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After 11 years, the Bronco Mendenhall era is over in Provo. In comes first-time head coach Kalani Sitake to take over at his alma mater. He wasn’t a flashy hire to folks that cover college football nationally, but within the walls of BYU, the Cougars feel like they have their man. And he inherits a program that isn’t broken. BYU has won eight games or more in nine of the last 10 seasons, but the new coach will be tested with one of the tougher schedules the school has ever faced.... 

Boise State has had more success than any other school that started this century in a non-power conference not named TCU. The Broncos have dominated conference foes in the WAC and the Mountain West, at one point having a 65 game home winning streak and a 47 game home winning streak against conference opponents.However, last season saw something previously unthinkable for the Broncos, three conference losses and a season that didn’t have a conference title game appearance. Can Boise State bounce back and again assume its status as one of the best Group of Five schools in college football?... 

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham considers a 2015 Pac-12 South co-championship both an achievement for the program and a missed opportunity. The Utes regret November losses to Arizona and UCLA that kept them from overtaking USC in the standings and playing in their first conference championship game. But they’ve advanced to a point where they’re in the conversation among the South’s upper crust.... 

The Ducks sure missed Marcus Mariota, Hroniss Grasu and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu last season more than they even imagined. Oregon’s streak of seven consecutive double-digit win seasons ended. However, the Ducks weren’t too far off their usual tally, as they finished 9-4 and suffered three of the four losses by a touchdown or less. The Ducks need to recover from their monumental collapse in the Alamo Bowl, blowing a 31-0 lead and losing 47-41 in overtime.... 

Head coach Brian Kelly’s 2016 squad doesn’t appear to be as good as last season’s 10-win unit, but there are just enough good parts to expect another rock-solid year from the Irish. Last year’s defense wasn’t a killer and the offense wasn’t always dominant, but both sides figured out how to win games. When your three losses are at Clemson, at Stanford and in a bowl game against Ohio State, you’ve done something right.... 

The Wildcats were in position to play in the postseason in each of the last two years before late-season collapses left them at 5-7 both times, just a victory shy of bowl eligibility. As coach Mark Stoops enters his fourth season, he and his rebuilt coaching staff are looking for answers as to how they can push past the five-win barrier and reach bowl eligibility for the first time.... 

Coach Bret Bielema built things up nicely last season in Fayetteville, and though the Razorbacks were tough to handle for a lot of teams, they didn't have the kind of campaign they had hoped for. This year, it's going to be much tougher to do damage in the league, especially coming out of a loaded SEC West. But Bielema will do enough to get his team to a bowl game and set up another quality couple of seasons. But this year won't be what the Arkansas faithful want.... 

As usual, offense will again carry the load for the Wildcats, who return seven starters on that side of the football in 2016. Close attention will be paid to two players in particular, quarterback Anu Solomon and running back Nick Wilson, who both missed significant time last season. Their return could make the Wildcats unstoppable offensively. Perhaps an underachieving 2015 will make for an even bigger chip in 2016.... 

After four consecutive losing seasons, two with Willie Taggart at the controls, the Bulls rose up and began playing to their potential in 2015. USF shook off a slow start to finish the regular season with seven wins in eight games, while darn near leapfrogging Temple in the AAC East. The campaign ended on a sour note with a bowl loss to Western Kentucky, but the hot finish could wind up being the turning point this program was desperately seeking.... 

As long as the Cardinal have Christian McCaffrey on the field, their attack should be just fine and another double-digit win season within reach. Stanford has the formula down pat, winning the Pac-12 title in three of the past four years. And in McCaffrey and coach David Shaw, the program boasts one of the country’s premier player-coach tandems. There are holes that need to be filled, particularly at quarterback. However Stanford has been down this road before.... 

The questions entering last season concerned whether Derek Mason was cut out to be the leader of an SEC program. Though the Commodores posted just four wins overall and two in league play, they weren’t the pushover they had been in his first year at the helm. They showed improvement, especially on defense, and proved they could play with the big boys in the conference.... 

The Ole Miss Rebels had their moment in 2015. They went on the road and beat Alabama under the lights in a victory which meant significantly more than any other win in Hugh Freeze's career. Still, you can't just measure success based on wins over Alabama, something which has happened in consecutive seasons. The Rebels have to put it all together for a full season, something they'll hope to do to contend for a spot in the CFP in 2016.... 

No team collapsed under the weight of lofty preseason expectations quite like Auburn last season. The Tigers were picked to win the SEC Championship at conference media days last year and many picked them to get to the College Football Playoff as well. However, it all came crashing down pretty quickly and Auburn only managed to go 7-6 and just barely managed to earn a bowl bid. Expectations aren’t as high in 2016, but if Auburn only wins two SEC games this season, Gus Malzahn will be given his walking papers.... 

No program in America is quite as strong as that of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Nick Saban has turned himself into a legitimate legend after winning another National Championship last season, and he's starting to put himself in that rarified air which is currently on breathed by the great Bear Bryant. Another title this year could legitimately put Saban in the discussion as the best college coach of all-time.... 

Washington is a team on the rise and a trendy pick to break the stranglehold that Stanford and Oregon have on the Pac-12 North. We could say the Huskies are a year ahead of schedule in the Chris Petersen master plan. Prior to last season, U-Dub was just too young to do much in 2015. They were, after all, one of the youngest teams in the country. But they broke through anyway, and now they reach the year in which they were supposed to break through.... 

Navy knew that 2015 would be the final chapter for record-setting quarterback Keenan Reynolds. However, there were some tenuous moments in December regarding the future of head coach Ken Niumatalolo. Coach Ken stayed, resulting in a sigh of relief throughout the Academy. But after almost copping a crown in their inaugural season in the AAC, and cracking the Top 25 for the first time in 11 years, the Middies face a lot of work ahead to match the 2015 results.... 

Mississippi State is probably going to take a step back in 2016. Nobody meant more to their team than Dak Prescott, and replacing him is a monstrous challenge. The SEC West is as good as it has ever been and the Bulldogs have road trips to Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss. You can never count coach Dan Mullen’s team out. That was proven last year. But it can’t be understated how vital Prescott was to the team’s success the past few years.... 

There wasn’t much more you could ask of Tom Herman from his first season as a head coach at Houston. The Cougars ripped through most of their schedule en route to the first AAC Championship Game in conference history and concluded the season by taking down Florida State in a New Year’s Six bowl game. By most Group of Five standards that would be considered a dream season, but the Cougars are looking at the 2015 season as a stepping stone.... 

There’s a new man in charge in Athens. Kirby Smart takes over after Mark Richt and Georgia decided to part ways after 15 years. Smart makes his way to Georgia off a 10-year apprenticeship under Nick Saban. In eight of those years he served as Alabama’s defensive coordinator, making a name for himself as one of the most head coach-ready coordinators in football.... 

Head coach Todd Graham hasn't been shy about touting top-tier potential for Arizona State football. The 2016 campaign will provide the stiffest test of the program's endurance in Graham's tenure. It could easily take one more year before the Sun Devils rebound from a chaotic 2015. ASU has fewer returning starters than any team in the Pac-12, except for Cal.... 

A 3-9 season doesn't sit well at most SEC schools, and Columbia certainly isn't an exception to that. The South Carolina Gamecocks got off to a horrid start last year, one which caused Steve Spurrier to step aside from the program once and for all. Now, with new coach Will Muschamp calling the shots, the Gamecocks are hoping to get back into contention immediately in the relatively open SEC East.... 

The time has come for UCLA to take the next step under coach Jim Mora. The head guy is entering his fifth year, the hotshot quarterback is no longer a rookie and the pool of available talent is deep. Success defined Mora’s first four seasons. The Bruins had never won nine or more games three straight years, and only once before put together back-to-back years of 10 wins. Mora accomplished both in his first three seasons. However, the team regressed to eight wins last season.... 

There will be plenty of pressure on head coach Kevin Sumlin to win big this year. The negative momentum on campus has to come to a stop, and that only happens by winning and showing that the problems of last year and this offseason were a fluke. If Sumlin can get his troops to perform in the second half of the year better than he can run off prized quarterback prospects, the Aggies might be a threat in November.... 

It’s no secret that Tennessee has struggled to be competitive in recent years, but if the last two seasons are any indication, coach Butch Jones definitely has his team headed in the right direction. The Vols have improved each and every season under his guidance, and the upcoming 2016 season appears to be the most promising yet.... 

First and foremost, you do not simply replace a talent like Jared Goff, the eventual No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, and expect the same results. The quarterback’s departure is likely to set the Golden Bears back a little because talents like him do not grow on trees. Losing as many weapons on offense won’t help them either....