I was pretty surprised to see N picked at 8 as well. Pleasantly surprised, for sure. I think we should be in the 11-14 range, simply based on the fact that we still haven't beaten 2-4 quality, ranked opponents during a full season. furthermore, we always seem to lose to someone that, on paper we should beat (TT, ISU)...until we prove it this year, even if we're 'favored' I just won't be flying my "Preseason #8" flag. Even if we started at around 13, though, I think schedule wise we'd be inside the top 10 in a matter of weeks.
Fro, I certainly haven't read your responses and turned into a Tiger fan, but I have gained some insight into Helu v Washington v Murray and what McNeill really means to our team (certainly statistically, not as much as i'd thought); so thanks for looking up those stats. The GT arguement for me boils down to this: they play in the ACC. Not such a great conference. They will win a bunch of games.
I am surprised that you don't bring up Gabbert in your defense of a good 2010 outcome. I really think he is pretty good, certainly the class of the b12 north this year, if not 2 or 3 in the whole league. Still, you have Stinkel as your coach and not much momentum heading into 2010, I would say not deserved of a top 25, but that's just me....