Who will be ’08’s surprise teams?

Nobody saw Kansas coming last year.

Missouri? Good, sure. No. 1 in the country? Nope, didn’t expect that.

Same goes for Illinois in the Rose Bowl, Arizona State and Oregon challenging Southern California in the Pac-10, and Boston College and South Florida reaching No. 2 in the rankings.

Surprise!

The 2007 college football season was filled with them. All those wild upsets turned the season upside down, but even more intriguing were the teams that went from unranked in the preseason to top 10 during it.

It’s hard to imagine seeing another season as unpredictable, but every year produces teams that exceed expectations.

Right about now is when the search begins for the underdogs who will make a run at best in show in 2008.

Maybe this year’s Kansas will be … Pittsburgh.

Or North Carolina. Or Iowa. Or Colorado.

Terry Bowden, the former Auburn coach who now works as an analyst for Yahoo.com and Westwood One radio, says he can sometimes spot teams headed for a turnaround by checking last year’s results.

“You watch a team play and say, ‘Why were they 5-6?’ ” he said in a telephone interview. “You go back and see they lost two in OT, they had a key player get hurt. Always look for a team that lost games they could have won.”

Bowden mentioned Pittsburgh (5-7) and North Carolina (4-8) as teams that played a lot of close games last season and may be headed for better results this year.

The Tar Heels, in their first season under coach Butch Davis, lost four games by four points, dropped a six-point game to South Carolina and lost 17-10 on the road to ACC champion Virginia Tech.

Pitt came up with the final, and maybe most stunning, upset last year. They knocked West Virginia out of the national title game with 13-9 victory in its regular-season finale.

That victory helped start a buzz about the Panthers heading into this season.

“If (West Virginia) beat us by four touchdowns, no one is even talking about us,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.

The Panthers also lost four games by seven points or less and had their offense wrecked by injuries at quarterback.

Sometimes experience can make up for shortcomings in talent. Take Boston College, which won a school record 11 games and reached the ACC championship. The stellar play of QB Matt Ryan was a big reason why the Eagles took off in ’07. Almost as important was the fact that he was one of 17 fifth-year seniors.

So, after examining all the evidence from last year, expect some ’08 surprise teams with these qualities:

•lost several close games in ’07;

•have quarterbacks with potential for breakout seasons;

•rely heavily on upperclassmen;

•have manageable schedules, especially early in the season.

If your struggling team fits the bill in at least two of these categories, congratulations, there’s reason for hope.