2013 College Football Top 25

The term in Tuscaloosa, Alabama is “Roll Tide” and that is exactly what the Alabama Crimson Tide have been doing. The Tide have won three out of the last four Bowl Championship Series Title Games with an eye on winning three consecutive next January in Pasadena, California. Under Alabama head coach Nick Saban, the Tide are 68-13 since 2007 with six of those losses occurring in Saban’s first year with the team. The Tide continue to send first round talent to the National Football League, but it hasn’t stopped the machine from rolling out players.

Senior quarterback AJ McCarron was unflappable last year as he threw 30 touchdowns to only 3 interceptions. McCarron is already a two-time national champion as he has put his name alongside legendary Alabama quarterbacks such as Joe Namath, Bart Starr, and Ken Stabler.

Running back Eddie Lacy is now in the NFL, but the Tide still have sophomore running back T.J. Yeldon who totaled 1,108 on the ground last season. Sophomore wide receiver Amari Cooper was just getting his feet wet last season with 1,000 yards receiving on just 59 receptions and he is ready for a breakout season in 2013.

Alabama has owned teams in the Kickoff Classic at the Georgia Dome and the Virginia Tech Hokies might have to find out again as these two are set to open the season on August 31. Alabama’s Southeastern Conference opener will be a revenge game as they travel to College Station, Texas to take on the Texas A&M Aggies and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner quarterback Johnny Manziel. If Alabama can survive A&M, there isn’t a team on their schedule that will prevent them from making the SEC Championship Game for the second consecutive season.

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

It usually takes head coach Urban Meyer several seasons before he can build a national title contender, but in his first season with the Ohio State Buckeyes he went undefeated. The Buckeyes were ineligible to play in a bowl game last year as they lost a chance to win a national championship.

Dual-threat junior quarterback Braxton Miller is the engine the makes the Buckeye offense go as he accounted for 3,310 yards from scrimmage last year. Miller will have a bigger role at least at the start of the season as senior running back Carlos Hyde will be suspended for at least the first three games of the season.

Defensively the Buckeyes return their top four tacklers from 2012 as they are led by junior linebacker Ryan Shazier who is in the running to win the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.

With the exception of road games against Northwestern and Michigan, Ohio State’s schedule is extremely favorable and they will have a good chance of making it to Pasadena for the BCS Championship Game.

Last year was a banner year for the Texas A&M Aggies. It was the first season for Kevin Sumlin as head coach of Texas A&M and it was also A&M’s first season in the Southeastern Conference as they didn’t disappoint. The Aggies came out of nowhere to finish with a record of 11-2 and they were the only team to defeat BCS Champion Alabama.

At the start of the season, redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel was an unknown outside of the state of Texas, but the legend of “Johnny Football” quickly swept the nation. Manziel accounted for over 5,000 total yards and 47 touchdowns en route to winning the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player. Now Manziel is back to see what he can do for an encore to his stellar 2012 season.

It didn’t take Manziel and Texas A&M sophomore wide receiver Mike Evans long to connect as Evans had over 1,100 receiving yards last season and the duo is ready to dominate the SEC once again.

All eyes will be on College Station on September 14 when Texas A&M hosts Alabama in a game which will go a long way in deciding the SEC Western Division Champion. The Aggies also have road games against Ole Miss and LSU respectively which will be a huge test for Sumlin and his squad.

4. Georgia Bulldogs

Last season the Georgia Bulldogs were only a few yards away from playing for a national championship, but they ran out of time and lost to Alabama 32-28 in the SEC Championship Game. The Dawgs lost nine defensive starters from last year’s team which means that the offense will be picking up the slack for Georgia head coach Mark Richt in 2013.  Richt will rely on his senior quarterback Aaron Murray to continue to be unflappable. Last season Murray threw 36 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions as Georgia went 11-2. Murray is hoping that he will have two of his top wide receivers healthy as both  juniors Michael Bennett and Malcolm Mitchell are working back from knee injuries.

Last season “Gurshel” which consisted of true freshman running backs Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall took the SEC by storm as they rambled for more that 2,200 yards on the ground. With Gurley and Marshall’s running along with Murray’s poise in the pocket, it makes the job of Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo that much easier as he can take more chances in the passing game.

The first two games of the year will go a long way in deciding the season for the Dawgs. Georgia opens the season against the Clemson Tigers of the Atlantic Coast Conference before they host the South Carolina Gamecocks who throttled the Bulldogs last season 35-7 in Columbia, South Carolina.

Richt has come under fire from time to time in Athens, Georgia, but he knows how to put a consistent top 10 football team on the field every Saturday.

5. Florida Gators

Some people will choose to remember the Florida Gators 2012 season for a surprising 11-2 record while others will remember it  for a team that was thoroughly dominated by the Louisville Cardinals in the Sugar Bowl. For Gators head coach Will Muschamp, most people expected his team to win 9 games while giving Gator fans optimism for the future. The Gators didn’t do that and the bar is once again set high in Gainesville for 2013.

Gators junior quarterback Jeff Driskel gets more comfortable as each day goes and the reins might be loosened more for him this season. Driskel started in 12 games for the Gators last season, but he only had two games in which he threw for more than 200 yards and if the Gators are going to remain in the national championship picture, those numbers must improve.

The Gators finished 104th in total offense last season as they were carried by a stingy defense that only allowed 14.5 points per game.

This season as Driskel goes so will the Gators. The schedule won’t be as favorable as Florida has road games against LSU and South Carolina along with their yearly clash with Georgia in Jacksonville, Florida which will go along way in deciding who will represent the SEC East at the Georgia Dome in December.

Under head coach Steve Spurrier, the South Carolina Gamecocks have become a very respectable team. Under Spurrier, the Gamecocks have never had a losing season and they have finished the last two seasons ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press’ Poll.

The SEC is home to some of the top defenses in the country and the Gamecocks fit into that as they were 11th in the nation in total defense last season. The Gamecocks are led by junior defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney could potentially be the top pick of next year’s NFL Draft and he might have been this year if he was eligible to declare. Clowney was a one man wrecking crew last season with 13
sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss. Clowney did all of this with opposing teams using double and triple-teams to combat his awesome presence.

The road to another top 10 finish won’t be easy for the Gamecocks as they open and close their season against ACC opponents in the North Carolina Tar Heels and Clemson Tigers respectively. South Carolina also has SEC road games against Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansas before they host Florida in November. If Spurrier’s team survives that slate, they will truly deserve to advance to the SEC Championship Game.

Under head coach Dabo Swinney, the Clemson Tigers have taken the next step in becoming a consistent top 25 team. After a 10-2 regular season, the Clemson Tigers were able to defeat the LSU Tigers in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl to show the nation that they are not ready to roll over for the big-time football programs.

Clemson is hoping that the momentum from an 11-win season will carry over to 2013.

Clemson senior quarterback Tajh Boyd will be a candidate to win the Heisman Trophy as he spurned an opportunity to go the NFL in favor of refining his game. In the last two seasons, Boyd has passed for more than 7,700 yards and he has 69 touchdowns to only 25 interceptions. Boyd lost one of his main targets in DeAndre Hopkins to the NFL, but he still has junior wide receiver Sammy Watkins. Watkins’ production was down last year as a result of suspensions and injuries, but with Hopkins gone he will be more of the focal point in Clemson’s passing game.

The Tigers schedule has two SEC teams as bookends on the schedule. Clemson opens the season against Georgia and they finish against South Carolina. In between they have an extremely favorable schedule in the Atlantic Coast Conference so they should be in the mix for a Bowl Championship Series berth.

The Louisville Cardinals entered the Sugar Bowl last season as big underdogs to the mighty Florida Gators of the SEC. Several hours later, the Gators were the ones who were shaking their heads as Louisville showed that their 10-2 regular season wasn’t a fluke.

Louisville head coach Charlie Strong has always preached defense, but he has found himself a quarterback in junior Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater will be a Heisman Trophy candidate this season and all of the NFL scouts rave about his passing and pocket awareness.

Defensively the Cardinals return their three top tacklers on defense in senior linebacker Preston Brown, junior defensive back Calvin Pryor, and senior defensive back Hakeem Smith.

The Big East Conference no longer exists for football and Louisville is in the newly minted American Athletic Conference for one season before they join the ACC. Wouldn’t it be nice for Strong and Louisville to win two different conferences in back-to-back seasons?

Times have changed for the Stanford Cardinal football program. With three consecutive BCS bowl game appearances the Cardinal have proven that they are not just smart guys, but they are also football players. Stanford head coach David Shaw has stepped out of the shadow of his predecessor Jim Harbaugh and he is making his own legacy as last season Shaw led the Cardinal to their first Rose Bowl victory since 1972.

Junior quarterback Kevin Hogan is ready to show that he is more than a game manager and closer to what Stanford once had in Andrew Luck. As last season progressed you could see that Hogan became more comfortable as his completion percentage was never lower than 63 percent. This will be another season of change in Palo Alto as offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton departed to join Luck with the Indianapolis Colts, but Shaw has this team on the right track.

Road games against Washington State, Utah, and USC will be daunting for the Cardinal. Stanford has a home showdown with UCLA who they defeated twice last season as well as a Pac-12 North battle with Oregon and they will finish up the regular season by hosting Notre Dame.

This is a new glory era for Stanford football.

As Michigan head coach Brady Hoke prepares to enter his third year in Ann Arbor, the roster is starting to take place with the players that he has recruited. Quarterback Denard Robinson has moved on to the NFL, but Hoke still has junior quarterback Devin Gardner to lead the ship. Gardner filled in for an injured Robinson last season as he passed for 1,219 yards. Hoke is getting Michigan back to a pro-style offense and away from the spread option that was run by former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez. You will still see a fair share of running with Michigan as senior running back Fitz Toussaint looks to have a bounce back season after only rushing for 514 yards in 2012. The offensive line will be anchored by senior offensive tackle Taylor Lewan. Lewan would have been a first round pick in last spring’s NFL Draft, but he opted to return for his senior season and Hoke is happy for it as the 6’8″ senior from Cave Creek, Arizona is ready to take on defenders in the Big Ten Conference.

Both Michigan’s non-conference and conference schedules are favorable as they host both Notre Dame and Ohio State this year. This is definitely a team that can make a run at a BCS bowl game.

11. TCU Horned Frogs

The Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University used 2012 to get acclimated to their new surroundings as members of the Big 12 Conference. TCU finished the season with an overall record of 7-6 while going 4-5 within the Big 12. Things could have been better, but after a 4-0 start to the season, quarterback Casey Pachall was dismissed from the team. In his place quarterback Trevone Boykin filled in admirably as he passed for 2,054 yards and 15 touchdowns as a freshman. 

Pachall has returned to TCU and Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson knows that he has a good problem on his hands as he can rely on both Pachall and Boykin as needed to lead his team.

TCU has done a good job recently of playing giant killer and they will get an opportunity once again when they open the season at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas against LSU.

12. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame enjoyed a storybook season in 2012 that unraveled in the BCS Championship Game. Notre Dame went 12-0 in the regular season, but the Crimson Tide steamrolled them 42-14 in the BCS Championship Game.

Now for Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly it is back to the drawing board to see what he can do for an encore. Quarterback Everett Golson was dismissed from the team earlier this year and Kelly will now have to rely on senior quarterback Tommy Rees. Rees has been in and out of Kelly’s dog house, but hopefully for his senior campaign he can regain the trust of his head coach.

The bulk of the running game for the Irish will be on the legs of junior running back George Atkinson III. Atkinson III came off of the bench to be a game-changer last season, but with Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood no longer with the team, Atkinson III will be the feature back.

The Irish had the seventh ranked defense in the nation last year as they only surrendered 12.8 points per game as only Alabama and Pittsburgh scored more than 20 points against them.The defensive line will still be tough to run on as junior defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt and senior defensive lineman Louis Nix III roam the middle as the defensive unit was 12th in the nation in run defense in 2012. 

Notre Dame’s road schedule is d
aunting this season as they will travel to Michigan and Stanford along with home games against Oklahoma and USC. The Irish won’t go undefeated, but they should remain in the top 25 this year.

13. Oregon Ducks

When a head coach as established as Chip Kelly at Oregon leaves for the NFL and NCAA sanctions are coming down the pike, you wonder how severe the punishment will be? Oregon went 46-7 in four seasons with Kelly before he left to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Mark Helfrich was the offensive coordinator at Oregon under Kelly and he has now been given the task of maintaining the high-powered offense in Eugene.

Helfrich has plenty to work with as quarterback Marcus Mariota is back for his sophomore season. Mariota enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign as he threw 32 touchdowns to only 6 interceptions and he accounted for over 3,400 total yards. Running back Kenjon Barner is in the NFL now, but the speed is still there in Oregon’s backfield with junior tailback De’Anthony Thomas. Thomas split carries with Barner last season, but his carries will increase for Oregon this season and you will once again see a track meet.

The early portion of Oregon’s schedule is favorable, but it will get tougher with road games at Washington, Stanford, and Arizona. The Pac-12 Conference is starting to catch up to Oregon’s speed and it won’t be as easy in 2013 for them.

14. Texas Longhorns

At the University of Texas, if you’re football team isn’t contending for a national title and beating Oklahoma consistently, the natives will become restless. After going 13-1 in 2009, Texas has not had a 10-win season since, but they did finish in the top 25 last year for the first time since 2009. Texas head coach Mack Brown finally decided on a quarterback last year in David Ash. At 6’3′, 223 lbs., Ash is a strong quarterback and the junior from Belton, Texas is ready to help Texas contend for a Big 12 Championship. With junior running back Johnathan Gray and senior wide receiver Mike Davis in the mix, Texas has the pieces on offense to contend with any team in the Big 12.

When you’re sending players frequently to the NFL in the fashion that the LSU Tigers are, you always must find players to fill those voids. For LSU head coach Les Miles, he has consistently recruited top-tier players to Baton Rogue. The Tigers lost several defensive starters from last year’s defense that finished 8th in the nation. In 2013,Miles will rely on outside linebackers Lamin Barrow and Tahj Jones along with strong safety Craig Loston who are the seniors on the Tigers starting defense.

However the offense is still a work in progress at LSU. Quarterback Zach Mettenberger improved as 2012 progressed, but he still needs to improve if this team is going to contend in the SEC. Now as a senior, Mettenberger will be looked on to carry this offense as their leader.

It won’t take us long to see what kind of team that Miles has this season as LSU opens the season at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas against TCU. 

It appeared as if the Boise State Broncos were only going to be in the Mountain West Conference for a cup of coffee in favor of the now defunct Big East Conference for football. Cooler heads have prevailed and the Broncos are staying put. Since 2006, The Broncos are 84-8 and that mark ranks up there with any of the top programs in the country. Boise State head coach Chris Petersen doesn’t get the top recruits to his program in the fashion that other head coaches might, but Peterson consistently gets the most out of his players.

The Broncos offense wasn’t as explosive last year as we have seen in years prior as they were ranked 68th in the nation in total offense. Things could change this season as senior quarterback Joe Southwick now has a full year under his belt as the Broncos starting quarterback.

Boise State doesn’t get the credit that they deserve on the defensive side of the football as they have been constantly overshadowed by the offense, but last year they were ranked 12th in the nation in total defense. This year’s team has four returning starters on defense and they are led by defensive end Demarcus Lawrence who could be All-Mountain West once the season ends.

The Broncos finished last season by defeating Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl 28-26. These two will open the season in a rematch of that tight affair, but this time the scene changes as Boise State will have to deal with the raucous atmosphere in Seattle. Boise State also has road games against Fresno State, BYU, and Utah State which will go along way in deciding the season for Petersen’s bunch.

17. Nebraska Cornhuskers

There is no doubt that under head coach Bo Pelini that the Nebraska Cornhuskers are back on the national scene, but where has the famed “black shirts” defense gone? Last year Nebraska was 35th in total defense, but they had four games in which they surrendered 30 or more points as they gave up 36 points to UCLA, 63 points to Ohio State, 70 to Wisconsin, and 45 to Georgia. Nebraska’s defense will only have two seniors in the starting lineup in defensive linemen Thad Randle and Jason Ankrah as they look to make their mark in the Big Ten Conference.

The ‘Huskers have been knocking on the door of a Big Ten Championship, but they have fallen short in their two seasons in the conference.

Pelini will rely heavily on his senior quarterback Taylor Martinez. Martinez has seen his share of ups and downs with the “Big Red”, but he is looking to put it altogether in his last season at Lincoln. Martinez had a good junior season where he accounted for nearly 4,000 yards of offense and if he can get off to a good start for Nebraska, his name could creep up in the Heisman discussion.

The Cornhuskers have road games against Michigan and Penn State as well as stepping out of conference to host UCLA. Once again Nebraska will be in the discussion for the Big Ten Championship.

18. Oregon State Beavers

Usually when a head coach has two quarterbacks it is a problem. For Oregon State head coach Mike Riley it was a blessing in disguise. The combination of Cody Yaz and Sean Mannion led Oregon State to their first 9-win season since 2008. Now with Yaz back for his senior season and Mannion as a junior, Riley believes that he has a team that can once again compete for the Pac-12 North Title.

As a freshman in 2012, running back Storm Woods lived up to his name and attacked like a storm with 940 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Brandon Cooks gained 1,151 yards receiving on 67 receptions last season and he is a logical candidate to be All-Pac 12 in 2013.

Road games against Utah, Washington State, Arizona State, and Oregon will go a tremendous way in determining if Oregon State will remain in contention for the Pac-12 Championship.

19. UCLA Bruins

In his first season as the head coach of the UCLA Bruins, Jim Mora vowed to change the culture at Westwood. Mora made this team tougher in every facet of the word as they had their first 9-win season since 2005 and they defeated crosstown rival USC for the first time since 2006. Now everyone is looking to see what Mora and the Bruins will do for an encore as they are looking to repeat as Pac-12 South Champions.

Dual-threat quarterback Brett Hundley enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign as he accounted for 4,000 total yards and 42 total touchdowns with the majority of those numbers coming in the pocket. At 6’3″, 223 lbs., Hundley is a load and defenders in the Pac-12 found that out the hard way last s
eason.

UCLA must replace Johnathan Franklin’s 2012 production at tailback as he rushed for 1,734 yards and 13 touchdowns. Mora will turn to junior Jordon James at running back to take some of the pressure off of Hundley.

The 2013 schedule won’t be as favorable to UCLA as it was in 2012. The Bruins welcome Nevada to the Rose Bowl for the season opener before they go on the road against Nebraska. UCLA also has conference road games against Stanford, Utah, Oregon, Arizona, and USC while they will host Washington. The toughness that Mora established last year must be on display once again for UCLA to have a shot in the Pac-12.

Some fans in Seattle are expecting their beloved Washington Huskies to contend for a Pac-12 Title every year, but it hasn’t worked that way since Steve Sarkisian became Washington’s head coach in 2009. Sarkisian inherited one of the worst teams in college football and has produced three consecutive winning seasons with a record of 7-6, but his Huskies are now poised to improve off of that.

Senior quarterback Keith Price took a step back last year as he was unable to take the leap that most expected after a terrific sophomore campaign. If the Huskies are going to contend in the Pac-12 North with Oregon, Stanford, and Oregon State, then Price must be locked in all season. Junior running back Bishop Sankey had 289 carries last year and he is once again expected to be the work horse in the backfield. Junior wide receiver Kasen Williams and junior tight end junior Austin Seferian-Jenkins are both looking to put troubled off-seasons behind them and let their play make up for it as they are both auditioning for the NFL.

The non-conference schedule won’t be a walk in the park for Washington as they host Boise State before they travel to Champaign, Illinois to take on Illinois from the Big Ten Conference. The Huskies also have road games this season against Oregon State, UCLA, and Stanford, but they should be in the mix with the upper echelon teams in the Pac-12 North.

After a stellar 2011 by former Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy spent 2012 playing the quarterback shuffle as he used three signal callers. It will be a little easier this year as Wes Lunt transferred which leaves the competition open to Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh. Walsh and Chelf combined to pass for more than 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns but Gundy must decide on one player if Oklahoma State is going to contend for a Big 12 Championship.

Gundy continues to produce big time wide receivers in Stillwater with the latest being junior wide receiver Josh Stewart. Stewart had a breakout season in 2012 with 101 receptions, 1,210 receiving yards, and 7 receiving touchdowns. 

Oklahoma State will have to prove themselves on the road in the Big 12 as they travel to Iowa State, Texas Tech, and Texas.

In three seasons under head coach Jimbo Fisher, the Florida State Seminoles are creeping back into the discussion with the big boys of college football. The ‘Noles won the ACC Title last year for the first time since 2005 and they finished in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll for the first time since 2000. Now with many departures to the NFL and to graduation, can Fisher keep the machine in Tallahassee going?

The quarterbacking duties will be placed on the shoulders of redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston as he will look to make Seminole fans forget about EJ Manuel. The ‘Noles had the second ranked defense in the nation last season and you can expect that trend to continue with sophomore defensive end Mario Edwards leading the way. Edwards only had 1.5 sacks last year as a freshman, but he is expected to do big things in 2013.

Florida State’s October 19 showdown at Clemson will more than likely determine the winner of the Atlantic Division in the ACC and then they’ll have their annual showdown with Florida, but the ‘Noles must travel to Gainesville for that affair. Other than that, Florida State is in the clear to be in the national championship conversation this season.

Little by little Ohio Bobcats head coach Frank Solich has put his team on the map. You’re probably reading this and wondering how in the world could the Bobcats crack the top 25? A senior duo from Norman, Oklahoma in the form of quarterback Tyler Tettleton and running back Beau Blankenship are a big reason for it. Last season, Tettleton passed for 2,844 yards with 18 touchdowns to only 4 interceptions. Blakenship rushed for 1,604 yards and 15 touchdowns as Ohio had the 33rd ranked offense in the nation last year and in 2013 they could be in line to win the Mid-American Conference.

Ohio opens the regular season at Louisville which will be tough, but their October 12 contest with Central Michigan could go a long way in determining the champion of the MAC.

24. Northwestern Wildcats

This upcoming season will be extremely different for Northwestern Wildcats football as they will no longer have to hear about not winning a bowl game since the 1948 Rose Bowl. The Wildcats defeated Mississippi State in the 2013 Gator Bowl 34-20 to put things into perspective as they will look to ascend with the upper echelon teams of the Big Ten Conference.

The forward pass is still a work in progress for Northwestern, but when you can run the football in the fashion that they do, you can live with only passing for 2,198 yards. The Wildcats were 19th in the nation last year in rushing and you can expect another hefty dose of senior quarterback Kain Colter and senior running back Venric Mack pounding the football.

The Wildcats open the regular season on the road against California before they will have their home opener against Syracuse. Northwestern opens up Big Ten Conference play at home against Ohio State while they will also have conference road games against Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska. For Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, it will be imperative for his team to get off to a good start in the Big Ten.

25. USC Trojans

It is safe to say that 2012 was a huge disappointment for the USC Trojans. The Trojans came into the season as the preseason No. 1 only to limp to the finish with a record of 7-6. In the aftermath, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin was asked to step down as his beloved “Tampa 2” never translated to the college game. Kiffin will now be replaced by Clancy Pendergast as USC will employ a 5-2-4 defense this season to combat all of the high-flying offenses in the Pac-12 Conference. The NCAA sanctions that were imposed a few years ago are still hurting USC as this team has lacked depth at most positions for the past few seasons.

There is a quarterback battle brewing in Los Angeles between sophomores Max Wittek and Cody Kessler as USC head coach Lane Kiffin will look to replace Matt Barkley. In senior running back Silas Redd and junior wide receiver Marquise Lee, the Trojans are set at the skill positions on offense. USC is returning all five starters on the offensive line as “The Men of Troy” will look to return to “student body right”.

Defensively the Trojans are returning six starters led by senior linebacker Morgan Breslin and junior linebacker Lamar Dawson and it will be imperative for this unit to set the tone early in the season.

Despite what USC athletic director Pat Haden has said publicly about Kiffin’s job being safe, this is an important season for the head coach coming off of a 7-6 season. The Trojans non-conference will be easy, but conference road
games against Arizona State and Oregon State along with home game against Stanford and UCLA will go a long way in deciding Kiffin’s fate for 2014.