The College Football Countdown, Part III
In today's installment of the countdown, can two blossoming powers maintain last season's momentum and can three traditional powers retool for 2016?
15. Houston Cougars — So what can Tom Herman possibly do for an encore in just his second season as the Cougars coach? He only went 13-1 and beat Florida State in a bowl game in his first season and although other bigger-name schools came calling, Herman stayed and why not? Houston is one of the nation’s biggest cities and with his recruiting base, he could turn the Cougars into new national power, maybe in the Big 12.
Greg Ward is back after being one of just two quarterbacks in all of NCAA Division I to throw for over 2,000 yards and rush for over 1,000 last year (Clemson’s Deshaun Watson was the other). His top two receivers return, as does four linemen, and two transfers will shore up any offensive holes. They lost three in the secondary, but if those spots can be filled, look out. The opener against Oklahoma could be very interesting indeed.
14. Ole Miss Rebels — If any program in the country can’t wait to get football started, it’s has to be the Rebels. The joy of seeing three players taken in the first round of the NFL draft was tempered by offthe-field questions surrounding those players, which led to questions about benefits provided to Laremy Tunsil while in Oxford and head coach Huge Freeze being put under a pretty bright spotlight.
Those problems aside, Ole Miss has holes to fill, but also has the potential to be a Top 10 team once again. Chad Kelly is coming off 31 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards passing and now he has Washington transfer Damore’ea Stringfellow to help shore up the receiving corps. Freshman Greg Little is expected to be one of four new starters along the offensive line. An early test versus Florida State will give them an idea of how good they really are.
13. Georgia Bulldogs — Kirby Smart is finally back in Athens and is finally a head coach. Now it’s time to see how he does leading his own program. The offense has plenty of questions, including A.) will superstar running back Nick Chubb be the same after last year’s knee injury, B.) will Sony Michel be ready to go if Chubb isn’t and C.) who will be the quarterback? Then there is also the offensive line, which must replace a trio of starters.
The defense should be OK, but still questions linger with only one returning starter in the Bulldogs’ front seven. The schedule, however, is favorable. The only real tough road game will be Sept. 24 at Ole Miss, while Tennessee, Florida and Auburn all have to come to Athens in conference play. The Dawgs open with a tough non-conference game against North Carolina in Atlanta.
12. Ohio State Buckeyes — It’s something of a testament to how well Urban Meyer has recruited that the Buckeyes would even be ranked this high. Most teams that lost that much senior and underclassmen talent
to the NFL would be irrelevant for a couple of years, but that’s not the case in Columbus. J.T. Barrett has the quarterback spot all to himself now and a solid line up front to protect him.
Offensive skill players will have to step up, but even without the likes of Joey Bosa, Darron Lee and Vonn Bell, Ohio State’s defense will be just as good as
anyone’s, especially with the likes of linebacker Raekwon McMillan and safety Malik Hooker. If they can find a way to get by Oklahoma in Norman on Sept. 17, there’s a very good chance Ohio State will be 10-0 going into the final two regular season games against Michigan State and Michigan.
11. USC Trojans — The Men of Troy certainly haven’t lived up to expectations over the past few years and this year’s schedule might
be the toughest in the nation with an opener against Alabama, home games against Notre Dame, Oregon and Arizona State and conference road contests at Stanford, Washington, Utah and crosstown rival UCLA. They have a new head coach in Clay Helton and will be starting a new quarterback.
However, the Trojans have do have talent. Quarterback Max Browne will step into the big shoes left by