The Underrated List
South Carolina (unranked preseason) The Gamecocks slumped at the end of 2003, but they were ever so close to beating both Florida and Tennessee and they return a ton of starters, especially on the lines. Look at Lou Holtzs record at South Carolina when he has a large number of returning starters.
Mississippi State (unranked preseason) This is a safe bet since the Bulldogs cant help but be better in 2004, but they do return almost the entire offensive line and half of the defensive line. More importantly, they had clearly quit on Jackie Sherrill for the past two years and Sylvester Croom seems to be a real hardass, so the normal bounce that a team gets from a new coach will be especially pronounced in Starkville.
I agree with both of these. Carolina did better than people think last year, especially with that RB of theirs. MSU did quit on Sherrell, but it will take a couple of year to get back on track. Afterall they are not KY or Vandy.