete with any team in the nation.  However, Les Miles is going to be in for a difficult year.  Losing almost half of team’s starters to the draft and having a less than stellar QB under center, Les Miles and the coaching staff, will have their work cutout for them. 10 Notre Dame      Losing the starting QB in the offseason dropped the Irish down in my rankings.  Tommy Rees is not the QB Everett Golson would have been.  The Irish had a very overrated defense last year that was boosted up by some padded numbers.  ND has a tougher schedule this year than last year as I think USC and Michigan will be better.  9 Florida      A great defense and a good running game may not be enough to overcome a very difficult schedule.  Jeff Driskel is a playmaker and I think this Gators team will go as far as he can lead them.  With no proven RBs back, it all comes down to Driskel.   8 Stanford      Stanford is one of the more overrated teams in the nation.  A sophomore quarterback leads the way in a simple and methodical offense.  Stanford grinds out games and plays good defense.  If the defense can stay near the top ten this team will have a chance to make some waves this season.  Stanford opens the season against the team that I absolutely love, the San Jose State Spartans, and I’m not ruling out a Spartan upset.

7 Clemson
     Equipped with arguably the most explosive offense in the country, the Clemson Tigers are looking to turn heads this year.  Heisman hopefuls, Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins lead the Chad Morris uptempo offense and with another year under Brent Venables, the defense will continue to make strides.

6 South Carolina
     South Carolina is a team that I go back and forth on.  The offense isn’t flashy, but the defense is great and they have one of the best players in college football in Jadeveon Clowney.  The OOC schedule is tough with Clemson and North Carolina on tap, but they avoid Alabama, LSU, and A&M in the crossover games.