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D1amondDude Ballot for 2020 Preseason

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 1, 2020, 7:28 p.m.

Rank Team Reason
1 Clemson Tigers It's Clemson.  Probably the most complete returning team this year.  Sure, they lose a few pieces on D, but does that ever slow them down?  I fully expect Trevor Lawrence to come back from his first collegiate loss with a vengeance.  Look out ACC, and look out NCAA.
2 Ohio State Buckeyes Was there any team not wearing purple and gold more complete than OSU last season?  Probably not.  And the horrifying thing would be how young the team was.  Assuming that Fields would still be playing had the Big 10 not chosen to opt out, I think Ohio State is a terror to anyone in their way.
3 Alabama Crimson Tide I was going to open this comment with Tua's full name, but I can barely spell English words correctly.  Suffice it to say that Mac Jones does not inspire the confidence in me that Tua did.  The Tide should still be stacked everywhere else on offense, and only a fool would count out a Saban defense.  But can Mac Jones out duel Trevor Lawrence?  Could he have outplayed Justin Fields?  I just don't see it.  And if Mac can't get it done, can a true freshman come in and save the day against those generational talents?
4 Oklahoma Sooners Do I believe Oklahoma is the fourth best team in the country?  No.  Do I believe anyone in the Big 12 has a realistic chance of toppling them?  Also no.  Lincoln Riley is the greatest offensive mind in CFB, and with the Sooners doing their best to get up to double digit rankings on Defense, I expect them to represent their conference in their annual playoff loss.
5 UCF Knights Similar to what I said about Oklahoma - do I think UCF is better than some of the other teams on this list?  No.  Do I think UCF loses to anyone in the American short of maybe (and that's a strong maybe at that) Memphis and Cincinnati?  Also no.  I like to approach my rankings as much from a "where will they finish up" stance as much as "how good are they?"  While I think there are teams that on their best days would beat UCF on their best day, I don't think those teams are on UCF's schedule.  Plus, this team is supposed to be better than the 2017 National Champion UCF Knights.
6 Florida Gators Yeah, I think Florida is the strongest team in the East.  With a consistently nasty defense and one of the better returning QBs in the SEC running Dan Mullens offense, I think this is the year Florida tops Georgia to get beaten by an Alabama backup coming in at the half.
7 Oregon Ducks The ducks lose their QB, but they return a whole lot of talent in a soft Pac 12.  I think the ducks could play with many of the teams here on a good day anyway, and without much in conference to really threaten them, I doubt they'd have to worry about many Ls if the Pac 12 was playing.
8 Georgia Bulldogs I still kind of don't like putting Georgia this high except for the immense amount of talent Kirby Smart has pulled in.  Georgia has been fielding one of, if not the best defense in the league over the past few years.  Here's where my issue is: while they have similar raw talent on offense, their scheme is archaic.  Could they turn it around like LSU did last year?  Sure.  But I'll believe it when I see it.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Honestly, I'm not too sure what my actual opinion of Notre Dame is.  They have a lot of talent and generally perform well against their regular schedule.  This year is different.  Their schedule actually got (mostly) easier.  This year also confirms what we already knew: Notre Dame is basically in the ACC and needs to just go ahead and join.  Watch them get waxed by Clemson but blow through the rest of the teams they face.
10 Penn State Nittany Lions We know who Penn State is and we know who James Franklin is.  They're a good football team who can't seem to get one over on the Buckeyes.  I don't expect this year to change.  Especially since they're not playing.  But if they were, I wouldn't expect this year to change.
11 Auburn Tigers Auburn is and always be a mystery.  When they're expected to be awful, they win national championships.  When they're expected to be good they turn in losing seasons.  The best we can do is guess.  I think we see marked improvement from Bo Pix, possibly allowing him to shed that moniker for something more desirable like Bo Six.  I think the defense takes a step back after losing some key pieces on the line.  The real loss here is that they no longer have a player who goes by "Boobie".
12 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin continues to benefit by playing in the weaker division of the Big 10.  They win most of their games by playing big-boy football and bullying teams that don't survive on a diet that consists strictly of beer and cheese.  Then they get waxed by Ohio State.  Or, like Penn State, they would if they were playing.
13 Texas A&M Aggies People are simultaneously really high and really low on the iPhone of the SEC.  They have a lot of talent and a much less suffocating schedule than last season.  But Jimbo still hasn't proven that he's earned that insane paycheck.  Will he do it this year?  Will the Aggies finally finish a season?  Will their rollercoaster manage to not breakdown in weak 8?  We'll see.
14 Texas Longhorns I think Texas was a lot better last year than their record indicated.  Or than their play indicated.  They have the talent to be better.  When Herman remembers to motivate his team for the game, they have the coaching to be better.  Hopefully this year they won't have their entire defense and RB core spend the year injured.  I think they improve.  I still don't think they take Oklahoma's throne.
15 LSU Tigers I feel nauseous typing right now.  Every ounce of the homer in me wants to rank LSU #1 and say "By damn, we earned the right to open the season on top!"  But at this point we barely have enough players left to field a team.  I liked our chances of being decent before we lost Jamarr, but I don't have as much faith in our depth at WR as other tiger fans.  Terrace Marshall Jr. is one of the best receivers in the league, but behind him are guys who've been shown tendencies to be streaky.  Or haven't played.  And with our entire O-Line possible infested with the covid, how much do we have left?  Sheer talent gets us to 7 wins.  But we're not repeating this year.
16 Michigan Wolverines Everything I have to say about Michigan, I've already said about Penn State.  Good football team.  Wins games.  Gets blasted by tOSU with an extra side of spite from Ryan Day.  Not actually playing.
17 Oklahoma State Cowboys Boy howdy, I like otherOSU.  Their high-flying offense will be back, and will be more potent than last year.  Will it be enough?
18 Minnesota Golden Gophers The darling of last season.  Minnesota seemed to come from nowhere.  Do they have the talent pool to do it again?  Well, if they were playing, I'd say we'll see.
19 USC Trojans USC pulls in top talent on name alone.  The premier program of the state of California doesn't have a whole lot to worry about.  Well, outside of Eugene, OR, that is.  They'd have lost to the ducks, but won most of the games on their schedule by pure talent disparity.  But I don't think that's enough to warrant being top 15.
20 North Carolina Tar Heels One of the rising teams in a weak ACC.  They don't play Clemson during the regular season, so outside of a meeting with Notre Dame, they should do well.  
21 Cincinnati Bearcats This list needed more G5 representation, a lot of bigger P5 programs are in the dumpster right now and Cincinnati actually looks pretty good.  I don't think they're "beat UCF" good, though.  We'll see how they fare against Army, then their showdown with Memphis is a coin toss.
22 Utah Utes This is the point where I admit that I kind just plugged Utah in because I have to put 25 teams on this list, I've got a lot of questions about every team after 20, but the one team in 20-25 that I'm confident in my placement of isn't giving me enough confidence to put them this high.
23 Tennessee Volunteers I am confident enough to put them this high, though.  Tennessee hasn't performed well on the field, but Pruitt has quietly been putting together some great recruiting classes.  If he can put the pieces together, I think we have a dark horse for the SEC East.  If he can't, well, that talent will get him past Kentucky and Dandy Vandy, but not Florida and Georgia.
24 Iowa Hawkeyes See my entry for Utah, but minus the "being definitely probably maybe more confidence-inspiring than Tennessee" part.
25 Memphis Tigers I plugged Memphis here at 25 because I live in Memphis, I love bbq and dammit, this city needs a win.  I think they're one of the strongest G5 programs and one of the only real threats to UCF.  Well, other than UCF having their number.

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