Experts Discussion ... I'm Not Buying Into ..

What aspect of the college football world aren't you buying into?

Preview 2008 - Experts Roundtable

Part Seven - I'm Not Buying Into ...

CFN is honored to once again get the thoughts and opinions on some of the hot topics from some of the most talented, influential insiders in the college football media, while getting to know a little bit more about them.

Along with Pete Fiutak and Richard Cirminiello from CFN in the discussion are ...

- Charles Davis, NFL Network/FOX Sports
- Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com - College Football Columnist
- Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com - College Football Columnist
- Steve Greenberg, The Sporting News - College Football Columnist
- Teddy "Mr. Media" Greenstein, Chicago Tribune - College Football Columnist, Media Columnist
- Stewart Mandel, SI.com - College Football Columnist

THE TOPICS
- Part 1 What aspect of college football should you care about, but really don't?
- Part 2 Should a two loss LSU team really have won the national title?
- Part 3 How should college football be more like the NFL?
- Part 4 Your college football guilty pleasure
- Part 5 How/why did you get into covering college football?
- Part 6 How/why is the BCS better than a playoff?
- Part 7 I'm not buying into ...
- Part 8 Just how bad is the Big Ten?
- Part 9 Do you have any problems with Tim Tebow winning two Heismans?
- Part 10 Give the 2010 Rankings for: Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska & Notre Dame
- Part 11 How much do you care about non-BCS teams?
- Part 12 When Should Players Be Eligible for the Draft?
- Part 13 The Next Really Big Superpower Will Be ...
- Part 14 The Best & Worst Interviews You've Ever Done
- Part 15 Quick Hitters, Part 1: Greatest Players & Greatest Games
- Part 16 Quick Hitters, Part 2: The National Champion & Heisman Winner

2007 Roundtable Discussion  
- Part One The BCS, tweaks, and college football's biggest problem
- Part Two On-field and off-field changes, steroids and cheating
- Part Three Overrated, underrated, 10 years from now, & what fans don't understand

7. I’m not buying into …

Steve Greenberg: Clemson. Nothing ever changes with that program.

Stewart Mandel: Terrelle Pryor. He may well turn into a star eventually, but I don't see him having much of an impact as a freshman. They say he's the next Vince Young; there's a reason Vince Young redshirted.

Dennis Dodd: Three teams -- Georgia, USC and Clemson.

I had Georgia No. 1 back in January but have since dropped it to No. 2. After talking to Mark Richt that might be too high. There are still issues in the offensive line. The young receivers still have to step up. I'm still not sold on Matthew Stafford and the schedule is a straight-up witch.

Everybody's going crazy over USC again but there's still that stain of Stanford. Mark Sanchez, to me, hasn't proved himself. He needs to win a big game. I'm not talking about a 32-point victory the Big Ten's second-place team (Illinois in the Rose Bowl).

This team has lost a bunch of starters. I know that the replacements are going to wind up in the NFL but something tells me a 10-2 season is lurking which, for Pete Carroll, would be a disappointment.

Clemson? Just because it's Clemson and the ACC truly wide open.

Bruce Feldman: The talk that Ohio State has no shot at playing in the BCS title game. If they go to USC and beat the Trojans and then win out, I couldn’t see people keeping them out of the title game because going to the coliseum and beating USC would be more impressive than anything a Big 12 team does. In a sense I feel like the Big Ten is dealing with some of the perception problems the Pac-10 had for a while when every year they had a different top team. The trouble with OSU holding that spot of course is that they’ve been handled in the last two title games. Still, they did go to Austin and beat a very good Texas team.

Richard Cirminiello: West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart.  One really impressive win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl will be hard to live off for very long.  The Mountaineers should be fine in 2008, but once Pat White graduates, Stewart could get exposed.  Some coaches, such as Greg Schiano at Rutgers or Jim Leavitt at South Florida, define their program.  Like it or not, ‘eer fans, Rich Rodriguez was one of those guys, and will be difficult to succeed.

Fiu: The spread offense. And yes, I bought my tech stocks in 2001. I still think it’s a gimmick, and I’m waiting for someone smarter than me to come up with the wrinkle that shuts it down. I used to think it was having a good linebacking corps, and then Illinois beat Ohio State and Penn State last year. I think it’s all about the line. If you have tackles that can get to the quarterback before he can make his second read, and if you have quick enough ends that can shadow the running back, I think you can slow it up, but as Rashard Mendenhall showed in the Rose Bowl, the attack can still hit the home run even when everything isn’t working. The other option is to blast the quarterback at every possible opportunity and beat him up so badly that he becomes ineffective later in the game. At some point very soon, the light will go on for some defensive coordinator somewhere, and all these teams making the switch to the spread will suddenly be in big trouble.

Charles Davis: I’m not buying into the idea that the BCS Buster teams took too much of a hit after Hawaii was blasted by Georgia. The BCS Buster teams are still 2-1 in the BCS games era (Utah BIG over Pitt, and Boise St. with one for the ages over Oklahoma as victors). The “I told you so’s” of the world have not done enough home work on that idea. BYU or Fresno State (never count out Boise State) could be right in line to challenge again this year.

Teddy Greenstein: Charlie Weis. Or maybe I once bought in and now I'm selling. People are saying that Weis' recruiting back-to-back top-10 ranked recruiting classes make it inevitable that the Irish will return to greatness. I'm not a believer.