Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
The USA Today coaches' poll (and by "coaches" we mean "athletic department interns") has emerged into the light, squalling and complaining about how people can, you know, look at it. To no one's surprise, Florida is the anointed; Texas, Oklahoma and USC follow with straggling first place votes from Tebow Child doubters (read: communists). Surely there will be a nationwide manhunt to find the unbelievers. They will be stoned and cast out from their lives unless they had a good year last year.
Impressions from this crack poll analyst follow.
Teams in the top 15 most likely to flame out:
1. Ole Miss. Jevan Snead, beat Florida last year, had surprising season, hasn't been a national factor minus a Manning in forever. Pollsters love to grab onto that sexy team from a year ago and overrate bowl performance, so the Rebels' win over somewhat impressive Texas Tech has them high up in voters' minds. Nevermind that the Rebels lost to Vanderbilt.
2. Virginia Tech. Isn't anyone a little concerned that Virginia Tech hasn't had a good offense in like five years and Tyrod Taylor, the next Vick (Not That Vick), wasn't able to fully wrest the starting quarterback job away from Sean Glennon in two years of trying? Also, the Hokies open against Alabama in the Georgia Dome and have to contend with the ACC's .500 gravitational pull.
3. Penn State. QB and RB return, but all three wide receivers are gone and Penn State has had a horrible streak of offensive skill position recruiting; the one big recruit they did reel in threatened someone with a machete and is no longer on the team. Also, Penn State has the least experienced offensive line in the Big Ten. It's not like the Big Ten is great this year, but I'd be leery of those things in combination with Jay Paterno, last year be damned.
Awww it's cute, it's like they're complaining in front of Congress or something: Spots 16 through 18 are Boise State, TCU and Utah. Yes, No. 16 is where you always run out of decent BCS teams and go fishing for teams you haven't seen screw up yet if only because they're stuck on a regional cable network you can't even get in Utah.
It would behoove the Big East to disprove this poll: Big East teams in the top 25: zero. Mountain West teams: three. WAC teams: one. If that proves accurate, there are going to be yet more stern glances from Orrin Hatch this offseason. And that will go double if Boise State decides to ditch the WAC, as has been rumored. The BCS is currently in a four-year conference evaluation cycle that started last year—point Mountain West.
If the year-end poll looks like the preseason poll, the MWC will be halfway to a powerful argument they should be given an auto-bid at the expense of the Big East. The only reason they don't have that argument already—Rich Rodriguez—is coaching in the Big Ten now.
Who wants some PCP? The real fun in these is always towards the end as you contemplate what sort of drugs were involved in the selection of teams like Michigan (3-9 last year, and an ugly 3-9 at that), Boston College (quarterback situation reminiscent of the one that saw Michigan end up 3-9 last year), Auburn (5-7 last year, fired perennially successful head coach, hired Iowa State's head coach … apparently on purpose) and Tennessee (Crompton).
I mean, I don't know anything about single vote-getter Troy, but I'm confident that particular Sun Belt team is a better choice than the rest of that motley crew. My guess as to the Michigan vote: Steve Spurrier. He can't vote for Duke any more, but he can damn well vote for a team with a Duke-like record. Also he has problems with ballots.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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by hawyunn on Aug 7, 2009 9:04 PM EDT reply actions
I concur with all three of those teams bombing. Houston Nutt has always fielded some of the most erratic teams around, capable of shocking upsets one week and mediocrity the next. The Hokies always lose the big ones and a small one as well. Penn State, can’t beat Ohio State.
by zen_marley on Aug 8, 2009 8:55 AM EDT reply actions
I guess it’s time for the Hokies to string it together and beat "a big one". I know the idea is to win the National Championship every year, but for pete’s sake, the Hokies have won 3 ACC Championships (1 outright, 2 Championship Games) and have been to 3 ACC Championship Games in 4 years. While I agree everyone else feels VT needs to squash someone in a "big game" to get national recognition, it should be dually noted that they have at least gotten to and have had the wabos to play teams in "big games". This year the Hokies play 9 of their 12 games against teams in bowl games from last year. The National Champion Florida Gators play 5. This is the wabos that i speak of. The ACC had a record 10 teams go to Bowls last year, too.
I really HOPE Virginia Tech can break out of their comatose shell that they’ve been in and show what they should be made of. They have an electric QB, dynamite backfield, a full-healthy O-line (for once), smashing D (as always), and a core of returning young receivers. First step is first though, gotta beat the Crimson outta the Tide – GO Hokies!
by CalVanVeen on Aug 8, 2009 10:56 AM EDT reply actions
I can’t agree with your Mt. West and Big East comparison. The Mt. West got a point last year, sure. But what about the Big East’s three points before that? They beat the SEC champ, the ACC champ, and the Big XII champ in consecutive years. The Mt. West beat the SEC runner-up and now they’re ahead?
Also, I would agree that TCU is better than any Big East team this year. But BYU is about equal to whoever comes out on top in the Big East, and I think Utah would struggle there this year. And after that, what does the Mt. West have? You can’t base a conference’s success by only looking at the top teams. San Diego State, Wyoming, Colorado State, and UNLV are all part of that conference, too.
This is a down year for the Big East, but even in a tough year, I think they are at least on par with the Mt. West and probably still a bit better. When they get back to the way they were playing the past few years, the Mt. West will not be earning any points on them and will not deserve the BCS spot.
by lgmountaineers on Aug 8, 2009 1:27 PM EDT reply actions
Penn State will go undefeated with thier schedule.
by Etzy on Aug 9, 2009 7:46 AM EDT reply actions
Mountain West should be in THE BCS, The WAC too. But The BCS is a joke, those corrupt old farts run it like it’s 1963, so logic and honesty will never penetrate their thick domes until The even more corrupt FEDS get involved. As for The Big East, there is one team head and shoulders above the rest-WVU. Unfortuneatley for them, they get knocked down for being in The Big East plus the media’s negative perception of folksy coach Stewart. He actually did a pretty good job last year. Hate to tell the haters this but they would be a power in any conference. They should just move to The Big Ten. That would be really cool in my book.
by Hippi-Kat on Aug 9, 2009 11:04 AM EDT reply actions
If the world were a righteous place, OSU would fall much further in the polls when they get pasted by USC on September 12th than they did last year. Maybe out of the top 20 entirely. This would mean that no matter how well they do in their pitiably awful conference, they could never crawl back into contention for any sort of real BCS talk. Ideally they will get slobber-knocked in Happy Valley also.
by CrimsonTider on Aug 9, 2009 11:37 AM EDT reply actions
Well, USC played two home games last season against OSU and Penn State. USC is obviously an awesome program, let’s just see what happens on the road this year. The Big Ten has good teams, though admittedly as a whole the conference has dipped some in recent years.
by Hippi-Kat on Aug 9, 2009 12:52 PM EDT reply actions
Call me crazy (I’m sure many will) but I think USC is set for an anomolous season. They might just lose 3 games. They have road games at OSU, Cal, ND, Oregon, and ASU. This is a tough schedule. Breaking in a new QB will make it even more difficult as Mark Sanchez was supposed to still be this team’s QB. So, although they’ll be good, they may not be USC good and #4 may prove to be high at the end of the year.
by NittanyBlueHen on Aug 10, 2009 11:33 AM EDT reply actions
brian-good thing psu starts off the season with 3 scrimmages, eh?the schedule will help the new line in gelling. i believe this is what happenned back in 2005. and as good as USC is, they somehow have a problem with travelling.
by psudrozz on Aug 10, 2009 11:49 AM EDT reply actions
brian-good thing psu starts off the season with 3 scrimmages, eh?the schedule will help the new line in gelling. i believe this is what happenned back in 2005. and as good as USC is, they somehow have a problem with travelling.
by psudrozz on Aug 10, 2009 11:49 AM EDT reply actions
Media writers like to bash the Big East but none wants to look at the current Big East conference’s record in BCS bowls. The current configuragtion of the Big East began in the 2005-06 season. The year before Boston College and Temple competed in the Big East and Cincinanati, Louisville and USF came in 2005.
During the first thee years (2005, 2006, 2007) the Big East was the ONLY conference to win all its BCS games. Virginia Tech beat Cincinnati last season and the howling began again. That loss dropped the Big East into a tie with the Pac 10 for the best BCS record over the last four years. No … neither the SEC nor the Big 12 have the bast BCS records during the revelant period.
Winning percentages in BCS bowls the last four years: Big East and Pac 10, 75%; SEC, 71%; Big 12, 50%; Big 10, 25%; ACC 25%.
Of course, what raises the SEC up during this period is three national championships and the Big 12 has one.
Performance on the field should count for something, not just the media polls wether its the AP or the SID poll (the latter euphemistically called the "coaches poll").
by trekk35 on Aug 10, 2009 12:18 PM EDT reply actions
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