re: Rank which teams will be back at an elite level first

Texas is #1. They'll be back as soon as they replace Mack. Per CFBMatrix, which ran the numbers, if you go back and remove all the players from every team's recruiting classes for the past 5 years that are no longer with their respective programs or didn't make it to campus at all, because of Texas' low attrition, they have the most talent (per an aggregation of recruiting services' data) of ANY TEAM.

Goes a long way to proving that Mack is a reficulous underachiever and ALSO that any coach worth a damn could turn it around in a season.