Preseason Top 25

[skatingtripods]

USA Today/Coaches Poll

1. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. Oregon
4. LSU
5. Florida State
6. Stanford
7. Boise State
8. Oklahoma State
9. Texas A&M
10. Wisconsin
11. Nebraska
12. South Carolina
13. Virginia Tech
14. Arkansas
15. TCU
16. Ohio State
17. Michigan State
18. Notre Dame
19. Auburn
20. Mississippi State
21. Missouri
22. Georgia
23. Florida
24. Texas
25. Penn State

B1G well represented. Surprised to see Penn State sneak in there.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

I'd prefer the poles to start after they start actually playing. But #16 taint so bad, i think it maybe be a tad high, 18-20 might be more realistic given our huge question marks on offense...... our D is gonna hit some mother fuckers.

[furls]

OK, so lets set the over-under for end of year ranking at 16. Would you take the over or under?

I am taking the under. I think they will end up around 7-10. This is a good team and I think dismissing them is a mistake. Right now they are going off at 25:1 to win the BCS. I don't think they win it all, but they do have the D to do it. The O???? Well there is a lot of uncertainty there, but the defense will be as good or better than last year's.

[danwismar]

Not ready to go on record with any predictions yet, but I think this is potentially a 10-2 OSU team, which might squeeze them into the top 10, given the competition.

An amazing stat....OSU has lost ONE regular season game in the last five years to a team that didn't make a BCS bowl game (Purdue '09)

How many times did we say it during the Tressel years?...These are the good old days.

[e0y2e3]

Dan and I have HUGE differences on the path of the program, the guilt and the realities, but I am lock stick w/ him re: on the field.

I take the over easily. The B1G sucks beyond four teams. I'd be less shocked to see 11-1 than the under.

I mean... this conference is bad enough you can still win games w/out scoring and just D.

[furls]

just so we are all on the same sheet of music (because over/under re: rankings could be confusing) I am going to define under as any final ranking between 1-15 and over as any final ranking from 17-unranked.

[FUDU]

I'm not as confident in the D as most of you, we lost a couple key guys and have not had luck with injuries in our secondary in a few years. However if the D shows up and Miller were to jump ahead in the learning curve I could see this as a top 4-5 team in the country if everything went our way, highly doubtful of course. 7-8 seems about right otherwise.

[JCoz]

OK, so lets set the over-under for end of year ranking at 16. Would you take the over or under?

I am taking the under. I think they will end up around 7-10. This is a good team and I think dismissing them is a mistake. Right now they are going off at 25:1 to win the BCS. I don't think they win it all, but they do have the D to do it. The O???? Well there is a lot of uncertainty there, but the defense will be as good or better than last year's.

Just doesn't feel right declaring the "under" as the higher ranking Furls. The under is always a negative connotation.

Semantics, but I just feel that the over should be a higher ranking, regardless of that technically being a lower number.


Moving on, we have a few tough games on the schedule:


I always start with the roadies:

at Miami
at Nebraska
at Illinios
at Purdue
at Michigan

I see a loss there, probably at Nebraska.

Home:

Akron
Toledo
Colorado
Mich St
Wisconson
Indiana
PSU

I see between 1-2 losses there.

I think the Defense will be of the usual top 5-10 variety. Dline should be better than they were in a bit of a dissappointing year last season given the talent (can't help but throw Cam under the bus here - where the heck was this kid before the Arkansas game?)...this will be a better Dline than last season but not as good as 09.

Getting Moeller back at full strength cannot be understated. He was the best player on the field last season on defense before he got hurt and that was playing with a torn Pec.

It's obvious to state, but if you are going to be strong in one unit and weak in another, then you undoubtably want the strong Dline to pair with a weak secondary and not the other way around.

The offense is less predictable but if we can manage to stay healthy on the offensive line that's all this team will need to be moderately successful as an offense. The talent at RB is as stacked as anyone has seen since the 90's and I think we have a real monster in Rod Smith, someone who can flat out dominate.

This team is likely to go 10-2 IMO, but if they get out of Nebraska undefeated then all bets are off.

[motherscratcher]

I agree with that JCoz. Nebraska is going to be a bitch. You know that they have OSU circled on their calendars and hVe the Buckeyes targeted as the team they need to beat to introduce themselves to the B1G. Playing in Nebraska, with a newly integrated team, against a Husker opponent and crowd that will be as amped up as any on history, is a steep hill to climb.

I'm also scared to death of Michigan for some reason. I just keep thinking of Tress taking his first team into Ann Arbor and am worried that Hoke might be able to pull off the same thing. I think our ace in the hole there is that Fickell will have his team whipped into a frenzy for that game. I can't imaging that he and Vrabel will tolerate being the ones to go north and fuck the dog after our recent domination.

And, our team is better. That's probably the most important thing.

[FUDU]

I have to disagree on the home front Coz, Wiscy is the obvious danger of course but the rest of that home schedule IMO is not scary. MSU, pfft.

[skatingtripods]

Ohio State's probably due for a second road letdown besides Nebraska. I don't know who it will be, and I hope it's not Michigan, but I really don't like that game at Miami. Miami has a bye to prepare and Harris has something to prove after that horrendous game at The Shoe.

[JCoz]

I have to disagree on the home front Coz, Wiscy is the obvious danger of course but the rest of that home schedule IMO is not scary. MSU, pfft.

MSU, Like Miami, are iffy mostly because they are early and we will be missing a couple difference makers in Adams and Posey.

But MSU is a good team this season BTW.

[mattvan1]

The under is always a negative connotation.

Not necessarily. Depends on the bet, especially prop bets

Number of times Michigan will beat Ohio State in the next 3 years. O/U is 1.
Number of games Colt McCoy will miss due to injury. O/U is 3.
Number of times Fire Marshall Bill will pop in after yet another PSU loss to remind us at least the Nittany Lion program doesn't cheat. O/U is 4

See, in each the above examples, the under is a good thing

[peeker643]

Jesus y'all.

Just say where you think they'll finish within 3 numbers (and yeah I get that's actually four spots in the polls).

I'll go 9th-12th.

This team is solid and likley loses two ball games to experienced defenses much like Pryor vs. Penn State in the 'Shoe a couple years ago.

Reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated, much to the chagrin of the program's haters.

[JCoz]

Jesus y'all.

Just say where you think they'll finish within 3 numbers (and yeah I get that's actually four spots in the polls).

I'll go 9th-12th.

This team is solid and likley loses two ball games to experienced defenses much like Pryor vs. Penn State in the 'Shoe a couple years ago.

Reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated, much to the chagrin of the program's haters.

Hey I acknowledged it was semantics, lol.

Anyways as far as the ranking, going into the bowls I'll say they will be between 7th-10th

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Here's the stupid ass worthless AP Pole.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... tball-poll

Bucks at #18.

The Big Ten placed four teams in the rankings with Wisconsin (No. 11), Michigan State (No. 17) and Ohio State (No. 18) joining Nebraska.

[SoulDawg74]

I agree with that JCoz. Nebraska is going to be a bitch. You know that they have OSU circled on their calendars and hVe the Buckeyes targeted as the team they need to beat to introduce themselves to the B1G. Playing in Nebraska, with a newly integrated team, against a Husker opponent and crowd that will be as amped up as any on history, is a steep hill to climb.

I'm also scared to death of Michigan for some reason. I just keep thinking of Tress taking his first team into Ann Arbor and am worried that Hoke might be able to pull off the same thing. I think our ace in the hole there is that Fickell will have his team whipped into a frenzy for that game. I can't imaging that he and Vrabel will tolerate being the ones to go north and fuck the dog after our recent domination.

And, our team is better. That's probably the most important thing.

SD:

I'm as big a tOSU honk as there is , but unless our QB is somebody other than Bow Wow , your looking at 8 wins , with major upsets from Neb. Miami and possibly Meatchicken our whore step child. having a rebirth to their program.

Rein doom on me to your content , but can't shake that bad feeling , that the new coaches aren't the Vest when it comes to coming out victorious in those monster venues., although defensively we may be as good as we've ever been.

Hope to hell I'm wrong .


SoulDawg


SoulDawg

[furls]

I am not even sure that Miami will be able to field a team on 17 Sep.

I just watched some Nebraska football on ESPN classic friday. I am not sure I understand what the big deal is, the D is pretty good (although they did lose some major players), but the offense was awful. Martinez cannot actually throw a football. I am telling you, the NE game is going to be tough, but I don't think it is a guaranteed L.

I like this team to win 11+ games this year. Tressel was a good coach, but it is not like he was the greatest tactician in NCAAF history. I am concerned about the offensive play calling, but I figure it really could not be more predictable than it was last year (or any of the last 10 years). Defense will be all world, better than last year.

[SoulDawg74]

I am not even sure that Miami will be able to field a team on 17 Sep.

I just watched some Nebraska football on ESPN classic friday. I am not sure I understand what the big deal is, the D is pretty good (although they did lose some major players), but the offense was awful. Martinez cannot actually throw a football. I am telling you, the NE game is going to be tough, but I don't think it is a guaranteed L.

I like this team to win 11+ games this year. Tressel was a good coach, but it is not like he was the greatest tactician in NCAAF history. I am concerned about the offensive play calling, but I figure it really could not be more predictable than it was last year (or any of the last 10 years). Defense will be all world, better than last year.

SD:

Your spot on about Miami , news today 15 players may be ruled ineligible ,
Hard to win in Nebraska thats a true home field , and and we hardly need another Camp Randle on the schedule .

SoulDawg

[danwismar]

Loved the Onion Sports Network Preseason College Football Poll

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/artic ... oll,21172/

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Surprised to see Penn State sneak in there.

Very young still but experienced as there were only 11 Srs on the entire roster last yr IIRC

[Fire Marshall Bill]

The under is always a negative connotation.

Not necessarily. Depends on the bet, especially prop bets

Number of times Michigan will beat Ohio State in the next 3 years. O/U is 1.
Number of games Colt McCoy will miss due to injury. O/U is 3.
Number of times Fire Marshall Bill will pop in after yet another PSU loss to remind us at least the Nittany Lion program doesn't cheat. O/U is 4

See, in each the above examples, the under is a good thing

Thanks fo the recognition

...and while I've used Jopa's rep for schitts & giggles, FUDU will tell you of my angst over his longevity

At this point I've given up on him being replaced in my lifetime as the old fart will likely outlive me regardless of his actual involvment and the only thing I gots now is to stand in awe and hope I'm that fucking spry if I'm even lucky enuff to live that long

I'd shit my pants once a week in return for that much energy at 184

The man is defintiely blessed