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(Aaron Torres is an author who's work has been published by Sports Illustrated, USA Today and AOL.com.  To view all his thoughts on the upcoming college football season, and all things sports, please visit him at www.aarontorres-sports.com)

20. West Virginia (9-4, 5-2 Big East)

Returning Starters: Offense 4, Defense 6

My how fast the mighty can fall.

At this time last year, I had West Virginia in my top 5, as they were coming off a Fiesta Bowl smackdown of Oklahoma, and returned not only the greatest winner in the history of college football, but more importantly, maybe my favorite player of all-time as well, in quarterback Pat White.

Sure Bill Stewart was taking over for Rich Rodriguez, but seriously what could go wrong?

What could go wrong? Let me just put it to you this way: by the end of third game of the season, the Mountaineers were 1-2 and the season was just about done. That third game- a 17-14 loss at Colorado- was one of the most memorable of the 2008 season, as the Mountaineers snatched defeat from the hands of victory sooooooooooo many times that night, that before I sat down to write this preview, I actually remembered off the top of my head that West Virginia went 3-13 on third down conversions that night (The weird thing is, I remember odd facts and figures like that all the time. In a related story, ladies I'm single!)

(Another side note- If I can give any fan one piece of advice it is this: If your team ever changes coaches, and you start hearing quotes from the players along the lines of, "So far camp has been great, practices are much easier than they were last year," and "I like Coach ___ he doesn't yell at us like the old guy did," run the other way. I'm telling you, put your head down, don't look, just run. Trust me on this one.)

So with all that said, let's get to West Virginia this year.

White is gone, having finished his college career as the only quarterback ever to start and win four bowl games, as well as breaking the record for most starry eyed gazes at the television from me (Trust me it's like Wilt's 100 point game, that's a record that's never going to be broken).

And while I still think that Stewart might be better served greeting patrons at a casino than actually putting on a headset and coaching this football team, he is back for year two. Despite those minor blips, there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the 2009 season.

First off, even with White gone, this team still has more weapons on offense than anyone else in the league. And it's not close.

Jock Sanders is back, coming off a monstrous 53 catch season, and an even more impressive offseason, highlighted by a DUI arrest. Joining him are what amounts to be the best group of receivers since the Rodriguez/Stewart era began: Alric Arnett (seven catches in WVU's Meineke Car Care Bowl victory), 6'8 Wes Lyons, converted quarterback Bradley Starks and true freshman Logan Heastie, the newest apple of everyone's eye in Morgantown.

Running back is stacked with Noel Devine (over 1200 yards in 2008)- a guy we've all seemingly known about since 1991 because of his high school exploits- and freshman Tavon Austin. I'll be honest, I didn't know much about Austin until camp started, but if what we're hearing about this guy is true, he may actually break the speed of sound at some point this year. He's supposedly that fast.

(To read the remainder of Aaron's West Virginia preview, as well as his thoughts on everything else this upcoming college football season, please click here or visit him at www.aarontorres-sports.com)