College Football Top 25: 8 New Teams Ranked Ahead of Tressel-Less Ohio State

Over the past several weeks, there have been a number of preseason rankings and polls released, and almost all of them had Ohio State in the top ten.

Of course, that was all before “Tattoogate” blew up into a full-fledged meltdown in Columbus, culminating with the forced resignation of Jim Tressel and the apparent departure of Terrelle Pryor.

Now that all of that has been taken into account, how many teams could now be ranked ahead of Ohio State that were once looking up at the Buckeyes?

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State had one of the nation's top offenses in 2010, and that offense will return nearly complete for 2011. The Cowboys high-flying offense will be ready for act two, and it's doubtful that there's any defense in the Big 12 that's up to the task of containing them.

Even Oklahoma may have to stake their hopes on keeping it close long enough to squeak out a win this year.

Brandon Weeden, an All-Big 12 selection in 2010, is back for his senior season under center, and watch for him to put up absolutely huge numbers this season. All of his top targets are back, and his offensive line from last year is complete intact.

Really the only thing keeping Oklahoma State's stock from climbing is the few question marks they have on defense for 2011.

While there is certainly a lot of talent coming back this season, losing two linebackers, a corner, both defensive tackles and and end is enough to wonder if Oklahoma State can hold of some of the more prolific offenses in the Big 12.

Still, the Cowboys are going to be one of the top teams in the country in 2011, and will definitely be ranked in front of Ohio State once the dust settles in Columbus.

Florida State

Jimbo Fisher learned one very important fact in his first year as head coach: having a deep bench will win you a lot of games.

Florida State will be returning 16 total starters from 2010. There's experience and talent at practically every position on the field, and there are plenty of talented youngsters waiting in the wings, too.

Although FSU came up just short in the ACC last year, there's enough reason to believe that they could be the most talented and deepest Seminoles squad since the turn of the century. While it might be too soon to say the return of the glory days in Tallahassee are upon us, it's certainly clear that Florida State is the early favorite in the ACC for 2011, and the future is very bright indeed.

Florida State is getting a lot of press this offseason. Fortunately for the Seminoles, unlike the Buckeyes, this press seems to be almost exclusively positive.

Texas A&M

Texas A&M may be a surprising top team for some, but when you look at the talent and experience that returns for the Aggies in 2011, it's hard not to see a lot of reason to be high on A&M.

Ryan Tannehill is as good as any quarterback in the Big 12, and he'll be surrounded by familiar faces as the Aggies return ten offensive starters from the 2010 squad.

Last season ended with six-straight regular season victories, and a 9-4 finish. A&M also kept is close against some of the top finishers in the 2010, including a three-point loss to Oklahoma State and a seven-point loss to Arkansas. That's just ten points from 11-2.

The experience should help the Aggies close out the close games, and by season's end, they may very well find themselves squarely in the hunt for a conference title and BCS berth—something that will be out of reach of the Buckeyes this season.

Michigan State

Michigan State has one the nation's best quarterbacks that no one is talking about in Kirk Cousins.

Cousins is as solid a quarterback as you could ask for, and he's returning for his senior season at MSU in 2011. Add junior All-Big Ten tailback Edwin Baker to the mix, and you have much of the scoring potential back for the Spartans this season.

Michigan State will need to find some quality replacements at linebacker, but Mark Dantonio and company should be up to the task.

Many Big Ten pundits will tell you that it's improbable that Michigan State can win 11 games (or more) again this season. These are the same geniuses that told us last year that 11 games and a co-Big Ten championship for the Spartans was impossible.

Michigan State is our first Big Ten program to leapfrog Ohio State due to the turmoil in Columbus. MSU also has Ohio State on the schedule, and it falls early enough in the season that Ohio State will still have players on suspension when the Spartans travel to Columbus. Michigan State could end up being Ohio State's first loss of 2011.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin had a pretty impressive 2010 season, wining a share of the Big Ten and earning a trip to the Rose Bowl.

But the Badgers also took a hit in terms of graduations this offseason, and head coach Bret Bielema is going to have to find some emerging stars if he has any hopes of guiding Wisconsin back towards a Big Ten championship in 2011—and there won't be any co-champions this year.

Wisconsin also drew the short end of the stick, as they have to travel to Michigan State again in 2011—where their one regular season loss from 2010 occurred. Add in visits from Nebraska and Penn State, and it's easy to see why the smart money could be on Wisconsin not repeating last year's Pasadena-bound season.

But Wisconsin is a member of the Big Ten's Leaders Division—just like Ohio State. Ignore for a moment that Ohio State probably won't be eligible for the Big Ten Championship Game in 2011, and the divisional title could come down to Wisconsin and Ohio State.

Wisconsin also travels to Columbus this season, and that visit comes post-suspension for the four remaining Buckeyes of the “Tattoo Five.”

Still, Wisconsin doesn't have all of the issues and distractions to deal with that the Buckeyes are staring square in the face.

Auburn

All of the post-championship hoopla has blinded many people to the fact that Auburn will be one of the most depleted teams in terms of returning experience for 2011.

Everyone knows that Cam Newton was the best player in the nation last season, so let's just blow past that whole issue.

Auburn's big problem—other than being Newton-less—is the fact that they've lost all of the Scotty Pippens to their Michael Jordan. There are so many question marks for Auburn, no one is probably going to be able to figure out how well the Tigers will be able to perform in 2011 until September.

But Ohio State now faces a similar problem having lost their quarterback and best player in Terrelle Pryor. And while Auburn only has a few starters returning on offense, the Buckeyes will be without most of their starters until their sixth game in 2011. And even when the suspension do expire, those players will be coming back to what could be by then a very demoralized Ohio State team.

Arkansas

Arkansas certainly made quite the leap forward in 2010. Thanks to the exploits of Ryan Mallett, the Razorbacks surprised many in the SEC, earning their way into the Sugar Bowl—incidentally where they were beaten by Ohio State.

But when you compare last year's squad to the 2011 prospects, it's hard to imagine the Razorbacks making much of an improvement without Mallett and the four other offensive starters that will need to be replaced from last season.

Arkansas will still be a good team in 2011—those who underestimate the Hogs do so at their own peril. But we don't expect to see a vast improvement this season. But we also don't expect to see Arkansas undergo suspensions and dismissals and resignations, either.

And after all is said and done, it will probably turn out that Arkansas didn't “officially” lose the 2011 Sugar Bowl, either.

Notre Dame

Brian Kelly doesn't know how to do anything else but succeed. Whether it's winning Division II national championships at Grand Valley State, or MAC championships at Central Michigan, or Big East championships at Cincinnati, Brian Kelly is the consummate winner.

In fact, since taking over as the head coach at Grand Valley State in 1991, Brian Kelly has amassed 179 career victories to just 62 losses and two ties. He's also had just one losing season in his 20 seasons as a head coach.

Plus, it's probably a good thing he didn't go lights out in South Bend in his first year as head coach of the Fighting Irish. The last few guys who did that ended up tanking hardcore in the years that followed.

Brian Kelly will win as many games as is possible with his current slate of athletes, and you can expect another bowl game in 2011. Beyond that, Notre Dame will continue to win more and more as Brian Kelly recruits his program's way back into the BCS. Kelly not only recruits the best athletes, he recruits the best people he can find.

Oh, by the way, Notre Dame is returning 10 offensive starters and nine defensive starters from last year's 8-5 team.

All of this sounds exactly like Jim Tressel about seven months ago. But as it turns out, the difference between Brian Kelly and Jim Tressel is the little fact that Kelly wasn't cheating the whole time he was succeeding. Brian Kelly turned out to be real Mr. Integrity and Jim Tressel turned out to be Mr. Facade.