But this year maybe not. Nebraska has LOTS of holes to fill on offense. Pretty much everyone except for QB Eric Crouch will be a new starter. The defense returns eight starters, but ranked only #6 in the Big-12 in 2000. They don’t play Texas though, and they get Oklahoma at home. The Huskers are one of those teams that always seem to have 2 or 3 underclassmen to make up for every senior lost. #4 looks to me a bit on the high side, but they’ll win way more than they lose, and probably hang around the top-10 all year.

TCU’s story is not who’s back, but rather who isn’t. And that’s a long list. Gone is RB LaDanian Thomlinson. Gone are four of his offensive linemen. Gone is Head Coach Dennis Franchione. Gone is half of what was a very, very good defense last year. TCU is playing their first season in CUSA this year, and it’s a little hard to get a read on how well they’ll do.

Syrcause is slowly slipping off the national radar. No longer is the question "Will the Orangemen compete for the Big East title?" and this could be a make-or-break year for them. They don’t have a proven winner at quarterback, and the crows have been circling Coach Pasqualoni ever since Donovan McNabb left. Still, the defense is very solid, and six games in the Jiffy-Pop dome should help offset a difficult non-conference schedule.

Colorado went 3-8 last year.  Lousy, but with the caveat that their schedule may have been one of the toughest in the country.  They lost only 3 starters to graduation however.  NFL teams don't have that kind of off-season roster stability!