Over the next 30 “business days”, I will be counting down my top 30 for the 2009 College Football season. After hours of studying game film, breaking it down matchup by matchup, and predicting upsets, I’ve come up with the teams I believe will be the 30 best in the country by season’s end. Will your team be included? (Hint: If you prefer Tennessee, No.) Start whistlin’ Dixie…

30. Iowa Hawkeyes
29. Oregon State Beavers
28. Southern Miss Golden Eagles
27. Nebraska Cornhuskers
26. Kansas Jayhawks
25. North Carolina Tarheels
24. USF Bulls
23. Michigan State Spartans
22. UCLA Bruins
21. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
20. FSU Seminoles
19. TCU Horned Frogs
18. Illinois Fightin’ Illini
17. BYU Cougars
16. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
15. Oklahoma State Cowboys
14. Georgia Bulldogs
13. LSU Tigers
12. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The Story: In early 2008 Ole Miss pulled the rug out on Arkansas and locked in former coach Houston Nutt, a guy who is probably the most underrated in the country. Sure he’s a pain in the rear sometimes, but the guy’s results speak for themselves. People really underestimate what this guy did with all around talent at a school like Arkansas…just as much as they underestimated the talent that Ed Orgeron was able to bring in to Oxford, Mississippi. Call it the perfect storm, but Houston Nutt now has the best roster he’s ever had in his career and for Ole Miss, the best they’ve probably seen sine they won the National Championship in 1960. After making their first bowl game in five years, and knocking off the National Champs at the Swamp expectations are through the roof. The hype is definitely there, can the Rebs back it up?

The Glaring Stat: 38. Times the Rebs put the opposing quarterback into the turf.

The Outlook: When looking at this roster there is one name that stick out at you. Greg Hardy! Don’t know who he is? You will. Many have the defensive end penciled in as a top three pick in next year’s draft. He had 8.5 sacks last season, and while the numbers aren’t eye popping injuries caused him to miss several games. He’s versatile, like a Julius Peppers…why that comparison? Because Hardy played basketball for the Rebels too. As long as he’s healthy this guy will be commanding double teams almost every down. This will be to the benefit to Jerrell Powe, a one time blue chip recruit who at 340 pounds is the type of tackle that can just eat the middle himself. Powe has had a troubled history, and really struggled at times last year, but there is no doubt in my mind he’s going to have a huge season for this team…This is the best defensive line in country…Trust me I can run through a few more names to justify this.

The secondary has some questions and at times was a liability last seaon, but they return three senior starters led by Kendrick Lewis, last season’s leading tackler. Freshman Darius Barksdale is one of those guys that can start and/or play right away, giving them a great option if needed. With the defensive front getting only better I look for these guys to have a little less pressure on them, and thus a serious improvement.

A lot of Ole Miss’s improvement has to be attributed to Jevan Snead. The Texas transfer and one time Florida commitment was one of the most coveted quarterbacks coming out of high school. His only problem was he chose schools that had Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy…He started last season very shaky which included a four interception game against Vandy, but finished the last six games with 16 touchdown passes and only 3 interceptions. A good season and this guy could be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman…if anything, he’ll probably be one of the leaders for the award heading into 2010.

Houston Nutt has always been a run first coach to begin with…and yes, his team was the one to really make the wildcat formation a fashionable thing to run. Ole Miss didn’t have a great running back last season, but that didn’t prevent them from being effective on the ground. Dexter McCluster is a 5′8″ WR/RB who took the snaps from the signature formation dubbed “WildRebel” by the coaching staff, allowing him to rush for a hair below 700 yards on the ground…add to that he was the team’s third leading receiver picking up another 600 yards through the air. McCluster’s speed makes him very dangerous, no matter what formation or position he’s at.

Shay Hodge is the leading returning receiver, and he should put up solid numbers, but if you really want to see wrinkles look for defensive end Greg Hardy to line up at the position near the goal line. He has three career receptions for touchdowns…going back to that whole Julius Peppers thing.

And I’d be dumb to forget to mention the loss of Michael Oher, the all world offensive tackle and first round pick…well he’s gone. The line is HUGE and while they might give up a few more sacks this year, they should be able to hold the ship down well enough to keep Ole Miss out of serious trouble.

The Schedule:
9-6-09 at Memphis (Sun.)
9-19-09 SE LOUISIANA
9-24-09 at South Carolina (Thur.)
10-3-09 at Vanderbilt
10-10-09 ALABAMA
10-17-09 UAB
10-24-09 ARKANSAS
10-31-09 at Auburn
11-7-09 NORTHERN ARIZONA
11-14-09 TENNESSEE
11-21-09 LOUISIANA STATE
11-28-09 at Mississippi State

FCS x 2!!!!! Ole Miss made sure to go extra extra light on the out of conference schedule this year. At Memphis might cause some troubles, simply because it is a rivalry game, but I can’t see a loss there. And the rest? The starters might make it through the second quarter before getting pulled.

A Thursday night game at South Carolina will be their chance to show a national audience they’re for real. Plus getting Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and LSU at home really gives them a nice advantage in conference play. To me the game at  Auburn screams trap though. 

GatorTrey is a contributor to SpartyandFriends.com. He can be reached at GatorTrey (at) spartyandfriends.com as well as on twitter @jflynn05.

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