National Preview

For any fan to be able to enjoy a college football season, they need one important thing when it comes to their team: perspective. Sadly, perspective is probably the one thing that most fans seem incapable of.

You see, there are five major conferences in college football, four spots in the new college football playoff, and only one national champion each season. But when you listen to individual fan bases, it seems that there are about 50 schools that expect to win a national title each season.

In reality, I believe there are only 18 teams that we could reasonably expect to play in the college football playoff on January 1^st. Here are the teams broken down by conference:

ACC: FSU, Clemson, Louisville

Big 12: Oklahoma, Baylor

Big 10: Michigan State, Wisconsin

Independent: Notre Dame

Pac 12: Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC

SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina

I had Ohio State on this list, but with the loss of QB Braxton Miller for the entire season, I don’t think there is any way that Ohio State makes it to the playoff.

With Clemson coming to Florida State this season, I think the Noles are the clear favorite to run away with the ACC.

Clemson has a tough opening game on the road against Georgia and the always difficult game with South Carolina looming at the end of the season. 9-3 isn’t a bad rebuilding season for Clemson, but in the end I don’t think they will be in contention for the playoff.

The reason I put Louisville in is because with Bobby Petrino, there is really no telling what might happen. Despite the fact that he might be one of the worst human beings alive, Petrino is a great football coach and he could just find the right touch to keep the Cardinals in the hunt late in the season. FSU comes to Papa John Stadium on a Thursday night in November, so if Louisville can make it that far, they might have a chance to upset the Noles and win the division. Oh yeah, just a side note. The ACC can’t get anything right. They have placed Clemson, Florida State, and Louisville in the same division. It will make for great games each season, but to me it doesn’t make much sense from a balance stand point. One of these teams will get a ticket to a big bowl game after the crush Miami, Virginia Tech, or Tech in the ACC title game.

I honestly don’t think any Big 12 team will be in the playoff, but you can’t ignore completely the game that Oklahoma played against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. They were impressive. You just don’t know how much it will matter for the upcoming season. Baylor has their quarterback returning this season, but they lost their running back and they aren’t a traditional power, so to assume they can follow up last year’s success is taking a lot for granted.

Michigan State might have been the second best team in the country by the end of last season. They won a tough Rose Bowl over Stanford, after knocking Ohio State out of the national title picture in the Big 10 Championship Game. I couldn’t tell you one player on their team, but they play a defensive style of football that will keep them in games and give them a chance to win a lot of games.

There is only one reason Wisconsin is on this list: the schedule. The Badgers have an amazingly easy schedule even by Big 10 standards. They open against a young LSU team that could be ripe for the taking, and they get to play Nebraska at home. They don’t play Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, or Michigan State. At the very worst, Wisconsin should be 10-2 this season and 7-1 in the Big 10, which should be good enough to get to the Big 10 title game. If they can manage to beat LSU, Wisconsin will be a contender at the end of the season.

Notre Dame has their cheating quarterback returning this season after sitting out all of last season, so maybe they can be good again. Who knows and, honestly, who cares. Notre Dame and their NBC television contract continue to hold a special place in college football, despite the fact that they haven’t been a consistent power for the past 20 years.

The two best conferences in America are the Pac 12 and the SEC so they both have more contenders than any other conference.

Oregon and Stanford will battle again this season for the Pac 12 north, and the south will come down to the Battle of Los Angeles. The problem is that they all play each other. USC doesn’t play Oregon, but everyone else does play, which means there is a legitimate chance that none of these four make the new playoff because they beat each other up. Also, there is the issue of losing to the lesser teams in the conference.

Last year, Stanford lost to Utah, USC lost to Washington State and Arizona State, Oregon lost to Arizona, and UCLA lost to Arizona State. With the strength at the top of the league, none of these teams are going to be able to overcome a bad loss like they had last season.

It’s obvious that Alabama, Auburn, and LSU are teams that can make the playoff. All three have amazing talent but each will have to play each other, as well as Ole Miss who is going to win some games this season. Alabama has the easiest schedule as they don’t have to play South Carolina or Georgia from the East. LSU is young, but by the time their big game against Alabama comes around in November, they will be much more experienced.

Auburn had a magical season last year, but I think they are going to come back to earth this season. Their schedule might be the toughest in the country.

Some will question Florida being on this list, but the Gators had a ton of injuries last season and they have a desperate coaching staff that is fighting for their job, so you never know. Georgia and South Carolina are both stacked with talent and have manageable schedules. The SEC is strong enough to get a one loss champion into the playoff, so none of these teams have to be perfect to have a chance to play for the title.

When it is all said and done, I believe the SEC is going to get two teams into the playoff. The SEC champion will obviously get in, but I think a one loss team that doesn’t play in the title game will get in as well. The ACC will have a team in the playoff with Florida State. The final spot will go to either the Pac 12 champion or the Big 10 champion.

We are just four days away from the first big game of the season, and less than a week away from UGA and Clemson!

Make sure to enjoy every minute of the season, because it will be all over in the blink of an eye.

SEC Preview coming tomorrow and Georgia/Clemson preview coming on Wednesday.

Go Dawgs!