There's probably already been some kind of thread on this, but I'm too lazy to go look. My thinking about this season is kind of like a lot of you. I think this could be a crazy season for a lot of reasons. Mainly because i see more parity this year. And probably a lot of 2 loss teams in the Power 5 conferences. Here are a few of my darkhorses:
Cincinnati...With an NFL QB like Gunner Kiel and that offense, I think they'll simply be able to outscore all of their opponents. Their toughest road game will probably be at BYU. But other than that they play most of their tougher opponents at home, where they have been double tough. Cincy could very well go undefeated if there is any improvement at all from their defense. I just don't see any monsters on their schedule. And the two teams that were big threats last year UCF and memphis, lost a lot of starters off their teams. The only negative I have on this team is Tubberville. I've never really 100% trusted him as a HC. But that's mainly a lingering opinion from his Big 12 coaching days in which he couldn't deal with the Big 12 offenses and superior coaching. But the AAC is a different animal.
Boise State...Although I think this team is a little overrated, mainly because QB Grant Hnedrick is gone and Boise uses a system that is predicated on a developed QB, the schedule they play is just so easy that you have to put them in the playoff picture. If they can get through the month of September at BYU and at Virginia I think they're on their way. But something tells me they are going to stumble somewhere down the line for the reasons I stated.
LSU...Too talented of a team for people not to be talking about them. As always with LSU everything will be predicated on QB play. Miles needs to go back to being the riverboat gambler and turn these QB's loose. They were way too conservative last season. At any rate, I don't see them having two 8-5 seasons in a row. And by SEC standards their schedule is doable drawing Florida and SC from the East. The game that will tell us all we need to know about how the LSU season goes is their early home game with Auburn.
Notre Dame...It's hard to use ND and darkhorse in the same sentence since this is the most overbet and usually overrated team in the country almost every season. But being an Independent their name isn't brought up very often when it comes to making the CFP. They have a decent chance to get in if we can get one or two conferences with 2 loss champions. Which I think is highly possible this year. I think the key for Notre Dame is if they are going to lose a game, lose it early and then build up some momentum in the second half of the season to get themselves in the CFP conversation. As with most of the teams this year, it will all come down to QB play. The key for this team could be more about the chemistry of all of the assistant coaches they replaced than the QB issue. If everything comes together early they could be tough. The midseason game with USC will be a huge gauge for this team. Both are pretty strong teams that could end up meeting again in the playoffs if USC can make it out of their conference with 2 losses or less. But I don't really consider USC a darkhorse for the CFP.
Cincinnati...With an NFL QB like Gunner Kiel and that offense, I think they'll simply be able to outscore all of their opponents. Their toughest road game will probably be at BYU. But other than that they play most of their tougher opponents at home, where they have been double tough. Cincy could very well go undefeated if there is any improvement at all from their defense. I just don't see any monsters on their schedule. And the two teams that were big threats last year UCF and memphis, lost a lot of starters off their teams. The only negative I have on this team is Tubberville. I've never really 100% trusted him as a HC. But that's mainly a lingering opinion from his Big 12 coaching days in which he couldn't deal with the Big 12 offenses and superior coaching. But the AAC is a different animal.
Boise State...Although I think this team is a little overrated, mainly because QB Grant Hnedrick is gone and Boise uses a system that is predicated on a developed QB, the schedule they play is just so easy that you have to put them in the playoff picture. If they can get through the month of September at BYU and at Virginia I think they're on their way. But something tells me they are going to stumble somewhere down the line for the reasons I stated.
LSU...Too talented of a team for people not to be talking about them. As always with LSU everything will be predicated on QB play. Miles needs to go back to being the riverboat gambler and turn these QB's loose. They were way too conservative last season. At any rate, I don't see them having two 8-5 seasons in a row. And by SEC standards their schedule is doable drawing Florida and SC from the East. The game that will tell us all we need to know about how the LSU season goes is their early home game with Auburn.
Notre Dame...It's hard to use ND and darkhorse in the same sentence since this is the most overbet and usually overrated team in the country almost every season. But being an Independent their name isn't brought up very often when it comes to making the CFP. They have a decent chance to get in if we can get one or two conferences with 2 loss champions. Which I think is highly possible this year. I think the key for Notre Dame is if they are going to lose a game, lose it early and then build up some momentum in the second half of the season to get themselves in the CFP conversation. As with most of the teams this year, it will all come down to QB play. The key for this team could be more about the chemistry of all of the assistant coaches they replaced than the QB issue. If everything comes together early they could be tough. The midseason game with USC will be a huge gauge for this team. Both are pretty strong teams that could end up meeting again in the playoffs if USC can make it out of their conference with 2 losses or less. But I don't really consider USC a darkhorse for the CFP.
... guess that's where the "o" in IMO comes in.
