(USA Today Sports Images)Dr. Saturday will be looking at the 25 most interesting teams headed into spring football through March, examining which programs have the biggest questions, the most expectations and the best storylines. This isn’t a list of the 25 best teams going into the spring, just the 25 we’re keeping the closest eye on. Previously: Kansas State.

TEXAS TECH

What happened in 2012
Behind a good season by quarterback Seth Doege and a surprisingly strong start by the defense, Texas Tech had a pretty solid season.

The Red Raiders went 8-5, had some good wins against Iowa State, West Virginia and TCU, and then pulled out an exciting victory against Minnesota in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. There was also a relatively disheartening 1-4 stretch to end the regular season against tough opponents, so the 2012 season under Tommy Tuberville wasn't making anyone forget the glory days of Mike Leach.

What made the Red Raiders' season memorable is what happened off the field. Tuberville left suddenly and unexpectedly to Cincinnati, reportedly ditching recruits in the middle of a dinner to take the job. Texas Tech's search settled on a predictable name: Kliff Kingsbury, the young, hotshot Texas A&M offensive coordinator who is one of Texas Tech's all-time great quarterbacks.

While the switch from Tuberville to Kingsbury was a shock, it has pumped a lot of new life and energy into the program.

What makes them interesting in 2013

(USA Today Sports Images)Dr. Saturday will be looking at the 25 most interesting teams headed into spring football through March, examining which programs have the biggest questions, the most expectations and the best storylines. This isn’t the 25 best going into the spring, just the 25 we’re keeping the closest eye on. Previously: Northern Illinois

FLORIDA STATE

What happened in 2012
The Seminoles' conference doesn't help their profile anymore. Florida State came into the season with national title aspirations, but needed to be perfect to get that shot.

One loss, to N.C. State, effectively ended their chance to play for a title. A loss to Florida late in the season added to the disappointment.

Florida State otherwise had a great season. The Seminoles won 12 games, a conference championship and the Orange Bowl. But aside from a win against Clemson the victories didn't come against elite competition, including the bowl win against an overmatched Northern Illinois team. That's unfortunate because Florida State had the talent to beat some very good teams. It's also what made the late slip-up at N.C. State so frustrating.

What makes them interesting in 2013

(USA Today Sports Images)Dr. Saturday will be looking at the 25 most interesting teams headed into spring football through March, examining which programs have the biggest questions, the most expectations and the best storylines. This isn’t the 25 best going into the spring, just the 25 we’re keeping the closest eye on. Previously: Louisville

NORTHERN ILLINOIS

What happened in 2012
Of all the teams in college football, it's very possible none will look back and remember 2012 more fondly than Northern Illinois.

For Alabama, it's just one of many championship teams. For Notre Dame, it ended in disappointment. Northern Illinois' 2012 season is unlike anything it has experienced before, and possibly will experience again.

Northern Illinois was a surprise story at the end of the year. A couple days after it won the MAC championship, suddenly there were reports that NIU might have pulled off the improbable, getting into the top 16 of the BCS standings, ahead of the Big East champion, and therefore earning an automatic BCS berth. Sure enough, later that day Northern Illinois was invited to the Orange Bowl.

The Huskies were thoroughly dominated in the Orange Bowl by Florida State, but the 2012 season was still special for Northern Illinois. The Huskies had never played in a bowl better than the Poinsettia or Independence Bowl. Being the Cinderella of college football for a few weeks was a fun time.

Now, the question is whether Northern Illinois can stay in the national consciousness beyond those few weeks.

What makes them interesting in 2013

(BustedCoverage.com)Well, BustedCoverage.com reports that the Manti Te'o jokes aren't quite yet ready to die.

The site posted a picture of a float in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Baton Rouge. (Quick aside: There are St. Patrick's Day parades in Louisiana? Never knew.)

The float has a painting of a Te'o No. 5 jersey on it, with the punchline "Irish my girlfriend was real."

Rim shot. Tip your servers.

(USA Today Sports Images)De'Anthony Thomas is one of the most exciting players in college football. That's because when the Oregon back gets up to top speed, nobody is catching him. His insane speed is a treat to watch.

If Thomas' speed was even a little bit in question, he went to the track this week and proved how fast he is.

At the Oregon Preview meet, Oregon's first of the outdoor track and field season, Thomas won the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. He won the 100-meter dash in 10.31 seconds, a time that would have tied for sixth at the NCAA championship meet last year. He won the 200 meters in 21.17 seconds, less than a second off the NCAA-winning time last year, and not bad for a football player.

(@CoachSumlin)This is photobombing at its best here.

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin went on a family vacation, as coaches should do during the offseason. And he posted a really nice picture with two of his children at Orange Beach Marina. Are all those huge fish in the back Sumlin's haul from a productive day of fishing or just a good background for a cool picture to go in the family photo album (and on Twitter)? Not sure, but it's nice either way. There's probably a joke about Sumlin's recruiting ability and being able to haul them in that fits pretty well here.

Sumlin wanted to share the photo with his Twitter followers once he got back from his family vacation:

Back from a little break with the fam. Does it get any better than this?!?! twitter.com/CoachSumlin/st…

— Kevin Sumlin (@CoachSumlin) March 15, 2013

But wait a moment, what's going on with that fish in the back?

(Courtesy of Syracuse University Athletics)

This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

THE BEST TWO-SPORT COLLEGE FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL PLAYERS

NO. 1, JIM BROWN

Jim Brown might be the best football player ever. I'd pick Jerry Rice, but if you argued it was Brown, I couldn't put up much of a fight.

Brown is considered by some to be the best lacrosse player ever. This I won't bother arguing, I'll just have to take people's words for that one.

Then there's this: Brown averaged 13.1 points per game for Syracuse's basketball team in his two seasons with the Orange.

(Instagram.com/_reavisisland)There's a lot about recruiting that's tough to wrap your head around. For example, why institutions of higher education spend eight figures on new facilities mostly to impress 17-year-old kids. But that's another story for another day.

Another somewhat unnatural thing is when coaches try to relate to players. In most cases, at some point a middle-aged man is going to have to try to relate to a high-school kid. It's part of the job of recruiting.

In that category, we have this recruiting letter from N.C. State's director of player personnel Drew Hughes, who was hired away from Central Florida this week. He went right to work.

In a letter, which was posted on the Instagram account of high-school safety C.J. Reavis, we get a look at a letter that you might think is a bit dramatic, crazy or cool. But it's part of the job of recruiting.