Every summer since 2007 I have created an intricate set of college football predictions for each upcoming season.  This year is no exception, as I will be using my blog over the next few hours to publish my 15th annual college football preview guide which will contain 19 entries in all.  Without further ado, here are the teams I am predicting to surprise this season.  These teams are ordered in the relative disparity between my picks and the experts average while also taking into account the significance of each pick.

As you can see, I am picking the Missouri Tigers to be my # 1 surprise team in the country for 2021 based on their manageable schedule, the coaching of Eliah Drinkwitz, their rising star quarterback Connor Bazelak, and the fact that the SEC East is unusually soft this season. If you remember back to 2014 and 2015, when Tennessee and Florida were both down, Missouri was able to sneak up on everyone and capture the division crown in consecutive seasons. I see a similar phenomenon occurring this season, and even though, I don’t think Missouri can get by Georgia to win the East, I have them going 10-2 and landing in a New Years Six Bowl. Keep in mind that I nailed my # 1 surprise picks the last two seasons when both Miami-FL (last season) and California (2019) had breakthrough seasons that no one saw coming.