As we collectively mourn the death of the BCS, I offer you my predictions for the “playoff” in college football. In one game, I’ll take Oregon over South Carolina. In the other game, I’ll take Florida State over Oklahoma. And in the Championship, I’ll take Oregon sparing us from having to watch Jameis Winston be happy again. 

Bonus Paragraph!!!

Marcus Mariota will win the Heisman Trophy. 

 

Though it seems like the Barclay’s Premier League season just ended (because it did), this Saturday will mark its official return at 7:45 a.m. EDT when Manchester United host Swansea City at Old Trafford. The opening weekend does not provide us with many great matchups on paper, though it rarely does. But the opening weekend and the season at large do provide a wealth of story lines. In no particular order and by no means a complete list:

 

1.) Can Manchester City repeat as Premier League Champions? YES

2.) Does Liverpool stand a chance without Luis Suarez? NOT REALLY

3.) How hungry is Luis Suarez right now and can you let me know his general proximity to my arm? PROBABLY VERY. THANKFULLY IN SPAIN.

4.) Will Louis Van Gaal transform Manchester United? YES, BUT GIVE IT TIME

5.) Will Southhampton be capable of fielding a full roster? BARELY

6.) Wait, so it’s pronounced “Lester?” I GUESS.

7.) Can Mauricio Pochettino do at Tottenham what he did last year at Southampton, with more seasoned talent, and make a run at the Champions League? YES.

8.) Drogba? Really? LOL

9.) Now that they’ve finally spent money, where does Everton stand? A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE TOP, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

10.) How will we survive without Norwich City’s yellow kits on a Saturday morning? I DON’T KNOW. I JUST DON’T KNOW.

 

If you read last year’s BPL preview, you know that only a handful of teams can win the league trophy, a bunch of teams exist to play spoiler, and the others fight to avoid being relegated, as Fulham, Cardiff City, and Norwich City were last year. This might not make the BPL sound very exciting and at times, it’s frankly not. Manchester City won the league crown last year despite losing matches along the way to the likes of Cardiff City and only spending a total of 15 days during the season in first place. This isn’t college football where every game matters. To say otherwise would be a lie.

That said, the games that do matter, really matter. Every match between the top 7 clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham) is a must-watch match. And even more than last year, those seven teams come into 2014-15 rather evenly placed. But before we get to them, let’s talk about the other 13 teams briefly.

 

TRAVELING THAT LONELY ROAD TO THE SKYBET CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE

20. Burnley

Their previous trip to the Premier League ended after just one season. With the talent they have in place, I expect that to happen again.

19. Southampton

This pains me, because Southampton had built something so entertaining, so refreshing, and so good on the south coast only to let nearly every piece of that slip away, to be replaced by Ryan Bertrand. I’m not a Southampton fan, but that was a team to root for.

18. Crystal Palace

Originally my 8th place team, the sudden departure this week of manager Tony Pulis drops Palace into the relegation zone. Pulis saved them from a quick departure last year and made them relevant. Without him, Palace were and will be punchless.

 

CUTTING IT REAL CLOSE

17. West Bromwich Albion

The Burger King of Premier League teams. Never the worst, but never very enjoyable.

16. Swansea City

In a slow downward trend towards inevitable relegation.

15. Sunderland

Aka Jozy and the Black Cats. Sunderland always find a way to make it interesting. And then they go and beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and change the entire landscape of the season. It happened last year and could happen again.

 

THE OTHER NEW GUYS, SO LET’S BE NICE TO THEM

14. Leicester City

The money is certainly not there unlike their partner in this category, but I really love their badge and it’s their first time in the modern Premier League, so lets cut them a break.

13. Queens Park Rangers

Forever one of the most frustrating teams in English football, QPR has the money and the players to be a spoiler, but consistently underachieve. This is a roster that features Loic Remy (a capable goalscorer), Rio Ferdinand (one of England’s most decorated central defenders, albeit in the twilight of his career), Julio Cesar (Brazil’s starting GK), and a handful of other players, all somewhat aged, but many of whom who have had success in their careers.

 

NOT TOO FAR OFF FROM DISAPPEARING OR BEING A SPOILER

12. Stoke City

They don’t win with attractive football. In fact, they rarely win. But they play a smart defensive style that keeps them afloat and have the advantage of playing in one of the toughest road stadiums in the BPL.

11. Aston Villa

A healthy Christian Benteke will make a world of difference in this attack. Expect him back by October.

10. West Ham United

A couple of nice transfers/loans, the highlight of which is Carl Jenkinson from Arsenal, improve a club that floundered at the end of last season.

THE SPOILERS

9. Hull City

A really well-balanced roster that performed better than expectations (at least mine) last season with a couple of nice additions (including a full season of Nikica Jelavic at striker).

8.  Newcastle United

Aka The Alan Pardew Project. On paper, Newcastle should be in this spot every year, however, much like QPR, inconsistent play seems to hamper them. That said, of the non-contenders, this is the most talented roster all-around, with depth off the bench and skill in the XI. A sneak attack into the Top 7 is highly unlikely, but would not be a total shock.

 

THE CONTENDERS

7. Everton

The signing of Romelu Lukaku has been largely criticized because of the sheer dollar amount spent by the Toffees, a club that has been historically unwilling to spend large sums of money on star or potential-star players. I am not one of the people criticizing such a move. Lukaku is only 21 and coming off a season where he, at times, was a dominant striker while on loan on Merseyside. Paired with Everton’s other young gun, Ross Barkley, Lukaku helps form the most dangerous young duo in the BPL. For Everton the issues arise in their lack of dynamic, seasoned depth. When healthy last season, Barcelona loanee Gerard Deulofeu gave Everton a fast, dynamic attacking wing man. His presence this season would have been a huge boon to Everton, had Barcelona not promoted him to their first-team roster and then loaned him to Sevilla. The other big challenge for Everton will be balancing European competition with the Premier League season, something they haven’t needed to do for quite some time and something that has challenged clubs like Swansea City and Newcastle United in recent years.

6. Tottenham Hotspur

The recent signing of US defender DeAndre Yedlin aside, Spurs have been relatively quiet during this transfer window, with Michael Vorm being the highest profile signing, though he figures to get just Europa League work with Hugo Lloris firmly grasping the #1 GK role. And so the hope in North London is that a new coach will cure what ailed an inconsistent club in 2013-14, especially after a busy summer transfer period leading in to that season. 13-14 saw two different coaches, neither of whom seemed to click with the roster and so Mauricio Pochettino leaves the South Coast for White Hart Lane and hopes to have the kind of success there that he did last year at Southampton, where he took a group of mostly raw, young players and turned them into a near-Europa league contender. Tottenham’s roster is much better than the one he had at Southampton, though much like Everton before them, Spurs find themselves in the tough situation of having to play Thursday Europa League matches in, as the Men in Blazers call them, Eastern European drug enclaves. It’s a brutal way to play, no matter how lavish the travel arrangements are and rarely does that equal success on the pitch in the League. That said, Spurs are deeper than Everton and more experienced with the Europa League schedule.

5. Liverpool

The biggest headline at Anfield in the brief offseason was the departure of top goal scorer Luis Suarez, who after pledging his allegiance to Liverpool, moved to Barcelona to pair with Neymar and Messi. He leaves behind a team on the rise, with a flock of very skilled young players, led by Phillippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling. Both of those players will need to take a big step forward to help lone-striker Daniel Sturridge fill the void left by Suarez’s departure. The additions of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, and Dejan Lovren from Southhampton will help the depth and the further development of Jordan Henderson will be key, but for Liverpool to be successful, they’ll need their defense to be much improved over last season’s unit. Lovern may very well supplant Martin Skrtel in central defense, and while Lovern is a certain upgrade, Liverpool will need more consistency in net from Simon Mignolet as well, who at times last season looked to be the best goalkeeper in the world and at other times, looked like he could be a backup for Brighton and Hove Albion.

4. Chelsea

The signings of Felipe Luis, Diego Costa, and Cesc Fabergas are great additions. The signing of Didier Drogba is simply Jose Mourinho being Jose. The loss of Demba Ba probably won’t be noticed, but the loss of David Luiz to PSG might be the thing that really hurts Chelsea. Luiz was, for whatever reason (and Jose always has his reasons) never in favor with the manager. But Luiz is a versatile central defender, who can be useful in attack at times. Not to be forgotten too is the return (from loan) of Thibaut Courtois. Courtois will certainly challenge Peter Cech for playing time and, given his great skill, should win that competition. But again, you never know with Jose, who is the Bill Belichick of football played with the foot. Jose has a great loyalty to his men. Time will tell how long he can remain loyal to the Peter Cechs and Didier Drogbas of the world before he needs to rely on the Willians, Courtois, and Andre Schurrles.

3. Manchester United

Do I think United have a better roster than Chelsea? No. Do I think that Louis Van Gaal, United’s new manager can use his players better than Jose Mourinho can? Yes I do. The best example of this is United’s young Belgian star Adnan Januzaj. Jose Mourinho wouldn’t know what to do with such a young talent. He’d likely make him serve an apprenticeship under a 33 year old veteran. Van Gaal will use Januzaj in his attacking style from day one and United will benefit from that.  And do I think that United will benefit greatly, as Liverpool did last season, from not having to play in European competitions? Absolutely. It will allow players like Robin van Persie more time to recover as they age and give the young guns, like Januzaj and Southampton (noticing a trend?) transfer Luke Shaw further develop their games. This will be a transition year for United, but one that will set them up well for long-term sustained success.

2. Manchester City

Thanks to sanctions handed down by UEFA, Manchester City was not able to make any big transfer splashes, instead adding important pieces, for depth, to the defense and midfield, namely Bacary Sagna, Eliaquim Mangala, and Fernando.. Beyond their additions, this is very much the same Manchester City side that just managed to creep by Liverpool at the end of last season to capture their second BPL title in 3 years. There is really no reason to think that this club won’t challenge for a title again, especially given their success last season despite limited playing time from main striker Sergio Aguero. An argument can easily be made that this club is better as well, given the health of Steven Jovetic, who has looked very good during the preseason warm up matches. City’s placement here in second is less a commentary or criticism on/of them and more a bit of praise for what Arsenal did during this transfer period. 

1. Arsenal

Simply put, Arsene Wenger did an amazing job in the transfer window bringing in Callum Chambers (Southampton), Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle), David Ospina (Nice), and most importantly Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona). No single move in the transfer window altered a team more than Arsenal’s purchase of Alexis. His presence allows the Gunners to move Mesut Ozil into a primarily passing midfielder role, where he is more useful. Alexis, who fancies himself more a forward than a midfielder, can play directly behind Yaya Sanogo or Olivier Giroud (whoever is the preferred striker) and create chances in a way that will change Arsenal into a goal-scoring powerhouse. Defensively, the additions of the young Chambers and the seasoned Debuchy add certain depth, but also versatility. And in the midfield, there’s no club with the depth that Arsenal packs. Assuming they put out their standard back-4 and one striker lineup, you have five midfield spots for, when healthy:

Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshire, Lukas Podolski, Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, and Mathieu Flamini.

In truth, Arsenal could put together two separate units, almost like hockey lines, and not miss a beat. Their depth is truly unparalleled in the BPL. And for all of the hand-wringing about whether Olivier Giroud is truly a great striker, there are about 15 other teams in the league that would love to have him. There aren’t any holes at the Emirates. This is a team that is built to take home multiple pieces of silverware this season and if their recent win against an albeit short-handed Manchester City side in the FA Community Shield is any indication, it could be a long season for anyone trying to beat the Gunners.

 

And as I did last season, I leave you with my 3 picks to be promoted from SkyBet to the BPL for the 2015-16 season. Last year, I was 1/3. Let’s go for two this time around:

Derby County, Wigan Athletic, Nottingham Forest