huskernumerouno
All-American
Just so everyone knows and I do not want MUtigerfan thinking I wrote this. I copied the below from an email that was sent to me. The headlines on yahoo also carried this story yesterday
The Preseason USA Today Coaches' Poll has been released. Considering that none of the coaches could name the starting quarterbacks for half the teams they voted for, the poll has to be taken with some grain of skepticism. Unfortunately, the poll means everything, since the BCS rankings, for all the pops and whistles coming from the computers, really comes down to the two polls (the Harris being the other). So here's what it all means ...
Top Five Overrated Teams (remembering that the idea is to ranks teams on how good they are going into the season and not where they will end up): Virginia Tech (No. 15, should be around the 20s), Auburn (No. 11, should be around the 20s), Arizona State (No. 16, should be around 25), Florida State (No. 29, should be around 40), and Virginia (No. 38, should be around 50).
Top Five Underrated Teams: Penn State (No. 22, should be top 15), Boston College (No. 31, should be top 20), Michigan State (No. 40, should be 25-ish), South Carolina (No. 27, should be top 20), Ohio State (No. 3, based on how good the team is coming into the season, it should at least be No. 2).
Basically, four teams are in the driver's seat: Georgia (1), USC (2), Ohio State (3), and Florida (5). The winner of the Ohio State-USC game on Sept. 13 will play for the national title if it wins out, and the winner of the Florida-Georgia showdown in Jacksonville on Nov. 1 will be playing in Miami on Jan. 8 if it wins out.
Oklahoma is at a nice starting point at No. 5, but no matter what it does, it'll be leap-frogged by Florida or LSU (6) if either the Tigers or the Gators go unbeaten.
Uh, Pac-10, where are you? The league should be down/rebuilding, but be prepared for the usual East Coast Bias whining after USC was ranked No. 2, Arizona State No. 16, and Oregon No. 20. With Cal checking in at No. 32, Oregon State No. 35, UCLA at No. 48 and Arizona at No. 52, the league needs to do something splashy early for respect.
Here's my biggest issue. If you want to rank Georgia 1, fine. I don't agree, but no problems here. I want all the coaches who voted USC over Ohio State as the better team RIGHT NOW to explain how and in what way the Trojans are better. The receiving corps has done jack-squat, the O-line is a major question mark, Mark Sanchez is fine, but he hasn't been Matt Leinart yet, and the D-line needs retooling. The Ohio State running backs are better, the defensive back seven might be a wee bit worse than USC's, but not by much, and the special teams are better. So tell me, coaches, how is USC better than Ohio State (or Georgia or Oklahoma or Florida)?
Virginia Tech at No. 15 is probably getting by on reputation, while Boston College, a team with far fewer question marks than the Hokies, is ranked 31st. If the preseason rankings are supposed to be based on how good the teams are, this is one of the biggest gaffes.
Michigan at No. 24 is a good starting point considering all the concerns. However, Utah, the season-opener for the Wolverines, is at No. 28. The Aug. 30 matchup in the Big House might be the game of Week 1.
Michigan gets into the top 25 mostly on name recognition, while Nebraska doesn't get the same respect, checking in at No. 36.
Colorado and Oklahoma State each got one vote at No. 25. That's probably right, but there's no way these two teams should be significantly lower than UCF, Notre Dame, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Wake Forest is ranked 23rd to start the year ... and that might be too low. Even so, Demon Deacon fans have to still be pinching themselves a little bit to see their team get the preseason respect of being ranked ahead of Alabama, Florida State, Boston College, and Cal.
Obviously, it's still prove-it time for Illinois. Ranked 19th to start the year behind Arizona State (16), Kansas (13) and Virginia Tech (15) is a slap in the face considering what the Illini did throughout last year.
Max Hall and his BYU squad begin the season in a good spot to make a BCS-bowl berth a reality for the Cougars.
BYU's ranking of 17 puts it in a position for a BCS spot. All it has to do is finish 16th in the final BCS rankings and it's in. This is a decent starting point, but it's probably not as high as Cougar fans might have hoped.
Texas Tech at 14. Everyone is starting to buy in early.
Fresno State is ranked 25th. The coaches actually did a little preseason reading and are trying to get ahead of the curve here. Watch out for the Sept. 13 showdown with Wisconsin (12) in Fresno.
Fresno at No. 25 and Rutgers at No. 30. I'll be shocked if the Bulldogs are favored over the Scarlet Knights on Sept. 1.
Three first place votes for LSU?! Will someone tell those three coaches who voted the Tigers No. 1 that this isn't boxing; you're not the champion until someone knocks you off. LSU is the 2007 national champion, but it's right where it should be at No. 6 (that doesn't mean LSU won't or can't win the national title; it just means it's not the best team coming into the season).
Where's the one vote for Duke? Every year, as a thank you for his time there as a head coach, Steve Spurrier puts the Blue Devils 25th in his preseason poll. This either means 1) Spurrier doesn't actually fill out his ballot anymore or 2) the novelty has worn off. I'm guessing it's the first part.
Notre Dame is ranked 44th. Talk about having to earn your way back into everyone's good graces.
Alabama is 26th. Considering the way last year ended, that's a lot of respect. And it might be warranted. The Tide will get its chance to make a huge statement against Clemson (9) in Atlanta on Aug. 30.
Auburn (11) and Penn State (22) are sort of in the same boat with roughly the same running quarterback (Kodi Burns for Auburn and Daryll Clark for Penn State) in position battles, but Clark is the better passer. Penn State is even with the Tigers on defense and better on offense. Going into the season, this is the SEC's biggest respect ranking. The two teams should probably be flip-flopped.
The Preseason USA Today Coaches' Poll has been released. Considering that none of the coaches could name the starting quarterbacks for half the teams they voted for, the poll has to be taken with some grain of skepticism. Unfortunately, the poll means everything, since the BCS rankings, for all the pops and whistles coming from the computers, really comes down to the two polls (the Harris being the other). So here's what it all means ...
Top Five Overrated Teams (remembering that the idea is to ranks teams on how good they are going into the season and not where they will end up): Virginia Tech (No. 15, should be around the 20s), Auburn (No. 11, should be around the 20s), Arizona State (No. 16, should be around 25), Florida State (No. 29, should be around 40), and Virginia (No. 38, should be around 50).
Top Five Underrated Teams: Penn State (No. 22, should be top 15), Boston College (No. 31, should be top 20), Michigan State (No. 40, should be 25-ish), South Carolina (No. 27, should be top 20), Ohio State (No. 3, based on how good the team is coming into the season, it should at least be No. 2).
Basically, four teams are in the driver's seat: Georgia (1), USC (2), Ohio State (3), and Florida (5). The winner of the Ohio State-USC game on Sept. 13 will play for the national title if it wins out, and the winner of the Florida-Georgia showdown in Jacksonville on Nov. 1 will be playing in Miami on Jan. 8 if it wins out.
Oklahoma is at a nice starting point at No. 5, but no matter what it does, it'll be leap-frogged by Florida or LSU (6) if either the Tigers or the Gators go unbeaten.
Uh, Pac-10, where are you? The league should be down/rebuilding, but be prepared for the usual East Coast Bias whining after USC was ranked No. 2, Arizona State No. 16, and Oregon No. 20. With Cal checking in at No. 32, Oregon State No. 35, UCLA at No. 48 and Arizona at No. 52, the league needs to do something splashy early for respect.
Here's my biggest issue. If you want to rank Georgia 1, fine. I don't agree, but no problems here. I want all the coaches who voted USC over Ohio State as the better team RIGHT NOW to explain how and in what way the Trojans are better. The receiving corps has done jack-squat, the O-line is a major question mark, Mark Sanchez is fine, but he hasn't been Matt Leinart yet, and the D-line needs retooling. The Ohio State running backs are better, the defensive back seven might be a wee bit worse than USC's, but not by much, and the special teams are better. So tell me, coaches, how is USC better than Ohio State (or Georgia or Oklahoma or Florida)?
Virginia Tech at No. 15 is probably getting by on reputation, while Boston College, a team with far fewer question marks than the Hokies, is ranked 31st. If the preseason rankings are supposed to be based on how good the teams are, this is one of the biggest gaffes.
Michigan at No. 24 is a good starting point considering all the concerns. However, Utah, the season-opener for the Wolverines, is at No. 28. The Aug. 30 matchup in the Big House might be the game of Week 1.
Michigan gets into the top 25 mostly on name recognition, while Nebraska doesn't get the same respect, checking in at No. 36.
Colorado and Oklahoma State each got one vote at No. 25. That's probably right, but there's no way these two teams should be significantly lower than UCF, Notre Dame, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Wake Forest is ranked 23rd to start the year ... and that might be too low. Even so, Demon Deacon fans have to still be pinching themselves a little bit to see their team get the preseason respect of being ranked ahead of Alabama, Florida State, Boston College, and Cal.
Obviously, it's still prove-it time for Illinois. Ranked 19th to start the year behind Arizona State (16), Kansas (13) and Virginia Tech (15) is a slap in the face considering what the Illini did throughout last year.
Max Hall and his BYU squad begin the season in a good spot to make a BCS-bowl berth a reality for the Cougars.
BYU's ranking of 17 puts it in a position for a BCS spot. All it has to do is finish 16th in the final BCS rankings and it's in. This is a decent starting point, but it's probably not as high as Cougar fans might have hoped.
Texas Tech at 14. Everyone is starting to buy in early.
Fresno State is ranked 25th. The coaches actually did a little preseason reading and are trying to get ahead of the curve here. Watch out for the Sept. 13 showdown with Wisconsin (12) in Fresno.
Fresno at No. 25 and Rutgers at No. 30. I'll be shocked if the Bulldogs are favored over the Scarlet Knights on Sept. 1.
Three first place votes for LSU?! Will someone tell those three coaches who voted the Tigers No. 1 that this isn't boxing; you're not the champion until someone knocks you off. LSU is the 2007 national champion, but it's right where it should be at No. 6 (that doesn't mean LSU won't or can't win the national title; it just means it's not the best team coming into the season).
Where's the one vote for Duke? Every year, as a thank you for his time there as a head coach, Steve Spurrier puts the Blue Devils 25th in his preseason poll. This either means 1) Spurrier doesn't actually fill out his ballot anymore or 2) the novelty has worn off. I'm guessing it's the first part.
Notre Dame is ranked 44th. Talk about having to earn your way back into everyone's good graces.
Alabama is 26th. Considering the way last year ended, that's a lot of respect. And it might be warranted. The Tide will get its chance to make a huge statement against Clemson (9) in Atlanta on Aug. 30.
Auburn (11) and Penn State (22) are sort of in the same boat with roughly the same running quarterback (Kodi Burns for Auburn and Daryll Clark for Penn State) in position battles, but Clark is the better passer. Penn State is even with the Tigers on defense and better on offense. Going into the season, this is the SEC's biggest respect ranking. The two teams should probably be flip-flopped.
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