Because I just couldn't think of a better way to start this post

I couldn't help but notice that my top-5 looks like everyone else's top 5. I began this poll with the grand ambition of actually ranking teams roughly where I think they'd finish the season, but when I realized I couldn't really differentiate among teams 2-5, I threw 'em down in a random order and hoped that it wouldn't end up too ugly. Apologies on the conformity.

5. Alabama

Repeat after me: Greg McElroy is a big step up over John Parker Wilson. In 2008, Saban was able to turn the turnover-happy Wilson into a reasonable facsimile of a competent quarterback; the results were not particularly dazzling - Parker completed 58 percent of his passes for 2200 yards, 10 touchdowns to 8 picks - but it gave Alabama and undefeated regular season. The team promptly faded down the stretch, as younger teams are wont to do. 2009 will be the year Nick Saban finally works out the kinks on this team. Last year's defense, which finished the year tied with Tennessee for the 3rd-best in the FBS, returns an astonishing ten starters. The offense returns just four - two of them offensive linemen - but there's no reason to think the Bama offense will be the key to a title run. The biggest road block to another undefeated season, outside of the turnover on the line, is a road date at Ole Miss.

4. Southern Cal

We are well-past the point where SC is good for a top-5 ranking based merely on name recognition and recent performance; any other team replacing ten starters on defense would be lucky to find itself in the top 5, but USC makes it here and nobody bats an eye.  Even if the transition from the Maualuga-Cushing-Matthews chimera of last year is relatively seamless, SC still has to stay on its usual road-warrior pace, with games at Ohio State, Cal, Notre Dame, Arizona State and Oregon. Add onto that schedule the specter of a true freshman starting quarterback, and things get interesting. But this is USC; do you honestly think they're good for any less than 10 wins?

3. Oklahoma

I had a difficult time differentiating between the Sooners and Texas, and it came down to Oklahoma's offensive line. Only one guy is back from what had been one of the most dominant, bad-assed units in the country before its comeuppance against Florida. The defense is going to improve, markedly, for the following reasons: everyone but the safeties are back, along with superstars Ryan Reynolds and the un-freaking-believable redshirt sophomore Travis Lewis, who notched 144 tackles a year ago - good for a Spielman-esque 10 a game. For the Sooners, just as with their in-state counterparts in Stillwater - there is nowhere to go but up defensively.

2. Texas

The narrative is essentially set-up for the media hypefest/shitstorm that will dominate the season: Texas returns a talented, mobile quarterback, along with 9 starters on offense and 5 on defense, and will look to unseat a team many will crown national champions before a down is played. 2009/2005 comparisons will eventually run amok in the press as well, and Texas should look the part of the dominant Big 12 team throughout the regular season. If Muschamp gets the pass defense in order, this season is going to get very interesting.

1. Florida

I'm simply not going to dump any more love on Florida than what they're already getting; the "GREATEST TEAM EVER" ESPN monologues are unavoidable and the love for the SEC (much of it deserved, the "Conference of the Gods" stuff most certainly not) is sickening. But before you rag on Florida as potentially the USC of 2005 all over again, there is something that differentiates this team from that one: every starter is back on defense, whereas in 2005, USC was looking at a mostly new crop, one that just simply had to keep opponents to 20 or fewer points and then sit back and watch Reggie Bush do his tactical nuke shtick on hapless Pac-10 defenses. Florida has the benefit of returning Bush-esque quarkbacks Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps, but unlike that Trojan team (which watched its championship dreams come crashing down as Vince Young put aside the Turnover-prone scrambler and became who he was born to be) probably won't have to fret over their defensive counterparts very frequently, if at all, this season. Texas has all the right ingredients to pull the upset, but until that (or a relatively ignominious conference loss) happens, I'm putting the Gators at the tippy-top of my blogpoll.

There, I'm done. If you have any qualms with my rankings or my justifications, let me know.