2015 College Football

It's my favorite time of year, college football season! I'm super excited. Not sure how my Iowa Hawkeyes are going to look this year. They have some question marks this year, mostly on the offensive line at the tackle spots. They are replacing two NFL draft picks from last year with a pair of sophomores, Boone Myers, a former walk-on, and Ike Boettger, who played QB and TE in high school. They also replace two defensive tackles, but the guys who are filling in look much better than Myers and Boettger. C.J. Beathard takes over at the QB spot after Jake Rudock moved on to Michigan. I'm excited to see what Beathard can do, he's got a cannon for an arm and he can make plays with his feet. I think if he can stay healthy than Iowa has a shot to make it a special year, if not, it could be a long one which could lead to the dismissal of Kirk Ferentz. I really like the secondary and the running backs. The linebackers got worked last year, but they should be much better this year. And they don't have to face David Johnson, Ameer Adbullah, David Cobb, Melvin Gordon and Tevin Coleman this year. All of those guys are wearing NFL jerseys right now, well, maybe not right now, it's 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night, but you know what I mean. They're great running backs.

Living in Albuquerque, I have become a fan of the New Mexico Lobos as well, and this year could be a good one. Bob Davie has really put together a solid roster and they could make a bowl game this year. They've been amongst the best teams in the nation running the football since he's been at the helm, and this year they should add a much better passing game to add some balance. Jhurell Pressley could be one of the best running backs in the country, he averaged nearly 10 yards per carry last year. If the defense improves, it could be a really solid year. They tend to give up a lot of big plays though, should be a lot of high scoring games.

Here's my top preseason top 25

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

Week 1 Games
Week 1 is always hard to predict, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

Auburn vs Louisville: I think Louisville will hang with Auburn for a little while, but the Tigers will pull away late. Auburn 38 Louisville 24

South Carolina vs North Carolina: North Carolina could have a pretty solid team this year, their offense could be really good. North Carolina 31 South Carolina 27

Ohio State at Virginia Tech: Can Virginia Tech beat Ohio State in back-to-back years? I don't see it happening, even though they're at home. Ohio State 45 Virginia Tech 31

Michigan at Utah: The Jim Harbaugh era starts with a tough road trip to Utah, can he bring Michigan back from a horrendous year? Utah 28 Michigan 24

TCU at Minnesota: Minnesota should have a solid defense, but the offense drops off a bit without Cobb and Maxx Williams. TCU is solid all around. TCU 38 Minnesota 24

Alabama vs Wisconsin: Losing Melvin Gordon is going to hurt Wisconsin a lot. Corey Clement is a good running back, but he's not Gordon. Alabama 24 Wisconsin 17

Washington at Boise State: This should be interesting, Chris Petersen coached at Boise State for 13 years before moving on to Washington. Washington 34 Boise State 27

Arizona State vs Texas A&M: This should be a very good game, quite possibly one of the best games of the week. Arizona State 31 Texas A&M 30

Texas at Notre Dame: Notre Dame has an easier schedule than they normally do, but they'll be tested right off the bat with Texas. How good will Texas be this year? Notre Dame 28 Texas 17

Illinois State at Iowa: Looking at this game on the schedule a couple of years ago, I'm sure everyone would pencil in this one as an easy win, but that's not the case. Illinois State lost to North Dakota State in last year's FCS Championship game and they return QB Tre Roberson (3,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing, 40 TDs) and their RB, who's name escapes me right now, ran for another 2,000 plus with nearly 30 TDs. That's a lot of production. Can Iowa's defense shut them down? They better be able to because the offense will probably take a couple of weeks to get going. I still think Iowa has too much talent to not win this one. Iowa 27 Illinois State 17

Mississippi Valley State at New Mexico: I know nothing about Mississippi Valley State, which means this should probably be an easy game for the Lobos. This will be a good game to test out their QBs arms. I know they've added some talented WRs and the passing game could be decent this year. I think the offense is going to roll in this one, and the defense has LB Dakota Cox back, he's a tackling machine. New Mexico 55 Mississippi Valley State 10


Possible Heisman Candidates
Connor Cook QB Michigan State
JT Barrett QB Ohio State
Cardale Jones QB Ohio State
Christian Hackenberg QB Penn State
Trevone Boykin QB TCU
Jared Goff QB California
Cody Kessler QB USC
Jeremy Johnson QB Auburn
Dak Prescott QB Mississippi State
James Conner RB Pittsburgh
Ezekiel Elliott RB Ohio State
Samaje Perine RB Oklahoma
Corey Clement RB Wisconsin
Nick Chubb RB Georgia
Derrick Henry RB Alabama
Leonard Fournette RB LSU
Laquon Treadwell WR Ole Miss
Tyler Boyd WR Pittsburgh

Conference Outlooks
AAC:I think Cincinnati should be the team to beat here, but watch out for East Carolina, Memphis, Houston and Navy. Temple and UCF could be in the hunt as well. I don't see any of these teams cracking the top 25, but Cincinnati might have a shot if they can knock off Miami.

ACC:Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech are the three teams to watch in the playoff hunt. I don't think the ACC will have a playoff team, but all three of those teams should be top 25 teams throughout the season. I could see NC State maybe cracking the top 25 with their schedule early on. Virginia Tech should be solid, but they should start the year with a loss to Ohio State. North Carolina could surprise some people, and Duke and Miami will be good.

Big 10:The Big 10 championship will be determined when Michigan State plays at Ohio State, which I think the Buckeyes will win. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Penn State could all sniff the top 25 throughout the season. If Iowa's offense can click they could also contend for the west title. Michigan will be much better, too, but they won't be near the top of the standings just yet.

Big 12:The two to watch are Baylor and TCU, they're game could determine the winner of the conference and a playoff spot. Oklahoma could sneak in the race as well if they can knock off one of those two teams. No one else really stands out in the conference, Texas, Kansas State, West Virginia and Oklahoma State will all be pretty good, but won't contend for a conference title.

MWC:It should be an interesting race for the conference title this year. I think a lot of people expect Boise State to win it, but I think Utah State and San Diego State will definitely have something to say about it. If Utah State's QB Chuckie Keeton can stay healthy, they should have a really good year, he's a great QB.

Pac 12:The Pac 12 is going to be a great conference again this year and it's really hard to predict what's going to happen. I honestly think Stanford will have a shot to win their division, and USC is my favorite to play them in the conference title game. Oregon will be solid and should be in the top 15 all year. Arizona State, Arizona and UCLA will all be solid, too. Utah could surprise some people. California will be much better, but they really have a tough schedule.

SEC:The SEC always has some great teams, and this year will be no different. Look for Tennessee and Arkansas to sneak up on people this year, too. I've got Auburn playing Tennessee in the conference title game. I usually pick Georgia, but they always screw me over.