College Football: 10 biggest storylines heading into 2017
8. What teams could surprise in 2017?
It happens every season, you see a team that comes out of nowhere and makes a run to the playoff or a New Year’s Six bowl. Michigan State surprised everybody in 2013 and then did it again in 2015. Washington and Penn State took up the surprise team mantle in 2016 and now here we are in 2017, it’s going to happen again.
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Who are the lucky teams that should be watched? Well, while it might not be a surprise entirely a team that is under the radar is Wisconsin. Yes, the Badgers won the Cotton Bowl last season but nobody is really talking about them. The focus in the Big Ten has been on the much ballyhooed eastern division so Wisconsin can just lay in the weeds when it comes to making their way to the playoff.
OK guys, just bare with me here when I say this: Texas could easily be a surprise team in 2017.
Hear me out if you haven’t clicked off of the story in anger and disgust. When Charlie Strong’s run ended in Austin, the new UT coach Tom Herman was left a cupboard that wasn’t bare at all. You return a seasoned defense that has nine of the top 10 tacklers returning. Longhorn QB Shane Buechele is back and should be your starting QB when the season opens against Maryland on Sept. 2.
While I’m not putting Texas in the New Year’s Six or the playoff, they do have a chance to play their way into the Big 12 Title Game. From there, anything can happen.