CFN preseason top 10

Here is College Football NEWS early top 10

1. Florida
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. USC
5. Oklahoma State
6. LSU
7. Oregon
8. Ole Miss
9. North Carolina
10. Alabama

The Big XII and SEC occupy 7 spots in the preseason poll, although at the end of the year it'll be hard to keep that many up there as they will beat on each other. BUT, seriously NORTH CAROLINA in the top 10? A team i don't care for that will be in the top ten by midseason is PENN STATE, the Big 10 is down but there schedule is easy and if they can get by the Buckeyes they should be 11-0. I don't think they are good enough to beat Florida, OU, or Texas, but obviously at least one of those three will have at least 1 loss.

SEC Preview

The gauntlet of the SEC conference is a little tough to figure at this point, but i'll make my predictions anyway and see what happens. Let's start with the WEST. AUBURN: coming off of the disaster of last season, things might not be much better this year. Auburn was not able to sign a single top 150 player in the offseason and the offense is looking to come out of it's one year coma of last season. I would imagine as usuall the defense will be the strength of this team, but no defense can spend as much time on the field as this one did last season and be successful. ALABAMA: defense and run the ball, pretty simple game plan and they seem to have the pieces to do it successfully. They should battle for WEST spot in the title game because they don't see the Gators in the regular season. ARKANSAS: Petrino having his first year behind him in the SEC should have this team better, but this ain't the BIG EAST and LOUISVILLE. They should be better, but don't look for them to contend for anything other than possibly a minor bowl game. MSU: not a lot to say about them other than a new era will begin this season, and it wouldn't have to do much to be better than the last. LSU: should be a strong contender once again, another good recruiting class, but the biggest hurdle i see for them is that they will have to go to Tuscaloosa and Oxford and they catch the Gators at home at night( and we all know what that means ). OLE MISS: looking to ride the success of last season Houston Nutt returns a solid team, and the schedule works well for them. They catch Bama and LSU at home, and more importantly they too miss the Gators all together.

The EAST seems to be a little easier to figure out, looks to be Florida and a bunch of also rans. VANDY: program has continued to improve, but hard to imagine they'll ever be able to recruit the quality numbers of athletes to be a force in this conference. KENTUCKY: will play some teams tough, but in the end they just aren't that great of a football team. SOUTH CAROLINA: is one of the toughest teams to figure out for me, since the arrival of Spurrier i've been waiting for some offense out of this team, and well there just hasn't really been any to speak of. With that said i don't see things changing this season, and they'll probably end up fighting for second best in the EAST. GEORGIA: possibly had the biggest let down of a season last year with all the expectations, and now they'll be starting a new QB which usually doesn't work well in the SEC. TENN: may have the best coaching staff in the country now, but it's going to take a little time to turn the ship. Great recruiting class and Lane Kiffin will bring a new upbeat atmosphere to this program and i think the future looks bright, just not for 2009. FLORIDA: should cruise into the title game, but if there are any questions to ask of this team it would be how do you replace Percy. Okay so it's really not that big of a deal with the talent they have.

Prediction for title game: FLORIDA vs. OLE MISS

Starting with the Bix XII

As the 2009 season is fastly approaching, let's take a look at what could be in store for the Big XII this season. Starting with the North half of the conference, this shapes up to be a wide open race. On the side of experience i would tend to give Kansas the advantage heading in. Only two teams with a chance in the North return their starting QB's, Kansas and Colorado. Mizzou is a team to watch, but not sure how they will replace their top two receiving threats and a QB all at once. Bo Polini looks to improve the corn children even further and they could be in the chase if they can get some sign of offense. K State took a trip down memory lane with Coach Snyder, but not real sure what the point of him taking over again was? The coach under the most pressure in the North this year has to be Hawkins in Colorado, he will need a little Boise magic this season or it could be his last in Boulder. In the end i think we will see a 4 or 5 loss team from the NOrth heading to the Big XII title game.

NOw to the South, and unfortunately it looks like another typical year, the winner of the Red River shootout should be on the inside track to Big XII title and national championship. We'll look at everybody else anyways, so let's start with the Red Raiders. Leach will break in a new QB this year ( not that it matters much )but that's not too big a deal considering all their QB's are products of the system anyways, their biggest issue is how do they top last year? I don't think they can, i predict they'll lose 3 conference games and possibly be back in the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma State seems to be the sexy pick this year, and although i do like the coach they historically don't seem to be a team that plays well when it's expected of them. The Cowboys will be better, but i have a feeling they will take a couple of heartbreaking losses that will make their season less than memorable. Baylor will continue to improve but will largely remain irrelavent in the conference, and the Aggies, well I don't see things getting better in Aggieland anytime soon, maybe they should bring Slocum back. That leaves UT and boomer Sooner, and there are not a lot of holes in either team. OU will have to replace the receiving core from a year ago and they may take a little time, so I'll give the Horns the leg up in South.

Prediction for Title game Texas vs. Kansas