August 28, 2005
Fanblogs XIV: 2005 Preseason Poll
Poll of the Fanblogs.com authors & contributors for the 2005 college football preseason:
1. Southern California (9) 139
2. Texas (1) 127
3. Tennessee 98
4. Oklahoma 78
5. Ohio St. 74
6. Virginia Tech 71
7. LSU 69
8. Miami (Fla.) 63
9. Iowa 57
9. Michigan 57
11. Louisville 53
12. California 28
13. Georgia 27
14. Florida 24
First place votes in parenthesis. Weighted ballot points appear beside team name. Teams are ranked on likelyhood to beat lower ranked teams on a neutral field, rather than a forecast of final season rankings.
Others Receiving Votes:
Auburn 23, Florida St. 16, Boise St. 13, Texas A&M 11, Utah 9, Arizona St. 5, Alabama 3, Purdue 3, Notre Dame 2
How they voted:
Kevin Donahue:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Tennessee, 4) LSU, 5) Ohio St., 6) Michigan, 7) Virginia Tech, 8) Oklahoma, 9) Iowa, 10) Florida St., 11) Miami (Fla.), 12) Georgia, 13) Florida, 14) Texas A&M
Pete Holiday:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Ohio St., 4) LSU, 5) Miami (Fla.), 6) Georgia, 7) Iowa, 8) Virginia Tech, 9) Tennessee, 10) Michigan, 11) Oklahoma, 12) Arizona St., 13) Purdue, 14) California
Dave Frey:1) Southern California, 2) Tennessee, 3) Texas, 4) Michigan, 5) Ohio St., 6) Oklahoma, 7) LSU, 8) Virginia Tech, 9) Miami (Fla.), 10) Florida, 11) Iowa, 12) Florida St., 13) Louisville, 14) Auburn
Jeff Quinton:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Tennessee, 4) Oklahoma, 5) California, 6) Virginia Tech, 7) Miami (Fla.), 8) LSU, 9) Iowa, 10) Ohio St., 11) Florida St., 12) Florida, 13) Louisville, 14) Texas A&M
Mike Boone:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Tennessee, 4) Ohio St., 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Louisville, 7) Michigan, 8) LSU, 9) Iowa, 10) Miami (Fla.), 11) Oklahoma, 12) Georgia, 13) Florida, 14) Florida St.
Josh McClain:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Tennessee, 4) Iowa, 5) Louisville, 6) Oklahoma, 7) Boise St., 8) Texas A&M, 9) Miami (Fla.), 10) LSU, 11) Virginia Tech, 12) Georgia, 13) Arizona St., 14) Florida
Robert Knodell:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) Ohio St., 4) Miami (Fla.), 5) Michigan, 6) Louisville, 7) Oklahoma, 8) LSU, 9) Tennessee, 10) Virginia Tech, 11) Iowa, 12) Florida St., 13) Alabama, 14) Georgia
Michael Hickerson:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Tennessee, 4) Louisville, 5) Auburn, 6) LSU, 7) Oklahoma, 8) California, 9) Virginia Tech, 10) Florida, 11) Ohio St., 12) Miami (Fla.), 13) Notre Dame, 14) Alabama
Matt Shobe:1) Southern California, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Auburn, 4) Texas, 5) California, 6) Utah, 7) Georgia, 8) Louisville, 9) Virginia Tech, 10) Boise St., 11) Iowa, 12) Miami (Fla.), 13) Tennessee, 14) Michigan
Aaron White:1) Southern California, 2) Michigan, 3) Texas, 4) Tennessee, 5) Ohio St., 6) Virginia Tech, 7) Iowa, 8) Miami (Fla.), 9) Florida, 10) Oklahoma, 11) LSU, 12) Louisville, 13) Texas A&M, 14) Purdue
Comments:
posted on August 28, 2005 1:49 PM — 12.223.245.245 — link — abuse?Pete Holiday said:
Two words, Jeff: New. Coach.
If Saban were still on I'd have them sitting in the #2 spot for sure, but you just never can tell what's going to happen with a new coach.
Who was the last coach to go undefeated in his first season with a major D-I school?
There's a new system in place, the kids are going to have to learn it, and the coach is having to learn the kids. At this point in the season, I think LSU would struggle with major teams with established systems and coaches... and since we're not trying to predict end-of-season ranking, putting the teams with the new coaches a bit lower is perfectly reasonable.
The question posed to the authors was, as Kevin pointed out, who would win a neutral-field, head-to-head right now. LSU is a giant question mark in that equation.
posted on August 28, 2005 2:07 PM — link — abuse?
I asked myself the same question. With LSU's talent, I had to put them #4. While I have some differing opinions in my poll versus the final poll, I think this is a pretty good run for preseason.
posted on August 28, 2005 8:08 PM — link — abuse?
I won't speak for Pete, but I think there are some who question if Les is more.
Red Blue Man said:
posted on August 28, 2005 9:16 PM — 68.2.177.84 — link — abuse?
How in the world can Ohio State and Mich both receive such high ratings when they don't play Purdue??
Purdue has the easiest route to the BIG 10 Title and an undefeated season.
Cal is living on last season. The extensive loss of player and starters from last year's excellent team will not result in a top 15 finish. Tbey may finish fourth in the PAC.
ND in the top 20?? New coach, new system and no talent?? What'a joke!
posted on August 29, 2005 12:52 AM — 206.124.221.226 — link — abuse?
How in the world can Ohio State and Mich both receive such high ratings when they don't play Purdue??
That's not the context we were instructed to vote in. The context was how good they are TODAY and how they would fare against the teams ranked above and below them. I voted by asking myself if they played THIS SATURDAY then would they LOSE to everyone I ranked higher? and would they beat everyone I ranked lower?
I have reviewed my ballot in light of your questions, and yes, I believe that if they played this weekend, both Ohio State and Michican would lose to the teams I ranked higher and beat the teams I ranked lower.
posted on August 29, 2005 12:53 AM — 12.223.245.245 — link — abuse?
Upon further research, it seems that Coker accomplished the feat in 2001 and Bowden in 1993. Only one prior to that, so far as I can tell.
Noting that Coker's Hurricanes went undefeated in the Big East (cue laughter) diminishes the feat somewhat, though not greatly. Bowden's run was impressive, but is Les Miles a Larry Coker or a Terry Bowden? I guess we'll find out. The poll says no, though.
And Red Blue man... the strength of schedule has nothing to do with our ranking methodology. Essentially what our poll says is that OSU and UMich would beat Purdue (in week 1) on a neutral field... which I don't think is an absurd statement to make.
Jeremy Collins said:
posted on August 29, 2005 9:38 AM — 167.239.197.56 — link — abuse?
DUCKS GET NO LOVE FROM VOTERS
Oregon comes into this season with everything backing them from a new offense to a favorable schedule. Oregon has brought in former BYU head coach Gary Crowton and his spread offense. This is going to supercharge the offenese, even more so because they have Terrance Whitehead in the backfield. The only question marks are in the secondary, but that will be worked out on Thursday night against Houston. Lets not forget that Oregon gets Fresno St, USC, and Cal at home this year with their first four games being at Autzen stadium. This team should be ranked at least in the top 15 but it is just the preseason.Noah said:
posted on August 29, 2005 11:23 AM — 66.5.125.11 — link — abuse?
I think if Nick Saiben were still with LSU they would have been ranked higher. I think its not going to be as good of a year for LSU fans as they are anticipating. Les Miles is going to find out that there is a huge difference for coaching in the SEC and coaching Oklahoma St. The SEC is probably one of the toughest conferences in NCAA FootBall, and to help boost that was the return of Steve Spurrier. And now the Vols have a couple of reliable QBs it all should be interesting
Aaron said:
posted on August 29, 2005 12:31 PM — 138.163.0.43 — link — abuse?
Having followed LSU closely last year due to living in New Orleans, I have no confidence that Russell can lead that team to an SEC Championship, much less a National Championship. Add to that the recent barrage of injuries to important players and a new coach, and you have the recipe for over-rated.
Blake said:
posted on August 29, 2005 6:29 PM — 69.163.206.34 — link — abuse?
Hey Kevin, I knew it! You're a Bowden ass-licker! You're the only person to pick FSU as being ranked higher than Miami. Don't see a problem with that huh! FSU has more question marks on both sides of the ball and you think Miami is over-rated. You wrote a whole Blog "Miami is Over-rated" based on what Lee Corso, "Fellow ass-licker" Kirk Herbstreet, "Ohio State ass-licker", Trev Albert "Lost to a Miami team in Orange Bowl playing with Nebraska ass licker" have to say about Miami? They're always wrong! Name one year Miami was ranked #1 "besides 2001" in preseason? Corso picked FSU to beat Miami everytime in last six games! How correct was he Kevin! 7 straight wins against FSU Kevin!
posted on August 29, 2005 6:58 PM — 12.217.43.245 — link — abuse?
In my eyes, the coaching situation is only one of the unanswered questions at LSU. The other big question is whether or not they will be appreciably better than a team that lost 3 ballgames last year and got blasted 45-16 at Georgia (WITH Saban).
The Coker analogy isn't terribly valid because he was promoted from within the staff at Miami, whereas Miles is coming in from elsewhere. The Sept. 24 game vs. Tennessee will tell us whether the LSU rankings are correct or not.
posted on August 29, 2005 7:15 PM — 68.35.231.61 — link — abuse?
A Bowden ass-licker? I'm not even going to touch that one, but I can give you plenty of reasons to pick FSU over Miami.
Start at running back where FSU brings back the #1 rusher in the ACC and an experienced junior in Booker who would start at Miami. Leon Washington would be a Heisman finalist with 30 touches a game, the kid is that good.
The defenses are both stacked but Miami has no one who compares to Ernie Sims. Sims is a world-destroyer coming off the edge at 100 MPH. Threat and Watkins are similar players with great ball skills (both went to Lincoln High in Tallahassee.) I'd be very surprised if Miami can beat FSU this year, where they will be underdogs despite 7 straight good wins.
posted on August 29, 2005 7:17 PM — 68.35.231.61 — link — abuse?
PS even on a neutral field, FSU is better coached, more disciplined and has a better run game, 3 easy reasons to pick them over alot of teams.
posted on August 29, 2005 10:16 PM — 12.223.245.245 — link — abuse?
Jeremy Collins:
Pro: Oregon returns a lot of starters.
Con: Those starters were part of a mediocre (at best) squad last year...Pro: Oregon brought in a new head coach.
Con: ...Oregon brought in a new head coach.Pro: He's going to run the spread!!!
Con: The players have to learn the spread.Con: Question marks in the secondary.
Pro: "Passing" is soooo 2004. (Haha... just kidding. There is no Pro side to this one)
...in short, even just taking your own factual assertions, Oregon doesn't even belong in the top 25, let alone the top 14. ESPECIALLY not pre-season.Blake said:
posted on August 29, 2005 11:21 PM — 69.163.206.34 — link — abuse?
You're right Boone! Miami doesn't have nearly the talent as FSU? They were only drooling to get there hands on Willie Williams! He isn't even the projected starter on the Canes? Must mean the whole lot of them suck correct? I'm looking at last years stats and Washington nor Booker hurt Miami. In fact Miami's Backs rushed for twice the yards with 3 less carries FSU 35 attempts for 57 yds; Canes 32 attempts for 109 yds. Are you forgetting Antone Smith went to FSU because he didn't know when he would start for Miami? The Canes also threw for 255 yds to FSU's 108 yds. Though this was close score wise, the Canes out-performed FSU in every fascet of the game.
Jeremy Collins said:
posted on August 30, 2005 10:02 AM — 167.239.197.67 — link — abuse?
Pete
Oregon still has the same coach Bellotti.
The spread is not that hard to learn b/c Crowtons(New O Coordinator) is fairly simple compared to others that run the spread. I give you the secondary which I said before. They will be ranked at the end of the year pretty high too. Oregon will go 9-2 pulling the upset over Cal- losing to USC and a lesser opponent.
posted on August 30, 2005 8:03 PM — 156.56.168.156 — link — abuse?
Jeremy Collins:
They do have a new coach, just not a new head coach... and regardless of head coach or not, he still has to learn the players and the players still have to learn the offense.It may not be complicated, but even COMPLETELY UNCOMPLICATED have to be learned when they are new, and there's an adjustment period for them. The more complex, the longer that period is. A new coach at a run-up-the-gut school with a new run-up-the-gut offense is even going to have some issues... but this is not some ground-pounding two play system, this is the spread.
Saying it's not a complicated spread offense is like saying that a car which tops out at 200MPH is not fast because it's not AS FAST as one that goes 225. The distinction is minimal at best.
The bottom line is that you really haven't posited ANYTHING to suggest that there will be a drastic improvement from last year (mainly because there's no evidence to that point to put forth) which a ranking in the top 14 would be.
You might make the case that the spread, if done well, will mean a lot to the team next year... but it doesn't so much fly in an argument trying to say that a team which wasn't even ranked at the conclusion of last year should be a top 14 team.
posted on September 1, 2005 8:39 PM — link — abuse?
Jeremy, With Oregon down 21-14 to Houston right now, would you care to revise your previous remarks?
Jeremy Collins said:
posted on September 2, 2005 7:38 AM — 167.239.194.208 — link — abuse?
Down at halftime in the first game of the season to a fun and gun offense and a so so secondary was not surprising. What was surprising is the way the secondary played the second half. I said we will see what Oregon had in the secondary, and they we awful in the first half. Final score 38-24
I will take that in an opener on the road against Houstonraymond said:
posted on September 5, 2005 11:51 AM — 68.119.23.73 — link — abuse?
what are you people out there eating and drinking...IOWA gets no respect....just the way I like. because, at the end of the season USC is going to be scrambling to learn about hodge, tate, brownlee and coach Ferentz. Iowa....flying under the radar to national prominence
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Jeff said:
posted on August 28, 2005 11:34 AM — 24.236.89.88 — link — abuse?Viriginia Tech is too high....
What's up with all those voters voting LSU #8, #10, and #11!?