Power 5 2015 Surprise Teams

Submitted by OccaM on

Since the 2015 season can't get here fast enough I was wondering what MGoBoard's opinions are on potential surprise teams for next year. 

Really good surprise teams would be like Georgia Tech/TCU/MSU(ntmsu) from this year.

Try not to mention the usual culprits ie OSU, MSU, Bama etc... 

B1G: IU/UM

Sudfeld is a good QB when healthy and they replaced Coleman with the #10 rusher in the country from UAB. The division is going to be rough, but IU won't be a team to overlook on the schedule for anyone especially if they get an avg defense. Obviously with Harbaugh and a pending QB I gotta put us on here. 

ACC: Miami(ytm) 

Kaaya should be a good QB given what we've seen from him as a freshman. FSU will be reloading, which leaves GaTech and Louisville as the other 2 threatening teams. Oh and Golden needs to get his shit together soon before the seat turns hot. 

PAC12: Colorado/Cal, maybe Wazzu

I was originally going to say Wazzu until I saw how close many of the games Colorado lost this year were. They remind me of Arkansas a bit in that once they learn to win the close ones, they'll be in the conversation. Cal is another popular pick for this one. MacIntyre and Dykes got their teams in position imo. UW would have been on here, but they lose a lot of NFL talent this offseason. 

B12: oSu or TTU? 

This was probably the hardest one... both teams have a QB carousel going on but oSu's defense is better so I think they'll be bigger national players. 

SEC: UK/Tennessee/Arkansas

Jones seems to have gotten over the academics hurdle that he inherited at Tenn, and Arkansas is an easy pick after how they ended their season this year under Bielema. Georgia (with Nick Chubb n co) should be the favorites of the East, but they have a tendency to underperform so Tenn/UK should have an easier path imo. I don't think UK has had the recruits that Stoops has brought in ever, so they might make some noise. 

Boise St. is not a P5 team, but might as well chalk them in for another non-Semifinal CFP Bowl bid as they are always the most consistent Go5 team every year. Under Harsin this will be no different. I wonder if they will ever get a shot at the Top 4... 

Thoughts? 

 

MGoBoard

Braylon_Edward…

January 19th, 2015 at 12:44 AM ^

You mean their QB who was benched last year? Or the other who didn't win the job and when he finally took over lost it again? And it takes way more than NFL potential to win games especially in the PAC12. And they were smashed by the best opponents they faced last year and were competitive in a handful of others vs middle of the road PAC12 teams. But yes I'm throwing shit at a wall.

Joined: 07/27/2014

MGoPoints: 2069

Blau

January 19th, 2015 at 5:21 AM ^

I'll take it from here, Braylon. 

 

CU went 2-10 last year and 0-9 in the Pac 12. This is a step down from 2013 where they went 4-8 with the same coaching staff. This suggest the projectory is going down. In addition their only wins were against the powerhouses of UMass and Hawaii. UMass went 3-9 in the MAC and Hawaii went 4-9 in the MWC. They barely beat those teams 41-38 and 21-12 respectively. They also lost 8 straight to end their season. Not exactly inspiring.

 

As far as the QB being NFL potential, I assume you're referring to Sefo Liufau. He had a 65% completion percentage with 28tds/15ints. Passed for over 3,000 yards. Not bad by any means but I seriously doubt he'll be mentioned in any draft discussions. 

 

Simply put, I can see CU doing better this year because it's not hard to do better than 2-10 with 16 returning starters but the Pac 12 is getting better faster than CU can catch up.

Joined: 01/23/2014

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swdodgimus

January 19th, 2015 at 6:42 AM ^

and has them on a Duke trajectory. They were 4-8 and 5-7 early on, but then had two 3-9 years. Fifth year had them going 6-7, and then they broke through in year six. With the lack of AD support Colorado has, and the mess he inherited, MacIntyre has to be given time. Next year will be slight improvement at 4-8/5-7. They almost beat Oregon St., Cal, UCLA, and Utah, plus had competitive games with ASU and Washington. They'll get a few of those next year.

Joined: 07/25/2009

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swdodgimus

January 19th, 2015 at 6:49 AM ^

was also pretty young, if I recall. They ended the year on a roll by denying Cal a bowl bid, UCLA a conference championship bid, and thrashing Maryland. Defense was top ten, and offense was young. They'll be good. Edit: They lose a lot from that defense. Eight starters. Definitely not top ten, but top 25.

Joined: 07/25/2009

MGoPoints: 688

ShruteBeetFarms

January 19th, 2015 at 7:18 AM ^

Sat. Sept. 5: at Northwestern
Sat. Sept. 12: vs. Central Florida
Sat. Sept. 19: at USC
Fri. Sept. 25: at Oregon State
Sat. Oct. 3: vs Arizona
Thurs. Oct. 15: vs UCLA
Sat. Oct. 24: vs. Washington
Sat. Oct. 31: at Washington State
Sat. Nov. 7: at Colorado
Sat. Nov. 14: vs. Oregon
Sat. Nov. 21: vs. Cal
Sat. Nov. 28: vs. Notre Dame

Even the first few seasons under Shaw they benefited from other programs that were having down years such as USC, ASU and Arizona. The PAC 12 has good coaching across the board now.

Joined: 09/25/2010

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swdodgimus

January 19th, 2015 at 6:53 AM ^

That they'll take a small step back before breaking through in two years. They lose Cobb and Maxxxxxx Williams, who was all of their offense. They even lose their back up RB in Kirkwood, so they'll be breaking in someone completely new. Plus, the interior of the line loses their two studs. Below average offense with solid defense makes me think 6-6.

Joined: 07/25/2009

MGoPoints: 688

ThadMattasagoblin

January 19th, 2015 at 12:50 AM ^

Arkansas will definitely be good. Michigan will be 9-3 which will be surprising to the national media who thinks our players aren't good enough to go above 6-6/7-5 right now which is absurd. BTN had PSU above us for 2015 even though we beat them. Minnesota will be good. UCLA will be good.

Joined: 08/24/2011

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MGoSoCal

January 19th, 2015 at 12:59 AM ^

I think Butch Jones is building something special at Tennessee. Or maybe it's just because I worked right next to the world's biggest Vols fan in Afghanistan for about seven months and I'm just drinking some of his kool-aid... But look at Tennessee's recruiting classes over the last couple years: Their current recruiting class is ranked 3rd and 2014's class was ranked 7th. Tennessee should start challenging the likes of Georgia and Florida for the SEC East title very soon. That's just my two cents though. I know very little about football and won't act like I do.

Joined: 08/08/2014

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LSAClassOf2000

January 19th, 2015 at 8:07 AM ^

To be fair, of course, most folks have said this about Northwestern for the last two decades almost, but it seems particularly true here deep into the Fitzgerald years. Because they are Northwestern, they can hang with and beat potentially anyone, but they can also get curbstomped and lose for the exact same reason. Sometimes, the problem flips quarter-to-quarter in games, sometimes they do something brilliant at the end and sometimes they just fall down and that's the game. If "WTF" were an aura, the Wildcats own it in recent Big Ten history. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

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uminks

January 19th, 2015 at 2:44 AM ^


Utes- May lose on the road L
Beavers- Should take them at home W
Rebels- May be our easiest home game W
Cougars- May be a tough game but a W
Terrapins- I think a road win here. W
Wildcats- Home W
Spartans- This will be a game JH will win W
Gophers- They're a solid team. May be a L
Scarlet Knights- We will win W
Hoosiers- could be a tough road game. Defense plays well, W.
Nittany Lions- May be close, since PSU will improve W.
Buckeyes- I think JH will really want this game. A close loss L.

JH could finish 9-3. If a few of these close games are losses we could fall to 7-5. If we upset OSU and really develop by the time we play the Gophers and of course a big upset against OSU. I would say 11-1 season is possible.

7-5 to 11-1, with 9-3 possible.

Joined: 11/10/2009

MGoPoints: 32037

alum96

January 19th, 2015 at 5:07 AM ^

Surprise teams up and down -

  • Notre Dame (P5 kinda) - if Malik Zaire develops they bring back almost the rest of the team.  [19 starters]  USC and Stanford will be tough but if they survive September with 1 loss (Texas, GA Tech, Clemson) or so they could be a 10-2 type team.
  • Tenn - bring back almost everyone from last year, still recruiting like banshees.  If they look average this year, Jones could get Hoke'd.
  • Cal - Jared Goff is the best QB in NCAA that no one knows about east of Utah.  62% completion %, 4K yards, 35 TDs, 7 INTs.  I see them finishing 3rd in the Pac 12 north and giving Oregon/Stanford real scares in their games.  Maybe upsetting one.
  • ASU - last year ASU was like OSU, they were supposed to be a year away.  Their 2 deep was filled with underclassmen.  Instead they were challenging for Pac 12 in a loaded division until 2 weeks to go.  Division is brutal with USC ready to go back to top 10 and UCLA (if they can find a QB) top 15ish material.  AZ and Utah also here.
  • Arkansas - think the can finish 2nd or 3rd in the SEC West IF their QB develops.  Love love love their D.
  • Kentucky - not going to compete for the top of the East but this is year 3 for Mark Stoops and that is the year top end coaches in major turnarouns start to make serious noise.  Very young team last year.  I expect them to pull some surprise upsets.
  • Purdue - not saying they are competing for the Big 10 West but I think they will be a very respectable team and pull some upsets this year - like their QB, and their team will.  7-5 or 8-4?
  • Texas Tech - time for Klingsbury to show something; again not saying they will win the Big 12 (TCU and Baylor both loaded) but a 4th place finish sandwiched between OK and TX maybe.

 

To the downside:

  • Miss State, I have them competing with potentially Texas A&M (due to Hill transfer) for last place.  Texas A&M at least pulled a coup with a D.C., Mullen lost his to Florida and returns the least players in the country among P5.  And that division remains trouble.  Until last year all Mullen did was beat baby seals and crap teams that crossed over from the East like Vanderbilt and TN - I see a return to form. ;)  Even with Prescott.
  • Maryland - they were pretty average last year but I believe they finished 3rd in the Big 10.  Got destroyed when they played real teams like OSU, Wisconsin, and MSU with a senior laden team.  PSU will improve, UM will improve and Maryland lost Diggs and a whole lot of starters.
  • Georgia - Chubb is the man.  But if Chubb is hurt at any point this is a young team, and if TN, UF, and Kentucky  improve they face some challenges.  Missouri should remain decent.  Some think this is a top 10 team hence why I put them here.
  • South Carolina - a lot of the same reasons as Georgia, I assume a bounceback from FL, and better competition from TN and UK.  Suddenly the East is crowded.  At Spurrier's age they may begin calling for him to retire.
  • KSU - damnit I hate doing this to the wizard but if Texas can find any offense, Oklahoma rebounds and teams like Texas Tech and OK State rebound KSU could finish outside the top 5 in conf.  Tyler Lockett graduates.  Snyder will probably have 20 JUCOs ready to step in and make me look bad.

 

I am going to put the word cheetah here so I can search for the term and look back and see how wrong I was next December :)

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west2

January 19th, 2015 at 9:58 AM ^

Tennessee and Arkansas.  The SEC is gonna have a couple of new players next year I think.  Also I would add Arizona and Utah to that list.  In the BgTn I would say PSU unfortunately. 

Joined: 01/23/2011

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wayneandgarth

January 19th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^

Indiana without Coleman?  Wow they will be back to really bad again.  Any good recruit behind a poor OL, is not going to tear it up like they would need to get back to mediocre.

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