| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Cal |  25 |
| 2 | LSU | 24 |
| 3 | Michigan | 23 |
| 4 | West Virginia | 22 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 21 |
| 6 | Texas | 20 |
| 7 | Arkansas | 19 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 18 |
| 9 | Penn State | 17 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | 16 |
| 11 | Oregon | 15 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech | 14 |
| 13 | Marshall | 13 |
| 14 | Florida | 12 |
| 15 | California | 11 |
| 16 | South Carolina | 10 |
| 17 | UCLA | 9 |
| 18 | Florida State | 8 |
| 19 | Nebraska | 7 |
| 20 | Texas A&M | 6 |
| 21 | Iowa | 5 |
| 22 | Alabama | 4 |
| 23 | Rutgers | 3 |
| 24 | Oklahoma State | 2 |
| 25 | Arizona | 1 |
Dropped Out:
12 comments:
I don't understand Penn State below Ohio State, Virginia Tech outside of the top ten, freaking MARSHALL, and putting Arizona in the poll at all
OSU will be back to three yards and a cloud of dust on offense and nothing special on defense. Penn State, however, is pretty balanced on both sides of the ball.
Virginia Tech is STACKED on defense with an entire depth chart full of athletes. Their defense will out-score their offense, but that's all you need in the ACC.
I don't know where to begin with Marshall. They won't even compete in the piddling C-USA, much less in the national spotlight.
As for Arizona, the fourth season will not be the charm for Mike Stoops in the national picture. They will probably be 5-6 in the Pac-10, nowhere near the top 25.
So let me get this straight, you don't think Marshall should be in there? Is that what you're getting at? I bet if it said Louisville you'd feel better, so would I, since that was the team I meant to click on. That will certainly be adjusted before we submit this.
I'm still not sold on Penn State over Ohio State. Let's see how things shake out.
After showing how overmatched (speed-wise) the B10 is, I don't feel that comfortable with 4 in the top 10. Otherwise, I agree with most your picks.
FSU might be a little high, along with 'Bama. My two cents.
I think that Michigan and Ohio State are much too high. I don't get the hype on UMAA, don't they only return 10 starters? I also think OSU is closer to 20 than to 10 right now.
@patrick
Agree that B10 will not have 4 teams in the top ten. Maybe the B10 has 2 teams that high. But spare us the speed argument, paddy. Instead go review some other recent B10-SEC matchups wherein the difference in speed, if it existed at all, did not affect the outcome in any large measure. (Some of these matchups will feature our own Iowa Hawkeyes.)
@jhc
Does Iowa finishing 7-6 put us in the top 25? If not, I'm not sold on Iowa in the Top 25. This is an opinion forged BEFORE the whole Coral Ridge Mall credit card what-to-do. I wrote a post on it last week that may eventually get thrown up in these parts explaining the above. Basically we finished weak, and our starting strong and staying strong is doubtful given the past 2 seasons.
If the Big Ten's "lack of speed" wasn't exposed until the title game, I'm not that worried. It was the fucking Gators, not East Carolina.
Wow, I spend a day away from the computer and all hell breaks loose.
Wasn't it Bob Sanders who said Florida wasn't so fast when they were on their backs?
Nice job on the redesign.
I'd take PSU over OSU.
@deacon: I don't buy the speed argument often either, but Florida straight ran all around OSU. And Ohio State ran all around the Hawks (see: Gonzalez's TD run). Not saying the SEC is all that much faster, but they do have more runners than the B10 does. That's my only point.
patrick: I think you're being a bit too inductive. Florida's in the SEC, but they're not the SEC. Lots of those guys that "ran all around" Iowa for OSU are gone now.
Your argument sounds like an SEC team would beat a Big 10 team 100 times out of 100, and I can't say I would even agree with 60/40. The Bob Sanders quote is perfect.
oops, I'm not saying any SEC team would beat any B10 team. I'm trying to say that the NC game was inducive to the problem facing the B10 as a whole. The B10 lacks speed. Sure, OSU has enough football players to beat 90% of the SEC, as does UM and likely PSU. But can Iowa run with the likes of Arkansas, Florida, etc? Football-wise, yes. Speedwise, no. But you're right: if they're on the ground crying, they can't run around anybody.
Oregon ranked higher than Cal?
I'd like some of what you're smoking. Dennis Dixon is too damn inconsistent at QB to justify that, and his backup is Brady Leaf. At least Nate Longshore is a consistent QB.
patrick,
First, love the name. Second, Iowa ran with Florida in '03, LSU in '04, and (but for a phantom offsides call on the onside kick) Florida in '05. And just ask the Texas secondary how Andy Brodell can run. Hell, even that manatee of the Big Ten Wisconsin won a bowl game against the SEC last year.
The idea that the NC game as the sudden revelation that speed kills is absurd. What you saw was a sluggish Ohio State team coming off a two-week layoff and getting pounded by a team that had played three games in the meantime and was (granted) quicker than anyone else tOSU had seen to date. It doesn't change the fact that the SEC was 1-2 against the Big Ten this past bowl season.
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