Back to poll results >>

ssnider23 Ballot for 2016 Preseason

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Aug. 22, 2016, 7:43 p.m.

Overall Rationale: For my preseason poll, I will be going mainly off the percentage of returning offense and defense by production, while recruiting rankings will play a minor role as well. Recruiting rankings are found on 247sports.My polls in the future will tend to favor teams with a stronger defense than offense since I believe that having a strong and consistent defense is better than having a strong and consistent offense. I will detail my exact approach around week 3 or 4 when there are more solid statistics for this year, and I will move toward a hybrid poll instead of just human.

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide They won the Championship, had a good offseason getting the #1 recruiting class, and continue to bring up talent just like Alabama always does.
2 Clemson Tigers Clemson returned about 90% of their offense, which proved to be an excellent system led by Watson. I think they will stay in the Top 5 for most, if not the whole season. It all comes down to the FSU game for me.
3 LSU Tigers I'm riding high on LSU. They had the 3rd best recruiting class with damn near everyone coming back for both sides of the ball. If Fournette returns to pre-Alabama form, this team will make a serious run at the CFP.
4 Oklahoma Sooners While Oklahoma had a poor recruiting class for this season, they returned about 70% of both their offense and defense, and Baker Mayfield is my "dark horse" to win the Heisman.
5 Florida State Seminoles This one was tough for me. I originally had Florida State above the Sooners, but losing Jalen Ramsay is a big hit. The defense for FSU will have to step up and win big time games (Clemson) if they want to move up my poll, or Dalvin Cook will have to explode for big time games. I'd like to see either one, to be honest.
6 Stanford Cardinal While Stanford did lose about 70% of their offense, they still have McCaffrey. He's pretty good. They kept most of their defense as well, and are poised to become the Pac-12 champions if they stay on track for the season.
7 Ohio State Buckeyes I'm a firm believer in JT Garrett leading the OSU offense. While OSU did lose most of their offense and defense, I feel that the Buckeyes will prove a lot of doubters wrong because the remainder of the roster is still very talented.
8 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee returned about 80% of their roster that won 9 games and lost by 5 to Alabama, lost in OT to Oklahoma, and 2 other conference opponents in close games.  It's fair to say that I'm on the hype train, and they also had a fair recruitment class.
9 Michigan Wolverines With the 5th best recruiting class, they kept most of their team and are in year 2 of the Harbaugh Era. I think they'll keep going up, but they need to prove it this year to keep moving up.
10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish It was really hard for me to put them at number 10, especially after dismissing the senior safety due to his arrest. While the Irish lost two of my favorite players (Day and Fuller), they returned most of their offense and both QBs. Their defense will be a huge question mark, so it will be up to the underclassmen to step up.
11 Ole Miss Rebels While winning 10 games last year, getting three 5 star recruits, and returning 75% of their offense. This team has the most potential on paper, they just need to prove it. Watch for them to move up my poll this season.
12 Houston Cougars Tom Herman returns most of the Houston Offense that lost 1 game last year, and will have more high-profile opponents on their schedule this year. Look for Houston to shock some more casual fans early this season if they can pull off some big wins. 
13 Michigan State Spartans Sparty only returned about a quarter of the offense, so it makes sense why they are last out of last year's CFP teams. They had a fair recruiting class, but it doesn't compare to their rivals' Michigan and Ohio State's. While they could prove me wrong, I think they will hover between 10 and 20 on my list and the AP for most of the year.
14 UCLA Bruins UCLA had a good recruiting class for this upcoming season, recruiting a 5 star OLB who was #11 overall in the country. They returned about 90% of their defense and much of their offense. They are a clear #2 in the Pac12 for me, even though they had only won 8 games last year.
15 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia returned about 75% of their offense and defense, and added 3 5-star recruits.They won 10 games last year, and will likely increase that total this year. A stacked SEC could derail those hopes, though.
16 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa returned about 75% of both their offense and defense. They won 12 games last year, yet failed to get even one 4 star recruit. They will regress this year, but they could still manage to make a run for the B1G Title. 
17 TCU Horned Frogs TCU lost about 70% of their offensive production and kept much of their defense. They had a poor recruiting class at #22, and lost Josh Doctson. While the Big XII is weaker this year with Baylor likely falling out of the picture, TCU could certainly still make a run for the CFP.
18 Louisville Cardinals Louisville returned essentially their whole starting roster, and can certainly build on their win total from last year. They have a very extreme schedule with big games against Clemson, FSU, and Houston, but many weaker games against lower ACC opponents. They will have their chance to move up in my poll.
19 USC Trojans
20 North Carolina Tar Heels North Carolina plays Georgia, Florida State, and Miami this year in bigger games. Aside from that, they have no major competition this year and had a poor recruiting class. However, they did return almost 80% of their defense. They will have to fill about half of their offense though, which could end up losing them games against those bigger opponents that score at their own will.
21 Washington Huskies This is the hype train I refuse to get on. While they did return most of their production from last year, they only won 2 decent games (USC & Wazzu) and lost some games they should not have lost (Boise St & ASU). They were #29 in recruiting rankings, and can hopefully not become a victim of #Pac12AfterDark this year.
22 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State returned about 80% and 70% of their offense and defense, respectively. They save the best opponents for last as is custom with the Big XII, and have potential to build on their 10 wins from last year. The last game of the year vs. Oklahoma could prove to be the game deciding the Big XII
23 Oregon Ducks While they did not return much of their offense, they returned 80% of their defense and were fairly unlucky last year. Their recruiting rankings were poor, however they could make a run built on their defense (which is just weird to think about).
24 Miami Hurricanes Miami returned a high amount of production on both sides of the ball and are definitely in the mix to make the ACC interesting. 
25 Florida Gators Florida returned about 60% on both sides of the ball but had a decent recruiting class. They get the nod at 25 this week, and can move up if they go on a tear this year.

Back to poll results >>