The Florida Gators should be the AP number one, and it could be the same for another 2 or 3 years to come for the rest of college pigskin.

          Who should be the preseason number one for the upcoming NCAA football campaign, you ask? Look no further than the defending champs themselves. The Florida Gators are stacked again on both sides of the ball, and Urban Meyer seems to just now be hitting his coaching stride. So it may very well be a long couple of years for, not only the SEC but, the entire field of football powerhouses.

          The Gator offense last year outscored their opponents 611 to 181, almost 500 points! Over 50% of that offense is returning in one Tim Tebow. The only key play-maker not returning would be Percy Harvin. Considering all of his injuries, he truly can't be considered an every down threat anyway. Of Florida's 75 offensive TD's last year, Tebow accounted for 42 of them, both passing and rushing. Throw in a couple of other talented backs returning in Rainey and Demps, along with Meyer's excellent offensive philosophy, and the Gators should hardly miss a beat in 2009.

          Aside from the array of returning talent, the Gators have a pretty favorable schedule next year. They get Tennessee, Florida State, and Arkansas at home, along with Georgia on a neutral site. Their strongest road games are against a team trying to find an identity on offense in LSU, and South Carolina.

          All that is aligning for Florida in their favor is one side of the coin, the other side is the quagmire other big time programs are in. USC losing Mark Sanchez to the draft leaves them with an uncertainty on offense, along with a fairly tough PAC-10 schedule. Oklahoma does have Sam Bradford returning, but DeMarco Murray's injury problems along with Stoop's in ability to pull off a BCS win will be a nuisance. Alabama may be formidable in the SEC championship game, but with a revamped O-line, the Gators should match up very well with them. That brings us to Texas. Poor Texas, they can actually win the big game if they can ever escape the brutal big-12 schedule. They will, more than likely, end up with a couple of losses on their resume and thus find themselves once again looking in come BCS time. I will not even acknowledge the Big-Ten in this race, as they have  alot of ground to make up with other conferences.