Pre-Season College Football Rankings

Alright, this one's new this season, I made some tweaks to my rankings, but I feel good enough about them to give out some ranks. Remember these ranks are a starting point for the season and not where I think they'll end up in the final ranks, poll, or CFP rankings. The first couple headers are pretty straight forward, power rank is the actual number I use, overall is just a 1-128 place keeper, P5/G5 is that teams rank within their subset of FBS (P5-ACC, B1G, BXII, PAC, SEC or Notre Dame/G5-AAC, CUSA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt, BYU and Army). Below you'll find my top 25, Top 10 Group of Five, and Top 3s from each conference.

Top 25
Team	Conference	Division	Power Rank	Overall Rank	P5/G5 Rank	Conf. Rank	Div. Rank
UCLA	PAC	South	35.626	1	1	1	1
Ohio State	B1G	East	34.775	2	2	1	1
Oregon	PAC	North	33.885	3	3	2	1
Arizona State	PAC	South	29.569	4	4	3	2
Missouri	SEC	East	28.984	5	5	1	1
Notre Dame	Indep	-	28.672	6	6	1	-
Alabama	SEC	West	27.674	7	7	2	1
Mississippi	SEC	West	27.247	8	8	3	2
USC	PAC	South	25.226	9	9	4	3
Georgia	SEC	East	24.710	10	10	4	2
Baylor	BXII	-	23.895	11	11	1	-
Michigan State	B1G	East	23.579	12	12	2	2
TCU	BXII	-	23.433	13	13	2	-
LSU	SEC	West	23.157	14	14	5	3
Arizona	PAC	South	22.640	15	15	5	4
Tennessee	SEC	East	22.484	16	16	6	3
Boise State	MWC	Moun	22.251	17	1	1	1
Texas A&M	SEC	West	21.770	18	17	7	4
Utah	PAC	South	21.633	19	18	6	5
Florida State	ACC	Atl	21.016	20	19	1	1
Georgia Tech	ACC	Coa	20.359	21	20	2	1
Wisconsin	B1G	West	19.475	22	21	3	1
California	PAC	North	18.078	23	22	7	2
Arkansas	SEC	West	17.531	24	23	8	5
Stanford	PAC	North	15.286	25	24	8	3
Group of 5 Top 10
Team	Conf	Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Boise State	MWC	Moun	22.251	17	1	1	1
BYU	Indep	-	6.110	43	2	2	-
Memphis	AAC	West	5.141	47	3	1	1
Marshall	CUSA	East	4.978	48	4	1	1
Temple	AAC	East	3.802	52	5	2	1
WKU	CUSA	East	2.552	58	6	2	2
Appalachian State	SuB	-	2.421	59	7	1	-
Cincinnati	AAC	East	1.760	62	8	3	2
Toledo	MAC	West	1.655	63	9	1	1
Bowling Green	MAC	East	1.469	65	10	2	1
American Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Memphis		West	5.141	47	3	1	1
Temple		East	3.802	52	5	2	1
Cincinnati		East	1.760	62	8	3	2
ACC Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Florida State		Atl	21.016	20	19	1	1
Georgia Tech		Coa	20.359	21	20	2	1
North Carolina		Coa	14.329	26	25	3	2
Big Ten Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Ohio State		East	34.775	2	2	1	1
Michigan State		East	23.579	12	12	2	2
Wisconsin		West	19.475	22	21	3	1
Big XII Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Baylor		-	23.895	11	11	1	-
TCU		-	23.433	13	13	2	-
Oklahoma State		-	12.032	32	31	3	-
CUSA Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Marshall		East	4.978	48	4	1	1
WKU		East	2.552	58	6	2	2
Louisiana Tech		West	-3.315	78	18	3	1
MAC Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Toledo		West	1.655	63	9	1	1
Bowling Green		East	1.469	65	10	2	1
Northern Illinois		West	0.872	66	11	3	2
MWC Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Boise State		Moun	22.251	17	1	1	1
Nevada		West	-1.858	72	14	2	1
Colorado State		Moun	-2.111	73	15	3	2
Pac-12 Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
UCLA		South	35.626	1	1	1	1
Oregon		North	33.885	3	3	2	1
Arizona State		South	29.569	4	4	3	2
SEC Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Missouri		East	28.984	5	5	1	1
Alabama		West	27.674	7	7	2	1
Mississippi		West	27.247	8	8	3	2
Sun Belt Top 3
Team		Div	Power	Ov	p5/g5	Conf	Div
Appalachian State		-	2.421	59	7	1	-
Georgia Southern		-	-4.574	80	20	2	-
Louisiana		-	-8.704	94	30	3	-

2015 Conference USA Preview

Conference USA almost had an undefeated team and a New Year’s six entrant last season but Marshall was upset in the conference championship game. There isn’t a team this year that stands out as an undefeated threat but there does seem to be a lot of offensive talent returning around the league.

Membership Changes

One of the last changes from the most recent realignment phase is the addition and move up of Charlotte to the FBS level. Charlotte’s program is in its infancy and makes this move much like Old Dominion the previous FBS newcomer to Conference USA. Charlotte will play a league schedule, but won’t be eligible for the post-season this year. One of the few conferences with a subtraction, the conference loses the UAB team after it was shut down earlier this year. I won’t talk much about that sham but it looks like the program will be back in a couple years. Lastly, Old Dominion is now a full member and post-season eligible.

Coaching Changes

No coaching turnover in the conference which is both a good and bad thing at the mid-major level. On the one hand you get conference continuity that allows programs to grow, but on the down side it means no one has performed at a high enough level to be poached by the power five conferences. For now it’s fine, but too many years of coaching stagnation and you have to wonder what’s going on.

Pre-Camp Positional Rankings

Here we go, two months 'til football so here are my positional rankings. Yes they are going to change but I like where I am so far.

Running Backs

Stars (1-6)	Starters (7-11)	Starters With Questions (12-17)
Le’Veon Bell, Pittsburgh	Arian Foster, Houston	Albert Morris, Washington
Adrian Peterson, Minnesota	Demarco Murray, Philadelphia	Frank Gore, Indianapolis
Jamaal Charles, Kansas City	C.J. Anderson, Denver	Melvin Ingram, New Orleans
Marshawn Lynch, Seattle	LeSean McCoy, Buffalo	Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati
Eddie Lacy, Green Bay	Justin Forsett, Baltimore	Rashad Jennings, New York (N)
Matt Forte, Chicago		Lamar Miller, Miami

2015 Sun Belt Conference Preview

Well here we go. A couple weeks later this year because I wanted to finish my draft coverage before I started my conference previews but here we are, inside of 100 days ‘til the season starts on September 3^rd. We get our start this year with the Sun Belt Conference.

Membership Changes

There were no additions or subtractions as the last round of realignment settles in but Appalachian State and Georgia Southern are now post season and conference title eligible.  That sets up a fun year 2 in which the newcomers try to match their successes of year 1.

Coaching Changes

There was only one coaching change in the Sun Belt this season and it was the departure of Larry Blakeney. Troy had some struggles of late but let’s look at Blakeney’s success moving Troy through the ranks to a respectable mid-major who put a very solid amount of talent into the NFL and was the mid-major standard in the late 90’s and earl 00’s. Blakeney is replaced by Neal Brown a former subordinate who saw success as Texas Tech and last year Kentucky’s offensive coordinator. Brown has work to do but a very good role model to success.