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What things will you get sick of hearing about this college football season?

Some of these narratives are kind of true. Some are just repeated a lot. Add yours in the comments!

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Harbaugh, Herman, McCaffrey, Rosen and Harris
Harbaugh, Herman, McCaffrey, Rosen and Harris
Getty Images

I hear these takes a comin’, they’re rollin’ round the bend.

College football has lots of truisms that aren’t really true. This means some teams and leagues get too much credit, and others don’t get enough. Things that were accurate years ago are repeated as if they’re still accurate now, even if they’re not.

Of the things people will say over and over in 2016, here are a few on my personal list of arguments to ignore.

1. Is the SEC West overrated?

The SEC West was the best division in college football in 2016. Ditto for 2015, 2014 and 2013. It will probably be the best division this year, as Bill Connelly’s numbers project every team in the top 25 in S&P+.

This will not stop fans from crowing every time an SEC West team loses a non-conference game. Auburn loses at home to top-5 Clemson? The division is overrated! Arkansas loses at TCU? The division is overrated! Ole Miss loses in Orlando to Florida State? The division is overrated!

It is foolhardy to judge a group of teams based on one game. Heck, it’s hard to judge a single team based on an individual performance, but that won’t stop some fans and media members who either pander to those fans or extrapolate unreasonably.

There is a healthy backlash against the SEC and the SEC West. Fans of other conferences don’t like being told that the West is so much tougher. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t being told the truth.

2. What’s wrong with Christian McCaffrey and/or Josh Rosen?

Stanford’s McCaffrey is coming off a record-setting season that might have ended with a Heisman Trophy if not for the fact that he played late games on the West Coast. This year, McCaffrey will play with a new quarterback instead of the underrated Kevin Hogan and will run behind three new starters on the line.

McCaffrey is coming off a season in which he got 32 touches per game. If the Curse of 370 applies in college football, a guy coming off of 434 touches is in trouble.

Even if the new starters and wear-and-tear don’t bring McCaffrey’s production back to earth, simple regression to the mean should. He had an exceptional year, one that will be almost impossible to repeat. Thus, McCaffrey’s numbers will likely come down for reasons that are not his fault. People will wonder what’s wrong with him. The answer will be nothing.

UCLA QB Josh Rosen faces a different problem. He had an excellent freshman season, one that justified his recruiting profile, so an easy assumption is that he will blossom into the best pro-style quarterback in 2016. However, he comes into 2016 without his star running back, four of his five top receiving targets and three starting linemen from 2015. Also, his coordinator is gone, replaced by a staff promotion.

Remember how Sam Bradford wasn’t the same in 2009 (even before he got injured) with a new line? Or how Rex Grossman regressed in 2002 with a new receiving corps and a change in play caller? OK, the drop from Noel Mazzone to Kennedy Polamalu shouldn’t be as pronounced as Grossman going from Steve Spurrier to Ed Zaunbrecher, but you get the point.

3. Michigan’s schedule is garbage.

Last year, critics went back and forth between mocking the schedules of Ohio State, which didn’t play a ranked opponent until the 11th game of the season, and Iowa, which played only two (Wisconsin and Northwestern) in the regular season.

Both ended as one-loss teams outside of the Playoff, mainly because they lacked conference championships, but also because they lacked the strength of schedule.

That same argument is coming like a hurricane towards Michigan in 2016:

As a last insult from reviled former athletic director Dave Brandon, Michigan’s non-conference schedule is indeed thin: Hawaii, Central Florida and Colorado. Not even the improving Big Ten East and cross-divisional games against Wisconsin and Iowa will save the schedule from derision.

Adding to the coming cacophony about this:

  • The schedule is back loaded, so most of the juicy parts take place late;
  • After this Summer of Jim Harbaugh, a majority of neutrals will not be inclined to make excuses for Michigan;
  • Michigan’s fan base is large, loud and deprived of recent success, which is a formula for excess; and
  • The Ohio State fan base, having suffered through years of taunts about their schedule and wondering why they are picked behind a team that they have beaten in 14 of the last 16, is also large and loud.

Prepare for the Playoff selection committee having to address Michigan’s schedule on a weekly basis.

4. Tom Herman’s taking the job at [insert team that lost last week].

Houston’s head coach is one of the best-credentialed prospects for a major program since Urban Meyer went unbeaten at Utah in 2004. He won a national title at Ohio State as an offensive coordinator, then took Houston to a 13-1 record and a major bowl win in his first year as a head coach. He’s both an accomplished schemer and an excellent recruiter.

And lo and behold, he coaches in a state where the two biggest programs, Texas and Texas A&M, have head coaches on the hot seat. And the major program in its eastern neighbor state, Louisiana, almost fired Les Miles a season ago.

This is a recipe for a media firestorm that will annoy everyone involved. Charlie Strong, Kevin Sumlin and Miles will be confronted with questions about their job security after every loss. Herman will be confronted with every form of gotcha question in an effort to induce him to make a Tommy Tuberville “pine box” gaffe.

And hot seat speculation, which is a fun endeavor during the season, will get tiresome in this particular instance.

5. Les Miles can’t develop a quarterback.

Just wait for Brandon Harris to throw his first incompletion against Wisconsin. Or for him to struggle against Alabama (because no one else has issues against a Nick Saban defense, apparently). Bill, take it away:

The “Can’t develop QBs!” meme has been interesting to watch. LSU had one of the most devastating passing games in the country in 2013, and Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson developed well enough to combine for a 147.6 passer rating as seniors as LSU went to the BCS Championship.“ Miles can’t develop QBs!” really comes down to “LSU’s first-time starter has struggled against Alabama for two straight years.”

Given where LSU starts this year (near the top of the rankings) and the amount of talent returning (lots), the Tigers’ fortunes are being pinned on the quarterback. Going into every game, the focus will be “Has Harris turned the corner?” After each game, the focus will be “Did Harris do enough to help out his exceptional teammates?”

And with a renewed referendum on Miles coming after every loss, Harris’ performances will be seen as reasons to fire or retain Miles. But if he can just be good, LSU can be great.

What else?

The Solid Verbal had a fantasy draft of 2016 college football narratives. What else would you add?

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