College Football Rankings 2018: Alabama, Clemson top way-too-early Top 25
Because it’s never too early to look ahead to next season, we offer our first 2018 college football rankings with the Way-Too-Early Top 25.
A Way-Too-Early Top 25 is exactly what the name implies. With the celebrations barely finished following the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and the traditional National Signing Day still weeks away, there’s much we don’t know about the 2018 college football season.
However, now that the deadline to enter the NFL Draft has passed, and the December early signing period came and went with roughly two-thirds of FBS recruiting classes complete, things are coming into focus. Hey, the ACC even released its 2018 schedule! Now we’re really cooking!
Countless things will change between the middle of January and September. We learned that lesson the hard way this week with the tragedy at Washington State. We’re also likely to see several high-profile transfers, unfortunate offseason injuries and suspensions for summer off-field incidents that shake up projected depth charts, as well as assistant coaching changes (and potentially a shocking head coaching change or two a la Bob Stoops or Hugh Freeze – though let’s hope not).
As a result of the many, many unknowns that come with following a sport played by 18-to-22-year olds on roughly a dozen days each year, our first 2018 college football rankings are likely to differ quite a bit from our preseason projections. But, as we count down the days to Signing Day, or sit looking out the window waiting for spring practice, we also take a look at which players graduated, who left school early for the NFL, and which programs are on the rise or decline for next season. After weighing some of the most important strengths and weaknesses of each contender, we take an early stab at ranking them.
It was a tale of two seasons for the Missouri Tigers, who opened the 2017 campaign 1-5 before a midseason turnaround sparked by an explosive offense resulted in six straight victories (four of them in SEC play) and a bowl berth. Though it snapped the winning streak, the 33-16 upset loss to Texas shouldn’t dampen the spirits in Columbia because Barry Odom took himself off the hot seat, and brought the Tigers back to respectability in the SEC East.
Strengths:
Drew Lock is the face of the program after leading the SEC with 3,964 passing yards and 44 touchdowns in 2017, then deciding to return to school for his senior season. Lock, who also led the conference in yards per attempt (9.5) and rating (165.67) will miss top target J’Mon Moore and leading rusher Ish Witter, but with all five starters returning on the offensive line and depth at the skill positions, the offense could be just as good next year. Throw in the fact the defense returns five of its top six tacklers from last year and Mizzou could be downright dangerous.
Additionally, a big reason the Tigers snuck into our Way-Too-Early Top 25 is their sneaky favorable schedule. After a difficult opening stretch, Missouri could find itself a favorite in its final six games. Among the games in the stretch-run, Missouri must travel to Florida and Tennessee, but if there’s any year in which to schedule those road games, it’s 2018, when both programs are rebuilding under new head coaches.
Weaknesses:
However, Missouri certainly won’t have it easy. Following a Sept. 15 trip to up-and-coming Purdue, the Russian roulette that is the SEC schedule rotation kicks in. The Tigers open league play with a home game against Georgia and a trip to the other Columbia to face South Carolina. The Bulldogs are sure to be the favorite to repeat as SEC East champs, and South Carolina could be a dark horse candidate to win the division. The Tigers must then make a trip to Tuscaloosa Oct. 13. Not only does the game look like an almost certain loss at this point, it is the third of the three-game, four-week series. A 1-2 start in the SEC is likely, and 0-3 is possible.
Nevertheless, eight wins appears to be a good bet, and 10 is a worthy goal.