No. 8 Cincinnati (9-1) Opener: vs, Miami, Ohio, Sept. 4. Reality check: The Bearcats have finished ranked each of the last three seasons under coach Luke Fickell, improving each season. They’re loaded for another run in the American Athletic Conference, with nonconference games at No. 17 Indiana and No. 9 Notre Dame likely to determine just how high they can go in 2021.
No. 9 Notre Dame (10-2) Opener: at Florida State, Sept. 5. Reality check: The Fighting Irish have finished the season ranked four straight seasons. The last time that happened was when Lou Holtz’s teams ended seven straight seasons ranked from 1987-1993.
No. 10 North Carolina (8-4)
Opener: at Virginia Tech, Sept. 3. Reality check: Coach Mack Brown tries to make it two seastraight seasons with a ranked finish for the Tar Heels. That hasn’t been done in Chapel Hill since the final two sea9-1) sons of Brown’s first stint at e, Sept. UNC in 1996-97.
No. 19 Penn State (4-5)
Southern California head coach Clay Helton talks to a referee during a game against Arizona last November. Since 2010, the Trojans have had four seasons that started ranked and ended unranked.
been a lot of buzz around the Ducks because of the way coach Mario Cristobal has been recruiting, but Oregon has finished a season ranked just once in the last five years.
No. 12 Wisconsin (4-3) Opener: vs. No. 19 Penn State, Sept. 4. Reality check: In two of the last three seasons, Wisconsin started ranked and ended unranked. It’s happened a total of four time to the Badgers in the previous 13 seasons, but the last time Wisconsin went two straight seasons finishing outside the Top 25 was 2003.
No. 13 Florida (8-4)
Opener: vs. Florida Atlantic, ng into No. 11 Oregon (4-3) Sept. 4. season Opener: vs. Fresno State, Reality check: Coach Dan pointing Sept. 4. Mullen has brought some or the Reality check: There has only nked and top-10 Proudly supporting our local football teams!
-3) Iowa,
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consistency with three straight ranked finishes, a first for Florida since Urban Meyer left after the 2010 season.
No. 14 Miami (8-3) Opener: vs. No. 1 Alabama in Atlanta, Sept. 4. Reality check: There are many ways to describe how underwhelming the Hurricanes have been since joining the ACC in 2004, but how about this? Miami has finished the season ranked just six times as a member of the ACC and never better than 11th.
No. 15 USC (5-1) Opener: vs. San Jose State, Sept. 4. Reality check: Since 2010, the Trojans have had four seasons that started ranked
and ended unranked. Coach Clay Helton could have a hard time surviving another season at USC that doesn’t live up to expectations.
No. 16 LSU (5-5) Opener: at UCLA, Sept. 4. Reality check: The Tigers became the first defending champions since Auburn in 2011 to finish the season outside the Top 25. There is talent for a bounce back in Baton Rouge.
No. 17 Indiana (6-2) Opener: at No. 18 Iowa, Sept. 4. Reality check: Coach Tom Allen’s Hoosiers will try to become the first team in the history of the program to start and end the season ranked.
Opener: at No. 12 Wisconsin, Sept. 4. Reality check: The Nittany Lions had a string of four straight Top 25 finishes snapped last year. There is reason to believe it was just a glitch, but a tricky early season schedule should reveal a lot.
No. 20 Washington (3-1) Opener: vs. Montana, Sept. 4. Reality check: The Huskies seemed primed to settle into a perennial Top 25 team under coach Chris Petersen when they had three straight ranked finishes from 2015-18. Second-year coach Jimmy Lake is trying to prove the program’s slip was small.
No. 21 Texas (7-3) Opener: vs. No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette, Sept. 4. Reality check: Former Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian takes over a program that for all the drama has finished ranked three straight seasons for the first time since a 12-year run under Mack Brown from
1998-2009.
No. 22 Coastal Carolina (11-1) Opener: vs. The Citadel, Sept. 2. Reality check: The Chanticleers will try to follow up their magical 2020 season by becoming the first Sun Belt team to begin and finish a season ranked.
No. 23 LouisianaLafayette (10-1) Opener: at No. 21 Texas, Sept. 4. Reality check: The Ragin’ Cajuns will try to follow up 21 victories in the last two seasons by becoming, yes, the first Sun Belt team to begin and finish a season ranked.
No. 24 Utah (3-2) Opener: vs. Weber State, Sept. 2. Reality check: The Utes had a run of three straight seasons from 2014-16 in which they started the season unranked and finished ranked. Utah doesn’t get undervalued quite so much anymore. Like a lot of Pac-12 teams, the Utes bring back a boatload of experienced players.
No. 25 Arizona State (2-2) Opener: vs. Southern Utah, Sept. 2. Reality check: The Sun Devils are ranked in the preseason for the first time since 2015. Arizona State has only had one season (2014) in the last 24 years that began and ended ranked.
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PIGSKIN PREVIEW AUGUST 2021
Opener: vs. No. 17 Indiana, Sept. 4. Reality check: In 22 seasons under Kirk Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have neither finished four straight seasons ranked, nor had three straight seasons that began and ended in the AP poll. Iowa can accomplish both of those this season.
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No. 18 Iowa (6-2)
third time in program history. Can Matt Campbell’s program continue to outperform its DNA?
