Georgia No. 1
in Preseason Coaches' Poll
Instant Reaction
By
Pete
Fiutak
-
2008 Preseason Coaches' Poll
The
Preseason USA Today Coaches' Poll has been released. Forgetting that
none of the coaches could name the starting quarterbacks for half the
teams they voted for, the poll has to be taken with some grain of
skepticism. Unfortunately, the poll means everything, since the BCS
rankings, for all the pops and whistles coming from the computers,
really comes down to the two polls (the Harris being the other). So
here's what it all means ...
- Top Five Overrated Teams (remembering that the idea is to rank teams
on how good they are going into the season and not where they will end
up): Virginia Tech (15, should be around the 20s), Auburn (11, should be
around the 20s), Arizona State (16, should be around 25), Florida State
(29, should be around 40), and Virginia (38, should be around 50).
- Top Five Underrated Teams: Penn State (22, should be top 15), Boston
College (31, should be top 20), Michigan State (40, should be 25ish),
South Carolina (27, should be top 20), Ohio State (3, based on how good
the team is coming into the season, it should at least be 2).
- Basically, four teams are in the driver's seat: Georgia (1), USC (2),
Ohio State (3), and Florida (5). The winner of the Ohio State - USC game
on September 13th will play for the national title if it wins out, and
the winner of the Florida - Georgia showdown in Jacksonville on November
1st will be playing in Miami on January 8th if it wins out.
- Here's my biggest issue. If you want to rank Georgia 1, fine. I don't
agree, but no problems here. I want all the coaches who voted USC over
Ohio State as the better team RIGHT NOW to explain how and in
what way the Trojans are better. The receiving corps has done
jack-squat, the O line is a major question mark, Mark Sanchez is fine,
but he hasn't been Matt Leinart yet, and the D line needs retooling. The
Ohio State running backs are better, the defensive back seven might be a
wee bit worse than USC's, but not by much, and the special teams are
better. So tell me, coaches, how is USC better than Ohio State (or
Georgia or Oklahoma or Florida)?
- Oklahoma is at a nice starting point at No. 5, but no matter what it
does, it'll be leap-frogged by Florida or LSU (6) if either the Tigers
or the Gators go unbeaten.
- Uh, Pac 10, where are you? The league should be down/rebuilding, but
be prepared for the usual East Coast Bias whining after USC was ranked
2, Arizona State 16, and Oregon 20. With Cal checking in at 32, Oregon
State 35, UCLA at 48 and Arizona at 52, the league needs to do something
splashy early for respect.
- Virginia Tech at 15 is probably getting by on reputation, while Boston
College, a team with far fewer question marks than the Hokies, is ranked
31st. If the preseason rankings are supposed to be based on how good the
teams are, this is one of the biggest gaffes.
- Michigan at 24 is a good starting point considering all the concerns.
However, Utah, the season-opener for the Wolverines, is at 28. The
August 30th matchup in the Big House might be the game of week one.
- Michigan gets into the top 25 mostly on name recognition, while
Nebraska doesn't get the same respect checking in at 36.
- Colorado and Oklahoma State each got one vote at 25. That's probably
right, but there's no way these two teams should be significantly lower
than UCF, Notre Dame, Kentucky and North Carolina.
- Wake Forest is ranked 23rd to start the year ... and that might be too
low. Even so, Demon Deacon fans have to still be pinching themselves a
little bit to see their team get the preseason respect of being ranked
ahead of Alabama, Florida State, Boston College, and Cal.
- Obviously, it's still prove-it time for Illinois. Ranked 19th to start
the year behind Arizona State (16), Kansas (13) and Virginia Tech (15)
is a slap in the face considering what the Illini did throughout last
year.
- BYU's ranking of 17 puts it in a position for a BCS spot. All it has
to do is finish 16th in the final BCS rankings and it's in. This is a
decent starting point, but it's probably not as high as Cougar fans
might have hoped for.
- Texas Tech at 14. Everyone is starting to buy in early.
- Fresno State is ranked 25th. The Coaches actually did a little
preseason reading and are trying to get ahead of the curve here. Watch
out for the September 13th showdown with Wisconsin (12) in Fresno.
- Fresno at 25 and Rutgers at 30. I'll be shocked if the Bulldogs are
favored over the Scarlet Knights on September 1st.
- Three first place votes for LSU?! Someone has to tell those three
coaches who voted the Tigers No. 1 that this isn't boxing; you're not
the champion until someone knocks you off. LSU is the 2007 national
champion, but it's right where it should be at 6 (that doesn't mean LSU
won't or can't win the national title; it just means it's
not the best team coming into the season).
- Where's the one vote for Duke? Every year, as a thank you for his time
there as a head coach, Steve Spurrier puts the Blue Devils 25th in his
preseason poll. This either means 1) Spurrier doesn't actually fill out
his ballot anymore or 2) the novelty has worn off. I'm guessing it's the
first part.
- Notre Dame is ranked 44th. Talk about having to earn your way back
into everyone's good graces.
- Alabama is 26th. Considering the way last year ended, that's a lot of
respect. And it might be warranted. The Tide will get its chance to make
a huge statement against Clemson (9) in Atlanta on August 30th.
- Auburn (11) and Penn State (22) are sort of in the same boat with
roughly the same running quarterback (Kodi Burns for Auburn and Daryll
Clark for Penn State) in position battles, but Clark is the better
passer. Penn State is even with the Tigers on defense and better on
offense. Going into the season, this is the SEC's biggest respect
ranking. The two teams should probably be flip-flopped.