The HLS Totally Non-Homer Top 25 – Preseason Edition 2008 : #25 – #16

If you’d like to know all there is to know about THLSTNHT25-PE, click here, then click here to read about those teams that didn't quite make the cut.

And once you've finished with all that, please move forward, and learn all there is to know we had time to write down about THLSTNHT25-PE: #25-#16, in which we give you 3 ties and 13 teams:

• #25 West Virginia: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 15. Average rank among all ballots: 22.33. Bill Stewart, who? Exactly. Aside from being the guy that coached WVU to a 48-28 win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, after Rich Rod went and "had a little talk" or whatever with Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, and then winning the HC job as a result of all that post-victory glow, there isn't much to know about Bill. We assume he'll keep the WVU Spread in tact, what with Pat White returning as a QB, but when we all watch Pat go 5 for 29 in the first game featuring the new "pro-style, All Stewart offense," don't tell us we didn't at least consider the possibility.
• #25 South Florida: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 19. Average rank among all ballots: 22.33. Sure, they didn't exist 12 years ago, but do they have DE George Selvie back? Yes? Okay, they get to sit in the T-25 until someone shows us why they can't contend, again, for a BE title. What's that say about the Bulls? Probably the inverse of whatever it says about the BE. Whatever, we haven't forgotten the 23-56 beating they took at the hands of Oregon in the Sun Bowl.
• #25 Rutgers: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 15. Average rank among all ballots: 22.33. Bare with us as we work our way through our final Big East team in the HLSTNHT25-PE. The way people still talk about HC Greg Schiano being the heir-apparent to Joe Paterno (or not), you'd think they won at least 10 games in 2007. In fact, they only won 8 and lost 5. In fact, in the last 4 years, Rutgers is only 30 and 19. It's fair to say Rutgers is still in "wait and see" mode with respect to their potential as a national power.
• #25 North Carolina: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 15. Average rank among all ballots: 22.33. Butch Davis is an excellent college football coach and a terrible NFL coach. And so he's busy creating a lot of hype and expectations around a program that went 4-8 last year. Still, they're returning 18 starters this season, including 10 on offense, which means, if nothing else, they aren't going to be pushed around like little kids by anyone in the ACC. And consider the fact that when you say "ACC," you snicker a little bit, and this could be a bowl season for Butch and the Boys. In fact, mark the UNC game as the one that causes this ND fan the most concern.
• #25 Illinois: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 16. Average rank among all ballots: 22.33. Our first, "What the hell are we thinking?" team in the T25. Yeah, Zook had a "dream season" last year, leading all the way up to a flinch-inducing waxing at the hands of Southern Cal in the Rose bowl. I guess we put them in the T25 just because it seems weird that a previous year's Rose bowl team wouldn't be in the T25. But, and I can't stress this enough, they lost Rashard Mendenhall, but return Juice Williams. That's like an army giving up the bazookas but keeping the bows and arrows that their kids made in the back yard with a Swiss Army Knife.
• #23 Miami: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 20. Average rank among all ballots: 22. Fun Phil Steele fact of the day: The Hurricanes return 18 seniors to their 2-deep this year. Think about that, the Miami Hurricanes have managed to keep 18 players eligible to play their senior year! Randy Shannon, this Bud's for you! Essentially we put Miami here because we can't fathom how you could fail to win at Miami. You have to be really lousy at cheating to lose at Miami.
• #22 Kansas: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 13. Average rank among all ballots: 21.66. Returning 15 starters from a team that went 12-1 the previous season is usually a good thing. No exception for the Jayhawks. Coach Mark Magino will guide star QB Todd Reesing through a season likely filled with Heisman Hype. But a tough schedule, including a game against non-conf opponent USF could prove rocky.
• #22 California: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 13. Average rank among all ballots: 21.66. Call this one a hunch. They went 7-6 last year after being ranked #2 in the country early on. We just saw enough of Sophomores Kevin Riley (QB) and Jahvid Best (RB) to think that returning 4 starters on offense might not hurt them that badly. At least a few of them are on the offensive line.
• #20 Alabama: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 18. Average rank among all ballots: 21.33. By appearing in the HLSTNHT25-PE, Alabama claims the National Championship for 2008. Whatever. Their 6 losses were all by 7 points or fewer. And we like that they've got a Sr. QB and a OL that is pretty darn savvy. Plus, given what Nick Saban's making, they're bound to appear in a BCS game this year or next, right?
• #19 Notre Dame: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 11. Average rank among all ballots: 21. See that little asterisk next to the term "Totally Non-Homer" in the title of this post? No? Well, trust me, it's there. Besides, this season the Irish return 15 starters, 9 on offense. And there isn't a single game on the schedule until Southern Cal in which the Irish don't have at least as much talent on the field as the opposition. Further, we can't help but think that managing to win the last 2 games, in what were essentially battles-of-will against the other bottom feeders of D1 football, bodes very well for the Irish. They never once gave up last year, and won 2 games about 5 games after most squads would have called it a day.
• #19 Oregon State: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 11. Average rank among all ballots: 21. The Beavers have gone 18-8 the last 2 seasons, but now they've got to rebuild a defense that lost 8 starters. Still, in a conference where defense just doesn't seem to matter much anyway (I could be wrong), you have to like that they return 7 starters on the offense. Plus, aside from Southern Cal, you have to like the first half of their schedule as they sort things out.
• #17 Texas Tech: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 17. Average rank among all ballots: 20. Yarrrrrr. Captain Mike Leach and his Red Raiders will plunder and pillage the first half of their schedule, playing absolutely nobody of import until the October 11th meeting with Nebraska, who may or may not be much to contend with at that point anyway. When the best team on your schedule through the first half is a program trying to rebuild from scratch, it's not hard to expect some easy sailing.
• #16 Oregon: Highest Position in a voter's ballot: 14. Average rank among all ballots: 17.33. Providing probably the most entertaining offensive show in the country last year until QB Dennis Dixon (then the Heisman front-runner) decided he didn't need his knees anymore, things looked pretty dim for the Ducks towards the end of last year. Then QB Justin Roper went and threw 4 TDs in the Sun Bowl to absolutely scorch USF. Still, pundits seem to think one of the Ducks' more fleet-footed QBs will win the starting spot this fall since they're more suited to run the Ducks' absolutely insane offense.

Enthralled? You should be. Can't wait for THLSTNHT25-PE: #15-#6? Too bad.