Rob's Rankings: Darkhorse conference title contenders

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

With spring football in full swing on most college campuses, excitement for the fall is beginning to build. It’s why we here at Rivals.com are getting a bit ahead of ourselves in selecting a “darkhorse” contender for each major conference championship and ranking them based on probability of actually pulling it off.

The following five picks are differing levels of long shot, thus the definition of the term “darkhorse,” so maybe save your outrage over schools such as Alabama and USC missing the list.

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Florida State’s 2017 season was derailed quickly, as quarterback Deondre Francois injured himself in the Seminoles’ opener. And while the quarterback position was nowhere near the only problem during last year’s 7-6 effort, let’s not pretend that the FSU depth chart is devoid of elite athletes. With Francois healthy and flanked by impressive running back duo Cam Akers and Jacques Patrick, the offense should be fine. FSU, which needs to see a wide receiver emerge, has elite talent on its roster and is now led by Willie Taggart, who turned a 4-8 team into a 7-6 team in his one season at Oregon. In the end, the reason the Seminoles are at the top of this list is simple: It’s unwise to bet against natural talent, and FSU has plenty of that.

If we agree that Texas has the talent to stand toe-to-toe with anyone in the Big 12 (we do), and we also agree that Tom Herman is the right coach for the job (we think we do), then it stands to reason that year two of the Herman regime could see the Longhorns push for a conference title. Picking Texas as a “darkhorse” seems insane, but when you consider the program hasn’t won double-digit games since 2009, the moniker fits. Texas seemed to be on the cusp at times a year ago, as it hung tough in losses to USC, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Texas will need a solution at quarterback, as both Sam Ehlinger or Shane Buechele will both get their chance to be the man. Meanwhile, the influx of defensive back talent Herman signed this offseason should help the defense take the next step. This is a huge season for Herman, who needs to build on last year’s 7-6 finish. After all, the pieces seem to be in place.

Kevin Sumlin has a bit of a history when it comes to making noise with a gifted quarterback armed with the ability to extend plays (e.g. Johnny Manziel). Now Sumlin has been handed Heisman hopeful Khalil Tate, one of the country’s most exciting and effective young players. Tate will need to find more consistency in 2018, and that quest will be aided by returning running back J.J. Taylor, who flirted with the 1,000-yard mark a year ago. The Wildcats return a decent amount of experience on defense and have a non-conference slate that should prepare them for the Pac-12 schedule. USC will be difficult to dethrone and UofA will need to catch a couple of breaks to do so, but stranger things have happened.

Alabama is a certified juggernaut, Georgia is coming off a national title game appearance and most expect Auburn to compete with those two programs once again. All of that kind of limits the “sleeper” picks in the SEC, so why not take a flyer on a proven coach taking over a roster that has plenty of talent? Jimbo Fisher is one of just four active coaches to have won a national title and his situation at Texas A&M comes with two gifted quarterbacks in Nick Starkel and Kellen Mond, each of whom saw time a year ago. A&M has plenty of wide receiver depth but will need an improved defensive effort if it hopes to make any sort of noise in an SEC West most expect to be dominated by Alabama and Auburn. The current climate of the SEC doesn’t seem conducive to a surprise champion, but skipping the league in this exercise would have been cowardly.

Yeah, yeah. I know. But hear me out. Nebraska probably isn’t going to win the Big Ten, but this is a list of darkhorses, not a collection of power programs dominating their respective leagues. Scott Frost’s offense is an established commodity. It’s also been proven that the Huskers' new head coach is capable of turning a program around in a hurry. Frost took over an 0-12 UCF and went 6-6 in his first season before going 12-0 in his second. It’s not as though he pulled off the turnaround with wildly superior talent, either. Sure, he’s installing a new offense and breaking in a new quarterback, but Frost’s system has worked at every stop. It will be on a Nebraska defense led by linebacker Dedrick Young (80 tackles a year ago) to give the revamped offense time to find its footing in Lincoln. Don’t wager anything on Nebraska winning a conference title, but certainly don’t bet your life against it. Frost may very well be a special coach. The schedule isn’t exactly favorable and includes road games at Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin so this is admittedly the longest of longshots.

With WrestleMania 34 set to take place in New Orleans this Sunday, there’s no time like the present to explore some of college football’s most personal feuds. So this week in overtime, we’ve created a WWE-style card involving college football personalities and ranked the hypothetical matchups in order of intrigue.

We start, of course, with the main event.

1. Lane Kiffin vs Nick Saban

Main event

The grudge: A wrestling storyline as old as time; former partners turn on each other for a grudge match ripe with smack talk. It’s difficult to determine which coach is the heel in this case, but Kiffin’s stoking of the flames on social media probably puts him in the bad-guy role.

The victor: Kiffin probably isn’t beating Saban in a football game anytime soon, but this is a fight and the FAU head coach’s youth gives him the edge in such a setting. It’s hard to believe this would be Kiffin’s first physical altercation, so we’ll give him the experience nod as well.

2. Jim Harbaugh vs Every SEC head coach

14-on-1 handicap match

The grudge: Is anyone really sure anymore? This is a longstanding beef. Something about Michigan holding its spring game at a powerful high school in Florida or the team traveling or recruiting Florida or something like that. I think there might have been a spat with SEC mascot Paul Finebaum.

Who wins? Handicap matches are tough propositions. They’re made even tougher when Ed Orgeron is part of the mob you’re asked to fight. This ends in a squash, but not before Harbaugh gets a few verbal jabs in on the microphone.

3. Ole Miss AD Ross Bjork vs NCAA president Mark Emmert

NCAA sanctions on a pole match

The grudge: No explanation needed here. Every card needs a gimmick match, and this rivalry is suited for such a thing. A document listing Ole Miss’ sanctions will be suspended over the ring. Should Emmert capture it, he will be free to enforce the penalties. Should Bjork get there first, the document will be burned and the program will be free of punishment.

Who wins? Bjork. Emmert and the NCAA are the ultimate heels in this feud and the good guy has to get the win in a payoff match. The average fan never roots for the NCAA, so Bjork dispatching of Emmert in dramatic fashion should pop the crowd.

4. Former Tennessee AD John Currie vs Current Tennessee AD Phil Fulmer

With special guest referee Greg Schiano

The grudge: Talk about a slow build. Then an associate AD, Currie was part of the group that fired Fulmer as Tennessee’s head football coach in 2008 only to have Fulmer supplant him as the same school’s athletic director following an embarrassing coaching search nearly a decade later.

Who wins? It goes against the laws of age and every other bit of logic, but I’ll always take an old, grizzled football coach over a buttoned-up executive with carefully parted hair. Schiano’s involvement adds intrigue. Is the Ohio State assistant resentful of the current Tennessee regime for how things ended with him or will he double cross Currie for caving to fan pressure? Tune in to find out.