The consensus heading into the start of the 2017 college football season is that the Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida State Seminoles are No. 1 and No. 2 in the country in some order. That has greatly aided in hyping the season-opening match-up between the two teams in Atlanta but, beyond that, it makes a ton of sense that Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher would be presiding over the two best teams nationally given the strength of their rosters.
However, Colin Cowherd of FOX Sports isn't quite buying that, as he released his preseason top 10 and actually had the Ohio State Buckeyes at the top of the heap.
Part of his rationale is that Michigan returns only five starters from last year's team and that is Ohio State's most difficult road game of the season, at least on paper. With that said, the Buckeyes lost a ton of talent to the 2017 NFL Draft and, even with J.T. Barrett back at quarterback, there are real question marks.
Urban Meyer's record, as noted by Cowherd, speaks for itself, though, and it isn't as if the cupboard is barren when it comes to the roster for the 2017 season. It is certainly bold to have Ohio State at the top but Cowherd is still picking Alabama and Florida State to make the College Football Playoff and that makes things more reasonable on the surface.
