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woakley Ballot for 2018 Preseason

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Aug. 16, 2018, 5:16 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Overall rationale is prior year results balanced with returning players and how I see the season for each team going. A lot of speculation in my first poll (especially towards the bottom), but hey its a preseason poll what do you expect

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide Defending National Champs, Nick Saban, Good Recruiting class, Talented young QB. I could go on, but I dont think theres really a point
2 Clemson Tigers They return a majority of the team that has had such success over the past couple of years. Lost to Alabama in the semi's but they should have a very talented defense and they return most of their offensive weapons
3 Georgia Bulldogs Young team last year, and returning majority along with a talented recruiting class. One of the better quarterbacks in the SEC. Team that was a second half away from winning the natty. 
4 Wisconsin Badgers Giving Wisconsin some respect here. Stout defense and a pedigree of success over the past couple of years. They seem to always have a good running game, and all of the major offensive pieces return. Lost some starters on defense, but I would expect them to stay strong on that side
5 Oklahoma Sooners Good Argument could be made for slotting them over Wisconsin, but I want to see what Kyler Murray has for Oklahama before buying into too much hype. Would be hard to see them regress too much under Lincoln Riley, but for now I think Wisconsin is deserving of the 4 spot over them
6 Miami Hurricanes Is the U back? Oh yeah, the U is back. Miami proved last year that the can once again hang with the big dogs of college football. This team will go as far as the defense and arm of Rosier can carry them. Big test with LSU right out of the gate will tell us right away who the U will be this year
7 Auburn Tigers Jarret Stidham returns to QB a team that made its way to an SEC championship game and was possibly an SEC championship loss away from making the playoff at 9-2. Lost some talented players (Kerryon Johnson), but Gus has proven that he can replace players and replicate the run game success. 
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame returns many of the major players for a team that hung tough in a number of big time games last year. Lost a lot of offensive talent on the line and at WR/TE, but another year of experience for the defense and a returning QB make them strong contenders. 
9 Washington Huskies Obviously lost some talent on the defensive side, but experience on the offensive side wins out for me. I expect Washington to be able to hold their own in the PAC-12. Tough matchups right out the gate for Washington will show us what we have in them
10 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State at 10? You must be crazy! Yeah maybe, but as of the time of this ranking Urban Meyer is still on administrative leave and im not going to underestimate the impact that could have on this team. They are absolutely more talented than many of the teams above, but until Urban gets resolved im staying conservative. Also may be hard to adjust when you lose a QB thats been starting there for the last 15 years in JT Barret
11 Penn State Nittany Lions Hear me out. Penn State lost a ton of weapons on offense. They lost a Heisman contender a solid TE and a playmaking receiver in addition to losing some key pieces of the secondary. Even given all that I think that McSorely is talented enough to replace some of that production. I think it's hard to project how Penn State will replace so many pieces, but I have confidence in Franklin that he has Penn State headed down the right path 
12 UCF Knights The G5 darlings of last year. Don't get me wrong, they may have lost as much talent as anyone of the top 15 teams and they lost their entire coaching staff. Even with that, I think they found a more than competent replacement at HC, and I cant overlook how loaded their offense still is. Question mark here is the defense and how they replace the players they lost.
13 Michigan State Spartans They return pretty much all of a team that had a very successful campaign in 2017 that was capped with a bowl victory over WSU. Question mark for them is if they can maintain a high level of play through a loaded Big 10, which has tripped them up in recent years
14 LSU Tigers Their coach sounds like a swamp monster. Whats not to love. Stop me if this sounds familiar to LSU fans, I expect them to have a great defense but their team will only go as far as the offense can carry them. Lately that hasnt been very far. They will be tested right away against Miami, and we'll see if LSU can finally muster a good balanced offense
15 TCU Horned Frogs You never know what you're going to get with TCU, but IMO they've proven that they can hang. They were a Iowa State loss away from truly being in contention for the playoff last year. I expect them to compete in the Big 12 again
16 Virginia Tech Hokies Justin Fuentes has started to turn the program back in the right direction at Virginia Tech, and I think last season showed it. Lost some talent on defense, but I still expect a strong year from Virginia Tech
17 Stanford Cardinal Bryce Love? Check. K.J. Costello? Check. Yes they lost 3 regular season games, the PAC 12 championship and their Bowl game. But of those 5 losses only one was more than a touchdown. They won some close ones too, but I think more of those close losses go their way with another year of experience under their belt
18 Mississippi State Bulldogs So much of this team will rest on the health of Nick Fitzgerald and his ability to carry the team. I'm ranking them here assuming that 1. Nick Fitzgerald will be healthy and will stay healthy and 2. Joe Moorehead can sustain the momentum that the program had going into the end of last year. I could be terribly terribly wrong, but hey then you can make fun of me so it all works out.
19 USC Trojans This one may be my most controversial, but I just dont buy into USC this year. I think Sam Darnold covered up for a lot of holes on this team last year and that the loss of them and Ronald Jones will be a lot for them to overcome. Combine that with a lot of freshman playing on a team whose OOC schedule includes Texas and Notre Dame and I think we see USC take a step back this year
20 Michigan Wolverines This ranking isnt really about who Michigan lost, even though they did lose a strong defensive player and a both QB's. This is more about where I think Michigan is at as a team. Michigan could take a step forward and finally turn the corner with one of their highly touted QB prospects, but im not banking on that. Until Michigan builds themselves a consistent offense, they are going to have trouble in the meat grinder that is the Big 10
21 Boise State Broncos Boise has done more than enough as a program to cement themselves as one of the best the G5 has to offer. To me I still need to see that they can consistently beat stronger OOC opponents to move them up, and they will have plenty of chances to do so this year
22 Florida State Seminoles FSU is not the football team they were last year, and I think we all know that. They should come out this year with an invigorated offense and a healthy defense. FSU is another one of those teams with so much more talent than where they are ranked, but until we see how Taggart coaches in big time games with big time players and how they respond to the nightmare of last year, they stay low in my 25
23 Oregon Ducks Quack Quack. I think that Oregon will surprise some people this year. They kept a large portion of the coaching staff from last year and Justin Herbert returns. A weak OOC schedule for the Ducks should allow them to build some momentum before they run into their PAC-12 schedule 
24 Northwestern Wildcats Another team that I think will surprise some people this year. They play in a stacked Big 10, but I think that they have enough talent to make a decent run this year. Dont think theyll be at the top of the league, but they should have enough talent to make some noise. 
25 FAU Owls Count me in on the Lane train. The Owls bring back a team with more talent than they've had in a long time. They have some really tough OOC games this year, but I would expect them to roll through C-USA and show that they are a talented team

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