2009 College Football Preview

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Last year at this time I was not a member of Bleacher Report. However, I did write a 2008 college football preview merely for my own enjoyment.

Among the highlights, I had Florida and Oklahoma, the two most recent national championship participants, in my preseason top five.

Among the atrocities, I picked Auburn and Ohio State to play for the national championship. Auburn fired its coach midseason, and Ohio State got trounced by USC in Week Three, an early indication that the Buckeyes were not capable of hanging with a team like Florida or Oklahoma.

So this season I am afforded the chance to make predictions and provide analysis again only this time for the upcoming 2009 season I‘ll have a bigger audience to embarrass myself in front of. And I couldn’t be more thrilled to do so.

On the eve of my favorite day of the year, I hope this sparks your interest for the entirety of the college football season.

I’m starting with a preview of who I think will be the best teams.

Top five teams:

1.  Florida

Never before last season did I believe that one person single-handedly could refuse to let his or her entire team lose. And that’s what happened with Tim Tebow. After Florida lost to Ole Miss, he performed on another level, a level at which Florida needed him to perform in order to play in the national championship.

I have every reason to believe that he’ll deliver again this season. I’m positive Urban Meyer won’t let one ounce of complacency enter the Florida locker room. I know they’ve lost a bit of talent to the NFL, but I think they’re going to look quite impressive this season

2.  Texas

Texas returns the most talent in college football this season. Colt McCoy is going to command this team much like Tebow did last season with Florida. He won’t have to lead the team in rushing this season, but he’ll have even more of an impact on the games in which Texas plays.

Defensively, Texas will be quite good. I know Big 12 defenses don’t get credit for being good, but Texas’ will be terrific compared to the rest of the conference and good enough compared to the rest of the nation.

3.  Alabama

After last season, I’m no longer doubting a Nick Saban-coached team again.

They have a new quarterback this season, so I’m a little skeptical about ranking this team as high as I am. But the reason I have Alabama as high as I do is because when Alabama plays as well as it possibly can, it can beat any team in the country. And I feel Alabama can play at that level in any game regardless of its opponent.

4.  Oklahoma

I have to put Oklahoma this high because they return excellent athletes at the offensive skill positions. Sam Bradford will be terrific, but I just don’t think his supporting cast will perform at the level he needs them to perform.

I have Oklahoma losing three games this season. The defense won’t probably be good enough the entire season, and issues with the offensive line are concerning.

5.  USC

This last spot came down to USC and Penn State. Sure USC is set to start a true freshman at quarterback, and that might be the only advantage Penn State would have over USC.

Everywhere else USC has big-time recruits who have speed and toughness not seen anywhere else in college football. The only reason I can’t rank the Trojans any higher is because they always seem to slip up one game each year for whatever reason. So that leaves me to believe they have weaknesses somewhere. I just don’t know where.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?