It undoubtedly takes a complete team effort to win a championship at the collegiate level. But in my experience, it has become evident that some positions can mean more than others.
The offensive backfield is probably the most important piece to the championship puzzle. After all the last 13 Heisman Trophy winners have lined up in the offensive backfield. Lining up a star at QB or RB could very well mean a special season for your team.
You've all heard the saying, defense wins championships. Take 2011 for example. Alabama and LSU rode the nation's top defenses in the BCS National Championship Game. The Crimson Tide showed their dominance by pitching the 1st shutout ever seen in the title game during the BCS era.
The last element to having a championship season is coaching. Recruiting is half the battle for a head coach in college football, but you have to be able to get the most out of your players. Having the right guy making the calls on the sideline can make a huge difference.
Here is a conference by conference look at how these positions rank (The projected starter at the QB and RB positions is in parenthesis).
QB
1. Clemson (Tajh Boyd)
2. Florida State (EJ Manual)
3. Virginia Tech (Logan Thomas)
4. NC State (Mike Glennon)
5. North Carolina (Bryn Renner)
6. Wake Forest (Tanner Price)
7. Georgia Tech (Tevin Washington)
8. Miami (Stephen Morris)
9. Duke (Sean Renfree)
10. Virginia (Michael Rocco)
11. Boston College (Chase Rettig)
12. Maryland (CJ Brown)
RB
1. North Carolina (Giovani Bernard)
2. Clemson (Andre Ellington)
3. Georgia Tech (Orwin Smith)
4. Virginia (Perry Jones)
5. NC State (James Washington)
6. Boston College (Rolandan Finch)
7. Wake Forest (Josh Harris)
8. Miami (Mike James)
9. Florida State (Chris Thompson)
10. Virginia Tech (Michael Holmes)
11. Duke (Desmond Scott)
12. Maryland (Justus Pickett)
Defense
1. Florida State
2. Virginia Tech
3. Clemson
4. Virginia
5. NC State
6. Miami
7. North Carolina
8. Maryland
9. Georgia Tech
10. Wake Forest
11. Boston College
12. Duke
Coaching
1. Virginia Tech (Frank Beamer)
2. Georgia Tech (Paul Johnson)
3. Clemson (Dabo Swinney)
4. Wake Forest (Jim Grobe)
5. Maryland (Randy Edsall)
6. Florida State (Jimbo Fisher)
7. NC State (Tom O'Brien)
8. Miami (Al Golden)
9. North Carolina (Larry Fedora)
10. Virginia (Mike London)
11. Duke (David Cutcliffe)
12. Boston College (Frank Spaziani)
QB
1. Oklahoma (Landry Jones)
2. West Virginia (Geno Smith)
3. Kansas State (Collin Klein)
4. TCU (Casey Pachall)
5. Texas Tech (Seth Doege)
6. Baylor (Nick Florence)
7. Oklahoma State (Wes Lunt)
8. Kansas (Dayne Crist)
9. Texas (David Ash)
10. Iowa State (Jared Barnett)
RB
1. Oklahoma State (Joseph Randle)
2. Texas (Malcolm Brown)
3. Oklahoma (Dominique Whaley)
4. Texas Tech (Eric Stephens)
5. TCU (Ed Wesley)
6. Iowa State (James White)
7. West Virginia (Shawne Alston)
8. Baylor (Jarred Salubi)
9. Kansas (Tony Pierson)
10. Kansas State (John Hubert)
Defense
1. Texas
2. Oklahoma
3. Kansas State
4. TCU
5. Oklahoma State
6. Iowa State
7. West Virginia
8. Baylor
9. Kansas
10. Texas Tech
Coaching
1. Oklahoma (Bob Stoops)
2. Texas (Mack Brown)
3. TCU (Gary Patterson)
4. Kansas State (Bill Snyder)
5. Oklahoma State (Mike Gundy)
6. West Virginia (Dana Holgorsen)
7. Texas Tech (Tommy Tuberville)
8. Kansas (Charlie Weis)
9. Baylor (Art Briles)
10. Iowa State (Paul Rhoads)
QB
1. South Florida (BJ Daniels)
2. Louisville (Teddy Bridgewater)
3. Syracuse (Ryan Nassib)
4. Temple (Chris Coyer)
5. Pittsburgh (Tino Sunseri)
6. Rutgers (Gary Nova)
7. Cincinnati (Munchie Legaux)
8. UConn (Chandler Whitmer)
RB
1. Pittsburgh (Ray Graham)
2. UConn (Lyle McCombs)
3. Temple (Matt Brown)
4. Rutgers (Juwan Jamison)
5. Louisville (Dominique Brown)
6. South Florida (Demitrus Murray)
7. Cincinnati (George Winn)
8. Syracuse (Jerome Smith)
Defense
1. Rutgers
2. South Florida
3. Louisville
4. UConn
5. Cincinnati
6. Pittsburgh
7. Syracuse
8. Temple
Coaching
1. South Florida (Skip Holtz)
2. Cincinnati (Butch Jones)
3. UConn (Paul Pasqualoni)
4. Louisville (Charlie Strong)
5. Syracuse (Doug Marrone)
6. Temple (Steve Addazio)
7. Pittsburgh (Paul Chryst)
8. Rutgers (Kyle Flood)
QB
1. Michigan (Denard Robinson)
2. Ohio State (Braxton Miller)
3. Nebraska (Taylor Martinez)
4. Iowa (James Vandenberg)
5. Illinois (Nathan Scheelhasse)
6. Wisconsin (Danny O'Brien)
7. Purdue (Caleb TerBush)
8. Northwestern (Kain Colter)
9. Minnesota (MarQueis Gray)
10. Penn State (Matt McGloin)
11. Michigan State (Andrew Maxwell)
12. Indiana (Tre Roberson)
RB
1. Wisconsin (Montee Ball)
2. Nebraska (Rex Burkhead)
3. Michigan State (Le'Veon Bell)
4. Michigan (Fitzgerald Toussaint)
5. Indiana (Stephen Houston)
6. Ohio State (Carlos Hyde)
7. Penn State (Curtis Dukes)
8. Purdue (Akeem Shavers)
9. Illinois (Donovann Young)
10. Northwestern (Mike Trumpy)
11. Iowa (Damon Bullock)
12. Minnesota (James Gillum)
Defense
1. Michigan State
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Illinois
5. Nebraska
6. Wisconsin
7. Penn State
8. Purdue
9. Iowa
10. Northwestern
11. Minnesota
12. Indiana
Coaching
1. Ohio State (Urban Meyer)
2. Wisconsin (Bret Bielema)
3. Iowa (Kirk Ferentz)
4. Michigan (Brady Hoke)
5. Michigan State (Mark Dantonio)
6. Nebraska (Bo Pelini)
7. Northwestern (Pat Fitzgerald)
8. Purdue (Danny Hope)
9. Minnesota (Jerry Kill)
10. Illinois (Tim Beckman)
11. Indiana (Kevin Wilson)
12. Penn State (Bill O'Brien)
QB
1. Houston (David Piland)
2. Central Florida (Blake Bortles)
3. Marshall (Rakeem Cato)
4. UAB (Johnathan Perry)
5. UTEP (Nick Lamaison)
6. SMU (Garrett Gilbert)
7. Rice (Taylor McHargue)
8. Tulsa (Cody Green)
9. Tulane (Ryan Griffin)
10. East Carolina (Rio Johnson)
11. Southern Miss (Chris Campbell)
12. Memphis (Jacob Karam)
RB
1. SMU (Zach Line)
2. Tulane (Orleans Darkwa)
3. Tulsa (Trey Watts)
4. Houston (Charles Sims)
5. Marshall (Tron Martinez)
6. Rice (Sam McGuffie)
7. Central Florida (Latavius Murray)
8. Southern Miss (Kendrick Hardy)
9. East Carolina (Reggie Bullock)
10. UAB (Greg Franklin)
11. Memphis (Jerrell Rhodes)
12. UTEP (Nathan Jeffery)
Defense
1. SMU
2. Houston
3. Central Florida
4. Southern Miss
5. Tulsa
6. Tulane
7. East Carolina
8. Marshall
9. UTEP
10. Rice
11. UAB
12. Memphis
Coaching
1. SMU (June Jones)
2. Central Florida (George O'Leary)
3. UTEP (Mike Price)
4. Marshall (Doc Holliday)
5. East Carolina (Ruffin McNeill)
6. Tulsa (Bill Blankenship)
7. Rice (David Bailiff)
8. Houston (Tony Levine)
9. Southern Miss (Ellis Johnson)
10. UAB (Garrick McGee)
11. Tulane (Curtis Johnson)
12. Memphis (Justin Fuente)
QB
1. Western Michigan (Alex Carder)
2. Ohio (Tyler Tettleton)
3. Miami (OH) (Zac Dysert)
4. Bowling Green (Matt Schilz)
5. Toledo (Terrance Owens)
6. Central Michigan (Ryan Radcliff)
7. Ball State (Keith Wenning)
8. Kent State (Spencer Keith)
9. Eastern Michigan (Alex Gillett)
10. Northern Illinois (Jordan Lynch)
11. UMass (Kellen Pagel)
12. Akron (Clayton Moore)
13. Buffalo (Alex Zordich)
RB
1. Buffalo (Brandon Oliver)
2. Bowling Green (Anthon Samuel)
3. Akron (Jawon Chisolm)
4. Ball State (Jahwan Edwards)
5. Kent State (Taryion Durham)
6. Toledo (David Fluellen)
7. Eastern Michigan (Dominique Sherrer)
8. Ohio (Beau Blankenship)
9. Northern Illinois (Akeem Daniels)
10. Western Michigan (Brian Fields)
11. Central Michigan (Zurlon Tipton)
12. Miami (OH) (Dawan Scott)
13. UMass (Alan Williams)
Defense
1. Kent State
2. Ohio
3. Bowling Green
4. Toledo
5. Northern Illinois
6. Miami (OH)
7. Buffalo
8. Western Michigan
9. Eastern Michigan
10. Central Michigan
11. Ball State
12. UMass
13. Akron
Coaching
1. Ohio (Frank Solich)
2. Akron (Terry Bowden)
3. Western Michigan (Bill Cubit)
4. Ball State (Pete Lembo)
5. Bowling Green (Dave Clawson)
6. Northern Illinois (Dave Doeren)
7. Kent State (Darrell Hazell)
8. Eastern Michigan (Ron English)
9. Miami (OH) (Don Treadwell)
10. Central Michigan (Dan Enos)
11. Buffalo (Jeff Quinn)
12. Toledo (Matt Campbell)
13. UMass (Charley Molnar)
QB
1. Fresno State (Derek Carr)
2. Wyoming (Brett Smith)
3. San Diego State (Ryan Katz)
4. Nevada (Cody Fajardo)
5. Boise State (Joe Southwick)
6. Air Force (Connor Dietz)
7. Hawaii (David Graves)
8. Colorado State (Garrett Grayson)
9. UNLV (Nick Sherry)
10. New Mexico (BR Holbrook)
RB
1. Fresno State (Robbie Rouse)
2. Colorado State (Chris Nwoke)
3. Boise State (DJ Harper)
4. UNLV (Tim Cornett)
5. Nevada (Stefphon Jefferson)
6. Air Force (Jon Lee)
7. Wyoming (Kody Sutton)
8. San Diego State (Adam Muema)
9. New Mexico (Demarcus Rogers)
10. Hawaii (Will Gregory)
Defense
1. Boise State
2. Colorado State
3. Wyoming
4. Nevada
5. Hawaii
6. Air Force
7. Fresno State
8. San Diego State
9. UNLV
10. New Mexico
Coaching
1. Boise State (Chris Petersen)
2. Nevada (Chris Ault)
3. Air Force (Troy Calhoun)
4. New Mexico (Bob Davie)
5. San Diego State (Rocky Long)
6. Wyoming (Dave Christensen)
7. UNLV (Bobby Hauck)
8. Hawaii (Norm Chow)
9. Fresno State (Tim DeRuyter)
10. Colorado State (Jim McElwain)
QB
1. USC (Matt Barkley)
2. Washington (Keith Price)
3. Utah (Jordan Wynn)
4. Cal (Zach Maynard)
5. Oregon State (Sean Mannion)
6. Washington State (Jeff Tuel)
7. Oregon (Marcus Mariota)
8. Arizona (Matt Scott)
9. UCLA (Brett Hundley)
10. Stanford (Brett Nottingham)
11. Arizona State (Michael Eubank)
12. Colorado (Connor Wood)
RB
1. Oregon (Kenjon Barner)
2. Stanford (Stepfan Taylor)
3. USC (Silas Redd)
4. Cal (Isi Sofele)
5. Utah (John White)
6. Arizona State (Cameron Marshall)
7. UCLA (Johnathan Franklin)
8. Arizona (Ka'Deem Carey)
9. Washington State (Ricky Galvin)
10. Washington (Jason Callier)
11. Oregon State (Malcolm Agnew)
12. Colorado (Tony Jones)
Defense
1. Oregon
2. USC
3. Utah
4. Stanford
5. Cal
6. UCLA
7. Washington
8. Oregon State
9. Colorado
10. Arizona State
11. Arizona
12. Washington State
Coaching
1. Oregon (Chip Kelly)
2. Arizona (Rich Rodriguez)
3. Oregon State (Mike Riley)
4. Utah (Kyle Whittingham)
5. Stanford (David Shaw)
6. Washington State (Mike Leach)
7. Cal (Jeff Tedford)
8. USC (Lane Kiffin)
9. Washington (Steve Sarkisian)
10. UCLA (Jim Mora Jr.)
11. Arizona State (Todd Graham)
12. Colorado (Jon Embree)
QB
1. Arkansas (Tyler Wilson)
2. Georgia (Aaron Murray)
3. Tennessee (Tyler Bray)
4. Alabama (AJ McCarron)
5. Missouri (James Franklin)
6. South Carolina (Connor Shaw)
7. LSU (Zach Mettenberger)
8. Vanderbilt (Jordan Rodgers)
9. Mississippi State (Tyler Russell)
10. Texas A&M (Jamiell Showers)
11. Florida (Jacoby Brissett)
12. Auburn (Kiehl Frazier)
13. Kentucky (Maxwell Smith)
14. Ole Miss (Bo Wallace)
RB
1. South Carolina (Marcus Lattimore)
2. Arkansas (Knile Davis)
3. Vanderbilt (Zac Stacy)
4. LSU (Michael Ford)
5. Alabama (Eddie Lacy)
6. Georgia (Isaiah Crowell)
7. Auburn (Onterrio McCalebb)
8. Texas A&M (Christine Michael)
9. Missouri (Kendial Lawrence)
10. Mississippi State (LaDarius Perkins)
11. Tennessee (Rajion Neal)
12. Florida (Mike Gillislee)
13. Kentucky (CoShik Williams)
14. Ole Miss (Jeff Scott)
Defense
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Florida
4. LSU
5. South Carolina
6. Mississippi State
7. Arkansas
8. Missouri
9. Vanderbilt
10. Auburn
11. Tennessee
12. Texas A&M
13. Kentucky
14. Ole Miss
Coaching
1. Alabama (Nick Saban)
2. LSU (Les Miles)
3. South Carolina (Steve Spurrier)
4. Auburn (Gene Chizik)
5. Georgia (Mark Richt)
6. Missouri (Gary Pinkel)
7. Texas A&M (Kevin Sumlin)
8. Mississippi State (Dan Mullen)
9. Florida (Will Muschamp)
10. Vanderbilt (James Franklin)
11. Tennessee (Derek Dooley)
12. Ole Miss (Hugh Freeze)
13. Arkansas (John L Smith)
14. Kentucky (Joker Phillips)
QB
1. UL-Lafayette (Blaine Gautier)
2. Arkansas State (Ryan Aplin)
3. Troy (Corey Robinson)
4. UL-Monroe (Kolton Browning)
5. Middle Tennessee (Logan Kilgore)
6. Florida International (Jake Medlock)
7. North Texas (Derek Thompson)
8. Western Kentucky (Kawaun Jakes)
9. Florida Atlantic (Graham Wilbert)
10. South Alabama (CJ Bennett)
RB
1. Florida International (Jeremiah Harden)
2. UL-Lafayette (Alonzo Harris)
3. UL-Monroe (Jyruss Edwards)
4. Troy (Shaun Southward)
5. Middle Tennessee (Benny Cunningham)
6. South Alabama (Demetre Baker)
7. Arkansas State (Frankie Jackson)
8. Western Kentucky (Antonio Andrews)
9. North Texas (Brandin Byrd)
10. Florida Atlantic (Xavier Stinson)
Defense
1. Florida International
2. Western Kentucky
3. Arkansas State
4. UL-Lafayette
5. UL-Monroe
6. Florida Atlantic
7. North Texas
8. Troy
9. Middle Tennessee
10. South Alabama
Coaching
1. Troy (Larry Blakeney)
2. Florida International (Mario Cristobal)
3. UL-Lafayette (Mark Huspeth)
4. Arkansas State (Gus Malzahn)
5. Florida Atlantic (Carl Pelini)
6. North Texas (Dan McCarney)
7. Middle Tennessee (Rick Stockstill)
8. South Alabama (Joey Jones)
9. Western Kentucky (Willie Taggart)
10. UL-Monroe (Todd Berry)
QB
1. Louisiana Tech (Colby Cameron)
2. Utah State (Chuckie Keeton)
3. Texas-San Antonio (Eric Soza)
4. Texas State (Shaun Rutherford)
5. New Mexico State (Andrew Manley)
6. San Jose State (David Fales)
7. Idaho (Dominique Blackman)
RB
1. Louisiana Tech (Hunter Lee)
2. Utah State (Kerwynn Williams)
3. Texas State (Terrance Franks)
4. San Jose State (De'Leone Eskridge)
5. New Mexico State (Robert Clay)
6. Idaho (Ryan Bass)
7. Texas-San Antonio (David Glasco II)
Defense
1. Utah State
2. Louisiana Tech
3. San Jose State
4. Idaho
5. New Mexico State
6. Texas State
7. Texas-San Antonio
Coaching
1. Texas-San Antonio (Larry Coker)
2. Texas State (Dennis Franchione)
3. Louisiana Tech (Sonny Dykes)
4. Idaho (Robb Akey)
5. Utah State (Gary Anderson)
6. New Mexico State (DeWayne Walker)
7. San Jose State (Mike MacIntyre)
QB
1. Notre Dame (Tommy Rees)
2. BYU (Riley Nelson)
3. Army (Trent Steelman)
4. Navy (Trey Miller)
RB
1. Notre Dame (Cierre Wood)
2. Army (Raymond Maples)
3. Navy (Gee Gee Greene)
4. BYU (Michael Alisa)
Defense
1. Notre Dame
2. BYU
3. Army
4. Navy
Coaching
1. Notre Dame (Brian Kelly)
2. BYU (Bronco Mendenhall)
3. Navy (Ken Niumatalolo)
4. Army (Rich Ellerson)
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