Preseason College Football Rankings 2012: Early Favorites Most Likely to Falter

Whoever said spring doesn't matter in college football would do well to see what's happened to the landscape of the sport this year. Scandals off the field, injuries on it and early defections to the NFL have already altered the race for BCS supremacy across the country, leaving scores of contenders scrambling to recover.

These three, in particular, are due to drop at some point before the start of the 2012 season in the fall.

Arkansas

Bobby Petrino's Tiger Woods moment isn't likely to help Arkansas football at all, to say the least. The Razorbacks were already stuck behind Alabama and LSU (more on the Tigers later) in the SEC West and figured to fall another step behind after losing their top three receivers and their most important contributors at each level of defense.

Even a Heisman-caliber season from quarterback Tyler Wilson and a triumphant return by running back Knile Davis couldn't paper over such heavy personnel losses, let alone a dramatic reshuffling of the coaching staff. As such, don't expect to see the Hogs ranked highly, if at all, when the first preseason polls are released.

LSU

Alabama and LSU will both enter the autumn with vastly different rosters from the ones that took the field during the BCS National Championship Game in January, though the Tigers figure to be in even bigger trouble than their SEC West rivals.

Les Miles bade farewell to a slew of stars on both sides of the ball—most notably, Morris Claiborne, Michael Brockers and Rueben Randle—from a squad with which the Crimson Tide mopped the turf at the Superdome.

The biggest concern, though, rests under center, where the Tigers are untenably thin after losing Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee to graduation and star recruit Gunner Kiel to Notre Dame.

As such, it'll be "Zach Mettenberger or Bust" in Baton Rouge this season, and if the Georgia transfer doesn't pan out...

USC

Quarterback should be of little concern to USC, which will welcome Heisman Trophy favorite Matt Barkley back for his senior season.

Offensively, the concern for the Trojans rests at running back, wherein Marc Tyler (finally) graduated and rising star Tre Madden will be forced to red-shirt after tearing his knee during spring practice, and at left tackle, where Lane Kiffin will be looking to replace All-American Matt Kalil.

As for the defense, a unit that wasn't particularly good to begin with will look startlingly different in the fall, especially in the front seven, after losing the likes of Nick Perry, Chris Galippo and Armond Armstead.

Not exactly a good omen when you play in a Pac-12 Conference replete with high-powered offenses.

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Josh Martin's Preseason Top 25
1. Alabama
2. USC
3. LSU
4. Oregon
5. Oklahoma
6. Georgia
7. Florida State
8. South Carolina
9. West Virginia
10. Michigan
11. Michigan State
12. Kansas State
13. Nebraska
14. TCU
15. Stanford
16. Wisconsin
17. Ohio State
18. Clemson
19. Texas
20. Oklahoma State
21. Virginia Tech
22. Boise State
23. Arkansas
24. Florida
25. Notre Dame