1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. USC 4. Florida 5. Missouri 6. LSU 7. OU 8. Auburn 9. Wisconsin 10. Texas Tech 11. Kansas 15. Texas NR aggy The Big 12 is stacked and we play the other four highly regarded teams. Only Mizzou is at home. Throw in home games against rivals Arkie and aggy plus an improving Oklahoma State and another tough road game at Colorado. Mandel's ranking is justified IMO and another 10-3 season would be acceptable with this group.
I can't wait to see someone pop Harrell in his mouth. "That boy has a mouth like a canon, always shootin' it off." - Foghorn Leghorn
I think Ohio State's too high. I'm sorry, but as successful as they've been on the field the past three years, they haven't exactly racked up a lot of quality wins. I think based on how they've been pantsed in the BCS title game, it's a legitimate question as to whether or not they're just been overrated due to beating up on a down Big Ten. As I see it, they've beaten two mediocre Michigan teams and one that we thought was pretty good (but got blown out by SC in the Rose Bowl). They've stomped a handful of decent Big Ten teams (Iowa, Purdue, Penn State, Wisconsin). They beat us in 2006, but by season's end it was clear we weren't exactly an MNC caliber opponent. And then there's Notre Dame in the 06 Fiesta-- clearly overrated. No, the best teams they've played over the past three years are: 2005 Texas (loss) 2005 Penn State (loss) 2006 Michigan (win) 2006 Florida (astonishing blowout loss) 2007 LSU (borderline blowout loss) Sorry, I'm on the skepticism bandwagon. They look to me like a 1980s Nebraska team under Osborne at this point-- bet on them up until they face a Florida school in their bowl game. Yes, yes, I know all about 39 of 44 on the two deep returning, and yes I still think Tressel is an excellent coach. I'm just holding the last two BCS meltdowns against them until proven otherwise. If they beat USC in September, I will remove that doubt, but I rank teams based on how good they are as opposed to "who I think can run the table against a favorable schedule", so I would put Ohio State well down the list, closer to 7 or 8.
tech isnt losing anyone this year, there is no reason they cant be ranked that high. I have never seen tech rank that high in the pre-season, but they usually do choke when they are ranked. We shall see, I think its more justified than OSU being at #2. UT is at Tech this year, could be an interesting game. The only one that I have as a lose for Tech for sure is at OU....but who knows, theyve been spliitting them for the last 4 years.
Shark-- everything you posted makes sense, I just don't personally share that appraisal of things. The CFN ranking presumes that Ohio State was actually good enough to deserve to BE in the BCS title game-- in other words, just because the cards fell as they did and Ohio State GOT there doesn't mean they actually fielded a team good enough to deserve to be there. Going into the game, I thought they did. Now I'm not so sure. As I posted before, you guys do not have a lot of true QUALITY wins on your resume the past three years. UM and Texas in 2006 are the best ones, and both of those teams appeared to be overrated once the season was done. As you say, it comes down to USC. If Ohio State beats USC or at least plays them as close as they played us in 2005, I think you can win people over. If Ohio State loses that game by 2 or more TDs, it will not matter what you guys do the rest of the season-- I think more people will take my view of the program, which is that it's great at beating everyone except for legit national title contenders. You guys really have to win that game.
As for our ranking, I think it's way too low but I'll take it. Mandel and a lot of other people are making too big a deal about Jamaal Charles' departure. We'll miss him in some ways, but I actually think it will help Greg Davis avoid getting in playcalling ruts-- without Jamaal, he'll have to be more creative and maybe that helps get John Chiles and some of the young playmakers on the field more. I also think Muschamp is going to whip the defense into shape, and with a much-improved linebacking corps and maturing secondary I think the defense will rank in the Top 30 nationally. That's enough to make us national championship contenders and the schedule should be strong enough to boost us in the BCS because (I can't believe I'm about to type this) Kansas and Missouri are on it instead of Nebraska. Yes, that's right. I'm out of my "Mack needs Superman to win" rut and I'm pumping sunshine. I think we have to be careful with the Colorado game right before OU; beating OU is always the #1 game on the schedule; Missouri immediately afterwards will be a challenge. We go to Tech and Kansas and could lose either game. But I don't think we're gonna lose very often this year. I like the staff changes, I think the talent is there, and I think we're going to win the Big 12. A shot at the national title just depends on how many other games we win.
am I the only one who thinks Boeckman is ******? Granted, I only saw a couple of games but none of his throws look good, they wobble, etc.. osu is definitley a run first team unless they're playing the cupcakes of the big 11 and can pad passing stats.
The stats don't back up your opinion, which is fine with me: Bowl Subdivision (FBS) National Player Report Passing Efficiency Year: 2007 Thru: 01/07/08 Minimum Pct. of Games Played 75 Minimum 15 pass attempts per game Rank Player 1 Sam Bradford, Oklahoma 2 Tim Tebow, Florida 3 Dennis Dixon, Oregon 4 Paul Smith, Tulsa 5 Colt Brennan, Hawaii 6 Graham Harrell, Texas Tech 7 Taylor Tharp, Boise St. 8 Brian Brohm, Louisville 9 Patrick White, West Virginia 10 Colin Kaepernick, Nevada 11 Ben Mauk, Cincinnati 12 Zac Robinson, Oklahoma St. 13 Todd Boeckman, Ohio St. 14 Todd Reesing, Kansas 15 Chase Daniel, Missouri 16 Case Keenum, Houston 17 Mike Teel, Rutgers 18 Rudy Carpenter, Arizona St. 19 Caleb Hanie, Colorado St. 20 Andre Woodson, Kentucky 21 Rusty Smith, Fla. Atlantic 22 Cullen Harper, Clemson 23 Tom Brandstater, Fresno St. 24 Colt McCoy, Texas NCAA Passing Efficiency Ranking Perhaps he is the first ****** first-year QB to be named All-Big Ten starting QB and get his team to the national championship game. Even if he isn't the first you have to admit he's the least ****** of the ****** QBs, huh?
Every preseason poll Ive seen has Texas Tech in the top 15, the highest Ive seen is at #7. So obviously its not just some odd, horrible coincidence that SI has them at #10. The problem is that Tech is better as an underdog and usually doesnt perform well when big things are expected of them.
USC fan here, I can tell you one team that is not gonna be playing in the NC game let alone win a NC is USC. Pete has done NOTHING to make the changes on the coaching staff that are necessary. We have one of the worst coaching staffs in the nation. If Pete were smart, he never would've pushed Chow out but he did. Following the 2004 season, nearly his entire staff is nothing but homegrown grad assistants. His worthless son who is TE Coach (never coached anywhere else and only under Pete) is now our recruiting coordinator. Those of you who follow recruiting probably noticed that SC recruiting has fallen off big time. SC has the most talent in the country, not many people will disagree with that. But the coaching staff is a joke. Last season I ranked SC's staff as 7th best in the Pac-10 behind UCLA and the Washington schools. They've failed miserably over the past 3 seasons, pissing away the NC 3 times. Look for SC to lose 2 games next season, maybe 3. 10-2 is the best we can hope for now.
Yup. In addition, we ranked slightly higher in scoring defense, and we didn't have a freaking IAA team on our schedule this year (who finished 2-4 in their IAA conference).
[His worthless son who is TE Coach (never coached anywhere else and only under Pete) is now our recruiting coordinator. Those of you who follow recruiting probably noticed that SC recruiting has fallen off big time. ] You have got to be kidding me!! USC recruiting has fallen off?? Including this year, USC has had 13 five -star recruits, and 34 4-star recruits, in the last 3 years!
Tech at #10 may be too high, but how worked up can I get about a poll released before signing day? The fact is that TTU will most assuredly not have one of the top ten most talented teams by most objective and subjective measures. Tech, however, has a good offense which returns almost everyone, including the line, QB, and star WR. If RMc gets that D to play even mediocre this year, Tech will be in every game. If one is not worried about our game in Lubbock in 08, I think him a fool. As for our ranking, I just want to see us win our games. If we do that and still are low (virtually impossible IMHO), I will worry/complain.
The one thing that Tech does have coming in next year for sure is two stud J.C. defensive ends that are both already on campus in McKinner Dixon and Brandon Sesay. If they can get Broderick Marshall in at DT, the run defense should be much improved immediately. Horns at 15 is stupid though. I would flip the rankings for UT and Tech, but it really doesn't matter as many said, preseason rankings don't mean squat.
