College Football: Contenders, pretenders in 2020 preseason AP Top 25
By John Vogel
Teams that will be on the rise
There were a couple of teams that I thought were ranked too low. The tricky part is that this poll will be changed when the season comes, I assume that they won’t be including the conferences that don’t play as the season progresses (at least they shouldn’t).
For starters, we have to talk about North Carolina. This team really flipped it’s script last season, hiring back Mack Brown from the studio to lead young men again, and it worked wonders. Quarterback Sam Howell returns from a season where he set a program record with 38 touchdown passes, and he was only a freshman. All of his top targets return offensively, along with 10 starters. I dare say that they are better than Notre Dame.
I think that people are sleeping on Louisville. The Cardinals return a ton of key starters in players like quarterback Micale Cunningham, the Music City Bowl MVP, running back Javian Hawkins and NFL wide receiver prospects Dez Fitzpatrick and Tutu Atwell.
Defensively, they are a little bit undersized, which is why you cannot expect them to go toe-to-toe with Clemson. However, their schedule is light compared to other schools in the conference, with a couple of road tests against Notre Dame and Virginia. This team could wind up 9-2 and appear in the ACC Championship Game if people aren’t careful.
We really don’t ever talk about just how well Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops has guided a dying program to positive results, and now we need to take a minute to give him that credit. They’ve been amazing, even with some of the worse luck in the conference. Last season, they lost their starting quarterback and found a way to win games with a wide receiver playing quarterback (Lynn Bowden, 2020 third-round pick).
There are some key players on this team, especially this offense, that have the potential to be special. The quarterback battle between Terry Wilson and Joey Gatewood is a huge part of their upcoming success, but with a lesser challenging schedule than most (Auburn, Alabama, and Florida on the road), I think that Kentucky has a legitimate chance to rise this season.