As is the way of things, another year of college football is upon us. Sure, the games that matter are still quite a ways off, but that glorious thing that is spring ball has arrived. This is a great time of year for college football fans.

It is a time when many fans are filled with hope and confidence that the players moving up the ranks this spring will lead their teams to the Promised Land in the fall. It is a time to look both at the season left behind and the season up ahead. It is also a great time for prognostication.

Gone are the seniors from everyone’s favorite teams. One of the highlights of spring ball is the debate and anticipation over who will step up and take over for the players who have departed.

Gone off to the NFL draft is Tim Tebow. If you are a Florida fan, you probably miss him. If you are not, you are probably glad you won’t have to hear about him anymore. I mean, was it necessary for coverage of college football to include asking players if they are still virgins? Really?

Just arriving are new coaches. How will Tommy Tuberville fare as the new head coach at Texas Tech? Will Brian Kelly have more success at Notre Dame than Charlie Weis? How will the controversial Lane Kiffin fare as the new head coach at USC?

I could write forever on these questions and many more like them. However, due to space restrictions, I’ll settle on writing about one area of debate and prognostication: My top five teams for the upcoming season and the reasons I picked them. I bet you didn’t see THAT coming. . . . Here we go.

#5 - IOWA HAWKEYES

Why? – Iowa won 11 games last year with a really good defense and an offense that was decimated by injury. Their two losses were by a total of 10 points. For 2010, they bring back nearly their entire defense. They also bring back their quarterback and seven total starters on offense. In college football terms, the Hawkeyes return intact with a year’s more experience. If their offense can stay healthy, there’s a lot to like with this team that was so close last year.

#4 – OKLAHOMA SOONERS

Why? – This is another team that had a very good defense and an offense that was decimated by injury. The Sooners lost four games by a total of 12 points despite so many missing players on offense. The silver lining to having players like Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham miss their last season is that the next players in line get to play. The Sooner offense returns pretty much everyone, and the defense is mostly intact. Like Iowa, this team was very close last year, so if they can stay healthy this year, there’s a lot to like.

#3 – NEBRASKA

Why? – You should be seeing a pattern here. Nebraska is yet another team that, like Iowa and Oklahoma, had a dominant defense and really struggled on offense due primarily to injury, but still got very close to a big year. Nebraska lost three games by just one point, including the Conference Championship game to Texas on a last second field goal following a controversial clock ruling. Next year should see a healthier and more experienced offense. I have Nebraska at #3 because they had the best defense of the three teams I’ve listed so far, and because they have a favorable schedule. Nebraska gets to play Texas in Lincoln next year. That controversial ending to the last game Nebraska played against Texas might just come up.

#2 – BOISE STATE

Why? – The Broncos are here because they have earned it. Boise State has played in a BCS game twice in the past three seasons and won both times. I’m a big believer in returning experience as a way to judge teams. Well, Boise State has 21 returning starters, out of 22, for 2010. They went undefeated last year. Enough said.

#1 – OHIO STATE

Why? – In the Rose Bowl, this team played one of those speedy-type teams that usually give them fits, and they won when they played Oregon, and they finally got over their BCS curse. The Buckeyes bring back 15 starters from last year’s team, including nine on offense. If Ohio State had a weakness last year, it was on offense. Well, by bringing back nine starters, including their quarterback, they should be improved and more experienced, and the Buckeyes always play strong defense.

On a final note, this article is the last entry for my two-year college sports column. It has been my pleasure to contribute to The Commentator, and I hope that everyone who has read my articles has found them enlightening and entertaining. - Matt

Matthew Welde

Now that the new academic year is under-way, that means one thing: college football is on the horizon. By the time people are reading this the start of the season will be just a few weeks away. So, in the spirit of yearning, here’s a rundown of what I consider the three biggest games of the upcoming season. I am only considering regular season games, so that means no conference title games. Also, the most significant factor in what I mean by “big” is how the games affect the race for the BCS National Title. Away we go.

BRONZE MEDAL – NOTRE DAME VS….

Just kidding.

BRONZE MEDAL – FLORIDA GATORS AT LSU TIGERS – Oct. 10

The Gators are a near unanimous pick as the preseason No. #1 team. This game is almost certainly the toughest game on their schedule. Night games against the Tigers are very hard to win. If Florida is going to lose a game, chances are this will be it.

SILVER MEDAL – USC TROJANS AT OHIO STATE BUCKEYES – Sept. 12

Both teams should be top contenders. The winner gets a big boost from beating a quality opponent and the loser falls to the back of the pack. Thus, two top contenders for the Crystal Football have a lot on the line. This game falls short of the gold because the loser has almost the whole season to climb back into the race.

GOLD MEDAL – OKLAHOMA SOONERS VS. TEXAS LONGHORNS – Oct. 17

Both teams will start the season in the top three. The loser will probably be out of the conference title and the BCS National Title games. Also, anyone who follows college football should be having visions of airplane banners and asterisks right about now because of the way the Big 12 South championship played out last year.

Boomer Sooner.

The 2008 college football season was one large contradiction.  The season seemed to be defined by controversy and yet, everything that happened was the sort of things that have become normal in major college football.  Read the full story

The college football season is two weeks away from being over. The Big Ten teams are all finished. Pretty much everyone else has just one game left on their 12 game schedules, and will finish up next week. The rankings at this point of the season Read the full story

The onset of college football means preseason polls and rankings.  Nearly every sports media outlet has a preseason list of top 25 teams.  I’ve compiled the preseason rankings from five large sports media outlets.  I averaged out the rankings to see which five teams had the highest average rating.

The five preseason rankings I included are the Associated Press poll, the USA Today Coaches poll, the CNNSI.com power rankings, the ESPN.com power rankings, and the FoxSports.com rankings.  Along with the average ranking for each team I take a look at how things have played out through the first three weeks.  Like all things that have to do with college football, there’s bound to be people who don’t agree.  That’s part of what makes it fun.  Here we go.

GEORGIA BULLDOGS

Average ranking - 2.2

Biggest concern - the SEC schedule

Georgia’s SEC schedule is simply brutal.  The Bulldogs have four teams on their schedule that are currently ranked in the top 10.  Two of those games are road games.  It doesn’t get harder than that.

How they’ve fared

So far they’ve beat up on a pair of inferior teams and scraped out a win against the Gamecocks.  They’ve passed their first SEC test against a South Carolina team that beat them last year, but they only managed 14 points, which is a troubling sign for Bulldog fans.  They are one of the rare teams that won and still fell a few spots in the polls.

What lies ahead?

Scoring fourteen points on South Carolina is a bad omen for a team set to face opponents that have a comparable defense and a better offense than the Gamecocks.  A 14-7 win at home against South Carolina translates into a long night playing at LSU.  The Bulldogs are guaranteed a spot in the BCS Championship Game if they run the table, but their path to Miami is the most difficult among these teams.

Were they right?

No.  Their quarterback has put up mediocre numbers, including a paltry four touchdown passes in three games.  Their schedule won’t allow them to score fourteen points and win very often.  The pollsters gave too much weight to a returning quarterback that was mediocre last year and not enough weight to the schedule.

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