Scott Feldman, right-hander Gavin Floyd, and catcher

Before we start this, you should know something -- if you already do not. I suspect you might.I picked Auburn to make the College Football Playoff last year.I was one of the many members of the media who bought into the Jeremy Johnson hype, the new defensive coordinator (Muschamp!) and those stellar recruiting classes and decided that, yes, the Tigers coming off an 8-5 season in 2014 would indeed be one of the four best teams in the country in 2015.Auburn started the season ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 , and then finished it 7-6.So, yeah, not great.The 2016 AP preseason poll was unveiled Sunday and the majority of the voters, many no doubt still stinging from Auburn, took the safe route and declared defending national champion Alabama No. 1. No team in the top 10 had less than nine victories last season.Now it is time to put that Auburn debacle behind me and try to have a little fun forecasting the coming college football season. Part of what makes predictions fun is taking a flyer on a dark horse or two. Maybe even picking against Alabama again. And unlike Tigers coach Gus Malzahn, Auburns rotten season did not put me on the hot seat with my bosses.Though I know some of you are keeping score.1) Three unranked teams most likely to be ranked at end of the season.Nebraska, Boise State, Miami.2) Three ranked teams most likely to be unranked at the end of the season.No. 23 Baylor, No. 20 Southern California, No. 11 Mississippi.3) Top-10 team most likely to pull an Auburn-esque flop?No. 5 LSU. The Tigers look loaded, but poor quarterback play can doom a season. Brandon Harris completed 54 percent of his passes last year. When the ship goes off course in the SEC West it is very hard to avoid the rocks -- especially when the rumors start swirling about the head coach getting fired. A lot riding on this season for Les Miles. No. 8 Stanford is the second choice here and No. 3 Oklahoma has a recent history of flopping when starting highly ranked.4) Team outside the top 10 most likely to make the playoff.No. 15 UCLA. The Bruins have the most talented quarterback in the country outside of Clemson in Josh Rosen and a defense that could start eight seniors and two juniors. UCLA edges out No. 13 TCU in this category.5) Conference championsAtlantic Coast ConferenceAtlantic: Florida StateCoastal: MiamiChampion: Florida StateBig TenEast: Ohio StateWest: NebraskaChampion: Ohio StateBig 12Champion: TCUPac-12North: OregonSouth: UCLAChampion: UCLASoutheastern ConferenceEast: TennesseeWest: AlabamaChampion: AlabamaAmerican Athletic ConferenceEast: USFWest: HoustonChampion: USFConference USAEast: Western KentuckyWest: Southern MissChampion: Southern MissMid-American ConferenceEast: OhioWest: Western MichiganChampion: Western MichiganMountain WestMountain: Boise StateWest: NevadaChampion: Boise StateSun BeltChampion: Appalachian State6) New Years SixRose BowlOregon vs. MichiganSugar BowlLSU vs. TCUCotton BowlNotre Dame vs. USFOrange BowlClemson vs. TennesseePLAYOFFFiesta BowlOhio State vs. AlabamaPeach BowlFlorida State vs. UCLANational championshipFlorida State vs. AlabamaNATIONAL CHAMPIONFlorida StateEXTRA POINTHeisman Trophy finalists: Dalvin Cook, Leonard Fournette, Deshaun Watson, Josh Rosen.Winner: Watson.---Follow Ralph D. 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Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. Dillon Brooks Grizzlies Jersey . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays expect to make qualifying offers to potential free agents Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion but have yet to decide whether to make the same offer to outfielder Michael Saunders.In a season-ending news conference Monday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said the decision to extend qualifying offers to the sluggers is about as easy a decision as well make.The 33-year-old Encarnacion tied with David Ortiz for the AL lead with 127 RBIs while hitting 42 home runs and batting .263. The first baseman/designated hitter was an All-Star this year for the third time.The 36-year-old Bautista hit 22 homers with 69 RBIs while batting .234 in an injury-slowed season. The outfielder homered twice in the AL playoffs.Bautista (265) and Encarnacion (239) rank second and third behind Carlos Delgado (336) on Torontos career home run list.After Toronto ended a 22-year playoff drought with an AL East title last year, Bautista blasted the Blue Jays into the ALCS with a three-run homer to win Game 5 against Texas, punctuating his shot with a memorable bat flip.This year it was Encarnacions turn, with a three-run drive in the 11th inning to beat Baltimore in the wild-card game.Those guys have had very good careers, have always hit right-handed and left-handed pitchers, and have been a huge part of this organizations success, especially in the last couple of years, Atkins said.Bautista, Encarnacion and Saunders are among nine potential free agents on Torontos roster. The Blue Jays lost in five games to Cleveland in the ALCS, the second year in a row they have lost at that stage of the playoffs.Atkins said Toronto will attempt to reach new contracts with Bautista and Encarnacion in the five days following the World Series, when teams have exclusive negotiating rights with their own free agents.They would definitely be priorities for us, and well look to do everything that we can to take advantage of that window, Atkins said. Thats plenty of time to potentially work something out if its realistic on both ends.Encarnacion signed a three-year, $29 million deal in in 2013 and is coming off a team option at $10 million.Bautista signed a $65-million, five-year deal in 2011. Toronto picked up a $14 million optioon for 2016.ddddddddddddAtkins said the Blue Jays are still pondering what to do with Saunders, who hit a career-high 24 home runs this season and was an All-Star for the first time.Were still working through that one, Atkins said. Its not quite as clear.Saunders was hitting .298 when he won the All-Star final vote spot. HIs average slumped to .253 by the end of the season.The price of a qualifying offer this year is $17.2 million. The offer can be made through the fifth day after the World Series, and a player has a week after that to accept.If a team makes a qualifying offer to a player who signs a major league contract with another club before the June amateur draft, his former club receives a draft pick as compensation at the end of the first round.None of the 34 qualifying offers was accepted in the first three years of baseballs current collective bargaining agreement, but Colby Rasmus (Houston), Matt Wieters (Baltimore) and Brett Anderson (Los Angeles Dodgers) accepted among the 20 players who received offers last winter.Torontos remaining free agents include right-hander Joaquin Benoit, left-hander Brett Cecil, right-hander R.A. Dickey, right-hander Scott Feldman, right-hander Gavin Floyd, and catcher Dioner Navarro.Right-hander Jason Grilli has a $3 million club option for 2017. Atkins called Grillis option seemingly as near to a no-brainer to pick up as you can get.Toronto still controls closer Roberto Osuna, AL ERA leader Aaron Sanchez and four other starters from the rotation that posted a league-low 3.64 ERA.Were fortunate that we have five starting pitchers returning that we feel good about because that area of the market seems to not quite as strong as some other areas, Atkins said. The areas that we are going to be looking to fill, there seem to be some numbers there.Atkins said discussions have begun on an extension for manager John Gibbons, who will be in the final season of a two-year contract in 2017.All of Torontos coaches will return in 2017 with the exception of assistant hitting coach Eric Owens. He had been with the Blue Jays since the beginning of the 2015 season. ' ' '