re: CBS releases map of best CFB team in each state

I didn't include the states that don't really have competition in their state, i.e. Arkansas, LSU, etc.

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Specifically, this is not a list of the programs that have had the most all-time success in each state, but rather a look at what teams we believe are playing the best right now.

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Alabama: Alabama -- This one was the most difficult to decide, and it just so happens to be the first state alphabetically. Auburn is a popular pick to win in 2015, and they may very well beat Alabama -- the Iron Bowl has gone to the home team each of the last three years -- but the Tide still get the edge.

Alabama has a serious question mark at quarterback, but they can lean on the run game with an excellent offensive line and a stable of backs led by Derrick Henry. Auburn's offense will be dynamic again and should be much better than Alabama's, but it's tough to be completely sold on the Tigers defense for 2015. There's a ton of excitement at Auburn about Will Muschamp coming in and fixing the defense, but the turnaround must be seen before it can be believed after the Tigers were a minor disaster last year.

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Florida: Florida State -- The Seminoles have held this crown for at least four of the past five years, 2012 being the exception, and they aren't letting go of it in 2015. Miami continues to underwhelm season in and season out and Florida's just starting a rebuild under McElwain. We'll have to see if either of the other two programs can try and make it a discussion for 2016.

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Georgia: Georgia -- The Bulldogs have owned the state of Georgia for the majority of the last 15 years, with the occasional season of Georgia Tech brilliance serving as a minor threat. The Yellow Jackets got one in Athens last year and will be a tough out for the Bulldogs in Atlanta this year. Even still, we give Mark Richt's bunch the edge.

Both teams are in the top 25 of our CBS Preseason 128 rankings and could be players in their respective conferences. Georgia's defense should be better than the Yellow Jackets, and while Georgia Tech has the dynamic triple-option attack, Georgia has Nick Chubb for a couple more years. Advantage: Bulldogs.

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Kentucky: Louisville -- Kentucky is getting better and Western Kentucky is a pretty good Group of Five team, but football in Kentucky belongs to Louisville. Mark Stoops has the Wildcats trending in the right direction, and some in Big Blue Nation are hopeful that they will get out of the SEC East cellar soon -- well, they're not all the way at the bottom because Vandy, but you get the point.

For now, this crown still belongs to Bobby Petrino's Cardinals. They're a preseason top 25 team and could flirt with a 10-win season after a nine-win campaign in 2014. Now, if we're talking basketball, this is a much more difficult argument.

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Mississippi: Ole Miss -- Mississippi has a heated in-state rivalry, but in 2014 the Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs actually became part of the national conversation with both spending time in the top 10.

Ole Miss got the better of Mississippi State at the end of last season and they return a bunch of talent from their defense that was the top scoring unit in the country last year. Ole Miss also has one of the more underrated storylines of the year with the return of LaQuon Treadwell after he suffered a gruesome leg injury in a heartbreaking loss to Auburn last year. The counter argument to this, of course, is to point out that Mississippi State has Dak Prescott returning as the starter while Ole Miss has to replace (Dr.) Bo Wallace under center. Both teams will be hard pressed to repeat their success.

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South Carolina: Clemson -- This entry would have read very differently in the 2014 preseason. But then the Tigers snapped their five-game losing streak at the hands of the Gamecocks, capping a disastrous six-loss season for Steve Spurrier's team. South Carolina hosts Dabo Swinney and Co. this season, but the Gamecocks' rotten 2014 defense must get much, much, much better before Deshaun Watson and the Tigers' band of NFL-caliber receivers come calling. Clemson is trending up, making it tough for South Carolina to make a case here.

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Tennessee: Tennessee -- If only we'd done this exercise two years ago, when we'd have had that rarest of joys: declaring Vanderbilt the best team in the state ... and being right about it. But the Franklin era seems well and truly behind the 'Dores, just as the Butch Jones era in Knoxville (not to mention the Justin Fuente era in Memphis) seems to just be getting started. The fact that Memphis even gets mentioned here is a credit to Fuente.

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but rather a look at what teams we believe are playing the best right now.

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How could they pick Baylor under that rationale based on how Baylor finished the season?

I'd argue TCU for Texas.

My jimmies are, indeed, rustled.

Fortunately, Louisville lost too much ad we'll be the better team this season.

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I think they'd say Clemson is better than them this fall.

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Clemson is plenty good. And they have been under Dabo, even when we were taking it to them.

We have our loons and paranoid crowd sure, but we aren't on Clemson's (or a good many SEC fan base's) level of letting stupid things like this get under our skin.

eta: On a personal level this kind of stuff doesn't upset me because I know we'll get to play Clemson either way and prove that we're better or we're not.

Interesting, Baylor managed to edge out TCU.

Thank God they picked Ole Miss I would have lost a lot of sleep if they didn't.

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I want that particular LSU logo to die a slow and painful death. I don't understand why all media outlets don't use LSU's preferred media logo:

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Why is that? What is wrong with it?