Bleacher Report's College Football Top25: Preseason

#8  Ohio State   (12-1)

This Week:  Youngstown St.   Off

Key Games:  at Washington 9/15, at Penn St. 10/27, Wisconsin 11/3, at Michigan 11/17

While the bowl season capped a banner year for the Badgers, conference foe Ohio State is still smarting from their BCS beat down.

Unless you’re USC, replacing a Heisman Trophy winner is never easy.  Losing your leading rusher and top two receivers doesn’t help either. 

Still, Jim Tressel has a proven track record of reloading, and preseason pollsters continue to have faith in his Ohio State program.

He also has the benefit of a very mundane eight-game stretch to open the season.  The Buckeyes won’t be tested by a ranked team until they travel to Penn State in late October.  By then, the six new starters on both offense and defense will have plenty of game experience and probably a healthy dose of confidence. 

Not to mention a fire that will be continually stoked by the memory of the embarrassment in Glendale.

#9  Virginia Tech   (10-3)

This Week:  East Carolina   +26

Key Games:  at LSU 9/8,  Boston College 10/25, at Georgia Tech 11/1, Florida St. 11/10, Miami 11/17

What more can be written about the emotions at Virginia Tech that hasn’t already been articulated beyond eloquently in this forum?

The Hokies' national championship aspirations hinge on a Week 2 date with LSU, a team that knows a thing or two about responding to community tragedy. 

That said, the ACC in undoubtedly Va Tech’s for the taking.  Florida State and Miami won’t be as abysmal as they were a year ago, but those are still eminently winnable games, especially at home.  And it shouldn’t take an unbeaten record to win that conference this season.

#10  Oklahoma   (11-3)

This Week:  North Texas  +40.5

Key Games: 

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