It’s time to post my very own top 25 rankings. You can see all the top 25 polls from the top 25 page. Tomorrow I will post my preseason bowl projections. It won’t be long now until we are neck deep in the season.

My Top 25

This is it. This is the last post in my 2009 preview. The preview is over now, it’s time for the season! Next week at this time we will be neck deep in college football! But first, my SEC order of finish.

SEC: Order of Finish

East

1. Florida (8-0)

2. Georgia (6-2)

3. Kentucky (4-4)

4. South Carolina (3-5)

5. Tennessee (2-6)

6. Vanderbilt (1-7)

Florida’s schedule clears the way for them to walk away with an East division championship. If they can get by the game at LSU, they will be smooth sailing.  Georgia is the only other potential pot hole, but they will not be as good as last year, and Tebow will just go all Tebow on them.

Kentucky will finally beat Tennessee. They will go bowling again for the third straight year, which is very impressive. South Carolina will be about where they ended up last year. Tennessee will need a year or two for Kiffin to get going. Vanderbilt falls back to reality.

West

1. Mississippi (7-1)

2. Alabama (6-2)

3. LSU (4-4)

4. Auburn (4-4)

5. Arkansas (3-5)

6. Mississippi State (0-8)

This division will come down to October 10th when Alabama visits Mississippi. If Mississippi can beat Bama, they will be the West representatives in the SEC Championship game. I flirted with Mississippi actually going undefeated, but I landed on giving them a slip-up at Auburn. I wouldn’t be surprised if the SEC Championship game was between two undefeated programs, however.

LSU is better than their 4-4 record in SEC play. But that’s what happens when you play in the SEC. Auburn benefits from my decision to give Mississippi a loss, so there is actually a drop off in my mind between LSU and Auburn even though they have the same conference record. Arkansas some work to do, and Mississippi State is the conference whooping boy.

There are only two posts left in my 2009 preview. Here is one of them as I examine the Big 12 and predict how it will shake out.

Big 12: Order of Finish

North

1. Kansas (5-3)

2. Nebraska (4-4)

3. Missouri (4-4)

4. Colorado (2-6)

5. Kansas State (1-7)

6. Iowa State (0-8)

The winner of the Big 12 South will likely win the Big 12. The North has been very weak for the past couple of years. Kansas and Nebraska will most likely be the two battling it out to see who will get demolished in the Big 12 Championship game.  Missouri will miss Chase Daniels and Colorado, Kansas State, and Iowa State all have a lot of work to do.

South

1. Texas (8-0)

2. Oklahoma State (7-1)

3. Oklahoma (6-2)

4. Baylor (4-4)

5. Texas A&M (4-4)

6. Texas Tech (3-5)

Texas is a focused, angry team this year. I am predicting an undefeated season out of the Longhorns, which is no small task with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State looming large in their division. Colt McCoy will make a serious push as the Heisman Trophy, and Texas will take care of business.

I actually have Oklahoma State edging out Oklahoma in Norman as a key upset this season, likely knocking Oklahoma out of the BCS picture for only the second time in the last nine years. Likewise I see Oklahoma State have one of their best years ever and making the BCS.

Looking at the last three teams in the South I see no terrible teams. Baylor will be good with an exciting quarterback, and Texas A&M and Texas Tech will be above average as well.

A week from today, we will be watching college football! As I continue to wind down the 2009 season preview we will take a look at the PAC-10 and how I think it will end up this year.

PAC-10 : Order of Finish

1. California (8-1)

2. Oregon (7-2)

3. USC (7-2)

4. Oregon State (6-3)

5. UCLA (6-3)

6. Arizona (4-5)

7. Stanford (4-5)

8. Arizona State (2-7)

9. Washington State (1-8)

10. Washington (0-9)

I am going out on a limb here, I know. USC is most everyone’s pick to win the PAC-10. But in case you haven’t seen, their schedule is just crazy. They play a very demanding non conference schedule, then have to play the top two other contenders away from home. California with Jahvid Best get a crack at USC on their home turf, and I think they will make the best of it. USC is as inexperienced as they get, and I am predicting a bit of down year for them (if you consider losing two games as a down year).

Oregon will beat USC at home, but stubble against less than stellar competition away from home. (UCLA and either Arizona or Stanford).

The middle of the conference is pretty strong. Oregon State, UCLA, Arizona, or Stanford could all be above average teams, while the last three drop off pretty bad.

It’s Big Ten Wednesday, during the last week of my 2009 preview. We are really getting close to game week now. Check out my rundown of the Big Ten.

Big Ten: Order of Finish

1. Penn State (7-1)

2. Ohio State (7-1)

3. Michigan State (6-2)

4. Iowa (6-2)

5. Illinois (6-2)

6. Wisconsin (4-4)

7. Northwestern (2-6)

8. Michigan (2-6)

9. Minnesota (2-6)

10. Purdue (1-7)

11. Indiana (1-7)

If the top of the rankings looks a little familiar, that’s because this is pretty much exactly what happened last year. Penn State and Ohio State are clearly the cream of the crop once again this year. Whoever wins in Happy Valley on Nov 7th will likely go to the Rose Bowl. Since the game is home for Penn State I have them edging out the Buckeyes in another close game.

There is a log jam at 6-2 in the conference. Any one of these teams could rise up and challenge the two front runners. If anyone is going to do it, I would think Michigan State would have the advantage, not playing Ohio State and getting Penn State at home. However, I wouldn’t write off Illinois with an experienced Juice Williams, or Iowa with a Kirk Ferentz led team and a returning QB in Ricky Stanzi.

The bottom half of the conference will probably be pretty bad. Michigan has another year before they will start to return to glory. Minnesota or Northwestern could surprise, but Purdue is breaking in a new coach and Indiana is Indiana.

Day two in the last week of my 2009 season preview. Today we’ll look at how each team will finish in the ACC.

ACC: Order of Finish

Coastal Division

1. Virginia Tech (7-1)

2. Miami (FL) (6-2)

3. Georgia Tech (6-2)

4. North Carolina (5-3)

5. Virginia (2-6)

6. Duke (1-7)

The Coastal Division has the better teams in the ACC this year. It will be a hotly contested three team battle for the top spot in the division. Virginia Tech is everyone’s favorite to come out on top here. Their schedule is beneficial, with the only away conference game that should give them any trouble at Georgia Tech.

I think Miami (FL) will have a bit of a rebound in the ACC this year. They will start hot and upset Florida State and Georgia Tech, before falling to Virginia Tech. They have a tough out of conference schedule that will keep them out of the national championship picture but since they have Georgia Tech at home, I see them making a threat in the division.

There is a lot of love for Georgia Tech to start this year off, but they have tough road games with Florida State and Miami that will cost them. North Carolina will not lose any ground they gained last year, but I don’t seem them getting much better.

Atlantic Division

1. Clemson (6-2)

2. Florida State (6-2)

3. Boston College (3-5)

4. NC State (3-5)

5. Wake Forest (2-6)

6. Maryland (1-7)

The Florida State – Clemson game will wind up deciding the fate of the Atlantic Division. The game is at Clemson so I gave the edge to the Tigers. They will suffer from some tough away games against Coastal Division teams Miami and Georgia Tech.

There is a large drop off after those two teams, with Boston College, NC State, and Wake Forest beating each other up while, everybody beats up on Maryland.

It’s the final week of my 2009 preview. Next week at this time I will be getting my regular game week posting going. Thanks to everyone who followed along with the preview. It was really fun to break down all these different aspects of the each BCS conference. I hope you will stick with me through out the season! Now that we have all the different aspects covered its finally time to predict how it will all shake out in the Big East for Big East Monday.

Big East: Order of Finish

1. South Florida (6-1)

2. Rutgers (6-1)

3. West Virginia (5-2)

4. Pittsburgh (5-2)

5. Cincinnati (3-4)

6. Connecticut (2-5)

7. Louisville (1-6)

8. Syracuse (0-7)

The lure of Matt Grothe returning for USF was too much to ignore for me. The team with a proven senior quarterback is always going to be very tough to beat, and their defense will not be a push over either. They will lose at Pittsburgh but outlast Rutgers in Jersey to win the tiebreaker for the BCS berth.

Rutgers benefits by having an easier schedule. Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Cincinnati, and USF all have to play at Rutgers. They will win three out of those four. Their conference away games will be no problem. If Rutgers can win at Maryland, they will likely only have one loss on the season and could conceivably be in the discussion for BCS at-large, its very unlikely they would be chosen, but in the discussion.

West Virginia and Pittsburgh are victims of how the home/away games shake out in the Big East. WVA visits USF and Rutgers; Pittsburgh visits Rutgers and West Virginia. West Virginia gets Pittsburgh at home which is why they are given the edge.

Cincinnati and Connecticut will flirt with being good teams, but they will lose to who they are supposed to lose to, while Cincinnati edges Connecticut at home. Louisville and Syracuse are the bottom feeders.

I’ve updated my top 25 page to include the newly released preseason AP poll. The top seven are exactly the same as the coaches poll, and there are not any overwhelming differences further down the ranking either.

The AP seems to look more favorably on the non BCS schools. Ranking Boise State two slots higher and BYU four slots higher. The only team they left off from the coaches poll is #25 Oregon State, replacing them with Kansas. Mississippi went from #10 in the coaches to #8 in the AP.  And LSU is #11 instead of #9.

There is nothing to be all that surprised about. The differences between the two polls are minimal. The one thing we can all be sure of is that after the season, or even after a couple of weeks of the season, we will all think that both of these preseason polls were absolutely ridiculous. The trick is nailing down the two or three teams that are invariably placed either way too high, or way too low. I’ve already made my guesses on who those teams may be. Which team’s ranking do you think we will be pointing and laughing at come December?

This week in my five week season preview, I will be listing out the top 10 players in each BCS conference. Saturdays during the preview are SEC Saturdays, so here is my list for the SEC. Next week is the final week of my preview, so I will be unveiling my predicted order of finish in all the BCS conference. The week after that will officially be game week!

SEC: Top 10 Players

1. Tim Tebow, QB – Florida

2. Julio Jones, WR – Alabama

3. Eric Berry, S – Tennessee

4. Brandon Spikes, LB – Florida

5. A.J. Green, WR – Georgia

6. Charles Scott, RB – LSU

7. Geno Atkins, DT – Georgia

8. Eric Norwood, LB – South Carolina

9. Jevan Snead, QB – Mississippi

10. Maurkice Pouncey – OG, Florida

This is the final day of the second to last week of my season preview. Continuing the theme for the week, I will take a look at the best game of each week in the SEC. Check back later today for part two, where I will rank the top 10 players in the SEC.

SEC: Best Games

Week 1: Alabama at Virginia Tech

Week 2: UCLA at Tennessee

Week 3: Tennessee at Florida

Week 4: Mississippi at South Carolina

Week 5: LSU at Georgia

Week 6: Alabama at Mississippi

Week 7: South Carolina at Alabama

Week 8: Tennessee at Alabama

Week 9: Georgia at Florida

Week 10: LSU at Alabama

Week 11: Florida at South Carolina

Week 12: LSU at Mississippi

Week 13: Alabama at Auburn