Everyone loves an underdog. Earlier this week, eDraft released it’s initial Top-25 rankings. Obviously, the teams at the top will be viewed as favorites for the first-ever college football playoffs. However, every year, teams who were ranked out of the top-10 at the beginning of the season always seem to find themselves at the top of the polls near the end of the season.
Here are three teams who begin the season outside the Top-10, who could find themselves contending for a National Championship come December.
USC
After a rough, tumultuous start to the 2013 season, the Trojans ended on a hot streak, winning six of their last seven games. Cody Kessler finally settled in as the starter and played very well down the stretch, giving the Trojans a great opportunity to make a move in 2014.
This year, the Trojans return six starters on offense, but more importantly, eight on defense, including Leonard Williams, Hayes Pullard and Su’a Cravens. USC’s defense finished with a top-20 defense last season, and return a lot of the key players that helped lead that unit.
In a conference that is full of high-octane offenses, including Oregon and UCLA, having a defense that can contain and attack is a necessity.
The Trojans don’t have an easy schedule, playing Stanford and Arizona on the road, but they will play Notre Dame and Arizona State at home, and avoid Oregon until the Pac-12 championship game, so they have a good opportunity to make it to the inaugural playoffs.
Notre Dame
Everett Golson returns from suspension to quarterback the Irish, which immediately puts them in the conversation, since Golson quarterbacked the Irish to the National Championship game for the 2012 season. He’ll have help on offense, as receiver Da’Varis Daniels returns, along with Amir Carlisle and Ben Koyack to give him options to throw to.
On defense, though the Irish lost Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix to the NFL, they return Sheldon Day, Jaylon Smith and insert sophomores Cole Luke and Max Redfield into the secondary to give them a strong defensive unit.
The Irish have a tough schedule, with opponents like Michigan, Stanford and Louisville at home and Florida State, USC and Arizona State on the road, but if the Irish can walk away winning five of those six games, they have a strong chance to vault themselves into the top four and give themselves a great chance to qualify for the playoff.
Ole Miss
There’s always one surprise team in the SEC that puts themselves in position to fight for the conference championship. Two years ago, Johnny Manziel burst on the scene and helped lead Texas A&M to an 11-2 record, giving them a legitimate chance to play for the SEC championship. Last season, Auburn rebounded from an atrocious 2012, failing to win a conference game, to winning the SEC.
In 2014, that team could be Ole Miss. They suffered through growing pains many expected them to, since they were an incredibly young team. This year, though, the Rebels are ready to contend. Their freshmen from last season saw the field a lot and are more prepared for the SEC speed.
Laquon Treadwell established himself as a top-five receiver in college football, Laremy Tunsil is an elite left tackle, and on defense, Robert Nkemdiche and Tony Connor will be stars at their respective positions and lead a tough Ole Miss unit.
The key to their season will be the consistency of Bo Wallace. Wallace has the skill set necessary to run Hugh Freeze’s offense, but he struggled with his passing accuracy and decision making in 2013. If Wallace can limit his mistakes, the Rebels have a great chance to see themselves at the top of the conference.
Ole Miss drew a very favorable schedule, especially for playing the SEC. They will play Alabama, Auburn, and Tennessee at home, avoiding very tough environments. They still will need to play Texas A&M in College Station and LSU in Baton Rouge, but overall, the Rebels lucked out.