How refreshing is it to see college football news and reports starting to frequent the Interwebs and the local sports reports? With Spring practice in full swing, it’s a great sign that we are only a few short months away until kickoff. With that, I’ve put together the Red Clay Soul pre-season College Football Rankings, sponsored by my friends over at State Traditions. I’ve picked my top ten, and to commemorate the event, the boys from Birmingham want to give away ten hats and koozies to ten lucky readers:
1. Florida State Seminoles – 8 returning starters on offense including Jameis Winston and 6 on defense…no reason that they won’t be back at the dance this year.
2. Alabama Crimson Tide – They have a machine in Tuscaloosa. They just reload.
3. Auburn Tigers – Will the 2013 luck continue into 2014?
4. Oklahoma Sooners – Sophomore QB Trevor Knight is the real deal, folks.
5. Oregon Ducks – An easy schedule and Heisman frontrunner QB Mariota.
6. Michigan State Spartans – Wins over Ohio State and Stanford in 2013 will provide some serious momentum.
7. Stanford Cardinals – They’ve played in four straight BCS games, and don’t show any signs of slowing down.
8. UCLA Bruins – Averaging almost 10 wins a year and a strong returning offense.
9. Baylor Bears – They may rack up a million yards on offense this year.
10. Georgia Bulldogs – They have as much talent as anyone in the country. If they can stay healthy, look out…
As I mentioned, the good folks at State Traditions want to give away a hat and a koozie of their choice to ten lucky readers. Leave a comment to this post with your thoughts to enter.
For additional entries:
- +1 (2 Total) ‘Like’ State Traditions on Facebook
- +1 (3 Total) ‘Like’ Red Clay Soul on Facebook
- +1 (4 Total) ‘Follow’ State Traditions on Twitter
- +1 (5 Total) ’Follow’ Red Clay Soul on Twitter
- +1 (6 Total) Tweet the following about the giveaway ‘The Preseason CFB top 10 from @statetraditions X @redclaysoul and I entered to win a new hat! Go here to enter: https://www.redclaysoul.com/?p=5826’
Entries must be in by midnight on Monday, March 31st. I’ll announce the ten winners on Tuesday, April 1st around lunchtime, who gets a State Traditions hat and koozie from the school of their choice.
Special thanks to State Traditions for providing the goods for the giveaway…
1) Florida State 2) Alabama 3) Oklahoma 4) Auburn 5) Oregon 6) Michigan State 7) South Carolina 8) Ohio State 9) UCLA 10) Missouri
FSU will repeat
Wahoowa!
Sad to see Cincinnati’s not in it. The American Athletic conference is not helping them out any.
GO DAWGS!!
Auburn is going to run the table next year with a light speed offense! WDE!
Auburn will be back in the National Championship game with a faster offense. WDE!!
People will know what to expect with Winston in year two (See Tim Tebow) … And for all you Barners, I just want to say (8-5) and (3-9). RTR
Can’t wait to see my Noles repeat. Starting the season in Dallas for the Cowboy Classic, and it ends there with a second consecutive national title. Scalp ’em!
I’m always ready for football season!
Bama is going to come out ready to prove that the last two games of last season aren’t part of the norm. They’ll have their eyes set on championship this year.
Sad to say it, but FSU will probably repeat
Not to be picky, but Stanford Cardinal, not Cardinals, regardless love seeing them in your top 10!
My Cowboys never getting any respect!
Dawgs On Top!
I am an Ole Miss fan but if I had to pick from this line-up I’d say ROLL TIDE
That Florida hat looks WAY better in orange and blue 😉
I think Texas under Charile Strong is going to suprise people in a hurry! Also a healthy UGA will be much higher then 10th
I also tweeted and follow @statetraditions on twitter.
It’s sad but true about Georgia…
nice to see the SEC well represented as always!
Roll Tide!
Noles play Bama and repeat
FSU
Bama
Mich St
Auburn
UCLA
Stanford
Georgia
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Oregon
Always need a new hat.
Bama
Florida St
Auburn
Ohio State
Mich St
Oklahoma
Oregon
Stanford
Georiga
LSU
I’m a proud dogs fan through and through! I bet my brothers some beers I’d win a hat for em so I’d appreciate it!
Without all of the injuries I’m looking for the bulldogs in 2014! Love the hats too!
dawgs
Don’t sleep on the wolfpack…in 2015
Auburn is one of only a couple teams in the SEC returning its quarterback. They should be ranked above bammer.
Trevor Knight may fall back to reality
Sic ’em bears! Going to go even farther this year!
If a team didn’t make the too ten rankings are we still able to get a hat from that state? I would love a state traditions hat for Minnesota!
I can always use a hat and a koozie!
Auburn will be back in the championship against FSU but they will prevail this time around.
Auburn will be in the national championship again but will win this time around.
1. FSU 2. Alabama 3.Oklahoma 4. Auburn 5. Michigan State 6. Stanford 7.Oregon 8.Baylor 9. Georgia 10. Ucla
never too early to start thinking about fall tailgates
Roll Tide
Those hats are awesome. Go Dawgs!
Those hats are awesome. Go Dawgs!
Love these hats!!
Clemson knocking the Dawgs out week 1
War Eagle!
Roll Tide!
would love to win.
Ohio State not being on that list is a crime.
UGA – DHWatson on FB, Thanks and Great Contest! I’m up in MA and I have a couple ST hats already. I would LOVE to add to them, Great quality Stuff.
Boomer Sooner!
Go Dawgs
Chasing XVI in the Fall, Roll Tide!
The state of Michigan looks so sad with green and white around it
Go Gators!
Excited to see AU at 3
Alabama’s defense will be stronger than ever this year. And although we lost McCarron, Coker will be a boost in out offense and having Kiffen as our offensive coordinator we will utilize our weapons at Wide Reciever. It should all around be a good season. We just have to make kicks.
We love our baylor bears! Sic em!
What no LSU is the mix?
As a New Englander I feel like I should at least point out that BC at least had the hail mary thanks to Flutie….I’ll now return to College football irrelevance.
UGA was plagued by injuries last season with a very disappointing loss to Nebraska in the Gator Bowl.Despite Murray moving on,we have enough talent/depth at the skill positions (Gurshall) to help Mason & take control of business on the road to Atlanta.GO DAWGS!!
UGA%20was%20plagued%20by%20injuries%20last%20season%20with%20a%20very%20disappointing%20loss%20to%20Nebraska%20in%20the%20Gator%20Bowl.Despite%20Murray%20moving%20on%2Cwe%20have%20enough%20talent%2Fdepth%20at%20the%20skill%20positions%20(Gurshall)%20to%20help%20Mason%20%26%20take%20control%20of%20business%20on%20the%20road%20to%20Atlanta.GO%20DAWGS!!
Roll tide all day long!
Roll tide
Can’t wait.
Let’s Go Mountaineers
WAR DAMN.
That garnet & gold State Traditions hat would look great down here in south Florida! Here’s hoping I can sport it all spring, summer, and fall!
War Eagle. ’nuff said.
GO DAWGS!!! SIC EM!!!
1. FSU
2. Bama
3. Oregon
4. Oklahoma
5. Auburn
That third hat is where it’s at!
Go Dawgs! Following both accounts on Twitter too.
1. Jameis and the Noles
2. Boomer Sooner
3. Auburn
4. Bama
5. Michigan St.
6. Baylor
7. Stanford
8. Ducks
9. Bruins
10. LSU
Florida State going all the way again this year.
We’ll see, I don’t think baylor stays up there
FSU repeats easily
Go Dawgs
Go Dawgs!
FSU will repeat
Roll Tide!
Roll tide
Get on the Gus Bus! Auburn is back to stay! War Eagle!
There’s only one problem… UofL isn’t on that list!
Love these caps. Would be very keep to win one!
1) Florida State Seminoles – As long as Winston doesn’t get injured while playing baseball, there’s no reason FSU shouldn’t be the top team.
2) Auburn Tigers – Talent and coaching from Malzahn should keep the Tigers in the top 3
3) Michigan State Spartans – Bringing back key offensive players and having a solid defense could make the Spartans a National Title team this year.
4) Oklahoma Sooners – After the win against Bama, the Sooners have the momentum to keep themselves in the top 5.
5) Alabama Crimson Tide – It will be hard to replace McCarron, but there is so much talent elsewhere on the field that the Tide shouldn’t have a problem competing.
6) Oregon Ducks – With Mariota returning, the Ducks should be able to contend for another Conference Title, if not National Title.
7) Georgia Bulldogs – With the 2013 season behind them, Hutson Mason should be able to do big things with the Bulldogs. Assuming players stay healthy and out of trouble.
8) UCLA Bruins – Shoube be a good offensive year with Hundly returning. Defense could be a problem, but some spots were filled with solid players.
9) Ohio State Buckeyes – Assuming Braxton Miller stays healthy, the Buckeyes should be able to make it back to where they have been the past two years.
10) Baylor Bears – With Petty on the field again, there’s no reason that we won’t be looking at a possible back-to-back Big 12 Title team in the Bears.
Countdown begins!
Really looking forward to this season. Cliff Kingsbury and the Red Raiders are looking good.
Don’t forget about the cowboys in Stillwater. Hopefully they can be back on top. Thanks for the giveaway.
#1 to the tide. No way Saban settles for anything less than first.
Let the SEC domination continue. Time to take the national championship and bring it back to Alabama!
First year no longer in Florida to root for the Gators, but will be supporting them from Delaware! Gators going to rebound in a big way!
Bama baby! We’ll miss AJ and the others but Saban will have no problem reloading us to get #16 #RTR
1. Alabama
2. Florida State
3. Auburn
4. Oklahoma
5. Oregon
6. Michigan State
7. Stanford
8. UCLA
9. Baylor
10. Ohio State