10 college teams poised for a turnaround season

Here are 10 college football teams who have the talent to wash off the stink of disappointing 2018 seasons:  

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Head coach Scott Frost went to Lincoln with a lot of hype, but that didn’t translate into a lot of wins in 2018. The Cornhuskers finished with only four victories, but his impact on the offense was almost immediate.

For the first time since 2015, Nebraska averaged at least 30 points a game and improved its scoring ranking 26 spots in the last year. Sensational freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez led the way for the Huskers, finishing with 2,617 passing yards, completing 64.6 percent of his passes and throwing 17 touchdowns against eight interceptions. He also added 629 yards on the ground with eight scores. Under the watchful eye of Frost, he should improve in 2019.

People forget that Frost had a subpar 2016 season at UCF before going undefeated in 2017. Nebraska already showed improvement last season, winning four of its last six games, including a victory against Michigan State. Armed with more players he recruited, Frost's team should make a jump in quality this year.

Florida State Seminoles

Willie Taggart’s first year as Florida State head coach didn’t win him a lot of goodwill with Seminole fans. The former Oregon head coach flopped his way to a 5-7 record — the first losing season for Florida State since 1976. Taggart had trouble coaching a team full of recruits from another coach, and it didn’t help that Deondre Francois was fighting a knee injury the entire season.

The silver lining for Florida State is that the 1976 losing season was Bobby Bowden’s first. The Seminoles did pretty well after that.

Taggart has the talent to improve drastically in his second year. Sixteen returning starters are on the roster with invaluable experience from last year. Among the returners is Cam Akers, who will have the benefit of a more experienced (and healthy) offensive line that will put last year’s debacle behind it.

Seminoles fans expected a better result in 2018, but 2019 might be the beginning of another great run for the team.

Virginia Tech Hokies

Much like Florida State, Virginia Tech had a season to forget in 2018. For the first since 1992, the Hokies had a losing season. Fortunately they still won six games, so things aren’t totally hopeless.

Sixteen starters are coming back, 10 from the defensive side of the ball. Incoming are two four-star prospects, J.R. Walker and Nyquee Hawkins, both of whom should shore up the defense that gave up 31 points per game last year. On offense, the Hokies got two four-star offensive linemen as well as four-star receiver Jacoby Pinckney and four-star running back Keshawn King.

Tech was one game away from a winning season last year, and head coach Justin Fuente should guide the team to greener pastures in 2019.

Florida Atlantic Owls

The Owls made a lot of noise in 2017 with an 11-win season. However, things weren’t so easy in 2018 when Florida Atlantic went 5-7. The offense went from averaging 40.6 points per game to 31.1 points per contest. With offensive weapon Devin Singletary leaving for the NFL, you would think the Owls would have no chance to improve. Good thing they have Lane Kiffin.

He got Deondre Francois to walk on from Florida State and running back BJ Emmons from Alabama to shore up the offense. If Francois doesn’t work out, the team has last year’s starter, Chris Robison, to lean on. The defense is bringing back six starters, including leading tackler Rashad Smith. Among the incoming players is "Last Chance U" alum Tim Bonner, adding that extra spice of attention that Kiffin loves.

With a bevy of talent on both sides of the ball, FAU’s 2019 is looking pretty good.

USC Trojans

USC is no stranger to losing talented quarterbacks, but 2018 was especially rough for the Trojans. They experienced their first losing season in 18 years after star signal-caller Sam Darnold left for the NFL. They lost their final three games, including a close one to Notre Dame. Head coach Clay Helton may be on the hot seat, but he has plenty of ammo to cool it down — if he can use it right.

Quarterback J.T. Daniels was an inexperienced freshman but still threw for 2,672 yards. With former record-breaking quarterback Graham Harrell as offensive coordinator, he will only get better. It’ll be much easier, too, with weapons like Michael Pittman Jr., Tyler Vaughns and Amon-Ra St. Brown returning to form one of the better receiving corps in the country.

The defense is bringing back five starters to help the defense recover from key departures like Cameron Smith, Ajene Harris and Marvell Tell III. The Pac-12 South Division is up for grabs, and USC has the pieces to take it down.

Tennessee Volunteers

The Tennessee Volunteers were hoping Jeremy Pruitt, a Nick Saban understudy, could quickly right the ship at Knoxville. What they got in 2018 was inconsistency and a lot of the same questions about this team before his arrival. It didn’t help that the Vols had the ninth-toughest schedule in the country, and that’s not going to change in 2019. But with the number of starters coming back, they have a chance to weather it.

Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano is one of 10 returning starters on the offense. Running backs Jim Jordan and Ty Chandler are back as well as four offensive linemen, who will be instrumental in stopping all the heavy-hitting defenses they will face this season. Two five-star offensive tackles have also been added to help the cause.

The defense was uneven last year, to say the least. However, Pruitt is known for his ability to develop players on that side of the ball. He held a hot Kentucky team to seven points late last season, so the system can work. What’s left to be seen is if he can help the players make it work consistently.

Texas Tech

Former head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s offense made Texas Tech exciting, but the wins didn’t come as easily as the touchdowns. Matt Wells comes in from Utah State to fill in the vacant position, and while not the sexiest name in coaching, he will be a great fit with this team.

Wells made Utah State the second-best offense in the country, but his genius isn’t only on the offensive end. He kept that traditional Aggies defense tough, giving up only 22.2 points per game. Texas Tech is a step up in terms of competition, but it shouldn’t be a hard one.

The team is also bringing back 13 starters, seven on the offensive end where the Red Raiders averaged 37.3 points per game. Wells helped Jordan Love throw for over 3,500 yards and 32 touchdowns at Utah State. If he has that same touch with Texas Tech’s Alan Bowman, this will be a formidable team in the Big 12.

Arizona Wildcats

The Arizona Wildcats have looked like they were going to have great seasons in recent years, but it never came to fruition. In 2017 they won six of eight before losing four out of five to end the year. In 2018 head coach Kevin Sumlin was supposed to take this offense to the next level, but the team went 5-7 even with Khalil Tate having his best passing season statistically. Things have been up and down for the Wildcats, but 2019 might be their year.

Fifteen starters are back. Tate is quarterbacking again, and running back J.J. Taylor, who had 1,434 rushing yards last season, is ready to roll. Linebacker Colin Schooler returns from a 119-tackle, 21.5-tackles-for-loss campaign, leading eight returning starters on defense.

This team has too much continuity and too much talent not to capitalize on a wide-open Pac-12 South Division. Sumlin should be able to turn the program around this year.

UCLA Bruins

Chip Kelly was supposed to run over the Pac-12 when he returned to coaching, but his track-meet offense had some trouble out of the starting blocks his first year at UCLA. It turns out, like former UCLA coach Jim Mora, Kelly can’t win with Mora’s recruits.

But in 2019, Kelly has a recruiting class of his own and a wealth of returning talent that should help the Bruins break out of their funk. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson is the dual-threat thrower who can thrive under Kelly’s tutelage. Running back Joshua Kelley is also back after his 1,243 rushing yards last season, providing a potentially lethal one-two punch in the backfield.

On defense, the Bruins have 10 returning starters whose experience will only bring them closer together in the upcoming season. After beating USC last year, UCLA has plenty of reason to believe it can turn things around in 2019.

SMU Mustangs

The Mustangs were a young team last year, but 2019 might be the year when they start to take off. Quarterback Ben Hicks transferred to Arkansas, but former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele is ready to step in to prove that Tom Herman should have gone with him instead of Sam Ehlinger. And he’ll have plenty of help.

Wide receiver James Proche is back after catching 12 touchdowns and gaining nearly 1,200 yards through the air. Joining him in the receiving corps is Reggie Roberson Jr. who ended 2018 with 802 receiving yards.

The talent is even more consistent on defense, where nine starters are back. Leading tackler Richard Moore headlines the returners with defensive lineman Delontae Scott, who accounted for 10.5 tackles for loss last year.

SMU might have to contend with Houston and Memphis for AAC West Division dominance, but with this experienced group, it has a shot.