With only two teams finishing in the final top 25 poll, 2012 was a down year for the ACC. Will 2013 be any different? On paper, the league should be stronger. Florida State will take a step back with the loss of a handful of key players, but Clemson could be a top-five team, and Miami, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech are all worthy of top 25 consideration.

Front the first snap to the last, Rich Rodriguez' first season in Tucson was extremely entertaining if nothing else. He took a team that won four games and was primarily a passing offense and turned it into a bowl-winning squad built around his patented zone-read spread option attack.

The 2012 season was a year of transition for Gary Patterson and the TCU Horned Frogs. Patterson didn't lose a single conference game (23-0) the three years prior to entering the Big 12. In their first season as a "BCS" or power conference team, the Frogs lost five conference games — as many as the previous five seasons combined.

One of the youngest teams in the country may be a little closer to growing up.

Miami played 21 freshmen last season, including 10 who started at least one game. That made the Hurricanes one of the youngest teams in the country.  On the field, it showed -- particularly on defense. The ‘Canes endured a three-game losing streak in October and had one of the worst defenses in the league.

Baylor finished 2012 as one of the hottest teams in college football, winning five out of its last six games, including a 49-26 victory over UCLA in the Holiday Bowl.

Texas A&M took the SEC by storm last season, finishing with an 11-2 mark with an upset over Alabama in Tuscaloosa and a Cotton Bowl victory over Oklahoma. The Aggies are an emerging power behind head coach Kevin Sumlin, and this team has to be considered one of the top-five national title contenders for 2013.

For the fourth time since 2004, Cincinnati will begin spring practice with a new coach. Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly and Butch Jones all put an imprint on the program despite three-year stints for each. The most experienced coach Cincinnati has hired during this run, Tommy Tuberville arrives from Texas Tech to a program that has won at least 10 games in five of the last six seasons.

While the final record was only 4-8, it was clear Memphis was an improved team in coach Justin Fuente’s first season. The Tigers suffered a disappointing loss to UT-Martin in the season opener but rebounded to win their final three games for 2012. After a disastrous tenure under Larry Porter, Memphis has found the right coach to lead the program into the Big East.

Last season was historic for Northwestern Wildcats everywhere. Pat Fitzgerald led his alma mater to its first bowl win since the 1949 Rose Bowl. The Wildcats won 10 games for just the third time in the history of the program and the first since the famous 1995 Rose Bowl run. This team has been to 11 bowl games all-time and Fitzgerald has taken the Cats to five straight postseason appearances.

After a disappointing 3-9 record last season, California made a coaching change, firing Jeff Tedford in favor of Sonny Dykes. Although Tedford did a lot of good things in Berkeley, the program had two losing seasons over the last three years and failed to build off its 28-9 stretch from 2004-06.