College Football: Biggest Surprise Teams of 2008

First off, I'd love to hear about how Auburn fans, or football fans in general, feel or felt about Brandon Cox.  I personally loved him as a person and admired the hell out of him.  However, I felt like he was an extremely limited QB.  Now that Kodi Burns has control of the offense, I feel like the ceiling is much higher.

With players like Burns and RB Brad Lester leading a new, spread offense-style attack, and stars like DLs Sen'Derrick Marks, Tray Blackman, and DB Jerraud Powers on defense, I think this team could be as good as any they've had in the last few years.

Auburn is always good (and underrated in my opinion), but I think that this is the year they take a step forward and make their name important once again nationally.  They return 16 starters from a 9-4 team and have a schedule that is tough (as usual), but not impossible.

With games at home against LSU and Tennessee early on, I see them going 7-0 until their West Virginia game on October 23.  Will a tough non-conference game reward them, or bite them in the ass?  Only time will tell.

Going balls to the wall here, I predict Auburn will go 11-1, losing against Georgia in their second to last game, finishing in the top 10, and going to the Sugar Bowl.  That's quite a surprise for a team that lost their starting QB, will start out around the 20th-best team in the nation, and is used to staying in the shadows of other SEC powerhouses.

***Bonus Homer Pick***: Missouri Tigers Edition

What kind of a community leader would I be without mentioning my school in this article.  I'm going to keep it short and sweet, but I wanted to see what people think about my squad and get their name circulating a bit.

First off, the offense is stacked.  We know this.  Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, Chase Coffman—all will probably be drafted next spring.  On defense, more of the same—William Moore, Sean Weatherspoon, Stryker Sulak.  Both units are stacked.

The question is, can the team continue the games they're supposed to win?

Against OU last year, I really think the Sooners were the better team.  Period.  But the Tigers took care of business against EVERY team they were better than (something not many other teams can say, especially last season). 

If they can do that this year, this team will go 12-0 and play for the national championship.  There isn't a team on their calendar this year that is higher ranked, more talented, or better equipped.

Watch out for the Tigers.  They could surprise everybody and leave USC, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ohio State playing for second place.

Well, there you have it.  These are teams that I think will be surprises this season.  Not all of them will make a big splash nationally.  I want NO posts saying, "Wtf?  Ball State?  They won't beat anybody in the SEC!"

I'm not saying these are my top five teams—they're just five teams I expect to do better then YOU thought they would.

As always, thoughts and comments are welcomed and enjoyed.

I'm Peter Fleischer. Thanks for reading.

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