A few I will have my eye on (under the radar):
Central Florida goes to the Big East and has a chance to be sucessful. They beat Missouri last year, won their bowl game impressively and have alot of Florida players on the team..that is still a positive. Bortles (QB) was great in the bowl game. They could be 3-0 (Akron, FIU, Penn State) and then get S Carolina at home after a bye...that will be a pre season play for me if the man makes them a dog.
Northwestern...there will be a few teams in the Big Ten that win more than a few games...after all, they have to play each other but, I think NW is the only team that will be undervalued. Coming off their first bowl win with a dynamic offense, they will take advantage of predicted down years from Iowa, Wisky and Illinois. They have to get out of their first two (Cal and Syracuse) healthy as, like usual, they are not deep.
LA Lafayette...won't sneak up on anyone this year...like CFla, seem to get the players left over when they run out of scholarships at Florida, FSU and LSU only these "left overs" have motivation to work hard and stay out of trouble...good program and they are stepping up as they open at Ark and at Kansas State.
Rice...he won't win the Heisman but, Dirphus Jackson will be the Jonny Manziel of 2013. The guy is great after hardly getting to play last year, showed what he could do in the bowl game. I have to see what he has around him but, put him on your player to watch list. By the way...their first game...versus A&M.
SMU would be on this list too if they had not been previously mentioned. I'll throw in a heads-up on Arizona State too as I believe they have a chance in the changing landscape of the Pac10 plus they have a good schedule including a game at Texas Stadium versus Notre Dame.