2010's most improved teams

One of the simplest ways to predict if a team will get better or worse from last year's results is to look at which teams return the majority of their starters.

If a team is returning fewer than 12 starters, it's not uncommon to see a team stumble out of the gates while it gets its bearings. It's not always a sure thing, but more often than not, that statement is true.

Here's my list of teams that I think will increase their win total from last year. In parentheses are the number of returning starters, and the team's wins last year.

1. South Carolina (15, 7)
2. Michigan (15, 5)
3. Texas A&M (16, 6)
4. Missouri (16, 8)
5. North Carolina (19, 8)
6. Florida State (15, 7)
7. Washington (18, 5)
8. UNLV (15, 5)
9. Army (16, 5)
10. Kent State (15, 5)
11. Northern Illinois (15, 7)

In general, the high number of returning starters leads me to believe these teams will not only be more competitive throughout the season, but will also hit the ground running. A lot of these teams have tough schedules.

Look at North Carolina, who returns 19 starters from last year's 8-win season, but faces off against #17 LSU, #13 Georgia Tech and travels to Rutgers in the first three weeks of the season. Certainly not an easy task.

In his annual magazine, Phil Steele lists the 19 teams he thinks will be most improved from last year to this year. That list doesn't account for point spreads -- just straight up wins. Here's who he likes. Note that several of his teams overlap with several of mine. While I usually feel bad about reprinting someone's hard work, this magazine has been out for more than a month, and is available on other sites as well. However, I should probably plug his website, www.philsteele.com, which is a great source of information during the college football season.

1. Tulsa (5-7 last year)
2. Ball State (2-10)
3. Notre Dame (6-6)
4. Western Michigan (5-7)
5. Michigan (5-7)
6. San Diego State (4-8)
7. North Texas (2-10)
8. Michigan State (6-7)
9. Texas A&M (6-7)
10. Washington (5-7)
11. Kent State (5-7)
12. Louisiana Tech (4-8)
13. Maryland (2-10)
14. Hawaii (6-7)
15. UTEP (4-8)
16. Colorado (3-9)
17. Baylor (4-8)
18. UAB (5-7)
19. Illinois (3-9)