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Extra_Excrement Ballot for 2018 Preseason

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Aug. 18, 2018, 5:26 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Hey everyone! I know preseason rankings can be controversial and look nothing like the final rankings. It can be a challenge trying to rank teams and find justifications for those rankings before anyone has even played a game. I mostly went off of expectations and returning experience. There are bound to be some surprising teams this year (like maybe Boston College) and there are bound to be teams I have ranked right now that end up unranked and that's just the way things go. When the actual mandatory polls begin, I can actually start ranking teams based off of performance. It's all just speculation at this point. Except for Alabama. They'll be torturing r/cfb for years to come. Also, one more note: I apologize for any "Â"s that pop up in my ranking reasons. I've noticed that whenever I start a new paragraph it sometimes produces those. I tried removing all of them but I may have missed some so I'm sorry if that's the case. I look forward to another exciting year of college football and spending time with the r/cfb community! You all are seriously my favorite internet community. Go Dawgs!

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Saban is easily the greatest coach in the game at the moment. Alabama is coming off a championship season where they were able to seamlessly work freshmen into the biggest possible stage. Until proven otherwise, it's always a safe bet to rank them #1.
2 Clemson Tigers Dabo is another great coach and Venables is doing an incredible job for the Tigers. With a stellar defensive line returning top players and some exciting competition for QB, I wouldn't be surprised if Clemson v. Bama Act IV happens this season.
3 Wisconsin Badgers I'm buying into the Wisconsin hype. Sure, the B1G West will likely be more competitive than last season but that shouldn't stop Wisconsin from yet again reaching the B1GCG. The Badgers will easily have one of the best offensive lines in the country, giving Hornibrook plenty of time to make reads while also opening up monstrous holes for Taylor. Defense has some reloading to do but shouldn't be a concern.
4 Washington Huskies Last I checked, Washington returns 17 players this season. Browning and Gaskin returning are huge and Petersen is among my favorite coaches. The Dawgs of the west-coast have a lot of hype to live up to. I imagine they'll be the clear Pac-12 favorites to make the playoffs. Their game against Auburn will be a huge indication of how well their season goes. If they win, great! They'll be able to handle almost anyone. If they lose, it's not the end of the world obviously but they'd have to win out, likely in convincing fashion, if they want to make the playoffs.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes Urban Meyer is, in my opinion, the second best head coach in the country behind Saban. With the investigation going on, I wouldn't blame other pollsters for ranking OSU lower. My prediction is that Urban keeps his job and that the assistant coaches are doing a swell job keeping the players in line so that this "distraction" doesn't interfere with practice. We'll likely know what happens by the time this poll is released,This ranking is all about the talent OSU has. OSU, UGA, and Alabama have been three of the best recruiting teams as of recent. Haskins might struggle a bit through the years but I think Ohio State's offense will be better than last season's. In fact, I think Ohio State will be a much better team than last year's squad. The problem is that nearly all the other B1G East teams will be improved too. If OSU can get through TCU, MSU, PSU, Michigan, and the Spoilermakers then they could be our new #1.
6 Georgia Bulldogs Georgia's offense will be much stronger than last year's squad. Georgia could have another one of the best offensive lines in the country and Fromm will have many targets suiting up (Nauta, Godwin, Ridley, and newcomer Robertson). Chubb+Michel will be missed but Swift will be more than serviceable and Herrien+Holyfield will get touches until Zeus and company are fully transitioned. The defense will have to reload many crucial spots but the talent Kirby and Mel have for said reload doesn't leave me too worried. The offense might have to carry the team for the beginning of the season but by November the Dawg defense should be clicking. They may not end up as a top 10 defense this year but I still see them ending up as a top 20 unit. Whelp. As an update I just saw that Zeus injured his other leg. This is definitely a bummer and I wish the kid a speedy and complete recovery. It's really unfortunate but the offense will likely be more pass heavy than recent years anyways so there's no reason for Zamir's recovery to be rushed.
7 Oklahoma Sooners Everyone is so focused on Baker Mayfield leaving that they forgot about guys like Rodney Anderson returning. If you didn't watch the Rose Bowl last season (how dare you) then you missed Anderson consistently thrashing Georgia's defense. The jury is still out on Murray and since it's an even year the BIG12 could miss the playoffs entirely (fantastic analysis on my part, I know) but the Sooner offense should be electric as usual. Stoops doesn't exactly instill confidence in a lot of the OU faithful but the defense has to get better or at least stay the same, right?
8 Michigan State Spartans They return everyone. I think it's actually 19 total returners this season? I was tempted to place MSU above OSU simply because of returning experience and Dantonio is a fine coach himself. I'm kind of feeling a flashback to the 2015 season when OSU was hyped up to be THE Big Ten team to beat and although everyone understood MSU would be good there was still a level of disrespek. MSU gets OSU at home this year and if Dantonio does his rain dance I expect a low scoring affair where MSU would be favored.
9 Miami Hurricanes Richt seems to be rejuvenated at his alma mater and has a solid number of returning players to work with. I'm hearing that he still isn't great at building offense lines though. No matter, as their defense should be stout. The big question is will coastal chaos knock off the Hurricanes? Maybe, but it's not worth predicting when/where chaos strikes and in the ACC Coastal it's like trying to pinpoint what food just gave you Montezuma's revenge. Sure, the signs of chaos are there but your gut is all over the place and it's best to just buckle down for the bowel-twisting ride you're about to set out on.
10 Auburn Tigers Auburn is an odd team as I can never truly predict where the Gus Bus will take them. Like I said before, the Washington game will be a huge sign of how these teams' seasons will go. It could very well be a playoff implication game and for our sake (as well as the players' safety) I hope it's better than the Chick-fil-a kickoff game from last year. Kerryon Johnson will be missed since the guy was simply a beast. Stidham will probably play incredibly well. Games @ Tuscaloosa and Athens late-season will be tough especially since both teams are looking for regular-season revenge. Overall, Auburn returns as much as Georgia but Auburn's defense has the slight advantage of returning more.
11 Michigan Wolverines Another Big 10 team that returns most of their experienced players. Shea looked pretty good at Ole Miss but I haven't quite bought into his hype as much as everyone else. Thankfully (for Michigan fans), you could literally stick a mop bucket in at QB and it'd do better than O'Korn. I think Michigan will be vastly improved compared to last year but their schedule is brutal. @ND, Wisconsin, @MSU, PSU, and @OSU? They could go 2-3 in those games and still finish a top 10 team.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame's defense will be solid. I also expect Wimbush to play consistently better than last season. Similarly to Michigan, ND has a rough schedule. Michigan, Stanford, @VT, @USC, and their easier games are still against teams like FSU, Navy, and Northwestern.
13 Penn State Nittany Lions Losing Barkley hurts but the PSU offense should still click fine with McSorley . The glaring issues are that Moorhead is gone and that the defense looks like they're returning only 3 men (last I checked). The good news is that PSU has a nice slate of Happy Valley games this season. @Wiscy and @Michigan will still be tough but it's at least manageable. Jeez, just filling out this preseason poll makes me realize how much of a bloodbath the Big Ten is this year.
14 Boise State Broncos My nomination for the best G5 team and they're usually a pretty safe bet. 10 returning starters on defense with a solid transfer from Idaho. If they can beat OkSt (*spoiler* they probably will) then their G5 bowl game bid depends on getting through Fresno which will be no easy task.
15 Stanford Cardinal Another team with another departed OC. Luckily for Stanford, they still retain the current face of their program and David Shaw has proven himself as a coach that can make Stanford seasons consistently good (he only has two seasons with more than 3 losses). However, outside of the UC Davis and Oregon State games they don't exactly have any "gimme" games on their schedule. I predict that they'll start slow and drop ~3 games before rounding out the season and finishing strong.
16 West Virginia Mountaineers Originally my pick for #1 BIG12 team, WVU likely has the most hyped up offense of the 2018 season. Will Grier is certainly really good but relying strictly on offense will not get them too far. WVU's defense wasn't very good in 2017 and I see that they're only returning maybe 5 players from that unit. If WVU wants a BIG12CG appearance they'll need a better defense.
17 Mississippi State Bulldogs Usually I will not give a solid rank to a team with a HC change (FSU, TA&MU, etc.) yet Mississippi State returns so many starters, many of which were instrumental to their previous season, I can't ignore them. I can't say that MSU was better off with Mullen than Moorhead (b/c Moorhead just doesn't have the sample size yet) but even if Moorhead is insanely good it generally takes at least a season or two for a new HC to become adjusted. The expectations might be too high on Miss St this season but y'know what? I'm contributing to the hype problem too.
18 Virginia Tech Hokies Josh Jackson's been named the starting QB which is good news for the Fighting Gobblers considering the offseason rumors. VT lost some of their defensive players over the course of the offseason and have to replace others due to the draft but Bud Foster has proven himself among the DC elite in CFB. VT's offense will likely be improved although they need some WRs to step up big with Cam Philips gone.
19 TCU Horned Frogs TCU only returns about half of their starters. Luckily for them, the other top BIG12 teams seem to be missing out on a lot too. The early OSU game will likely be a lose for the Horned Frogs but Gary Patterson is a great coach and will have TCU in a decent bowl game come bowl season. Going against Ben Bangou in practice will definitely help improve a more inexperienced offense.
20 South Carolina Gamecocks SCar has been slowly yet surely improving the last couple of years. They'll definitely be the underdog against UGA in their second game of the season but if they win they could end up in the SECCG. Keep in mind this team was younger and without Deebo last year and they still played #1 Georgia insanely closely in Athens. Game 2 in Columbia with a reloading defense is a Bulldog nightmare. One of these seasons SCar will take down Clemson; it probably won't be this year but soon.
21 USC Trojans Ah yes, the other USC. Not as much energy surrounding the Trojans since r/The_Darnold packed their bags and took a Jet out to the east coast. You aren't a premier football school if you don't have talent and USC has plenty of it. I'm predicting a slow start but the PAC12 South is completely open still.
22 Fresno State Bulldogs A lot of people only brought up the 2017 Fresno State team when they were trying to discredit Alabama. I think it was unfair to Fresno State because what they were able to do last year was incredible. They went from 1-11 to a completely new team. They protect the ball on offense, they got immense pressure on opposing offenses, and they return all-star caliber players on each side of the field. I'm excited for their matchup against Boise State because the winner of that game could very well be crowned as the best G5 team in the country.
23 UCF Knights UCF is another G5 team that had quite the turnaround. 0-12 in 2015 to undefeated in 2017. Sure, they'll miss Frost but I think the offense will still be alright with the return of Milton. If I were a UCF fan, I'd really be missing Shaquem Griffin. That guy was the epitome of the football spirit. Not only was he a beast but he seemed to be the whole team's source of inspiration. The AAC is arguably the most competitive G5 conference and dropping just one game to USF, Navy, or Memphis could take them out of not only the G5 Peach Bowl bid but also out of conference contention.
24 Florida Gators Like MSU, I generally won't rank teams with a brand new HC. The thing with UF that makes them an exception is that they return 19 starters (granted, I haven't followed the Fulmer Cup much this offseason so that number could be different now). Plus their HC is a solid coach and he has good history with the program. I don't think Florida will contend for the East but crazier things have happened. The WLOCP can get crazy so who knows; maybe Florida can pull a huge upset (pls no). I definitely do not think they'll miss bowl season again and I actually think Florida's future looks pretty bright under Mullen. If he wants to keep UF fans on his side he might have to start recruiting at a higher level but he's shown that he doesn't need 5* players to produce talented rosters.
25 FAU Owls "Wow, r/Extra_Excrement. You are truly a voter of the people!" -comment of someone if anyone actually reads my poll (big if). The way Kiffin was able to turn a low-tier G5 team into a national name is crazy. Their offense returns half the number of players their defense returns but I see this as a good thing. Their defense will be more experienced and their offense will probably reload and perform well anyways. Now, I'm not saying that FAU will beat Oklahoma. If they do, then I'll maybe draw something mildly amusing in MS Paint. Book it.They probably won't win that game. You don't need to beat a top 10 team to make the top 25 though. FAU is the clear favorite in the CUSA and they'll probably give most teams they face quite the challenge.

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