Blogpoll - 2008 Preseason Edition

Georgia is ranked too high. They have the talent but their coach can’t compete against the superior others in the SEC.

I believe that Ohio State should not get a top ten ranking until they have played/beaten USC.

Is South Florida ranked that high because you guys consider them the 12th best team in the country right now, or is it predictive (meaning you expect them to finish the season ranked there)…?

It’s predictive for me.

I think KU is underranked. They return 15 starters. They play a tough schedule this year but so do the 4 other Big 12 teams you have ranked ahead of them. I thought they played the best defense in the Big 12 last year.

is this a power poll or a prediction of the final ranking?

looks like a good power-poll to me.

KU is not underrated IMO. And who they actually lost as starters is key:
 
Anthony Collins
Derek Fine
Aqib Talib
James McClinton
Marcus Henry.
 
That’s five NFL types who were the infrastructure of that team.
 
We’re looking at a 9-4 football team after the bowl.

In my personal poll (which is part of our collective BC poll), I had them #25 for the reasons Scipio mentioned.

And their schedule got a boatload tougher.

Is BYU really that good? Or is it one of those ‘no one knows/cares enough to call us on it’ picks. Sometimes I make up diseases and do that to the students. Deep down they appreciate it.

1. USC
2. Ohio State
3. Oklahoma
4. Missouri
5. Georgia
6. Florida
7. Auburn
8. West Virginia
9. Clemson
10. Texas
11. LSU
12. South Florida
13. Texas Tech
14. BYU
15. Wisconsin
16. Kansas
17. Oregon
18. Virginia Tech
19. Arizona State
20. Wake Forest
21. Tennessee
22. Illinois
23. California
24. Penn State
25. Alabama

If the USC QB is out for several weeks, then USC probably loses their big game with Ohio State so #1 is improbable.

I was surprised that Georgia wasn’t ranked higher. I don’t actually know how good they are but 5 is lower than the other polls that I have seen.

I don’t think both Mizzou and OU finish that high. At best, one will knock off the other in the Big 12 championship game.

I think both West Virginia and clemson will disappoint, WV because they have a new coach who is probably not that great, and Clemson because Bowden usually disappoints.

10th sounds about right for the horns but UT may elevate their game this year because of the Muschamp direct effect on D, Akina going back to special teams and DB skills teaching (both areas where he excels). Muschamp is also having an invigorating impact on the O and I hope Major does, too.

Major should help quite a bit on getting the backs more involved in the short and dump passing game and will, if nothing else, be there every day (Ken Rucker was missing most of last season so the TE coach was splitting his time between TEs and RBs).

O line should be quite a bit better with lots of depth. Colt has to be much better just learning from his 2007 mistakes. The running game is going to be better than I had anticipated (O line, cody johnson may gives us the best power running UT has had since Cedric, Fozzie is going to be fine, Vondrell will improve a bit, and Ogbonnaya will be quicker because he lost about 15 pounds). I even think Mack/GD will involve the WRs in the running game more and this will help quite a bit.

The O should be able to hang onto the ball better by moving the chains more reliably and turning the ball over less (Jamaal’s big plays will really be missed, though). Malcolm Williams will be a big improvement over an injured Limas Sweed. Buckner should help some before the end of the year.

Wild hope: Mack/GD figure out how to optimize/customize the O when Chiles is at QB. Changes that might help:

1. Replacing one of the possession receivers (such as Quan and Shipley) with explosive TB type (at WR) who can take a short pass and get some YAC.

2. Simplify the passing game for Chiles such that he only has to read half the field (or less) and restrict his passing to mostly short passes (but actually throw some short passes).

3. Bring in Cody Johnson when Chiles is in the game.

I hope that the run group of players (eg: Chiles at QB, Fozzie at WR, Vondrell at TB, Cody Johnson at FB, Malcolm Williams at WR) will be brought in on obvious running downs and when the horns want to kill the clock.

I think the poll is largely predictive (which isn’t necessarily bad). Georgia is at least top 3 in terms of talent but could easily lose 3 games. South Florida would lose to Tech by 2 TDs, but they don’t have to navigate a tough conference.

Other than WVU (who hired a coach based solely on emotional overreaction), I could easily see this being the final poll.

Georgia’s season just got a little tougher.

Soph OL Sturdivant blew out his knee. Out for the season.

Not a good start to fall camp for the Bulldogs.

Damn, the Russians are going to really lay it on now.

AP and USA Today: ESPN