[carom]

#1 - Defending National Champions, I don’t know how you can make a strong argument against this.
#2 - After last year I believe that Texas is the team this year with the most to prove
#3 through #5 - I think you could make a case that #3 and #4 could be switched in order based purely on the schedule. USC, Oklahoma, and Alabama are the contenders that need to convince me that they are for real. They look the part but need to show that any holes in the lineup from the draft are filled. I’m not saying that the top two teams don’t have holes to fill but for the preseason I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I need to see that the sooners o-line is back in form, the trojans QB and LBs are shored up, and the new bama offence can score some points in the SEC.

#6 through #10 - Obviously a lot more of a crap shoot to pick these places. I don’t have much to say about these teams but I think you could make a good case to fit OK State and BoiseState somewhere in these places.

***this is based purely on feeling and very little research. I would love to see some hard evidence to prove me wrong.