Preseason NCAA Coaches Poll

[hawkeyecub]

Ohio State and Texas are 1 and 2, Notre Dame and USC are tied for 3rd and OU (presumably before the Bomar suspension) is 5th.

In the Big Ten Michigan is 15, Iowa is 17, Penn State 19.

 

All in all not too much to complain about. It's pretty much in line with what you would expect.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2006-08-03-top-25-capsules_x.htm

[Andy]

No surprises (except perhaps UM at 15 - perhaps they're catching onto Lloyd Carr's penchant for underachievement). I didn't want the Irish to start No. 1, so 3 is fine.

[fiver]

Ahhhh...I can smell the pigskin in the air.

 

LSU will be an early test for #6 Auburn. Two of their linebackers, Blackmon and Sears, will still be suspended for DUI and underage drinking infractions. They weren't necessarily starting LBs, but it will still hurt.

[GlassCow]

My Skers back to #22 preseason. Maybe this is the season to climb back to respectability: Top 10 at the end of the season.

[Derwood]

No surprises (except perhaps UM at 15 - perhaps they're catching onto Lloyd Carr's penchant for underachievement). I didn't want the Irish to start No. 1, so 3 is fine.

 

and after PSU beats them it won't matter anyways

[Marmolade]

It's absolutely astonishing that A"STD"U finished with more votes than UCLA (some other sites have the complete vote counts... with Spurrier's requisite Duke vote of course

 

sadly, UCLA won't have much of a chance to climb up the rankings since the tough part of their schedule is backloaded with their first ranked opponent (ND) waiting for them in October

[Jazz]

Higher than I expected for Cal.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Pains me to say it, but I don't think Iowa is #17. The offense looks to be fine, but the defense has too many holes now that Greenway, Hodge, Allen, and Johnson are gone. Iwebema and Mattison are fine, but I wonder about the inside guys. I just saw Kroul a month ago, and he didn't look to be in very good shape. I'm going to miss Hinkel and Solomon too.

[soccer10k]

Not surprising that Texas wasn't ranked #1 since they will have an unproven quarterback. I thought OSU and ND would be 1-2 since they both have a majority of their offenses returning.

 

I'm looking forward to OSU-Texas on September 9. Should be a good one.

[cubweiser03]

No surprises (except perhaps UM at 15 - perhaps they're catching onto Lloyd Carr's penchant for underachievement). I didn't want the Irish to start No. 1, so 3 is fine.

 

Uh huh. How many D1 teams would love Lloyds career record. He is among the winningest active football coaches in NCAA Division I-A, has won five Big Ten titles, and brought Michigan its first national championship in 49 years. He has led the Wolverines to five Top Ten finishes in the last nine seasons. The Wolverines have played in three Rose Bowl game and one Orange Bowl game under his leadership.

 

Say what you want about last year, but over his career he is a model of consitancy and almost every AD in the nation would love to have their football program 'underachieve' so much.

 

ND ranked #1 or #3 whats the difference. They are going to lose to Michigan in the 3rd week of the year anyway. 8)

[rawaction]

A lot of tough schedules in the Top 25. I could see two 1-loss teams playing for the NC. My favorites were Ohio St. and Oklahoma. Notre Dame reminds me of 05 USC, without the star RBs, i.e. defense will lose them a big game. UWV schedule is too easy, and they may luck into the NC game, due to being undefeated in a weak, albeit major conference. I'm more concerned about what Texas lost on defense than offense, and I think the winner b/w them and OU could be a contender. USC is in a similar boat. Still the most talent in the country, but it's raw. Should be a 1-loss team with a solid chance.

[soccer10k]

No surprises (except perhaps UM at 15 - perhaps they're catching onto Lloyd Carr's penchant for underachievement). I didn't want the Irish to start No. 1, so 3 is fine.

 

Uh huh. How many D1 teams would love Lloyds career record. He is among the winningest active football coaches in NCAA Division I-A, has won five Big Ten titles, and brought Michigan its first national championship in 49 years. He has led the Wolverines to five Top Ten finishes in the last nine seasons. The Wolverines have played in three Rose Bowl game and one Orange Bowl game under his leadership.

 

Say what you want about last year, but over his career he is a model of consitancy and almost every AD in the nation would love to have their football program 'underachieve' so much.

 

ND ranked #1 or #3 whats the difference. They are going to lose to Michigan in the 3rd week of the year anyway. 8)

 

I hope you're right.

[soccer10k]

A lot of tough schedules in the Top 25. I could see two 1-loss teams playing for the NC. My favorites were Ohio St. and Oklahoma. Notre Dame reminds me of 05 USC, without the star RBs, i.e. defense will lose them a big game. UWV schedule is too easy, and they may luck into the NC game, due to being undefeated in a weak, albeit major conference. I'm more concerned about what Texas lost on defense than offense, and I think the winner b/w them and OU could be a contender. USC is in a similar boat. Still the most talent in the country, but it's raw. Should be a 1-loss team with a solid chance.

 

IIRC, USC's defense in 05 was young and had lost a lot of starters. Doesn't ND's 06 defense return a majority of it's starters from 05? And I would be worried about what Texas loses at QB considering they tailored that offense for Vince Young.

[TruffleShuffle]

No surprises (except perhaps UM at 15 - perhaps they're catching onto Lloyd Carr's penchant for underachievement). I didn't want the Irish to start No. 1, so 3 is fine.

 

Uh huh. How many D1 teams would love Lloyds career record. He is among the winningest active football coaches in NCAA Division I-A, has won five Big Ten titles, and brought Michigan its first national championship in 49 years. He has led the Wolverines to five Top Ten finishes in the last nine seasons. The Wolverines have played in three Rose Bowl game and one Orange Bowl game under his leadership.

 

Say what you want about last year, but over his career he is a model of consitancy and almost every AD in the nation would love to have their football program 'underachieve' so much.

 

ND ranked #1 or #3 whats the difference. They are going to lose to Michigan in the 3rd week of the year anyway. 8)

 

I'm rooting for stadium collapse as the outcome of that game.

[gus_dog]

No surprises (except perhaps UM at 15 - perhaps they're catching onto Lloyd Carr's penchant for underachievement). I didn't want the Irish to start No. 1, so 3 is fine.

 

Uh huh. How many D1 teams would love Lloyds career record. He is among the winningest active football coaches in NCAA Division I-A, has won five Big Ten titles, and brought Michigan its first national championship in 49 years. He has led the Wolverines to five Top Ten finishes in the last nine seasons. The Wolverines have played in three Rose Bowl game and one Orange Bowl game under his leadership.

 

Say what you want about last year, but over his career he is a model of consitancy and almost every AD in the nation would love to have their football program 'underachieve' so much.

 

ND ranked #1 or #3 whats the difference. They are going to lose to Michigan in the 3rd week of the year anyway. 8)

 

How's it going Mrs. Carr?

[Flames24Rulz]

Good to see tOSU ranked #1...hopefully NIU will catch them looking ahead to the big showdown against Texas the following week and NIU can make a game out of it with the Buckeyes..

[Ding Dong Johnson]

O$U will have a very hard time staying on top. @Texas, @Iowa, PSU, Michigan

[cubweiser03]

No surprises (except perhaps UM at 15 - perhaps they're catching onto Lloyd Carr's penchant for underachievement). I didn't want the Irish to start No. 1, so 3 is fine.

 

Uh huh. How many D1 teams would love Lloyds career record. He is among the winningest active football coaches in NCAA Division I-A, has won five Big Ten titles, and brought Michigan its first national championship in 49 years. He has led the Wolverines to five Top Ten finishes in the last nine seasons. The Wolverines have played in three Rose Bowl game and one Orange Bowl game under his leadership.

 

Say what you want about last year, but over his career he is a model of consitancy and almost every AD in the nation would love to have their football program 'underachieve' so much.

 

ND ranked #1 or #3 whats the difference. They are going to lose to Michigan in the 3rd week of the year anyway. 8)

 

How's it going Mrs. Carr?

 

Mrs.?? Heck after this year if they dont beat ND and OSU it might be Ms. to you. No joke, it will be safer to live downtown Detroit than AA.

 

I agree with whats been said earlier, a one loss team could win this thing and WVU might sneak in the back door.

[hawkeyecub]

Pains me to say it, but I don't think Iowa is #17. The offense looks to be fine, but the defense has too many holes now that Greenway, Hodge, Allen, and Johnson are gone. Iwebema and Mattison are fine, but I wonder about the inside guys. I just saw Kroul a month ago, and he didn't look to be in very good shape. I'm going to miss Hinkel and Solomon too.

 

Everyone has turnover and I think you're really overestimating the holes in the defense. Obviously Greenway and Hodge will be tough to replace. But it's easier to break in two new linebackers with your entire d-line rotation returning than it is to break in a brand new 6-7 man d-line rotation with two linebackers returning. Humpal has been getting rave reviews by the coaching staff and I think Miles will benefit from being moved inside. I'm a little concerned about our MLB spot just because of everything Abdul brought to the table as a leader and captain of the defense. I'm glad that Gableman and Klinkenborg will have to compete to earn the job though.

 

Allen and Johnson were 3-4 year starters, but I really don't think they'll be that difficult to replace, especially in our scheme. It's about as vanilla as it gets for a CB. Shada got plenty of time last year and both he and Godfrey are much bigger and more athletic than Antwan and Jovon. That doesn't mean they'll be better right away, but I don't expect much if any dropoff.

As far as the DT's, Kroul, King and Bain were monsters in the second half of last year. I don't think I've ever seen any of our lineman on either side regress after another year under Doyle.

 

The biggest thing is that we'll be much better up front on both sides AND the schedule. Getting ISU, OSU, Wisconsin at home is big. The only Big Ten road game I'm concerned about this year is Michigan.

 

Saw this today from Mandel at SI: "∙ A year ago, Michigan began the season ranked fourth, Iowa 10th. Following disappointing 7-5 seasons, the Big Ten pair checks in at a more modest 15th and 17th, respectively. But the ironic thing is, they both have better-looking squads (at least on paper) going into this season than they did last year."

[TruffleShuffle]

Pains me to say it, but I don't think Iowa is #17. The offense looks to be fine, but the defense has too many holes now that Greenway, Hodge, Allen, and Johnson are gone. Iwebema and Mattison are fine, but I wonder about the inside guys. I just saw Kroul a month ago, and he didn't look to be in very good shape. I'm going to miss Hinkel and Solomon too.

 

I think Iowa will be fine. IMO, Ferentz is the best coach in college football. He'll get a lot out of what he has there, even if it is supposed to be a down year for the Hawkeyes.

[TripJ]

Allen and Johnson were 3-4 year starters, but I really don't think they'll be that difficult to replace, especially in our scheme. It's about as vanilla as it gets for a CB. Shada got plenty of time last year and both he and Godfrey are much bigger and more athletic than Antwan and Jovon. That doesn't mean they'll be better right away, but I don't expect much if any dropoff.

As far as the DT's, Kroul, King and Bain were monsters in the second half of last year. I don't think I've ever seen any of our lineman on either side regress after another year under Doyle.

 

I don't think Allen was anything special and don't think there will be any dropoff from him to Shada.

[rawaction]

A lot of tough schedules in the Top 25. I could see two 1-loss teams playing for the NC. My favorites were Ohio St. and Oklahoma. Notre Dame reminds me of 05 USC, without the star RBs, i.e. defense will lose them a big game. UWV schedule is too easy, and they may luck into the NC game, due to being undefeated in a weak, albeit major conference. I'm more concerned about what Texas lost on defense than offense, and I think the winner b/w them and OU could be a contender. USC is in a similar boat. Still the most talent in the country, but it's raw. Should be a 1-loss team with a solid chance.

 

IIRC, USC's defense in 05 was young and had lost a lot of starters. Doesn't ND's 06 defense return a majority of it's starters from 05? And I would be worried about what Texas loses at QB considering they tailored that offense for Vince Young.

 

Yep, that's why I said, I'm worried about what UT lost on defense. And yes ND returns a lot of defense, but that's not a good thing, considering there's not much talent there.

[Butterscup1679666578]

No Mizzou? Blasphemy! ;)

 

I think Auburn is the team to beat this year.

[soccer10k]

This year could be one of the most wide open years in recent memory. Nobody is a sure bet to make the title game especially with matchups like ND-USC and OSU-Texas. Last year virtually everybody had Texas-USC and the year before most people had Oklahoma-USC in the title game as well. It should be extremely entertaining. I agree with the thought that we could see a couple of one-loss teams playing for the title. As somebody else said, and I've thought this since the Sugar Bowl last year, but WVU has the best chance of going undefeated this year.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

No Mizzou? Blasphemy! ;)

 

I think Auburn is the team to beat this year.

 

LSU will take care of that!