It's never too early to start talking about which teams will rise and which teams will fall across the drama-filled Saturdays (and Thursdays, Fridays, occasional Sundays and Wednesdays) that fuel college football.
Especially with the Big Ten Conference now the Big Ten Coast to Coast 18, and the Southeastern Conference claiming greater regions of the Southwest as well as the dusty trails of Oklahoma now winding through the SEC.
And, of course, that whole new 12-team College Football Playoff.
So, FootballScoop president Scott Roussel, veteran columnist Zach Barnett, content czar and elite high school head coach Doug Samuels, as well as John Brice, are here to deliver their biggest projections for teams on the rise ... and teams who might face an early demise.
Discussing it all on the FootballScoop Podcast, the staff outlines why they're buying Penn State and Wisconsin; Auburn and Ole Miss; and, yes, Dabo's darlings, the Clemson Tigers.
But not everyone is snagging a ticket for the 'Lane Train' down in Oxford, Miss. Barnett isn't leaving the station on that one.
And Michigan? How fair is it for Sherrone Moore to be continuing to face questions about his old boss, Jim Harbaugh, while replacing a school-record number of NFL Draft picks, all while becoming a first-year head coach with a schedule that features, among others, the Nos. 2-3-4 teams in the coaches' preseason poll (Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, respectively).
There's more FootballScoop distrust for the SEC as well. Who's targeting Missouri? Kentucky?
Poor UCLA.
Listen and learn.
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