College football 2018 preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team

I agree it sounds like a long shot for Miami to go undefeated in the regular season, but it was a lot more unlikely when they did it last year. Looking at Miami’s schedule, it’s hard to find a game they won’t be favored so I’m picking them to go 12-0 and find themselves in a very similar situation to 2017.

Malik Rosier returns under center with plenty of South Florida produced athletes around him. It’s hard to tell what to expect from Rosier but the Canes need to do everything they can to solidify the team around him starting with the offensive line. They struggled throughout the spring but Richt has indicated that the unit has made serious progress over the summer.

The Canes’ biggest challenges after LSU are Florida State at home and Virginia Tech on the road. I think they’ll take care of business when Florida State comes to town which will likely set up a matchup with Virginia Tech that features at least one undefeated ACC team. That game might as well be a semifinal playoff game since the winner will almost certainly punch their ticket to the ACC Championship. I think Miami will find a way to win, even on the road to set up a rematch with Clemson.

It will (hopefully) be less one-sided than last year but Clemson is a cut above the rest of the ACC and it’s going to take a special team to wrestle their stranglehold on the conference away.