After 234 long days without college football, the 2015 season has finally arrived! Similar to every other year, this season approaches with a plethora of questions and promises to be filled with excitement. From the reigning National Champions, “The” Ohio State University, to upstart teams like Tennessee and Arizona, this upcoming season looks to be full of thrills and surprises. Before I begin my preview, I must say that if you are here to learn about South Carolina’s and Clemson’s upcoming season, then head on over to the Post and Courier because you’ll certainly find all you need there. But, if you’re interested in finding out about the rest of college football, then stay tuned because I have all you need to get ready for the 2015 college football season. Let’s start by previewing each of the Power Five Conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC).

Last season, the ACC was, for the most part, a one-team, or even a one-man, show. Sophomore QB Jameis Winston and the rest of his Florida State Seminoles ran the table and won the ACC title. However, this year should be a very different story. Winston, and many more talented players from last year’s team are in the NFL now. The Seminoles have a lot of holes to fill, and Notre Dame transfer QB Everett Golson has the biggest of them all, trying to replace Winston, a Heisman winner two years ago and the #1 pick in last year’s NFL Draft. Now, looking ahead to this season, I see another one-team, possibly one-man, show carrying the load in the ACC. Clemson’s QB Deshaun Watson was one of the most prolific players in the country last year as a true freshman when he was healthy. Even when he wasn’t healthy, he still put up great numbers, as evidenced by his performance against in-state rival South Carolina while playing with a torn ACL. Watson has fully recovered from his knee injury, and has a lot of talent around him on the offensive side of the ball. Sophomore RB Wayne Gallman will partner Watson in the backfield, and the 6’1” 215 lb. player showed glimpses of brilliance during the second half of last season. Watson also has two quality WR’s in Mike Williams and Artavis Scott. Williams, despite spraining his neck in the season opener, will return and is a fast receiver with size and a big play threat on every play. Scott has quickness and agility that makes him lethal on jet sweeps and in the open field. If Watson can stay healthy, look for Clemson to put up ridiculous numbers on offense. However, if there is any weakness on Clemson’s roster, it’s the defense. Last year, the Tigers had one the best defenses in the country, but lost a number of important players from that side of the ball last year. While their defense has talent and potential, it lacks depth and experience, and that could prove costly. Watson and his offensive group will have to outscore their opponents in high scoring shootouts, but don’t put it past them. Other teams to watch out for in the ACC include Georgia Tech and Miami. The ACC has some quality teams heading into this season, but the most exciting race will be the one for second. I fully expect Deshaun Watson, Dabo Swinney, and the Clemson Tigers to run away with the ACC title and possibly an invite to the College Football Playoff.

Out in the Big Ten conference, reigning national champions and unanimous preseason #1, the Ohio State Buckeyes are the team everyone else is looking up to. Head coach of the Buckeyes, Urban Meyer, has not 1, not 2, but 3 of the most talented and proven QB’s in college football. Braxton Miller, a 2 year starter, is coming off a wrist injury that kept him out of all of last season has moved to H-back. For those who don’t know, the H-back plays some wide receiver and some running back. I would also imagine Miller will get some time at QB as well. This leaves J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones. Barrett is an intelligent and consistent leader who played a huge role in turning around Ohio State’s season last year after an ugly loss to Virginia Tech. Jones, on the other hand, is a gifted and imposing athlete who marched past Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon with relative ease to win the first College Football playoff just a year ago. There’s a great sports phrase for the situation Ohio State is, “If you say you have two QB’s, then you have zero.” However, this is most likely the first time a team has had two QB’s fighting for a job that are as capable as Barrett and Jones. Both have had success in the past and are comfortable with Meyer’s offense. Cardale Jones took almost all of the snaps in the season opener against VT. However, Ohio State also has, quite possibly, the best RB in the country in Ezekiel Elliot, and experienced WR’s and a stout defense led by All-American DE Joey Bosa. The only real threat to Ohio State in the Big 12 is Michigan State, but the Spartans will be relying on an inconsistent QB Connor Cook and a young defense. Other teams with a chance to spoil the Buckeyes’ national championship hopes are Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Those three teams will look to play the “spoiler” role in Ohio’s State quest for a repeat National Title.

Just behind the Buckeyes in the preseason poll is the front runner of the Big 12 conference, the TCU Horned Frogs. TCU will hope to start this season, the same way they ended last season. After being left out of the college football playoff, TCU went into the Georgia Dome and stomped Ole Miss 42-3. That was a statement made to those 14 members of the committee whom left TCU off the top 4 in the final poll. The Horned Frogs return 9 starters on an offense that was second in college football last year in points per game. Led by Heisman hopeful QB Trevone Boykin, TCU’s high flying offense can single-handedly win them a lot of games. However, if Coach Gary Patterson wants this team to win a national title, they will have to defend. Last year, TCU’s defense forced 40 turnovers, and if this year’s defensive group can even come close to that number, the Horned Frogs could run the table all the way to a National Title. TCU survived a scare in the season opener, defeating an experienced and well-coached Minnesota team. Standing in the way of TCU’s quest for a perfect season is the #4 ranked Baylor Bears. Baylor has a talented RB in Shock Linwood and explosive WRs like sophomore K.D. Cannon, who broke the Big 12 record for receptions as a freshman. The Bears also have two of the most intimidating and imposing defenders in college football. DE Shawn Oakman is an athletic 6’9” 280 lb force and is partnered up front with 6’2” 310 lb DT Andrew Billings. If you haven’t seen Oakman yet, you must look him up because the Internet has had some fun with this frightening character.Those two will look to dominate the running game as well as stifle TCU’s offense when the Bears travel to Fort Worth on the final week of the season. The Big 12 looks to be another deep conference that could beat each other up with teams like #19 Oklahoma, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State. There are no off weeks in the Big 12 conference and each matchup always seems to be an exciting one. I expect TCU to head into the final week 11-0 and survive a talented Baylor team in the regular season finale, putting the Horned Frogs in the College Football playoff.

Out west, the Pac-12 appears to have numerous quality teams, but no one in particular stands out. This conference is filled with talented players in the top half of the league. The usual favorites, Oregon and Stanford, are contenders once again this year. The Ducks are led by graduate transfer QB Vernon Adams Jr. who plays his former team, Eastern Washington, in the season opener. On the other hand the Cardinal are led by experienced QB Kevin Hogan and playmakers such as Christian McCaffrey and Michael Rector. However, USC, UCLA, Arizona, and Arizona State have the best teams they’ve had in years. USC has a proven QB in Cody Kessler as well as a talented and deep defense. UCLA will be led by a top recruit at QB in Josh Rosen and LB Myles Jack. The Wildcats of Arizona are led by Scooby Wright III, an All-American LB, who will miss the first half of the season with a knee injury. However, Arizona still has an experienced and high scoring offense. Arizona State lost QB Taylor Kelly and WR Jaelen Strong to the draft last year, but Mike Bercovici and D.J. Foster hope to fill those spots and pick up where the Sun Devils left off a year ago. The Pac-12 is a deep conference with six teams that are more than capable of winning the conference, but I believe Oregon will sneak by and earn the fourth spot in the College Football playoff.

Now, to the most exciting and difficult conference in college football. Once again, the SEC looks to be the best conference from top to bottom with 8 teams ranked in the Top 25. Alabama and Auburn are the favorites to win the SEC, but neither are considered to be the best team in college football. Alabama could struggle on offense with a new QB and RB, but they have an outstanding defense once again this year. Auburn don’t appear to have any superstars, but rather a roster full of quality players. Just below the Tide and the Tigers in the rankings are Georgia and LSU. Both teams are led by Heisman hopefuls at RB with the Bulldogs’ Nick Chubb and the Tigers’ Leonard Fournette. However, both teams have question marks at the QB position and will rely on a strong running game and defense to win games this year. In the next tier of the SEC, there are a lot of teams that could be sleepers to win the conference. Ole Miss has a talented roster led by QB Chad Kelly and DE Robert Nkemdiche and could make some noise if Kelly stays out of trouble off the field. Arkansas has an experienced QB in Brandon Allen and despite the season-ending injury to RB Jonathan Williams, Alex Collins should get most of the carries and had glimpses of brilliance a year ago. Also, Tennessee has a dual threat QB in Joshua Dobbs and returns almost all of its starters from last year as they continue their climb back to the top of the SEC. Missouri has a balanced offense with QB Maty Mauk and RB Russell Hansbrough as well as a quality defense. Just outside of the Top 25 are two exciting teams; Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Mississippi State loses a lot of starters from last year, but simply because Heisman hopeful QB Dak Prescott decided to return for his senior year, the Bulldogs are a team to be reckoned with in the SEC West. Texas A&M will start QB Kyle Allen, who looked great at times last year. And with a defense led by DE Myles Garrett, don’t overlook the Aggies in a loaded SEC Conference. In a league with no real favorite, it’s hard to bet against Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide and I expect them to win the conference and play in the College Football Playoff.

So, I believe Ohio State, Oregon, and Alabama will return to the College Football Playoff, joined by TCU as the fourth and final team. As the National Champion, I expect Ohio State to finish 15-0, beating TCU in the championship and winning their second straight title. Urban Meyer’s team just has too much talent on both sides of the ball and their experience will help them not get caught up in the media attention of being undefeated. As for the Heisman, I believe Buckeye RB Ezekiel Elliott will just beat out TCU QB Trevone Boykin in the voting. Elliott is too talented not to get to the ball even in Ohio State’s offense. This season looks to be another eventful one, full of action-packed games and excitement across the country.