Phil Steele Preseason Top 25
Per Pat forde's tweets:
Phil's Top 10: 1. Oklahoma; 2. Ohio State; 3. Alabama; 4. TCU; 5. Nebraska; 6. Boise State; 7. Florida; 8. USC; 9. Miami; 10. Oregon. 11. Texas 12. UNC 13. VT 14. Iowa 15. Aub16. ND 17. Ark 18. Penn St. 19. UGA 20. FSU 21. S. Car. 22. WVU 23. Wisc 24. Hou. 25. Arizona
I agree with your assessment. It's a bit mind boggling to have ND ranked at all, breaking in a new QB and new coach. If ND beats Michigan this year, the media won't shut up about it.
Were you spelling their names wrong on purpose because I couldn't stop laughing, after the previous poster asked if "anyone could name the starting QB". Good stuff
Texas at 11!? haha
WVU, PSU, and ND will all have new starters at QB, and thus, I believe they are overrated by Mr. Steele. Especially ND. Come on, man. He must really believe in Kelly.
PSU, ND, and Auburn seem to be a bit too high, while Georgia and Wisconsin are a bit underrated in my opinion. Nothing looks completely out of whack though.
Oklahoma at #1? Didn't they lose alot of talent? I know they can reload but That is rediculous. To be honest Wisconsin should be in top 12. Nebraska that high. I mean they have a mean D-Line. But their offense wasn't good. If their offense is good then i would think they should be that high. I want the teams we play ranked high so when we beat them it makes us UM look good, but ND is going through a new coach and new system, new QB, and lost alot of good talent. Well i agree move em higher in the rankings!!! Also put UConn at #7 and MSU at # 10. With those wins that can shoot UM at top 10.
Wisconsin. Based on what they did last year and what they're bringing back, plus a pretty pretty favorable schedule, I like them to be 6-2 or better in the B10, and they should sweep OOC.
was supposed to be such a great analyst. He just lost a lot of respect in my book. Didn't ND lose a lot of offensive linemen? Isn't Penn State going to be starting an inexperienced QB? Both of these teams are way overrated in his listing. If he thinks they can hold onto those lofty rankings, I think he smoking some bad weed.
as #1?
That is laughable, no way that team is in the national title race at the end of the season.
Even worse is ND in the top 25. That team has all of the looks of approx. 6 wins.
Okay Now Brian Kelly hasn't really proved any thing at ND yet, yeah he was successful at Cincy and in the Big East, but so was RR ( i respect RR alot and think he's going to turn it around). Plus the Big East isnt considered top-notch conference lately. He didn't win a BCS bowl game. RR did atleast. Brian Kelly may have more talent to start off at ND than what RR did but he still is implementing a new system in. not to mention what many poeple said losing QB and alot of offensive talent. As a joke thou i hope they put ND at top 10 so when we beat them, it'll give us momentum for the rest of the year. ND is overratted but it may be to UM's advantage.
Penn State ahead of Wisconsin is pretty surprising, and I have no idea why Iowa isn't in the top 10. Oklahoma at #1 is probably just to create controversy. Steele's research is second only to Brian but he's still in the business of selling magazines, so sometimes he's got to Cowherd/Bayless it up to create some buzz.
when I went to his site and saw who he had ranked from 30-25 I thought that was the only real chance ND had. But when his full list came out I couldn't stop laughing; last year I was an optimistic ND fan, and this year it looks like I will be a pessimistic one.
I'm agnostic on a number of Phil's Top 25 picks. However, I am amused that the people writing comments appear to have done more research and know the teams better than he does.
Why isn't Boise State in the top 5? When was the last time they lost a game?
It might get annoying to see thread after thread, but i'd like to hear everyone else's top 25 if all these rankings are off base, created for controversy and rooted in biases. We've had a couple threads today about polls and man is there a lot of crying and whining about certain selections.
Its college football. It would be half as fun without debate. But, a lot of those complaints dont see to offer their own top 25 or how they would rank them instead. I really enjoyed the USC back and forth above because people were throwing their own mini rankings around. Good debate, guys. I'd be more than happy to sponsor the wager between y'all on those.
Are you gonna start a thread on that?
I figure my predictions are as valid as Phil Steele's.
1. Michigan (goes without saying)
2. Stanford (we beat them in the BCS championship - see how I did that?)
3. Texas (I like burnt orange and steaks)
4. Ohio State (they finish this high because they won the Rose Bowl, and went undefeated into the UM game - which they lost at home, of course)
5. Boise State (they do really, really well - right up 'til they can't play on the blue turf)
6. Iowa (they lost to both UM and OSU, but beat the piss out of Florida in their bowl game)
7. Oregon (introducing a reflective fabric into their unis, they blind most of their opponents all year; prior to the Rose Bowl, Tressel issues new, polarized face guards to the Buckeyes)
8. Florida (the SEC champions lose in humiliating fashion to Iowa; on the podium after the Hawkeye victory, Kirk Ferentz is offered the Gators job for the '11 season)
9. Miami (the other one)
10. Oklahoma (Stoops realizes that Sam Bradford was actually more of a handicap than he'd ever realized)
I'd go with Boise State higher, certainly higher than TCU who they beat in a bowl game last year. They have been undefeated two years in a row. I think OSU is ranked a bit high. I thought last year Oregon basically fumbled the Rose Bowl away to them.
If anyones every been to Boise, it's a beautiful, with mountains mostly surrounding it. If your an outdoor enthusiast there are all sorts of things to do. Lots of great hiking trails going up over a thousand feet just outside of town. A nice ski resort just 45 minutes from town. Rivers nearby for rafting and hot springs.
Steele is usually good, but this list is worse than SportingNews's.
I find parts of his list interesting, but some stuff is so off. I like that he has UNC high, but he must have taken up crack because he's usually pretty good IIRC. (I have to look at some of his older preseason top 25 lists.) Some stuff doesn't add up and is inconsistent with some of his rules of thumb. First of all, Nebraska loses 6 key defensive starters according to http://www.nationalchamps.net/2010/earlybird/teams/nebraska.htm, yet it also has them at #9. But OU at #1 and ND at #17 are mind-boggling. Steele usually downgrades teams suffereing from "NFL draft hangover": the team suffers a little if it loses key players in the 1st round. OU fits that description. And ND just lost its offense and will be learning a new system. I don't remember our defense in 2008 being expected initially to be horrible (until we learned how deep the losses were and how severe the change), yet Steele didn't think it was likely we would make a bowl game.
At least M will have one victory against a ranked opponent...