2014 College Football Early Preview and Predictions

College football starts this week! There are some great early games, too. Here's a look at my top 50 teams heading into the season. This is not where I think they will end up.

Preseason Top 50
1-Florida State
2-Oklahoma
3-Alabama
4-Oregon
5-UCLA
6-Georgia
7-Michigan State
8-Baylor
9-Auburn
10-Ohio State
11-South Carolina
12-Stanford
13-USC
14-LSU
15-Ole Miss
16-Wisconsin
17-TCU
18-Clemson
19-Arizona State
20-Kansas State
21-Iowa
22-Louisville
23-Miami
24-Notre Dame
25-Washington
The rest: Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Nebraska, UCF, Mississippi State, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Marshall, Duke, Houston, BYU, Missouri, Penn State, Boise State, Navy, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Oregon State, Bowling Green, Utah State, UL-Lafayette, Arizona, Northwestern


ACC: Florida State is the clear cut favorite here, but I think they will lose at Miami, knocking them out of the playoff picture. I think they will get a rematch with Miami in the championship game and win. Duke, Pitt, UNC, and Va Tech will challenge Miami for the division. Pitt isn't the best team in the league, but they have a pretty favorable schedule.

AAC: This league will come down to UCF, Houston or Cincinnati, I think Cincinnati will end up winning it. UCF has a tough schedule early on, but could rebound.

Big Ten: Michigan State is my favorite to take the East, even before the injury to Braxton Miller of Ohio State. The West should be very competitive and could come down to the Iowa-Wisconsin match up on November 22. I'm picking Iowa, not only because that's my team, but they get Wisconsin at home. Michigan State will beat Iowa in the title game and clinch a spot in the playoffs despite an early season loss at Oregon.

Big 12: This should be a tight race between Oklahoma and Baylor, with the edge going to Oklahoma here. Oklahoma will clinch a playoff spot by running the table.

Pac 12: Oregon will beat UCLA in a rematch of an early season game that UCLA will win. Oregon will clinch a spot in the playoffs.

SEC: Alabama is the top team in the league and I have them taking on Georgia in the title game. Alabama will be 13-0 and ranked #1 heading into the playoff. A&M will slip this year, Auburn has a brutal schedule, too.

Ind: Notre Dame will struggle to make a bowl game with their schedule, BYU and Navy should be solid. Navy's schedule shapes up nicely for them.

MAC: Bowling Green is my favorite to win the MAC this year taking on Northern Illinois in the conference title game.

MWC: Boise State should take the conference this year, but Utah State could contend with a healthy Chuckie Keeton at QB.

Sun Belt: UL-Lafayette is the favorite in the Sun Belt this year, they welcome a lot of newcomers.

C-USA: Marshall is going to be pretty solid and they have a chance to be undefeated this year. I think they'll get tripped up in the conference title game by North Texas.

Heisman Candidates

QB - Jameis Winston Florida State, Marcus Mariota Oregon, Bryce Petty Baylor, Nick Marshall Auburn, Brett Hundley UCLA
RB - Todd Gurley Georgia, Melvin Gordon Wisconsin, Duke Johnson Miami, Jeremy Langford Michigan State, Mike Davis South Carolina, Ameer Abdullah Nebraska
WR - Amari Cooper Alabama, Antwan Godley Baylor, Ty Montgomery Stanford, Jamison Crowder Duke, Tyler Boyd Pittsburgh

Playoff
1-Alabama vs 4-Michigan State
2-Oklahoma vs 3-Oregon

Championship
2-Oklahoma over 1-Alabama

Here are my predictions for this week's top games.

Texas A&M at South Carolina: I think Texas A&M is going to drop off a bit this year and South Carolina should be solid. South Carolina 27 Texas A&M 17

Boise State vs Ole Miss: This is a great early non-conference game, Boise State is the Mountain West favorite and Ole Miss will be pretty impressive this year. Ole Miss 31 Boise State 21

Penn State vs UCF: UCF lost their QB Bortles, but return a lot of starters. PSU has Hackenberg back at QB and coach James Franklin is reloading, the Nittany Lions will be really good in a couple of years and should be solid this year. Penn State 34 UCF 21

Ohio State at Navy: Navy is going to be good and they have a pretty nice schedule, they could get to 10 wins this year. The Buckeyes took a huge hit losing Heisman hopeful QB Braxton Miller. I think they'll start slow, but win a close one. Ohio State 28 Navy 24

Northern Iowa at Iowa: Not a huge game, but as an Iowa fan, I always like to make a prediction. Northern Iowa should be one of the top FCS teams this year and could put up a good fight early on, but Iowa has too much talent. Iowa 34 UNI 17

North Dakota State at Iowa State: ISU has a pretty solid offense and should be able to put up a lot of points, their defense looks awful though. This should be a high scoring game. Iowa State 38 NDSU 34

Clemson at Georgia: Another huge non-conference game, Clemson lost Boyd and Watkins so their offense won't be as good, but they should have a tough defense. I like Georgia this year, Todd Gurley is the best running back in the country. Georgia 24 Clemson 17

Florida State vs Oklahoma State: Oklahoma State will be a little down this year, which isn't good for the season opener. The Seminoles are loaded. Florida State 45 Oklahoma State 21

Wisconsin vs LSU: Both teams lost a lot last year, especially LSU, they lost their top skill players. Wisconsin doesn't return many WRs and will rely on a new QB to run the offense. They do have two very talented running backs, including Melvin Gordon, one of the best in the country. LSU 24 Wisconsin 21

Miami at Louisville: This will be a fun Monday night conference game. Louisville will be playing their first ACC game and should be good if WR Parker is healthy. Both teams announced that they will start Freshmen at QB this year, so this could be a sloppy game. I think Louisville pulls it off at home. Louisville 24 Miami 20

UTEP at New Mexico: I'll be going to this game Saturday night, the Lobos should be much improved this year. They lost RB Kasey Carrier, but they are adding in some more passing and the defense will be a lot better. New Mexico 34 UTEP 24