I have long put together my own weekly Top 10 College Football ranking. It reflects my opinion and nothing more. I've been working on my preseason poll since Spring scrimmages were completed. I heard that the Coaches Top 25 Poll was being released today, so I'm going to go ahead and post my Top 10 list today as well. 1. Florida State 2. Alabama 3. Oklahoma 4. Oregon 5. Auburn 6. Ohio State 7. UCLA 8. Michigan State 9. Baylor 10. South Carolina Also Receiving Consideration: Georgia, Stanford, LSU
AP 2014 Preseason Poll Their Top 10: 1. Florida State 2. Alabama 3. Oregon 4. Oklahoma 5. Ohio State 6. Auburn 7. UCLA 8. Michigan State 9. South Carolina 10. Baylor
remember this poll because after the 3rd game, several on this list, IMO, will not have done well. My prediction for this year the ACC is going to surprise people, and not just FSU. On paper, Georgia looks to be the most powerful within the SEC, not Bama.
Odd that you'd say that about Georgia. They lost their starting QB. Their Offensive Line is practically nonexistent and they have run off most of the starters that they had in their defensive backfield last year. Most of their receivers are injured. They are fairly well set on D-Line, LBs and RBs, but every other aspect of their 2014 team is a huge question mark.
ok.... why LSU? they were a 4 loss team that lost 9 to the NFL draft. LSU bragged about that fact.... but the problem with that is they have to replace them. Part of preseason rankings are based on returning starters, etc. FSU has pretty much their entire offense coming back (minus a few spots) and most of their defense. I mean, had FSU won the title, and then had 10 starters from the offense leave..... I wouldn't expect them to stay #1 preseason next season.... Why is it that LSU, can have a 4 loss season, lose 9 quality players, and yet, somehow land at #13? Same with GA.... They lost 5 times and lose their starting qb.....yet somehow, come in in the top 15 Where's aTm? top 20? WHy? they were a 5 loss team with one player (who's gone now). Remember how well they played Rice WITHOUT Manziel last season? This team will be lucky if they have a winning season this year.... but because of SEC Bias... they get a top 25 ranking. I understand, Bama needs them ranked high so when they beat them first, it will look like a quality win, when in fact, they are simply the first of 7 teams to beat them is all
my prediction, FSU will get to the playoffs. I, of course, give them as much chance as any of the top 4 at that point but I do understand, flukes, upsets, playing down for one game, etc, so to say "FSU is going to win it all...." yeah, I'm not going to do that. South Carolina is probably the most accurate SEC placement.... they are always quality... may or may not be elite... but they never seem to be over hyped because they are in the SEC. AU - gimmicky.... it worked for them last year.... let them hang on to their great Iron Bowl victory because everyone in Tallahassee understands.... they have nothing to hold on to from Pasadena. I don't know why OU isn't ahead of Bama other than SEC. Oregon... may should or shouldn't be, but unless Ok lost 20 starters..... they should be above Bama.... Why is OSU above Mich State? Why isn't Mich State top 5? 1.FSU 2. OU 3. oregon 4. Mich State 5. AU 6. Bama 7. Ohio State 8. South Carolina 9. UCF (Baylor shouldn't SNIFF top 10 . maybe 15-20) 10. UCLA
and to add to that the Dawgs were decimated with injuries last year and this year, Mason will start to shine as QB. He has a healthy Gurley and Marshall to help with the ground game. Richt will need to mix it up a bit with the loss of Mitchell. Maybe they use Bennett as a slot role and use Davis as the deep threat. If nothing else, the Dawgs coaching staff had to deal with worst case scenarios most of last year. A healthy ground game is a good foundation, it's now up to the coaches to utilize the rest of their talent and even change their strategy (slot) I'm not predicting the Dawgs to win a nat'l title but the SEC east will come down to SC or GA. the bigger question for SEC fans is how many games into the season before Muskrat is given his walking papers? He is not head coach material in the SEC. He'd be a good coordinator at most schools, just not head coach.
Quality coaching and recruiting. The SEC "bias" exists for a reason. - - - Updated - - - How healthy do you think that I think they are? Mason has been sitting because he wasn't good enough to play.
boo hoo... decimated with injuries... it's the mid-pack SEC mantra..... Maybe they got hurt in live sitautions because they were out of shape (a coaching problem) They were a 5 loss team. They had AU beat and couldn't play fundamental football (BAT THE BALL DOWN ON 4th DOWN) and lost The SEC always comes down to GA and SC anymore. Take GA out (like last year) and Mizzou snuck in there. The SEC (L)east is not good. SC is good.... but the fact they aren't in there every year on the weak side is why they never get a BCS bowl. They are a pretty good team with flashes of greatness.... The SEC West is not much better..... Last season, you had 2 loss Bama who has trouble covering fieldgoals, and horrible against the hurry up and AU and that was it.... I'm troubled about putting AU as elite. Sure, they played Bama well, played FSU well, but lost to a 4 loss LSU and blew a lead against GA only to steal it back on a fluke. Very SC-like. average team with flashes of greatness. People who list LSU as an elite team from the West are merely SEC marks
They were a 4 loss team last year.... FOUR..... you can hang your hat on the 2011 season, and 05 and 07 all you want.... but the current LSU is not the 11 team.... and they had 9 of their quality players go to the NFL.... they are not deserving of such respect. The only quality coaching and recruitting the SEC has is Saben.... the rest are to rollercoaster in their results to count it as quality. UF got some great recruits... won a title, then started sucking LSU, wins, then has 4 losses AU has 2 titles but hasn't had back to back 10 win seasons since 89 The only consistent team is SC and Bama as of late Gurly looked horrible against UF when he came back.... he was gassed and out of shape. That's understandable given he had been out for 6 weeks.... but he never impressed me after that. Maybe at 100%, we'll see. But that young qb struggled against GT and lost to Nebraska.... Seems they need more than Gurley to be good.
Is it time to remove OSU from the ranking? Braxton Miller re-injured his shoulder. It doesn't look good for him for the season the word on the street is the fans in Michigan are heartbroken
BS..... They weren't better than Mich State. OSU would have beaten them, too, but OSU is only a slightly better than average team overall. Truth is.... the SEC lower echelon teams, like UF, UT, Ole Miss love to say "We wouldn't have had a losing season in (whatever other conference)" UF didn't play Bama last year, or AU.... they went 4-8 playing the Vandies of the conference....the 5 loss GA's, the 4 loss LSU's. Like I said... having Bama be good and win the title does not make the UT, ole miss's, the Vandy's, the UF's good by proxy This past season.... The SEC consisted of Bama, AU in the upper part.... SC was decent but not elite.... and that was it. 3 teams does not make a powerhouse conference, no matter had AU won the title or not. The ACC had 2 upper teams.... FSU and Clemson.... Even if you consider Clemson as a decent team like SC is in the SEC..... The SEC isn't dominating the ACC Pac 12 was the strongest conference last year
do you know what you are? Your a SECophobe! You are so deathly afraid of any SEC team pounding your team that you hate the SEC and SEC fans if you review my prior posts my prediction for the conference to watch this year is the ACC I hope FL starts at 2-4 with Kentucky, Bama, Tenn and LSU all pounding them. They would have no choice but to send Muskrat packing before the homecoming game If idaho or E michigan were to beat them then it would happen earlier
lol. I see what you did there... lol I saw that.... I'm just using aTm, GA and LSU as my examples.... They had horrible seasons, but are somehow still deemed "SEC elite" whenever it's convenient for Bama when they barely beat them. Bama BARELY beat a 4 loss LSU last year Bama BARELY beat a 5 loss aTm last year if you call the SEC 4 lossers what they really are.... average.... all of a sudden, 1 loss Bama's "elite strong schedule" doesn't gain the votes they need to get the national championship bid over a 1 loss Oregon, or a 1 loss OSU. Or 1 loss AU getting the nod over a 1 loss Mich State last year. It's the same reason I want an overated Notre Dame to be ranked real high, and stay undefeated, so we can thump them in Tallahassee. it's the same reason I wanted Miami to remain undefeated til they came to Tally last year. They almost lost the week prior to a crap team... I knew they were weak..... but beating a #8 UM looks better than beating a #18 UM. very real possibility... If they stuggle offensively against an Idaho team FSU scored 80 on.... even if they win the opening two, if they lose to Kentucky, a team they haven't lost to in 30 some odd years..... you will see Muschamp midseason fired.... oops, didn't see this as I was disecting.... but yeah... we are in 100% agreement on this. I keep telling my gaytor friends... "Will Muschamp will make a great addition to our defensive coaching staff next season"
Have to wait for Baylor to play, but I don't see much changing this week (assuming the Bears can dispatch the Mustangs). Swap LSU for SC. That's gonna be about it for week 1... Texas A&M had an impressive opener, but they don't play another big game until October. Georgia had a fine finish over Clemson, although I'm more impressed by LSU's victory over Wisconsin. Neither Oregon, nor Stanford has yet played an FBS team. Next week guarantees at least one elimination with Oregon playing Michigan State (Who also has not yet faced an FBS team).
week one provided a lot of film for a lot of coaches who have to address things Urban has issues at OSU Les Miles has to review their offense and their D finally awoke in the 4th qtr Spurrier must be shell shocked Okie State had a few bone head moments by their QB but they were darn close to defeating FSU What was missing from most of the games I caught glimpses of was quality passing from QB's.
Yeah... Fairly typical for an opening week. We'll know much more after about four more weeks of football. In the meantime, I'll continue to make my best guesses.
Clemson brings their A game... until you hit that one big play on them and they CAN NOT handle it and they simply DGAF and lose by a gazillion.... no matter how close the game was to that point. GA hit that crusing run, and Clemson was done. I don't understnad why Dabo can't get clemson to be able to handle that momentum swing. I hope Mich State wins and picks off the qb 5 times, and eliminate him from heisman contention. Just a personal want so Jameis can begin to separate from the pack of potential heisman threats. once again, it shows Urban relies COMPLETELY on 1 good player that doesn't need coaching..... Think Tebow, and Cam Newton (before he went stupid at UF and got kicked out) Urban saw Braxton Miller and went to OSU for him. He has built NOTHING beyond him.... just like he built NOTHING beyond Newton. But it only gets exposed whenever something happens to his bread and butter player. Now that Miller is out... look for OSU to drop 4-6 games so is the Big 10 good or not? I love how SEC teams love to build big 10 teams up when the big 10 plays one of the "SEC Elite" LSU is a 4 loss team last year that included 9 future NFL players that they no longer have, but yet, we're supposed to believe they are preseason #13? Wisonsin was an average team last year.... and this game was close right up until the end. It was a win.... but I'm not impressed by either conference "elites" Breaks my heart.... maybe he should politic that the refs made bad late hit calls just in case he meets aTm again in the championship so they will call the game differently the second time.... Absolutely..... I was nervous... not going to lie...but OSU never gets preseason respect. NEVER. If a close victory over an unranked OSU pushes FSU to improve... GREAT. But if this OSU team goes on to win the big xII..... was it really a matter of FSU not performing well, or a matter of, OSU is damn good and we just don't know it yet? Time will tell. What I took away from this game is Roberto Aguyo is the best kicker in FSU history (yes, and that includes Sebastian Janakowski) and quite possibly, the best kicker in the nation. He had an interview about his struggles in the game on Saturday.... a game where he was 3/3 FG and 4/4 XPs..... hard to improve upon that.... but he still strives to improve. Love me some Aguyo the two pics Winston threw.... were athletic well coached reads. There is a year's worth of tape on jameis now, and coaches, players and teams are adjusting. My only add to y'alls games was the Bama game.... Bama is in trouble this season. AU showed the nation how to beat Bama..... OU confirmed it, and Saben crying like a little punk about "we should make a rule that prevents the hurry up offense...." was laughably obvious. Especially showing how a 4-9 WVU that hasn't won an opener in 10 years now, almost beat them with the hurry up. Bama won that game on atheltic ability. They quite simply had more athletes than WVU did. Bama has got to figure out a way to adjust to the hurry up. I personally think you will start seeing a lot of bama players starting "to cramp up" so they can make the necessary subs
if you care, go back and find old posts from me about how excited I was when A+M announced joining the SEC. I said that it will only make the SEC better as they face a high-flying, fast-paced offense. Ground and pound only works for so long until coaches figure a way around it. I'm a huge soccer fan (real football) as I used to play. I absolutely loathe the dives and love it when a ref takes out the yellow card for diving. Football players should be forced to limp themselves off of the field with the exception of the obvious bad injuries. If you can't get off of the field before the next snap due to that horrible cramp, then your side plays with the 10 "healthy" players until you get your butt off the field The game is starting to go the way of baseball where it takes what seems to be about 3 minutes in between each pitch. I follow college football more than the NFL because it is a faster and more fun game. But, if teams start doing the NFL "injury" then its excitement will go away. If they come up with rules which keep the game flowing, then we'd see less beefy linemen and with 70 pound lighter players, maybe there would be less injuries
