Enough talk about the College Football Playoff frontrunners and preseason darkhorses ahead of the 2018 season.

Which Power 5 teams will underwhelm and fall short of expectations this fall?

247Sports national analyst Brad Crawford picks one team from each conference that may have the cards stacked against them in November:

ACC: North Carolina State (Projected record: 7-5, 4-4)

How do you replace Bradley Chubb, Kentavius Street, Jaylen Samuels and Nyheim Hines and improve the following season? You don't, not at a program like N.C. State where premiere NFL players — much less a handful of them — come around once every couple of years. Even with multi-year starter Ryan Finley back to lead the offense, the Wolfpack faces an uphill climb this season as one of the ACC's hunted. N.C. State will likely be underdogs against West Virginia, Clemson and Florida State. And rivalry games against Wake Forest and North Carolina are historical splits, not to mention a road game at Marshall being much more worrisome than it looks on paper. Marshall is one of the most veteran teams the Wolfpack play this season and won eight games in 2017.

PAC-12: Washington State (Projected record: 7-5, 4-5)

Are the Cougars destined to become an afterthought following last season's November flameout? Wazzu caught lightning in a bottle with early wins over USC and Oregon before succumbing to adversity down the stretch. Luke Falk was the program's unquestioned leader, but the bigger loss might be defensive coordinator Alex Grinch's departure to Ohio State. Grinch almost single-handedly revitalized Wazzu's defense and made this program a force at the line of scrimmage, the only element missing from its rise under Leach. After a midseason bye, the Cougars play Oregon and Stanford consecutive weeks in October. The season will be decided there.

BIG 12: Oklahoma State (Projected record: 8-4, 5-4)

Mike Gundy has earned the benefit of the doubt after three consecutive 10-win seasons, but he’s not getting there this fall — even with a soft schedule prior to the meat of the Big 12 slate. The Cowboys basically have two months to get it going offensively after adjusting to life without Mason Rudolph, James Washington and Marcell Ateman before battling Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia and TCU over the final five weeks of the season. All four of those squads should finish with a better record than Oklahoma State in the top-half of the league standings. If the Cowboys can navigate home games against Boise State and Texas Tech in September unscathed, there’s a good chance they’ll be inside the Top 15 at 7-0 in late October before the swoon begins.

BIG TEN: Michigan (Projected record: 7-5, 5-4)

The Wolverines' projected win total should come out in May from oddsmakers, who will undoubtedly over-inflate potential greatness from this year's team. The opener in South Bend is basically a toss-up (and in that case, you give a slight edge to the Irish) and those matchups with Wisconsin, Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State? Jim Harbaugh hasn't proved he can beat rivals on a consistent basis. Even when the Wolverines posted matching 10-3 campaigns during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, they went 4-4 against Top 25 teams and three of those wins were against BYU, Northwestern and Florida.

Paul Finebaum said this week he believes Harbaugh is in over his head and better-suited in the NFL ranks. That sounds outlandish initially, but a five-loss season this fall would only strengthen that claim. The outliers here are nine starters back on defense and Ole Miss transfer quarterback Shea Patterson — whether the NCAA deems him eligible. With a playmaker who challenges the opposition under center, the offense would improve and Michigan would be in title contention.

SEC: LSU (Projected record: 7-5, 4-4)

Relative to expectations, LSU will underachieve during Ed Orgeron’s second full season. ESPN’s simulations-based Football Power Index isn’t doing the Tigers any favors with a 6-6 prediction, but that’s a bit too catastrophic and there’s enough strength returning on defense to at least split the seesaw games and win those against competition of lesser talent. With that being said, the first eight weeks should be telling. Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana Tech are the only gimmes in a loaded stretch without a bye week featuring matchups vs. (preseason) nationally-ranked Miami, Auburn, Georgia and Mississippi State.

Ole Miss and Florida will be a challenge for a team that’s a bit strapped offensively. The opener against Mark Richt’s Hurricanes will be the difference in a seven or eight-win regular season. How Vegas oddsmakers have installed LSU as a 2.5-point favorite in that one is surprising.