The suspense has gone on long enough. It is finally time to unveil my 2024 preseason Top 25.
Quick note -- this is how I think the rankings will look heading into the College Football Playoff, meaning it is a prediction of the final CFP ranking as that is the only one that
Tate Martell:
2012: commits to Washington
2015: decommits from UW
2015: commits to A&M
2016: says A&M QBs are ass & he can start as frosh
2016: decommits from A&M
2017: enrolls at OSU
2018: tweets abt "swinging and missing"
2019: transfers to Miami, loses QB race
What next?
Top 10 OLB returnees 2018:
1 David Long Jr/WVirginia
2 Dakota Allen/Texas Tech
3 Chris Peace/Virginia
4 D'Andre Walker/Georgia
5 Joe Dineen/Kansas
6 Kenneth Murray/Oklahoma
7 Joe Giles-Harris/Duke
8 Anfernee Jennings/Alabama
9 Colin Schooler/Arizona
10 Jeffrey Allison/Fresno St
@CFBRep
What facts is FSU dealing with,
@KirkHerbstreit
? Their exclusion from the CFP was based wholly on opinion. Keep being the mouthpiece for the SEC.
Top 10 WR returnees 2018:
1 David Sills IV/W Virginia
2 AJ Brown/Ole Miss
3 Marquise Brown/Oklahoma
4 N'Keal Harry/Arizona St
5 Anthony Johnson/Buffalo
6 Emanuel Hall/Missouri
7 Jalen Reagor/TCU
8 Dez Fitzpatrick/Louisville
9 Stanley Morgan Jr/Nebraska
10 Deebo Samuel/S Carolina
CFB 2018 DIVISION RANKINGS
1 B1G East
2 SEC West
3 ACC Atlantic
4 Big 12
5 Pac 12 North
6 SEC East
7 B1G West
8 ACC Coastal
9 Pac 12 South
10 Independent
11 AAC West
12 CUSA East
13 MWC Mountain
14 MAC West
15 AAC East
16 MWC West
17 SBC East
18 MAC East
19 CUSA West
20 SBC West
ESPN SPECIAL TEAMS EFFICIENCY
1 Memphis 85.0
2 Penn St 77.7
3 Maryland 75.0
4 Georgia Southern 73.0
5 Washington 72.7
6 San Diego St 72.6
7 Virginia 71.3
8 Stanford 70.3
9 Houston 68.5
10 Illinois 68.5
ESPN OVERALL EFFICIENCY (SEASON)
1 Oklahoma 99.4
2 Oregon 96.8
3 Michigan 95.7
4 Notre Dame 95.5
5 Syracuse 95.1
6 Alabama 94.9
7 Cincinnati 93.9
8 Ohio State 92.3
9 Texas State 91.4
10 Pittsburgh 91.4
Team efficiencies are based on the point contributions of each unit to the
CFB 2018 TOP WRs
1 AJ Brown/Ole Miss
2 David Sills V/West Virginia
3 Anthony Johnson/Buffalo
4 Deebo Samuel/South Carolina
5 N'Keal Harry/Arizona State
6 Marquise Brown/Oklahoma
7 Stanley Morgan Jr/Nebraska
8 Tyler Vaughns/USC
9 Kelvin Harmon/NC State
10 Greg Dortch/Wake Forest
ESPN TOTAL QBR WEEK 8
1 JJ McCarthy/Michigan 97.7
2 Will Howard/Kansas State 97.6
3 Jayden Daniels/LSU 96.0
4 Carter Bradley/South Alabama 95.7
5 Thomas Castellanos/Boston College 95.4
6 Avery Johnson/Kansas State 91.6
7 Jordan McCloud/James Madison 90.8
8 Ethan Garbers/UCLA 90.8
PRESEASON FCS TOP 25
1 South Dakota State
2 North Dakota State
3 Montana State
4 Idaho
5 Samford
6 Holy Cross
7 William & Mary
8 SE Missouri
9 New Hampshire
10 Furman
11 North Dakota
12 Montana
13 Mercer
14 Delaware
15 North Carolina Central
16 UC-Davis
17 Incarnate Word
18
ESPN STRENGTH OF RECORD
1 Texas
2 Florida State
3 Colorado
4 Duke
5 Oregon
6 North Carolina
7 Utah
8 Auburn
9 Miami
10 Washington
Reflects chance that an average Top 25 team would have team's record or better, given the schedule.
#CFB2023
#SOR
#StrengthOfRecord
#HookEm
ESPN OVERALL EFFICIENCY (SEASON)
1 Oklahoma 95.3
2 Washington 93.6
3 USC 92.9
4 Oregon 92.4
5 Oregon State 90.7
6 Florida State 89.7
7 Syracuse 89.5
8 Ohio State 89.5
9 Notre Dame 89.0
10 Penn State 88.6
Net efficiency on 0-100 scale; incorporates offense, defense and special
CFB 2020 TOP DT/IDL
1 Marvin Wilson/Florida St
2 Jay Tufele/USC
3 Tyler Shelvin/LSU
4 Tyler Davis/Clemson
5 Darius Stills/WVU
6 Christian Barmore/Alabama
7 Jaylen Twyman/Pitts
8 Levi Onwuzurike/Washington
9 Mustafa Johnson/Colorado
10 Cameron Thomas/San Diego St
#CFB2020
ESPN SPECIAL TEAMS EFFICIENCY
1 South Carolina 80.0
2 NC State 78.5
3 San Diego State 77.7
4 Arkansas State 76.9
5 Wyoming 74.3
6 Rutgers 74.0
7 West Virginia 73.6
8 Oklahoma State 71.5
9 Notre Dame 70.9
10 FIU 70.3
@KirkHerbstreit
You know as well as anyone that it has always skewed toward deserving, and saying otherwise is disingenuous.
And what constitutes "better"? It's such a subjective term, which is why "deserving" has typically held the day. Less subjectivity, which is what the process should be.
Don't be surprised if Ohio State shows some interest in a Boston College offensive tackle, should he enter the transfer portal.
Ozzy Trapilo has two years of eligibility left, and was just followed yesterday by OSU offensive line coach Justin Frye.
Trapilo was one of the
@acnewsitics
Wonder if she is this passionate going after Trump for cheating on every one of his wives, as well as making routine false statements.
I think I know the answer.
Top 10 S returnees 2018:
1 Andrew Wingard/Wyoming
2 Lukas Denis/Boston College
3 Mike Edwards/Kentucky
4 Mark McLaurin/Mississippi St
5 Tariq Thompson/San Diego St
6 Chauncey Gardner/Florida
7 Grant Delpit/LSU
8 Jaquan Johnson/Miami
9 Umo Amadi/Oregon
10 Ryan Pulley/Arkansas
It really would have been nice had
@FSUFootball
, after all of its posturing about being left out of the College Football Playoff, treated the Orange Bowl seriously. I guess there's nothing to proving a point, maybe showing the committee it was wrong in leaving you out? Instead
BIG 12 FOOTBALL LAST FIVE YEARS
Oklahoma 56-10 (.848)
Oklahoma St 45-19 (.703)
Iowa St 39-25 (.609)
Texas 37-25 (.597)
TCU 34-27 (.557)
Kansas St 33-28 (.541)
W Virginia 32-28 (.533)
Baylor 33-29 (.532)
Texas Tech 26-34 (.433)
Kansas 9-48 (.158)
#CFB2022
CFB SPECIAL TEAMS EFFICIENCY (ESPN)
1 Navy 98.3
2 Michigan State 94.4
3 Nevada 93.4
4 Houston 93.0
5 Memphis 91.8
6 Penn State 88.1
7 Appalachian State 87.4
8 C Michigan 87.0
9 Marshall 86.5
10 Florida 86.4
0-100 scale, based on contribution to scoring margin on per play basis
CFB 2018 TOP C
1 Ross Pierschbacher/Alabama
2 Justin Falcinelli/Clemson
3 Ryan Anderson/Wake Forest
4 Tyler Biadasz/Wisconsin
5 Lamont Gaillard/Georgia
6 Toa Lobendahn/USC
7 Kirk Barron/Purdue
8 Alec Eberle/Florida State
9 Levi Brown/Marshall
10 Elgton Jenkins/Mississippi State
Top 10 QB returnees 2018:
1 Trace McSorley/Penn St
2 Will Grier/W Virginia
3 McKenzie Milton/UCF
4 Khalil Tate/Arizona
5 Jake Browning/Washington
6 Jake Fromm/Georgia
7 Ryan Finley/NC St
8 Drew Lock/Missouri
9 Nick Fitzgerald/Mississippi St
10 Justice Hansen/Arkansas St
CFB 2018 TOP S
1 Lukas Denis/Boston College
2 Jaquan Johnson/Miami Fla
3 Mark McLaurin/Mississippi State
4 Andrew Wingard/Wyoming
5 Mike Edwards/Kentucky
6 Taylor Rapp/Washington
7 Grant Delpit/LSU
8 Cameron Glenn/Wake Forest
9 Evan Worthington/Colorado
10 JR Reed/Georgia
A quick nugget on the OSU basketball coaching search (though if the Buckeyes keep playing the way they have lately maybe the search won't be needed):
One name that has come up is FAU coach Dusty May, and he is the guy LeBron James is pushing for. Word is that if OSU does end up
CFB 2018 Top JUCO Transfers
OFFENSE
QB Terry Wilson/Kentucky
RB Greg Bell/Nebraska
RB Scott Phillips/Ole Miss
WR Kirk Merritt/Arkansas State
WR Antonio Gibson/Memphis
WR Stephen Guidry/Mississippi State
TE Dominick Wood-Anderson/Tennessee
The best offense in college football the last 5 seasons belongs to Oklahoma.
The Sooners have finished top 6 in scoring offense every year s/2014, including first in 2015 at 48.4.
OU has averaged 44.6 PPG, the only team to average more than 42 PPG in that span
@OU_Football
Top 10 TE returnees 2018:
1 Noah Fant/Iowa
2 Albert Okwuegbunam/Missouri
3 Caleb Wilson/UCLA
4 Matt Bushman/Brigham Young
5 CJ Conrad/Kentucky
6 Jacob Breeland/Oregon
7 Farood Green/Mississippi State
8 Harrison Bryant/FAU
9 Tommy Sweeney/Boston College
10 Kaden Smith/Stanford
ESPN SPECIAL TEAMS EFFICIENCY
1 Memphis 85.1
2 Penn State 75.7
3 Virginia 73.7
4 Maryland 73.1
5 Georgia Southern 69.9
6 San Diego State 69.3
7 Washington 69.3
8 Houston 68.6
9 Iowa 67.9
10 Syracuse 67.4
Top CFB coaches 2018:
1 Nick Saban/Alabama
2 Dabo Swinney/Clemson
3 Urban Meyer/Ohio State
4 David Shaw/Stanford
5 Chris Peterson/Washington
6 Gary Patterson/TCU
7 Jimbo Fisher/Texas A&M
8 James Franklin/Penn State
9 Mark Richt/Miami
10 Kirby Smart/Georgia
ESPN SPECIAL TEAMS EFFICIENCY
1 Penn State 77.8
2 Memphis 77.1
3 Miami O 73.9
4 Iowa 72.4
5 Georgia Southern 71.2
6 Duke 70.9
7 San Diego State 70.4
8 Virginia 69.7
9 Houston 69.6
10 Washington 68.7