Preseason Top 15 Countdown #8

Preseason Top 15 Countdown

 

15. Notre Dame

14. Miami

13. LSU

12. Texas A&M

11. Florida State

10. Oklahoma

  9. Florida

  8. Louisville

  7.

  6.

  5.

  4.

  3.

  2.

  1.

 

 

   At #8, I have the Louisville Cardinals. This will be the last season for Louisville in the American Athletic Conference (what's left of the BIG EAST); in 2014 they start a new era in the ACC. I am going go ahead and throw this team in my sleeper picks for the National Title game. They have, by far, the easiest schedule out of any team in my top ten. That would normally hurt a team's chances of making it to that game, however, when they start inside the top ten, it is a little easier to make it happen.

   Here is a look at the Cardinals' schedule:

 

 Ohio

 Eastern Kentucky

 At Kentucky

 Florida International

 At Temple

 Rutgers

 UCF

 At South Florida

 At U CONN

 Houston

 Memphis

 At Cincinnati

 

    It's hard, if you are a fan of one of the traditional powers, to find a game on this schedule to call a 'tough game'. I guess we could say that this schedule is full of 'trap games', right? In all fairness though, at South Florida won't be a walk in the park, and their final game of the season at Cincinnati will be tough as well.

    This team has the players on offense to make a lot of noise this season. None with more hype and expectations than Teddy Bridgewater. He has already proven himself in the spotlight a couple times last season; the biggest moment being against the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl. Good news for him; he has his two favorite targets back this season. Damian Copeland and DeVante Parker are consistent WRs, and they do a few different things that compliment each other as well. At running-back the Cardinals are looking to replace their rushing leader from last season with Senorise Perry, who, by the way, averaged 5.2 yards a carry (ESPN Stats). So I would expect very little drop-off, if any, at the running-back position......It could even be better.

  

   The only question I have for this team? Can they stay focused each week and win every game they are supposed to? There is not one game on their schedule that they won't be favored to win. We will see if Charlie Strong can keep them focused on the prize. If this team goes undefeated, there is no telling what that will do to the National Title race.

  

    Questions and Comments can be left at our Facebook page, or sent to Jeremy.cf2d@yahoo.com . For those of you that are new to this college football blog, I do a Reader Question segment every week, sometimes two, where I tackle your questions, comments, predictions, or whatever college football stuff you have in mind. Take a minute and scroll back to last week's segments. As always, Thanks for reading and check back each week as I continue to countdown to my preseason #1.