The latest college football rankings shorted these teams in the initial AP Top 25 Poll big time.
With the first AP Top 25 Poll released on Monday afternoon, some high-quality teams did not see a number next to their names.
Naturally, this will all sort itself out. Keep in mind that national runner-up TCU started last season ranked outside of the top 25. The Horned Frogs went on to win 13 games, including a thrilling Fiesta Bowl victory over Big Ten champion Michigan. Not to say any outsiders this year will have the power of the Hypnotoad on their side, but somebody will totally be crashing this top 25 party.
Here are three teams well equipped to pull it off, as well as a few honorable mentions that could.
Honorable mentions: Arkansas, Auburn, Boise State, Kentucky, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Troy, UCLA
UTSA has a great opportunity to roll Tulane to win the AAC and the Group of Five
Jeff Traylor has done a remarkable job of turning UTSA from an irrelevant upstart college football team into one of the very best Group of Five programs in the country. They offer an exciting brand of offensive football and play everyone they come across incredibly tough. In time, Traylor will be leading his own Power Five team. For now, he may lead the Roadrunners into the New Year's Six.
With teams like Cincinnati, Houston and UCF getting the call-up to the Power Five with their Big 12 bids, somebody substantial had to backfill The American. The AAC added six new schools this offseason, none better equipped to challenge the Tulane Green Wave for conference supremacy than UTSA. Though the Sun Belt could win the Group of Five, it has never done so up to this point.
Should the Roadrunners upend Houston in Week 1 and look good against Tennessee a few weeks later, they could conceivably win the Group of Five with an 11-1 mark. They have the schedule to do it, which includes a high-profile road date to end the regular season vs. the Greenies in New Orleans. Though they don't draw SMU this year, they could meet in the conference championship.
Even without an AAC title, the Roadrunners could crash the top 25 party with two or fewer losses.
South Carolina may have the talent to finish in second place in the SEC East
Until proven otherwise, the Georgia Bulldogs will run the SEC East, or at least until divisions go away in the best football league in America. For now, it is anyone's guess as to who will play second fiddle in-division to the Dawgs. The consensus may be Tennessee. Some may really like Kentucky. However, South Carolina might have the upward trajectory to overtake both of them.
Shane Beamer has it cooking in Columbia. He had the Gamecocks bowling in year one at the helm in 2021. Last year saw South Carolina beat major rivals Tennessee and Clemson at the end of the season. This is 1,000 percent due to the succulent mayo bath Beamer took to the dome, bro, two years ago. You don't even know! Regardless, South Carolina could win upwards of 10 or so games.
I don't think the Gamecocks can beat Georgia, but they are the last team to defeat the Dawgs at Sanford Stadium. Being ranked just outside of the top 25 means rattling off a few early-season victories, in addition to keeping it respectable vs. the Dawgs. We may see something good out of South Carolina. Plus, they have Barry McCockiner's son Spencer Rattler back for one more season.
This is not a New Year's Six team, but these Gamecocks could win nine games and finish top-15.
Texas Tech should be ranked already, as Red Raiders can win the Big 12 this year
The only thing cooking more than Joey McGuire's Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock are the tortillas the fans throw onto the turf to set the got dam tone in a rivalry game, son! Not since the late Mike Leach was calling the plays have we been this excited about Texas Tech football. If only Patrick Mahomes played for a head coach who knew what he was doing and wasn't Ryan Gosling.
As long as Tyler Shough can stay healthy, Texas Tech is every bit good enough to get to Arlington in an expanded Big 12 conference. I don't know if they have it in them to make the final four-team College Football Playoff, but New Year's Six is not out of the realm of possibility if they have an outstanding 10-2 season for their standard in the final year before major conference realignment.
This year is all about getting Tech up for what lies ahead in a reconfigured 16-team Big 12 with the Group of Five call-ups and the Four Corner Universities coming over to join the Holdover Eight. If McGuire can continue to recruit like we all know he can, we may see an emerging college football power over in West Texas. Somebody has to claim this new Big 12, so it might as well be them…
Look for Texas Tech to be around a top-four team in the Big 12 this season, for better or worse.