October 20, 2004
Auburn Best in the Nation, Corso Says
Fanblogs Author Michael Hickerson submitted a question to Lee Corso for Week 8 of Q&A With Corso and got a response -- Michael's question was:
Coach, I'd love to hear your take on the rankings. Specifically, do you think pre-season rankings do a disservice to some teams by underrating or not including them or overrating others? Should we wait until the first of October for the first polls to come out so we can have a better indicator of who the top 25 teams in the nation really are based on performance on the field instead of reputation going into the season?
The Coach responds:
That's seven questions into one. Let's start with the first one. The reason the pre-season polls are there is because of the media. The media and the college football fans can't wait to start talking about their teams in the beginning of September. No coach wants a pre-season poll because it puts unrealistic expectations on their team, but the media want it. They got to have it. The coaches don't want it. The fans do, and that's why they have it. The way I look at this poll, I think that Auburn is the best football team in the nation. I voted them number one. I think USC is second, Oklahoma third, Miami forth and Florida State fifth. It didn't come out like that, but don't be surprised, at the end of the year, if old Auburn doesn't sneak in there.
This question and answer will be posted tomorrow sometime at Q&A With Corso on the ESPN College GameDay site. Big thanks to Michael for the question and to Lee for taking the time to answer it.
As is usually the case, I'm sure you all [think that you] know much better than Corso does, so feel free to chime in below if you've got a "better" answer to Michael's question.
Comments:
Mike said:
posted on October 21, 2004 4:52 PM — 199.44.241.20 — link — abuse?
I like the Tigers and this is the best team they've had since Bo left the Plains, but I can't see anyone escaping the SEC this year without a loss. Georgia, LSU, Florida, Tennessee and Auburn are going to pound on each other and South Carolina and Ole Miss aren't far behind.
posted on October 22, 2004 11:57 AM — 65.1.204.87 — link — abuse?Michael Hickerson said:
Wow...Corso answered my question.
I'm pretty thrilled....
Bill B said:
posted on November 11, 2004 4:55 PM — 68.119.96.10 — link — abuse?
I agree that Auburn as looked good this year but strength of schedule has to be considered. Auburn's opponents this year have a combined record of 33-44. They have played only 2 teams (LSU and UT) with winning records. Georgia's opponents have a combined record of 43-37 and 6 teams with winning records. The outcome will depend a lot on which UGA team shows up, the one that played LSU or the one that played UT. I think Georgia ,if it plays up to it's potential, can and will beat Auburn. If Auburn can win convincingly over a quality opponent such as Georgia like it has over the rest of the teams it has played this year then I will be ready to conceed that Auburn is the best team in the nation.
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Jonathan Otto said:
posted on October 20, 2004 4:50 PM — 66.0.193.131 — link — abuse?In recent memory, I cannot think of an Auburn team that was better than this year's squad. From the depth we have a WR (Taylor, Aromashodu, Obomanu, Mix, Daniels) to the one-two punch we have at RB (Williams and Brown; and even 2nd team Stewart) to the now matured and confident QB (Campbell), we have pretty much dominated everyone we've played. The LSU game was early enough in the season that we were still working out some things, but I don't think it would have been a one-point game (our smallest margin of victory all season, by far) this time of the season. We had great scheduling (not just the non-conference and in-conference teams, but the way it was scheduled - 9 straight games, alternating easy and potentially hard games) along with perhaps the BEST example of team unity and brotherhood that I've EVER seen.
Overall, on a consistent weekly basis, I do think that Auburn has proven the best overall team in the nation. The rest of the nation's media and coaches should agree within the next 5 weeks as well.