These are in order from least shocking to most shocking according to the current lines on Five Dimes sportsbook:
|
Northwestern (+3.5) at Purdue- (Th) 8:00
|
|
SMU (+3.5) at North Texas- 7:30
|
|
New Mexico State (+3.5) vs. Wyoming- (Aug 25) 8:00
|
|
Colorado State (+7.0) vs. Colorado- (Fri) 9:30
|
|
Tulane (+7.0) vs. Wake Forest (Th) 8:00
|
|
Army (+13.5) at Duke- (Fri) 7:00
|
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 weeks to publish my 12th annual college football preview guide. For my final post in this preview guide, I am giving you my preseason Heisman Top 10. Feel free to comment or debate on this post as well as any others included in this preview guide.
| Preseason Heisman Top 10 | |
| 1 | Kyler Murray, Oklahoma |
| 2 | Khalil Tate, Arizona |
| 3 | JK Dobbins, Ohio State |
| 4 | Bryce Love, Stanford |
| 5 | Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama |
| 6 | Shea Patterson, Michigan |
| 7 | Jonathan Taylor, Wisky |
| 8 | Jake Fromm, Georgia |
| 9 | Jake Browning, Washington |
| 10 | Trace McSorley, Penn State |
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 weeks to publish my 12th annual college football preview guide. Without further ado, here are my predicted bowl match-ups for the 2018 season. Note- the following teams I’m predicting to reach bowl eligibility yet not receive a bowl bid: Buffalo, UMass, Nevada, Wyoming, and Central Michigan.
| Date | Bowl | Teams | Time | Channel | |
| 15-Dec | New Mexico | Southern Miss | Utah State | 2:00 | ESPN |
| 15-Dec | Cure | Tulane | UL-Monroe | 2:30 | CBSS |
| 15-Dec | Las Vegas | Boise State | Utah | 3:30 | ABC |
| 15-Dec | Camellia | Northern Illinois | Troy | 5:30 | ESPN |
| 15-Dec | New Orleans | North Texas | Appalachian State | 9:00 | ESPN |
| 18-Dec | Boca Raton | Toledo | Old Dominion | 7:00 | ESPN |
| 19-Dec | Frisco | Houston | Ohio | 8:00 | ESPN |
| 20-Dec | Gasparilla Bowl | South Florida | Florida Atlantic | 8:00 | ESPN |
| 21-Dec | Bahamas | Middle Tennessee | SMU | 12:30 | ESPN |
| 21-Dec | Famous Idaho Potato | Eastern Michigan | Colorado State | 4:00 | ESPN |
| 22-Dec | Birmingham | Memphis | Virginia | 12:00 | ESPN |
| 22-Dec | Armed Forces | Baylor | Navy | 3:30 | ESPN |
| 22-Dec | Dollar General | Miami-OH | Arkansas State | 7:00 | ESPN |
| 22-Dec | Hawaii | Marshall | San Diego State | 10:30 | ESPN |
| 26-Dec | Heart of Dallas | Army | UAB | 1:30 | ESPN |
| 26-Dec | Quick Lane | Boston College | Indiana | 5:15 | ESPN |
| 26-Dec | Cactus | Iowa State | UNLV | 9:00 | ESPN |
| 27-Dec | Independence | Miami-FL | Louisiana Tech | 1:30 | ESPN |
| 27-Dec | Pinstripe | Florida State | Nebraska | 5:15 | ESPN |
| 27-Dec | Texas | TCU | Arkansas | 9:00 | ESPN |
| 28-Dec | Music City | Virginia Tech | South Carolina | 1:30 | ESPN |
| 28-Dec | Camping World | Notre Dame | Texas | 5:15 | ESPN |
| 28-Dec | Arizona | New Mexico State | Fresno State | 5:30 | CBSS |
| 28-Dec | Alamo | Oklahoma State | Oregon | 9:00 | ESPN |
| 29-Dec | Peach | UCF | Penn State | 12:00 | ESPN |
| 29-Dec | Belk | Georgia Tech | Kentucky | 12:00 | ABC |
| 29-Dec | Orange | Alabama | Oklahoma | 8:00 | ESPN |
| 29-Dec | Cotton | Ohio State | Clemson | 4:00 | ESPN |
| 31-Dec | Military | Temple | NC State | 12:00 | ESPN |
| 31-Dec | Sun | Syracuse | California | 2:00 | CBS |
| 31-Dec | San Francisco | Northwestern | Stanford | 3:00 | FOX |
| 31-Dec | Liberty | Kansas State | Missouri | 3:45 | ESPN |
| 31-Dec | Holiday | Iowa | Southern California | 7:00 | FS1 |
| 31-Dec | Gator | Purdue | Mississippi State | 7:30 | ESPN |
| 1-Jan | Outback | Michigan State | Texas A & M | 12:00 | ESPN 2 |
| 1-Jan | Citrus | Wisconsin | Florida | 1:00 | ABC |
| 1-Jan | Fiesta | Arizona | Auburn | 1:00 | ESPN |
| 1-Jan | Rose | Washington | Michigan | 5:00 | ESPN |
| 1-Jan | Sugar | West Virginia | Georgia | 8:30 | ESPN |
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 weeks to publish my 12th annual college football preview guide. Without further ado, here are the teams I am predicting to disappoint 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.
| Disappointment teams | My Predictions: | Experts Predictions: | |
| 1 | North Carolina | 104th in nation (-45); 7th in ACC Coastal (-5) | 59th in nation; 2nd in ACC Coastal |
| 2 | Florida Atlantic | 76th in nation (-35); 3rd in C-USA East (-2) | 41st in nation; 1st in C-USA East |
| 3 | Kansas State | 52nd in nation (-21); 8th in Big 12 (-4) | 31st in nation; 4th in Big 12 |
| 4 | Miami-FL | 33rd in nation (-24); 4th in ACC Coastal (-3) | 9th in nation; 1st in ACC Coastal |
| 5 | Akron | 124th in nation (-22); 6th in MAC East (-3) | 102nd in nation; 3rd in MAC East |
| 6 | LSU | 65th in nation (-39); 6th in SEC West (-1) | 26th in nation; 5th in SEC West |
| 7 | Louisville | 67th in nation (-31); 6th in ACC Atlantic (-3) | 36th in nation; 3rd in ACC Atlantic |
| 8 | Air Force | 128th in nation (-34); 6th in MWC Mtn. (-2) | 94th in nation; 4th in MWC Mtn. |
| 9 | Duke | 69th in nation (-24); 5th in ACC Coastal (-3) | 45th in nation; 2nd in ACC Coastal |
| 10 | Houston | 74th in nation (-21); 4th in AAC West (-2) | 53rd in nation; 2nd in AAC West |
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 weeks to publish my 12th annual college football preview guide. 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.
| Surprise Teams | My Predictions: | Experts Predictions: | |
| 1 | Arizona | 10th in nation (+24); 1st in Pac 12 South (+2) | 34th in nation; 3rd in Pac-12 South |
| 2 | Syracuse | 18th in nation (+51); 2nd in ACC Atlantic (+5) | 69th in nation; 7th in ACC Atlantic |
| 3 | Eastern Michigan | 53rd in nation (+54); 1st in MAC West (+3) | 107th in nation; 4th in MAC West |
| 4 | Virginia | 47th in nation (+30); 3rd in ACC Coastal (+4) | 77th in nation; 7th in ACC Coastal |
| 5 | North Texas | 40th in nation (+42); 1st in C-USA West (+2) | 82nd in nation; 3rd in C-USA West |
| 6 | Georgia Tech | 29th in nation (+10); 2nd in ACC Coastal (+3) | 39th in nation; 5th in ACC Coastal |
| 7 | SMU | 66th in nation (+22); 3rd in AAC West (+3) | 88th in nation; 6th in AAC West |
| 8 | Baylor | 45th in nation (+15); 7th in Big 12 (+2) | 60th in nation; 9th in Big 12 |
| 9 | Colorado State | 44th in nation (+48); 2nd in MWC Mtn. (+3) | 92nd in nation; 5th in MWC Mtn. |
| 10 | UMass | 64th in nation (+34); N/A | 98th in nation; N/A |
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 weeks to publish my 12th annual college football preview guide. Here are my rankings of teams 1-130 (bye, bye Idaho; hello Liberty). The column to the left of each team is my ranking of each squad, and the column to the right of each team is the experts ranking (average of Street & Smith, Lindy’s, USA Today, Athlon, ESPN FPI, College Football News, and Phil Steele) for that program. You will soon see that the teams in which I have the biggest disparities with the experts will be featured in my surprise/disappointment lists in the upcoming days. One other thing you will notice is that the top four teams in the rankings have parentheses next to their names. That number represents each team’s seeding in the 2018 college football playoff. These rankings intend to encapsulate the entire college football season, so I felt it necessary to differentiate between a team’s regular season finish/playoff seeding and their final ranking.
| Brad | Team | Experts |
| 1 | Clemson (3) | 1 |
| 2 | Alabama (1) | 2 |
| 3 | Ohio State (2) | 3 |
| 4 | Oklahoma (4) | 7 |
| 5 | Georgia | 3 |
| 6 | Michigan | 10 |
| 7 | Auburn | 8 |
| 8 | Washington | 6 |
| 9 | Penn State | 10 |
| 10 | Arizona | 34 |
| 11 | Michigan State | 12 |
| 12 | Mississippi State | 17 |
| 13 | Wisconsin | 5 |
| 14 | Florida | 27 |
| 15 | West Virginia | 21 |
| 16 | Virginia Tech | 18 |
| 17 | Oregon | 26 |
| 18 | Syracuse | 69 |
| 19 | UCF | 32 |
| 20 | Southern California | 15 |
| 21 | Notre Dame | 13 |
| 22 | Texas A & M | 24 |
| 23 | Florida State | 16 |
| 24 | Oklahoma State | 28 |
| 25 | Boise State | 23 |
| 26 | Stanford | 14 |
| 27 | Missouri | 38 |
| 28 | Texas | 20 |
| 29 | Georgia Tech | 39 |
| 30 | Utah | 29 |
| 31 | Boston College | 40 |
| 32 | California | 50 |
| 33 | Miami-FL | 9 |
| 34 | Iowa State | 33 |
| 35 | South Carolina | 22 |
| 36 | Marshall | 67 |
| 37 | TCU | 19 |
| 38 | San Diego State | 47 |
| 39 | Iowa | 30 |
| 40 | North Texas | 82 |
| 41 | Northwestern | 35 |
| 42 | Fresno State | 52 |
| 43 | Arkansas | 56 |
| 44 | Colorado State | 92 |
| 45 | Baylor | 60 |
| 46 | Arkansas State | 72 |
| 47 | Virginia | 77 |
| 48 | Appalachian State | 80 |
| 49 | Utah State | 84 |
| 50 | Kentucky | 58 |
| 51 | Memphis | 42 |
| 52 | Kansas State | 31 |
| 53 | Eastern Michigan | 107 |
| 54 | Ole Miss | 55 |
| 55 | NC State | 36 |
| 56 | Navy | 66 |
| 57 | Purdue | 50 |
| 58 | Troy | 82 |
| 59 | Nebraska | 48 |
| 60 | Ohio | 71 |
| 61 | Indiana | 64 |
| 62 | UAB | 97 |
| 63 | Toledo | 74 |
| 64 | UMass | 98 |
| 65 | LSU | 26 |
| 66 | SMU | 88 |
| 67 | Louisville | 36 |
| 68 | Temple | 73 |
| 69 | Duke | 45 |
| 70 | South Florida | 62 |
| 71 | Washington State | 54 |
| 72 | Army | 78 |
| 73 | Vanderbilt | 75 |
| 74 | Houston | 53 |
| 75 | Rutgers | 85 |
| 76 | Florida Atlantic | 41 |
| 77 | Middle Tennessee | 76 |
| 78 | UNLV | 104 |
| 79 | Miami-OH | 93 |
| 80 | Southern Miss | 95 |
| 81 | Northern illinois | 65 |
| 82 | Louisiana Tech | 80 |
| 83 | Buffalo | 91 |
| 84 | New Mexico State | 113 |
| 85 | Central Michigan | 110 |
| 86 | UL-Monroe | 108 |
| 87 | Tennessee | 57 |
| 88 | Tulane | 90 |
| 89 | Wake Forest | 43 |
| 90 | Wyoming | 79 |
| 91 | Texas Tech | 46 |
| 92 | Nevada | 96 |
| 93 | Arizona State | 63 |
| 94 | Old Dominion | 109 |
| 95 | Minnesota | 68 |
| 96 | Brigham Young | 86 |
| 97 | Maryland | 61 |
| 98 | Pittsburgh | 49 |
| 99 | Cincinnati | 101 |
| 100 | Colorado | 70 |
| 101 | UTSA | 112 |
| 102 | UCLA | 44 |
| 103 | Georgia Southern | 110 |
| 104 | North Carolina | 59 |
| 105 | UL-Lafayette | 120 |
| 106 | Oregon State | 102 |
| 107 | Western Michigan | 88 |
| 108 | Illinois | 87 |
| 109 | South Alabama | 118 |
| 110 | Kansas | 100 |
| 111 | Georgia State | 114 |
| 112 | East Carolina | 116 |
| 113 | Hawaii | 123 |
| 114 | Tulsa | 99 |
| 115 | New Mexico | 117 |
| 116 | Florida International | 106 |
| 117 | Bowling Green | 115 |
| 118 | Western Kentucky | 105 |
| 119 | Ball State | 121 |
| 120 | Rice | 127 |
| 121 | Kent State | 129 |
| 122 | Liberty | 124 |
| 123 | UConn | 119 |
| 124 | Akron | 102 |
| 125 | San Jose State | 125 |
| 126 | Charlotte | 126 |
| 127 | Texas State | 128 |
| 128 | Air Force | 94 |
| 129 | UTEP | 130 |
| 130 | Coastal Carolina | 122 |
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 weeks to publish my 12th annual college football preview guide. The records below reflect each team’s predicted regular season overall record followed by their conference record. These records include conference title games for the two division champions but exclude bowl games which will be previewed later on in a separate column on this blog. The team listed in bold font in each entry is my predicted conference champion. Without further ado, here are my predictions for the Southeastern Conference.
| SEC | |
| East Divison | |
| 1 | Georgia (11-2, 7-1) |
| 2 | Florida (9-3, 6-2) |
| 3 | South Carolina (7-5, 4-4) |
| 4 | Missouri (8-4, 4-4) |
| 5 | Kentucky (6-6, 2-6) |
| 6 | Vanderbilt (5-7, 2-6) |
| 7 | Tennessee (4-8, 1-7) |
| West Division | |
| 1 | Alabama (12-1, 7-1) |
| 2 | Auburn (10-2, 6-2) |
| 3 | Mississippi State (9-3, 5-3) |
| 4 | Texas A & M (8-4, 5-3) |
| 5 | Arkansas (7-5, 3-5) |
| 6 | LSU (5-7, 2-6) |
| 7 | Ole Miss (6-6, 2-6) |
