Just to be crystal clear, I'm not talking about anyone on this board, okay?
Every single stinking year we go through this, whether it's Tim Off-Brand, Heather Don'tknowthis, Colin Cowpie or someone else. Every damned year they'll give us a name about how "this is the year that" (name of team) reasserts itself as a force with which to be reckoned (these idiots also end the sentence with a preposition).
And every single year, you can pretty much list the same teams:
Michigan (always)
Texas (always)
Texas A/M (always)
Miami (at least most of the time)
Notre Dame (this one is off and on)
Florida St (this one is also off and on)
It's almost like these folks want to be Joe Namath and Super Bowl III on their own terms. If you spend 15 years saying, "This is the year Michigan steps forward" then you're PROBABLY going to be right one time in those 15 years. (Then again, we ARE talking about Michigan, so...). They do it to the point that it's not even a real gut feeling so much as, "one of these years it's gonna happen and nobody is gonna remember when I'm wrong anyway."
A complete idiot who has paid scant attention to CFB history could look at Auburn this year and say, "I just have a gut feeling they're gonna be a contender" and likely be right. They have a new coach, their two toughest conference games are at home, Alabama has a brand new QB, and they're catching LSU in a down cycle. If you say it and you're WRONG, nobody will remember anyway. If you're right, you get to show the video in December about how you in a vague sense thought Auburn could contend this year.
Texas has been "gonna be back" ever since Colt McCoy got hurt.
A/M has been "next year's champions" since they lucked into a win over Alabama in 2012.
And Michigan has been "back" since
a) an unbeaten season in 1992 (three ties) and started 1993 at #3 (finished 8-4)
b) winning the 1997 national title (losses from 1992-98: 0, 4, 4, 4, 4, 0, 3)
c) replaced their old Carr with one that had Les Miles
d) hiring Rich Rod, who was going to make us forget Coach Bryant at Alabama just a tad earlier
e) hiring Jim Harbaugh, the greatest coach to never win a conference title
f) Urban Meyer retired
I mean, Michigan has been back more times than "Friday the 13th" and with the same predictable horror show. And Texas is just as bad.