College Football Preseason Rankings 2015

It's only 5 days until college football season begins again, so I'm bringing you my preseason rankings and predictions for all 128 FBS teams. There are a few surprises in the top 10, as well as a few familiar faces, and a few perennial favorites that are starting out a little lower than they are used to. Here are my full preseason rankings:

				Rec		ProjRec
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	SOS	MOV
1	1	Ohio State	-43.528			12	0
2	2	TCU	-33.952			11	1
3	20	Oklahoma	-29.507			11	1
4	8	Arkansas	-28.471			11	1
5	3	Oregon	-25.857			11	1
6	16	LSU	-24.463			11	1
7	17	Clemson	-20.308			11	1
8	5	Georgia	-19.251			11	1
9	50	California	-17.94			9	3
10	19	Stanford	-17.186			10	2
11	10	Mississippi State	-15.547			9	3
12	9	Ole Miss	-15.498			8	4
13	26	Arizona	-14.297			9	3
14	6	Baylor	-12.617			10	2
15	29	Utah	-12.17			8	4
16	35	Tennessee	-12.079			8	4
17	28	Louisiana Tech	-11.934			10	2
18	22	Texas A&M	-11.751			8	4
19	42	Virginia Tech	-11.511			9	3
20	18	UCLA	-10.605			8	4
21	34	Memphis	-9.3867			10	2
22	48	Pittsburgh	-9.3182			9	3
23	7	Michigan State	-9.2338			8	4
24	14	Marshall	-9.2306			11	1
25	74	Arkansas State	-8.4368			10	2
26	23	Arizona State	-8.2144			7	5
27	33	Nebraska	-7.8293			10	2
28	30	Florida	-7.8171			8	4
29	73	North Carolina	-7.3772			9	3
30	25	Florida State	-7.3348			9	3
31	65	Western Kentucky	-6.8549			9	3
32	13	USC	-6.6588			6	6
33	81	Appalachian State	-5.764			10	2
34	49	Cincinnati	-5.6617			10	2
35	75	Toledo	-5.2956			9	3
36	24	Louisville	-5.1981			8	4
37	45	Georgia Southern	-4.629			9	3
38	4	Alabama	-4.0856			5	7
39	51	North Carolina State	-3.9792			8	4
40	57	Kentucky	-3.9367			8	4
41	37	Notre Dame	-3.7444			7	5
42	53	Penn State	-3.3751			8	4
43	21	Wisconsin	-2.7945			9	3
44	12	Georgia Tech	-2.3041			6	6
45	84	Texas State	-0.4715			8	4
46	72	Northern Illinois	-0.3314			9	3
47	40	Brigham Young	-0.0085			8	4
48	86	Texas Tech	0.06576			7	5
49	27	Missouri	0.2166			6	6
50	61	Navy	0.40206			9	3
51	79	Rice	0.80939			8	4
52	71	San Diego State	1.05749			8	4
53	67	Western Michigan	1.42211			7	5
54	116	Southern Miss	1.52556			7	5
55	68	Temple	1.9112			8	4
56	43	Washington	1.96742			4	8
57	102	Bowling Green	2.08168			7	5
58	83	Colorado	2.19694			5	8
59	36	Miami (FL)	2.47904			5	7
60	31	West Virginia	2.48629			7	5
61	94	Florida International	2.81593			7	5
62	82	Middle Tennessee	3.211			7	5
63	64	Houston	3.29214			7	5
64	70	Washington State	3.43235			5	7
65	11	Auburn	3.43517			4	8
66	114	Massachusetts	3.65463			7	5
67	78	Northwestern	3.76334			7	5
68	39	Duke	4.29651			6	6
69	32	Boise State	4.31935			8	4
70	69	Rutgers	4.51478			6	6
71	95	South Alabama	4.9345			6	6
72	47	Texas	5.08361			5	7
73	54	Michigan	5.43486			5	7
74	41	Minnesota	5.84259			5	7
75	58	Maryland	5.95303			6	6
76	108	Buffalo	5.9877			8	4
77	52	Colorado State	6.26504			9	3
78	120	Kent State	6.37438			6	6
79	44	Boston College	6.60712			5	7
80	109	San Jose State	6.60885			8	4
81	119	Tulsa	6.77865			6	6
82	63	Oklahoma State	7.2925			6	6
83	15	Kansas State	7.44091			5	7
84	46	Virginia	8.13321			4	8
85	113	Tulane	8.18927			7	5
86	111	Ohio	8.19349			6	6
87	105	Hawaii	8.76052			7	6
88	38	South Carolina	9.4211			3	9
89	60	UCF	9.50877			6	6
90	56	Utah State	9.80608			7	5
91	106	New Mexico	10.265			7	5
92	85	Illinois	10.623			4	8
93	80	Oregon State	11.3656			3	9
94	107	Vanderbilt	11.6091			2	10
95	103	Akron	11.7295			6	6
96	62	Iowa	13.0672			5	7
97	100	North Texas	13.2133			5	7
98	88	Indiana	13.9224			4	8
99	87	Syracuse	14.1397			3	9
100	98	Wake Forest	14.2197			4	8
101	77	Louisiana-Lafayette	14.9105			5	7
102	55	East Carolina	15.0426			4	8
103	96	Ball State	15.3828			5	7
104	104	Iowa State	15.875			3	9
105	66	Air Force	16.0364			5	7
106	101	Florida Atlantic	16.7295			3	9
107	91	Central Michigan	16.7789			4	8
108	115	South Florida	16.7822			4	8
109	76	Nevada	17.7088			4	8
110		Charlotte	19.5234			4	8
111	90	Purdue	20.1206			2	10
112	125	New Mexico State	20.5954			4	8
113	99	Old Dominion	20.619			4	8
114	89	UTEP	20.6216			3	9
115	123	Troy	20.8168			4	8
116	112	Wyoming	24.5497			3	9
117	122	UNLV	24.6834			2	10
118	93	Louisiana-Monroe	25.6723			2	11
119	126	Georgia State	26.3257			2	10
120	121	Idaho	26.8635			2	10
121	127	Southern Methodist	27.2652			2	10
122	92	Fresno State	27.6769			2	10
123	97	Kansas	28.0271			1	11
124	110	UTSA	28.488			1	11
125	124	Connecticut	30.9125			2	10
126	118	Army	34.7889			2	10
127	117	Miami (OH)	37.1746			1	11
128	128	Eastern Michigan	42.6576			1	11

There is only one possible choice to put at #1 to open the season, the Ohio State Buckeyes. They are not only the defending champions, they are bringing back nearly every major contributor from last season's team, along with Braxton Miller, who missed the season with an injury. They also have the advantage of a very weak schedule, with only two top 25 teams on their entire schedule, Virginia Tech and Michigan State. If they do not finish the regular season 12-0, it will be a major disappointment.

One of the surprise entries in the top 10 is Oklahoma, although they are not strangers to the top end of the rankings. They've had a few down years, finishing at 8-5 last year, but they had some great moments early in the season, and they are returning a good offense, led by running back Samaje Perine, who averaged 132 yards per game as a freshman, and Sterling Shepard, who was averaging 120 receiving yards per game before missing November with an injury. I see Baylor, TCU, and Oklahoma all reaching 9-0 before the three all face each other in November.

My biggest sleeper pick of the preseason is California, which has not been a good team in a long time, but had one of the youngest teams in the nation last year, and they are bringing them back nearly intact this season. Last year they went 5-7, but lost by only 4 at Arizona, 8 at USC, and 2 against UCLA. Their schedule is much more difficult toward the end, but a 5-0 start should give them enough confidence to get themselves 9 or 10 wins.

Playoff Predictions

(1) Ohio State over (4) Oregon
(2) TCU over (3) Arkansas

(1) Ohio State over (2) TCU