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College football 2018: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

By Cody Williams

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) celebrates and holds up the CFP Trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs on January 8, 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) celebrates and holds up the CFP Trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs on January 8, 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Every college football team in the top 25 has their merits, but also their flaws. What is the biggest Achilles’ heel for each team ranked in the preseason?

There is no perfect college football team, ever. Sure, there are teams almost annually that end the year with a perfect record, but there is a lot more that goes into that than just saying that it was a perfect team that accomplished that. Teams need good breaks and luck, creative and wise coaching and so much more to achieve something like that. And again, the reason for that is because no college football team is perfect.

Having said that, not all flaws are created equal, as some are clearly more glaring than others. That’s why you have teams that are in the national conversation as the best of a given season while others are just struggling to win games. There are levels to this sort of thing.

However, where flaws and Achilles’ heels of teams get very interesting in regards to those levels and in general is when you are talking about the best teams in the country. When you look at what could hold a team back from reaching their potential in comparison to the other best teams in the country, you are ultimately looking at the things that could determine how things like the New Years Six games and the College Football Playoff will shake out that season.

As we are getting ready to embark on the 2018 season, there is certainly plenty of debate about how things could play out this year. Perhaps even more so than most years, the gap between what the best teams in the country currently are and unattainable perfection is pretty obvious. Thus, what these flaws are and how they stack up against one another is well worth looking at.

So that’s what we’re set to do, going through the top 25 teams in the country and find their biggest Achilles’ heel for the 2018 college football season.

Note: With the AP Top 25 poll not yet released, we’re looking at Sporting News’ most recent preseason top 25 rankings.

25. Boise State

Achilles’ heel: Brett Rypien question marks

Fans of the Boise State Broncos are going to be seeing a lot of running back Alexander Mattison this season. The rising junior really came on last season as he seemed to gain steam as the season went on. When the year came to a close, Mattison took 212 carries for 1,086 yards and 12 scores. Meanwhile, he also garnered 28 receptions for an additional 284 yards and another touchdown. With another year under his belt, he’s going to be featured heavily in the offense.

Having said that, this Boise State team is going to go as far as quarterback Brett Rypien is able to take them. He’s had the benefit throughout his career with the Broncos of always having a workhorse running back behind him. And while he has that again entering the 2018 campaign, all signs point to him being called upon to be the senior leader of this offense.

That’s at least somewhat troubling considering what we saw from Rypien last season as he had the worst statistical season of his three years as the starter for the Broncos, failing to eclipse 3,000 yards passing and throwing fewer than 20 touchdowns (16) for the first time in his career.

Put simply, Rypien has to be more of a playmaker for this offense for Boise State to make noise in the national picture as a Group of 5 team. He can’t be a check-down artist in the interest of efficiency, but also must maintain his low turnover rate. Even with Mattison, if he can’t get to that form, this team has a limited ceiling.