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It depends on how you like your glass … half full, half empty, or in need of more whiskey either way … but it’s better to be on this list than not, you could opine. This season starts with a prohibitive favorite (Ohio State). After that, it’s pretty much a fart in a windstorm’s guess as to who is a favorite to make the playoff.
College football is a faux crapshoot. It looks like you have no idea what’s going to happen going into any given year, but for the most part the usual suspects emerge in the end. For the most part, that’s how college sports are. Some of the stories and surprises on the way there are epic, but Coastal Carolina never actually wins the NCAA tournament, and in football, neither do the Washington States or Kentuckys.
The following five are the Free Beer Group for 2015. What that basically means is, when someone gives you free beer, it sounds like the best thing ever.
“What’s your favorite kind of beer?”
“Free, of course.”
That’s the top of that particular mountain. Often though, there’s a reason it’s free, and it’s not to be blessed by your company on the porch. Sometimes it’s skunky. Sometimes it was never good to begin with and it’s just being unloaded. At other times, it’s everything you expect it to be … good, cold, beer for free. It’s feast or famine, and pretty much leaves you either really happy or somewhat miserable.
The following five teams could win the title, and you wouldn’t be surprised. They could also see the season veer off the rails and get skunky quick. You’ll never know until you crack one open …
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5. Clemson
I know, I know, Chad Morris is gone. To be frank, however, you probably shouldn’t be overly worried about it. Clemson’s issue is that arguably the best individual talent in college football is rehabbing a torn ACL and the drop-off after him is steep. Deshaun Watson can absolutely take this team to a title, especially since he has Mike Williams and Artavis Scott to chuck it to. As a freshman, Watson threw 14 touchdowns versus 2 picks. Clemson’s defense was one of the best in the country but has a lot to replace on that side. The offense can certainly win games, but the Tigers need Watson healthy for the long haul or those championship dreams could dry up pretty darn fast. I think he stays healthy and wins the Heisman, people who don’t trust Clemson be damned. Obviously the free beer turns out ice cold with them.
4. Oregon
Oregon wins the “Mysterious Really Good Looking Chick at the Bar” award, because you have utterly no idea what to make of her, seeing as she’s good looking and alone at the bar. The Ducks get some automatic love for how consistent they’ve been over the years, but we have no earthly idea if they can remotely keep up the Marcus Mariota-led pace. Plus, you replace the entire left side of the offensive line and the center. On defense, you replace three defensive back starters. Is it going to be this much-hyped Vernon Adams transfer at quarterback, or has Jeff Lockie put enough distance betwixt he and Adams… and what’s his ceiling? There are more questions than in recent seasons for Oregon, and a murderous Pac-12 doesn’t help. This thing could go a lot of ways. Hence the list.
3. Auburn
Without question, there was no more hyped coordinator hire in the offseason than Will Muschamp. Auburn seems to have caught a lot of eyes in spite of needing to replace its quarterback, top wide receiver, and top running back, plus transitioning to a new defense after being one of the worst in the SEC in 2014. As of August 1 on Bovada, quarterback Jeremy Johnson was tied for fourth with the best odds to win the Heisman Trophy. That’s a pretty staggering expectation for a guy with under 450 total passing yards last season. It seems Auburn’s off-season has made a lot of folks big time believers, but it’s a lot to ask a team to revamp a bad defense in one year and make it title worthy, especially with so many skill position guys to replace as it breaks itself in.
2. Florida State
If it’s possible to mostly forget a team that has won a championship and competed in the playoff for another the past two years, the Seminoles are doing one hell of a job to be the first. It also speaks to some of what no one would ever admit in the media, and that’s a deep respect for how good Jameis Winston really was in Tallahassee. Everett Golson is no slouch, though. FSU’s big issue seems to be how it replaces four starters on the offensive line. The defense is talented, especially at the linebacker position, where five of their top seven on the depth chart from 2014 return. FSU has skill-position guys out the Wazzu, so really it comes down to “can the line block for those guys?” Considering how little press they’re getting, they have few major questions other than that. The problem is, if you can’t block, you have no shot.
1. Southern California
USC is loaded, without question more than the Trojans have been since Pete Carroll was lighting up the sidelines. Cody Kessler is one of the surest things in the country at quarterback. The offensive line returns intact. The defense returns seven, including both starting corners. Ten of the team’s top 11 linebackers return. I mean USC is deep, talented, and not thin or completely unproven at any position. So what’s the rub? For one, USC is loaded every year, though NCAA sanctions certainly helped thin out the depth chart and bring the program back to more of a normal level with the competition. The schedule is rough, having to go to Arizona State, Notre Dame, and Oregon. And even though I don’t know how many folks will admit it, how far Steve Sarkisian’s ceiling as a coach rises I sense is still up for debate. I suppose that’s why they play the games, and whatnot. USC has a fairly high floor as well, but this is a team that looks built for a title. Eight or nine wins would play as a disappointment, one would think.
