Preseason Blogpoll Ballot
Filed under:
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State |
| 2 | Oklahoma |
| 3 | Southern Cal |
| 4 | Georgia |
| 5 | Clemson |
| 6 | Florida |
| 7 | West Virginia |
| 8 | Missouri |
| 9 | Penn State |
| 10 | LSU |
| 11 | Texas |
| 12 | Arizona State |
| 13 | Auburn |
| 14 | South Florida |
| 15 | Illinois |
| 16 | Rutgers |
| 17 | Wisconsin |
| 18 | Texas Tech |
| 19 | Oregon State |
| 20 | Virginia Tech |
| 21 | Kansas |
| 22 | Cincinnati |
| 23 | Brigham Young |
| 24 | Fresno State |
| 25 | Central Michigan |
Don’t be gentle. This is probably stupid.
Well, here it is. Due to some confusion about an email switch I’ve extended the deadline a couple days, so revisions to this ballot can take place. Notes and annotations:
Ohio State #1. Yeah, yeah, they lost the last two national championship games convincingly but they also return everyone except some fullbacks, Gholston, and a couple offensive linemen. I’m not super sold on them or anything—Boeckman meh—but of all the top teams they seem to have the fewest questions.
Georgia a bit low, comparatively. Partly the LT injury, partly the assumption that much of the enthusiasm was based on Georgia throttling a Hawaii team that belonged in a BCS game less than any random 9-3 Notre Dame team.
Clemson? I feel I’ve overrated them, but Davis and Spiller and they’ve finally got the most talent in the ACC. Speaking of: Miami, FSU, Wake, Boston College? Two ACC teams is probably not enough; who am I missing?
Penn State? LSU? Texas? The back half of the top ten also seems wonky to me, but I can’t come up with anyone else to insert. Where do you put teams with large amounts of talent but no quarterback?
Big East what? I appear to have half of the Big East in the top twenty five. This is… odd. West Virginia is a given, but maybe I’m being too kind to Cinci, USF, or Rutgers?
I’m tempted to throw Texas Tech way up high but that seems a typical case of overrating a couple of skill position players and ignoring the general lack of talent elsewhere. It’ll be hard to tell given Tech’s early schedule.
No Michigan. I mean, obviously.
i find it hard to believe that CMU is rated higher than us and MSU. I would be surprised if they were able to beat either team. also, i find it hard to believe that PSU is the 9th ranked team. last year they were ranked and ryan mallett somehow let us to victory. I'd have them 15-20 (leaning toward 20)
I may be wrong, but the future of Ben Mauk probably puts a lot of variability in how we rank Cincy, no?
Cinci's got the kid who transfered from ND last year, and he was a big time recruit who is perfect for their offense. I would like to see hom do well there. If he has better stats than the Emu, that would be awesome.
Jones hasn't done much, and he's far down the depth chart at the moment. Kelly might just be good enough to make a serviceable QB out of Dustin Grutza, but his powers may not extend to the defensive side of the ball.
my (middling) Rutgers blog - http://bleedscarlet.wordpress.com
You gave them far more credit than I did. This team has the potential to be good, but they're still inexperienced in key areas. They should be lumped somewhere in that 30-40 "maybe, we'll see" range.
The Big East is looking very balanced this year, you can really make a case for any team not named Syracuse.
Also, anyone have a clue as to why I can't get the blogpoll arrows to display in this post?
my (middling) Rutgers blog - http://bleedscarlet.wordpress.com
I'm calling it right now... Syracuse football, 6-6 in 2008! International Bowl baby!
Syracuse football, our return to glory has atleast been shorter than Notre Dame's.
Scott Dreisbach > Tom Brady
Do you mean Oregon?
I really think Wake deserves a spot in the top 25. They are returning one of the top defenses in the nation and are pretty solid all around. The ACC is tough to figure right now, but Wake will be able to shut people down all year long with that defense.
I just don't see it. Perhaps its my lack of faith in the name Bowden, but they always seem like a team that has a ceiling of the Chik-Fil-A Peach Bowl. Thats not necessarily a bad thing, but ranking them in the top 5 seems like a setup for disappointment.
I thought the Irish would Return To Glory this year in the blog poll. No? Ok then.
I think Wisconsin is well placed as a middling sub-15 team. Florida will probably be a top 5 team, but understandable not putting them ahead of USC, OSU, Georgia and Oklahoma. I think that BYU will actually be good this year and climb up the rankings, a la Hawaii last year, but I see no problem starting them off at 23.
Proud member of the 2008-06-30 circle of trust.
Yes Brian, any poll with 4 Big East teams in the Top 25 is mistaken. They are barely a major conference, as any look at NFL draft picks over the last few years will show. The frustration for us Big East haters is that anytime the a team other than WVA has a good record, they are given the same credit as a second or third place team from a real conference
You are worthress Arec Barrwin!
Wow, CMU at 25. You must think they really are the best team in the state of Michigan. What, do you work for the Gaylord Herald Times now or something!?!?!
God Bless Your Cotton Pickin' Maize & Blue Hearts
the power of Dan LeFevour!!!!! Seriously though, I go to CMU. While Michigan is still always my favorite team, CMU is my second team and they are very entertaining to watch. I doubt many CMU students realize how lucky they are to actually have a solid team with an entertaining offense that runs up and down the field. I remember my freshman year, my roommate told me: "i bet we win at least one MAC title before we're gone." Going into my senior year this year, little did we know we'd be making a run at our 3rd in a row!! It's really exciting to be a part of.
Also, on a side note, how many realize Dan LeFevour is one of only two QB's in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same year? The other? Vince Young. Also, LeFevour finished with 19 rushing TD's last season, one shy of joining the 20/20 rushing/passing TD club. The only guy who's ever done that is Tim Tebow.
Anyways, that's all I've got. Go Blue and CMU too!
Michigan Wolverines: 872 wins, .740 winning percentage, 42 Big Ten Titles, 11 National Titles, 3 Heisman winners, and 76 All-Americans
I know McCoy was dissapointing last year, but is Texas really considered a team with no QB? Plus, I think Rutgers is high at 16. They weren't that good last year, and they lost Rice who was clearly their best offensive player. Is there anyone there to provide offense?
Fire up Chips!
iTunes pays Mike Barwis 99 cents every time he downloads a song.
Rutgers, USF and 2-3 of your bottom 5 and replace them w/ SEC teams and/or USCs 2nd & 3rd teams.
so you really think PSU is better than LSU and texas?
Harvard: The MICHIGAN of the East
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
I actually think you've underrated South Florida and vastly overrated a Rutgers team that is still yet to finish any higher than 3rd in the Big East in their history.
If you want to see a snake oil salesman, Coach Schiano is your man.
Scott Dreisbach > Tom Brady
Id have trouble putting Clemson ahead of Florida. Id probably slide UGA and Florida ahead of USC in light of the Sanchez injury. Maybe slide Mizzou up and drop Clemson a bit. Penn State is probably too high, but I'm having trouble with the 6-13 area, as its all really cloudy there. I'm okay with the lack of ACC (being a UMD grad, I see enough terrible in the ACC to say that its warranted.) You have Rutgers probably about 20 spots too high in my book: No Ray Rice to me means an epic fall. CMU gets too much credit too, despite having poor man's Vince Young.
The most egregious error here I think is not having Tennessee ranked. A collection of freakish athletes on defense and the battering ram that is Arian Foster, to me at least, means that UT should probably be around 15.
returning a decnt starter this year at QB? in the B10, no. rutgers, no. usc, no. just WV and OU i guess.... and white isn't exactly a great passer and OU guy is still young. tebow too, and that's about it.
Harvard: The MICHIGAN of the East
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
Me and a friend were trying to come up with a list of the top 10 QB's the other day. Obviously Tebow and White. Bradford and Daniel have to be there too. Harrell probably rounds out the top 5. But after that its bad. Stafford gets a lot of hype, but his stats are extremely mediocre. Maybe Reesing and Zach Robinson? Do we put McCoy in there based on his 2006 season? Even Chase Holbrook's name came up. So, yeah, definitely a down year for QB's.
Sincerely,
Cullen Harper
Graham Harrell should be a very good system QB for TT. Chase Daniel at Mizzou could be really good. Pat White translates to WR at the next level, but he is a very good fit at QB for the offense WVU runs, ie, doesn't need to really pass.
Duh... USF has GROTHE!!!
Ugh. I'm sorry, but I cannot buy that kid and I'm sick of hearing about him on ESPN night games... which led me to head over to ESPN and check out their schedule... already booked for a Friday night, two Thursdays and a Sunday night game on ESPN. ACK. Not to mention that their two Saturday games with times assigned are also night games.
I guess there's that whole "home games, its hot here during the day" argument earlier in the season, but if you're like me and on any day that's not saturday that has a game on and you watch it, you'll get more than your fair share of USF this season. Who was their linebacker last year with the (fugly) girlfriend and 2 kids they used to show at every game who then ended up breaking up with him between the end of the season and the draft? Yack.
GROTHE!
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/clubhouse?teamId=58
BEN MOFFITT!! She was nasty. I think it was his wife actually. It's kind of a nice story at first: He was some kid living in a trailer who would drive everyday to play football at USF...until you hear the part (exposed by his now ex-wife) that other people were doing his schoolwork for him, and that this was going on for other players as well. I think that USF has among the lowest GPAs in all of CFB. I think that Jim Leavitt is one of the best coaches out there, but he seems like kind of a douche.
Charlie Weis can't coach
How dare you Brian, haven't you been paying attention to us at all!?!? WE ALL KNOW MICHIGAN IS GOING UNDEFEATED!!! Former walk-on QB: Check. Completely rebuilt offensive line: Check. New offensive scheme unlike anything we've ever run: Check. Oh yeah, we're goin' to the ship kids!
www.wolverineliberationarmy.com
Yowsah. That seems high.
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