Preseason College Football Rankings 2015: Teams That Will Exceed Expectations

The college football preseason isn't officially underway until the first poll is revealed, and fans got their wishes Friday with the unveiling of the Amway Coaches Poll.

In general, there were few surprises to be found. Even the bigger shocks—Tennessee at No. 25—could be somewhat justified: The Volunteers have a ton of starters coming back and a somewhat favorable schedule in the loaded SEC.

Since no team has played a down yet, fans shouldn't get too worked up if their favorite teams were slighted in the poll. Followers of the three schools below in particular should hold off on their indignation, since it's only a matter of time before their teams outperform their current positions.

Amway Coaches Poll

Rank	Team (1st-place votes)
1	Ohio State (62)
2	TCU (1)
3	Alabama (1)
4	Baylor
5	Oregon
6	Michigan State
7	Auburn
8	Florida State
9	Georgia
10	USC
11	Notre Dame
12	Clemson
13	LSU
14	UCLA
15	Ole Miss
16	Arizona State
17	Georgia Tech
18	Wisconsin
19	Oklahoma
20	Arkansas
21	Stanford
22	Arizona
23	Missouri
24	Boise State
25	Tennessee

Teams on the Rise in 2015

No. 10: USC Trojans

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

On one hand, you can understand why coaches—or whomever they call upon to make their picks—would be a bit wary of jumping on the USC bandwagon. Few teams consistently did less with more than the Trojans since Pete Carroll left.

But you could blame a lot of the Trojans' issues on two factors: Lane Kiffin and the NCAA sanctions levied against the school from the Carroll era. Now, Steve Sarkisian is starting his second season at the school, while this is also the second year USC is out from under the NCAA microscope.

The Trojans did lose a number of key players, including Leonard Williams, Hayes Pullard, Nelson Agholor and Javorius Allen. However, Cody Kessler is back, JuJu Smith should have a breakout year, Su'a Cravens will only improve and Sarkisian is welcoming the second-best recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports.

In terms of talent at the top, the Trojans probably aren't as good as last year. And since they went 9-4 in 2014, how could they possibly have landed in the top 10?

What USC lacks in star power it will make up in depth—the kind of depth that will ensure the players don't wear down in the fourth quarter, which happened quite often a season ago.

It's still too early to consider USC a national title contender, but a Pac-12 championship is well within the realm of possibility.

No. 18: Wisconsin Badgers

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

For most schools, replacing a 2,500-yard rusher would be a nearly impossible task. You could argue that no one offensive player was more important to his team than Melvin Gordon was for Wisconsin. Couple that with a coaching change, and it's easy to see why the Badgers are being a bit overlooked.

While Paul Chryst didn't exactly set the world ablaze in his three years at Pittsburgh, he has experience in Madison, Wisconsin, having worked as an offensive coordinator there before joining the Panthers. A few notes on his Badgers bio illustrated just how effective his offenses were under his leadership:

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Chryst-led offenses are responsible for six of the top 10 total offense seasons, three of the top four scoring offenses, three of the top five third-down conversion percentages, three of the top four completion percentage seasons and five of the top seven individual pass efficiency seasons in school history. In total, the Badgers averaged 34.1 points and 416.3 yards of total offense in Chryst's seven years at the helm. Both of those were tops in the Big Ten over that span.

Each of UW's top four quarterbacks in terms of single-season passing yards were tutored by Chryst. In his seven seasons as offensive coordinator, Wisconsin ranked fifth in the country and best in the Big Ten in pass efficiency (148.1). UW's 8.5 yards per pass attempt over those seven seasons was second-best in the country. On the ground, the Badgers averaged 204.2 yards per game, tops in the Big Ten and fourth among Power Five conference teams.

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Some level of transition is to be expected in the switch from Gary Andersen. But let's not forget that the school went 12-1 in Bret Bielema's first season, while Andersen's first year would like a little different were it not for that blown call against Arizona State.

During the Big Ten media day, Chryst reiterated that he has little desire to stray from what has made Wisconsin successful in the past.

"I think there's certain core fundamentals, cornerstones that we believe in," he said, via the Big Ten's press release. "I think we believe in it because I think it's best for the University of Wisconsin. It's best for the kids that we can attract."

Unless Chryst is planning on running the air raid offense with Joel Stave, the Badgers' offense shouldn't fall apart without Gordon.

And if you're still not sold on Wisconsin, look no further than the schedule. While the team gets Minnesota and Nebraska on the road, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan are all absent. Plus, the Golden Gophers game is at the end of the season, at which point the Badgers should be firing on all cylinders.

NR: Virginia Tech Hokies

Steve Helber/Associated Press

Virginia Tech should consider its slight in the Coaches Poll as penance for last year's barnburner with Wake Forest:

Although last year's Hokies team was extremely volatile from week to week in terms of performance, that sort of inconsistency shouldn't be a factor in 2015.

Frank Beamer and Bud Foster have put together one of the best defenses in the country when healthy. SB Nation's Bill Connelly succinctly conveyed just how deep Virginia Tech's defense is from top to bottom:

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Including (defensive tackle Luther) Maddy's 2013, Tech returns five players who had at least 9.5 tackles for loss in their previous seasons and four who had at least 4.5 sacks. They have two four-star sophomores waiting for a turn, and they signed three four-star freshmen. Tech was strong enough to rank second in power success rate and fast enough to have the best pass rush in the country.

I don't even know what to say. Find a weakness. I dare you. If you want to worry about the linebackers, I guess you can. If you somehow found a downfield opportunity running the ball, you were occasionally able to get somewhere with it, but the opportunities were few and far between. This was even more of a "break-don't-bend" defense than Michigan State's last year.

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Of course, offense remains an issue, which has been the case since about the second Bush administration.

Michael Brewer threw 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions last year, while Marshawn Williams and J.C. Coleman combined for 1,069 yards and seven touchdowns. Isaiah Ford was the leading receiver, and he barely cracked 700 yards.

The good news is that all of those players are coming back, including Bucky Hodges and Cam Phillips, who respectively finished second and third in receiving last year.

Hokies offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler believes continuity will be a key for the Tech offense in 2015, via ESPN.com's Andrea Adelson:

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For the first time walking into spring, we’re going to know exactly who we are, we know what we can do, we know what we can’t do, and it’s refreshing because we’re going to have an identity. The only way we won’t is if the whole world falls apart again. You hope what we went through last year never happens again. We should be a lot better. We must be better and we will be better.

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The schedule also plays in Virginia Tech's favor, since the Hokies will avoid both Florida State and Clemson.

As long as the offense can take a step forward and the defense can avoid catastrophic injuries, Beamer's team could earn a trip to the ACC title game. That defense can carry the group a long way.