I am excited to announce that I will be participating in the (formerly CBS Sports, now most likely SB Nation) BlogPoll this year. Brian from MGoBlog runs this thing and tries to get a diverse collection of college football bloggers as the voters. In years past it has been entertaining to follow the BlogPoll and I am thrilled about the opportunity to participate in it this year.

Anyway, part of being in the BlogPoll is soliciting feedback from readers (something that the AP Poll or Coaches Poll could use). So, even though I don't think there is an official vote for a while, I wanted to start getting feedback on who should be number 1.

Here is a quick list of teams, not in any particular order, of who I think have a shot to be ranked #1:
  • Ohio State
  • Iowa
  • Oklahoma
  • Nebraska
  • Texas
  • Alabama
  • Florida
  • Oregon
  • Virginia Tech
  • Boise State

Quick Thoughts
The BlogPoll philosophy states that, before and early in the season the poll should "he poll should be regarded as an approximate guess of which teams will end the year with the highest season quality." So, I'm looking at who's returning and the teams' schedules to see who I think with have the best season.
  • Ohio State - No real glaring weaknesses and returns most of the best players from last year's Rose Bowl winning team. Schedule may be a little tough going to Wisconsin and Iowa.
  • Iowa - There are some question marks at kicker and along the offensive line, but lots of returning talent at the skill positions including the quarterback, top 2 running backs, top 2 receivers, and 8 starters on defense. Besides a few difficult road games early in the year, the schedule sets up nicely with the toughest games at home.
  • Oklahoma - Struggled at times last year with a freshman quarterback, Landry Jones, stepping in for an injured Sam Bradford, but still won 8 games. Jones still threw for over 3,000 yards though and with a year under his belt should be even better. The schedule is sets up nicely for a run at the Big XII title game with Texas being the only tough game.
  • Nebraska - Have one of the better defenses in the Big XII and should walk in to the conference championship game in a very weak Big XII North. The toughest (and really only difficult) game on the schedule is against Texas, but it is a home game and Nebraska is out for revenge.
  • Texas - No more Colt McCoy, but it is still Texas. The defense should be the best in the conference, but have Oklahoma and Nebraska back to back in the middle of the season.
  • Alabama - Obviously won the BCS Championship last year and return the key components to the offense including Heisman winner Mark Ingram. However, return absolutely nobody on defense. The schedule has some good teams on it, but most of the tough games are at home.
  • Florida - Tebow's gone, so there goes about 90% of the Gator offense from last year. But the defense is what really won a lot of those games. The non-conference games are easy, but have a couple tough road games early in conference play (at Tennessee and at Alabama).
  • Oregon - High in some polls, but probably not any more with Masoli gone. There are too many difficult road games (Tennessee, USC, Cal, Oregon State) on the schedule to expect an undefeated season (so I'm not sure they belong on this list...)
  • Virginia Tech - Return a great backfield with Taylor and Williams. The defense should also be solid. The schedule is also easier this year, but starts off against Boise State.
  • Boise State -Return the entire team after going undefeated last year. If they get by Virginia Tech, they should walk into the BCS title game.

These are just some early thoughts and I obviously didn't do a ton of research here. But the point is that I'm looking for some feedback, so let me know who you think should be number 1.