College Football - Top 10

Hey, everyone. I'm going to be doing a very early look at next year's pre-season top 10 in college football

1. Florida Gators- Consensus #1 in my mind. Reining national champs they have a lot of momentum coming into next year. However, Florida loses 5 starters From offense, including speedster Percy Harvin. Florida returns everyone from a D that was much improved and only looks to get better as they held what some people said to be "the greatest offense ever" from Oklahoma in the national championship to a mere 14 points. The only question mark for UF is how big of a question mark losing Percy will be. With speedsters Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey also the same WR/RB mold, I don't see UF's loss of Percy Harvin as a big loss.

2. Texas- Texas ended last year holding off a resilient Ohio State team in the Fiesta Bowl. Heisman finalist Colt McCoy return to Texas and will be the focal point of their offense for next year. McCoy being a very good runner and passer for Texas should give defensive coordinators headaches for one more year. Texas has a very weak non-conference schedule this year which sets up the Red River Rivalry as another crucial game if Texas is looking for another national title. Texas' major concern is their D, most notably the line which will lose all 4 starters.

3. Oklahoma- Oklahoma lost in the national title to UF 24-14. However, with the announced return of sophomore QB Sam Bradford for his junior season has once again put OU as one of the front runners for a repeat showing in the title game. OU was led by the big guys up front. They had 4 seniors and one junior up front last year and only Big Trent Williams returns for OU. That is a big question mark weather Bradford will be allowed as much time to sit back and throw as he was last year.

4. USC- The term is often throw out there, "they don't rebuild, they reload" and that is not truer with anyone, but the Trojans of Southern Cal. USC loses LOTS from their Rose Bowl winning team including QB Mark Sanchez, their entire LB crew and two starting DE's, Clay Matthews and Kyle Moore. Hard Hitting Safety Taylor Mays looks to lead a revived Defense which will be a big question mark for their big time showdown early in the season at Ohio State.

5. Alabama- Alabama was embarrassed in the Sugar Bowl to end the 2008 season against Utah. Andre Smith leaves the all-star Bama line, but big Mount Cody remains to anchor a huge powerful line. Bama also loses QB John Parker Wilson and start safety Rashad Johnson. However, the Tide returns WR Julio Jones as they look to revenge their SEC Title and Sugar Bowl loses from a year ago.

6. Virginia Tech- VT is coming of their first BCS Bowl victory in a 20-7 victory over Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl. VT return 9 starters on offense and 7 on defense. However, soon to be starter LB Barquell Rivers started the Orange Bowl and made the play off the game stopping Cincy's QB Tony Pike on a 4th and 1 goaline sneak in the fourth quarter. VT loses CB Macho Harris, but they finished with the 7th best Defense in the country and look to build on that. The question mark is the passing game as last year all the receivers were Freshman and Tyrod Taylor was very inconsistent at QB.

7. Ohio State- OSU is once again coming into the off season with a big let-down. OSU has many loses on both sides of the ball. LB James Laurinaitis and RB Chris"Beanie" Wells aren't going to be back among other. OSU has talent though, with RB Dan Herron taking over at RB and Tyrelle Prior now coming into his second season. OSU will have a big test early against USC where both teams with be replacing lots and will show a lot about these two teams.

8. LSU- LSU had a very disappointing season last year finishing it off against GT in the the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. They routed GT 38-3 and it could've been worse. Jordan Jefferson played very well in that game and he looked like a QB of the future for LSU. However, LSU only return one D lineman from a defensive unit that was a huge let down from typical LSU defenses. Also, inconsistent QB play plagued LSU all last year and if Jefferson can play well and manage the games with LSU's talent and the Mad Hatter (Les Miles) as coach anything can happen.

9. Oklahoma State- OKST return Dez Bryant, Zack Robinson and Kendall Hunter. With this electric trio retuning the offensive firepower will be in high supply. However, the Pokes defense (or lack there of) last year was the main issue. OKST loses two offensive lineman and three from their often burned secondary. Also, Miami's defensive coordinator Bill Young has been added to the staff hoping to make an immediate impact. Bottom line with OKST: If their D is good, just good; they'll have a chance to be great and sneak up for a Big 12 Title appearance.

10. Ole Miss- A resurgent Ole Miss Rebels were the surprise team in the SEC under coach Houston Nutt and QB Jevan Snead. Well, Snead and RB Dexter McCluster are back as well as beast DE Greg Hardy. Ole Miss has talent and a very underrated coach in Nutt. Last year they beat UF and TTU, two teams who had very potent offenses. If Ole Miss can defend like last year they could compete with Alabama and LSU for a SEC West Title as well as a SEC Title.

Honorable Mention: Penn State, Oregon, GT, TCU, UGA